We should be far enough that they can't follow us without me seeing them.
Those little 'things' are really annoying, I shot about 4 of them, they stopped appearing for now, probably knowing that I would shoot them if they were ever in range, because of that they should know our general direction but that's about it.
No wonders the mercs could find us that easily, they had eyes elsewhere.
This is going to be annoying as hell, we should probably leave, even if that means abandoning Andoain, after all those guys are-
"Can you finnaly tell us why were running, or why you're shooting in the air ?"
"Alright, we should be far enough. So, do you guys know anything about the Aegir race ?"
"Aegir ? Why mention that now ? Are we being chased by them ?"
"Yeah, not the most friendly of faction, but normaly they are neutral, although right now we're fighting the part of their faction that's a little less known, their Church."
"Church ? I heard they worship the same god as us ? Why is that a bad thing ?"
"That's just a way to not get caught, some Aegir worship the sea. Which also mean that they lie when they make it seems like they are from Laternien Church."
"Hold on, you mean that they use the Laternien Church as a scape goat for their own church ?"
"Yep, although you'll have to remeber that not ALL of them do that, some truly worship the same god as us, that's the biggest problem actually. If they were all evil we could just cull them by justifying us with their action towards us, but the amount of people being with us is larger than the one worshiping the sea, so it's a difficult topic."
"How do you even know that ? Like, how do you know so much about the world ?"
"I read ?"
"That's not enough to justify you knowing pretty much everything about the world, it's just, too much specifc knowledge."
"Eh, I get by with reading and getting info from rumors and other hear say."
It's not like I can just blur out that I come from another world, where everything is fictional and all of those events already played out so I know the outcome of most things.
Still, Fiammeta is really keen in digging me in a grave, while the other two just watch on the sidelines, they could at least help me out there !
"Right now, what's more important is that we finnish our mission, honnestly, I'm tempted to just recover Andoain and dip out of here, it would be easier and much safer."
"Then why not ?"
"Because we're still in a mission and the higher up are going to nag at me that they didn't get what they wanted from here."
Even if comming here was my idea, I had to convince them to let us go there, a pain I would like to not have to do twice.
I'm really tempted to just outright LEAVE the church and live in Lungmen, or join Rhodes Island.
Wait, Rhodes doesn't exist yet.
Now that I think about it, is saving Theresa a good idea ?
...
I should worry about that later, right now, re focusing unto the more pressing issue.
This question shall be discussed with myself later, considering it would be the biggest change I can possibly make, even bigger than saving Alina up in Ursus which could also derail the story completly.
Damnit, refocusing now...
"-nte, Dante !"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm listening."
"You could at least listen while I'm talking !"
"I was thinking stuff up, sorry if I'm not listening to your nagging."
"Urgh, you're unsufferable !"
... I could make the joke right here.
Let's not...
"Alright, let's talk about what we should do right now. Any suggestion ?"
"Honnestly, getting to Andoain and leaving sounds like the best solution."
"I agree with Lemuen, it's not the best idea to go ahead and fight what is potentially a entire faction with just a team."
"Let's do that."
"Well, if all three of you are all for it, let's do just that then. With that out of the way, Andoain is probably held in their base. The best way for us to get him out with the least problem would be me going alone there and busting him out."
"Are you kidding me ?! And what are we supposed to do then ?"
"That's the neat part, you guys go search for the Chalice."
"?"x3
"Yeah, if we had the Chalice, we would also succeded in our mission, so you girls search for that while I get Andoain. It's the most effective use of our time. Ah, and you girls shouldn't split up, if any of you gets attacked it'll be easier if you are together, no ?"
"You think that going alone in the enemy base is a good idea ?!"
"Calm down, little chick, I'll be fine, and as for you girls, I'll take the blunt force of their attack, you all should be fine."
"What should we do if you die ?!"
"Leave and never come back ? I mean, I guessed it was obvious."
"Y-you, aren't you scared of death or something ?"
"Of course I am, terrefied at the idea that, right now, I could be jumping into an ambush and that I'll be tortured, used as a nest for sea born and turned slowly into a abomination. But that's not going to stop me. And it shouldn't stop you either. If you freeze up infront of a enemy because he is stronger than you, then you already lost the battle. Strengh and numbers aren't everything, and a simple kid with a gun could kill the mightest if he aims correctly and take someone by surprise. Keep calm, analyse your opponent and strategize a way to kill or incapacitate. If you want to kill someone, don't aim at his vitals immediatly, that's the part he'll protect, aim at his joints, arms, legs, all those body parts that are necessary but we use to protect our chest. Get what I mean ?"
"... You... That's ..! Fine. We'll do it your way. Come on, you two."
"Got it, got it. You're comming, Lemuen ?"
"Urgh, you two always only have me as a after thought... Yes, yes, I'm following you."
Nice, now on to finding their base !
Well, it was easier than I thought.
"This is it ? Not that impressive not gonna lie..."
What ?
Someone's comming ..!
"You can say that, it's not supposed to be flashy as to not attract to much attention."
"I see, I see. Well, can you point me towards Andoain ? You know the guy you captured ?"
"As if I would tell you that..."
"Well, at least that confirmed that he was there, thanks !"
"Y-you ..!"
Well, you're the one who fell into the oldest trick in the book...
"Save your breath, brother. We should finnish this fast so that we can have our metamorphisis."
"Your right, brother."
Two of them ?
No... There are more laying in wait.
Let's kill the two hiding first, should be easier since they think I can't sense them at all.
*BANG* *BANG*
...
W-was it supposed to be that easy ?
"Y-you, how ? They we're hiding perfectly and with the help of our kin ! How did you detect them so easily ?"
"... Skills ?"
"What the hell !? Your not even sure yourself or what ?"
"No, no, I'm more surprised by something else..."
Wow~ they sure are angry, not like it's going to help them much !
"You think you can stand againts our might ?! Of course you would be surprised by that !"
"No, it's just..."
...
...
"You guys, are incredibly weak, you see ?"
...
...
"W-what ? I won't stand for this blu-"
*BANG*
*THUD*
Seriously, are they supposed to do anything ? They look like small fries...
Well... Not going to complain about that...
"W-wait ..! I can help you evolve, I'm sure someone like you want power right ?! If you follow us we can give you all the power that you want, become our kin-"
...
*BANG*
...
*THUD*
...
A-are those guys serious ?
I was getting ready to fight something at the level of the bishop in the Under Tides event, you know ?!
I mentally preped myself that I would get mind fucked or something, that I would be a long and perious fight, all for this ?
It's not even worth mentioning...
...
... What Dante didn't stop to consider, is that, in the end, those people were simply liberi.
While they were decent in a close quarter fight, they weren't expecting someone with perfect aiming that can't be avoided and someone with reflex and speed at his level.
He doesn't realise it because he think of them as the same level as people like Skadi, Ulpian and the Emperor Blade he fought. Thinking that 'Since they are fighting those monstrous Aegir then they are monster too.' While not knowing that the Heretical Church can't fight againts a single Abyssal Hunter (Unless they are transformed into Sea born).
All of this to say, those people were just as strong as a elite sarkaz mercenary, but they were caught with their pants down, not thinking someone would brazenly walk up to their base.
They were supposed to become sea born after this mission, if they had their transformation, this fight would have been a brutal one, yet for him right now, it has been a breeze.
Simply thanks to luck...
Well, I guess this is it huh.
The only living things are inside right now.
*creak*
... That large door, it feels like I'm entering a boss room !
Ah, maybe a decent fight now ..!
"Y-you... What are you doing here ? Weren't the four executor sent againt's you ?!"
"... Those were you elite ?"
"Y-you ..! Don't look down on our church, you brat ! I'll have you know-"
*BANG*
...
*THUD*
...
H-how.
Just how did you even get caught, Andoain ?
Those guys are just too weak !
"Hey, your here ?"
"*groan*... Y-yeah, here..."
"How the hell did you even get caught ..?"
"They sent somekind of sea creature inside my ear, I hadn't discoverd them and that 'thing' made it hard to use arts..."
... A small sea creature ? One that infect the brain, maybe ? Is it still inside ?
"Can you feel it inside you now ?"
"N-not really ? I don't know if it left."
"Better safe than sorry, I'll inspect it once we're out of here."
"Y-you should get to the three newbies first, I heard form him that he had hiered a named sarkaz to fight here !"
A named ?
Wait, aren't Sarkaz named only if you steal someone's name for yourself after killing them or if your given one by someone who already have a name ? Isn't it really bad ?!
"Shit, I need to get to them ..!"
Acting fast is my priprority, I hilt Andoain to a flying sword and I hop on one, and start to fly in the direction I know they were.
'Please be safe, please be safe, please be safe ..!'
No ! Repeating that in my head like a mantra won't help me, let's try to go faster ..!
...
... Well, this is akward.
"Mhm ? You're done, vice-leader ? I see you got the leader back. Good job."
You girls...
That guy lying in a pool of his own blood...
He had a pipe laucher and I can feel the ammount of arts he exude.
"Killed him yourselves ?"
"Yeah, we learnt from you the easiest way to kill someone like that, espetially 3 on 1."
"Since you so nicely showed it to us."
"Had to replicate it at least once."
What.
"... How ?"
"... Shoot it t'ill it dies."
.
..
...
"Pffft- AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHhahahah *snort* You girls ..! Pffffffft-..."
I ca-an't right now !
Of all things they could've picked up from me ..!
"Heh, you girls sure know to make a guy flustered, you know that ?"
"Well, we learnt from the best, right ?"
"Of course !"
...
And with that, our expedition ended.
We layed Andoain down and started to search for the tresure we were supposed to find, wich didn't take long, as we were lucky once again.
We found that Chalice 10 minutes in, turns out, shooting at a moving target for 2 minutes straight makes hole a little bit everywhere, who would've thought ?
But, other than the Chalice...
"Those are... Buried tresure ? Ah ! I knew it !"
"Urgh, why..."
"And with that, you owe me 300, Fia~ !"
"Mostima..."
"You also owe me 200..."
"... Lemuen ... Aren't we taught that greed is bad ?"
"What do you mean, greed is good, in moderation, of course."
"Urgh..."
"Suck it up, spicy chicken, you got played !"
"Shut up !"
*Ahahahah" x3
"S-stop laughing at me !"
We did not stop.
...
And what a tresure it was !
"T-this is ..!"
"What ? You recognise them ?"
"Yeah, this is amazing. I think I'll keep them."
"It's that good ?"
"Yeah."
Those two swords are the most important part of that tresure, considering their importance in France history.
The 'King maker' Joyeuse and the 'Unbreakable' Durandal.
The sword who was used to consecrate Kings and Emperors of France, the sword used by Charlemagne himself.
And the sword said to have never once chipped, who, once Roland (it's user), wanted to break it so it wouldn't end in ennemy's hand, couldn't even attempt it, breaking multiple huge boulder instead, opening the path instead. And, having asked the help of an Arch-angel, he threw it multiple hundreak kilometers away.
That's the history of those two swords back in my world...
... I sincerly hope they have as much power as they have feats on Earth.
"Yeah, I'll them both. They are really good weapons, if they are what I think they are."
Now that I think about it...
"Gimme the Chalice too."
"What ? Why ?"
"... I don't want the Church of Laterano to have it."
"Y-you ..!"
"... Is it an order, vice leader ?"
"Hold on, your going with it, Mostima ?"
Mostima's expression isn't that happy go lucky, 'I don't care if the whole world is burning' attitude anymore.
She kept it all this time, yet, right now, she took a sombre look.
"... Yes. It's alright if you three don't understand all the things that are happening right now, but, I don't think it's a good idea to give it to a contry in general."
"And you think having it yourself is better ?"
"... I belive it would be easier to protect it if I had it one me."
"Mhm... Alright."
"Hold on- You sure, Mostima ?"
"Isn't it a bit reckless ?"
"I think he would take care of it fine, Fia, Lemuen."
"..." x2
"Here, take it before they change their minds."
"... Thanks. I'll make sure it doesn't end up in the wrong hand."
... And with that dark note, we went back to a hastly made camp, and preped for our final night.
...
Unlike what the Cardinal thought, the Abyssal Hunters were hot on his trail.
"... Mhm, It seems like he was around here. I should hurry."
And it was because they only sent one man towards him.
The man wore a peculiar hat, one found on the head of most Abyssal Hunter.
He wore all gray and blue, with a mask adorning his face.
His most known feature though, would definetly be 'that'.
And 'that' would refer to his weapon of choice.
'Mhm, the weight is just right, but I should move it a little bit higher so it's easier to move with it's size.'
...
That weapon being a giant fricking Anchor.
.
And that man.
'I hope I can catch at least an idea of where you all are...'
That man's name is Ulpian.
A/N :
Hey guys ! Sorry for not updating, stuff happened and I couldn't do anything for a while.
(I was sick for a week and got important exams the next)
I'm mostly okay for now, so new content should be up !
(I finnished the plot for the start of the second Arc, which will be centered towards the Abyssal Hunter !
Yes, for those that want to 'Kyaaaa', Skadi will play a imporant role.)
Hope you guys enjoyed this one !
I hope you guys can leave reviews, as any feedback is good to have to improve my writting !
.
Welp, see you guys next week(at most) ! (hopefully)