Lightbringer
Chapter 6
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It was the screaming that jolted Leinas awake.
The sounds of dying men screaming their last echoed across the once quiet camp. The screams were quickly followed by panicked yells and the unmistakable sounds of fighting.
"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" yelled a soldier in the distance, trying to warn his fellow soldiers.
A bell started to ring incessantly, one of several alarm bells stationed across the encampment. Then another rang out in a different location to match it. Soon the bells were ringing all at once as the edges of the camp were ringed with fire and blood.
If the screaming and fighting hadn't woken everyone up yet, the desperate chorus of the alarm bells surely did, and the chaos in the camp was rampant.
Several beastly roars joined the commotion, followed by the sounds of heavy footsteps. The ground shook with each heavy step, and then there were more screams of the injured or dying.
There was a lot of confusion and yelling as half-awake soldiers hastily grabbed weapons and armor, stumbling out of their tents. Many of them were struggling to stay upright due to a combination of exhaustion and the hangovers from their revelry the night before.
Leinas was no exception.
Her mind was still numb and her senses dull. She suited up as best she could in the dim light of her tent. Fumbling with the straps of her greaves, she cursed herself for being so foolish. She should have known better than to drink so much while out on a campaign, especially given how close they were to monster territory.
What bothered Leinas was that she hadn't expected any monsters to be so bold as to actually attack the camp, especially one as big as theirs with nearly two hundred soldiers under her command. Even more troubling was that these monsters were tactical enough to attack the camp early in the day after their long night of revelry and drinking. She tried not to think of how many lost their lives because of their inebriation from the night before.
Based on the sounds of the commotion all around the camp, this was a sizable force of monsters that they were dealing with. If it was simple bad luck that they were in the way of a roving army of monsters, that would be one thing, but she had a sinking feeling that this was a deliberate and carefully planned assault. That meant there was a powerful creature, or creatures, somewhere out there with enough intelligence to come up with such a daring attack and enough power to command the others to carry it out.
"Lady Leinas!" called the familiar voice of Jhethro from outside the flaps leading into her tent, eliciting a brief feeling of relief from the young female warrior. At least one of her trusted lieutenants was still alive in this mess of a situation.
Having finished putting on her battle gear, she hastily threw on her helmet and grabbed her trusty spear before pushing through the flaps and out into the early morning light. Her head was pounding just as fast as her heart was pumping and she silently cursed once again her decision to drink so much last night.
If she made it through this, she promised to never drink to excess like that ever again while out on a campaign.
Jethro was standing a few steps away from the entrance of her tent, firing arrows into the distance with his trusty longbow. He had three quivers full of arrows; two strapped across his back and one hanging at his right hip. Plenty of ammunition for a fight. His eyes were bloodshot and his face looked pale and a little green.
Either he had just thrown up, or he was about to, and he was apparently having a rough morning as well. The sight of him made Leinas briefly wonder if the archer was even hitting anything with his arrows.
A goblin was about to jump on an unsuspecting, half-dressed bewildered soldier a few dozen feet away, but before the goblin could even leap on to the man an arrow whistled through the air and pierced the side of its skull with impressive precision.
It fell dead onto the soldier, who could only scream in terror as he was knocked off his feet, probably thinking he was about to die. After a few more seconds of panicking, the man realized that the goblin wasn't actually moving, and pushed the corpse off of himself.
With a grin, Leinas realized her worries about Jethro's accuracy were unfounded. Not that she ever doubted his skill with a bow. Jethro was definitely one of the best marksmen she had in her service, but her experience with him in battle up until that point was only when he was fresh and sober.
Never before had she seen him fight while clearly hungover and struggling like this, and she supposed the reason for that was because they rarely drank before a fight to begin with.
She tried not to think about it too much, but this was all her fault for having allowed a celebratory feast in the middle of an expedition. She could only hope that the men who had perished so far that morning would forgive her for the mistake when she joined them in the afterlife.
"What's the situation?" she called out to the archer as she ran towards the closest sounds of fighting, Jethro falling in behind her. Each step helped to shake off the hangover as adrenaline coursed through her veins, but her movements still felt sluggish. She would not be able to fight at one hundred percent for a while and hopefully that wouldn't be a problem.
Her soldiers were running every which way around them as the whole camp was in disarray. Most of the soldiers under her command were already either engaged in the fighting, wounded, or dead by the time she had gotten out of her tent. Some of the tents along the outer perimeter were on fire, the red-orange flames belching dark gray smoke across the forest, partially trapped underneath the thick layer of branches above.
"We appear to be attacked and surrounded by an unknown number of goblins," reported Jethro grimly, "It was a surprise attack. Didn't even know we were under assault until they were already among the outer tents is what I heard. Some of the men were even slain in their beds... the poor bastards."
Leinas winced at the thought of her soldiers being killed in their beds and slowed her pace. A few soldiers nearby seemed to take heart at her sudden appearance and moved with greater purpose.
"So far I've seen enemy foot soldiers, archers, and your run-of-the-mill ogres, but they seem unusually coordinated so I'm guessing there are higher ranking goblins or some other creatures that are leading them from elsewhere." He continued to fire off arrows while they were on the move.
Leinas didn't even have the opportunity to do anything about some stray goblins that managed to penetrate this far into the camp because Jethro took them down quickly enough before they got into range of her spear. She didn't mind since they were more a nuisance than a threat, though she was now itching for some action of her own.
"Where's our magic support?" she asked, coming to a stop and surveying the scene around them.
"They have no magic casters from what I've seen, though some of our own handful of magicians were either killed or wounded in the initial attack. Those that are left who can use healing magic have been assigned to help tend to the wounded, so we don't have much in terms of offensive magic capabilities at the moment."
"Unfortunate," Leinas said with a deep frown, "But at least they have no magic on their side either. It seems the men are finally putting up a good fight. Let's join in, shall we?"
Not a moment later her eyes locked onto one of the ogres that Jethro mentioned, it's massive lumbering form was hard to miss.
"I'll get that big guy over there. You take care of the little ones. Where's Triston?" she said with determination as she jumped sideways.
Some goblin archers had apparently noticed their appearance and sent crude arrows flying right through the space where she had been standing. She continued to run towards the ogre, who was using what looked to be a recently uprooted tree as a club and bashing a soldier to death with it, blood and guts horrifically splattering everywhere.
"No idea!" yelled out Jethro as she moved farther ahead. "Probably already in the thick of it and swinging that big ax of his around, knowing him!"
More goblin arrows flew their way and Jethro ducked behind a tree for cover, firing back at the goblin archers and taking a couple of them out easily. They were no match for him in a contest of archery. Realizing this, the surviving archers fled, only for them to be quickly shot in the back by Jethro before they could escape.
Leinas somersaulted over a goblin who had turned and rushed her with an ax, her spear piercing through the top of the creature's skull with ease, blood spewing forth. Landing gracefully on her feet, she continued her sprint towards the ogre. Her soldiers were fighting in between the mass of tents, many of them only partially-clothed and armored, but other than fighting with the ogres they seemed to be holding their own against the goblin forces now that they were up and somewhat armed.
The ogre had its back to her when she got within striking distance, raising its tree-club and bringing it down, flattening a few soldiers as well as some goblins in the process. One of the soldiers was still moving, blood spewing from his mouth as he tried to crawl away, so it raised its club to strike again.
With the tip of her spear, Leinas slashed at the heel of the big brute, aiming for the thick tendon. The wound was deep but didn't even come close to cutting through the whole ligament, but it was enough to throw off the creature's balance and make it stumble from the sudden injury.
The ogre roared in pain as it tried to spin around, swinging an arm in an attempt to swat her with the back of its large hand, but she ran and slid between the creature's legs. Her straight blonde hair flowing behind her from underneath her helmet as she slid, she evaded its sight for another few seconds as it looked at where she had been mere seconds ago with confusion.
"[Ability Boost]!" She activated one of her martial arts, increasing her strength and agility. She could feel her muscles tensing with a power that flowed through the length of her body.
Crouching low and coiling herself, she exploded up into the air to the creature's full height and then stabbed at it with her spear in a frenzy. Her weapon penetrated the back of the ogre's skull and neck multiple times and it dropped its makeshift club with a loud crash, both of its big hands reaching up to grab at the back of its now bleeding head.
Roaring in agony, it swung with another backhand wildly at her, missing her completely as she dropped back down to the ground. A couple of arrows embedded themselves into its face, making the ogre's head snap back a little as it was caught by surprise. She recognized it as Jethro's handiwork and smiled briefly.
Leinas dashed away, already anticipating what was about to happen.
Unable to fully support its weight anymore on its badly injured leg as it swung around and coupled with the pain and confusion that it was feeling, the ogre fell over with a thunderous crash.
Leinas did not waste the opportunity to once more go in to attack, aiming for the head with a killing blow. Its blood and brains coated the forest floor.
The few men around her who were still fighting some goblins managed to let out a cheer, feeling invigorated by her feat. Some of the remaining goblins in the immediate vicinity broke and turned to flee, but her soldiers cut them down before they could make it too far.
Leinas eyed a few more ogres all around the camp, which meant there was still more work to be done, but at least this area was more manageable now that she had dealt with the ogre here.
"I leave the rest to you, men!" she called out as she ran towards the next big monster. They cheered once more and continued to fight back with renewed vigor.
There were so many goblins. Too many for a single goblin shaman to control. So there was either more than one shaman involved in this attack, or there was something even higher in the goblin hierarchy who was in charge. A goblin chief perhaps? That was a chilling thought. There hadn't been a goblin chief in these parts for almost a century now, which might mean they were overdue for one.
From the corner of her eye she spied Jethro firing several arrows towards the next closest ogre, a few of the projectiles embedding themselves into the ogre's face. One arrow pierced through the monster's eye and elicited an agonizing howl of pain from the brute. The soldiers around it began to hack away while it stumbled and flailed about in panic, and the soldiers took great care not to get stomped on. It wasn't long before the troll was on the ground and motionless, covered in its own blood.
Moments later, there was another dying roar of an ogre could be heard accompanied by an earth-shaking smash. Looking in the direction that it came from, she saw that some of her soldiers managed to take another one out on their own. With a proud smile, she moved on. Their losses might be high thanks to the surprise nature of the attack, but they were not going to be defeated so easily now that they were up and fighting. They might get through this after all.
Leinas gripped her spear firmly as she launched herself at the next ogre. Her movements were even sharper now that she had more time to shake off the hangover and get the adrenaline flowing, her strikes strong and true as her spear pierced flesh with speed and accuracy.
Before long another ogre was lying dead at her feet with her spear planted straight up through its jaw and poking out the top of its ugly head. She tugged on the spear and failed to dislodge it on her first attempt, the weapon somehow stuck on the broken skull and bones of the ogre. An arrow whizzed by her head, missing my mere inches, making her flinch in surprise. Another arrow followed, glancing on her shoulder pad harmlessly.
Gritting her teeth as she pulled on her spear, she ducked and leaned as a few more arrows flew around her. Several goblins wielding clubs, swords, and axes ran towards her speedily on their short legs, breaking off from a bigger engagement with several of her soldiers nearby. Some of them were growling and a few cackled with glee at her predicament, beady eyes glinting with murderous thoughts.
Three of them in a row went down as arrows found their marks on each of their skulls, and Leinas silently thanked Jethro for the assistance. For all the skill Jethro possessed, there were too many goblins for him to take down all of them before they closed in, leaping at Leinas with a frenzy.
Abandoning her spear for a moment, she leaped backwards and then rolled to the side as more of the crude goblin arrows whistled through the air.
A goblin with a rough-hewn wooden club studded with crude metal spikes on the end swung at her wildly, forcing her to jump back again as its friends closed around her attempting to flank. Leinas sidestepped and leaned as an ax was swung down at her, followed by a spear thrust that she dodged by leaning even further back and yet still remaining on her feet. She grabbed the crude spear tightly and tugged, her boosted strength making it easy for her to snatch the weapon out of the goblin's hand while also causing said goblin to fall forward onto its face, the green little monster yelping in surprise.
Deftly twirling the spear around she promptly buried it in the fallen goblin's skull with a sickening squelch then pulled it out, blood trailing and dripping from its rudimentary blade, and swung around at the other goblins, causing all of them except one to duck to avoid its path. The one that was too slow was smacked hard in the face with the wooden shaft of the crude spear just below the blade, rendering it unconscious as the bones in its face broke and the spear splintered from the impact, sending the top quarter of it with the blade flying off into the dirt.
Without hesitation she jumped forward and thrust the broken end of the spear shaft that was still in her hand, burying the broken point in the neck of another goblin while her other arm blocked the rusty sword it swung at her, the weapon barely scratching the metal of her gauntlet. Her arm shook as a jolt shot through her body from the impact. It helped that the goblin was already dying when the swing hit her, otherwise it might have stung even more. Thankfully, her orichalcum armor was far superior to the iron or steel of the goblin's weapon.
More arrows flew in and took out the remaining goblins, and this time Leinas waved at Jethro in the distance to thank him for the support.
He momentarily smiled and waved back before aiming his bow elsewhere. His quivers were running out of arrows fast.
Leinas returned to the downed ogre and retrieved her spear with another serious tug. It had been a while since she had faced ogres, and she forgot how easy it was for weapons to get stuck in their thick skulls if you weren't careful. Wiping some sweat off of her brow, she noticed that the goblin archers were no longer targeting her and she wondered if Jethro had taken care of them or if they had decided to find another target.
Before she could reassess the battle fully, a horn sounded in the distance. It was loud and ominous across what had become a much quieter battlefield, and the few remaining goblin cannon fodder retreated. The fires raged and when it became clear that the goblins were retreating, some of the soldiers who could still stand busied themselves trying to put them out.
Another horn from a different location answered, and Leinas wondered if that was perhaps the enemy signaling a full retreat. There were at least eight ogres dead by her count and probably at least ten times that many goblins. Surely that was a big enough loss for them to consider withdrawing. Long had it been since a force that size even banded together for an attack on humans.
She was wrong.
The howling of wolves echoed through the forest that they had been camping in, sending chills down the spines of every soldier that heard them.
"Goblin riders!" someone cried out in dismay.
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Shafts of morning light filtered in through the gaps in the wooden shutters, illuminating the somewhat cramped interior of the room.
It was furnished with only the barest of necessities: two simple beds, a nightstand in between, a tall cabinet by the door, and a chest at the foot of one of the beds. Both the chest and the cabinet looked like they had barely seen any use over the last few months with a fine collection of dust and cobwebs all over.
The accommodations were a little worse than Lucifer had hoped, but was also better than he had dreaded. At least the innkeeper had provided fresh linens and towels for them to use. There was a shared bathroom down the L-shaped hallway.
The City Guardsman that Lucifer had spoken with, who apparently might have been the cousin or some other relative of the innkeeper, said that this inn was the cheapest place to find a room close to the East Gate through which he had entered the city.
Having seen the sorry state of the inn, Lucifer understood why the guard had said this would be the cheapest accommodations near the gate. He had been able to book the room at a cost of only five coppers a night, and that apparently included one meal per person.
Since he had absolutely no idea of the value of goods and services in this new world, he took the guard's word for it that it was cheap and agreed to the terms without hesitation. Besides, it didn't seem like the innkeeper was the kind of man to take advantage of others in that way. Not from what Lucifer gathered from their brief interaction.
With the rate he was being charged for the room, they would be able to stay for at least a couple of weeks solely on the money he had appropriated from the thugs. Not that he was planning on staying that long. It was simply nice to know that they could stay longer if needed. As an added bonus, the innkeeper was including one meal a day for free as well, probably because he felt bad for them and was concerned about the girl that he had carried in unconscious.
Normally, having meals included with lodging was probably a good thing, but Lucifer wasn't so sure if he wanted to taste the offered meals at this rundown inn and was kind of glad he didn't actually need to eat anymore in order to survive. Though the woman he rescued would probably need to eat something eventually. Well, if she couldn't stomach the innkeeper's food, Lucifer had enough money to buy food for her elsewhere.
Lucifer was sitting on his bed, arms across his chest and legs bent in front of him with his back pressed up against the wall. His eyes were shut and he looked like he was sleeping because he didn't move except for the rise and fall of his chest from breathing. But he was far from asleep. In fact he hadn't slept all night as he kept vigil over the figure sleeping in the other bed.
The raven-haired girl he had rescued last night had for the most part slept peacefully. She mumbled a few times in her sleep, but otherwise she seemed to be enjoying what was likely the first night of restful sleep she had had in a while.
After Lucifer had dealt with the thugs and taken any useful gear and money they had on them, which wasn't all that much in his estimation, he had moved some distance away to take care of the girl in case any more of them happened to come by.
First, he had removed her bindings. The rough rope had worn and marked her skin pretty badly thanks to their rough handling of her, but that had definitely been the least of her injuries. He hadn't even bothered doing a full injury assessment before healing her with his [Heal] spell. He had no need to know exactly how badly she was hurt, considering that a cursory glance was more than enough to see that she was seriously injured.
The Sixth-Tier healing spell also cured her of any diseases he hadn't known about if she had any, so that was another thing he didn't have to worry about either.
The healing of her body had led to a surprise revelation. The tips of her ears had apparently been brutally cut off some time ago, crudely making them look more like a human's in length, but Lucifer's healing magic had restored them to their full form, long and pointed.
He had stared at them with wonder once he had realized they had changed size. There was no doubt in Lucifer's mind that she was an elf.
A real live elf. The first of her kind that he had seen in this strange new world.
Lucifer remembered then that Chief Sprigg had mentioned that most slaves in the Empire were non-human and that the vast majority of them were elves. Some were bred from previously-owned slaves, but many, especially the newer ones, were elves captured in the long war between the Theocracy and the Elven Kingdom far to the southwest and then sent along via a vast slave trade network.
Even though the elf had been covered in dirt, with her injuries healed and all the bruises and scars gone, he was able to see that she was actually quite beautiful. People from his old world would have gazed at her with lust and wonder, and she probably would have been successful as a model or actress. The sight of her had made Lucifer wonder if all elves were this beautiful, like they were often depicted to be in the entertainment industry back in his old world. Because if so, then his world had apparently gotten things right with their portrayal of elves.
Once her physical injuries had been dealt with, Lucifer had come to the conclusion that it was probably best if he cleaned her up before entering the city, lest people notice how filthy she was and ask too many questions. The bloodstains and dried blood caked all over her body were especially noticeable.
He had struggled a bit internally with how to go about accomplishing that task, partly because he had never seen, let alone touched, a naked woman in real life before and it was making him anxious since she would have to be naked for him to properly clean her up. Although technically, with the state of her ragged clothing she was actually almost naked anyway.
She didn't have massive breasts or a large butt or anything like that. Her assets were proportional to her body, and he happened to find that very attractive. More attractive than overly and sometimes comically large assets that were sometimes given by content creators back in his old world to what was once only a fictional race in his mind.
If he had been capable of blushing, he would have been as red as a tomato at even the thought of what he was thinking of doing. Not that he would have taken advantage of her in any way. He wasn't like that.
He had only been looking at her. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing right? Especially since he needed to see in order to clean her properly. Still, it had taken him longer than he cared to admit to even begin the process of cleaning her. That process involved some magically created rags, his Pitcher of Endless Water, and lots of careful, nerve-wracking scrubbing.
He had tried his best not to stare too much and had made certain that there was no direct skin contact, keeping rags between his hands and her body at all times. Still, it had become too much a few times and he had to take a few short breaks to compose himself and rid his mind of any sexual thoughts, which was incredibly difficult. If he had his regular human body he probably would have passed out without even beginning the cleaning.
Lucifer had definitely felt like he would have had an easier time fighting a raid boss right then and there. The whole ordeal served to address at least one question he had been wondering about: whether or not he had a libido.
Lucifer already knew that he had all the necessary parts, having seen them for himself during the first night he had spent with his new body, but he had yet to actually feel any such desires of that sort until this moment with the elf. He had only been in this new world a short time of course so there hadn't been much time or even opportunity to find this out. Moreover, it had been very low on his list of things to figure out, but at least now he knew.
The answer to the existence of a libido was a resounding yes.
He only hoped that once she woke up she would never ask him any sort of specifics about how she got cleaned up.
When he had finished cleaning her to the best of his ability, he had taken a simple low-level cloak that he basically considered junk from his inventory and hastily put it on her. He unfortunately had no female undergarments for her to use, but he figured a cloak would do until she woke up and was able to get such things on her own. He wasn't about to go off buying women's underwear himself.
Once she was healed, cleaned, and clothed, he had carried her off to the city until they had ended up at the inn. Now, he waited for her to wake. He couldn't leave to go do the things he had come to the city to do because of the chance that she might wake up while he was gone. He needed to be there when she first awoke. She was now his responsibility.
After he had gone through all that trouble to rescue her, it was only natural that he take responsibility for her. Not that it ended up being that much trouble to free her at all, but he did spend the time and effort all the same. And for what he did, he was also going to get her to repay him with information. Learning about elves would prove invaluable.
From what he knew of them from his old world, they were supposed to be long-lived and more physically gifted than humans, stronger and faster, not to mention they were supposed to have great affinity with magic. He wanted to know if any of those things were true. He also wanted to know more about elven society in general, if she knew anything about it.
The sound of a wagon or carriage passing by outside distracted Lucifer from his thoughts. The world was on the move out there, and he was starting to feel a little antsy being cooped up in the room like this all night.
Lucifer had spent some of that time going over his short-term plan of learning what he could from exploring the city as well as studying the map that Chief Sprigg had provided so as to commit it to memory. He was certain that he could find another map in the city and made a note to compare the two once he found another.
He opened his eyes, golden orbs glancing towards the still unconscious elf girl.
She was still breathing, thankfully, but he was beginning to entertain the idea that she might have fallen into a coma. That would be a problem if she had.
He did have a spell or two that would probably wake her immediately, and some items that could do the same, however he didn't want to do that unless he felt absolutely necessary. He supposed that waking up in such a manner would likely feel very unpleasant and he didn't want to put her through that if he had a choice.
That would be akin to dumping a bucket of cold water on her face, except instead of water it would be magic bombarding her into consciousness. At least, that's how he thought it would be like. He didn't actually know for sure.
Waking up normally in her state was going to be unpleasant enough to begin with and she had been through too much for him to put her through that.
She had a slender frame made even thinner by malnutrition. Her body was mostly skin and bone with some tough muscle in between and practically no fat, the tough muscle the result of long hours of hard manual labor on the farm he had found her in no doubt. Her masters clearly weren't feeding her enough though, and it was a wonder that she had survived so long under such conditions. Assuming that she began to eat properly, it would probably take a while for her to get back to a healthy weight.
While Lucifer's [Heal] was able to mend most types of wounds and ailments instantly, it could not totally fix the effects of malnutrition that the elf was suffering. That was apparently beyond the scope of the healing spell, not that Lucifer fully understood why that was, nor did he care to. That was simply how it was.
With a sigh, he looked up at the ceiling and wished that he had some playing cards or something to help pass the time. His eyes suddenly went wide as a thought struck him then. Without really thinking about it last night, he had simply created rags with magic to clean the elf girl up with. That wasn't really something you could do in YGGDRASIL, and yet somehow he had done it.
The [Create Item] spell, and it's higher tier form, [Create Greater Item], were only supposed to be used to create weapons, armor, or other equipment to be temporarily used by players or even allied NPC's. The stronger and more complex the item being created, the greater the mana cost. The expended mana would be reserved to sustain the item until the spell was cancelled, which caused the created item to disappear. The limit to the amount of items created would therefore depend on the amount of mana the caster was willing to essentially give up in exchange for the existence of the item created.
Of course, the quality of the item created was dependent on both the power of the spell being cast and the level of the caster. [Create Item] was a 5th-tier spell while [Create Greater Item] was a 7th-tier spell. Technically, the strongest item that [Create Item] could make would be a middle-class item while [Create Greater Item] could make anything up to relic-class.
In YGGDRASIL, there was a list – albeit a long one – of items that a player could create using these spells. This made it easier for players while also making sure the items created were balanced. It wouldn't do if players could create whatever they wanted out of mana and have it be too strong. There would have been many complaints from disgruntled players.
Lucifer wondered if all those rules still applied in this new world, though it was obvious that in this new world he was no longer bound by the list, and with an excited gleam in his eye he set about experimenting.
He looked down at his open right hand, palm facing up, and said softly, "[Create Item: Deck of cards]."
A magic circle appeared in his hand, but then it fizzled and disappeared with nothing to show for the effort. He also didn't feel any drain on his mana. His disappointment was almost palpable.
What was he doing wrong? He thought about it for a moment. There was another component to this that he was missing. He tried to think back to when he created the rags last night. He was sure that he didn't do anything different and yet the rags appeared when he had cast the spell at the time.
Maybe he had to focus and picture in his mind the item he wanted to create? That seemed like a logical thing to do and it was certainly worth a try.
Picturing a deck of playing cards as clearly as he could with his mind's eye, he again cast the spell, focusing it in his hand. Light from another magic circle appeared in his hand and finally he felt the smallest bit of mana drain from him as a deck of cards appeared out of thin air and was now resting on his palm.
"YES!" he exclaimed with a rush of excitement, then his eyes went wide and he sheepishly glanced over to the sleeping elf. He was relieved to see that he hadn't woken her with his outburst. Returning his attention to the deck in his hand, he proceeded to lay out the cards by suit. Sure enough, it was a full set of 52 playing cards.
More questions bubbled up then. Would the created items disappear over time? Were the items continuously sustained by his magic or was the mana cost a one-time deal? And what were the limits of this creation magic in this new world, assuming there were even any.
The first question was probably only going to be answered as time went on and the items continued to persist. The second question was answered almost immediately as he focused within himself and sensed that the minuscule fraction of mana it took to create the deck of cards was not replenished. So the created item was drawing from his mana to remain in this world. YGGDRASIL rules still applied for that part at least.
Still, the spell theoretically should allow him to create anything so long as he could picture it clearly in his mind and he was willing to expend the mana for it. What if he created items that only existed in his old world, such as a computer or a car? or maybe even a bazooka? What about fictional items like a battle mech? Something to explore later on when he had the time and space to do so. And soon. The thought of being able to create whatever he wanted was too exciting and he spent some more time thinking about what he was going to do for his experiments.
"...uuunggghhh..."
The unexpected sound made Lucifer stiffen as his gaze settled on the elf girl once again. It had clearly come from her. Was she finally waking up?
The girl began to move ever so slightly, shifting her body underneath the blanket. This was more movement than she had done all night. Then her head moved some more.
This was it. She was finally waking up.
Lucifer was at her side almost immediately, sitting on the edge of her bed and watching her with an intensity similar to a child eyeing the biggest present they had to open on Christmas day, wondering what on earth it could be.
Her eyelids opened gradually, revealing dark blue eyes that seemed almost devoid of life save for the tiniest of sparks. It almost appeared like she was coming back from the grave, which would be somewhat accurate given everything that had transpired. Lucifer briefly wondered if she would have survived for much longer if he hadn't intervened.
She blinked a few times. Each time she did was slow, as if she were going through the process of how to blink in her mind and was reminding herself of the action. She was definitely in that haze of having woken up from a very deep slumber.
"You're finally awake," Lucifer said softly with the friendliest smile he could muster.
At the sound of his voice she slowly shifted her gaze around until her eyes settled upon Lucifer.
For a moment there was no reaction as they silently regarded each other. Dark and almost lifeless blue eyes meeting bright golden ones brimming with energy.
Then her eyes went from dull and sleepy to panicked and fearful in a flash, and she tried to pull the blankets further up in a vain attempt to either shield or hide herself while shifting her body away from him. Her breathing quickened as the rest of her body started to panic. Her reaction and sudden change in demeanor didn't surprise Lucifer in the slightest and he responded calmly.
"Please be calm. There's no need to panic. I can assure you that you are safe here and that no harm will come to you while you're under my protection," he said as soothingly as he could.
She said nothing while she continued to watch him warily, though she did stop trying to wriggle away from him, futile though the effort was given that she had barely moved a few inches away. There wasn't anywhere she could really go to get away from him.
"Now you're probably wondering 'who is this devilishly handsome figure sitting in front of me?'" he flashed her a winning smile, amused despite himself. "Well, allow me to introduce myself, miss."
The elf blinked at him, seemingly taken aback by his polite and lighthearted behavior.
He brought a hand up to his chest and with a slight bow of his head he said, "My name is Lucifer Morningstar and I'm the one who saved your life."
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Leinas dove to the side with all her might as the big wolf and its rider stormed past, the beast snapping at her heels and the rider swinging its sword through empty air as she managed to barely get out of reach.
"Now!" she yelled.
Jethro jumped out through the torn side in the tent that he was hiding in, plunging his sword deep into the wolf's rib cage as it had stopped to turn around and face Leinas once more. It howled in agony, raising up briefly on its hind legs before falling to its side and whining with its last few breaths as the archer stabbed it again and again in the chest, twisting his sword on the final thrust to finish off the beast.
The rider fell heavily to the ground as it was thrown off its fallen mount, and Leinas was there to end the rider's life with a quick spear thrust into its exposed neck area.
Jethro was on his last few arrows. Because of that Leinas had ordered him to save them for any potentially important targets that might show up, so he was now forced to fight with a sword. He was a decent melee fighter, but he was definitely much better with a bow in hand in a fight. He scavenged what arrows he could whenever he saw any that he could reuse, but it was nowhere near enough for another full on battle so he would have to pick and choose his targets with them.
Triston was still missing. They hadn't seen him fighting anywhere in the camp, nor did they come across his body. They could only hope that he was alive somewhere. He was one of the better warriors in Leinas' little army after all.
"These goblin riders are a pain in the fucking ass," remarked Jethro as he pulled his blood-soaked sword from the carcass of the wolf he had slain. "Though I think it would be pretty badass to ride into battle on one of these puppies! Assuming we could find one my size, of course."
The wolves were fast and their goblin riders a bit more skilled than the foot soldiers they had been fighting earlier. With Leinas' soldiers tiring, the goblin riders downed several in their first charge and further diminished their already dwindling numbers. They charged in quickly and recklessly before escaping so as to avoid prolonged combat. Their harassing tactics were pretty good for a small group.
Leinas had counted no more than twenty-five riders, and she and Jethro had killed a few already. After the last one that the duo killed, they seemed to retreat to wherever they had been summoned from, giving the survivors a moment of reprieve.
"I'd love to have a nice thick coat made out of this wolf's fur though. What do you think, Lady Leinas?" asked Jethro speculatively as he sat down on the dead wolf, not caring what he was sitting on while catching his breath.
Leinas ignored him. Looking around at the remains of her camp and her men, she could still scarcely believe this was happening. A part of her wished that she would wake up from this nightmare, and yet it continued.
The surprise assault had been devastating, and even though they were able to repel the attackers for now, it had come at a heavy cost. She estimated there to be only fifty or so of her men remaining, some of whom were badly injured, and she had started this expedition with a hundred of the best of the Rockbruise Family's soldiers. Her family had thousands to call upon should the need arise, but she had taken particular care to groom and train the men under her command and she had no doubts they were the best unit among them.
To see their numbers reduced so drastically was a painful blow.
"Well, seems they've pulled back. Maybe they'll call it a day and go back to whatever hell hole they crawled out from," Jethro mused darkly.
"I doubt it," she replied truthfully. She knew it wasn't over yet even though both sides had incurred heavy losses. For every man that she had lost, the enemy had lost at least three.
The problem was that the enemy was definitely aware of how many soldiers she had left, whereas Leinas had no idea of the enemy's numbers.
It certainly seemed like the only way to win was to find whoever was leading this sizable goblin army and neutralize them. And she had to do it fast. There was no telling what other reinforcements these goblins could call, and the longer they waited the more of her men died. The handful of remaining magic casters were out of mana and it was all the survivors could do to keep the remaining injured from passing on.
Retreat wasn't an option. Not only would they probably be hunted down, especially considering how slow they would have to travel due to the injured, if this goblin contingent managed to reach a nearby settlement, which was only a few days' journey from their location, it would undoubtedly be a massacre. That wasn't going to happen while Leinas Rockbruise still defended this land. Her family's land.
Still, she was feeling pretty tired and the effects of the hangover weren't completely gone from her system. The odds of winning were slim, but she never let on that she was starting to fear for her life. Few of her missions had ever pushed her this hard so far, but this was shaping up to be the hardest expedition yet.
Not that she could make sense of what was happening. This goblin contingent seemed to come out of nowhere. The expedition had been fighting other creatures of the forest before this, like giant spiders, packs of direwolves, and savage ursas among other aggressive creatures. They then moved on to clearing out some caves at the feet of the mountains bordering the forest.
It was there that they experienced their first casualties, in the deeper recesses of those caves where all manner of dark creatures stirred. That was when she ordered they pull back to the areas of the forest that they had already cleared in order to rest and regroup. The caves, and there were plenty, often had to be cleared out at least once a year as monsters would surface once again from the deep bowels of the earth, or wandering creatures would make a nest in the empty cave.
This year, the task had fallen to Leinas and her unit, and it had been going pretty well up until now. None of the other units in recent years had ever encountered a battle such as this before, and she wondered how those other units would have fared were they in this situation. Shaking her head to get herself back to the task at hand, she looked to Jhethro.
"Do you remember what direction that first horn came from?" she asked, thinking quickly. Whoever blew the first horn was likely either the leader or was close to the leader because they were the ones who gave the signal for the goblin riders to attack.
Realizing what she was getting at, Jethro looked thoughtful for a moment before he grinned and said, "That way." He confidently pointed with an outstretched finger towards where he remembered the sound of the horn came from.
Leinas didn't want to waste anymore time. She ordered five men to accompany her and then instructed the remainder of her soldiers to gather in the center of the camp and form a defensive line, tending to the wounded as best as they could manage. She then commanded that two soldiers go find any horses that were still around and to ride back with all haste to her family's castle to get help.
With that settled, she began to march in the direction that Jethro had pointed to, the archer falling into step behind her with the five other soldiers trailing him.
They were silent as they moved. Nervous and afraid just like she was, not that they were aware of her fear. She exuded confidence with each step. But the men at least were certain deep down that no matter the odds, Leinas would succeed and they would willingly give their lives to ensure that she did.
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She didn't know how to react at first, so she didn't.
That seemed to confuse the golden-eyed man, whose smile suddenly faltered from her non-reaction.
"Well that didn't go the way I thought it would," he muttered to himself. Then a look of realization crossed his face. "Wait a minute. What if..." he paused. "You were... which could mean... hmm..." A hand came up to his chin as he struck a thoughtful pose.
Her mind was racing even faster than her heart, which was quite the feat considering how heavy her mind felt. Waking up in this strange room with an even stranger human was reason enough to feel afraid. She was definitely not on the farm anymore. At least, the room didn't appear to be a part of the farm that she recognized. Unless... was this a new area of the farm? Or was she brought to a different land owned by her master?
She tried to remember what happened and how she got here but her memory was very hazy. Maybe she somehow got sent to a new master? Was this him? If so, then why was he being so kind to her?
He appeared to be wealthy given the quality of his clothes and the clean, handsome face that looked like it hadn't seen any real hardship before. The room, while simple, was still much nicer than what she had been allowed to sleep in at the farm.
The human focused his almost mesmerizing golden eyes on her. "Can. You. Understand. Me?" he said, carefully and loudly enunciating each word like he was talking to an old woman who was hard of hearing.
She blinked.
He blinked back.
She wasn't sure if he was joking or not at first, but he repeated what he had said, speaking even slower a second time. She didn't know what to make of it. Did he really think that she could not understand what he was saying? Who was this man?
"Damn. I should have thought of this possibility. Now what do I do?" he muttered to himself. His hand returned to his chin as he continued to talk to himself. "I suppose pantomiming might work until we figure out a better way to communicate. She should be able to comprehend that at least..."
She couldn't understand it, but something was telling her that she could trust this strange man. It was a strange feeling, one that she hadn't really felt before. At least not that she could remember. It was like a warm voice whispering in the back of her mind. Soothing. Friendly. Yet try as she might she couldn't really make out anything specific that it was saying. It was actually more like it was conveying a feeling.
Was this a spell of some kind? She knew there was magic that affected the mind, but she wasn't sure if this was what was happening.
This human who called himself Lucifer Morningstar didn't appear to be actively using magic at the moment from what she could tell, but it was possible that he had cast the spell before she had woken up. However, she didn't even know if he could do magic at all. At the very least she knew that not all humans could perform magic, unlike elves who all had the innate ability.
It was possibly an effect of some magic item he was wearing. Either that, or maybe it really was her subconscious or even her instincts telling her that he could be trusted. She didn't know what to believe. Regardless, the situation was very alien to her – a human treating her with kindness and care, speaking to her gently as if she were something more than simple property. As if she were actually a person.
"Am I... dead?" she finally dared to speak, her voice soft and quiet. It had taken a lot of effort to do so, but she wanted to hear herself speak. Surprisingly to her, she sounded perfectly fine and her throat didn't hurt from speaking like it usually did. It was no longer hoarse and strained, which it had been for the last several weeks from all the coughing she had been doing because she had been sick.
She found it strange to hear her real voice for the first time in a long while. It sounded almost like a stranger talking and for a moment she wondered if it was actually herself that had spoken or someone else entirely. Was this really what she sounded like before all of this? She could scarcely remember.
Lucifer, who had been muttering to himself the whole time, suddenly fell silent while he eyed her with an unreadable expression.
"So you can understand me," he said, sounding relieved. "Thank heavens, I thought this was going to be a lot harder than I bargained for. As for your question, well... I'm happy to say that you're very much alive. Besides, this wouldn't be much of an afterlife if you were dead." He gestured around the room as he said so. Not that he knew anything about what elves in this world believed to be the afterlife.
She let his words sink in. She presumed as much. Everything looked and felt real enough. She felt like she was still in her own body and was not some spirit or something, but she didn't understand why she felt no pain in any part of her body anymore. She also no longer felt ill. Instead, she actually felt pretty good, the best she had felt in years. If she was truly still alive, shouldn't she still be in pain?
It occurred to her that it was possible she had passed out on the farm and that this was all some kind of dream. She tried to remember what happened.
"I remember... a light..." she said, her eyes distant as the memory slowly came back to her. "It was... it was bright... up above... from the sky..."
She remembered more. She remembered being on the ground, numb from the overwhelming pain as usual. It was dark for a while as they dragged her back through the fields. Some of the men who worked for her master had caught her trying to run away again. Then out of nowhere there was a brilliant light that shone from overhead as if a star had fallen from its parch in the heavens and was bearing down on them.
Then everything was a dark haze from there.
"Ah. Yes. Well, that light was my own doing," Lucifer said with another smile and a hint of pride. "I guess it must have looked pretty awesome from your perspective, huh? I wish I had a video of it or something so I could see it for myself," he paused and muttered something about creating video recording equipment.
Then he continued to speak to her, "That landing was especially cool I think... I mean, not that I'm trying to brag or anything... though I suppose I do need to work on my entrances so I can have one for different situations. I'm new to this after all."
She didn't quite understand what he was saying, and it must have reflected on her face because he quickly launched into a brief explanation of what he was talking about.
"A video is... well... actually never mind. It's not that important, and you probably wouldn't understand anyway," he chuckled to himself before continuing, "So I guess you're wondering how you ended up here in this room with me. Basically, I was on my way to Oldaven on business when I happened to... come across you and those unsavory fellows who were dragging you along. Since you looked like you were in trouble I decided to swoop in and help you out. Then I healed you up and brought you here to The Rose Moon Inn in the city."
He didn't appear to be lying, and it was certainly believable enough given her current situation. The guards at the farm were used to violence and she had seen them undergo some informal training in fighting, but they were used to dealing with street fights, bar fights, or fighting helpless people who couldn't really hit back.
Since he seemed to have something to do with that strange light, she figured he was a magic caster of some sort.
A trained warrior, let alone a magic caster, would have had no trouble dealing with those guards if the situation ever arose. And apparently, in this case, it did.
She studied him even closer than she had been doing earlier. Taking a good look at his expensive-looking white robes trimmed in gold, and the athletic build of the body that it was currently covering up.
His eyes were definitely golden, not yellowish, and seemed to glow faintly with power. But it could also have been the way the light was shining into them, she couldn't really tell at the moment. His face had sharp features and lines, with a pronounced jawline that made him look even more handsome. She hadn't seen many humans in her life, but this man was certainly the best looking one she had ever laid eyes on, as if a god had carefully sculpted his face to a certain set of beautiful specifications.
"Is there something on my face?" Lucifer asked with a worried look. He wiped a hand gently across it like he had stepped through some spiderwebs and was clearing them off.
Her eyes widened and she felt heat rushing to her cheeks as she quickly looked away. "N-No..." she managed to say, her voice even quieter than before that she almost didn't hear herself.
"How are you feeling by the way? You shouldn't be in any more pain after I healed you," he asked with genuine concern.
"I... feel okay," she replied after a few seconds. She really did, as difficult as it was to believe.
She brought her hands up and stared at them, noting that while the hard callouses remained, there were no more cuts or bruises. Two of her fingers on her left hand had been bent and broken, part of the punishment she remembered receiving last night for trying to run away, and yet now they looked and felt perfectly fine. She moved them around and then touched them with her other hand and there was no pain at all.
When she was on the farm, any time her injuries became too severe they would bring someone to do some minor healing on her. Just enough for her to be useful and productive again. Never had they deigned to fully heal her like this human had apparently did. And it was strange to feel so... whole again.
"That's good to hear. The healing spell I cast should have healed any wounds and ailments you had. However, please let me know if you suddenly feel any pain whatsoever and we can get it sorted out," said Lucifer.
"No pain," she whispered and gently shook her head as she glanced at him before looking away again. Then she froze. Hesitantly, she reached her hands up to her head. If he had healed all her injuries, did that mean...?
Realizing what she was trying to do, Lucifer watched patiently and with a gentle smile as she felt for her ears.
Sure enough, her fingers felt the full length of her ears for the first time in ages, her index fingers tapping the points of them multiple times as if testing it to see if it were real. Her eyes widened, mouth agape for a moment, and then she began to sob. Tears welling up in her eyes within seconds and then streaming down her face.
Lucifer's smile turned sad and he had the urge to pull her into a hug, but thought better of it.
She was starting to think that this really must be a dream. Why would a human be so kind to an elf? Not only was she an elf, but she was a slave. For most of her life the last seven years, she had known nothing but pain and hardship at the hands of humans. She despised them as they hated her in return. They didn't think of elves as anything more than wild animals of the forest, surely not worthy of care or pity. And every human she had met since she had been taken from her home had perpetuated that image.
Except this man. This man named Lucifer Morningstar.
Humans were apparently capable of being nice. Of treating others respectfully and carefully. A fact that was utterly new to her. Unless this was all an act? She couldn't wrap her head around it, and even though the warm feeling in the back of her mind told her to trust in him, she couldn't stop herself from thinking that there was a chance this was all a trick.
She was well aware of how cruel humans could be. Her previous masters had played on her naivete when she was first put into service. Furthermore, she was still unsure of why this was happening and what he stood to gain from it, but at that specific moment she didn't really care. For the first time in a long time she felt good. And her ears! They had been returned to her.
She truly hoped this wasn't just some vivid dream, because if it was, this was certainly the most pleasant dream she had ever had and she didn't want to wake from it. She would rather die than return to that living nightmare that was working on that cursed farm.
After a few minutes had passed and her sobbing had died down, though she was still sniffling, she tried to blink away the wetness in her eyes as she looked at the blurry figure still sitting quietly next to her.
"Th... Th... Thank..." she couldn't even fully say the words, but Lucifer understood. She could hardly even believe she would say that to a human after everything she had experienced with them.
"You're most welcome." He flashed her another smile, not that she could really see it at the moment.
She attempted to wipe away the tears with the backs of her hands, succeeding only in smearing the liquid around her face some more as there was simply too much.
Calling up his inventory, he reached into the pocket dimension that it existed in and pulled out a small handkerchief. The perks of being a hoarder with way too much inventory space. The handkerchief was navy blue with gold stripes and was made of high quality ≪Crystal Spider Silk≫.
It was a reward for a low-level quest to help a nobleman whose house sigil colors were navy blue and gold. Normally, people would sell it for gold after receiving it upon completion of the quest since it was practically useless, but Lucifer had kept it as a memento of one of his first ever quests in YGGDRASIL. How long ago had that been?
At least now it could serve some purpose. As gently as he could, he wiped away the tears from her pretty face and then proceeded to place the somewhat damp handkerchief in her hands.
"There. All better," said Lucifer, his smile never faltering, "So if I may ask, miss, what is your name?"
Still sniffling, she bit her lip and looked at him. That warm feeling in the back of her mind grew stronger and though she was wary of it, she couldn't resist it.
"Kiah."
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AN: I haven't fully fleshed out ALL of the spells in Lucifer's arsenal, he has at least 300 spells (definitely more but we'll get to that) to choose from between all of his various classes and an additional 100 or so from cash items (won't be as many as Momonga tho who I believe has 700 spells?)... so there might be some spells in future chapters that might've proved more useful in previous chapters... and if you ever notice that happening it's most likely because I added a new spell that I just thought of at that moment. Perhaps at some point I'll rewrite older chapters to fix those situations... but that would depend on how much time I have to spare... thanks again for the support and the reviews. Let me know what you think :)
PS - Sorry this took so long to get out. I actually completely rewrote this chapter five times! Essentially I've written about 50+k words just for this one chapter because I kept scrapping it heh I'm actually still not quite happy with this one but I feel like it's better to put this out and move the story along for now.
PPS - I promise that the next chapters will advance the plot a lot more. Thanks for sticking with me! Let me know any comments, questions, and suggestions.