Chapter 18: The Librarby
2 weeks later
"Funds for Yuu's rebuilding. Reports of monster attacks in Sterill. Request to check the background of an unnamed bard?" Yomiko tilted her head before tossing the request into the trash.
Yomiko groaned. She shifted from paper to paper and could easily predict the request from each. Complaints, repair bills, resignations from the soldiers. And with Taco Fest a few days away, every issue that could stem from a festival of this magnitude came in droves. And Yomiko was taking the brunt of it. She now felt how Mihare did. Tired, overworked, and unhygienic. Her room was a bigger mess than before, and she had no time or motivation to go to the lab.
She did enjoy the paperwork before, but she felt it was getting a bit more ridiculous as time went on. For now, all she could do was work until events died down.
Knock knock.
"I swear, Minister Raple. If it's another stack of papers, I won't hesitate to dropkick you!" Yomiko warned.
The door slowly opened, and Ketsu peeked his head inside before walking in himself.
"Umm, not Minister Rapel. I did, however, get what you asked for." Ketsu reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of parchment.
"Ahh, Corporal Ketsu." Yomiko signed another paper and turned to the knight. "Actually, my bad, Seargent Ketsu now. What did I ask for again? Construction report for Yuu?"
"No Grandmaster. It's about the successor of Miguel."
Yomiko's tired eyes widened. She pushed all the papers off to the side and urged the knight to come forward. "What have you heard!? Is he alright!? GIVE ME THE REPORT ALREADY!" Yomiko shouted; she was literally over her table, eager for the report about their hero.
"Uhhh… okay?"
Yomiko caught herself, immediately sitting back down in embarrassment.
"Apologies. You can read when ready." Yomiko blushed.
"Yes, ma'am." Ketsu nervously opened the paper.
"The knights of Ken'bitch have been gathering sightings all across Foo. I was the first at Ditzy Drunk in Sterill. That's when rumors about a traveling bard and his two pet monsters started to circulate."
/~/
"For the grace and the might of the Lord, in the name of his glory!"
Flores sang with all his heart as he played his violin. He was not the best at it, but the instrument skill-up bonus he has been getting really helped him out a ton. Now armed with a decent enough playing skill and the music of another world,. His performances will pay the bills for his travels. Hopefully, at least.
/~/
"We weren't able to confirm that it was him for awhile. But we got our clue after we got a message from Minister Gaylan."
"Gaylan? I haven't heard from him in awhile." Mihare pondered.
"Well, it makes sense. According to the message, after the wave appeared, bandits began attacking their village. Presumably to take their prized horses. Any and all messages for assistance were then stolen to lengthen the siege."
"They were what?" Yomiko got up from her seat and summoned her metronome.
"I need to visit them asap."
"No need to worry, grandmaster. The chief went to deal with the report personally after receiving it."
Yomiko sighed in relief. "Thank Migel. Do we have any news on that situation?" Yomiko sat back down.
"Indeed. It seems that the successor himself made an appearance as the attack reached it's end and slaughtered the bandits with ease before taking their captain hostage."
Wow, Flores is hardcore now.
"The bandit group has been identified as the Seed of Longinus. The same group attempted to sell Foo citizens as slaves in Hatyr."
"Ugh, don't remind me." Yomiko scoffed.
"Well, if you're ready for some good news, the successor has been cracking on their operations heavily."
/~/
"Reports say he's stopped another group of bandits attacking Greyant."
Flores came down from the roof, landing on one bandit before slashing another across the neck. Stabbing the one he was on, he lept off and killed three more with an Advanced Flourish.
/~/
"Afterwards, he rescued a caravan of slaves and even tracked down Longinus's trade port for it.
Flores kicked open the door and sent a beam of light into the room. The beam blasted an unknowing slaver, but it bounced off a mirror and reflected back at him.
"Oww. Cinder, Fonhare, and Hollowtrix. Give em hell. I need a second." Flores groaned.
/~/
"And now reports say he's attempting to find the main base so he can take them out for good. After that, our trail on him ends." Ketsu rolled up his scroll and looked over to the grandmaster. He had never seen her so happy before, so it was a moment to behold before he could talk again.
"Ahem. That is all, grandmaster."
"R-right. Thank you, Sergeant, dismissed." Yomiko saluted Ketsu, and Ketsu did the same. After the door was closed, Yomiko laid back in her chain and looked towards the ceiling.
"If I know that idiot well enough, he's probably fighting right now. Bless you, Flores."
/~/
ACHOO!
"Fucking gross, man. AGH!" Flores hit the masked bandit in the nose with the end of his staff before swinging around and hitting him across the head.
All around them was fire. Bandits lay on the ground, either injured or dead, as their boss fought against the intruder. Two women sat in the background, watching the fight with eager eyes. They cheered for the boss and winced at every blow. They wanted to help, but two monsters stood in their path, preventing their approach. All they could do was watch as their boss fought a losing battle.
"You can win, Yotsu!"
"Yeah, get him!" The girls yelled.
Yotsu adjusted his lion mask and went in swinging. Flores used his flag, blocking and dodging the attacks Yotsu sent his way.
"[Star Sun Ray!] After muttering some quick rhymes, a small sun appeared in the air and directed a beam towards Yotsu. The bandit ran away and continued to run as the the beam followed his position.
Flores then moved in, attacked in tandem with the sun and forced him towards the wall. And as the beam was about to scorch him, it turned off.
"Heh. Run out of firepower, did ya?" Yotsu mocked.
"I'll let you think you're right. So catch some blinding light. Star Blind!]" Putting his hand in Yotsu's face, the bandit cried out in pain as a flash of light shined into his eyes. Leaping back, Flores closed his fist. The sun floating in the air suddenly began to move and crashed into Yotsu, blowing the bandit into the wall.
"Yotsu!"
"Shut up already!" Flores yelled. "You two are lucky you're noncombatants." Flores scoffed.
"Leave them alone, you bastard!"
"Beginnings Flourish."
Flores swung his flag, immediately breaking Yotsu's scythe upon impact. As the bandit watched the destruction of his weapon in horror, Flores hit him with a front kick, sending him to the ground.
"Listen, I know I'm breaking bro code rules by beating you up in front of your hoes. But can you just surrender already?"
Yotsu swung the remaining pole of his scythe at Flores, but the hero just stood there and took the attack, the rest of his weapon breaking in half with a loud clang from Flores.
"Well, fuck me for being nice then." Flores brought the blunt end of his flag down on Yotsu's head, but all it did was damage the poor bandit even more. It was only after he made a few more attempts did Yotsu finally fall unconscious.
"Master Yotsu!"
"I said shut up!"
"We'll kill you!"
"Your boyfriend was easy as fuck to parry; why do you think you have a chance!?" Flores yelled.
Grabbing Yotsu by the leg, he began to drag him out of the burning building. "I suggest you leave now. Get a better boyfriend while you're at it." Flores mounted Hollowtrix with Yotsu and drove off, leaving the two women in his dust.
/~/
"Fonhare, we're back!" Flores declared.
Looking around his camp, he saw Fonhare with his ear wrapped around the fox's neck. Flores could only assume Fox had made an escape attempt, only for him to be thwarted by the rabbit. But after looking around, he could confirm that it was no mere scuffle. Fallen trees, holes, and crushed rocks made up the terrain. Six other men were also laid about, with only one still awake and crawling away. Cinder wasn't about to let that happen and immediately ran over to the man.
"Kweeeey!" Cinder growled. Preparing her tails and mouth for a blast of flames.
"Easy girl, don't kill him yet." Flores yawned.
"Alright Godfather." Cinder sighed. She wandered over to her usual shoulder spot while still eyeing the crawling man. He had on a mask similar to Fox, but this time it was a bear. So as the law of the universe dictated, Flores began to call the new man bear.
Another masked one. This organization is more cracked than I thought. Flores grumbled.
"Well, would you look at that? A three-for-one special, a Fox, Lion, and a Bear. Someone missed the memo, I guess. If Fox were a tiger, we'd have all the "Oh my animals." Flores laughed.
Fox and the others were not impressed and only sat in silence as Flores reveled in his failed joke.
"Tough crowd. Alright, then real talk. I didn't expect a scuffle to happen while I was away. Friends of yours, fox?"
"I… will…. murder you." Fox gasped between breaths.
"Sure Sure. Fonhare, release him before he dies."
Fonhare nodded and dropped Fox on the ground. The bandit took in a big breath of air, but his leg was grabbed by the bunny. His struggles were in vain, as Fonhare effortlessly dragged him over the Hollowtrix.
"So you're the attacker. Mind if I call you Bear?"
"Oh, because of my mask. Clever."
"Indeed it is; now listen up, bear. That's Yotsu the Lion. If you don't want to end up like him,. You'll answer a few questions I have." After doing some stretches, Flores began to do practice swings with his flag. This was only part of his morning routine, something he became accustomed to during his time at Ken'bitch. He also used it as an intimidation tactic by showing off the strength of his swings to the prisoners.
"Don't do it, Bear."
"Oh, so you two know each other? So you three aren't a trio of big bosses." Flores grinned.
The two bandits flinched. With a nod from Fox, Bear opened his mouth wide and bit down. His bite was thwarted, however, as a sheet of paper quickly covered his tongue, stopping his bite with an audible clang.
"Yeah, biting one's tongue off is an interrogation blunder cliche number two; the first is suicide. Of course, I'm not planning on letting either of them happen; we have things to discuss."
"Ugh, the hell is this? It tastes like paper."
"Well, I'm about 16% paper now, I think about- actually fuck the details, tell me what you know. And how did you find this camp? I'm pretty sure I purposely got lost in Zell so search parties won't find him or me."
"I ain't telling you nothing." Bear spat at Flores. The hero only sighed.
"Alright, let's pack up and move. I'm not trying to get ambushed twice in a ro-... wait a damn minute, did you just talk?"
Flores looked at Cinder dumbfounded.
"She just learned, Pop; don't mind her." Fonhare yawned, sparking an even greater flinch from the hero.
He then looked over to Hollowtrix and waited for her to speak as well. But all that followed was a neigh and a confused tilt of her head.
"...Fuck it, we're going to the sanctuary right now!"
/~/
"Just keep heading forward, Godfather; we're almost there," Cinder claimed.
"How do you even know this? I never took you there before."
"I had a life before your surprise adoption, remember." Cinder scoffed.
"Right… sorry about that."
"You better be." Cinder used her flames to clear away a path of obese fangs before moving forward.
"You know. I always thought you'd sound crude. Same with Fonhare being dreary. Now I wonder what hollowtrix will be like."
"A serene asshole."
Hollowtrix snorted, obviously offended. She walked over to Cinder, but Flores pushed her back.
"Chill. Cinder be nice."
"No."
"You just want to be a problem child, do you?"
"Kwey," Cinder sneered.
Leaping off his shoulder, Cinder began to walk by her lonesome.
"Kids. Am I right?"
"Sure thing pops." Fonhare yawned.
"...I need more friends."
Flores sighed as he continued to follow Cinder. It was about an hour's walk to the sanctuary's gate, and there were plenty of monsters to kill along the way. It was nothing they couldn't all handle. And Hollowtrix got to level 35 with all the experience they were getting. Bear made a few attempts to run away, but Fonhare, despite being asleep, always woke up and chased him down. Fox thankfully hasn't made any attempts to escape as well, giving the bunny the easy job of preventing their escape.
Overall, it was a peaceful mission. And it continued until they finally reached the gate of the sanctuary.
"Now how did that knock go again? It was like 3 heavy hits, 7 fast light." Flores walked up to the gate and did as he remembered. He was off by about two knocks and ended up sounding worse than Lizen's. But it did the trick, as the door was opened right away.
"What the. You again?" Ray questioned. Peeking his head through the gate, he didn't see Lizen or Neila with him. Even more suspiciously, he has three tied men with him. A horse and two other monsters with a behemoth collar.
"Yeah, Ray, was it? I'm here to see Riala."
"Riala is out of town right now. Come back at a later date." Ray began to close the door, and Flores helped it open with his foot.
"Then what about Cadenza or Leo?"
"What's it to you?"
"Because these two idiots started talking, and I have no idea why."
"Who are you calling an idiot?" Cinder snapped. Fonhare, on the other hand, was indifferent about the comment and continued his sleep.
"Shut up, Cinder. Now are you gonna help me out here or what?"
Ray looked at the group, then back into the sanctuary. He had no idea what to do in this situation. On one hand, the sanctuary was opened to humans, and he had no reason not to let him in. On the other hand, he has some sort of twin that tried to kill Rialia. And now he has three beaten-up people and a bound horse in the forest. It was trouble in the making, and Ray would be a fool for not seeing it spelled out. But despite everything, the omega trusts him. That's what led him to open the gate.
Sigh. "Fine. But leave those three by the gate." The lion ordered.
"Bet." Flores dropped Yotsu, while Fonhare dragged Fox and Bear inside. The guards at the gate were a bit weirded out seeing a bunny drag three beaten-up men inside. But after seeing Flores, a few of them realized who he was and got out of his way immediately.
"Alright, guys. Let waltz." Flores took a step forward but was blocked by Ray.
"Hold on there, pal. I'll be escorting you."
"Um, boss. This man is above all our authorities combined. We shouldn't mess with him." A guard informed.
"No, he's just doing his job. I understand. Besides. It's about time I got a proper tour of this place." Flores threw his hands behind his head and began to walk. His pets did the same, following shortly behind their owner.
"Humans." Ray scoffed as he ran to catch up.
/~/
Flores and Co. walked through the town as Ray showed off various locations. The whole place was around the size of Ken'bitch. And as the tour continued, Flores took note of the oddities that he found. For instance, there were an abundance of shops that sold meat and protein, yet there weren't many shops that sold any other type of food. Dairy, vegetables, and everything else on the food pyramid were only sold in a handful of shops.
Speaking of shops, these shops and other facilities are what make up the sanctuary. There weren't many houses to be found. And those that were spotted by the hero were built differently from the last. Depending on the Selee that lived there, homes can range from looking like a den, a burrow, or even mountains. Flores found that part fascinating and began to wonder about possible housing for other monsters.
That was when he felt an ominous feeling, as if someone was watching him from afar. Looking behind him, he saw several of the Selee quickly turn there heads and pretend to mind their business.
He didn't know why. From what Flores gathered, humans visited and actively traded the sanctuary all the time. Just now he saw a human and selee arguing with each other, and no one was batting an eye, so the attention he was grabbing was unusual, to say the least.
Could it be because I'm a hero? Did Riala release that information? Flores thought as he tapped Ray on the shoulder.
"Yo Ray. What's up with all the stares? Am I popular or somethin?"
"As if." Ray scoffed. "You're walking around with two monsters on a behemoth collar. Some people don't take those things well."
"The collars? What, you think I enslaved them against their will? I'm not confederate."
"The hell is that?"
"Nothing. Fonhare and Cinder follow me out of their own free will. Right guys?"
"Sure, whatever." Fonhare yawned.
"You don't speak for me." Cinder dismissed.
"Not helping." Flores sighed.
Deciding it was the best course of action, Flores grabbed Cinder and began to remove her collar. Cinder, however, smacked him across the face and leapt back onto his shoulder.
"I didn't say remove it," Cinder hissed.
"Alright, geez, keep it on then." Flores patted Cinder on the head, the fox shuddering by smiling at the gesture. This seemed to have gotten many of the looks to go away, but he still felt some people were watching him closely.
Thinking nothing of it, the group continued to walk, getting some food along the way before they reached their final stop. In front of them was a massive temple, almost as big as Riala's castle. Selee and humans alike walked in and out, each one of them carrying a book or scroll of some kind. It was not something one would see every day.
"And welcome to the Repository of the Ancients. The Grand Library of the Sanctuary holds thousands of books from Foo, Rinoth, and Hatyr. Not Fallum, though; they're just assholes." Ray grumbled.
"What, is this this world version of Alexandria?"
"No. That was in Foo… or is in Foo looking at how the story went. Originally, this was made to be a school for monsters who want to integrate with human society."
"Wait, you actually got that?"
"Yes. It was a story and an idea proposed by Miguel himself. Unfortunately, history does not abide by the bounds of dimensions, so it suffered the same fate as your world."
"Really?"
"Yes. Before Yomiko got her metronome, she became the keeper of the library after her father. Around that time, two men broke in and began stealing many of the books. The resulting fight led to a fire that burned down much of the library's knowledge of the world before the age of the harbingers. Only a few books were saved and moved here for safekeeping."
"Wow. Alexandria 2.0 didn't do well either."
"We're well aware. You should find Leo inside on the first floor. Aside from that, I'm off." Ray saluted.
He threw his arm across his chest. It then grew, morphing itself into the furry arm of the lion before being thrown to his side. Afterwards, Ray changed his arm back to that of a human and left.
Huh. Guess their salute isn't the same as Foo's. So why did Cadenza do it? Flores pondered. He couldn't think of a proper reason. "Go do your own thing, Hollow. I don't think you're allowed."
Hollowtrix snorted and walked off. After making sure she was fine, Alray went inside and was stunned in
It was the biggest thing he'd ever seen. Each story above, of which there were seven, held thousands of books and scrolls. And on the first floor, classes went on. Humans and monsters alike sat in and listened to various lectures about magic, language, weapon technique, and more. It was very overwhelming.
As Flores finished looking around, he spotted Leo in one of the classrooms. He began walking over to it, but someone quickly tackled him to the ground before he could take another step.
"What the-" Flores began but stopped as a sword pointed at his neck.
"Ha ha!" Cinder laughed.
"Shut up, Cinder."
"If you're done conversing, identify now." The boy demanded. He was around 5'8 with blue eyes and hair. He wore black shorts, along with a dark blue poncho and a necklace around his neck.
"Alright chill." Flores reached for his bag and pulled out his wallet. The boy grabbed it, inside being a few hundred notes and his ID given to him by Yomiko sitting in the front pocket.
"Hmm, a military I.D. But not the one we're looking for." The boy removed his blade and placed it back into his sheath. "Your library I.D. Where is it?"
"Ooohh. Yeah, I don't have that." Flores scratched the back of his head, but the boy was not amused.
"Then you're not allowed inside. Vacate the premises." The boy threatened.
Sheesh. Mans is on business.
"Then how do I get inside?" Flores asked.
"Do you have a recommendation from a figure of authority?"
"... I think."
"Name them."
"Well, there are Riala, Yomiko, Lizen, Mihare, Shiku, Leo... want me to keep going?"
"..." The boy sighed and pulled out his reflector. Once the glass reformed, it vibrated for a bit until Leo came on screen.
"Alray, what's the issue?" Leo asked normally.
"Someone named Flores wants to get inside. I just wanted to confirm-"
"I'm sorry, Sylvester Flores?"
"Indeed."
"Oh. It's been a bit since we last crossed paths. Give him a membership and allow him to pass… I've been teaching for too long; that's not even a near rhyme."
The reflector cracked, and Alray put it away.
"Alright, I see. Herthsith! Get this man a card!" Alray yelled.
"You got it, boss!" A human girl ran up to Flores and took a quick sketch of his face before running off. It was about a few minutes of waiting before she came back with a slip of paper coated in a weird solid.
"Is this laminated?"
"It's a synthetic polymer used to preserve the form, cleanliness, and dryness of a document. It's called polyethylene."
"Plastic got it. I'm going now."
Enjoy the repository. Alray did the same salute as Ray, but instead of his arm transforming, it glowed a golden black. Afterwards, Alray left to harass another non-cardholder.
I guess humans who serve the sanctuary have a different version of that salute. How interesting.
With his new card in hand, Fonhare and Cinder leaped back on him, and he went over to the classroom Leo was teaching. Inside were a heap of people—humans and monsters alike. They all listened to Leo as he lectured them on the rhyme structure of magic. Well, more like lecturing one person. Everyone else was furiously writing down notes as a kid with red hair vigorously questioned Leo on all forms of magic.
"So what about limericks?
"Planet-level spell."
"And slant rhymes?
"Half Power."
"So if I go Liar Liar, pants of fire?"
Leo's clothes suddenly caught fire, but the dog sighed as he slowly patted them out.
"A bit short, but yes, that does work as a spell."
"Cool… oh, and sorry." The boy apologized.
"Well, if that's all the questions for today, we'll be doing some practice later in the castle courtyard. I hope to see you all there." Leo smiled.
Everyone in class got up and saluted Leo. Some transformed their limbs to mimic their animal-like features; others flared their magic aura. Flores was sort of the odd one out, being the only one who was watching. So he quickly did his own salute to get the attention off of him, the color being the same as his light magic.
"Flores, it's been awhile. How did your first wave go?"
"Better on a larger scale. Personally…" Flores went silent before clearing his throat.
"Anyways, your hair is on fire."
"My body turns to stone in response to potential injuries. It should go out in a bit." Leo explained.
"Mister Leo, who might this be?"
Great, he's British. Flores scoffed. When it came to England, they were one of the most annoying people to work with on the battlefield.
"Oh, this is Flores. He's the morale hero."
"Morale hero?" The kick turned his head, and he pondered a bit before gasping. "Are you like Father? A super cool hero chosen by a special weapon? What constitutes as a morale tool? What level are you? What type of magic do you-"
"I need some time to gather my mind. Silence the area and hinder all that align. Star Silence." Flores whispered.
A small zone appeared under the kid as he continued to ask questions. Once the zone reached his mouth, his voice was gone, but he kept on talking inside.
"Who's the kid?"
"Would you believe if I said sis kidnapped him from another world?" Leo face palmed.
"Depends, on purpose or accident?"
"Accident."
"Then yes."
Flores looked at the kid. It was his third time seeing another worlder, and he looked the same as the rest. The only thing he could see was that the kid looked noble. And not just look, talk, and act; they even dress like one too.
His eyes and hair were red. He wore a long, dark blue cloak with golden trim over light blue clothes tied together with a black belt. On his side was a black pouch that was overflowing with a disc of some kind, but after looking at it again, he recognized it as a charme.
"Ahh, a charme. You're from the accessory world?" Flores surmised.
"..."
"Oh right. Dispel." Flores whispered. The zone disappeared, and the kids voices returned to the world.
"Hellooo! Can you hear me, mister!?"
"Yes, we can."
"Oh, thank the stars. I thought my translation charme had broke on me." The boy sighed in relief.
"Just a magical glitch or whatever. I think we should use time to calm down."
"Oops." The boy laughed. "Apologies. I tend to get hyper when I'm intrigued." The kid nervously laughed as he scratched the back of his head.
"Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Tommy Orezmund, Prince of Palinfa. It's a pleasure to meet another hero."
"Likewise, the only royalty I met so far was weird or dumb. So you're a real change of pace."
"Why thank you." Tommy bowed.
"So, what brings you here? Last time I heard you go on a journey of self-discovery,
"Something like that. I spent the past few weeks hunting down a bandit group until these two started talking. I just wanted to know what's up."
"Oh, I can answer that! When a monster has gained enough levels, they can begin the transmogrification process by using their attunement and another stronger blessing, like one from the omega, a unicorn, or their species apex monster."
Flores blinked as he started at the kid. He opened his mouth to speak up, but Cinder yelled first.
"But I ain't using no attunement! We didn't even know this could happen in the first place!"
"Cinder didn't. But that's a given."
"Shut up, rabbit; you aren't ever asleep!" Cinder yelled.
"My body has a habit of waking me up. Intuition, I guess." Fonhare yawned.
up,
As the bunny went back to sleep, Flores turned back to Leo and Tommy, pondering in the same pose.
"Soo?"
"Hold on, still thinking."
"Maybe they have too much energy, and it's trying to expel itself somehow." Tommy surmised.
"Impossible. You can't have too much life force."
"Then perhaps a blessing did it?"
"Is there a blessing powerful enough to do that, though?" Leo looked over to Flores hip, then facepalmed. "Nevermind, that makes sense."
"Wait, so my flag had something to do with this?"
"Possibly," Tommy answered.
"I say 50/50."
"80/20 for me."
"All that matters now is that they're ready to get a human form. I can speed up that transformation if you like."
"I don't know. What do you two think?"
"I'm good with whatever." Fonhare mope.
"What he said." Cinder agreed.
"Then it's settled. Let's head to the castle; we'll need Cadenza's help too."
"Hmm. I have been looking forward to upgrading my armor." Flores hit the back of his bag, a metallic noise ringing out from it. "
"You didn't break it now? Did you?"
"I mean, it's dented, scratched, and even punctured in a few areas, but it's still usable."
Leo sighed. "Well, natural wear and tear will do that to an armor piece. At least it's been a bit since you last got it. Maybe Cadenza won't be so mad this time."
"I hope so." Flores shuddered.
"Welp, if we're done here, let's wander. And Tommy, good job. Nice to see you're listing the lectures." Leo praised.
"Thank you, mister Leo." Tommy smiled.
/~/
"By the way, I have one last thing to ask."
"Ask away."
"It's about Cinder and Fonhare again. Their levels seemed to have stopped growing; what's the deal with that?"
"That depends. What level are they at now?" Leo asked.
"Thirty five. I just keep reverting their levels with my method for boost to stat growth."
"Then it sounds like they need to choose a path before they continue leveling."
"Path?" Flores asked.
"Yes. Heroes don't need one, so you never had to experience it yourself. Other people, on the other hand, usually pick a path when they begin their careers. It can give boost to stats, special abilities, unique effects and resistances, and even bypass the level cap at level forty."
"Ahh. I never gave them a path. That explains it."
"Don't be discouraged. All we need to do is go to the dragon hourglass and- Flores look."
Before Leo could intervene, a man came out of the shadows and plunged a dagger into Flores's chest. He wasn't wearing his armor, so the usual clang that would sound didn't play, and the knife drove deep into his left bicep.
"Ow."
"What. I stabbed you, and all you say is ow."
Flores punched the man, then drew his flag to stab the man in the leg. But when the flag hit, it phased through his leg instead, and the man ran off into the shadows.
"Mister Flores, are you okay?"
"Compared to falling from the sky, this isn't much. You might not want to see this, Tommy." Flores pulled the dagger and removed his shirt. Slapping a patch over his chest after cleaning up the wound, Flores dropped his back and put his shirt back on.
"We need to find that guy now."
"Maybe he's over there!" Leo pointed at some smoke rising over the wall.
"Shit, he wasn't the only one. We were under attack! Everyone indoors now!"
Flores announced. Instead of going off in a panic, however, many of the shop keeps transformed and ran towards the danger. Everyone else took up arms in some way and began fortifying the way towards the castle. That was where all the kids were being sent.
"Never mind, you do, y'all."
"Quicky Flores, we gotta help the front gate."
"Alright. IF ANYONE TOUCHES MY STUFF, I'M TOUCHING YOU!"
The crowd of fighters looked back at him, all with a disgusted or confused look on their faces.
"Yeah, I just realized what I said." Flores slapped his face with a groan. "Pause. Light sends me away from the crowd's... paws? Yeah paws. [Star teleport]"
A beam of light crashed into Flores, and he disappeared from sight.
"Nice, you got the concept of rhymes from speak. Earth move me with him so that we may help the weak. [Star Teleport!]"
Leo also disappeared, this time the ground swallowing him up instead of a light from the sky. Tommy looked on in amazement and immediately started rhyming in order to try it himself.
"Fire and bees? Teleport me, please?" Doing what Leo taught him, fire generated under him and rose up into a pillar of flame. Once the flame died down, Tommy was gone with the ground where he once stood scorched.
/~/
Journal of Flores #4,
Entry 4, Part 1. The harbingers of disaster.
The harbingers of disaster are four beasts destined to ravage the world. These creatures are the Twin Inu, the Storm Tenko, and the Soul Peryton. The fourth one is unknown. Rumors say Miguel fought three of them but failed to beat the Peryton; others say Miguel died to the Peryton. Nobody knows where, but a common story is that Miguel failed.
Now, information about these harbingers has obviously been lost to time, so all we have are the stories passed on by the ancestors of the first battle. So here's the documentation of everything I've gathered so far during my travels.
The first beast is known as the Twin Inu, two dogs made of stone. One dog would run around, trampling people and monsters alike with its massive size and heavy weight. The other was something akin to a mage, manipulating the ground itself to assist its ally and make retaliation on land difficult.
This special monster seemed to be the blueprint for the sanctuary's resident dogs, Shiku and Leo. The way they fight is pretty much the same, and their identity has stone dogs further than that. This will become a trend for all the monsters on this list, as they also have a counterpart that lives in the sanctuary. Perhaps they know more and will ask later.
Aside from that, weaknesses are unknown, but we do know that killing one dog will greatly strengthen the other. So if they reawaken, I'll have to work around that.
/~/
Thanks for reading.
Today we have a special crossover that's not a cameo. Everybody, meet Tommy, the Prince of Palinfa from the Gem in the rough series, aka the Accessory Hero World. He's currently going through rewrites, so give him your support so you can see this little shit there.