Hi all,
I have nothing special to say this time around. Here is the next chapter in any case.
[X][X][X]
Ryu had accepted this cave investigation job quest expecting a somewhat normal threat to this world's standards, so he was totally caught off guard to see what has been unfolded in front of his eyes.
Right in front of him was Hunar, the humanoid form of a Dark Falz, an entity only caring about corrupting, consuming, and ultimately destroying planets with Darkers as its minions to help it do the job.
The humanoid form of a Dark Falz was still not strong enough to actually destroy a planet, but it was still a dangerous threat not recommended for any ARKS operatives to engage alone.
But Ryu did not have any choice. He had to fight Hunar alone in this large space inside the cave he had been investigating.
There's no time to look for Lily. If this thing gains enough power to evolve into Dark Falz Elder this planet is finished.
Ryu took his Weddle Park and prepared himself for battle. He had fought Hunar a number of times in the past, so he knew the general strategy for fighting it. But he was never alone in the previous encounters, so this time he was at a disadvantage.
The most important thing to do when fighting Hunar was to break its sword, which was very vulnerable to Light Element photon techs. However, Hunar was very agile so trying to cast such tech right away was the same as committing suicide. Therefore, Ryu observed it, trying to find the right moment.
Something was strange, though.
As a Dark Falz, Hunar always felt superior to any opposition it faced, so it always went into battle with arrogant attitude, refusing to use its sword until it has taken enough damage and began to take the fight seriously.
This Hunar however, had its sword drawn from the beginning. Not only that, it went into defensive battle stance. This has never happened before, but the stance seemed familiar somewhat.
Before Ryu could think further about it, Hunar charged at him and slashed with his giant sword.
Mirage Escape
Ryu evaded the slash with his evasion move, disappearing and then reappearing behind Hunar. He immediately began charging his weapon to cast a tech.
Hunar seemed confused by Ryu's evasion, and this behavior seemed weird for Ryu because in all previous battles he remembered, Hunar never showed confusion like that. Still, that gave Ryu more than enough time to charge his tech. He waited until Hunar finally noticed his position and turned around.
Ragrants!
A beam of light came out from Ryu's weapon straight to Hunar's sword. With this world's empowerment and assuming that the sword's durability remained the same, this single cast should break it and make the fight easier.
However, the beam didn't hit.
To be exact, the beam went through the sword without inflicting any damage. The beam then hit the wall up high, causing several rock debris as big as a human head to fall towards Hunar.
Another strange thing happened in front of Ryu's eyes.
Hunar noticed the falling debris and evaded with a dodge roll. There should be no need to do such thing because mere falling debris would not do any damage to it. It then immediately went back into defensive battle stance with its left arm in front acting as a shield.
And then suddenly Ryu noticed something.
Several tiny pebbles were still falling from the wall right above Hunar. They were ignored by it, but Ryu could see several of the stones going through Hunar's head and body as if it was not there.
Illusion? Don't tell me...
And Ryu finally knew why Hunar's defensive stance seemed familiar.
The Hunar he was facing was actually Lily all along.
[X][X][X]
Lily was bewildered.
Right in front of her eyes was the same foxman she had faced back then in the bandit fort. It should be impossible, because he should have been killed by Ryu's photon beast.
Moreover, this foxman had not said anything and just took a battle stance, but his stance had been different than before.
What confused Lily more was the fact that the foxman could do a short distance teleport to evade her attack, and then shot a beam of light to drop rocks from the ceiling at her. Thankfully she had managed to evade.
"So you are actually a magic caster, huh?!"
The foxman didn't say anything. Lily maintained her defensive stance, preparing to either attack or react depending on the foxman's next action.
The foxman sheathed his sword behind his back.
"Huh?"
He then seemed to charge magic power into his hand. Lily decided to prepare herself for evasion and counter attack if there was a chance.
The foxman then suddenly flew straight to Lily at incredible speed while being enveloped in an aura of lightning. It was so fast there was no time to evade.
But he stopped right in front of her and stood still. Lily felt something familiar the moment he had stopped.
Instant movement, lightning aura, and this minor stinging sensation...?
And finally it dawned on her.
The foxman was Ryu.
[X][X][X]
Khajiit Dale Badantel
That was the man whom this former Zuranon apprentice respected. He had been astonished by Khajiit's magic casting capabilities, and he had been looking forward to the fruition of the plan Khajiit had been preparing for years. Creating an undead city and becoming an Elder Lich, how grand that plan was! His dream was to continually serve Khajiit and eventually also achieving greater things in the future.
However, that dream had been crushed.
One day, he didn't allow this former apprentice to take part of his plan any further, saying that he would just become a burden.
The former apprentice pleaded to be part of the great plan, saying that he had been working hard to hone his skills and magic, and he wanted to see the execution of what would be his master's greatest achievement.
Only a short, nonchalantly spoken line, had come out from Khajiit's mouth back then.
"Your hard work is just a waste"
The sentence struck this man like a spear through the heart. He would never accept such words coming from the man he had been looking up to.
However, no matter how much he hated it, Khajiit was right.
No matter how much he had trained himself, he had been always the lowest of all apprentices. His skills still grew, but the growth speed was so far below average. Sometimes a new apprentice would be weaker than him, but that state never lasted long. Any new member had always surpassed him within weeks. There were even bets held on how long it would take for the new guy to surpass this man.
The apprentices Khajiit had decided to bring with him just sneered at this man, leaving him frozen in despair over his own lack of talent.
And so, the man had decided to cast Zuranon away and work on his own. This had happened one year before today.
He had fled from the cult, stealing anything he could steal from them. One of the few items he had managed to steal was an old spellbook. Its contents, which were illusion spells, had nothing to do with Zuranon's theme and objective, so it generally had been collecting dust in their vault. The cult had gotten the book within the cargo of a regular merchant they had killed in the past anyway, so it must not have been anything important.
The cult had never known that the book was actually [False Vision Grimoire], an ancient relic spellbook containing every single illusion-themed spells of tier one to eight. The grimoire itself was coated with an illusion spell, making it looked mundane in normal eyes. To the merchant, the book had looked like a regular empty book so he had used it to record his finances. When the book changed hands to the cult, it looked like a low tier illusion spellbook.
When this former apprentice stole the book, it still looked like a low tier illusion spellbook. However, unlike the cult, the former apprentice tried learning the spells in the book while in his hiding.
And that was when something strange happened.
Upon learning all the spells written in the book at first, new spells became visible. Then when he learned the new spells, even more spells appeared, and the new ones were more powerful than the previous.
Eventually, he had realized that his magic casting talent lied not on the necromancy spells Zuranon was obsessed about, but on illusion spells. The book continually provided him new spells to learn whenever he had finished mastering all spells visible in the book, and today he had learned illusion spells up to tier five. His dream had changed into learning every spell the book could offer.
As of now, he had been putting the latest spell he learned into test.
[Nemesis Chaos]
According to the book's description, the spell would read into the target's mind and change the appearance of all living beings near them into their nemesis. The spell also blocks all speech coming out from the targets, so this was a perfect spell to cast on a group to make them kill each other without being able to verbally communicate even if one or two of them figured the illusion out.
So far, the spell had been worked sucessfully. A group of hunters from a village killed each other, and the last man standing was so horrified by the result when the illusion wore off, thus he committed suicide. The same had happened to the six Silver Rank adventurers who had come later, though the last one standing did not commit suicide. In that case, this former apprentice just finished them off with conventional, non-illusion spells. Afterwards, he would use a magic spell he had learned during his Zuranon days to convert and absorb their flesh and blood into nourishment for himself, eliminating the need to eat for a while. Afterwards he would just bury the skeletal remains along with their equipments which were useless for him.
This cave had been a great random find for him. It lead into the bottom of a sinkhole which he could coat with his illusion spell so anyone inside would see a ceiling even though there was nothing there. Sunlight still could go through the illusion, so all they saw would be a strangely lit large space inside a cave. The sinkhole was perfect to set up as an arena for his targets to kill each other while he watched from the edge above.
The latest two adventurers who fell into his arena were different, though.
The warrior girl attacked the magic caster man at first, and the magic caster man retaliated with a beam spell this former apprentice had never seen before. However, the man sheathed his weapon and casted some kind of instant movement spell towards the girl, and now the girl put off her battle stance.
"It seems both figured it out"
The former apprentice knew his spells was not perfect. This kind of thing would happen time to time, and when it happened he would just leave the place and move on. It was a pity to lose this good place, but he had to move on to the next spell in the book anyway.
However...
[X][X][X]
"Aaaaaaaaargh!"
THUD!
Ryu heard the scream of a man followed by a loud noise of something that had fallen down. Right at that moment, the illusion of Hunar disappeared along with the cave's ceiling, revealing that they had been standing at the bottom of a sinkhole. As he had expected, Lily was the one standing in place of Hunar.
"Ryu-san!"
Lily looked very delighted, and she jump-hugged Ryu.
"H-Hey"
Ryu was startled by Lily's sudden action and he almost fell down on his back. He was happy to see Lily again, but a few seconds later he noticed that Lily started to shiver.
"Lily? What's going on?"
"I... I was happy to see you again. But... I just remembered that I almost hurt you. I'm really sorry-!"
Ryu could feel his chest getting a bit wet. Lily was crying on his chest.
"It's not your fault, Lily. I almost hurt you too. It was all the illusion's fault"
After saying that, Ryu started to shiver as well. He had casted a fully powered Ragrants at Lily, and it had missed simply thanks to the illusion of Hunar being four meters tall. If it had hit her for real...
Before Ryu could think further, Lily released her hug, revealing her wet and slightly red eyes. She then looked towards the source of the scream they had heard. A figure of a man lying faceplanted could be seen.
"Could that be the culprit, Ryu-san?"
"Maybe. Let's check it out. Be careful"
The two of them went towards the fallen man, and when they got close they noticed that the man's neck had been broken, probably because of the fall. He was already dead.
Ryu looked upwards. The distance between the ground and the edge up there was quite high. Any physically normal person without any kind of protection would probably not survive falling down from there.
"I'm guessing that he has been watching us from up there"
"And then he just fell down?"
"I guess we just got lucky. In any case, let's check his belongings"
Ryu and Lily then combed the dead man's belongings, which thankfully gave them time to calm themselves down. There was nothing other than a seemingly plain book. Ryu opened the book and found nothing there. All the sheets were empty.
"Only this empty book?"
"So what are we going to do, Ryu-san?"
"I actually don't know. Would this corpse become undead if we leave it like this?"
"I have no idea at all about that"
"Hmm... When Momon killed the culprit of the cemetery incident he just left their bodies there, but that was inside E-Rantel... Come to think of it, those goblins and ogres... how did the guild know the amount I killed?"
"Mat-san cut their left ears to bring home as proof. I was there standing guard when he did that"
"I see... but this is a human. Despite what he has done, desecrating his body doesn't feel right for me. I guess we will just leave it like this"
"Anything you say, Ryu-san"
"I don't think this book will mean anything, but I will bring this with us. By the way, Lily"
"Yes, Ryu-san?"
"What did you see me as?"
"The foxman who captured me back then"
"Oh..."
"What about you, Ryu-san? I bet it is something large because you kept looking upwards even though I was right in front of you"
"Yeah... a four meter tall Da... humanoid monster"
"You have fought something like that?"
"Yeah. I'm glad it is not here for real, and I hope it stays that way"
In his mind, Ryu was highly worried that someday a real Dark Falz would arrive at this planet. While it would allow him to go home because ARKS Fleet would surely pursue the Dark Falz, putting another planet in grave danger, especially one with civilization like this, would never be the price he was willing to pay.
Both Ryu and Lily went back to Padstow Village. It had taken them quite a while because the hole they had come from was too slippery to climb, and while they could climb the wall of the sinkhole, finding the way back was difficult. By the time they arrived the sun was almost at the horizon. Any later than this they would have had no choice but to camp out. They immediately went for the chief's house and Ryu knocked on the door. Like before, it took less than ten seconds for someone to come out, and once again it was the old man.
"Oh, you're back! Come in!"
The old man let Ryu and Lily to come into his house and have a seat. He went away for a little while and came back bringing three glasses of water. He put them on the table nearby, and then he sat on a nearby chair. To give some lighting, he lit a candle.
"So, what did you find?"
"A sinister magic caster has been casting some kind of illusion spell, making the victims see each other as enemies"
"Oh.. so the hunters and previous adventurers are..."
"I'm sorry..."
There was a silence. The old man's face gradually became sad.
"You know... one of those adventurers... is my son"
Ryu and Lily were surprised, but they didn't say anything.
"I always told him that adventurer is a dangerous job, and being a farmer here would be just fine. We would be poor, but still able to make a living together. He just wouldn't listen, and he went to become one anyway. From time to time he went back here, giving me some money he earned. My living indeed became better than in the past, but what use is it if I rarely see him? My wife is already gone long ago, and now my son too. I no longer have anyone..."
"I-I'm sorry that I don't have anything to say"
"You don't need to..."
"Oh, what about Garret? He told me you are related"
"He is from my wife's lineage. We're not blood related"
"But still family regardless, right?"
"What are you actually trying to achieve by saying that? I can't ask him to live here just to accompany an old man, and I cannot go with him as merchant either. I can barely read and write, I will be just a burden. Look, I thank you for clearing this missing person problem, but it is wiser to not meddle further into this old man's life"
"Then why telling me all that about your family?"
"It was just a selfish request from this old man to be listened to. I simply want someone to listen to me while I let everything out"
Ryu felt a bit upset, but he couldn't put any blame on the old man.
"I can tell that you're unhappy with it. Just go away then"
"Are you trying to guilt-trip me? Fine, we will take our leave"
Ryu drank all the water in his glass and stood up. Lily followed without saying anything. Right at the door, Ryu opened it and was about to walk away when the old man spoke again.
"Young man, tell me. Do you think my son left this world without regrets?"
Ryu paused for a moment.
"His last battle was against his own comrades. I'm afraid that was not the case if he found that out"
"I see..."
"Anything else?"
"Nothing..."
"Farewell then"
Ryu and Lily went out without looking back. However, he could hear a faint 'thank you' from the door before it closed.
The two of them went to Garret's lodging. When they arrived, Garret was still outside wrapping up his shop. He noticed them coming and looked delighted.
"Ah, you're back! Was that a success?"
"Yes, the culprit is dead"
"Wonderful! Tell me about it once we're inside!"
[X][X][X]
Ainz sat down on the bed of the inn he was staying at. He was not wearing the armor of his Momon persona because the full set had been sent away for repairs to make his latest achievement more believable. He had coated his body with illusion spell to appear as a normal human. Still, he chose to not leave this room because someone out there might have the skill to see through the illusion.
Narberal, or Nabe as of now, was standing by near him, awaiting command. Ainz looked at the window of the room. The sky outside was already beginning to become completely dark.
"Hmm..."
Ainz raised his left hand to his left ear, or at least where his left ear was supposed to be, and casted a spell.
[Message]
"Aura"
"Yes, Ainz-sama!"
"How did it go?"
"I sensed the presence of the culprit and ambushed him. I just gave him a little push and down he go into the deep hole behind him! And he died!"
"Did anyone see you?"
"Not at all! I'm sure of it!"
"Alright, now go back to the site. Don't let your guard down"
"Yes, Ainz-sama!"
"Thank you for the hard work"
The Message spell ended. Ainz leaned on the wall with a sigh, wondering why those two seemed to be constantly in trouble. Just today the Kashin Koji spy had sent him a Message telling that they had been caught in some kind of illusion spell and then fought each other. In response, he had sent Aura to aid them secretly, but this meant that the project Aura was working on probably got delayed a bit. Also, thanks to this event the amount of Message the spy could send was down one, leaving four remaining.
Another debt I can't openly collect from him...
Ainz could only hope that this kind of thing would not happen so often, but probably it indeed was merely a hope.
