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Lightbringer
Chapter 9
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"Lord Rubeon will not be pleased to hear of this," stated the armored knight, his voice sounding rather nasally for a man clad in a full set of castle-forged armor, like some common criminal that could be found in a back alley somewhere. Technically, he actually was one before all this knighthood crap, and apparently word had gotten around about it. He saw how some of the other knights around the city whispered to each other and gave him odd looks whenever he entered the room, not that he cared what those bastards thought of him.
The knight had short, spiky black hair and a matching set of dark brown eyes that seemed almost black. They peered out into the world with contempt. He was the captain of Lord Rubeon's forces in Oldaven, which meant that he was in charge of overseeing the security of his lord's holdings that encompassed a sizable portion of the land east of the city.
"What should we do, Sir Black?" asked the soldier who had just finished giving his report, standing at attention.
The soldier wasn't very smart – in the knight's opinion – and was very boring, not at all someone that the knight wanted to deal with for any longer than necessary. At least he was loyal and obedient, like a good soldier should be. He actually couldn't even remember the man's name, much to his amusement. It didn't help that the soldier had also just told the knight the bad news that they had been attacked by unknown assailants last night.
Even worse, two guards were dead and one was still in critical condition over at one of the healing wards of the nearest Temple. Apparently they had been out retrieving a runaway elf slave, who was currently unaccounted for, when they were attacked.
A few of the other men on duty that night claimed to have seen a brilliant ball of light descend from the sky over the farm, and when they later approached where it landed to investigate, they found the guards already bloody and broken on the ground.
The knight wasn't overly familiar with magic, knowing only that it was called Tier Magic because the various spells were separated by several tiers, and that it was a gift from the Four Great Gods, or Six, whichever you chose to believe, but he figured that it was most likely magic that had been used to attack the guards. He didn't care much for the gods.
They were capable fighters, from what little he could remember of them, but they were certainly ill-equipped to fight someone who could use magic, and at least one of their unknown assailants was apparently a magic caster of some skill.
Magic casters. He hated the lot of them. Mostly because he was jealous that he wasn't one. Thankfully, the ability to even wield such power was not common, and rarer still was a person blessed with strong enough magic to get to higher tiers, so it wasn't as much of a problem as he told himself it was.
Regardless, it was always better to be safe when it came to dealing with magic, so he had spent no small amount of coin to acquire a coat that was supposedly highly resistant to magic. The very black cloak that now draped over his armor.
"Obviously," the knight drawled with mild annoyance, "We need to find whoever did this and severely punish them for attacking our lord's forces and possibly stealing our lord's property. And we need to retrieve that stolen property if at all possible." Even if they were probably going to dispose of said property once retrieved, not that he mentioned that part. The knight sighed. All this trouble over some lowly elf slave. It upset him greatly, and he couldn't even imagine how upset his lord would be when he found out about it.
The soldier grinned approvingly, seemingly ignorant of the knight's disdain of him. "What are your orders, sir?"
The knight was quiet for a moment as his mind churned out a plan. They needed more information on who attacked them and where they might be hiding. To that end, he ordered the soldier to gather some men and scour the surrounding area, asking anyone if they saw anything noteworthy recently while also checking every house, barn, and any other possible hiding places.
Meanwhile, he would be hitting up his old contacts in the dark shadowy underbelly of the city, the ones that were always watching for anything interesting going on in the area. He was willing to bet that whoever attacked them had decided to hide in the city, or would at least rest there while contemplating their next move. It was a gut feeling, but his gut was usually right in his experience. Plus, he wanted to check in on the injured guard to see if he was conscious and could answer some questions about the attack that might prove useful.
It sounded like a decent enough plan, and the soldier didn't seem to object. Not that he would have even if he did, but he didn't look like he had any objections so that was something. The knight supposed that he would have to interrogate whoever it was once they finally caught up to them, which would be fun.
He hadn't tortured anyone in a while. Not that he was really interested in why they were attacking, though his master probably would want him to find out. All he wanted was a chance to indulge in his more... violent tendencies, and this served as a potentially convenient outlet. Playing knight was really getting in the way of all that fun he used to have.
"Should we alert the City Guard? Lord Wrightson's men?" asked the soldier, hesitantly.
"No," replied the knight immediately. "We'll handle this matter ourselves, and I'll personally be involved." The knight finally smiled a little, a wicked gleam in his eye.
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"Oldaven Cemetery is full of our buried dead, as you all already know. What you probably don't know is that all that death crammed into one place generates a lot of negative energy. And I'm talking about a lot. So much that sometimes you can even feel it on your skin, maybe even in your bones," began Mia, the redheaded mage. "In about an hour, the sun will set and night will be upon us, and it is in the dark of night that the negative energy produced by the dead in this place increases dramatically. It builds up and pools together and through some mysterious process we don't yet understand, it actually spawns low-level undead monsters."
Lucifer noted the looks of nervousness and outright fear in the eyes of his fellow examinees as they registered understanding of what was to come. He, of course, had been expecting this possibility.
"If left unchecked, these low-level undead will continue to spawn, feeding off the negative energy of this place and with enough time they can even create a horde of undead that could threaten the very safety of our beloved city. Sometimes, when there are enough low-level undead infesting an area, they can even spawn higher levels of undead, the worst of which would be a lich. This is the main reason we have this entire area walled-off and the gate guarded," continued the redhead.
Lucifer thought he heard someone gasp at that. He, of course, already knew all of this too, so it didn't come as a surprise.
Low level undead mobs sometimes randomly spawned higher level ones over time if they were left alone. At least that's how it worked in YGGDRASIL, and apparently the same principle applied here. There were actually people in YGGDRASIL – usually guilds – who staked claims to certain areas known to spawn a lot of undead. They would then purposefully allow these mobs of undead to get absurdly large and spawn higher levels of undead in order to make it a much more lucrative to fight them, lucrative both in terms of EXP and in loot. Lucifer himself had been a part of a few of those types of operations over his many years in the game.
Though from what he could remember, the worst possible spawn was certainly not a simple lich like the mage had mentioned. Not even close.
"Your task is simple enough: defeat as many undead as you can while surviving until sunrise. I'll give each of you areas of the cemetery that you must patrol, and you cannot stray from your assigned areas. I'll be watching over you with some of the guards from the top of the walls over there," she pointed to a specific section of the ramparts.
Lucifer frowned underneath his helmet. He wasn't expecting the exam to take long, especially not all night. His thoughts turned to the elf resting back in their room. Kiah might think he had left her behind if he stayed out all night for this, not to mention she was likely going to be starving in the middle of the night, if she wasn't already. He had left and fed her hours ago after all. He probably should have checked on her before coming down here, though now he had to figure out a way to get both food and a message to Kiah back at the inn.
"Any questions?" Ria finally asked, looking at them expectantly as if they should be asking some questions.
It was one of the boys who spoke up first. The tall one who had a bit more composure compared to his two friends. "What kind of... undead will we face?" He sounded nervous.
"Skeletons, at the very least," the mage said with a shrug.
Lucifer wasn't worried about the undead, naturally. This was never going to be any trouble for him. Low-level undead, which is what he certainly expected to appear here, attacking him may as well be like ants trying to level a mountain. And that mountain was actually a massive volcano that was about to erupt. Poor ants.
"W-What if... we can't h-handle the undead?" stammered another of the boys, this time the one with the daggers who seemed to be the leader of the trio.
"Then you die."
More gasps, followed by fierce whispering between the boys who had huddled up. The girls quietly looked on, pale as ghosts. Lucifer was suddenly finding this very entertaining. Was she purposefully trying to make these kids wet themselves? There was no way the Guild would actually just let people die like that for an entrance exam, particularly ones as young as these. He would be very surprised if they did.
"Any other questions?" asked Mia. The others were all very much subdued and put-off by what she'd said.
"Can we... all join together?" said one of the girls, the slightly older looking one. She nervously snuck a glance in Lucifer's direction, who didn't pay her any mind. It didn't much matter to him whether he did it alone or with a group, though it would be a bit more bothersome with a group, as long as he got his membership to the Guild. At least she was smart to recognize that having Lucifer on her team would make it easier for her.
Mia fixed her gaze upon the young girl. "Will you be working together as a party after the entrance exam, assuming you pass?"
"W-Well..."
"If you are, then sure. By all means party up now. If not, then unfortunately no, I cannot allow it. You must understand that being an Adventurer will require you to risk your life, and if you're unprepared for that both mentally and physically, then you shouldn't become an Adventurer at all. You also need to take this test with the people you will be working with in the foreseeable future, since you have to also know your strengths and weaknesses as a party, which will allow you to better decide on what jobs you'll be taking while also saving your lives out in the field since you'll know what you're all capable of."
Lucifer nodded almost imperceptibly. The mage's reasoning was sound.
"Oh, okay..." said the girl, looking disappointed and unsure as she stared at the ground in front of her.
When no one else seemed to have anything else to say, Lucifer finally spoke up.
"Miss Ria, would it be okay for me to step out for a moment? I'll be back before sundown."
Ria peered at him with her bright blue eyes, crossing her arms over her decently endowed chest. "May I ask why?"
"It's... a personal matter," he finally said after a brief moment to think.
"Well... as long as you're back before sunset, I suppose it's fine. Once the sun is below the horizon, the gate is locked for good until sunrise, and if you're not back then you'll forfeit your examination until next year. No exceptions."
"Understood. Thank you, Miss Ria," he inclined his head gratefully.
She huffed then looked around at the others. "Right. Anyone else want to leave too?"
Silence.
Ria nodded, more to herself it seemed than to the others, and pulled out a folded piece of parchment from one of the many pockets she had. Unfolding it quickly, her eyes scanned the page before she began to verify their identities by asking them to say their names.
The three boys went first. The leader with the daggers and messy black hair was named Alejandro; the shield-bearer with an ax was called Anthony; and the tall spear-wielding boy with a sword at his hip was Cristian. They all looked nervous, but seemed to take comfort in their friends being there with them.
Then the girls with their sky blue eyes introduced themselves next in quiet voices. Julia and Janna. They were sisters, not twins though because they were apparently one year apart. Julia was the taller and older of the two, and she sported some light leather armor comparable to the boys. Her weapon of choice appeared to be a simple sword. Janna, on the other hand, was apparently a magic caster because she had a plain wooden staff with her. So plain that Lucifer thought she might have picked it up at a construction site. He was intrigued to find out what magic she could wield.
Then it was Lucifer's turn, which everyone seemed most interested in. When he said his name, the other examinees and even Ria looked confused, and the angel figured it was because they thought they'd recognize his name, or more specifically his family name, thinking that he was some Imperial noble. Ria even asked him where he was from in an effort to try and pinpoint what region and therefore what noble families he might be related to, but all he would say was that he was from far away, much to the mage's visible annoyance.
Once that was settled, Ria allowed him to leave, and he walked briskly out the gates – ignoring the questioning stares from the guards – and made his way through the streets until he could duck into an empty back alley. Peering around to make sure no one was within eyesight, he concentrated on his magic and then said in a barely audible whisper, "[Gate]."
A shimmering disc of pulsating magic energy just large enough for him to step through appeared, expanding outwards from what first began as a pinprick of black and white light that hung in the air before him. Looking at it for the first time in this new world, it appeared to be the same as it was in YGGDRASIL, it just looked and felt more real now. A magical tear in the fabric of reality.
He walked into it confidently and the feeling was like stepping into a giant pool of jello thrumming with magic energy. When he reappeared on the other side of it almost instantly, he found himself in an empty narrow alley near the Grand Market, the sounds and smells of the bazaar echoing and wafting over from beyond the alley.
Glancing behind him, Lucifer noted the disc he had just walked out of remained after he used it. Focusing a little, he could feel it connected to him by magic, and when he cancelled the spell with but a thought the disc immediately collapsed inward back into the tiniest pinprick of light before disappearing entirely.
He was about to take his first step since exiting when there was a sudden commotion off to his side. Whirling around, hands at the ready to block an attack, Lucifer tensed for a second before he realized that it was just a cat that had been atop some garbage and jumped and run off because it was probably startled by his sudden appearance. He watched it scamper down the alley away from him and chuckled to himself as he relaxed.
He was kind of hoping some lowlife thug was about to jump him or something, but he chuckled and reasoned that anyone who saw him step out of a whirling disc of magic energy was unlikely to attack him even if they were planning to jump the next person they saw.
Weaving his way through the bustling crowds, Lucifer managed to acquire a few barbecue sticks and a bag full of steaming buns filled with meat and vegetables for what he thought was a decent price before returning to the alley he had arrived at and then using [Gate] again, this time appearing in the alley right behind The Rosemoon Inn. There were no cats to mark his arrival this time.
When he entered the inn, it was surprisingly empty except for Otto, who stared at him for a few seconds before greeting him with a nod and returning to whatever he was doing behind the counter. Lucifer said a brief hello as he walked past him and up the stairs. Noting that his wards were still in place and looked to be untouched, he made his way inside.
It was dark with the shutters still drawn, the light of the waning sun now hitting the other side of the inn, with only the smallest hint of it coming through the gaps in the shutters. His eyes adjusted immediately of course and he was able to see as clearly as if the sun were shining overhead and the roof didn't exist.
Lying on her side and facing the wall, the elf appeared to be awake, and she didn't stir when he entered. From the looks of things, the elf had barely moved at all from where he had left her earlier.
"Hello Kiah. I'm back, but only for a moment," he said and walked over to check the pitcher of water he had left her and was relieved to find it empty. At least she was hydrating. He refilled it promptly, filling up the cup he had conjured earlier as well.
"I... thought you might have left me," Kiah spoke softly, her voice tinged with relief. She finally turned over, her deep blue eyes dark and mysterious like the depths of the very ocean, and there was a storm of emotions raging there just behind her eyes. A far cry from the lifeless eyes she had earlier that morning.
Lucifer wondered what she could be thinking about. He sat on the edge of her bed, placing the paper bag full of food between them. "I said I was coming back, didn't I?"
She nodded and said with the barest hint of a smile tugging at her lips, "You did." Then she inhaled deeply, the smell of the food now spilling across the room, and her eyes traveled down to the bag between them.
"Hungry?" he asked, knowing full well what the answer was.
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The troll was fast, faster than it had any right to be given its size. Leinas ducked and rolled as the tree trunk it was using as a club swung through the air above her. Getting to her feet she took a step forward, only to sidestep and twist her body as the beast had already maneuvered the tree trunk back around and above for an overhead strike. The tree trunk slammed into the dirt a foot away from her, right where she had been standing but a moment ago, kicking up a cloud of dirt and rocks. The ground shook and the troll roared angrily for having missed its mark.
There was a brief moment to strike as it recovered from the momentum and strength of its own attack, and she took it. Her spear surged forward with great speed and bit deep into the large hand that was wrapped around the tree trunk and the troll roared in pain before it let go of the makeshift club and swung out to backhand her, blood still pouring from the fresh wound. Leinas jumped back to avoid it a half second too late as it caught her in the side with the backs of its fingers, sending her tumbling to the ground painfully.
"My Lady!" cried Jethro with concern, and he started towards her.
"Get back!" she growled as she got to her feet quickly on her own power, grabbing her spear that had fallen to the side when she fell and ignoring the throbbing pain all along her right side. If they entered the fray now, the goblins that surrounded them would join in too, and the battle would surely be lost.
The archer hesitated, but then stepped back to where he had been watching off to the side along with the few other soldiers that had accompanied them. The goblins were still encircling and were also watching. They were excited and cheering on their leader with joyous glee.
Leinas figured she had a couple of broken ribs, judging from the sharp pain in her side with each labored breath she took, and she watched as the troll flexed its hand, the wound that she had inflicted was nowhere to be found. That was the problem when fighting trolls, they had strong regenerative capabilities, allowing them to recover even from normally fatal or debilitating wounds. Then there was the fact that their skin was also highly resistant to magic, not that it mattered much in this fight since Leinas wasn't able to use magic at all.
Trolls were far more difficult to deal with than ogres, that was for sure. She needed to end this quickly. There was no way she could keep up with its regeneration if the battle continued too long.
The troll picked up the tree trunk it had been using as a club and eyed her hungrily. An idea struck Leinas, and she cast her eyes around for the nearest tree that was big enough around for its purposes. The tree needed to be heavy enough to slow the troll and maybe even hurt it if possible. Spotting one some distance behind the troll, beyond the first ranks of goblins, she made her move.
Dashing forward, she watched the troll closely as it reacted to her approach and swung wide at her once again. This time she jumped, timing it just right, and planted her feet on the swinging club before launching herself off of it. She twisted into the air over the troll's head, which had turned up to look at her in surprise, and she stabbed at its eye with her spear. Her weapon easily pierced through its head, gouging its eye as blood flowed freely.
The troll howled in agony as she fell back to the ground and landed behind the troll, her legs straining as they absorbed the shock of her landing. She then made for the tree she had picked out, ignoring the goblins who seemed unsure of whether or not they should attack her. They didn't get much more time to decide because the troll had turned around and was going after the warrior with renewed enthusiasm, forcing the goblins to back off lest they be caught underfoot by the rampaging troll.
When Leinas reached the tree, she turned around with her back to it and readied herself. Hoping against hope that things would work out the way she envisioned, she waited as the troll charged at her, its eye already healing itself, though the blood from the wound was still fresh all over its face and its chest.
It swung again at her with such ferocity that it caused a gust of wind to erupt as it moved through the air, buffeting the goblins who were watching. Again, at the last second, Leinas dodged by throwing herself to the side and on the ground as the club smashed into the massive tree behind her. The sound of splintering wood echoed across the forest as both the tree and the club broke against each other, showering Leinas and the area immediately around her with pieces of splintered wood.
So focused was the troll on her that it barely registered the fact that its weapon was now only half its size, and it readied to strike her while she was still on the ground, believing that it had somehow hit her and forced her into such a position. It also didn't notice that the massive tree was now listing towards it dangerously as its badly damaged trunk groaned and cracked. By the time the troll realized what was happening, the tree was already almost upon it, and it roared in surprise and pain when it slammed into the creature.
Leinas didn't wait to appreciate her plan coming to fruition flawlessly. She leapt to her feet, spear at the ready, as the tree broke some of the troll's bones with sickening cracks and pinned it to the ground on its back. A few goblins were also squashed beneath the tree and the rest of them scurried even further away.
The troll wouldn't be down long, strong as it was. Now at least she could use her martial arts. She was saving them to use when she absolutely needed to because she could feel the tiredness in her bones, the exhaustion that gripped her body was only stayed by her iron will and the adrenaline flowing through her veins.
She could tell that she only had enough energy left for one concerted attack with martial arts. After that, she would be spent. And this was that moment.
"[Ability Boost]. [Flow Acceleration]," she said, feeling the mental fatigue heavily as her body was strengthened considerably. She moved forward so quickly that those watching barely had time to register the blur of her form as she was upon the troll and stabbing at it with a frenzy. The troll groaned in agony as it was gouged again and again in its head, turning into a mushy lump of flesh, blood, and bone until it was barely recognizable as a head. Crimson blood splattered everywhere and pooled across the ground beneath it.
The troll's regeneration was hard at work trying to heal its severely mangled head, but she was attacking faster than it could keep up with, and she noticed the healing attempts get slower and slower until finally it simply stopped and the troll was finally motionless. She stopped, spear gripped tightly in her blood-covered hands, the blade of it pointed at the bloody mass that was once the troll's head. In fact, there was little of her that wasn't covered in the troll's disgusting blood.
It was done. The forest was silent except for her ragged breathing as she fell to one knee, turning her spear upright and planting the butt of it into the ground to use as a support, otherwise she probably would've fallen over completely. She cast her gaze around, noting that the goblins and ogres were all eyeing her warily. They now seemed to lack the excitement and aggression they previously displayed. Jethro and the other soldiers made their way over to her, wary of the force that still surrounded them.
Without warning, a shrill cry pierced through the forest, and everyone grimaced and were brought low by its otherworldly sound. Leinas was hit the hardest, pain piercing her ears as thoroughly as the sound that caused it, and she could have sworn her ears were about to implode. All around her, goblins, ogres, and humans were writhing on the ground in pain, clutching their heads and covering their ears. It took her a few precious seconds to realize the sound was coming from right next to her, and when she turned her head her eyes widened with horror.
The parasite, or whatever it was that had been attached to the troll, had partially detached itself from its now unmoving corpse, and its edges were lined with hundreds of horrifying needle-like fangs. It rose up like a snake, thick and blubbery and atrocious, like something out of a nightmare. At its top end, a circular mouth had opened, filled with more of its teeth, and was from where the painfully shrill cry was emanating from. It didn't have any eyes, but for some reason Leinas could tell that its attention was directed at her, and it was not happy.
Mustering whatever strength she had left, as the pain of its cry was slowly overcoming her, she twisted around to face it and pointed her spear at the thing.
"[Piercing Strike]!" she yelled, the blade of her spear shining with energy. She thrust forward and the thing lunged at her at the same time, its frightening maw agape, ready to tear into her flesh. Then Leinas Rockbruise knew no more as the pain was swept away by the darkness that took her.
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When the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, leaving in its wake a blazing sky of red and orange, the gate to the cemetery clanked shut, locking the would-be Adventurers within the cemetery.
Lucifer had been assigned the middle and largest portion, with the boys taking the west end and the girls taking the east. The angel suspected that this was deliberate, since the graves were more concentrated in the middle and would therefore likely spawn the most undead compared to the edges. Just as well, since he wasn't sure if he could idly stand by while any of the teens got themselves killed, and leaving his area would mean certain failure during the exam.
He had been surprised when none of the teens asked him to join their respective parties. Apparently they didn't expect him to work with them after. Not that he minded, though he thought they might at least attempt to recruit him. He worked far better alone anyway because he was used to going solo, and working with others as weak as them would undoubtedly hinder him to the point of frustration. He did respect their dedication to see this through. When Ria offered them the chance to back out one last time before shutting the gates, they had all refused.
Brave and foolish. Probably useful traits to have as an Adventurer though. Well, he would see soon enough what their skills were.
The first hour passed uneventfully as the light of the sun continued to wane until finally the night fully took hold. The only lights were from the torches atop the walls and the torches they had been given to hold. The torches were enchanted with a spell that would keep the fire burning through the night, courtesy of Ria. It also made it easier to see them from afar, which was probably why Ria had given it to them in the first place. He mused that if she could see in the dark as clearly as he could, she might not have given them any torches at all.
Lucifer glanced towards the others, his keen eyesight allowing him to observe them in sharp detail even from afar. The boys were quiet, their eyes constantly jumping from one shadow to another as they remained on alert for any potential enemies. The girls, on the other hand were busy talking and didn't seem to be watching for any undead. Concentrating on his hearing, he tried to listen in to what they were saying.
"... really do this?" asked Janna, the younger and smaller of the two.
"Of course I believe we can do this, sis. And once we're done and we become Adventurers, we can make some money for mama and papa so they don't have to work so hard anymore," replied Julia as she reached out to pat her sister's head. "And we can keep some money to spend on ourselves too. You can buy all the sweets you want!"
Janna seemed unsure even in the face of her sister's confidence, and her eyes finally darted about warily. "This is too dangerous," she said. "What if we..."
"It'll be fine, sis. And it'll definitely be worth it," replied Julia, "You'll see."
The younger girl fell silent, clutching her plain wooden staff close to her nearly flat chest.
"You remember the plan, right? For when the undead appear?" asked Julia.
"Uh-huh."
"Tell me again. So I know you know. We can't... We can't afford to make any mistakes, just like what Miss Ria said this is dangerous and our lives are at risk."
Janna shifted on her feet nervously and she was unable to meet her sister's eyes so she stared at the ground. She took a deep breath and said, "When... When they come, you'll get their attention and do your best to damage them, while I ready an attack spell to finish them off. We try to take them one at a time and keep moving so we're not surrounded or overwhelmed."
"Don't forget," Julia walked closer to her sister, grabbing her by the arms and forcing her to look up into her eyes. "That if things go sideways, you run as fast as you can to the gate without looking back, okay?"
"But... what about you?"
"Don't worry about me, sis. I promise I'll be right behind you. Besides, which one of us runs faster anyway?" Julia smirked.
Janna nodded, "I guess..."
"You have to promise me," the older girl said seriously.
"O-Okay! Okay! I promise." Janna swung her head around and seemed to be looking straight at Lucifer, which caused him to take a startled half step back, but then he realized that she wasn't actually looking at him in the same way that he had been at her. She could probably only make out the light of his torch and his small silhouette in the distance, but no more than that.
"Who do you think he is, big sis?" asked Janna thoughtfully as she continued to look in Lucifer's direction.
"Who?"
"That guy who's taking the exam with us. I think he said his name was... Lucifer?"
Julia shrugged. "Beats me. Some rich noble's son no doubt. I mean, did you see his gear? Really high quality. And expensive. I bet the price of even his gauntlets alone could buy us both a set of decent equipment, or maybe even our own small house in the city."
"Yeah..." breathed the younger girl with what sounded like envious longing.
It sounded to Lucifer that they were likely poor, which is why they were forcing themselves to become Adventurers to earn some money. Were the job prospects in the city that slim that they would be resort to such a dangerous profession in order to make a living?
Strangely, he didn't feel any pity for them even though he knew he probably should have. A side effect of his no longer being human, perhaps? Not that he could help them anyway since he was technically broke, and he was not about to sell any of his equipment or items from YGGDRASIL.
"Never heard of that family name before though," added Janna.
"Me neither. That one's a mystery. Maybe he's a bastard son? Or maybe he's using a fake na-" the girl stopped talking so abruptly that Lucifer wondered if his ears somehow had failed him and he couldn't hear them anymore, but then he followed the girl's suddenly wide-eyed stare and realized that she was looking at a spot not too far away from them.
"W-What is it?" Janna asked, noticing Julia's sudden change of demeanor and turning to where her sister was staring intently.
"Something's moving over there. Do you see it?"
"No i-it's too dark."
"Well something's definitely moving... I think this is it, sis. Get behind me," said Julia in a somewhat shaky voice, moving the torch she was holding a little further out to try and cast some more light on whatever it was.
Lucifer saw it before they did. Emerging from the ground was a skeletal arm, like something straight out of a horror movie, as it flailed around in an effort to find something to grab onto.
And when the girls finally realized what it was, each one had a sharp intake of frightened breath.
Then the skeletal hand found a purchase on the dirt to grab onto it and pulled itself out of the ground until its entire body was out and on all fours. It then lurched up onto its bony feet and with the creaking and clattering of dry bones it turned its attention to the light of the torches that the girls were holding. It took one step towards them and made a noise somewhere between growling and gurgling that should have been impossible for something without vocal chords.
The younger girl was frozen in place, staring at the skeleton with frightened eyes, and she didn't hear her older sister when she called out for her to get behind her again.
With a frustrated sigh, Julia moved to stand in front of her sister instead, and this served to partially block Janna's view of the skeleton, allowing the younger girl to shake off enough of the sudden fear that had gripped her in order for her to move as she readied her staff.
Lucifer watched them with interest, noting that there were more skeletons emerging all across the cemetery now. He also noted the strange presence that seemed to be seeping into the air, and it got heavier like an unseen fog that as time passed. This was likely the negative energy buildup that Ria had told them about. Interesting.
The skeleton shuffled towards the girls, seemingly in no hurry. Julia already had her sword out, brandishing the cold steel in front of her shakily. Her stance was poor, her grip too tight on the sword, meaning she had little if any training on swordsmanship. Lucifer thought this might not end so well for them, though based on their plan that he'd overheard, it seemed that she was only going to run interference while her younger sister did the damage needed.
Behind him, Lucifer could already hear the sounds of fighting. It seemed the boys were getting to work, and from the sounds of things they might actually be doing fairly well. He would observe them shortly. He needed to see how the girls fared first, because he figured he might need to help them the most.
When the skeleton was only a few feet away arms outstretched ready to grab hold of the living, Julia stepped forward to meet it.
"Hyaaah!" she cried as she swung the sword clumsily towards the unarmed skeleton. The steel met its bones and lopped off both its arms, and the skeleton was literally unarmed much to Lucifer's amusement, but still standing. The momentum of the sword made Julia stumble as her sword buried itself in the dirt. She tugged on it but it wouldn't budge.
The skeleton opened its jaw, exposing sharpened teeth, and growled as it lunged forward to bite at the defenseless girl still struggling with her sword. Julia shut her eyes and recoiled, but stubbornly didn't let go of her sword.
"[M-Magic Arrow]!" cried Janna, her staff pointed at the skeleton.
A bolt of pure magical energy erupted from the tip of her staff and flew through the air, impacting squarely on the chest of the skeleton, causing its chest to explode into a hundred pieces of broken bones.
Julia opened her eyes, blinking as she realized how close she had come to possibly dying, and still very much shaking she turned to look at her sister and gave her a smile.
"A-Are you o-okay?" asked Janna as she rushed forward to her sister.
Julia managed to free her sword. "T-That was amazing, Janna! You... You saved me."
The young magic caster launched herself at Julia, enveloping her in a tight hug. "I-I was so scared! I th-thought you might..."
"You did great, Janna," said the older girl as she returned the hug with one arm, patting her now sobbing younger sister in the back. "But this is no time to cry, understand? There's more of them we have to deal with. Let's stick to the plan and we'll be fine, got it?"
Janna reluctantly detached herself and nodded, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand. "Y-Yes, big sis!"
Sure enough, more skeletons were approaching the duo, and Julia ran towards a spot that would allow them to take them on one at a time without being surrounded. Lucifer watched them dispatch a few more skeletons before deciding that perhaps they might make it through the night without his help after all. He could sense the skeletons growing in number around him, and he supposed he should deal with them now.
One was already perilously close to him and swiped at him with its bony hand, sharp finger bones like claws. When it impacted against his armor, the bony hand shattered and its bones broke at the forearm, leaving only the upper half of its ulna and radius still attached to the elbow. The skeleton growled, feeling no pain, as it swiped at him with its other still intact arm.
"Pathetic," he said simply as he reached out his hand and grabbed the skeleton by the face as it broke its other arm against his adamantite armor. Flailing helplessly, the skeleton had only moments left before Lucifer crushed its skull with a crunch and the rest of it fell limp to the ground, a heap of motionless bones.
Another skeleton came at him and he threw the torch up into the air, illuminating the area around him a little better. There were about eight of them. Twisting his body and punching one in the skull, which exploded in another shower of bone, his other hand grasped the hilt of Executioner and drew it as the hand he used to punch reached up to grasp the torch as it fell.
It was too bad that the skeletons were mindless beings of undeath, because they would have certainly been impressed and even intimidated by Lucifer's display of martial and athletic skill, but they didn't care and approached him all the same, making the now familiar growling noises of the skeletal dead.
Lucifer's blade was a blur of crimson and in but a scant few seconds he had cut down the remaining seven skeletons within his immediate vicinity. More of the things were approaching, slowly, and he stood his ground calmly while turning his attention to the boys on the other side of the cemetery.
They were working with surprisingly good coordination. Making sure that they were constantly moving so as not to get trapped by the skeletons while also having one engage and at least one other to flank and attack. The third would either protect the rear or engage another that might be too close for comfort, and would wait until his fellows would come from the flanks after dealing with the first opponent. A simple enough strategy, and one that worked so long as they never faced more than two at a time.
Individually, the boys might be able to best a skeleton one-on-one, but it would be very close. Together, they were no match for the dumb, slow-moving skeletons.
Both groups, the boys and the girls, were surprisingly more competent than he realized. Or perhaps these skeletons were simply weaker than he even thought. Still, even though they showed they could handle themselves, the night was long and their youthful energy was going to wear out eventually. He didn't think for one second that they had enough stamina and endurance to last through the long dark of night.
Luckily for them, they were certainly facing less skeletons than he was. A quick count of the skeletons in the area of the boys came up to six, after having dealt with a few earlier. The girls had roughly the same number. Meanwhile, Lucifer had already taken down nine, and already another dozen were closing in, with more still appearing.
After dispatching another skeleton back to join the dead, Lucifer looked towards the ramparts from where Ria was watching them. He noticed that she was using some kind of telescope and it was pointed straight at him at that very moment. Ria lowered it, eyes going wide with surprise in his direction, and he realized it was because she could see him looking at her with that thing. He quickly turned away and launched himself at the next poor skeletons to crumble before him.
Swinging his sword around was kind of fun, and it gave him a chance to practice since he had never actually swung a sword in real life before, well in his old life anyway. This was his real life now. He experimented with various swings and grips, twisting and turning, jumping and weaving, his mind thinking back to all the various media he had consumed that involved swordplay as he tried to mimic what he could remember.
Lucifer felt amateurish, and probably looked like one, and he decided right then that he would need to train and practice more to improve. He couldn't simply rely on just his magic or his skills (the warrior's equivalent to spells, of which he had a few; similar to martial arts of the new world) to get him through a fight.
In the incredibly unlikely chance that he was somehow unable to use either skills or magic, he would need to have a solid foundation of basic fighting skills to fall back on. And while so far his equipment and his power seemed to be far greater than anyone he's faced so far, there was no guarantee that there weren't any who were just as strong and well equipped, or even better.
He recalled the offer of training that the warrior lady had given him earlier at the Guild Hall. What was her name again? He thought for a moment. River. Her name was River. Yes. He would seek her out tomorrow and learn what he could. That would be a good start.
For now, he relished the thrill of his blade singing through the night, punctuated every so often by the sound of shattering and collapsing bones.
=x=x=x=x=X=x=x=x=x=
Black pulled the hood of his cloak lower over his face as he walked into the crowded pub. The air was heavy with the smell of sweat, ale, and food. And a little bit of vomit. Suffice it to say it was not a pleasant smell that greeted him, though he was used to it by now.
A few of the patrons within eyed him with curiosity, but he wasn't worried that they might recognize him. Between the hood and the cloth mask across his mouth and lower jaw, they'd have to have eagle eyes and sharp memories in order to do so, and he very much doubted that were the case.
He didn't stop as he kept walking through the rowdy pub and into a dimly lit hallway in the back with several doors that led into private rooms. Walking to the one at the very end, he proceeded to knock on it in a distinct pattern: one knock, then three, and finally two more, with the last knock being the loudest. Then he waited.
He didn't wait long. He could hear the door being unlocked and then it swung open a crack, a pair of dark eyes looking him up and down and then over his shoulder to the empty hallway behind him before the figure disappeared and the door opened just enough for him to walk through.
Inside was a round table of solid wood, the quality of which was much nicer than the ones that could be found out front. Several jugs and mugs lay on top of the table full of what was likely ale and wine. One of the jugs was tipped over, pretty much empty, though what little that remained was trickling out slowly, staining the wood all the way to the edge of the table where it dripped onto the floor, leaving dark spots.
Seated around the table were three people who looked to be in varying degrees of intoxication. The first was a portly man with a thick curly mustache and a fat nose, beady eyes looking squarely at the hooded knight. Next was a bald man who had his head buried in his beefy, heavily tattooed arms on the table, apparently half asleep. Last was a slender woman with dark eyes and a red mohawk, the sides of her head shaved, and with at least a dozen piercings between her eyes, nose, and mouth.
The man who had opened the door remained standing by it after he closed and locked it upon the knight's entrance. A lone guard, but one that was certainly capable of dealing with any potential threats that might be found in the pub. He had several daggers attached to his hips and legs and appeared to be doing his best to look like he wasn't paying them any close attention.
"Black! Black is back, friends! Grab a seat, grab a seat... and a drink! Yes, you need a drink, friend," greeted the portly one as he motioned for the knight to be seated.
Black complied and took the seat next to the mustached man and across from the woman, who was peering into the bottom of her cup intensely and hadn't even glanced in his direction when he arrived.
"Just one drink, Peter. I'm working tonight," he said in his nasally voice as he pulled back his hood.
"Working? Bah! You can drink and work, surely," said Peter disapprovingly.
"Not tonight," he replied simply, pouring himself a cup of ale. Other nights, he would normally indulge, but this was rather serious and he needed to get to the bottom of this before he could relax. Lord Rubeon was returning in a few days and this needed to be taken care of before then.
"You turning into a good little knight now?" asked the woman, who had now refilled her cup with ale and took a few big gulps.
The knight scoffed. "Hardly."
"You can always join back up with me, Kenny," the woman said with a seductive smile, her gray eyes boring into him.
"My name is Kenrick, Sera, as you already know, but you should call me Black like everyone else. And I'm in a good spot, but thanks," said the knight. Kenrick Black, but everyone just called him Black.
The woman shrugged and drank from her cup again, seemingly losing interest almost as quickly as she had given it.
"So I'm guessing your visit isn't a social one," remarked Peter, who was himself drinking some wine. The man much preferred wine to ale. "What business are you on that you need to be sober to do it?"
"Serious kind," said Black as he drank a mouthful of ale, the liquid tasted bitter but in a good one. It was one of the nicer selections at the pub. Definitely better than the drivel that they normally served out front, of which he used to drink years ago before his lot in life improved.
"Oh? I'm intrigued," Peter leaned on the table and rested his chubby cheek on his pudgy hand, beady eyes watching the knight closely.
"One of our farms was attacked last night. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" he asked cautiously, though he leveled a steely gaze at the man.
Peter laughed heartily. "You think it was one of us, eh old friend?"
"I haven't ruled it out just yet. That's why I'm here," said Black evenly.
The man grinned broadly. "We're your friends, Black! We wouldn't stab you in the back like that..." the man said as he leaned back and his pudgy hand swept across the room to their two other companions. "Why, we'd stab you in the front at least! If we wanted to get at you, that is. And we don't."
Black sighed and drank more ale. "Well, that's good to know."
"I'm curious, Kenny," the woman spoke again, this time playfully, "What would you have done if we actually were behind this attack?"
Black narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at Sera. She was perhaps the most dangerous of the very dangerous individuals seated at this table, and the most likely to do something as brazen as that attack last night just for the fun of it.
"Well, Sera," he sneered, "I would ask you why you did it and to please not do it again. Or there will be problems."
"Or there will be problems?" parroted the woman with a big smile, showing several teeth that were made of gold. A menacing gleam shone in her eyes.
There was a tense silence that lasted a few heartbeats before Peter's laugh cut through it like a knife.
"Another round of drinks, I think! Always a good time with friends. Surely you can do one more, Black? Just one more. I promise," said the portly man as he already moved to fill another cup and slid it over to the knight, who now had two cups of ale in front of him.
"Fine. But I'm leaving after that. There's more I need to do tonight," said Black as he drank heavily from the first cup and turned his eyes back to the man next to him.
Sera had already moved on to study her fingernails closely.
"Well, I can assure you, my friend, that we didn't have anything to do with any attacks on you and yours," Peter said with his ever present smile and good cheer, "But tell me about it and maybe we can find out what we can. That is why you really came here, yes?"
Sera snorted but said nothing to contradict the man's statement as she leaned back and downed the rest of her cup before filling it again.
Black nodded and told them all he knew about the attack.
Peter actually looked thoughtful, his smile fading just a little, but enough that Black had noticed. And Sera leaned forward, suddenly interested again.
"So what do you know?" asked the knight, now on his second cup of ale.
"Not much, I'm afraid," the heavy man sighed, "I can confirm that there was some strange light in the sky reported to the east of the city, right around where your properties are. My contacts across the city and my own men have told me about it, but nobody has any idea what it was for or who might have been behind such magic. I figured it was something you were doing over there so I didn't bother looking into it too much," said Peter with a shrug, taking a sip of red wine.
"You didn't bother looking into it... too much?"
"Yes, well I did inquire and like I said nobody I knew had any idea about it other than that it happened. And as you know we leave you and your people alone over there so we don't really take too much of an interest. But now that you mention it..." Peter paused for a moment, his chubby face scrunching up in thought, "You're missing a slave, right? I think I did hear about someone carrying an unconscious person into the city late last night."
Black perked up at that revelation. "Was it an elf?"
"She couldn't tell. They were covered up pretty well, but it was obvious that they were out of it from the way they were being carried. It might be your missing elf."
"And what of the one doing the carrying? Who was it? Anyone we know? Were they accompanied by anyone else?"
Peter shook his head. "No, they were not someone my spy recognized. But there are many people who come and go through Oldaven, so that's not at all surprising. And from what I remember of the report, it was only one person along with whoever they were carrying in their arms."
"Only one person... Tell me your spy followed them at least," said Black with an exasperated sigh. Though he was glad that he had a lead that he could follow up on.
Peter laughed. "Of course not! They're tasked with watching the gate, not to follow whoever goes through it. They wouldn't abandon their post like that unless ordered to."
"Great," muttered the knight darkly as he drank.
This time it was Sera who laughed, and it sounded like a dying horse. Black cringed and even Peter stiffened ever so slightly hearing it.
"Oh I might know where they are," said Sera with a triumphant smirk. "I'm always curious about interesting people. And a stranger carrying someone unconscious into the city in the dead of night is definitely very interesting indeed."
=x=x=x=x=X=x=x=x=x=
Lucifer had already taken out at least fifty skeletons. He had lost count after twenty, mostly out of disinterest, but fifty seemed about right. The skeletons were laughably weak, so much so that he actually thought it would be just as effective for them to break themselves against his armor as it was to actually cut them down. It was sad, really, though it was to be expected from the lowest level of undead.
He had taken to dodging their attacks to work on his evasion skills, and for the moment he was totally dodging the wild swings from three of them at once with ease. They were slow and fairly clumsy things, and it was practically no effort at all for him to move out of the way of their lame attacks.
Every so often he would glance in the direction of the other groups to check on them while he evaded. As expected, they were beginning to tire from their efforts, their movements getting slower and more sluggish. Thankfully, the skeletons were spawning slower after the initial wave, giving them some time to catch their breath before they needed to fight again.
This continued until there was actually a lull in the fighting and there appeared to be no skeletons left to be found. Well, none to be found after Lucifer dispensed of the three who were fruitlessly trying to hit him.
Lucifer was curious as to the sudden ceasing of the spawning, but the other two groups were simply relieved to get some rest and seemed to think nothing of the sudden peace. The angel wondered if Ria had anything to do with it, but then he struck that thought from his mind. If she did, he surely would've felt her magic at work. No, this was probably something that occurred naturally when cleansing the undead in places like this.
With its many similarities to YGGDRASIL, it was not unsurprising if there were rules about the monster spawns here in the new world too. There were usually cooldowns for the spawns in the game once an area has been cleared, and this was likely the case here. The question though, was how long was their respite going to be?
Lucifer walked along the dirt paths within his area of the cemetery, looking every which way for anything interesting. He still held out the faintest hope that perhaps there was some secret entrance into a dungeon underneath this place of the dead.
The others, he noted, were sitting down and resting their weary bodies. Mia continued to watch over them, and he had noticed that she seemed to be looking at him the most. Not surprising given the level of skill and strength he was showing. Maybe he could convince her to talk the Guild into bending some rules and assigning him a higher rank, unlikely as that was.
After what seemed like an hour had passed, and the crescent moon was high in the nearly cloudless starry sky, a faint mist began to spread across the cemetery, adding to the eeriness of the place. Lucifer was growing incredibly bored. Nothing stirred and even Ria appeared to have stopped watching for he noted that she was now chatting with one of the guards on the wall, her telescope no longer in view.
Looking up and admiring the beauty of the night sky above him, a thought crossed his mind and his lips twitched into a grin. Perhaps he could make things a little more interesting. He had yet to try any of his summoning spells, and although most of them were spells to summon divine beings, he did have a few that would summon non-divine creatures. And one, in particular, would be quite suitable for the environment.
Making sure that no one, not even Ria, was paying him any close attention, he pointed his hand with palm facing out towards a spot a few feet ahead of him.
"[Summon Low-Tier Undead: Skeleton Warriors]."
A group of six skeleton warriors appeared out of nowhere in the spot that he had been pointing at, armed with swords and shields and adorned with basic steel armor. They growled similarly to their lower level cousins that spawned here naturally, but stayed where they were awaiting his command. He smiled as he drew out Executioner once more. At least this might be a little more of a challenge.
"Attack me!" he ordered enthusiastically.
They did not hesitate to comply.
=x=x=x=x==x=x=x=x=
AN: I... shall see you in the next chapter! Thank you for your kind words, friends. :)
Oh and yes, Lucifer is able to use one summon undead skill (low tier summons) and cannot do anything higher than that due to racial class restrictions as well as the fact that any undead summoned by him would be far weaker than normal so there was no point other than his own curiosity to even have and use it. Now you may be wondering... what of his divine summons? Ah... well, keep reading to find out.