The first beast the two encountered looked like it used to be a bull.
Rampaging Taurus | LVL: 13 | Rank: B | HP: 100%
Now it was a massive, hooved beast that charged at Xanthe and Rachael with one of its six horns out, raging with horrid roars when the two dove and rolled to safety. It would not leave them alone, and would not stay mobile for either of them to attack it.
Their first strategy seemed simple enough. Both Xanthe and Rachael had wings, so they spread them and flew to the sky. The beast could not hit them while they flew. It could, however, look up at the flying duo and charge to keep pace—and that it did as they soared through the air, Xanthe’s raven wings flapping, Rachael’s fae wings buzzing.
Flight fatigue had kicked in and their wings grew tired, feeling the strain equal to running for an extended period. And just like after running, Xanthe and Rachael had to land, take deep breaths, and give their sore wings a break. That is when the rampaging bull beast found them. They had to fight now.
Xanthe winced. “Great.” The bull charged for her. She skittered away to evade while playing a game of do not get trampled. “Open to suggestions!”
“Ugh.” It was Rachael’s turn to dive away or die. She leaped to the side, rolled across the grass, and came up quickly with her battlestaff ready. “If Guy were here, he’d keep it still since he has high defense.”
“Which we do not have!” Although, keeping it still should not be a problem once I get AP.
With seconds left to act, Xanthe opened her inventory and pulled out her sigil of Manipulation. She replaced the Blade sigil on her body with Manipulation, lost the ability to use Lightning Dash, and gained the power to use another skill in its place.
Alluring Waltz
Dance with the intent to seduce, charming targets who watch you and bringing them under your spell.
Cost: 100 AP
Swapping my Blade and Manipulation sigils was why I could clear the cave dungeon and fight the Dire Bear solo.
The beast charged for Rachael again, and this time, Xanthe ran behind it with her Steel Edge and Heavy Kilij drawn and ready. As the Rampaging Taurus missed the star-fae, Xanthe closed the gap and swung quickly, her arms wielding dual weapons.
AP: 60/100
AP always came fast with two weapons.
Xanthe ran, putting as much distance as possible between her and the monster. If I am correct, it charges for the nearest target. Looking back, Xanthe saw the bull turn toward Rachael, the closest person to it. She grinned. Perfect.
Xanthe spun again, sized up the beast, and waited for it to rush Rachael. It charged, sending Rachael screaming, running, then dive-rolling to escape once again. Xanthe came up behind the Rampaging Taurus, swiping it.
She repeated the tactic until her AP gauge had filled, granting her the power to perform a forbidden dance imbued with magic, the Alluring Waltz. But first, the bull had to watch, and for that, Xanthe ran to Rachael and pushed her away, making the shadow angel its target. The Rampaging Taurus rushed her. Xanthe performed the two-second, seductive dance and hoped she would finish it before the bull hit.
She did, and her body pulsed with astral energy, mesmerizing the bull. It was under her control, so she ordered it to bash its head against a nearby boulder. She had control of it for three actions, and her persuasion stat was three too. The more persuasion Xanthe had, the more actions a charmed target would perform by her command. And the more charisma I have, the higher the persuasion.
Rachael looked impressed. “Now’s our chance. Let’s run.”
Xanthe shook her head. “No, that won’t last for long, we need to slay it to end the threat.”
Xanthe dual-wielded her blades again and attacked the monster from behind. Rachael joined in and smashed her Oak Staff against it.
The Rampaging Taurus’s HP depleted quick.
HP: 91%
HP: 76%
HP: 59%
And Xanthe’s AP rose fast.
Her charm’s effect faded, and the Rampaging Taurus spun to resume its attack against the two. Xanthe smiled and looked at its HP.
HP: 23%
Almost dead. I suppose I shall put it out of its misery.
She ended it with Brisk Strike, stabbing out its left eye. A wave of blood splattered on her when she pulled the Steel Edge free from its head. Xanthe jumped and twirled behind the bull so fast that Rachael had searched about, wondering what happened. Xanthe finished her attack with a thrust into the Rampaging Taurus’s backside with her follow-up slash. The monster fell over, crying out a grunt of pain. Behind the dead beast stood Xanthe, resting her Steel Edge and Heavy Kilij to her side, smiling at Rachael’s shocked face.
The Rampaging Taurus evaporated seconds later, gifting the two with a selection of loot.
Rachael strode forward, ignoring the drop. Xanthe did not and lowered herself to inspect it.
Silver Chain Robe [Chain Armor]
Rank: D
Defense: 4 Magic Defense: 3
Wisdom +1
Sigil Space: 5
Requires: 46 Wisdom
Useless to Xanthe . . . but for a Medic?
“Wait,” Xanthe called out. She picked up the Silver Chain Robe and handed it to Rachael. “Put this on.”
Rachael looked at it, scoffed, then faced her. “Why?”
“One.” Xanthe pointed at Rachael’s star-dweller nurse uniform. “It has better stats than what you have. Two, imperials are searching for star-dwellers, like you.” Rachael took it, held it up, and groaned. She would have to strip naked to put it on, and they were out in the middle of the field. Rachael’s face turned bright red when she shed her uniform and the white stockings on her legs.
Xanthe did not spin around. She liked what she saw, the pale flesh of a half-naked star-fae—her breasts, covered by her white bra, jiggled as she got dressed. “Now you look like one of us.”
Rachael examined her waist and arms, glancing at the gap on the Silver Chain Robe’s back for her wings. It looked like a short dress made of silver, complete with knee-high boots that materialized on Rachael after she put it on. “Now I’m showing too much skin!”
“Giving you the power to put on a few more sigils.”
“So, the more skin you show . . .”
“The more abilities you gain, at the cost of defense from what I gathered.”
“But look at this!” Rachael tugged the edges of the Silver Chain Robe, bringing attention to the slits on its sides. It displayed her body’s shape from the side of her torso, right down to her thighs. “If I get stabbed there, I’m dead.”
“Not so,” Xanthe said. “You are dead when your HP hits zero, not because someone puts a blade to your exposed skin. Besides, what you wear now still has greater defense than what you had.”
“This is weird.”
“And these weird game rules, as you call them, have kept me alive so far. Just go with it. And . . .” Xanthe slapped Rachael’s arse. “. . . I think it looks sexy, darling.”
Rachael grunted at her, holding her rear where Xanthe had touched it. The duo traveled north, following the ships in the skies. Xanthe led the way through the tall grass and past massive rocks in the field. On the horizon were high hills in the distance with a dirt path leading to the next city, the capital. Rachael got upset at the cluster of trees they approached. It would have been a great spot for her to hide behind as she got dressed.
Growls echoed from the side as another Rampaging Taurus challenged Xanthe and Rachael, digging its forward left hoof into the grass. Xanthe answered the challenge and drew her blades. Rachael did so too and pulled her Oak Staff out.
“Okay, star-woman. Let us see what you can do!”
Standing shoulder to shoulder, the two girls prepared to display their powers.
Rachael held the bull’s attention, Xanthe built AP from behind and used Alluring Waltz to charm it, then the duo killed it. After several kills, the pair gathered new spoils to use.
Crimson Bedlah [Dancer’s Atti
re]
Rank: D
Defense: 6 Magic Defense: 4
Charisma +1 Strength +1
Sigil Space: 5
Requires: 66 Charisma
Now it was Xanthe’s turn to get naked and change. Like Rachael, Xanthe’s new red outfit flaunted more of her skin, arms, abs, back, and legs. That was okay, as it gave Xanthe alternative spots to place her sigils. Xanthe could use her four sigils now—Enthrall, Swiftness, Blade, and Manipulation—returning her access to Lightning Dash and leaving her with the option to equip a fifth sigil when the time came.
As the duo pushed on, the slain beasts left new spoils, mostly random sigils. Xanthe made Rachael take them all since she lacked spells apart from Medica. The added sigils of Heart, Transmogrification, Restore, and Recovery gave Rachael the spells Regeneration and Recovery Orb.
With the new gear and sigils Rachael had, their task became more manageable. Mistakes were not a death sentence. Rachael just cast Recovery Orb on the field, and then either she or Xanthe raced to pick it up and recover HP. None of that would have been possible had Rachael not equipped the Silver Chain Robe.
Xanthe sheathed her weapons. “See?”
Rachael nodded. “That was . . . better than I thought.”
“Enemies are not so much of a threat if you end them quickly.”
“I wonder how many sigils I can equip if I wear a bikini . . .”
“Let’s not go overboard.” They laughed and filled the air with happiness.
“That bikini would need to have good stats anyway.”
The Rampaging Tauruses became less frequent during their travels, providing much-needed relief—and Rachael with her 8th level. However, there was a small, wooded area infested with giant hawks.
Razor Hawk | LVL: 10 | Rank: C | HP: 100%
Their razor-pecking beaks were painful on the head. Thankfully, Rachael’s healing was on point, casting Medica when she and Xanthe stood back to back, casting Recovery Orb as a form of proactive healing, or Regeneration, a spell that recovered HP over time.
The Recovery Orb surprisingly increased their damage output. Since the orbs remained on the ground for them, Rachael just had to cast Recovery Orb two or three times to conjure the orbs, then help Xanthe swat down the giant predatory hawks with her Oak Staff. Xanthe’s new attire added a new means to fight, thanks to the new sigil setup. She would use Lightning Dash first, granting her increased mobility and attack speed, allowing her to build AP even faster. After that, she would finish targets off with either Brisk Strike or charm them with Alluring Waltz and force the hawks to leave them alone for three attacks.
Xanthe has attained level 11!
Her progression carried on.
Rachael has attained level 9!
So did the star-fae’s, as their inventories swelled up with the loot gained.
Tanashia’s splendor appeared on the horizon, its walls keeping unwanted eyes away from the city’s structures, castle, and towers. If you looked closely enough, you could spot sentinel ships parked on the castle towers like birds looking down at the lands below. The two watched them from the top of a cliffside. The path leading down the cliff was long. It would take them an hour to traverse its spiraling pathway to reach the bottom. Jumping down would be faster.
That gave Xanthe a crazy idea.
“Let’s leap off,” she said. “We have wings, and the winds feel right.”
Rachael looked at the drop and her face turned pale. “Uh . . . my wings won’t last long.”
“I have seen fae glide safely across jumps like this. You do not even need to flap them. Keep your wings spread and glide with the wind.”
“I don’t know, Xanthe.”
“Oh, nonsense, you can do it.” Xanthe spread her large raven wings. “Just follow behind me.”
Xanthe took a few steps back, ran for the drop, and jumped off the cliff.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Xanthe glided with her wings spread, caught the winds, and soared above the trees, rocks, and tall grasses, casting her double shadow to the deadly drop. Somewhere behind, she heard Rachael panic, and she hoped she followed; otherwise, Rachael would have to traverse through the paths alone.
And waste Xanthe’s time while she waited.
“I must be out of my mind!” Rachael’s voice echoed in the air.
Rachael made the jump, her fairy wings spread but not buzzing. Like Xanthe, Rachael allowed her light body and wings to drift over nature’s splendor below. The two were like the birds in the sky with massive grins. They were soaring with arms and wings stretched, their hair fluttering.
The duo landed perfectly in the field fifteen minutes later, shaving hours off their journey. Rachael took a few minutes to calm her rattled nerves and let her body adjust to the reality that was life outside a star-dweller ship.
Tanashia’s walls were intimidating and a reminder of why nobody dared challenge the empire. No fae nation had the siege weapons needed to break it down, and that was assuming the sentinels allowed them to get that far. Sneaking past the gate was easy. A caravan of tradespeople had approached, forcing the imperial guards to stand aside and raise the gates. Rachael and Xanthe walked with the caravan, heads low, hands folded.
Once past the gates, the two broke away from the traveling merchants and vanished deep into the city streets, watching its crowded citizens move under the shadows cast by the walls. Rachael gave the walls a long stare, then gestured to the imperial castle with its multiple bridges connecting the castle walls to the city ones.
“Why do they have to make it so tall?” Rachael asked.
Xanthe shrugged. “Fae designed and built it.”
“So?”
“They can fly. People who fly tend to build tall structures.”
They made a slow slog through the market area, unable to spot afflicted merchants and their bottomless stocks, or anyone with an assigned class.
“Nobody is afflicted,” Rachael whispered to her.
“Not one person,” Xanthe said. “Let us avoid using our screens, shall we? Make them think we are like them.”
That meant running into the alley to use their inventory, while hoping the White Dragon did not push new quest notifications into their faces.
“Might be best if you took the lead going forward,” Xanthe said to Rachael.
“Why?”
Xanthe pointed out why. Three shadow angels walked carrying purchased goods for their noblemen fae masters. “Shadow angels are not supposed to have freewill here.”
So Xanthe assumed the look of the shadow angels she saw, kept her hands folded, hid her weapons in her inventory when nobody was looking, and ambled behind Rachael, playing the role of a slave girl. And Rachael? She kept her hair tied back to give the false impression it was short and played the role of a master taking her slave out for a walk. How degrading. Finding Leafblade and slitting his fucking throat was going to be satisfying.
The two pushed through the crowded city streets with the strange sentinel ships in the air, drifting like they watched the residents. Truly a terrifying sight. What do the sentinels want with the empire and its people? And why were none of its citizens afflicted?
The castle’s front gate stopped the two. It had one too many guards standing on patrol, long pikes in hand, cuirasses gleaming in the twin sunlight whenever the shadows of the ships above moved away.
“Well, that will not work,” Xanthe commented.
“You there!”
That was not Rachael’s voice.
They spun to see a lone imperial guard approach, having caught Xanthe and Rachel watching the gate. He aimed his pike forward, its tip too close to Xanthe’s face. The guard did not put any fear in her. The affliction never changed him and the two could quickly kill him. It was the sentinels above that trembled her. Nothing was stopping the machina men from dropping to attack.
“State your business!” the guard yelled.
Xanthe spun from the tip of the pike, took three steps forward. “We w
ere just leaving.”
Rachael turned for Xanthe, running to keep up with her, holding one hand out. “Xanthe! Wait!”
But she did not wait. The guard caught them, and putting as much distance between them and the ships above was their best course should a brawl ignite.
The guard sneered. “Listen to your master, shadow angel.”
Xanthe gritted her teeth. Right, she had a role to play, the loyal slave girl. She returned to Rachael, just in time to see the alerted guards near the gate approach them, likely having heard the commotion. Now they were fucked—
A hand stroked the side of Xanthe’s left cheek and jaw. It was the first guard she turned her back to. “Ah, I know what is going on,” the guard said and looked at Rachael. “Leafblade sent for her, right?”
Rachael grimaced. “Umm.”
“Do not worry,” he said. “We will keep your secret. Go on in, put that shadow angel to work. Our men could use the entertainment. And it looks like you could use the money Leafblade’s gonna offer you for selling him a new slave.”
Rachael bowed to the guard. “Uh, thank you.”
“Praise be to Asteria,” the guard added.
“Uh, yeah.” Rachael hid her nervousness with a smile. “Umm, praise be!”
She wasn’t bad at acting like a land-fae. The guard gave the word to his comrades: Let Xanthe and Rachael into the castle. Its gates lifted open, and the sounds of its chains pulling up filled the silence that dropped.
A new world waited for them as they entered.
The imperials decorated the palace’s halls with black and gold tiles on the floor, and glimmering crystal chandeliers above powered by star-dweller machina energy. They had called it electricity, right? Whoever built the palace covered its walls with mirrors, and ahead of them were exotic plants with green and yellow leaves and buds of purple flowers. The plants came from another planet, one Xanthe had never visited.
Rachael wanted to keep playing her part, but the hesitation in her stride suggested she had no idea where to go in the maze of mirrored halls. Her trembling legs were going to give them away unless she got a grip.
Star Paladin: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 1) Page 28
