"Slayers!" - Talking
'Slayers!' - Thinking
"Slayers!" - Communication via Lacrima / Telepathy
"SLAYERS!" - Screaming
"Slayer Attack!" - Spells
Slash! - Sound Effect
[ Here / Now ] - Place / Time
Chapter4: Welcome party and new missions!
[World Slayers' Guild Building / 19th July X786]
"A toast to our new guildmate, Erik!"
As Katharina raised her mug filled with blood, all the other Slayers in the guildhall raised their drinks with a mighty shout of "CHEERS!" to then drink greedily and start eating the food that covered the various tables like hungry wolves.
Cobra was sitting in the center of the room and his eyes were focused on the purplish liquid inside his mug. According to Katharina that was a powerful poison belonging to some snakes of the country of Desierto and was one of the deadliest in the world. Shrugging, Cobra took a sip before his eyes widened in surprise and he emptied the entire mug in a few gulps "Not bad, never tasted a poison like this."
"Glad you like Erik, here's a plate of poisonous pasta." said a male voice to his right before a plate of purple spaghetti was placed in front of him. Slightly surprised that he hadn't heard anyone coming, Cobra looked in that direction and then calmed down when he saw that it was the official cook of the guild, a young boy with an effeminate face with medium copper colored hair slicked back, porcelain white skin and peculiar blue eyes whose pupils were in the shape of mechanical cogs.
When Cobra had arrived together with the others he had immediately had the opportunity to meet several Slayers while his welcome party was being prepared, and that boy, whose coppery guild mark was clearly visible on the front of the neck, had been the first to introduce himself before handing him, strange but true, some poisonous gummy candies, saying that he had prepared them especially for Cobra. The former dark mage had been slightly surprised by this but Katharina had explained to him that he was the cook of the guild and that preparing such things was his specialty.
"Ah…yes, thank you, Rayleigh." observing for a moment the peculiar clothing of that Slayer: while the jeans and pastel yellow shirt he was wearing weren't exactly strange, the blue crocs on his feet and the 'Kiss the Cook' kitchen apron were slightly destabilizing. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Rayleigh was apparently a fourth generation Dragon Slayer…?
Said Dragon Slayer showed him a toothy smile, highlighting his sharp teeth "You are welcome! When you want another portion let me know!" to then walk to other tables to remove empty plates and bring them back to the kitchen.
Cobra watched him walk away before tasting the spaghetti and had to admit that he had never eaten anything so good. His moment of culinary pleasure was interrupted when someone suddenly sat down in front of him and, looking up, he saw Kris' smile as he raised a mug of beer "Hey there! We couldn't properly introduce ourselves earlier! Name's Kris Bliviah! Nice to meet you!"
The Poison Dragon Slayer looked at him for a moment before emptying a bottle of beer into his empty mug and tapping Kris's in a toast "Erik." and after a quick sip, he asked "You are a Dragon Slayer, right?"
"Got it in one!" grinned Kris, making metal scales appear on his arm for a few seconds "I'm also a second generation! Just like you and Ossian."
Cobra shifted his gaze for a moment to Ossian, who was eating at a table with Katharina and two other people, before returning his eyes to Kris "It seems quite easy to become a Dragon Slayer these days."
"According to what they told me it is, you just have to find a Lacrima with the power of a dragon and that's it!" chuckled Kris before taking another sip and biting into a large piece of bone-in meat "But in the end we are just a few Slayers and that's fine with me."
"Not a fan of large groups?"
"You can say that, and I'm not the only one." Kris nodded toward Radogan, who was sitting by himself near the door. After biting into his meal one more time, Kris got to his feet "Well I might as well go see if Dokuro is still sulking. Oh and if you need help with anything or a mission partner, don't hesitate to ask me!" and with those words, he walked toward a table were Mukuro was eating alone.
Apart from the fact that apparently the Angel Slayer's mask was equipped with a small mechanism that allowed him to 'lower its chin', so as to widen its mouth and be able to eat without having to remove it, Cobra could only wonder what kind of person that Dokuro was, given that when he and the others had returned from a mission, he was already ready to leave for another assignment but Katharina had told him no. From that moment on he had remained in the background, after introducing himself to Cobra, and had not yet moved.
'Must be one of those mages who don't want to rest or something.' thought Cobra, since he was concentrating so as not to hear the thoughts of others. He had pretty much lost hope when he found out that he couldn't hear the inner voice of several Slayers so he decided to listen to Katharina's advice and start using his power a little less, even if it was a bit strange.
Deciding not to think further about it, Cobra returned to his spaghetti and after eating another forkful, he nodded satisfied 'It might not be so bad to stay here after all.'
"So you're telling me this hooded guy just stared at you and you couldn't see under his hood?" asked Katharina while looking at Kiro with a raised eyebrow.
"That's what I just told you." replied Kiro with an annoyed look aimed at her. After the initial toast, Kiro immediately went to the guild bar counter so as not to be disturbed, even if Nox had repeatedly spoken to him much to his chagrin; however after a few minutes he had drawn Katharina's attention to tell her what had happened after their encounter with the bandits on their way back from the Pergrande Kingdom.
"That's really strange, you've been with us for two years and I don't remember your third eye ever failing." Katharina scratched her chin before looking at him with a small grin "Are you sure you don't need eye drops?"
"I don't need fucking eye d-!"
Whack!
Kiro brought both hands to the back of his head where he'd been hit "OW! What the fuck-?!"
Whack!
"Who the-!" Kiro turned back only to see Rayleigh staring at him with a disappointed look; while in his left hand he held a mug full of booze, balancing a plate of meatballs with gravy on his forearm, in his right hand he was holding...a chancla. Kiro's eyes darted from Rayleigh to that leather slipper and back again, while Katharina pulled back slightly, doing her best not to burst out laughing.
"…why did you hit me with…that?"
A few meters away Cobra, who had seen the scene, swore he heard dread or fear in that last word.
"You know the rules, young man. No cursing in this guildhall." said Rayleigh, slightly narrowing his eyes.
"That's not a fuc-!"
Rayleigh raised the chancla.
"…freaking…"
Rayleigh lowered the chancla.
"…official rule!"
"It is when I'm here." was the immediate reply "Now…here's your order!" and he placed both the mug and the plate on the bar counter.
Kiro looked at the food for a second before looking away "Thanks…"
"You are welcome!" smiled Rayleigh before walking away.
Katharina was on the verge of a loud laugh now but Kiro glared at her "Don't you dare…"
The guild master let out a short chuckle before looking down at her right hand, where there was a ring set with a red gem, within which a faint glow was pulsing "Uh looks like Doma-kun is requesting my presence. I'll be back in a minute!" and after emptying a goblet of wine, she went to her office where there was a Lacrima positioned on her desk, next to a strange square and almost completely flat magical device, above which a magic circle was drawn. After sitting down, she activated the Lacrima and Gran Doma's serious face became visible within the crystal ball.
"Hey there Doma-kun!" she waved at him "You should try to relax your face you know? Otherwise you will be perpetually frowning! Do you have any idea how many wrinkles will appear on your face?"
"Carefree as usual I see. I was hoping that becoming more active with your guild would make you more serious." said Gran Doma with a sigh before shacking his head "But enough of that, I called you for two reasons. The first is to deliver these to you…" the magic circle on the device next to the Lacrima glowed for an instant before several sheets of paper appeared on it, mostly white with some black in between "Thirty missions around Ishgar, mostly extermination missions and such. I did as requested and marked the S-class ones with black sheets of paper, as well as not sending them to the other legal guilds. I hope you know what you are doing."
Katharina waved him away before looking at the first mission "Don't worry Doma-kun, you know that I too will strive to complete as many missions as possible. Within a month we will have completed them all. What about the second reason?"
Gran Doma's face became even more serious "Three of your Slayers recently completed an escort mission from the Pergrande Kingdom to your city, right?"
She raised an eyebrow at his question, since she had already sent a brief report to the Magic Council when Mukuro and the others had returned from their mission "Yes, they returned a few hours ago after dealing with a group of roadside bandits. Why?"
"They have activated a Lacrima-flare to have Rune Knights come to retrieve the bandits and take them to prison. However when they arrived, they found only dismembered corpses and nothing more."
Katharina narrowed her eyes "Were they the bandits?"
"Most likely." Gran Doma nodded before reading something "Judging by what was left of their armor they were bandits, moreover the Rune Knights have recovered some typical trinkets from the country of Joya from the remains of their bodies."
"Yes it corresponds to what they told me. Apparently the bandits obeyed a certain Kurel Ianoff, a mage of that country."
Gran Doma looked at a written report "We've already checked with the Rune Knights stationed there, apparently he was a famous bandit in those parts, with a bounty on his head, but he had completely disappeared for the last couple of weeks." he then looked back at Katharina "It is possible that he decided to move to the country of Iceberg to attack easy targets or due to the lack of hostile activity in the area, moreover they did not find anyone who could resemble him among the corpses of those bandits."
Katharina seemed to think about it, looking at the map of Ishgar on the wall before walking toward it, keeping her eyes on Iceberg and Joya "Something doesn't add up…he doesn't seem like a fool to me yet he abandoned his country to try to get rich in a place like Iceberg, but the strangest thing is that he went far north and managed to intercept a caravan of merchants, something very rare."
"It was a mission at the request of the mayor of your city, with a very direct route. Unless he was very lucky, which I doubt, someone familiar with the mission told him the route of the caravan but…"
"…but nothing concerning the mages who would have escorted the merchants." concluded Katharina with a cold glare directed at the map "For more than twenty years now this country has been devoid of bandit or dark mage activity, yet a bandit from another country decides to move here and miraculously manages to intercept one of the rare caravans arriving in my city…using only simple bandits for the assault."
"Against Rune Knights or simple soldiers it might have been enough, but not against three Slayers." said Gran Doma while stroking his beard "Someone must have noticed the anomaly in your country and decided to use those bandits to find out the cause. Now it's possible they know about the presence of your Slayers."
"And they are not the only one…" whispering those words, Katharina went back to her desk, looking at the chairman "There was a man, who was watching them from afar. It's possible that it was him…tomorrow morning I'll go to the place to see if I can find out anything, you tell your Rune Knights not to touch anything."
"I'll tell them to set up a temporary camp, the nights are pretty cold over there." and with those last words Gran Doma ended the call.
Picking up the missions sent to her by the Magic Council, Katharina walked out of her office and back into the main hall, standing against the second-floor railing. The party was still in full swing and everyone was eating and drinking, yet she caught their attention by releasing a short pulse of magical power; when she was sure that all eyes were on her, she raised her right arm showing them the new missions. A small grin formed on her lips as she saw some of them begin to quiver in anticipation "As pretty much all of you know, these are new quests sent to us by the Magic Council, and they're ours alone! Starting tomorrow we will have to work even harder to complete them all! Having said that…good luck with your catch!"
Downstairs, Cobra's eyes widened in surprise as Katharina put her right hand in front of her mouth and blew as hard as she could, sending the mission papers flying around the hall in a completely erratic and random fashion. Even more preposterous was seeing nearly all of the other Slayers drop their food or drink and attempt to grab as many missions as possible, with some of them not hesitating to strike up a little fist fight over a mission. Looking around, Cobra saw that the only ones not taking missions were Radogan, still sitting by the front door, along side Nox and Rayleigh, both standing by the bar counter with a calm smile on their faces.
That madness barely lasted a minute and in the end the various Slayers returned to their tables, some happy and some disappointed by the missions that had happened to them.
"What the hell just happened…?"
A loud laugh reached his ears "That's what newcomers ask themselves on the rare occasions that it happens!" having already met the owner of that voice shortly before, Cobra turned to answer her but he was still seated so he had to look up, almost breaking his own neck given that she was one meter and ninety-five tall (6'4"), finally meeting her monolid-shaped eyes with bright purple pupils, highlighted by her shoulder-length dark green hair, styled in a pixie cut.
'Not to mention all those muscles…'
The young woman in front of him was without a doubt one of the strangest or most peculiar people he had ever met (and he had met quite a few people), starting from her palish pistachio green-colored skin to her sharp teeth like those of a shark or her tongue that was purplish instead of pink like for all the others, which she used to lick the two silver bead piercings under her mouth, on the left side.
She was currently wearing a pair of black black flip-flops, a black, dark green, and lime green bikini top and a pair of skinny black jeans, the left leg of which had been torn off at the thigh, but they left little to the imagination given her large bust along with a slim yet muscular and athletic body. Even the accessories she wore, like the black choker with sliver spikes or the slim light green belt that had a belt buckle in the shape of a skull, that had vines with thorns wrapped around it, were peculiar.
All in all, she was a beauty as exotic as she was peculiar, even despite the patchwork pattern of her clothes or the actual stitch marks visible on her face, going from the upper right corner of her head to the lower corner of her lower jaw.
"I take it it's not a recurring thing to have so many missions?" asked Cobra, after a few seconds spent looking at her.
Her lips which were covered in black lipstick, the same color of her nail polish, curled up in a big smile "Nope! We get a mission every now and then; receiving so many together is a rare event!"
"Speaking of missions…" they both turned to look at Katharina who was now near them "…how was your catch, Darling?"
The taller girl showed her a toothy grin before waving four sheets of paper, two of which were black, with her right hand "Being the tallest in the guild has its perks!"
Cobra looked at the mission sheets before asking "Is Darling your real name? Sounds more like a nickname to me…"
"Because it is! My real name is Palomita but I'd rather you call me Darling!" she said before snapping her fingers "Also, master, is it okay if I take Erik with me on a mission? Shouldn't be a problem right?"
Katharina arched an eyebrow "If you're asking me, it means you want to complete…" the other girl quickly raised a black sheet of paper "…an S-class mission huh? Well that's no problem for me. Are you going to ask Brigid to come with you two?"
"But of course! She's my bestie after all!" grinned Palomita without missing a beat while looking around, finally spotting a girl with a slim and well-proportioned figure, whose long black hair had red tips. Walking quickly towards her, Palomita then slammed the mission paper on the table where the black-haired girl was eating a steak "Yo Brigid! Would you like to go on a mission with me and the new guy?!"
Slightly surprised by Palomita's sudden arrival, Brigid looked up at her guildmate with bright yellow eyes "A mission? Oh s-sure, I'd like to go with you." she then said with a smile on her face while looking at the mission "An S-class mission? Are you sure it's safe for him?"
Palomita gave her a thumbs-up "The master said it's okay, besides we will be with him and he's also a former member of Oración Seis, he knows his stuff!"
Having observed the brief interaction between the two, Cobra moved her gaze to Katharina, who was eating some fried chicken nuggets just brought by Rayleigh "Shouldn't S-class missions be harder or more complex? That girl over there does not seem suitable for such a mission."
Katharina giggled at his words "Oh don't worry, she can handle herself but normally goes on missions with Darling as they get on well together." she gulped down another chicken nugget "You might want to see them in action, you've certainly never seen anything like this in your days as a dark mage."
Cobra didn't seem very convinced but he couldn't think about it as Palomita returned at that moment, giving him a strong pat on the shoulder that almost made him spill his beer "All set! Brigid is on board with the mission! We'll leave tomorrow morning at dawn, okay?" she then showed him a big grin "Oh and don't worry if you can't do anything! It may even be an S-class mission but with me in the team everything will be fine!"
He wanted to argue back but Palomita had already left to talk to the other Slayers, so he returned to focus on the guild master "I think I already know the answer, since you allowed her to accept that mission, but…is she really an S-class mage?"
"But of course, and she's not the only one!" grinned Katharina, nodding toward Brigid, who was now talking with Mukuro "They are both S-class mages, just like Nox."
Cobra arched an eyebrow "So you have four S-class wizards in your guild?"
"Until a few years ago there were seven, but two of them are no longer part of the guild." she corrected him in a tone of voice that screamed 'Don't ask about it' "While the fifth is currently on a mission for the Magic Council in the kingdom of Fiore, she left with another Slayer four days ago so they should have already arrived but I don't know when they will be back."
The former dark mage nodded before continuing to enjoy the party, talking with the other Slayers, eating and eventually finding himself, incredible but true, in a drinking contest with Radogan, Kiro and Katharina.
It was late at night when Nox accompanied him to his personal room, prepared during the party. The furnishings were quite spartan, with only a bed, a wardrobe, a desk and a chair, but Nox had told him that over time he would decorate it as he wished, or else he would look for an apartment in the city as other Slayers had done. Not wanting to think about it at that hour, Cobra had taken off his shoes and coat before plopping down on the bed and for the first time in months he was able to sleep soundly without ever waking up, wondering what would await him from there on out...
[Country of Sin / 20th July X786]
The city of Peccato was one of the most distinctive places in all of Ishgar, for the huge sea-facing metropolis was surrounded by high walls and built around an imposing tower of white marble. While outside the walls there were fields, shipyards and some small villages, the inside of the city was divided into seven districts, each named after one of the seven deadly sins, and what many, especially foreigners, did not know was that that country was not governed by the sins but simply revolved around them for its economy. In fact, each district had shops and activities connected to the aforementioned vice: all the banks were located in the Greed district, the grocery stores in the Gluttony district and so on, while hospitals, schools, barracks and the ruler's lodgings were located inside the tower in the center of the city.
The mistaken idea that this was a country of sinners was now known throughout Ishgar but the inhabitants of the country themselves were tired of correcting stereotypes and the like, therefore they preferred to go on with their lives.
"Lord Ira is late."
Those few words, spoken by a young female voice, seemed to echo in the elegant white room at the top of the Tower of Purity. A plain white round table stood in the center of the room, surrounded by seven thick and heavy marble chairs covered with a thin layer of colored velvet; anyone who had ever seen that room for the first time would have been amazed to see that there was no front door, only seven windows, one behind each chair, and that in spite of the absence of candelabra or any source of artificial light, the room was perfectly lighted.
"I'm sure he'll be here any moment, Lady Lussuria." was the calm response of a man seated in chair covered with a green velvet and, like the other five people in the room, his body was entirely covered by a black hooded tunic, the edge of which was green, complete with black gloves.
The woman, whose large bosom couldn't be hidden by her tunic, snorted in amusement "Please, we all know he's the one most likely to avoid these meetings, especially when we exchange simple updates and trivial news."
The other five people seated around the table nodded to her words when, however, a soft red glow illuminated the room and a magic circle of the same color appeared behind the single empty chair. In an instant a man in a black tunic, with the edge of the hood colored red, appeared in the center of the magic circle, and after looking around he bowed his head in greeting "Pardon my delay, but there was a matter of the utmost importance which required my full attention."
"Oooh? Is this the Iceberg issue by any chance, Lord Ira?" asked a young man whose edge of the hood was yellow "If I remember correctly, you took it upon yourself to find out why that land of ice and snow was so peaceful."
Lord Ira nodded at him while sitting down "That is exactly the reason that held me back, as I finally have some information about it, Lord Avidità." after making himself comfortable in his chair, he added "Also I have finally found someone who can receive the power of my Sin without dying."
"You really managed to create a Wrath Sin Slayer?" asked Lussuria with clear disbelief in her voice, and she was sure that if she could see the faces of others, she would only see surprise and amazement in their eyes.
"That's exactly what I said. Of course, I was also surprised after seventeen failed attempts." chuckled Ira before crossing his fingers on the table "He is currently resting as the process took a toll on him, plus he had just been defeated in combat; it's a miracle he's alive. Oh and we had a little mishap on our way back but I dealt with that right away."
"While the birth of a new Sin Slayer is certainly great news for our cause, I think it's time to talk about other issues. I guess you all have your schedule after all." said a woman on Ira's left, whose voice was younger than Lussuria's while the edge of her cowl was purple. The others nodded to her words as she looked around "Whose turn is it to start today?"
"I think it's Lord Accidia's turn today." said Ira, while looking at the biggest of them all, covered like all of them in a black cloak but with the edge of the hood being light blue.
Accidia seemed to glance up at them before shrugging "If it's okay with you, I'll start... first of all, some of our agents have managed to slow down the production of weapons in the country of Midi. The factories are now working at half speed and of the eight loads promised to the country of Enca, only three will leave their ports. This way Enca should not be ready when eventually Bellum or the Pergrande Kingdom try to invade."
To his right, Avidità chuckled in amusement "The country of Bellum might be busy for a while. It was enough to show them some of the gems found in the mountains in the country of Desierto, along the shores of Lake of the Four Seasons, to make them start thinking about invading that gigantic desert. In a few months they should declare war." he then added "And since, thanks to our dear ruler, we have a non-aggression pact with everyone, we run no risk but to get rich at their expense."
"Be careful not to fall prey to your sin again, Lord Avidità. Last time we had to silence several soldiers who caught you swimming naked in a pool filled with gold coins and jewels." said Lord Ira with a dangerous edge in his voice.
"I beg your pardon, sometimes I can't resist." Avidità bowed his head before looking at Lussuria, sitting at his right "What about you?"
Everyone could practically feel the cruel smile on her face as she began to speak "A new civil war will soon plunge the Pergrande Kingdom into total chaos. A few girls and a bottle of wine were enough to make the king give in and make him sleep with them, thus betraying his wife who received an anonymous tip about her husband's adultery." she leaned back in her chair "As we speak, the nobles of the realm are deciding who to side with: the king has the most political support on his side, but the queen has both princes and most of the army on her side."
"I managed to deposit all the monster eggs in the pre-established points! I've also been giving some fanatics around Ishgar some grown-up monsters and chimeras, so they should be able to keep the Rune Knights and legal guilds busy!" was the next report, courtesy of a young girl seated to Lussuria's right, the rim of her hood tinted orange "But for the next phase I'll have to wait a couple more weeks at least."
"There's no problem, Lady Gola. After all, we are still on schedule." said Superbia with a small chuckle before looking at the others "As for my progress, I have delivered several of our Dolls to some bandit groups around Ishgar and I've had other dark guilds become more active, but I still haven't been able to find any information about Tartaros; the guilds working for them don't know anything either."
"Tch! Those cursed demons should simply die along with their creator. A guild made up entirely of Etherious! Why the hell don't we focus on them first?" asked Avidità with a scowl on his hidden face.
"You know well why. We need to prepare the ground for our arrival first, plus our Sin Slayers need to get stronger before they can face those monsters. Mine just got his powers after all." said Ira with a shrug "Since it's my turn, I might as well tell you right now that I may have discovered something about the country of Iceberg. After convincing a group of bandits to attack a caravan of merchants…oh by the way thank you for the tip, Lady Lussuria."
"Anytime, Lord Ira."
"As I was saying…I managed to get them to storm the caravan, however all thirty bandits were defeated by three mages."
"So…? If they were simple bandits it is normal that they lost." said Avidità, with Lussuria and Gola nodding at his words.
"Ah but the most interesting thing is that two of them were Dragon Slayers, while the third was most likely an Angel Slayer." explained Ira with an amused tone of voice, surprising the others.
"Three Slayers in the same group…?" repeated Accidia while leaning forward "Were they part of a guild?"
Ira shrugged again "It's a possibility. I couldn't see any guild-marks on their clothes or bodies, but one of them noticed me when I was really far away from the fight; he had a third eye on his forehead."
"It's strange but not unusual. Fairy Tail had four Dragon Slayers before the disappearance of its strongest members, even though Laxus Dreyar had been officially excommunicated from the guild a few weeks earlier." noted Superbia while tapping a finger on the table, before looking at Ira "Do you think those mages are the reason for the absence of bandits or monsters in the country of Iceberg?"
"Hard to say for sure since I couldn't follow them, but there might be a guild hidden somewhere, which has been dealing with the threats of that country on its own. After all, there are no legally registered mage guilds there." replied Ira with a nod "All the mages we know of who were born there have always left their homes as soon as they have had the opportunity to travel."
"Fair enough." Superbia then looked at the last member "Your turn, Lord Invidia."
He merely shook his head "Forgive me, but the fifty demons I unleashed to take out one of the Zentopia Church's bases were taken out every last one before they could do any harm." he sighed before adding "At first I thought it was the Legion Corps' doing, but it appears that the rumors of a Devil Slayer serving the church were true."
"Well look at that, looks like these Slayers are springing up like mushrooms!" chuckled Lussuria.
"It seems so, but that won't stop us from moving forward with our plan." said Superbia with a tone of finality "If there's no more reports to make, we can end this meeting." when no one spoke, she nodded before standing up "In that case we will meet again in two weeks. May your sin never corrupt your soul…"
"…and may all sins be eradicated from this world." was the response of the other six who moved after their chairs before vanishing in colorful flashes, leaving behind a pristine, white empty room.
[World Slayers' Guild Building / 20th July X786]
Suppressing a yawn, Cobra pulled on his coat before grabbing a travel backpack sitting on the desk that he hadn't noticed the night before. Opening it for a few seconds, he saw that inside there were some bandages, plasters, two glass bottles full of poison, a leather bottle and some food supplies in the form of energy bars and cans. Having nothing to complain about, Cobra closed it before putting on his shoes and a pair of new black gloves, then exiting the room.
'If what I've read is true, we have to go to the Pergrande Kingdom for our mission, but why the hell do we have to leave at dawn?' the former dark mage thought as he climbed the stairs that led him to the main hall, ignoring the snores of some Slayers still asleep in their rooms. Looking around, he saw only Nox, already behind the bar counter, as he finished arranging some wooden mugs, so she walked over to him.
"Ah good morning Erik." said Nox with a small smile on his face "Was the bed to your liking?"
Cobra showed him a smirk "I can't complain since until the day before yesterday I was sleeping in a Magic Council prison. Everything can be said about them, except that they know how to properly treat prisoners."
"I don't find it hard to believe it." chuckled Nox before gesturing toward the doors of the guild "Your teammates are waiting for you outside and, if you were about to ask me about any breakfast, believe me when I tell you that it is in your best interest to avoid eating before you have arrived at your destination."
Cobra arched an eyebrow "What do you mean? There are no trains going all the way here and I doubt we'll use a carriage to get around."
"Soon you will understand what I mean." said Nox with the smile still on his face and, for some strange reason, Cobra felt uncomfortable. Nonetheless, he made his way outside the guild and, as Nox said, found his two teammates waiting for him. The first he saw was Brigid, who despite the winter climate of those lands was wearing a red leather jacket with a white top underneath it, along with a black skirt, leggings and boots of the same color, ending with a black colored dog collar wrapped around her neck.
Palomita on the other hand, well…
"How the hell can you resist, practically half naked, in this cold?"
She looked at him with a huge grin "Hey, when you have the best muscles and best looks in the whole guild, why keep them hidden?" and after bending the right arm upwards, flexing her muscles, she kissed her own bicep.
Not knowing how to answer her, Cobra turned to Brigid, who looked away "What about you?"
"My magic helps me against the cold, that's all." she replied, still looking away from him.
'I still wonder if she's really an S-class mage…' thought Cobra before hearing footsteps approach the door from inside the guild. Turning to the building, he only had to wait a few seconds before seeing Rayleigh walk out, kitchen apron in full view and what looked like…packed lunches in his hands.
"Ah good morning Erik! Hope you slept well ahead of your first mission!" said Rayleigh with a bright smile on his face "If you ever need a few patches to your clothes or blankets just let me know, I'll sew them up in a heartbeat."
"Err…okay?" replied Cobra, not certain that the cook in front of him was actually a Dragon Slayer.
Moving towards Palomita, Rayleigh handed her the largest bundle "Here you go, Darling! A triple portion of fried meatballs!"
Palomita had to refrain from drooling and took the bundle in hand before placing it in her travel backpack "Thanks mom!"
Cobra's eyes widened beyond belief when he heard her words, but Rayleigh didn't seem to notice and, after raising his arm, ruffled Palomita's hair "You are welcome Darling!" he then moved toward Brigid, handing her the second bundle "For you some sandwiches and two apples, I also put you a thermos full of coffee since you haven't had breakfast."
Brigid took the bundle with a smile "Thank you mom."
Rayleigh patted her head "Don't sweat it, my child! Please try not to overdo it okay?"
Finally he moved in front of Cobra, giving him the last bundle, the smile still on his face "Meatballs seasoned with poison and french fries, plus I put a thermos full of coffee for you too."
"Uh…" Cobra looked to the side for a moment, noticing how Palomita was looking at him in amusement while Brigid seemed to be waiting for something. Focusing back on Rayleigh, he said "Thanks…dad…?"
Faster than he could react, Rayleigh ruffled his hair with one hand "Have a safe trip dear, and please be careful!" then, after saying goodbye to them, he re-entered the building.
"Well?" Cobra looked at Palomita "How was it?"
"That was very…awkward…"
"AH! Everyone says that the first time! You should have seen Kiro two years ago! Kid didn't know whether to die of embarrassment or try to kill Ray!" recalled Palomita while laughing at those memories before placing the backpack on her back "Well time to go! I haven't been on a mission for ages and I don't want to wait any longer!"
"Going on foot it should take us about two days of travel, one if we walk quickly without ever stopping." said Cobra, silently hoping they wouldn't have to get into a carriage or train.
Palomita grinned at him "Oh don't worry! It will only take three or four hours at the most!"
"How?"
"I'll just have to run there while I carry you in my arms!"
"…say what now?" Cobra's incredulous look provoked another laugh from Palomita, but before he could ask her what she meant, Brigid approached him to hand him some aviator glasses, the same as the ones she had just put on after removing them from her backpack. That done, she went to Palomita and climbed onto the left side of her back while the muscular woman supported her with her left arm from underneath.
"You can't be serious…"
"But I am!" after taking off her flip-flops and tucking them between her belt and shorts, Palomita moved quickly towards him and, ignoring his protests, grabbed his arm before lifting him and placing him on her right shoulder like a sack of potatoes before walking away from the guild a few feet. Cobra wriggled up to put himself in a more acceptable position even if it was still decidedly uncomfortable, while Brigid looked totally at ease.
"You may want to put on those glasses!" Palomita said while leaning forward.
Cobra barely had time to put them on before letting out a long scream as Palomita lunged forward with such force and speed that it left two holes in the ground and created a small shock wave that swept away much of the surrounding snow. The poor man immediately felt sick and his face started to turn green as the cold air whipped his face and Palomita kept running at a speed that would have impressed even Racer.
'I don't feel any magic, how the hell does she run so fast?!' thought Cobra before bringing a hand to his mouth 'Oh god this is worst than a train…'
He could distinctly hear Palomita's laughter as she ran, while Brigid lightly rubbed his back to try to make him feel better "Try to resist! She doesn't even have to stop to rest, so we'll get there sooner!" she then shouted above the noise of the wind.
Needless to say, those words of comfort had little to no effect on the poor Dragon Slayer, now on the verge of fainting.
It was after about an hour that two figures emerged from the guild: Katharina and Ossian, who looked around until the Dragon Slayer asked "Are you sure he'll show up, sister? He looked pretty drunk last night."
"Don't worry, he will come." answered Katharina with a smile on her face "Though he will be in a bad mood since he lost the drinking contest!"
'Well I can't blame him when two of his opponents were a centenary guy and a woman who can use her magic to undo the effects of alcohol in her blood…' thought Ossian with a sigh before finally spotting a lone figure approaching the guild.
Katharina smirked upon seeing that person "See? What did I tell you?" she then raised a hand "Hey Kiro! Did you slept well? Do you want a coffee perhaps?!"
Several meters away, Kiro put a hand to his head suppressing a growl "Oh for fucking sake, don't yell so early in the morning…" when he finally got closer, he gave the guild master an annoyed look "So, you want to tell me why I couldn't go on a mission today? I managed to grab three good ones last night!"
"Oh don't worry about that, you grumpy cat, you can always go on a mission with Ossian when we're back." said Katharina with a wide smile, while the two Dragon Slayers exchanged a glare.
Kiro pointed a finger at him "I'm supposed to go on a mission with the dog treat here?"
"So you are a dog too? Since you ate my bones last time." was the immediate response of Ossian while narrowing his eyes "Should I start calling you three-eyed dog?"
The two Dragon Slayers glared at each other with even more ferocity, sparks flying from their eyes until Katharina distanced the two by stepping between them "All right all right, calm down kids." she then looked at Kiro "The leader of the bandits you defeated yesterday seems to have escaped while all the others are dead. We need to go to the place where you confronted them and see if we find anything."
Kiro arched an eyebrow but said nothing. He was annoyed by the request, but it was still a direct order from Katharina so he couldn't exactly refuse, so he walked over to the place where he had faced Kurel and his bandits. The trio walked for about an hour at a brisk pace before starting to glimpse tents with the Rune Knights symbol prominently displayed on them, and when they were within a few yards of them, two lookouts approached them before crossing their magical shafts.
"Alt! This is an area under investigation by the Rune Knights, it is not possible to pass through here. Please go back or if you have to continue, go through the path we have prepared." said one of the two knights while gesturing toward a path on the left.
Kiro was already ready to argue but Katharina raised a hand to stop him before pulling back her right sleeve and showing her blood red guild mark "We're part of World Slayers with me being the guild master, and I'm sure Doma-kun has already warned you of our arrival." and without saying anything, Ossian showed his white guild mark placed under his right collarbone, while Kiro did the same, showing his dark purple one on the left wrist.
The two Rune Knights widened their eyes in surprise before stepping aside "Forgive us for the inconvenience, the captain is waiting for you near the bodies."
Katharina nodded before proceeding into that small encampment, in the center of which they saw a long series of white sheets stained with red, placed to cover the corpses of the bandits. Seeing her walking towards that spot, a Rune Knight approached them, dressed with a black coat under the cloak of his order, before bowing his head "Master Katharina, Gran Doma-sama warned us of your arrival."
"Glad to know that Doma-kun isn't faltering despite his age. So what can you tell us about what happened here?"
If the captain was bothered by Katharina's pet name for his superior, he didn't show it. He just looked at the row of bodies "My team and I arrived last night, about two hours after the Lacrima-flare was activated, however we only found the dismembered bodies of the bandits. We spent an hour trying to piece together as many bodies as possible, all of which appear to have been torn apart by sharp blades."
Katharina looked at Kiro with a question in her eyes and he nodded "The guy I faced was using wind magic."
The captain continued the report after hearing Kiro's comment "Kurel Ianoff is not among the bodies we've been able to identify, so we believe he broke free and killed his allies before fleeing."
"Do you have any clues as to where he might have gone?" asked Ossian while looking around.
"We spotted small traces of blood next to footprints in the snow; I sent a team of eight knights with three hounds but they haven't returned yet, and they still haven't contacted us." explained the Rune Knight before pointing in a certain direction, that is, towards the road from which Kiro and the others had arrived the day before.
"I'll see what we can do about it." said Katharina before walking down the road with Ossian and Kiro, whose third eye was already open, striking no small amount of fear into the Rune Knights who saw him. When they were several meters from the camp, Katharina stopped before closing her eyes for a moment; when she opened them again they glowed brightly and she began to look carefully at the ground. Spotting something, she knelt on the ground and gently brushed aside some snow, revealing a now frozen bloodstain. Carefully lifting that piece of ice, she brought it to her mouth to lick it but then her eyes widened before quickly spitting on the ground.
"Something's wrong sister?" asked Ossian, looking at her with confused eyes.
"This blood…" she crushed the frozen blood in her hand "…is corrupted."
"Corrupted?" repeated Kiro, raising an eyebrow.
"If it were simple blood I could understand if it belongs to a mage or not, but something or someone corrupted the person who lost this blood…" explained Katharina before starting to walk quickly following the drops of blood that only she could see "You two keep your ears open and pay attention to any particular smell, Kiro I want you to check everything with your third eye."
The two Dragon Slayers made no comment and just followed her for several minutes, quickly leaving the main road to head towards the snowy wastes where Kiro finally stopped, attracting Katharina's attention "Did you see something?"
"I think I found them." said Kiro pointing at some trees in the distance.
"How many?"
"…half."
"What about the others?" asked Ossian while looking at that small forest.
"There are some huge rocks in the middle of the trees, I can't see behind them from here." replied Kiro with an annoyed tone of voice.
Katharina wasted no time before starting to run in that direction, quickly followed by the other two. It took them only five minutes to get into that small forest before they slowed down and now even Ossian and Katharina could see the top of a Rune Knights slumped against a tree trunk, his corpse now covered in a light layer of snow but with a large pool of blood still visible beneath him. The three Slayers slowly approached before moving their gaze behind the large boulders that had blocked Kiro's view, and all three watched impassively as the macabre scene unfolded before their eyes.
The seven remaining Rune Knights, as well as the hounds, had been literally torn to pieces and much of the rocks as well as the surrounding trees were stained with dried blood. Katharina walked through the bloodbath while Ossian knelt next to the closest corpse, sniffing it for a few seconds "I can't pick a particular smell…I can only smell the corpses and their blood, also they were torn apart with bare hands, no blade wounds like with the others."
Kiro jumped to the top of the tallest rock and looked around but after a few seconds he shook his head before closing his third eye "Can't see shit from here. Bastard had a whole night to walk away, well beyond the range of my eye."
The guild master, on the other hand, closed her eyes before joining her hands to form a small bowl whereupon she released her magical power "Blood God's Memories." and around her the blood of the corpses broke the veil of frost that blocked it before flowing into her hands filling them to the brim. Without saying anything, she drank the blood and her eyes rolled back in her head as she lifted her head slightly to the sky.
"Move! We are close!"
Seven knights and their hounds moved through the snow, the mastiffs ever closer to their prey.
A small forest and some big boulders. There, sheltered from the wind, a man wrapped in black and red robes with a large hood obscuring his face. At his feet an unconscious bandit.
"Alt! Don't move!"
"Could you be quiet? My new student is resting."
"Did you kill those men?!" shouted a knight on the right, his shaft ready to strike.
The hooded man sighed before appearing before that man, his arm already buried in the Rune Knight's chest "I hate having to repeat myself."
"STOP HIM!"
The hooded man moved rapidly among the Rune Knights, kicking and punching, tearing off limbs, beheading, snapping necks, until all were down dead, except for the last one, lying on the ground in a pool of his blood, without his legs and with his left arm bent at an inhuman angle. His impending killer watched his doings before focusing on the rocks behind him, and finally shifting his gaze to the lone survivor. Without saying a word, he walked over to him before lifting him up and hurling the dying man against a tree, finally killing him but as the life drained from his body, the man's last words reached his ears.
"This way should be easy enough to find my little gift."
Then, it was just darkness…
Katharina came to her senses less than a minute after she had drunk the blood of those bodies and could only shake her head "Kiro, you said the hooded guy wore red and black, correct?" when she saw him nod she pinched the bridge of her nose "Well apparently he was the one who killed these soldiers, and he had Kurel Ianoff with him too but he was unconscious on the ground when he killed them."
"Do you want us to try to chase him, sister?"
She shook her head "No, it is better to go back to the camp and tell what we found, after which we will return to the guild." after which she walked towards the main road without ever looking back.
"Did you understand anything about that hooded guy?" asked Kiro while walking at her side.
"Not really, he fought without using any spells but I found out one thing: he referred to Kurel Ianoff as his 'new student'."
"Ah? Who would ever want someone like that failure as a student?"
"I don't know." she admitted "And that's the thing that worries me at the moment, as the blood I found earlier was probably that bandit's. So it's plausible that the guy with the hood did something to him."
"Something?" repeated Ossian "Like what…?"
"I don't know, but such a level of corruption…is bad news, that's for sure."
[Pergrande Kingdom / 20th July X786]
"And here we are!" shouted Palomita skidding to a stop a few meters from the entrance to what looked like a tent city, leaving two furrows in the ground behind her. Brigid had no trouble getting off her back as Cobra, green-faced and a thread of drool running down his chin, slumped to the ground before crawling next to a rock and vomiting behind it. Brigid came over to rub his back while Palomita burst out laughing "Man, you Dragon Slayers should do something about that motion sickness of yours!"
"Don't worry, we will walk back after the mission." said Brigid after Cobra was able to get back on his feet.
"How…how can you-ugh…run so fast, you damn woman…" breathed Cobra, finally managing to catch my breath.
"Oh that's easy! I'm an undead! I don't have your physical limits, although…" she looked down and Cobra was surprised to see that her feet were covered in small wounds that were quickly closing up as he heard what could only be the muscles in her legs as they straightened after being torn apart by that inhuman rush.
"Pretty cool right? This is just one of the many things that make me awesome!" grinned Palomita before walking toward the tent city, having already spotted some people who had approached as soon as they arrived.
"Strange, there shouldn't be a tent city here." noted Brigid while walking toward them, until they stopped a few meters from the first tent where they were greeted by two men, the first was as tall as Palomita and was a wall of muscles wearing miner's clothes, while the second was thinner and older, with a thick gray beard.
"Welcome travelers, may I know who are you?" asked the old one with both arms behind his back "If you were heading for the town of Garnet, I'm afraid you'll have to turn back, since that place is not accessible at the moment."
"We are mages from the guild World Slayers! We are here for a mission!" said Palomita with a grin on her face "It was about mines invaded by fanatics or something."
"Really?!" asked the old man with shocked eyes "I never heard of that guild before…could you please show us your guild marks for confirmation along with the letter?"
Brigid pulled out the mission paper, where the Magic Council mark was visible as well as that of the guild, after which she showed her red mark placed on the back of her right hand; Palomita imitated her by sticking out her tongue where the pink guild mark was visible and Cobra was the last, uncovering his right forearm where his purple guild mark was.
"Thank you. Please follow me to my tent, I will explain everything." said the old man before walking back with the beefy miner and the three Slayers behind him. As they walked in that vastness of tents, Cobra looked around, noting that there were a lot of miners but also children and women, visibly tired. He also had to concentrate on reducing his hearing so that he didn't hear their inner voices, since after just five meters he had heard several comments about Brigid and Palomita and, much to his chagrin, even about him.
After a few minutes they arrived in front of a tent like all the others except for the flag depicting a garnet hanging in front of the entrance. Once inside, all four of them sat around a table, even if Palomita had to sit on the ground since the chair didn't seem very strong. Before the old man could begin to speak, a young woman brought them full glasses of water before leaving. He took a sip before sighing "Sorry for the late introduction, my name is Eort and I'm the mayor of the town of Garnet, or this tent city if you like. The miner who was with me is my nephew, Nicolas while the young woman who brought us drinks is his wife, Ellen."
"Nice to meet you gramps! You can call me Darling! They are Brigid and Erik!" she said while pointing at the others, who merely bowed their head "Now! Tell us about the mission! I'm itching for a fight!"
Eort nodded before looking at the glass in his hands "What you've read about the mission is true: a group of fanatics have taken over our mines. You should know that, as in many other places in the Pergrande Kingdom, mining is one of the most profitable jobs although it is dangerous. To prevent precious gems from being stolen on the mine-to-city route, cities are literally built in front of or around mines, like our town of Garnet for example. Many of us also learn to fight to know how to defend ourselves and every city is protected by guards, soldiers and even mercenaries at times, but this time we couldn't do anything when those fanatics arrived." he took a sip to clear his throat "They arrived a week ago at dawn, a group of twenty people or so, all wearing brown tunics, proclaiming that they had come to reclaim the mountains we were robbing. We quickly discovered that they were mages when they started hurling boulders and creating earth and rock golems at our town, but when the soldiers tried to fight back…"
His story was cut short when the ground began to shake violently, startling the three Slayers and Cobra could hear some children outside begin to cry as the men screamed to stay calm. The earthquake lasted only a handful of seconds, but that was enough to make him understand that something was wrong.
"I don't seem to recall that the Pergrande Kingdom was a seismic zone…"
"Because it isn't." nodded the old man after a long sigh "It's all the fault of those fanatics and their monster! When they attacked us, a giant were-worm emerged from the side of the mountain, destroying houses, walls, shops…and killing dozens of people."
"A were-worm…?" repeated Cobra with a raised eyebrow.
"Gigantic earth-eating worms. They can reach more than a kilometer in length, have a mouth bristling with teeth and can tear even rock to pieces…they are typical of the country of Desierto." explained Brigid with a calm face before adding "However I have heard that it was practically impossible to tame them."
Eort nodded at her words "That's what we thought too but that beast blindly obeyed the orders of the leader of those fanatics and in a short time it destroyed a third of the city, killing most of the soldiers and city guards in the meantime. We could do nothing but escape trying to take what we could with us."
"What about your king?" asked Cobra "Calling in a guild is normal, but losing an entire city would have required the royal army to intervene at the very least."
A tense silence descended inside the tent and Eort didn't know what to say for several seconds "Our king won't intervene...he's too busy with court intrigues and the impending civil war. All we got was some supplies and these tents from some nearby towns."
"Civil war…?" repeated the three Slayers with surprise clear on their faces.
"Yes, but it's a complicated story and we don't know what those fanatics are going to do. Will you help us? Please…"
"But of course! We are here for the mission after all!" exclaimed Palomita while standing up "The problem is a group of fanatics and their pet? No worries, we can take care of that!" and with those words she left the tent. Cobra sighed before following her along with Brigid as the old man thanked them sincerely for their desire to help him and his town.
"So, where's the city anyway?"
Cobra looked at Palomita with shocked eyes. It was she who brought them there and she didn't even know where the city was?! Luckily for them, a nearby miner directed the group towards the nearby mountains, telling them that they could not miss it, and so, after refusing Palomita's offer to take them there, Cobra walked in that direction with the other two Slayers, feeling two more seismic tremors in the meantime. After about thirty minutes they finally arrived near the town and could well see the destruction caused by the were-worm but strangely there weren't any of those fanatics around.
"They must all be inside the mine." said Cobra while leaving his backpack against a tree, soon imitated by Palomita and Brigid, before walking inside the town. However, he immediately realized that neither Brigid nor Palomita seemed worried or on the alert, with the latter walking along, whistling with her hands behind her head.
"Shouldn't you two be more…professional? It's still an S-class mission after all."
"Don't worry about that, Erik!" grinned Palomita, slapping his shoulder "Probably the Magic Council made it so only because a city was conquered and because of that gigantic worm, but it will be enough to put the maximum effort into it right away and we will be able to complete this mission too! You just have to believe it!"
Cobra shook his head while Brigid simply continued to look around, until the three Slayers came near some entrances to the mines, at the foot of the mountains. Not knowing exactly which one to get, they decided to walk towards the larger one after lighting an oil lamp found nearby. The tunnel was exceptionally clean (for a mining tunnel that is) and appeared to be built to last, with solid wooden beams, lights at every column even though they were off at the time, ground tracks kept in excellent condition and so on.
Cobra stopped after a few meters, facing a three-way junction "I hear someone, a group of people I'd say, but their voices echo through the various tunnels so I can't figure out where they're coming from."
"I can help with that." said Brigid before placing her left ear against the ground for several seconds, after which she pointed at the tunnel on the right "That way."
"Do you happen to have earth-related magic, or something like that?" asked Cobra, following her in that tunnel.
"Not exactly, but you'll find out soon."
Cobra said nothing about it and just followed her for a few minutes, until they found themselves at the top of a gigantic cave, entirely dug out of stone with several tunnels converging inside but, from their vantage point, they could also see huge holes carved into the rock, probably the work of the were-worm. There were several wagonloads of precious stones lying around along with miner's tools, as well as dried bloodstains and even some now rotting pieces of human flesh. Leaning just beyond the wooden railing built to avoid falling down, Cobra saw that at the lowest point of the cave there was a group of people and, judging by their brown tunics, it was evident that they were the fanatics they had to take care of.
"My brethren! Soon we will move to free the other raped and robbed mountains as well! The Pergrande Kingdom will cease to exist once it loses its precious gems and we will ascend as defenders of mother earth!" the leader of that group yelled at everyone else. The only thing that differentiated him from other fanatics was that he had a large amulet hung around his neck.
"Looks like we got here on time." said Cobra while looking at the cave "We need a plan of attack."
"I have a plan!" said Palomita, with Brigid already on her right shoulder "ATTACK!" before jumping down with absolutely no care in the world. Cobra watched speechless as Brigid plummeted to the lowest level of the cave, creating a crater on impact before letting Brigid down who, strangely, now had a peculiar grin on her face.
"Who are you!?" shouted the leader of the fanatics, with his eighteen followers turning quickly to prepare to fight.
"Oh I'm sure you don't need to know!" chuckled Palomita while cracking her knuckles. She then looked at Brigid with a smirk on her face "It's been a long time since we've done something like this so…race to see who defeats the most?"
"You are on!" replied Brigid with a bright red aura surrounding her body.
"They are here to stop us! Kill them!" ordered the leader of their enemies before Palomita and Brigid distanced themselves a little, each immediately faced with nine fanatics who did not hesitate to attack them with the intention of killing them. The two closest to Brigid immediately created magical bronze circles from which they hurled rock fists and spikes, but she didn't let herself be intimidated in the least and inhaled deeply, puffing out her cheeks.
"Magma Titan's Disaster!"
A large jet of bright red magma spewed from her mouth while slowly pushing her back, burning and melting the incoming attacks along with three unfortunates who had no way to avoid the attack. Their excruciating screams lasted only a handful of seconds before their bodies were completely melted by the magma which then slowly began to cool down. A mage placed both hands on the ground before creating an earth golem in front of him, which he ordered to attack Brigid but she ran towards the construct enveloping her right arm in a large amount of magma.
"Magma Titan's Fist!"
The massive fist of magma was more than enough to destroy the earth golem before Brigid hurled it at its summoner, killing him instantly. The remaining five wizards watched in awe, recoiling at the sight of this girl walking through the magma as if nothing had happened, a hungry grin on her face "Well? Who's next?"
A slight tremor attracted her attention to the left where she saw a fanatic create a trail of rock spikes against Palomita but she destroyed them with quick punches while running towards him before raising her right arm whose hand was pervaded by a dark purple aura with slight black tints "Zombie Slayer's Claw!"
Outstretching her fingers, Palomita brought her arm down with all her strength, literally slicing her opponent in two however those close to him recoiled in horror as they saw that the energy released by her attack was causing a form of necrosis on the body of the corpse where it had been touched by that energy. Palomita didn't give them time to react before closing the distance to her next target to hit him in the face with a punch that was enough to throw him against the rock wall of the cave. When the now lifeless mage fell to the ground, his face was a mask of blood while his neck was twisted in an unnatural way.
"M-Monster!" Palomita turned to the enemy who had spoken before flashing him a grin and step back so as to avoid the arm of a rock golem created by another opponent. Wasting no time, Palomita grabbed the construct's arm and ripped it from his body before using it to smash the golem, using the limb like a club. She then jumped towards the wizard who had created the golem, but he raised a stone wall to protect himself however the Slayer did not stop and pulled back her right arm, whose muscles seemed to grow exponentially in an unnatural way "Zombie Slayer's Raging Flesh!"
Despite the strands of muscle that rip through her skin upon the impact, her fist had no problem breaking through that rocky defense and digging into the enemy's chest; she then pulled him towards her, destroying the wall in the process, before throwing the corpse at a fanatic who was attempting to get around her. The woman fell to the ground with the corpse on top of her but before she could get up, Palomita killed her by crushing her head with a stomp, spreading blood and brains all around.
"You know, you won't win the race if you keep looking at me." she said while looking at Brigid, who smirked at her before attacking the opponent to her right, while the Zombie Slayer did the same, ignoring the cries for mercy of her enemies.
As the massacre continued, the leader of that group of fanatics looked on with a shocked face 'How is this possible?! They may not be first rate mages but they should be able to take care of two girls!' he looked at Palomita with narrowed eyes 'Her skin and those stitches on her face…don't tell me she's undead! Who the hell are we fighting against?!'
Suddenly the gemstone on the ring on his finger flashed and a stone golem in the shape of a knight came out of the ground behind him, raising a shield to protect him from Cobra, who had attempted to strike him from above with a hand dripping with poison. The man turned to Cobra, who looked annoyed at the golem "You didn't use any spells to summon it, you didn't even know I was there."
"I have stored a special sentient spell in my ring! This golem will protect me even when I don't notice my enemies!" explained the fanatic "But I have to admit, distract us with those two while you were trying to assassinate me…a very devious plan!"
"Yeah…" said Cobra, a deadpan expression on his face "…plan."
"However, it's over for you now!" he grabbed the amulet that hung around his neck and raised it above him "Come forth my beast! Feast on the flesh of these fools who dare to defy us!"
The amulet glowed with bronze light before the entire mine began to shake. After a few seconds, a gigantic worm emerged from a wall whose mouth was divided into five 'petals' completely bristling with sharp teeth. The huge beast roared before diving into another rock wall not far from Palomita.
"Oooh! So that's the were-worm huh?" she said while letting go the corpse of an opponent whom she had killed with her bare hands, before running towards the huge worm and trying to grab it, but as soon as her fingers touched the creature's skin they managed to sink into the flesh for a few seconds before being rejected. Palomita could hear an angry cry from the were-worm and when she looked at her hands she saw that the ring and little fingers of her right hand were missing.
"Well, I don't think I'll be able to get those fingers back." she said as the worm vanished into the mountain, preparing to re-emerge again.
Stab!
Looking down, she saw the tip of a rock spike protruding from her lower abdomen; turning slightly, she saw that one of the three remaining fanatics of the group next to her had taken advantage of her distraction to attack her. With a grin on her face, she apologized for ignoring him and turned around completely, breaking the rock with her muscles alone and remaining totally oblivious to the piece of rock stuck in her body.
"You damn monster!" one of those three ran towards her with his arm covered in sharp rocks, but she grabbed his fist with one hand before breaking his neck with the other arm, whereupon she removed the spike from her belly and hurled it at the wizard who had wounded her, obliterating his head. She then turned to the last fanatic of her group but the were-worm re-emerged at that moment from the wall closest to Brigid, who had just melted two enemies with her magma. The Titan Slayer leapt back to avoid the creature before puffing out her cheeks again "Magma Titan's Shot!"
Dozens of bullet-like drops of magma were fired from her mouth and the huge animal roared in pain as the magma seared its flesh, before turning to face Brigid and preparing to attack her, only to be hit on the back of the head by a large boulder. Turning towards the direction of the attack, the worm perceived Palomita who had leapt up a few levels to throw the boulder at him "Come at me worm! I got something for you!"
The were-worm roared before lunging at her just as Palomita leapt at it, preparing to strike with her right hand now wrapped in her necrotic energy, however the giant worm accelerated at the last minute and managed to lock her in its mouth, instantly clenching its jaws. From below, Cobra watched in shock and horror as the huge animal swallowed his guildmate and soon after, Palomita's right arm dropped a few feet away from him, twitching for a few seconds before stopping.
The loud laughter of the leader of those fanatics echoed in the cave "Did you see?! This is what will happen to all who dare to challenge us! And you will be the nex-!"
GWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!
A deafening roar escaped from the were-worm's mouth as the huge animal began to thrash about, slamming against the walls of the cave erratically and vomiting a great deal of blood. After a final spasm, the huge worm lifted its head upwards and let out a dying cry before collapsing to the ground, shaking the cave and kicking up a cloud of dust. After a few seconds, when the cloud of dust had cleared, Cobra saw the side of that worm swell for a second before a hand wrapped in violet energy pierced its flesh, then opening a large cut from which Palomita came out, along with liters of blood, saliva and stomach acids.
Now, Cobra was a former dark mage and was used to a lot of strong scenes, yet seeing Palomita with the right side of her face corroded, her right eye dangling from its socket and part of her intestines entangled around her legs, since her belly had been eaten away, was something that made him retch quite a few.
"Well I must say that this was very close! I didn't think the gastric juices of this beast were so efficient!" said Palomita, ignoring the fact the right side of her face was basically only bones. She then waved at Brigid with her only arm "Hey! Did you see what I just killed?!"
"That still only counts as one!" shouted back Brigid, melting with a giant hand of magma the last of her opponents, who had been too shocked by the worm's death to react to her attack.
Palomita chuckled before noticing the last fanatic she hadn't killed earlier to deal with the worm. The man was on the ground with a terrified face and a large dark stain on his tunic between his legs; it was clear that what had just happened plus the vision of Palomita in those conditions had been too much for his bladder.
"Well, might as well…" she shrugged before ripping off her dandling eye, charging a lot of necrotic energy inside that eye before looking at the fanatic.
"Hey."
He looked at her.
"Catch!" and she tossed her eye in his hands "Zombie Slayer's Rupturing Flesh!"
The poor man had no way to react before the eye exploded, destroying his upper body, leaving only his legs in place. Not far away, the leader of the fanatics could not even concentrate on Palomita, who Brigid tried to hit him with a fist wrapped in magma but his golem came between the two to protect him. However, much to his shock, he saw the magma begin to melt the shield "Impossible! That shield is made of top quality rock! It can't be melted that easily!"
"Poison Dragon's Twin Wings!" shouted Cobra before delivering a claw attack at the back of the golem, making it lose its balance, thus giving Brigid the opportunity to destroy the shield entirely before crushing the golem with a giant hand of magma, melting it in seconds. The leader of the fanatics, who were all dead by now, had thrown himself to the side a few moments earlier and his amulet landed at Brigid's feet, who took it in her hand, observing it curiously.
"So this is what allowed him to control that were-worm."
"Hey Erik! Would you mind throwing my arm at me!" shouted Palomita pointing at said arm. Cobra raised an eyebrow but did as requested and she caught it with her only hand, before placing it at her shoulder, where it had been severed by the worm's teeth "Bodily Stitch."
Under Cobra's surprised gaze, thin threads of magical energy shot out of Palomita's skin before reattaching her arm within seconds. When she was done, the girl had no problem moving it freely and she proceeded to retrieve her intestine and stuff it into her belly, while her face had almost completely regenerated. It took a few minutes but in the end, even with a few more stitches, Palomita was like new, except…
"Darling, you are naked." said Brigid with a slight blush on her face while looking away like Cobra.
"Whoops! Sorry about that!" chuckled Palomita before taking a fanatic's tunic, tearing it apart and using her Sewing Magic to create a makeshift top and skirt "Not really my stile but I can live with this!"
"So…what do we do about him?" asked Brigid pointing at the leader of the fanatics, who on the ground, unmoving.
"Is he dead?"
"Nah, I can hear his mind. He's wondering why freaks like us had to screw everything up." said Cobra and the man was now visibly sweating "Now he's wondering how do I know. I can hear your mind's voice, that's how."
"Do we kill him? He doesn't seem to want to tell us anything if he prefers to play dead." said Brigid with a smirk and magma dripping from her hands but upon hearing her words, the man immediately sat up, raising his arms in surrender.
"Please don't kill me! I'll tell you anything! Just don't kill me!"
"Lame…" said Palomita before walking toward the corpse of the were-worm, to then tear off a piece of meat and start eating it.
"How did you get that amulet and the worm?" asked Cobra with narrowed eyes.
"A girl handed them to me a month ago! We were preparing to storm the town of Garnet when she appeared out of nowhere and she told me that with that worm I would have it easy!"
Cobra nodded at Brigid, making her understand that it was the truth so she asked "How was she?"
He shook his head "I don't know! She had a black cape with orange details but it was impossible to see under the hood! I know she was a girl because of her voice!"
The Poison Dragon Slayer nodded again "Did that girl give you anything else?"
"She…she also gave me five were-worm eggs! T-They are in that tunnel!"
"Uuuh I like where this is going!" said Palomita with a chuckle "I was getting tired of the usual bacon and eggs!"
"Anything else?" asked Brigid raising her fist, covered in magma, closer to his face.
"N-Nothing! I swear!"
"Good…in that case, Magma Titan's Prison!" she said before creating a cage of magma around him before cooling it down and making it solidify, ignoring the fact that she had still burned him in several places on the body. With the leader in the cage, Brigid then made her way to the tunnel indicated earlier to melt the worm eggs, while Palomita approached Cobra.
"View? She didn't go bad! The plan worked out great!"
Cobra's eye twitched at the mention of that word but then he shook his head "Do all the missions you participate in have such plans?"
The muscular woman chuckled for a moment "More or less! Me and Brigid prefer a direct approach, plus I'm the only one who can easily work with her! You have no idea how many times I've lost a limb to her magma! But I'm sure you'll be fine with us, after all your hearing can tell you when she's about to attack!"
"Why do you talk as if I am now a permanent part of this team?"
"Just wait until Katharina knows about the success of this mission and she will make it official!" she laughed while slapping his shoulder "There are no real teams in the guild except me and Brigid after all!"
"Wonderful…" sighed Cobra as his thought of the previous night came back to him 'Maybe I spoke too soon…'
"Say…do you think we'll be able to bring home some worm meat? It's really tasty if you ignore the acidity of the stomach juices!"
'Yeah, definitely spoke too soon…'
As the crackling of worm eggs melted from Brigid's magma could be heard in the distance, Cobra could only wonder what awaited him now that he was part of such a guild.
Little did he know that he would soon have his answer, and he wouldn't like it at all.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Here we are with a new chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! It turned out long enough and I didn't even add everything I wanted, as I wanted to introduce more OCs but then an eternal chapter would come out and that could be a problem (I've noticed that many people prefer shorter chapters but more frequent updates).
We got to meet new characters in this chapter including our first batch of villains who are doing everything to wreak havoc around Ishgar! Also below you will find a small legend with translations and colors for our hooded villains! In the next chapter we will have the opportunity to meet new OCs (although I've put a couple of hints here and there as to who they might be) and meet again "old" ones (as always, I apologize if I can't insert all the OCs presented in each single chapter).
I still hope you enjoyed the chapter! As always, the discord invitation is always active on my bio and currently registrations are still open!
With that said, I hope you have a good Sunday!
See you next time!
OC list (created by you!):
- Radogan Elgrave, created by: alucard deathsinger
- Mukuro Murasaki, created by: Lezusia
- Kris Bliviah, created by: Singofffan
- Kiro Jarndyce, created by: theotakureader101
- Rayleigh Whitlock, created by: pricefree
- Palomita Alvarez, created by: JackHammerMan
- Brigid Sorren, created by: News Boss
Peccato = Sin
Accidia = Sloth (light blue hood)
Avidità = Greed (yellow hood)
Lussuria = Lust (blue hood)
Gola = Gluttony (orange hood)
Superbia = Pride (purple hood)
Ira = Wrath (red hood)
Invidia = Envy (green hood)