Chapter 6:
The Will to Carry On
THE NIGHT PASSED on our fateful encounter with the Beast King.
Fran recovered after a good rest. She was still reeling from her chance encounter, but she was doing a lot better than the day before. I told her of our plans as she had breakfast in bed.
We’ll head to the East Dungeon today. Let’s try to get our rank up as fast as possible.
“Hm. Agreed.”
“Woof.”
These two experienced the terror of the Beast King firsthand. We could probably handle his bodyguards. That is, we stood a chance of surviving long enough to escape. If we pulled out all the stops. And provided we only fought one at a time. The Beast King was a different matter. I couldn’t see any version of reality where we survived. His stats were on a different level, and he had a lot of skills I’d never heard of before. He was also far more experienced than us. He’d kill Fran in a second before breaking me to pieces just for fun.
Rigdith was the last person we wanted to face.
We’ll set aside training for today. Focus on quests.
“Hm.”
Our goal was to complete all our assigned quests. In the event that we couldn’t, we’d try to get them all done by tomorrow. We knew the layout of the dungeon, along with its traps and monster positions. Heading straight to the depths would be our most effective option.
All right, let’s get going. Jet, be on the lookout.
“Woof!”
Fran, do your best to blend in.
“Hm. Will do.”
We concealed our presence and snuck away to the East Dungeon. No snack stops today. We arrived at the entrance without running into any problems.
Good, doesn’t seem like there’s a queue.
We were much earlier than the day before, and the reception area was completely empty. We could enter the dungeon faster, and finish the prerequisite quests. But just as we were about to clock in, a voice called out to us.
“Good morning, Frannie!”
It was Elza.
“Where did you run off to yesterday? I was so worried about you.”
I was so distracted by the Beast King that I completely forgot about her!
“I waited and waited, but you never came… I don’t know where you’re staying either. I looked all over for you.” We’d missed our appointment with Elza, but she didn’t seem angry.
“I’m sorry, Elza.”
Still, it was only good manners to apologize.
“What happened? Did you get sick? Upset stomach?”
“I ran into the Beast King outside the guild.”
“What?! Y-you just met him? What happened? Did he hurt you?”
Elza’s mock heartbreak turned to genuine concern. She checked Fran all over to make sure she was still in one piece, and despite watching someone of her size and strength patting down a little girl, I felt no need to stop her. Elza was a good person, and I trusted by now that she meant Fran no harm. She really was just worried about her.
Now, if Dias were doing the pat down on the other hand, I’d cut him up without a second thought.
“I’m fine.”
“But something must’ve happened.”
“And I’m fine. I was just weak, that’s all,” Fran said, biting her lip.
Recalling the events of last night made her more angry than afraid. That was good. Angry was better than scared. Fran could use the anger to help her grow, and hopefully she wouldn’t break the next time she met the Beast King face-to-face.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Fran?”
“Hm.”
Elza could clearly tell something had happened. She seemed to have an idea of what it was too.
“Because I’m not,” she said. “The pressure of his presence was overkill. I was there when the Guildmaster talked to the Beast King, you know.”
“You felt it too?”
“Would’ve been impossible not to. He emitted so much terror I couldn’t look him in the eye. And he was so good looking too! The Guildmaster managed to withstand his murderous aura during the negotiations and wring out some concessions in our favor! It’s been a long time since I had any respect for that guy.”
I was amazed Elza could talk about it so lightly. She and Dias were both pretty impressive, I had to admit. Even Fran’s eyes shone with admiration.
“Good job, Dias.”
“He isn’t our Guildmaster for nothing. But I’m glad that you’re all right, Fran.”
“Sorry about yesterday.”
“Oh, it’s okay. I can’t imagine how scared you must’ve been. I’m surprised to see you up and about already.”
“Thanks.”
“Are you heading in? How about we—”
“Elza!”
As Fran’s bodyguard, Elza probably wanted them to explore the dungeon together. But before she could offer, one of the guards called out with some degree of urgency.
“What is it?”
“Some adventurers are fighting with a noble…and one of them is an A-Rank.”
“Ugh, what are they doing…?!”
An A-Rank adventurer? It might be our old friend Seldio and his stooges. With an attitude like that, it was difficult to imagine how they avoided getting into fights on a daily basis.
“They’ve personally asked for you to settle the matter.”
“Me? But I need to protect Fran… Where’s the Guildmaster?”
“Still entertaining the Beast King, I’m afraid.”
“Gods, I can’t believe this!” Elza was tearing her afro apart, probably wishing she could be in two places at once.
“Go on, Elza,” Fran said. “I’ll be fine.”
“But Solus is still at large. It’s dangerous to go alone.” Elza clearly wasn’t just worried about Solus, but also concerned that Fran hadn’t yet fully recovered from the mental damage inflicted by the Beast King.
“I’m not alone.”
“Woof woof!” Jet barked to remind Elza of his existence.
“Of course. Sorry about that, Jet.”
“Bark!”
“We’ll be fine.”
Fran’s firm nod seemed to reassure Elza. “I suppose. I know how strong you are, Frannie.”
“Hm!”
“Well, I’ll be off then.”
Elza began leaving with the guard, but suddenly stopped and turned around.
“Oh, one more thing. Be careful with those mercenaries from the other day. They might be connected to the Beast King.”
“You mean those Blue Cats?”
“That’s them. They operated in Beast Country before, and they said that they had the entire nation’s backing. Could be nothing but lies, but be careful.”
“All right. Thanks.”
“I’ll catch you later, Frannie. Mwah!”
Elza threw Fran a kiss and left. I was getting so used to her that I didn’t even think twice about it this time.
“What’s wrong, Teacher?”
I-It’s nothing. Let’s hurry up and enter the dungeon.
Elza had attracted a lot of attention to us, even after she left. Fran registered herself and entered the dungeon. The air was different from yesterday. There were fewer monsters now, and the ones that did spawn were awfully weak. What happened? Lumina must’ve manipulated the variables, but I couldn’t figure out why.
“These monsters are weak.”
At least we can advance a lot easier now.
But there was one problem: The monsters that we needed to complete our quests weren’t spawning much. We might have a hard time just spotting them. To make matters worse, the items we needed were rare drops.
We’re not getting any materials!
My hunch was right. The monsters we needed weren’t spawning often. But we persisted, and eventually we gathered enough. It took a lot of time, but Jet’s nose came through in the end.
Good boy, Jet. I’ll cook you up some ultrahot chicken tandoori to go with your ultrahot curry!
“Arf arf!”
“I want some too!”
Of course, Fran. I’ll make you some regular chicken tandoori.
“Yes.”
“Woof!”
At least the lack of monsters allowed us to relax. We couldn’t enjoy idle chatter if the spawn rates were the same as last time.
So, Fran, do you know what you want to do with our leftover EP?
“Hm.”
I was going to ask her last night, but couldn’t. She was probably going to pick Advanced Sword Mastery and Advanced Sword Arts, since those affected her abilities the most. Presence Sense would probably come next. We could use it to predict an enemy’s attack in the middle of battle now, since it was nearing its cap. Honorable mentions went to Flame Magic, Thunder Magic, and Elemental Blade.
So I was quite surprised by her choice.
“Blacksmith.”
Sorry. Did you say Blacksmith?
I didn’t see that coming. Her choice was so out of left field that I had to ask again.
“Hm.”
Mind if I ask why? You never really had an interest in it. Don’t you want to level up something that’ll help you in the tournament?
“Blacksmith’s fine.” Fran was adamant. “Your maintenance is very important.”
That’s why you want to level it up? I appreciate the thought, but we can level up something that would be of more use to you.
“Blacksmith would be of use to me.”
Fran had made up her mind. As much as I didn’t want to waste our hard-earned EP, the fact that Fran would use it for my sake made me tear up.
All right, if you say so.
“Max it out.”
You’re sure about this?
“Hm!”
And so I invested my EP in Blacksmith. Maxing it out felt weird, but that was the skill Fran wanted.
Blacksmith is at max level. Acquired skill Blacksmith Magic 1.
Being able to perform our own maintenance would come in handy, but I couldn’t help but feel that leveling up some combat skills would be more useful. As I lamented my decisions, Fran laid me down on the ground and wiped me with a piece of cloth.
“Hm!”
Uh, Fran? What are you doing?
“Maintenance.”
Now?
“Hm.”
We were still in a dungeon, Fran! At least, that was what I would’ve said if not for the sudden rush of pleasure. With a maxed out Blacksmith skill, Fran’s mere wipe down was as good as Zeld’s full treatment.
Aaah, yeah, that’s the spot.
“Hm.”
Aaaaah.
I let Fran work her magic for thirty minutes. In a dangerous dungeon. Her maintenance just felt that good. I might ask her to do this for me on a daily basis. What a happy sword I would be. It felt like getting your back massaged.
Oof, I feel refreshed. Thanks, Fran.
“I can keep going.”
You will? Thanks!
“Woof…”
As I was about to relax again, I felt the piercing stare of our guard dog’s watchful eyes.
Okay… Sorry about that.
“Arf.”
We shouldn’t do maintenance in a dungeon, Fran. It’s too dangerous.
“All right.”
Either way, that was nice. My body felt lighter and I was already more relaxed, despite being in one of the most dangerous places on the planet. We still needed to level up something combat-related though.
Any other skills you want to level up?
“Hmm. How about your Dimension Magic?”
My Dimension Magic?
Granted, it was an interesting skill tree, but there weren’t any spells that we absolutely needed to have at the moment. Dimension Magic was the last skill I expected Fran to increase.
Are you sure you don’t want Advanced Sword Mastery or Arts instead?
“Dimension Magic is more interesting.”
What makes you say that?
“The door the Beast King’s bodyguard used.”
I guess that worked on the same principle.
Royce’s Dimension Door. The name suggested that it was something we could learn with Dimension Magic.
“Meeting Lumina would be easier if we had that.”
In fact, there was the possibility that Dimension Door would trivialize it. We had Long Jump, but that wasn’t going to work. There was a weight limit to Dimension Jump, and the user only transported whatever they touched. That meant I had to maintain contact with Fran and Jet as I jumped, and Jet’s original form was too large for me to transport. The heavier the load, the more likely it was that the spell would miss. Also, the dungeon walls had anti-teleportation properties to prevent adventurers from skipping floors. Even if you teleported your way through, your mana would be dry before you got to the stairs.
On the other hand, Dimension Door didn’t look like it had a weight limit. You probably couldn’t cast it in the heat of battle, but it was much more useful when it came to regular transportation.
All right, I’m leveling up Dimension Magic.
I didn’t know how many points it would take, so I raised the level one at a time. By the time I hit Level 3, the spell still hadn’t unlocked. I was beginning to worry it was limited to Royce’s Class. However, my worries were dispelled when I hit Level 4. I finally gained a spell that looked promising.
Dimension Gate. Close enough.
Dimension Gate recorded your current location so you could teleport there at a later time. Anyone could use the gate once it was linked, as long as they were small enough to fit through. Charging the spell with mana allowed you to create a bigger gate—big enough for Jet to pass.
Dimension Gate was close enough to Dimension Door, although it wasn’t quite the same. Its default size was closer to a tunnel, and it couldn’t span large distances. Teleporting to Lumina’s room from outside the dungeon would be downright impossible .
Now that we have the spell we wanted, anything else you want to level up?
It took 3 EP for a single level of Dimension Magic, so we’d spent nine to get it up to Level 4. I had 21 EP left. Should we continue leveling up Dimension Magic, or invest in something else?
“How about Spirit Control…?”
Uh-huh. Mind if I ask why?
“The Beast King has it. Maybe it’s a requirement for evolution.”
Fran wanted to copy the skills the Golden Fire Lion had. We could probably get Spirit Control if we leveled up Spirit Manipulation. It was the one skill Rigdith had that was easy to unlock. It was worth a shot.
Okay, here we go.
“Hm.”
Ooh, here it comes!
I put five points into Spirit Manipulation, and got Spirit Control for my trouble.
Anything?
“…”
Fran shook her head. Unfortunately, that was not the key to her evolution. Still, I felt something changed inside of me when I got it. I felt more sensitive with my detection skills, thanks to an improved mana circulation. And that wasn’t all.
Let me try something—
I Transmogrified my blade into a long bit of ribbon and wrote letters in the air. Then, I turned it into ten pieces of string which I could manipulate individually.
“Wow, that’s cool, Teacher.”
The control of my inner mana is on another level now. This is a great skill.
I morphed myself into several different forms, testing out the mobility of each one. Control was much finer now, and I used up less mana to maintain my shape. Spirit Control was a simple skill, but it was definitely useful.
What else can w— Fran, get ready!
“Hm!”
“Grr!”
We stopped conversing and dropped into battle stances. A murderous aura was approaching. It didn’t come from one of the dungeon’s monsters—it was far too directed to be raw animal instinct.
Archfiend Linford. Black Tiger Lumina. The Beast King. Our travels had allowed us to encounter such powerful people. The owner of the aura was nowhere near as strong as them, but he was much more bloodthirsty. Killing Fran wouldn’t be enough for him. He was thinking of ways to make her suffer as she died. His malice was sharp enough to pierce skin.
“Geheheheh… It’s been such a long time. I’ve missed you.”
Three men walked out of the darkness and glared at us.
“Solus!”
“Heeheehee! Correct!”
Solus chortled as Fran looked at him, dumbstruck. Something was wrong with his head. His high-pitched cackling suggested that his sanity wasn’t what it used to be either. He was definitely stronger though. The pressure he exerted was on a different level compared to when we caught him. He couldn’t have powered up so much over a short period of time. Was he on something?
He had two men with him. The figures in the shadows were humanoid in shape, but when one of them stepped into the light I wondered if it had ever been human. Muscles bulged all over its body, looking like they were about to burst out, or perhaps they had already burst. No human could achieve that kind of monstrous physique, no matter how hard they trained. The creature made Elza look like a featherweight. Its mutated muscles were a sign that it had abandoned humanity.
It looked similar to the Corrupted Humans we fought in Bulbola, but different. This thing wasn’t emitting Malice and its skin wasn’t the color of onyx. The muscles on its skull had hypertrophied to the point that its face was no longer recognizable. With that kind of head, walking in a straight line constituted an amazing feat.
“Who are they?”
“That’s for you to find out! They’re just some slaves my accomplice supplied me with. They look awful, I know, but they’re awfully strong too! Get it?! Hahahahaha!”
Accomplice. That cleared things up. I knew Solus couldn’t have regenerated his lost limbs by himself. The other party member looked human enough. His face was covered with a bit of cloth, but a quick Identify revealed who it was.
“Seldio.”
“Oh? How did you guess?”
Seldio took off his mask when Fran called him out, revealing the handsome face of the noble outside the city gates. Fran glared at him, although not with the hatred she had toward Solus. After all, he was Inina’s killer. Still, she glared at Seldio with the fury he deserved for trying to steal me.
“Lord Seldio, should you really be revealing your true identity so soon?”
“She’s going to die. It makes no difference.”
“Hehehe. I won’t argue with you there!”
“This is all because of your attachment to the sword. That sword wants me, a selfless hero, to use it… You’re going to pay for being such a selfish little girl. You’re going to pay with your life.”
Seldio ran his mouth just like he did when we first met him. He made it sound like we were the bad guys. Seldio had no idea that he was capable of evil. He was convinced that he was the hero and Fran was the villain. In that regard, he was worse than Linford. But the mental state of Solus and his cronies wasn’t the strangest thing about them.
Are those…swords stuck in their necks?
All three of them had been stabbed in the back of their necks. The swords were like a thin estoc, and looked like they supported their entire bodies. I reckoned the blades ran the entire length of their spines. There was a carving of a screaming man on the pommels. It looked downright disturbing.
I felt mana emitting from the swords, and a lot of hatred. It was similar to Seldio’s hatred for us. Was it being amplified by the swords?
Solus and his crew weren’t bleeding… Were the swords the source of their altered state? I couldn’t Identify the estocs though. They must be pretty powerful.
“What’s with the swords?”
“Oh, you noticed? Being stabbed is the greatest feeling in the world! Hyahahaha! And I’m a lot stronger because of it too!”
“That’s right! This sword really is the greatest! Ahahaha!”
The sword granted enhanced strength as well as euphoric ecstasy. Considering how strong Solus had gotten over the last few days, it must’ve been an upper as well as a steroid. Seldio was a lot stronger too. He was still no A-Rank, but he was definitely as strong as a B-Rank now. And these two monsters were joking around in front of us.
“Did Seldio break you out of jail?”
“What, now you want to know every detail of my life? Correct! Seldio and the others broke me out! Right after they killed all the guards!”
“Others?”
“Why don’t you force the answer out of me, like last time?!”
“You asked for it.”
Solus’s trip made him annoying.
“I’m going to kill you so hard!” he said. “I’ll pay you back for what you did to me ten times over!”
“If only you could’ve been more selfless,” said Seldio. “No matter. Regret your sins as you die. Do not worry for your sword. I’ll put it to good use.”
Seldio was still after me. He flashed his sparkling white teeth, but in the dim dungeon the sight was just disturbing.
“You’re after my sword?”
“Pretty much. I still need to pay you back for what you did to me, but my accomplices took an interest in your sword. Fine, I’ll kill you and then take your precious sword! Our master will be very pleased with it, I think.”
“Master?”
Who was this “master”?
“Ahyahyahya! You’ll have to figure that one out yourself!” said Solus.
“You are going to die today. It would be useless to tell you about our master. You don’t deserve to know.”
Seldio was acquainted with this master as well. And the fake A-Rank showed such deference to them too.
“Hehehe! You look terrifying! Are you that upset that I killed Inina?”
“…!”
Solus hit Fran’s nerve. Pent-up rage immediately burst out. This was exactly what Solus wanted.
Don’t fall for it, Fran!
“You’re going to die.”
“Yahahaha! But that’s my line! You’re going to pay for what you did to me…a hundred times over!”
Despite nearly being killed the last time he met Fran, Solus was boasting. This time however, he actually had the stats to back it up. He had Abnormal Regeneration and Pain Disruption now. Did the sword give him those skills? Then there was his Fanatic status. He did seem like a crazed fanatic…but I didn’t know for sure whether that was responsible for it. There were too many things I didn’t know!
“Hyahahaha! You’ll suffer the same pointless death as Inina!”
“I’ll kill you!”
Going into battle against a powered-up Solus and Seldio was dangerous enough, but Solus had agitated Fran to the point of fury. Inina’s death wasn’t something she would forgive.
“Hahahaha!” Solus laughed. “You will suffer a painful death!”
“And then your sword will be mine!” said Seldio.
The latent mana coursing through them exploded. They were more dangerous than ever before. In my panic, I Identified them again. Their Fanatic state remained, but now something else was added to their status list.
Fran! These guys are in Unleash Potential!
“!”
Fran’s eyes widened in shock. Unleash Potential was a double-edged sword, and she knew its effects firsthand. I looked over their skills. No Unleash Potential there. The stat boosts were real enough though. They weren’t going to give the Beast King’s bodyguards a run for their money, but the increase was still frightening. Even then, Fran sallied forth.
Fran! We need to make a strategic retreat! It’s too dangerous!
A strategic retreat was still a retreat, but maybe Fran would buy the dignified wording.
“Haaa!”
Nope! She was seeing red now, there was nothing I could do to stop her!
“Heeheehee! Die!”
In an ideal world, we would capture them and bring them in for questioning. But Solus and his cronies were far too dangerous. Even now I thought of taking the reins and evacuating.
“No,” Fran growled. “You’re going to die!”
Damn it! No choice now!
Their stats are way above ours! Forget what you know about the old Solus! And Seldio is no longer some two-bit noble either!
“Hm!”
Jet, keep the big guy busy!
“Grrr!”
Jet rushed toward the big and silent muscleman. According to Identify, his name was Dahlum and he was human, as hard as it was to believe. His deformed body was a product of a skill. His Strength ballooned to over 800, although his Agility was a measly 100. Like Solus, he had Abnormal Regeneration and Pain Disruption. Jet should be able to take care of him, although I was curious how this thing actually fought. Despite having the Mastery and Arts skills for Axe and Shield, he fought with his bare hands. He didn’t have much in the way of Martial Arts, so Jet should be able to mitigate his raw stats, as long as he was careful.
“…”
Jet poked Dahlum in an effort to bait him away, and it worked. The lumbering meat-creature chased after Jet in complete silence, adding to his disturbing nature. With the players in place, the battle in the tight hallway began.
“Haaa!”
“Hyahaha!”
Solus was rocking some decent gear. Even his sword was enchanted.
“Come on, is that all you got?!”
“Urgh!”
Solus’s fighting style was frantic, but it was still dangerous. He was beneath Fran in terms of skill, but his superior Strength and Agility allowed him to stand his ground. We landed some hits, but Abnormal Regeneration healed any superficial wounds we inflicted. Pain Disruption was also working its magic. Nothing we did made him back down.
“He’s not the only one you need to worry about.”
“Ugh!”
“Hyahahaha! Nice!”
Seldio took a different tack. He took advantage of the blindspots Solus created with his furious slashes. He even hit Solus from time to time. Not that it mattered, with Solus’s Abnormal Regeneration. Seldio’s strikes came from an odd angle too. The sword rattled as he swung, and it looked like it had a life of its own.
“Impressive. Chain Snake only grazed you.”
Seldio’s sword was segmented. In practice, the weapon moved more like a whip than a blade. Fresh blood flowed from the graze in Fran’s arm as she dodged. However, the flesh around her wound soon blackened.
Antidote! Heal!
Chain Snake was enchanted with a deadly poison.
“Hoho!” Seldio laughed. “You have Regeneration? And Antidote?”
“Hyahahaha! Good! I can make you suffer for longer!”
Solus’s attacks grew wilder. The sight of Fran’s blood excited him. His wild swings worked to our advantage. His forward rush left Seldio with no time to catch up. Fran saw it the gap in their offense and struck. She parried Solus’s attack and aimed for his head.
“Hmph!”
“Hyahaha—gurk?”
She drove me right through his mouth and out the back of his neck. His bloodshot eyes stopped mid-cackle. The fire imbued in my blade fried his brain and withered his eyeballs, reducing them to little more than foam.
One down!
“Hm.”
Fran turned her attention to Seldio.
“Urk!”
But then, she was forced to jump away.
“Aww, I missed? You have amazing reflexes!”
He regenerated a fried brain?! How?!
Solus was back, looking no worse for wear. I could understand a Corrupted Human coming back from that kind of damage. But Solus was technically still human. How did he survive having the insides of his skull cooked?
“You think that’s enough to kill me?! Kyahahaha!”
What was it going to take to kill this guy?! It must’ve been the Abnormal Regeneration. The skill consumed an inordinate amount of mana, but it allowed him to recover from absurd amounts of damage. Unleash Potential only made the skill more effective. He was practically immortal.
Solus resumed his assault on Fran as though the sword through his throat was nothing more than a dream.
“You’ve got nowhere to run!”
The cramped hallways of the dungeon made for poor maneuverability.
We’ll go with a big one!
“Hm!”
If targeting his vitals weren’t enough, then surely burning him to smithereens would do the trick.
Eat this!
I launched a Flare Explode, big enough catch Fran in the explosion. The heat and explosive force was amplified by the tight hallway. There was a reason I only used this spell outside. The red flames engulfed Solus and Seldio, while I used Dimension Shift to redirect the fire around us. Speedcasting these powerful spells in rapid succession consumed a lot of mana, and I could only do it thanks to my large reserves.
Don’t let your guard down, Fran!
“Hm!”
That should be enough to burn them to ashes, but we were dealing with near immortals. There was a high chance they would survive, although recovering from the blast would still take some time. They weren’t packing any barrier skills, so they shouldn’t be able to block.
We’ll finish them with our most powerful attack!
“Hm!”
We backed away from the explosion. Fran dropped me to her hip and readied a Pressurized Quickdraw. This would be our finishing blow.
What…?
Or at least, it would’ve been. But Solus jumped through the roaring flames unscathed. His clothes weren’t even singed.
“They…regenerated?”
No. Look at his gear. They’re not even burnt.
They had used something to protect themselves.
“Heheheheh! That was amazing! I must’ve been crazy to challenge you last time!”
Did he nullify the spell or the flames?
“I’ve never seen that kind of firepower. You could burn down an entire city!” Solus joked.
The spell had failed to affect him, and he didn’t look particularly worried.
We need to watch them to see what they did.
“Hm.”
The narrow halls of the dungeon prevented them from running, and I’d fired all our thunder, wind, and earth spells at them. We needed to figure out their trick!
“Kihahaha! You have so many tricks up your sleeve! But they’re all useless!”
Solus charged right at the salvo of spells without attempting to block.
“Hah! Too easy!”
That sword! It must be nullifying our spells!
Earth bullets, lightning chains, and wind blades—all dissipated into smoke as soon as they got close. At the same time, the sword at the back of his neck glowed.
Complete magic protection…? But it’s taking a lot out of him!
Magic nullification still required mana. The sword sucked up Solus’s life force the way a sprout took nutrients from the soil. That was why he didn’t do this earlier. His life was being consumed by Unleash Potential. If he kept it up, it would eventually consume him. The two opted for a blitz, because they didn’t have much time.
Solus jumped through the dissipated hail of spells without losing speed.
“Yahaaa! Now die!”
“Hmph!”
Fran’s Pressurized Quickdraw was ready to go. She ducked under Solus’s mad dash and dodged Seldio by a hair’s breadth. She aimed me right at Solus’s neck.
We had stories about immortals back on Earth too. No matter how strong they were, cutting off their heads was the trusted method of sealing them away. We would decapitate Solus and get his head as far away from his body as possible. He shouldn’t be able to regenerate then. There was the possibility of him growing another head, but we’d cross that bridge when we got there.
Say goodbye to your head!
“Hyahaha!”
Solus put up his arm just before I made contact.
Too late for that!
I was accelerating with the speed of Pressurized Quickdraw. A limb wouldn’t do him much good.
“Keeh! Too bad!”
Or at least, it shouldn’t have.
Impossible!
My blade was buried partway through his arm.
“Argh!”
Solus took advantage of our shock and gouged his sword into Fran’s side. She tried dodging, but the damage was already done. She was coughing up a lot of blood.
I’ll heal you up— Wh-what’s going on?!
I couldn’t heal her. I tried, but it wouldn’t cast.
Fran, you have to Regenerate yourself!
Already am…
But the wound showed barely any sign of healing. She was recovering, but very slowly. Something was blocking the full potential of Regeneration. It would take over thirty minutes for her to heal completely, and that was thirty minutes we didn’t have!
It’s that sword again! It’s blocking the effects!
Solus had blocked Pressurized Quickdraw! The sword could prevent spells and skills from being used. Without Vibrofang and Elemental Sword, Pressurized Quickdraw was little more than a fancy slash. Still powerful, but no match for Solus’s enhanced state. I tried teleporting us away in my panic, but that wasn’t working either.
Damn it!
We couldn’t teleport and we didn’t have anywhere to run. Solus had sealed off our every path of escape. Even if Fran could run, she was injured, and Solus would easily be able to catch her. This was the worst possible scenario. At least we had another shot…
“Hahah! Are you hoping your Bracelet of Sacrifice will save you? Well, it won’t! Without mana, that thing’s nothing more than a fancy bangle!”
Are you kidding me?! That was our last hope!
“Hyahahaha! I’m gonna take my time killing you…!”
Solus and Seldio came at us again.
“Pierce! Blitz Horn!”
“Urk!”
“Pierce pierce pierce pierce!”
Seldio took out a new magic weapon. The invisible wind lance activated on the word “pierce.” Despite its low damage, Fran’s inability to heal made the weapon more dangerous.
“Raaargh!”
“Pierce! Pierce! Fuhahaha!”
Fran went on the defensive. She managed to avoid direct hits, but the superficial wounds were piling up—most of them from Seldio’s wind lance. Blood flowed freely from the gash in her side, staining the dungeon red.
Blood loss slowed her down, making Seldio’s chain sword harder to dodge. Seldio pursued her relentlessly while Solus provided cover, unconcerned for his own safety. Eventually, the chain sword grazed Fran’s shoulder. She did an amazing job of dodging in her injured state, but a graze from the Chain Snake was enough to kill.
Antidote! Damn it, it’s not working!
The graze on her left shoulder blackened as it spread through her body.
“Oomph…”
“Hyahaha! What’s the matter? Getting tired?”
The poison had only been in her system for ten seconds and her movements were already dull. Intense pain pulsed inside her, stopping her completely from time to time. But, in an amazing show of mental fortitude, Fran kept going.
Fran, talk to me!
I’m fine, Teacher…calm down.
She was right. I was panicking, but Fran still intended to fight. Her weak voice told me that she didn’t have much left.
Can you get away from them somehow?
No. That’s why I won’t.
What?
Teacher. Put all our EP in____.
A-all right.
I went ahead with Fran’s plan. I would use Unleash Potential if it came to it, although I didn’t know how long I could withstand it with Regeneration sealed away. At least Fran could make it out alive.
I invested all our EP in the skill she chose. The P.A.’s kind, uncaring voice echoed in my mind.
____ is now at Level 10.
Acquired skill ____.
Requirements have been met.
Acquired Unique Skill ____.
Acquired ____. Gained the Title ____.
That was a lot of announcements!
Here they come!
“Hm…!”
“Heeheehee! You still wanna fight? Your attacks barely hurt!”
Solus charged in with foolish confidence. Unskilled he might be, but we had no way of stopping his charge. He was already putting us under a lot of pressure.
Stay sharp, Fran!
She told me to calm down, but I couldn’t help myself. Still, even as I was screaming my head off, Fran remained Fran.
Hm. Don’t worry. I’ll win.
Fran…
Her voice had an infectious calm. I felt what she was going through as she tightened her grip on me. Her body was nearing its limits, her mind was foggy as a London morning. I saw it all. It felt like Fran and I were one. It was oddly comforting. I didn’t know whether Fran felt the same thing, but it was nice. It was as though we took each other’s pains and worries, and cleared
them away.
Fran’s left eye blackened as the poison worked its way through. Blood flowed down her cheeks like red-hot tears. She wouldn’t be able to see out of that eye soon, and the pain must’ve been significant.
Even then, Fran remained resolute.
I’ll cut him down for what he did to Inina. Help me.
Of course… He’s done for!
Hm!
“Gya ha ha ha!”
Fran settled me on her hip as Solus charged forward. No Pressurized Quickdraw here. The sword in Solus’s back would nullify the pressure, and anyway, she didn’t have a sheath to quickdraw with. Instead, I focused the mana within my blade, telling myself that Solus’s magic nullification shouldn’t have much effect. Most of my offensive skills projected outward, which made them a waste of mana.
Fran ducked underneath Solus’s attack, just like last time. He sneered at her, predicting her dodge.
“What about now?! Yaaah!”
He laughed, underestimating Fran’s abilities. However, she stayed her course. Despite her critical state, she kept her composure.
Here we go.
Do it.
She coiled her body and thrust me toward Solus’s neck. But, just like last time, he managed to put up his arm.
“Keeheehee!”
Solus grinned maniacally, thinking he’d won. His smile disappeared as soon as I was lodged in his neck. I would’ve decapitated him, if it weren’t for the cold steel of the sword in his spine. We were so close!
“What… But…”
Solus couldn’t believe it. His left arm was gone, and blood gushed from his neck. He didn’t know what to make of it.
“Blue…light…?”
“Haaa!”
Fran resumed her assault. With one fluid motion, she lopped Solus’s right hand off, chopped his legs from under him, and stabbed him right in the heart. By the time the gash in his neck was healing, Fran was already slicing his skull. Solus’s body, enhanced and fortified by various magicks and skills, was torn to ribbons.
I counted fifteen cuts in total, twelve of which were directed at his vital parts. Regenerating his vital organs took a lot of his life force, and Solus’s energy plummeted. Abnormal Regeneration refused to turn off, and used up his vital forces to regenerate his organs.
“How… Why…”
Solus’s bewildered whispers were his final words. He never knew what hit him. His eyes lost their glimmer and he crumpled to the floor. But Fran didn’t watch his final moments. Her remaining eye was trained on Seldio. She approached him quietly while he was still shocked by his friend’s grisly death. Finally, Seldio snapped out of it and readied his sword.
“What did you do to him, villain?!”
“You’re going to see for yourself.”
“I am the chosen one! I am righteous! Any who oppose me add to the evils of the world!”
Fran remained quiet. The poison might have reached her vocal cords, although it was more likely that she had just lost interest. She knew he was no longer a match for her.
“Yaaaargh!”
Seldio was faster than Solus, thanks to his Advanced Sword Mastery. I reckoned that he was strong enough to cut a High Ogre in two. This was the man that managed to land a hit on Fran, after all. He snaked his sword whip toward her, firing wind lances all the while. Dodging one would mean eating the other, but Fran advanced calmly.
To the naked eye, it seemed she was dodging the wind spears while randomly blocking the sword whip, but there was nothing random about her movements. Seldio’s idea of a peerless, ultimate attack was nothing more than child’s play. She jabbed my hilt against Seldio’s chain blade, rattling it. That slight rattle was enough to throw the whip sword off its path, and now it looked like the blade was avoiding Fran altogether. This move was impossible to pull off without a lot of skill, and the sudden change in his blade’s trajectory made Seldio stagger.
Fran moved in for the kill. She attacked every part of Seldio’s body, just like she did Solus.
“No! This cannot be! How can this happen to me?!”
Seldio struggled to protect his weak spots, desperate not to end up like his friend. Fran worked easily around his defenses and cut him to pieces. She predicted Seldio’s guard strategy and attacked whatever part he left defenseless. She stabbed his body when he covered his head, chopped his legs when he protected his body, and went for his head when he defended anything else. She worked so fast that he didn’t have a chance to react.
Since Seldio’s magic weapon wasn’t that powerful, Fran kept pummeling it. Once it was broken, the battle was as good as won.
“Haa!”
Fran let out a short battle cry as she went in for the kill. She was more efficient at killing immortals now, and sliced Seldio up even faster than Solus.
“No…! No!”
Seldio jumped away, having received over twenty fatal slashes. He didn’t have much life force or mana left. His arms and legs were no more, and blood gushed out of his four stumps. Seldio looked pitiful as he lay trembling on the ground.
“How can I lose to a worthless gimmick…?”
Gimmick? What was he talking about? And then I noticed that Fran and I were shining blue. Weird. I had thought we couldn’t use magic…
The same thing had happened on the floating island. A mysterious blue light enveloped Fran and I, powering us up. And in Bulbola, during the final moments of the Linford fight. In both cases, we were fighting a powerful enemy, and were nearly dead. Did the blue light trigger when Fran and I were pushed to our limits?
In any case, we knew it was on our side. It saved us twice before, and it would save us again.
“Impossible… I’m…the chosen one…”
Seldio’s dying words were as stupid as Solus’s.
“Gurk…”
Fran fell to the ground. With Seldio dead, she had no more reason to stay on her feet.
Greater Heal! Antidote!
My spells were working again! With their hosts dead, the swords lost their power. Fran was barely conscious. She blinked as she stared at the dungeon ceiling.
Can you see?
“Hm.”
Good thing I cured her before the venom could do lasting damage.
“We won…”
Yeah. The way you finished them both at the end was astounding.
It was like she used some kind of skill to increase her strength, but Fran wasn’t even using Elemental Blade. She was using a version of Sword Mastery which consumed absolutely no mana. It all started when Solus nullified our Pressurized Quickdraw. She noticed that I had lost a lot of power in having my skills sealed away, and decided to make up for it herself.
Even if Solus had the ability to seal skills, he was still made of flesh and blood. She figured that she could kill him, just as long as she had good enough swordplay. It wasn’t something that a sword like me could understand, but as my user, Fran knew it instantly.
She understood that Solus wouldn’t be able to nullify the effects of a passive mastery skill: Sword King Mastery Earth. Simply increasing the level of Sword Mastery didn’t mean that you would suddenly be able to use your latent abilities—you still had to practice. Regardless, it was going to have some effect on your swordplay, and that’s what Fran bet our lives on. Considering we won, it paid off.
I recalled the P.A.’s voice from earlier.
Sword King Mastery Earth is now at
Level 10. Acquired skill: Enhanced Sword Mastery.
Requirements have been met. Sword King Mastery Earth has evolved to Enhanced Sword King Mastery.
Acquired Sword King Mastery. Gained the Title Sword King.
Upon maxing out Sword King Mastery Earth, she acquired the skill Enhanced Sword Mastery, along with the Unique Skill Enhanced Sword King Mastery.
Sword King Mastery: Ability to use all swords.
Couldn’t get any vaguer than that. But there was no doubt that this was the pinnacle of the Sword Mastery tree. Only time would tell how powerful this skill was, but judging by how Fran made a fool of Seldio’s Advanced Sword Mastery, it was already paying off. I couldn’t imagine how much better she would get with some practice.
And Fran had a new title.
Sword King: A title bestowed on those who have walked the path of the blade.
Effect: Plus twenty to all stats. Increases effectiveness of Enhanced Sword Mastery. Ability to appraise swords.
The title was even stronger than Veteran and Super Glutton. Plus twenty to all stats was the equivalent of gaining four to five levels. This was why she could dispose of Solus and Seldio so easily. She acquired better handling from Sword King Mastery, but she also got the firepower to cut them down from Enhanced Sword Mastery and this title. The raw attacks she used to kill Solus were comparable to some Advanced Sword Arts. But while we had won, we had no time to relax.
“We have to go help Jet.”
You’re right!
Jet had drawn Dahlum away from us, so we wouldn’t be caught in their crossfire. They were fighting about a hundred meters away.
Jet’s in trouble!
“We have to save him!”
It looks like Dahlum’s sword has the same magic nullification effect.
Jet’s main strategy was hit and run combat with Dark Magic. He was not having an easy time with his spells locked away. His body was already beat up. Without Regeneration, he was practically dying. We followed the blood trail to find him struggling and Dahlum unharmed. The only thing keeping Jet from being squashed was his superior agility and judgment. He firmly believed that Fran and I would help him after we beat Solus, so he desperately tried to keep Dahlum busy.
“Grrrrr!”
Jet was doing a good job. I worried that he’d lost some of his feral nature since we started keeping him, but he was still a wolf when push came to shove. But Dahlum’s meat armor made me doubt that we could take him down with a few slices.
Fran, getting close to him is too risky. We’ll have to take him out from here.
Fran had lost too much blood. She was barely holding on to me as it was.
“From here?”
Yeah. We should still be able to use our spells and skills from here. I’ll take the shot.
“Hm. All right!”
Fran knew my intentions. She flipped me upside down and dropped into a fighting stance.
Ready?
“Hm! Haaaa!”
Fran used her own body like a bow, and flung me as hard as she could with Wind Magic. I was flying at a pretty good speed, but I accelerated even further with some wind and fire spells, and Telekinesis.
Yeeeeehaw!
A full force Telekinetic Catapult. Dahlum’s sword might be able to nullify magic, but it couldn’t nullify the physics of my blade. I sped toward the hulking creature at top speed.
“Grrr!”
“…”
The monster formerly known as Dahlum noticed me, but Jet had already pinned down his ankle. I plunged deep into his chest.
Damn! You’re tougher than you look!
I thought I was going to blow him away in one hit, but Dahlum’s defenses proved too thick. Layers of sinewy muscles softened the blow, distributing the impact all over his body.
“…”
Dahlum moved to try and pull me out. But this chance was too good to waste!
Just die already, you big lug!
His sword had sealed my Telekinesis, but I still had a trick up my sleeve. I activated Transmogrify, and morphed myself into the same shape I used to kill the pillbug. My blade separated into countless spikes and began puncturing him from the inside.
“…”
I felt the spikes run through his blood vessels into his heart, brain, and other organs. The grotesque mass of muscle looked even worse with spikes protruding out of him. Dahlum managed to grab my hilt, but my spikes anchored me in place.
We’ll just stay here until you die.
“…”
Dahlum remained silent, but his grip was definitely weakening.
“…”
Finally, his movements ceased.
We did it…
“Hm.”
“Woof woof!”
You did great, Jet.
“Good boy.”
“Bark!”
I healed his wounds as Fran rewarded him with a pat.
I still can’t Identify these swords… I can’t even see their names. I was hoping that would give us a clue as to where they came from.
“It looks gross.”
The pommel? Disturbing, isn’t it?
The sword wasn’t the only thing that was still a mystery.
Who were they working for?
“Probably some big shot.”
Which means they have an entire conspiracy backing them up.
We had killed Solus, Seldio, and Dahlum, but I remembered Seldio having other members in his party. They were definitely in on it, too. They might be able to tell us something if we brought them in. I stored the three bodies away as evidence. Suddenly, Jet pointed his muzzle down a dark path.
Did you catch that, Fran?
“Hm.”
Someone was running away from us, as fast as their legs would take them.
It might be their accomplices!
“I’m going after them!”
It could be an innocent soul, but chasing them down couldn’t hurt. Eventually, we caught up.
Bingo.
“Wh-what the hell is wrong with you! Why’d you attack me?!”
“No use playing dumb. I remember you.”
Well, I do at least.
Fran had completely forgotten, but this man was the scout in Seldio’s party. He was currently on the ground after Fran kicked him square in the spine. We weren’t going to let our primary suspect go.
“I-I come from a line of nobles! You think you can get away with this?!”
“Shut up.”
“Oomph!”
Fran’s gentle caresses helped calm the man down. He was a lot less spunky than Solus, that was for sure, but we didn’t get much out of him. He didn’t know about the sword, or how Seldio was involved with Solus. The scout knew who they served at least: an upper crust noble with a penchant for collecting enchanted swords. He also knew about Dahlum. The ironclad warrior had had a skill which increased muscle hypertrophy, and which was further amplified by the power of the sword.
“I can’t say anymore… Please.”
His face was slightly disfigured now, but that wasn’t the reason behind his impediment. I sensed an odd manaflow inside him. I thought he was spineless, but I was wrong. His speech was limited by a spell which didn’t allow him to discuss important details. It was a similar spell cast on the Dungeon Master by the Goddess of Chaos, albeit on a far smaller scale.
We can’t get anything more out of him.
What now?
We’ll hand him over to the guild. There was another mage girl in their party. She should be able to do something about the spell.
All right.
Let’s get him tied up.
We were getting used to nabbing baddies in the dungeon. We tied him up, loaded him on top of Jet, and covered his face with a bit of cloth.
Let’s go.
We were almost to the depths, so using the Return Pillar there was the best way of getting out. But when we got there, Fran had other things on her mind.
Fran, we have to get this man to Dias.
“I know…”
She wanted to meet Lumina again. As much as I wanted to let her meet the old Black Tiger, apprehending these criminals took priority. If the mage figured out that all her friends were dead, she might get away. It was a race against the clock.
We exited the dungeon and hurried toward the guild. Even then, Jet and I were still on the lookout for the Beast King. The events from last night had thoroughly traumatized us. Fortunately, we didn’t run into him this time, and we arrived at the guild in one piece.
The receptionist was getting used to seeing Fran, and she let us straight in to meet Dias.
“Oh, have you completed your quests?”
“Hm.”
“And…it seems like you brought more trouble. Goodness…”
Dias sighed deeply.
So we were in East Dungeon—
I told Dias the quick and dirty: that we killed Solus and arrested this man.
“What? So this is Solus’s accomplice?”
Seems like it. He said he was a noble, though, so I wasn’t eager to start maiming him right away.
“We’ll figure that out on our side. You’re going to hand him over, right?”
That’s the plan. But be careful with this one all right? We don’t want another Solus incident.
“Of course. I apologize for the trouble we put you through.”
Dias bowed his head in apology. He was really sorry that Fran almost died for Ulmutt’s negligence. Seeing his sincerity, Fran nodded.
“It’s okay.”
“Thank you. Really.”
It’s no big deal, Dias.
“It is. If anything happened to you, I would be next…”
So that’s what he was worried about. Dias was afraid that Fran would tell Amanda. In the end, he apologized out of concern for his own safety.
You owe us big time.
“I know. Which is why I’ll do everything in my power to help you. I will not let those nobles harass you. I’ll make sure of it personally.”
That would help.
“Anything else you’d like to tell me while we wait for the authorities? Have you wrapped up all your quests?”
“Hm.”
Fran nodded. She took out the tarp tucked away in Dias’s office and laid out the materials for the collection quest. Dias grinned.
“I heard that there was something going on with the spawn rates today. Something about there not being enough monsters. But you seem to have done all right.”
“Jet did a great job.”
“I see, I see. You know, the others took it as an omen and refused to enter the dungeon today. But oh, to be young again.”
The odd state of the dungeon didn’t seem to bother Dias in the slightest. He didn’t deem it necessary to put out an emergency notice either. Instead, he carried on examining Fran’s collection.
Don’t you need to be somewhere else, Dias?
“How rude of you.”
But isn’t there something weird going on with the dungeon? Shouldn’t you be helping the other adventurers, since you’re the only one who can negotiate with Lumina?
“Aaah, that. Well, you don’t need to worry about it. I don’t think anything bad is going to happen. Probably anyway.”
Dias’s nonchalant phrasing worried me, but his attitude toward the dungeon situation probably meant that everything was going to be fine. He might even know what was going on.
“Do you mind if I ask for Solus and his accomplices’ corpses?”
Sure. Do I just lay them out here?
“Be my guest.”
I took out Solus, Seldio, and Dahlum. Dias’s eyes widened at the muscle monster Dahlum had become.
“Is this thing supposed to be human?”
Used to be, at least. Guy named Dahlum.
“Seldio’s party member… What happened to him? And what are these swords in their necks?”
I don’t know the details, but the sword’s probably the reason why he got this big. It powered them up and sealed the magic of everything around them. Solus and Seldio were on a whole different level.
“I see… They don’t look like anything you can get from an honest blacksmith.”
I agree. Solus was acting a lot crazier than before. I think the sword might be to blame.
“Yikes. So it powered them up and drove them crazy? I can’t imagine that made them very friendly. How did their master get them to listen?”
I was hoping you could look into it.
I certainly didn’t have a clue. All I knew was that the mana coming out of these things felt bad. Gross. Was I the only one who noticed? Fran sure didn’t seem to. I thought about the first time we met Seldio outside the city gates, and realized that it was the same kind of dirty vibe he gave off back then. I thought it was his toxic personality, but the sword emanated its dark aura even while unequipped.
“Bad mana? I can’t say I feel anything of the sort.”
You, too, huh?
We exchanged information with Dias until someone knocked on the door.
“Is that you, Elza?”
“Yes.”
“Come in.”
“Frannie! I’m so sorry about— What the hell is that?”
We briefed Elza on the situation, and she looked furious when we were done. “Oooh… That woman! I thought she was acting weird. But to think that she was plotting to separate me from Fran!”
The mage, the female member of Seldio’s party, was the one who’d requested Elza’s intercession. “Seldio” was also present, though his face was covered, probably because the real Seldio was in the middle of killing Fran at the time. By creating an alibi and separating Fran from Elza, they’d killed two birds with one stone.
“Elza, I want you to arrest that woman as soon as possible. The guild is at your disposal. I need to make it clear that there are consequences.”
“You got it, Guildmaster!”
“I’m coming with you.”
“There is still something I need to discuss with you, Fran. Let Elza handle this one.”
“But…”
Listen to Dias, Fran. You know you’re not in top fighting condition. Get some rest.
“Fine…”
Fran wanted to bring in anyone remotely related to Inina’s death. Even so, she needed to rest and recover.
“Well, I’m off!”
“Good luck.”
“Thank you, Frannie! It’ll only take a second with you rooting for me!”
Elza stormed out of the room. Dias smiled wryly at his second-in-command, before turning around with some kind of crystal in his hand.
“We’ll bring the rest of the fugitives in, don’t worry. Anyway, I’ve gone over your materials and found no problems with them. Now, I am pleased to announce that you are a C-Rank adventurer.”
Finally!
“Hm.”
“Woof!”
I wouldn’t have to worry about the Beast King as much. Fran and Jet looked equally pleased. Dias called in a clerk to prepare the documents for Fran’s Personal Quest. He wanted to announce the fact that Fran was now under the guild’s protection as soon as he got the chance.
Do you really need to let everyone know?
“Yes. It’s a precaution against idiot politicians, you see. We need to make sure that everyone knows. Even the Beast King wouldn’t make an enemy out of the Adventurer’s Guild. As an adventurer himself, he knows how powerful we really are.”
I was just checking. Seldio’s conspiracy and the threat of the Beast King were far from being solved, but at least we could forget about them for now. Which left one thing on the agenda.
“There’s something I want to ask you.”
“What is it?”
Tell us about the Black Cat girl from fifty-three years ago.
“I see… Aurel told you, huh?”
“Hm.”
“That’s what I was going to tell you actually. But, hmm… You’ve met the Beast King, I take it?”
How’d you know?
He couldn’t have read our minds through Complete Thought Protection.
“What can I say? It’s my job to know these things. I don’t need Mind Read when I can take one look at your face.”
Damn it.
I had a feeling that Dias’s intuition wasn’t a product of his skills.
“Also, Fran twitched at the mere mention of him.”
Since Dias was the resident illusionist, he had a lot of skills related to sleight of hand and trickery. Little wonder that he paid so much attention to the little things.
“We met him outside the guild.”
“Yesterday?”
“Hm.”
We were on our way to see you.
“That must’ve been an awful experience. Elza was worried when you didn’t show up… Now we know why. You didn’t end up fighting him, did you?”
“Hm…”
He sure felt like he was in the mood for a fight.
Dias nodded.
“The Beast King treats negotiations no differently than physical brawls. You experienced his battle aura firsthand, I take it? I have to say I’m a little thankful that I don’t have to warn him off you anymore… Anyway, I should probably explain how he ties into this.”
What do you mean?
“Have a seat. This is going to be a long story.”
“Hm. Okay.”
Dias poured tea and told us his tale.
“Fifty-three years ago…Aurel and I were just starting out. We were D-Ranks.”
Dias would’ve been in his teens. He must’ve been a really talented kid—although Fran was much more talented of course.
“We were the youngest D-Ranks at the time. It got to our heads. Naturally, someone came along to serve us some humble pie.”
“And that someone was the Black Cat girl?”
“That’s right. Her name was Kiara and she was fifteen. The other adventurers hated her, although they weren’t bothered by her tribe. They couldn’t accept that a girl that young could be so strong. We were among them.”
Adventurers were always the same. I could imagine what happened after that: threats followed by violence.
“But Kiara could handle herself, and she was more than happy to provide firsthand evidence to anyone who said she was weak. She even ran dungeons by herself. Soon, she had all the adventurers calling her Black Cat.”
Kiara’s story reminded me of Fran. I wondered if she was carrying a piece of manatek on her, or if she was just naturally talented.
“Adventuring life went on, and she saved Aurel and me from a life-threatening situation. We teamed up a lot after that. Never a dull moment when she was with us.”
“And you liked her?”
“Hahaha. You don’t waste time, do you? Good question. I admired her, yes, and I definitely thought she was beautiful.”
Dias smiled a lonely smile. He still couldn’t forget her.
“She was looking for a way to evolve. She had already hit the level cap by then, and she looked all over the land for clues before she came to Ulmutt. I think she learned something after meeting Lumina a bunch of times in the dungeon.”
“You think?”
“Yes. But she was gone before we could ask.”
Did she leave so she could evolve?
“I don’t think so. She asked me and Aurel to help her with her evolution, you see.”
That was odd. Kiara would’ve at least told her friends.
“We assumed that something had happened to her and looked high and low, but we couldn’t find her. Although our search wasn’t unfruitful.”
“What did you find?”
“First, Lumina and Kiara had had a massive argument before she disappeared. I don’t know the details, but she explicitly told Aurel to mind his own damn business.”
What happened? I didn’t think Lumina would ever do anything to actively hurt a Black Cat.
“Well, in any case, Lumina had nothing to do with her disappearance. Trust me, I read her mind.”
Lumina was just as shocked and saddened by it.
“But we know that Kiara somehow learned about her evolution requirements. We suspect that her disappearance was linked to that.”
Someone went after her because she wasn’t supposed to know?
“I think so, yes. I found some suspicious characters soon after she disappeared.”
“Which would be?”
“The then-reigning Beast King, the father of our current one. More specifically, the Blue Cats who worked for him. I don’t have any concrete evidence, but it was all very suspicious.”
Dias told Fran about the Blue Cats who were spotted around Kiara’s lodgings soon after her disappearance. Eventually, Aurel’s beastmen connections found something big. It turned out that the ancient beastmen tribes were ruled not by a Golden Lion, but a Black Tiger.
That would explain why the Beast King feared a Black Tiger uprising. Once the Black Cats figured out how to evolve, they could take their revenge on the Golden Lions and Blue Cats for 500 years of oppression. No wonder the Blue Cats were given free reign to enslave them. The royal family was pretty much backing them.
To the Blue Cats, this was a chance to usurp the high position the Black Cats had occupied. The gods might have wiped the memory of Black Cat evolution from the people’s minds, but the hatred and animosity between the two tribes remained. The Blues must’ve been more than happy to enslave their old enemies.
“We tor—questioned the Blue Cats in town. They said they informed their elders about Kiara. Soon after, one of the Beast King’s private aides was dispatched to deal with her directly.”
Kiara had probably been either killed or kidnapped by the Beast King, but I kept that speculation to myself. Fran was brimming with murderous energy, even more intense than what she’d directed at Solus. Good thing Dias was the only one here. Anyone else would’ve passed out.
“And you’re sure of this?”
“Only conjecture. Although the Beast King’s involvement is the one thing we know for sure.”
Fran’s eyes darkened. If she didn’t already know how terrifying the Beast King was, she would’ve rushed out of Dias’s office to seek him out. But it would be suicide. The Beast King was a monstrous combatant, and there was still the matter of his personal guard. Fran would have to evolve first.
She tried quelling her anger by clenching her fists so tight I almost expected them to bleed. In the end, her entire body shook in fury.
“I trust you won’t go out looking for the Beast King as soon as we’re done?”
“Hm…” Fran nodded reluctantly. She was fighting every instinct to bust down the door and demand answers.
“Listen to me. First, you evolve. Then, you get stronger. Do not throw away your life.”
“Hm.”
Dias went on to explain the deal with Lumina. After mourning Kiara’s disappearance, they agreed that they would help the next Kiara—any Black Cat—that came to Ulmutt. This was the foundation of the cooperation between Guildmaster, Dungeon Master, and country. They would search for Kiara’s whereabouts, and put the Black Cats under their guard. No wonder Lumina was so friendly with Fran.
“I will announce your promotion tomorrow.”
“All right.”
So soon?
“The sooner the better. Go take care of the details downstairs. It won’t take more than five minutes.”
We left Dias’s office and headed to the reception area to take care of Fran’s promotion. It was as easy as touching a crystal to our guild card. No fuss, no muss. Fran was now officially C-Rank.
You did it, Fran!
“Hm.”
Fran sat on her bed in the inn and marveled at her newly-minted guild card. It felt like I hadn’t seen her smile in a long time.
We need to celebrate this! All-you-can-eat curry for dinner! Any kind of topping you want!
“Hm! Fried chicken, tonkatsu, Salisbury, and boiled eggs. Extra large.”
Fran’s order sounded like a challenge item in a restaurant, but she could definitely finish it.
Eat up now!
“Hm!”
And Jet, here’s your Hellfire Curry.
“Woof woof!”
I took our existing ultrahot curry and threw in some extra spicy peppers in to make it even spicier. The result was as red and hot as its namesake, but Jet salivated as he ogled it. I didn’t think I would like it, even if I had a body. Fran certainly wasn’t taking any.
“Arf arf!”
Jet dug into the red-hot curry with the ferocity of a rabid direwolf eating its quarry. Meanwhile, Fran was already halfway down Curry Mountain. I might as well prepare her next plate, before she reclaimed the entire mountain range into her stomach.
“More!”
“Woof!”
Fran and Jet smiled.
Ulmutt had presented us with many challenges and it was nice that they finally got to unwind.
I just hope we can finish the tournament without a hitch…
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login