The Dark Lord and Lady of Light might be reassured in their forces. I will let them fight it out at the end of this war as I collect my lost power.
The Earth Lord’s bulk shifted slightly as he rested his head against his hand, gazing into the pool. A horde of goblins appeared in a number of the different ripples that made up the viewing pool.
***
“I am free!” a woman yelled as she raised her hands up into the air in excitement. Her eyes glowed red as her teeth extended into spikes and her hands into claws as wings sprouted from her back. She was a beautiful woman, in her prime and with looks that would draw anyone’s eye.
Behind her, nearly a hundred other people wearing black clothes accented in red appeared. All of them had red eyes, as well as wings and claws. Their eyes flicked around before settling down. Seeing that they were safe, their features reverted, making them appear almost human. Each of them was stunningly beautiful and handsome; they looked like a family of models. Each of them had a noble and powerful aura about them, as if they totally controlled the space in which they were in.
“Mother, what shall we do?” a sturdily built man with rippling muscles that augmented his looks instead of making him look hefty asked.
“We will move slow. It might have been a day since we were caught in that prison; it might be a millennia,” the woman addressed as “Mother” said.
“We will stay here?” One of the women looked in disgust at the surrounding area. They were within some city’s sewer system.
“We were banished once and we have been given a chance. We must move slowly and cautiously to regain our lost power and position.” Their mother looked to the others.
These noble-looking people nodded assent, all of them looking to please their “mother.”
“Now go, and find out what this world has to offer. Gilez, Durnst—stay.”
The nearly one hundred pale-looking individuals turned into shadows, disappearing in moments.
Only three people remained: the mother, Gilez, and Durnst, the large man who had spoken first.
“Durnst, I sense another powerful practitioner of the Dark arts. Go look for them and see what their desires are. We are weak right now and must recover our strength quickly.”
“Yes, Mother.” Durnst bowed slightly, shadows wrapping around him. It seemed he had teleported as the shadows disappeared, as did any sign of him.
“Gilez, we will make a home here,” the mother said.
Gilez nodded. The two of them looked like sisters with looks that would make many people’s minds go blank.
Dark Mana circulated around them as they directed their power at the area around them. The sewer walls started to firm up, the cracks and breaks fusing back together into one solid whole. A doorway appeared in one of the walls. Gilez threw out Mana torches that landed in holders on either side of the doorway. Past the doorway, they created a long corridor of stone.
It stopped at some solid gates of metal before continuing past and branching into various rooms. They walked through what they had created, adding torches as they reached the weaving corridors.
With a wave of their hands, stone and metal bent to their will, expanding outward to create a truly massive open underground area. Gilez and the mother were both panting as they completed this area. They had moved thousands of tons of material in just a few short minutes. They had also had to work to push the material not just upward but outward so that a massive hill didn’t just appear in the ground.
“I have burned a lot of my remaining blood essence,” Gilez said.
“This is the strength and weakness of our people. With enough blood essence, we can use it to manipulate our Dark Mana to carry out spells and actions well above our level, but we burn blood essence to live and to carry out our magic. We will have to try to harvest some more blood essence in the near future.” The mother pulled out a ruby-colored stone that she passed to Gilez and popped another in her own mouth, swallowing it down.
Her power increased a hundred times with swallowing that gem. Gilez, too, stood a bit taller, her vitality returning to her as her eyes flashed red for a moment.
In the stone cavern, metal and stone started to spiral out of the ground and formed into a massive castle that reached up to the top of the open space and was rooted deep below the floor of the area.
By the end of it, Gilez was slightly sweating, her pale features becoming clammy.
The castle was something that only people on Malsour’s level could make in one sitting. However, these two had been able to make it in one shot, speaking of their innate power.
“Looks just like our old home,” Gilez said, sadness in her voice.
“Do not worry, Gilez. This time we will not be broken apart and hunted down like dogs. We were cursed with the affliction of needing blood essence to survive; we will not allow it to be the root of our destruction,” the mother said. “When the others return, I want you to lead hunting parties to hunt down creatures for their blood essence.”
“Mother, the creatures might be strong but few of them are as powerful as the players and the people of Emerilia.” Gilez was one of the few who would dare to even possibly sound as if she disagreed with the mother.
“Our hunting and feeding on people is what led to them turning against us and hunting us down, turning into a war between us and the people of Emerilia. The Dark Lord might have supported us in a limited way, but make no mistake—it was only as he hoped to gain more power from us,” the mother said.
“You want us to ally ourselves with the people of Emerilia?” Gilez asked.
“I want to see if this time we don’t need to fight one another. I do not wish to see any more of my family lost to wars and battles that could be avoided.” The mother moved toward the large castle, its massive gates opening before her.
The mother and her clan were not the only people to return to Emerilia, but the majority of them decided to lay low in order to try to figure out what had happened to Emerilia while they were gone.
Chapter 23: Sightings
Lucy finished reading the report in front of her. “It looks like I was right.” She sighed to herself as she dismissed the screen and opened up a private chat with Josh.
“What’s up?” Josh answered a few moments later.
“The creatures and people are being released into Emerilia still. They look to be centered around cities for the most part. Many of them are being hidden away in different corners. Looks like the Jukal game masters didn’t like us getting to the spawn points early and cutting down on the collateral damage,” Lucy said.
“What happened?” Josh’s voice hardened as he braced himself for the news.
“At Emkari, there had been a number of reported missing people in the surrounding areas. It seems that there were a large number of wraiths that had spawned around the town. At night, they attacked the outlying communes, farms, and travelers. In the day, they hid. Last night, they swarmed in toward the main city. Thankfully, someone saw them early on and they figured out what they were. A big fight ensued but the wraiths barely passed by the walls, making it through and descending upon the civilians of the town to devour their life force and build up their own strength.
“The city was able to kill them off, but there is only a third of the population left in the town,” Lucy said.
“Shit,” Josh said. Neither of them spoke for a while.
“There’s nothing that we could have done. By the time we knew what was going on, the people of Emkari were already fighting off the wraith,” Lucy said, trying to console him.
“We have all of these fighters here but we weren’t even able to stop a flood of wraiths.” Josh let out a heavy breath.
“Well, it makes it clear that people’s defenses aren’t as good as they could be. Already people are working to reinforce their cities. They can’t rely on us all the time,” Lucy said.
“I know, but I still feel responsible,” Josh said.
“Well, stop. We’ve got our
own battles to fight and trying to put out every little fire is just going to tear the alliance apart.”
“Thanks, Lucy. I needed to hear someone say it, but these decisions aren’t easy,” Josh said with a dry laugh.
***
Dave frowned at Deia as he bounced Koi in his arms. “I know that there’s no way in hell that I can stop you from going out on a quest, and I’m wrapped up in things here so I can’t leave.” Dave’s features softened as he smiled and put out his hand.
Deia held it, a relieved smile on her face. She didn’t want to have a fight with Dave but she wanted to get stronger and do something. Quests were good for experience and it got her out of Terra for a bit.
“Take care.”
“I will,” she promised, kissing Dave quickly.
“And try not to get into too much trouble!”
“Me? Get into trouble? I don’t even want to know half of the things you’re doing down in Pandora’s that could get you in trouble.” Deia snorted.
Dave smiled sheepishly.
“I’ll see you in a few days hopefully.” Deia grabbed her bag of holding and put it on her back.
“Okay.” Dave smiled.
She gave him another kiss and gently kissed Koi, who was sleeping on her father’s shoulder. With that, she quickly left the apartment and headed out to meet the rest of Party Zero who were joining her on the quest.
She felt butterflies in her stomach as she left behind Dave and Koi. She was happy to be around them but she also wanted adventure. While Dave was working on whatever he was doing in Pandora’s box, he could also look after Koi.
“Okay, let’s go see what’s happening in Ecora!” Deia said.
Induca, Gurren, and Lox were all waiting in their various armors with their various items of holding filled and ready to go.
“To Strabon kingdom!” Gurren, in his Devastator armor, raised his fist into the air in a valiant manner as they walked through Terra and toward the teleport pad that would take them to the city of Ecora.
***
Party Zero immediately drew stares as they exited the ono in Ecora. The teleportation network was still growing. Its cost was extremely high and although the Aleph were faster than anyone else, it still took them a lot of time to create the onos.
“Looks like we have to go to the city manor and talk to the mayor’s steward to get this quest.” Deia checked her quest log.
“Lead on,” Induca said.
They moved out from where the ono was located. Ecora was a decent sized town, based in the Strabon kingdom on Ashal. The city was a base for people and players who were looking to venture into the Ashal wilderness in order to harvest the precious materials of the land—from herbs and spices to ores and trees or to fight the great beasts of the wilderness, selling their meat, bones and hide at Ecora.
The city was filled with high-leveled people. Most of them had a rugged, hardy look to them. It took a certain kind of person to come out to Ashal in order to try to make a living. Unlike many of the other towns that were on the other continents, there weren’t many children around. Instead, there were taverns, blacksmiths, traders, and the three main guilds.
Food that was sold here was dried and salted for people who were headed out into the wilderness again. All of the farming took place within the city walls, taking up most of the space. If these farms were to be outside of the city walls, then those who tended to them would be killed off by the beasts that roamed around long ago.
There were only two gates out of the city. One led to Iudarai, the capital of the Strabon kingdom. The other led to Iagadas, the port city where the first settlers of the Strabon kingdom had landed. With the arrival of the various sea beasts, sea travel had become harder and harder, making it so that the travel to Iagadas had decreased.
With the ono in both Iagadas and Ecora, there was little need to make the dangerous trek to Iudarai to transport their goods to different continents in order to make a higher profit. The area around the ono had the heaviest traffic in the town.
Most of the houses within Ecora were made from stone, as were their walls. This made their city much more expensive material-wise compared to other cities, but also easier to defend as there were fewer items to be burnt, and they offered greater protection. The beasts of Ashal didn’t just move along the ground. They could come from the skies; having a beast unleash Air or Fire attacks from above wasn’t uncommon.
Massive defensive works and twin gates ringed the town. The small town had defenses that could compare to the walls around Nadorf, the capital of Opheir.
People talked to one another, watching Party Zero. In Ashal, strength was praised and weakness shunned. Many of the people in Ecora could tell that they were a strong party. Even if they had lower levels than those that grinded out experience. They had an aura that made others treat them with respect.
It didn’t take them long to reach the city manor. It was built more like a miniature castle than a government building. In fact, all of the larger homes within Ecora were also like small castles, even having their own defensive walls.
Guards watched them with cold eyes as they went into the manor.
“Hello. We’re here from the Stone Raiders’ guild to take on a quest given out by the city’s mayor.” Deia moved to the main desk within the front of the castle.
To Deia’s eye, she could see this desk might also be used as a barricade for archers to fire over or melee types to use to defend their legs.
A beefy-looking man studied them all before he let out a grunt of praise. “There is no need to see the mayor. I can award you the quest myself,” the man said in a deep voice.
I would think that he would make more sense to be a guard captain leader than a secretary. There really are none who are faint of heart in the Ashal continent.
Even though Party Zero and the Stone Raiders had been on the Ashal continent for some time, they had been dealing with the Six Affinities Temple or Devil’s Crater; they hadn’t had time to go to the other nations or cities on the continent.
A screen appeared in front of Deia and the rest of Party Zero.
Quest: Sightings and Disappearances
Animals have been going missing from around town and there have been fewer creatures in the wilderness around Ecora. A number of people who were drinking have also disappeared; people in cloaks have been seen moving through the forests outside of Ecora.
Find out what is taking these people and animals and report it to the Ecora Mayor for his decision.
Failure:
All of the party dies without completing the quest
Do not find the cause of the disturbances
Rewards: 15,000 Gold
Experience
Strabon Kingdom’s Favor
“What’s this Strabon kingdom’s favor?” Deia looked up from the quest.
“It’s a token that you can use to enter any city within the kingdom for free. It will also give you a discount at many of the businesses within the Strabon kingdom and their cities,” the secretary said, not sounding interested in the slightest.
“Do you have somewhere that we could start looking for information on these disappearances?” Induca asked.
“The farmers and maybe the people who work in the sewers. Though the farmers are more likely to give you an earful of not much use. They lost their animals and they’re all annoyed about it.” The secretary rolled his eyes. “Trust me, they’re just going to tell you the same crap and demand someone pays for the animals they lost.”
“Thanks for the advice,” Gurren said.
“No worries. Hopefully you can stop them from annoying me about their prize-winning bear hog.” The secretary snorted.
“Thank you for the information. Hopefully we should have this sorted out quickly,” Deia said.
“Good luck.” The secretary returned to his work as Party Zero turned around and started to leave the city manor, now with markers on their map that highlighted the farmers and the people who went into th
e city sewers a lot. The sewers were the only place someone might be able to hide within the city. If they weren’t there, then they must be outside of the city, which would make Party Zero’s work harder.
“Okay, so off to see the people who work in the sewers?” Lox asked.
“Just a moment. Dave taught me his Touch of the Land spell. My version isn’t as strong as his, but I want to test it out,” Deia said.
“Well, let’s go to somewhere that doesn’t have so many people in it,” Induca said.
They quickly moved away from the main roads and to an alleyway out of the way. Gurren and Lox blocked off either side so that Deia could concentrate.
She muttered a few words as a spell formation formed a sphere around her. It seemed to solidify before expanding outward. It only went a few feet before the lights for the spell formation seemed to dissipate. Although the formation couldn’t be seen, Deia now saw the world in a completely different view.
She let out a breath. She could see and sense everything within three hundred meters of her. This kind of information overload, the power that she felt at seeing this all, was similar to when she tapped into her true magical power.
It was almost god-like.
She looked into the sewers, unable to find anything significant.
“Let’s go around the city so that I can build up a map of this place,” Deia said. Right now their map only consisted of the maps that they had combined. By using Deia’s own findings from her Touch of the Land, they’d be able to get a clear picture of not only the city but everything underneath it.
Night descended by the time they had completed mapping out the city.
“Looks like there are a number of ways in and out of the city through the sewers. Maybe the people who work in the sewers can help us out,” Deia said.
“Just so happens that they’re all in taverns for the most part,” Gurren said, as if a wise sage passing on priceless knowledge.
“Indeed, it does seem that way,” Lox said. A split seemed to appear in the back of his Devastator armor as he stepped out and onto the ground. With a wave of his hand, his armor disappeared into a spatial ring he wore.
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