* * *
An alarm blared in my head just a minute after I set the world to fast forward. This has never happened… In a rush to see what was going on, I tried to access that alarm with my mind, focusing on it to figure out the cause.
Emergency detected! Class 3 Spirit detected. Immediate action required to preserve the safety of the inhabitants!
“Uhm… what?” I did not have the slightest idea what that meant, so I turned towards the map, while sending messages to both Irena and Terra. One of those two should know about this situation.
“What’s wrong, Dale?” Irena’s reply came back a moment later, as she appeared in the room behind me. She looked as calm as ever, so it seemed as if she did not know what was going on.
“There’s a--” I started to explain, before the door slammed open, Terra running into the room.
“Where did that thing come from?!” She yelled, and the map instantly changed from its normal colored view to monochromatic. It was only at this point that I really saw what was happening. Across one of the continents, a giant black mass was slowly spreading. Worst yet, this was not an uninhabited continent, and was instead the same one that held the beastkin.
Thankfully, the emergency alarm kicked in before the mass was able to spread to their territory, but it was only days away. Seeing this, Irena furrowed her brows, focusing on something before her face paled slightly. “No… One of them got out?”
“Okay, can someone tell me what is going on, and what we can do to fix it?” I felt like the only one in the dark, and this situation wasn’t going to fix itself.
“I’ll explain. Irena, you go and get rid of that thing .” She looked to the other goddess, who nodded her head, immediately vanishing from the room. “Dale, do you remember the spirit classes you looked up a while back? The ones for monsters?”
I nodded my head slowly, and she explained further. “Most classes don’t actually introduce anything new. Anyone can throw a punch, even if they aren’t a Warrior. The classes simply guide the users along their paths, helping to educate them as they learn their powers. The only exceptions are classes that introduce new systems or energies.”
I was about to ask what this had to do with what was happening, but she stopped me before I could say anything. “This thing… You could compare it to the Chimera Soul class. And, its level would be over two hundred. It must have eaten thousands of other spirits to get this far…”
I paused for a moment as I considered that. “If I officially bought the class, would that slow the growth of these things in the future? Force them to stay at the level limit?”
Terra shook her head to deny that. “No. They’d still grow to this point eventually. If anything, it may speed up the progress by enhancing their intelligence. These things… this problem can’t be ‘fixed’ without going to the afterlife and destroying all of the chimera. Even then, the cycle already began. As long as monster souls go to the afterlife, they will feed on each other.”
My brows knit together, and I asked in a worried tone. “Can Irena deal with these? They are so far above the level limit, right?”
Terra let out a small smile. “Don’t worry. She’s the Goddess in charge of the Underworld. As long as it’s a creature that comes from the Underworld, she has absolute power over it. It’ll just use up a bit of her energy.”
“...That sounds ominous. She can get that energy back, right?”
Terra giggled slightly, nodding her head. “As long as she stays in the Underworld for a few months after this to recharge, she’ll be fine. But that means that she can’t handle this too often. It’d be a good idea to have her take care of the others that are close to breaking through in the Underworld before she rests, and we can start working on some countermeasures.”
I nodded my head slightly, watching the screen as the black mass started to recede.
* * *
In a particular corner of the Great Forest, life was beginning to die out. There was no apparent cause to this, it simply seemed as if all life in the area became ill at once. The plants started to lose their color, the animals moving sluggishly. But none of them could tell what was happening.
If one were to observe the area from above, through the eyes of a spirit, they would see a pool of black slime covering a vast area of the forest. Giant mouths opened and closed at random intervals, as if trying to eat the trees. However, not a single mark was left behind on the living world.
It was at this time that another figure appeared above the black mass. A large, radiant figure with two wings, starting white at the top and darkening as they went down. Her eyes shined with a fierce light as she gazed down at the monster that seemed to want to devour all life.
Raising one slim hand, she slammed it down towards the ground, clenching her fist as if grabbing something. A loud scream echoed out that only this woman could hear. Her fist tightened, and the entire black mass trembled.
“Punishment. Extermination.” When she released her hand, an invisible pressure crashed into the monster. As with all things, it wanted to devour this pressure, but soon learned otherwise. Its entire body was being ripped apart at the seams, torn smaller and smaller as indescribable pain surged through its body.
The winged woman looked out to the horizon, not dropping the pressure in the slightest as she continued to apply it to every part of the giant monster. Only when there was not a single scrap of its existence remaining did she let out a tired sigh of relief. She knew that this was her fault. She had seen the monsters growing like this in the Underworld, but had not stopped them. She had believed that, no matter how much they ate and grew, they could never trespass on their own into the land of the living.
She was wrong.
Chapter 48
A short while later, Irena returned to the Admin Room, breathing heavily as she collapsed onto the bed. “It’s… taken care of.” She spoke to Terra and I, before closing her eyes. It seemed that destroying such a large monster really had taken a heavy toll on her energy.
Terra nodded to me, and motioned for me to leave the bedroom with her so that we could continue talking without disturbing Irena. Just to be safe, I froze the time of the world, so that more of those things wouldn’t get out before Irena was awake to deal with them in the afterlife. “Okay… so, countermeasures. Got any bright ideas?” She asked me once we were outside the room.
I looked blankly at her. “Isn’t that what you are supposed to tell me. I mean, you know how these things work, and what can beat them.”
Terra nodded her head again. “I do, but I can’t outright tell you. At most, I can guide you on the right path, and drop little hints. I can’t actually give you the full explanation unless you witness something yourself. Like how I could tell you about that monster.”
I let out a long sigh, leaning back against the wall. “Well… There is one thing that might work, but I’ll need to raise the level cap again to make it reliable.” Terra smiled, motioning for me to continue. “The Spirit Hunter class. I mean, doesn’t it sound like it was created expressly for this kind of thing? It’s even in the name. But, you said that thing’s level was over two hundred, so even if I trained someone to the max level as a Spirit Hunter, then they would need a massive group just to take out one of those.”
“That sounds like a good plan. Now, how are you going to implement it? Remember, this is something that you have to plan for, so think carefully.” Terra reminded me, crossing her arms under her bust and watching me.
“Well… I don’t want to spread the class out too much. Isn’t this class, and the requisite Spirit Tamer class, the epitome of growing stronger through killing people? If the knowledge of it was spread out too much, I feel like people would use it for evil more than good.” Terra nodded silently as I spoke. “So… It’d be better to make a small group, and have them sworn to secrecy.”
“That could work. Now, how are you going to do it for everyone ? This isn’t just a threat to one or two races, but for all of them. Don
’t you think they’d notice eventually if every race had a secret society formed with the same basic principles?” She grinned wryly as she asked that.
I thought about what she was asking, and could only let out a sigh after several long moments. “We could pass it off as a group formed originally by the gods. If that was the case, it wouldn’t be so weird for every race with a god to have the same sect. That seems like the most believable method to me, at least.”
“Alright, I can accept that. We can even work it into our little deal we had for you to do quests for us when you go back down. We just need to make it so that our quest is for you to establish that group within each of our races.”
“What about Irena?” I asked, looking back to the bedroom. “I don’t have any reason to teach the Spirit Hunter class to the afterlife, they already have it.”
“That’s easy. Spreading her domain in itself could be enough to issue a quest, so her quest could be to teach all of our races.” Terra shrugged her shoulders in response. “You’ll just have to spend a bit of time at each race to train a small group before moving on to the next. But, you should be done in… a month or two, at the latest?”
I smiled bitterly as she said that. I had barely been in this position for a month or two, and now I was going to be spending that amount of time on this single task. “I suppose it would be a bit too much to expect you guys to be able to directly create the sect within your races, huh?”
Terra laughed lightly, nodding again. “That’s right. While we could explain the core aspects, and can take over that once they are given basic training, it is easier to teach through example. If you left it all to us, then they wouldn’t get a full education.”
“Alright, alright. Go tell the others the plan. I’ve got to find a new monster to kill.” If I was going to do this, then I wanted to do it right. Using the spirit of a low level boar would certainly not convey the meaning of strength that I wanted. Thankfully, I had recently purchased monsters that were able to use basic magic, and those should be far more effective for what I wanted.
Seeing as Irena was currently occupying my bedroom, and that I didn’t want to disturb her, I ‘summoned’ my computer to the living room after relocating there. I could probably do this without the computer, but searches like this were better left to a method that I was confident in. I was still getting used to using my own mind to connect to the world.
I did a basic search, monsters able to use magic, searching from the highest level on the planet to the lowest. There… really weren’t that many types of monsters that could use magic so far, as the ones in this tier only had the most simply types of magic. From what I could tell, rather than the tiers representing power, they represented complexity. That’s why monsters from the first tier didn’t have the ability to eventually develop sapience, because they were too simple.
Out of the list, I found a couple that seemed interesting. The first was a bird capable of using some wind magic to accelerate. I imagined myself with armored wings if I used that monster with the Spirit Hunter class. The other, though, seemed far more battle-oriented.
This was a lion, roughly fifty percent larger than the natural breed. However, all of the members looked more similar to a lioness, lacking the signature mane on the males. This was only in their passive state, though, as when a male of this species was angered, a mane of fire would sprout from their head. They could also use this fire to wrap around their claws and fangs, without it harming themselves.
While the bird was interesting, and would certainly provide a good aesthetic, it didn’t provide the same image of strength that a flaming lion offered. As such, I set my target to the rather uncreatively named Firemane Lions. I’d have to hunt down a few of them to be able to properly utilize it, but lions were not solitary creatures in the first place.
After sending my computer back to my room, I waited in the living room for Irena to awaken. I had paused the world until she woke up to prevent any other spirits from crossing over until she was ready, so it would defeat the purpose if I unpaused it so that I could go hunting. Thankfully, she only kept me waiting for a little over an hour before she groggily walked out of my bedroom and towards the living room.
“Evening, Dale.” She said, trying her best to maintain her calm demeanor, but the tired look in her eyes betrayed her.
“Morning, Irena. Sleep well?” I asked with a grin, receiving a small blush in response as the winged goddess averted her eyes. “Don’t worry, we didn’t mind. But, I’ll have to trouble you to take care of the ones still in the afterlife that might break through soon. After that, you can rest for a while.” I explained to her the plan that Terra and I had come up with while she was sleeping.
“I see… that could work. I apologize, I should have seen this coming ahead of time. I’ll need to strengthen the barrier holding them in their part of the underworld, so that they don’t eat through it and attack the general inhabitants.”
Thinking about that, an idea suddenly crossed my mind. “Could you adjust the barrier, so that the repelling force is adjusted by how strong the spirit is? So, weak monster spirits could still cross through to give your people something to train against, but the stronger ones would have a much harder time piercing the wall.”
Irena thought about that for a long moment, before nodding her head. “I could try it, after I take care of the major threats. I don’t want to tamper with the barrier before knowing that it would be safe to do so.”
That was entirely understandable on her part. “Alright. Well, I’ll go ahead and unpause the world, so you can get started on that. I’ve got to go hunting.”
Irena smiled weakly, waiting for me to resume time before vanishing. As for me, I went ahead and sent a message to Terra that I was descending. This time, since I was going down to fight, I chose to stay as a human, the form that I was most familiar with. I was going to have to ascend every time I changed which race I was teaching in the future, so one extra trip wasn’t much. Thankfully, one of the areas ruled by the firemane lions was located in a vast savannah on the beastmen continent. Though they were on the same continent, this was far removed from any of the settlements. Even though they could sense my energy from a day’s walk away, the closest sapient to where I was going this time had to be at least a month’s journey out.
When I descended, I did not forget to take my favorite magical sword, one which added the maximum value to my strength. Since what I was hunting was likely the most powerful creature currently in existence on the planet, there was no way that I was holding myself back to ‘normal’ levels of power.
Closing my eyes, I let the blue light surround me, and quickly felt the tropical breeze blowing against my back. When I opened my eyes, I was looking out at a wide grassland with scattered shrubs. Every so often, there would be a lone tree, but those were few and far between.
In the distance, I could clearly see my targets. A group of ten lions, with nearly a dozen small cubs playing around them. I felt a bit guilty about the cubs, but I had a plan for them as well.
Preparing for the upcoming battle, I let my ki surge through my body. An almost visible pulse of energy was released from my skin, which the lions seemed to detect from over two miles away. The adults quickly moved to stand between myself and the cubs, with one standing at the very front.
Nodding in satisfaction, I determined that the one in the front was likely the male of the pride, and lunged forward. With my Keeper stats bolstering my abilities, every step carried me dozens of meters. Whenever my foot hit the ground, a small explosion rang out, propelling me even faster.
By the time I was in front of the lions, less than a minute had passed. The females of the pride kept herding their kids back, while the male stepped forward. I was finally able to confirm his status when he let out an enraged roar in my direction. Like a peacock, its flaming mane erupted around its head.
If I hadn’t known what to expect, that might have actually scared me off. Instead, I let out a cold smile
, continuing my charge. Once I was about to clash with the lion, it raised its claws, wrapping them in flames as it sliced down towards me.
Sadly, its attack only struck empty air, as I had already begun channeling chakra into my feet to bypass the male. Male lions were notorious for defending their pride, and I couldn’t risk the others running off while he was distracting me. As such, I stepped past the lion during its attack and appeared just behind the lionesses.
Although these were female lions, they were no less fierce. When I appeared, three of them broke off from guarding the cubs to lunge at me. Their own claws likewise sprouted fire as they slashed towards me.
This action naturally enraged the male lion behind me, but before he could even turn around, my arm flashed by. Carrying the strength enchantment from the sword, and with ki enhancing my body even further, I only felt a small resistance as my sword cut through the outstretched legs of the lionesses. With another swing, I severed the three heads of the lionesses, and my body vanished again. Damage numbers appeared above their heads faster than I could watch, and their health plummeted in an instant.
World Keeper: Birth of a World Page 36
