LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 36: Dark Happenings
[Luna POV]
After that day me and Velvet went around the north and south parts of the city. I got a general lay of the land and after that we spent the rest of the time getting me used to teleporting. That experience was horrible though I did level up my space magic to nine. My other stats are still listed as error, so I guess the God of Statuses is still working on the system. Today we headed to the guild to finally start taking quests again.
When we got there, I got a few wary looks from some of the adventurers, but I just ignored them. We headed to the counter and greeted Shuten and Ibaraki.
“Hello you two, long time, no see.”
“Oh Miss Luna, Miss Velvet, it’s good to see the both of you. Before you continue anything today, will you please head up to see the guild master?”
I looked at Velvet, but she shrugged her shoulders, also confused.
“You need to go see him since he is the only one who can remove restrictions placed on an adventurer. Otherwise, you won’t be able to take quests.”
“I see, Velvet, since I was the only one to have a restriction, will you look for a quest or two for us?”
“Sure, any preference?”
“Subjugation if you can, I want to move around a bit.”
“Got it.”
We parted ways, Velvet went to the board and its hoard, and I went up to the fourth floor. I approached the guild master’s office and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
“Good morning, Guild Master Vince.”
“Hello Miss Luna, it seems you are in better condition than the last time we met.”
“I am, sorry for the trouble from last time.”
“It’s fine, everything has been settled, at least for you. It seems that Baron Du-Fis’s brother likes to kick up trouble a lot. Apparently, he managed to harass both the daughter of Duke Ashe and the second Princess before the Baron left.”
“I knew about the incident with the duke’s daughter, I witnessed it, but I didn’t know anything about the second Princess. What was his punishment?”
“He was disowned for the incident with Miss Ashe and castrated and sent to serve under your father for the incident with the second Princess.”
“I kind of pity him now, knowing dad, he wont last long during training.” ‘If Soleil doesn’t get to him first.’ I thought, intentionally triggering a flag.
“It’s what he deserves for refusing to learn his lesson and messing with the daughters of the three most prominent people in the country.”
“Can’t argue with that. Anyway, I have come to get my restriction lifted.”
“OK, hand me your card and I’ll take care of the rest.”
I handed over my guild card and decided to ask; “How has the strange undead situation gone?”
The guild master grimaced as he spoke.
“There have only been a few more sightings, but we did learn that it’s the work of a powerful necromancer, possibly more.”
“Anything on motives?”
“No, but this isn’t something you should worry about. I would like your help with purifying any undead you find, but you need to raise your level more, I can’t have a promising adventurer like you die because you took on someone higher level than you.”
“I see.”
I took back my guild card and made some small talk until I took my leave.
‘It feels weird for people to think I’m weak due to my level.”
{That’s just how people in this world are. Most of them think level is everything with the exception of certain people like your parents and S-rank adventurers. They understand that base stats are more important since those don’t have a cap to stop growing, unlike levels.}
‘I wonder how that is going to work when the stat system finishes its update?’
{I don’t know either.}
‘You would think the guild master would be aware that level isn’t everything though.’
{He probably is, but you constantly have the restraint skill activated, so you give off the impression of someone at your level.}
‘I forgot about that skill.’
{How do you forget about a skill when you look at your status every day?}
‘I didn’t mean it like that, I meant that I forgot I always have it active. I haven’t fought anything for the past two weeks, so I got used to the feeling of it on, though that will hopefully change today.’
{Are you going to try out your new knives and dagger today?}
‘Those and my short sword. I don’t want to get rusty.’
I made my way to where I saw Velvet waiting, she had two quest papers in her hand.
“What ya got for us today, Velvet?”
“Wolves and goblins.”
“I haven’t fought wolves before so that’ll be fun, but goblins again, really.”
“Don’t complain, we are still low rank. We can’t take on anything bigger yet, officially speaking.”
“I guess you’re right. Let’s head out then.”
We accepted the quests at the counter and left the city. Once we were a good distance away, I grabbed on to Velvet and blinked us to our destination. When we got there a sickening smell hit us.
“This place smells like rot and death. I wonder what happened between yesterday and today.”
“I don’t know, and I don’t like it, be prepared for anything, Luna.”
I conjured some purifying fox fire and made it float around me and Velvet in small fireball shapes. We hesitated for a minute but still decided to head into the forest.
“When I was talking with the guild master, he said that the undead were made by a necromancer, maybe more than one.”
“Did he give you any other details?”
“No, said if I was stronger, he would ask my help in purifying them, but refused to go any further.”
“How does he not notice your strength?”
“The restraint skill.”
“Makes sense.”
“Shh. Something is coming, fast. Get up in a tree.”
We jumped up into the branches of the trees around us and looked down. I could hear the rustling and snapping of bushes and twigs as whatever was coming ran in our direction. After a few minutes a wolf that was heavily injured tumbled into the spot we were just at.
It was bleeding from scratches all over its body and it was missing an ear. It tried to stand up again but before it could an eerie noise sounded. It was the rattling of bones and shambling of feet. Three wolf skeletons appeared followed by a ghoul.
I looked over to Velvet and she nodded her head. I waited for anymore undead to show up, but none did, so I manipulated my fox fire and aimed it at my targets. I shot the ghoul with most of the prepared fox fire since it was considered a mid-tier undead.
It let out a raspy shriek before crumbling into ash. I then shot the remaining fox fire at the skeletal wolves, and they proceeded to turn to ash as well. The other wolf that was on the verge of death stared at the piles of ash before collapsing. We jumped down from our hiding places and went over to the wolf.
It looked at me and I could tell it was begging to be put out of its misery. I drew my new dagger and knelt down beside the wolf. I stabbed it straight through the heart and it let out its final breath.
“I know we came here to hunt wolves, but this doesn’t sit right with me.”
“I agree that wolf was a strange one, they normally don’t show such intelligence or weakness. Maybe it was close to evolving.”
“Velvet, we need to go and report to the guild now, I’m getting a bad feeling.”
“OK.”
“We’re going straight to the guild master’s office from here.”
“Are you sure?”
“We don’t have time to hesitate, they’re a bit far off, but there is a lot of movement happening around us and none of it sounds natural.”
“Let’s go then.”
I grab onto Velvet and teleport away.
[??? POV]
“Damn! I guess I need to move up the invasion early. I knew I should have set up shop further from the capital, but it’s too late now.”
A robed figure stood in the spot that Luna and Velvet were at a few short moments ago. He lowered his hood to reveal a bald head and a fin on the back of his neck. Soon a black and purple magic circle formed under the man’s feet.
“It’s time to rise my army! We shall storm this city and make it a sacrifice in order to revive our King! There are no more heroes capable of destroying him left in this world!”
The magic circle started to shine brighter, and one could see similar light coming from the other forests surrounding the capital of Savanna.
“Oh, King of Fiends R’lyeh, your humble servant will offer you a sacrifice most grand!”
[Atmos POV]
“It seems like Luna will be moving on to the Celestia Kingdom faster than I thought.”
{What do you mean, Atmos?}
“I mean what I said, she’s about to start earning experience by the bucketload if thing go as I think they will.”
{Is that stupid cult starting to move?}
“Yep, and it just so happens that its leader is leading the charge this time.”
{So that idiotic porpoise is finally ready to get killed.}
“I think the God of Death’s curse finally eroded his mind enough to get him to stop thinking straight.”
{Why didn’t he just send out his Apostle to deal with him?}
“I told him to hold off, unless of course, you want your wife to remain in the same city for several years struggling to gain more tails.”
{Would she really be stuck there that long?}
“There was a high possibility, once she gets her second tail, leveling up in this country will be too slow and she needs to get over her trauma of dungeons. If there wasn’t a push like this, that damn porpoise would grow an even larger army and we would need to unseal those two to take care of whatever fiend he managed to summon.”
{Thanks for looking out for Luna like this, Atmos.}
“Anything for my sister’s happiness. I really can’t wait to see your surprise when she succeeds with her goal.”
Author's Note:
We have some plot moving action today, my friends. I hope it wasn't too sudden a jump from slow peaceful things to actiony stuff. Please let me know if it was and I will try to improve in the future. Thanks for reading.