Chapter 182
Turning Threats Into Promises
“What? I can’t take it easy and try to relax?” I ask, in a faux offended tone.
“No, it’s not that. It’s just that I figured you would be one of the people who would want to be on the front lines throughout this endeavor.” Gwen responds.
As she speaks, I can see the battle going into its final stretch.
The two tamed dragons are wrestling with the wild and untamed water dragon spirit, trying to subdue it. Mallory for her part is right there, striking as needed and the dragon should surrender here, but for whatever reason, isn’t.
My goal is to make it so that it is not always me who is dealing with these threats. As this is a guild quest after all, meaning that other members of the guild should also be allowed to participate in this.
“You’re doing it wrong.” Zero, my familiar says peering into Gwen as she is moving her energy around.
I pause, then follow Zero’s gaze to Gwen and realize that he is correct, Gwen is moving her energy in a less than optimal form, cutting down her mana efficiency by a few percent.
“What?” Gwen asks, suddenly confused by seeing Zero. “Who are you?”
I pause, only to realize that it is true, Gwen likely has never seen Zero. I realize the last time she could have seen him was when I was fighting the Rock Head guy, or Balthisar Essentialis as Mallory calls him. At that time Gwen had a position that I now wish to take up, namely being in the back and just watching from afar.
“I am Zero, your mother’s familiar.” Zero states giving a floating courtly bow.
“Oh.” Gwen responds, then recognition seems to take her as she slowly seems to remember exactly who the dragon before her is. “Oh, sorry, I guess I just assumed you died.”
Grimace.
At that I wince slightly, realizing that this is valid feedback of my apparent lack of involvement with Zero. Gwen for her part just reaches out her hand in an apparent effort to formally greet each other by shaking hands.
“Yeah, well some people left us in a glass palace, while they went off galivanting and exploring the world.” Zero responds, extending his paw to shake and greet Gwen properly.
Flash.
There is a faint exchange of energy that is brief, but I can both see and feel it getting released. Almost like the two had a brief electrical discharge, but not quite. The level of energy exchanged was deeper, then it was gone.
However, unlike me, the two involved in the incident didn’t seem to notice the exchange of energy.
“Nothing to say?” Gwen asks, suddenly turning from Zero to me. Again, it strikes me that all of this is practiced motions and actions, as all three of us have Angel’s Sight, meaning that we could all see each other’s movements and actions without actually having to face the individual. Though I am somewhat thankful for Gwen’s glance, as it shows that she was talking to me, and not talking to Zero about that odd exchange of energy.
I am about to open my mouth to see if they even noticed that exchange of energy, as it was a type I had never seen. Almost soul magic, almost Qi but not quite either. It almost seemed to be something deeper, and yet it felt like it would be obvious, once I understood.
I was so focused on trying to mentally process the exchange of energy that I almost missed the moment when everything went wrong.
GRAHGHGHAHHH!!!
KA-BOOOM!!
Okay, not going to lie, no one could have missed that, not even a storm trooper.
Then if the explosion wasn’t enough, the message that immediately followed more than clarified the obvious.
Hidden Guild Quest FAILED: Mastering the Cardinal Protectors: Your Guild, the Midnight Hunters, was given the task of conquering and saving the four key protectors of the great wastelands. Unfortunately, your guild ended up killing Nagingah, the second most powerful elemental spirit of the realm. Failure means that Fulmberro, the fourth and final elemental spirit will now descend as an enraged being. Time until Fulmberro arrives: 9:58…
Like a hammer blow to the chest, we failed the main quest. No, not only did we fail, but now we have an enraged fire elemental dragon coming early.
For a moment I want to panic. I see that the two dragons we have already tamed are already in bad shape, as the last battle also took a toll on them. Now added to that is the fact that we have the fourth cardinal protector coming almost immediately afterwards and mistakes are bound to be made.
GRRAHHHHGAHHHAHHH!!
Just like all the others, we receive a call from the cardinal direction that the monster will come from. In this case the south.
I want to head south, but I realize that there is still a slight chance that we might be able to pull off this quest.
Poof.
Before I even have a chance to think about my actions, my body is moving on its own. The combat medic in me charges forward, even while everyone else would run away from danger.
The battlefield is in chaos. The two tamed dragons are desperately working and fighting to get themselves untangled from under the much larger body of the water elemental dragon, this Nagingah, I could try to use my Telekinesis to help lift parts of the oversized dragon but decide against that. Instead, my sole focus is on soul focusing.
Yes, even from a distance I can see the great spirit of the elemental dragon rising up and angrily snapping at the fellow cardinal protectors and warriors that dared invade the lands that this magnificent creature was slated to protect.
This is good, while the rage might be dangerous to the spirits and anyone else who was directly in the nearby spirit realm. The fact that the dragon decided to stay to fight, even in futility is good. As a healer I like that, as that means the spirit hasn’t given up on life.
With that thought in mind, I immediately Teleport over to the body of the dragon, and I begin casting. Unfortunately, despite my skill at casting, the dragon’s spirit is whipping around wildly, not wanting to be bound by my magical strands.
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At first, I wanted to quickly bind the dragon to be in its old body. I didn’t have enough time to fully recreate a newer and more optimal sized body, as the thing was enormous, the amount of energy needed to create or improve the body before me was going to be too much. Or at least way more than I could generate within a ten-minute span of time.
“Mallory, can you grab the spirit and hold it still?” I shouted, frustrated as I was already going to plan B. Instead of trying to bind the giant dragon’s spirit to its old body, I instead went about weaving threads of spiritual power that would bind the dragon’s spirit itself.
Still.
The dragon spirit was still writhing and struggling the way that reptiles do, but it was clearly harder for the spirit to move at the moment.
This was good, as I could tell it meant that Mallory had heard and was following my words without hesitation. As a Valkyrie, she had an ability to reach into the realm of the dead and help spirits move on to the afterlife. In this case, we were doing that exact same thing, but in reverse. Namely we were keeping a recently killed dragon spirit from being able to move on to the afterlife.
Fortunately, the dragon was just recently killed, meaning that despite the dragon being at a much higher level of power than Mallory, there was still a transitional debuff in place. This debuff meant that the dragon either didn’t have, or didn’t know how to fully use their powers from the mortal realm in their spiritual body.
If enough time passed, and the spirit didn’t want to move on, they could in time not only achieve their former power level, but also improve on that rating. Meaning that if left unchecked, this dragon would eventually pose as much of a threat or more to the undead of the allied Deolar empire. Something I was opposed to as I was both King and Princess of the Deolar empire, don’t ask long story. But needless to say, I needed to fix this mistake right here and now, if I didn’t want it to be an even larger headache down the road.
Rather than binding the spirit to the body, something that would be almost impossible given the size of the creature’s mortal body and the time constraints placed against me. So instead of tying the dragon’s spirit and weaving it back into its body, I instead opt for the much faster, but less sexy option of hogtieing the dragon in place and then forcefully shoving the spirit into a body of my choosing.
Swoosh!
Flick.
The dragon gives a quick flick of its neck that instantly dislodges Mallory from its neck. Fortunately, though I was already working my magical threads into place.
At my thought, massive bands of braded and coiled spirit threads flash out and begin wrapping their way over, around and through different parts of the dragon. I control seven different threads that all move out in different angles and directions. Two immediately go to wrap up the front paws, before pulling back around the back in crisscrossing patterns that then end up wrapping their way around the underside of the tail and then locking into place. Two others do the same for the back legs, but instead pull forward, wrapping over the wings and performing a crisscrossing pattern over the chest of the dragon before tying into a knot at the base of the large spine. The fifth and sixth do the same for the wings, wrapping the wings up and wrapping around the neck of the beast, before wrapping down and inter weaving their way in between the coils going for the back legs. Then the seventh is a final chain that wraps around the neck, gets tension applied by the wings and back legs and ultimately creates a suspension bridge between the neck and tail that also gets reinforced by the cords from the front legs.
In all the dragon is sufficiently subdued within a matter of minutes.
Phew.
Finally having the dragon spirit subdued, I realize that sprit magic alone won’t be enough for this, as I can already see the dragon’s strength causing tension on the cords. That is when I remember my Spiritual Qi and begin braiding a band of Spiritual Qi around the cord. This was sloppy and ends up taking an extra minute of time, time that I really can’t waste.
“I’m going to go south to buy you time to come.” Mallory shouts.
I nod, not wanting to lose my train of thought as working Qi threads around magical constructs is a lot tougher than I thought it was.
“Well, I can see that you are busy, but just let me know if you need anything.”
I am about to say something about the absurdity of that statement, when she just leaves.
With her gone, I decided I can focus on the next part.
Time remaining: 2:13.
Yeah, I know already. I am going to be late, but I need to work. Either I can try to force this dragon spirit into its old and broken body, or I can create a new body that is healthy, but obviously smaller.
Struggle, struggle.
Even now the beast is still struggling annoyingly.
I am trying to figure out what to do next, when I get the system information that I have created a new spell.
New Spell Created: Spiritual Hogtieing (C) [Tier XIII]: A spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that is used to tie up and subdue the spirit of a recently killed creature to prevent the spirit from moving on to the afterlife. In this state the captured spirit is exceptionally vulnerable and able to be manipulated into almost any shape, condition, or size.
Note: Effects are doubled when cast on a person or creature that has the Recently Deceased debuff activated.
I think there is a slight dig in that description at me, but then I pause for a moment as I realize there might be something more to the description. Is it being helpful? I mean the name is terrible and likely plucked from my own thoughts, apparently, but in the description is there something there?
Part of me realizes that the reason why I was able to cast the spell at all was the fact that the creature was recently deceased, but that is secondary to the thought of what is now coming to my mind.
Then realizing I only have a few options, as I am fairly certain my hogtieing spell will only last as long as the recently deceased debuff is active on the monster.
With that in mind, I go with the only option I have left.
Perfect Resurrection.
I begin casting Perfect Resurrection, or at least the way I now envision a perfect resurrection to go.
Four legs, check, a tail check. Wings? Sure, throw those on there as well. We are going to get rid of the scales and exchange that for fur. Going to give the legs their claws, but make the more uniform in appearance and function. No real opposable thumb, not that the dragon had them to begin with, but making the thumb-like appendage to be more of a dewclaw. Then get rid of most of the neck, and replace that with a thick main of hair. Move in the snout, change the body from that of a reptile to a mammal, and then make the wings soft and fluffy.
In less time that I thought, I have it, a perfect body for the cardinal dragon spirit to fit into.
Then focusing, I begin pulling in the strands of spiritual energy that I used to hogtie the dragon in the first place. Then aided by the strengthened spiritual Qi thread, I realized that the spiritual Qi can actually help me shrink the size of the dragon. I can’t quite shrink the dragon’s power, at least not yet, but at this rate I do feel the dragon’s size slowly shrink until it feels like a suitcase at the end of a vacation, you know where you had all the stuff you wanted to bring, then all the mementos you got while away, then shove them all into the same storage device and boom. One quick jump onto the suitcase to shrink everything to size, and then a quick zipping up of the recently compressed items and you have a closed suitcase with all your stuff, once again, and only one or two things were broken that you hoped weren’t that important.
In this case, there was a clear discomfort from the neck being compressed into a much smaller sized package. In this case, the zipping is me weaving the final threads into place that bind the spirit to the small and cute mortal shell that I have created for it, and finally I am able to breathe a sigh of relief.
The system of course chooses this time to tell me that it apparently doesn’t like the idea of turning a vicious and oversized dragon into a cute little Pomeranian, but we can’t all be happy. In this case the system
New Spell Created: Altered Resurrection (C) [Tier XIII]: A spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that is probably the ultimate form of necromancy, being able to resurrect a spirit into a drastically different body.
I wanted to argue with that assessment, but then found that I couldn’t. I wanted to say that this was technically not Necromancy, but then realized that being Resurrected in a body similar to your own, and an entirely different body might be the dividing line between being a beneficial spell and a spell of Necromancers.
Still, I at least proved the unspoken question to myself. That of could I actually follow through and resurrect one of the dragons as a Pomeranian, as I had promised earlier. The answer is yes, but apparently such an act will get you labeled as a Necromancer. Good to know for the future.
“ARF!” The former Cardinal guardian dragon, now Cardinal guardian Pomeranian growls angrily at me.
With that I hold up my hand with a finger fully exposed showing that I was not going to tolerate disobedience.
In the back of my mind, I find myself wondering how Necromancers get their revenants to follow orders? Do they use spells? Or secret rituals? Not that I would try, but I am kind of curious about this whole process.
“None of that now.” I begin speaking only after the dragon is quiet for a second. “Now the way I see it, we can do one of two things. First, you can continue to be a bad dog, in which case you will stay in this form forever.” I state with a slight pause.
“Grr!” With that the guardian Pomeranian growls angrily, clearly showing their displeasure at the statement.
I pause again, waving the still raised finger to get its attention. Then once the former dragon is quiet, I continue.
“Or, we can try the alternate method. You form a non-aggression pact with us. You help us subdue your fellow guardian Fulmberro, so he doesn’t get injured as well. Then once it is all over, I will help you change your body back into your truly desired form, but only if you work with us.”
“Grr.” The dragon turned Pomeranian growls once again, but this time it is more subdued in nature.
I can almost see the little gears working in its mind as it stares at me with evil intent, before letting out a defeated sigh.
“Arf.”
Perhaps if I connected to the guardian via Telepathy I would have gotten a better understanding of the beast’s current mindset.
Fortunately, that didn’t seem to matter, as I could tell by the beast’s body language that it agreed with the proposal. That and the sudden system message letting me know I had won the beast over to our side was a good thing.
Hidden Guild Quest Unlocked: Mastering the Cardinal Protectors: Your Guild, the Midnight Hunters, has begun the process of conquering the four key protectors of the great wastelands. You must protect your lands, while not fully destroying the Cardinal Protectors of the Wastelands. Incredibly you even managed to bring one of the Protectors back from the brink of death. Current status of protectors that have been subdued but are still living (3 / 4). Rewards: Experience, Guild Title, variable.
It was a very good thing, as I was fairly certain the former dragon still had the same strength and attributes as before, but now was in a much smaller size, meaning a small bite from this creature could easily rip a limb off.
Realizing I might not have thought this shoving an immensely powerful creature into a miniature hydraulic powered form that carefully, I do what I always do in these situations. Change the subject and try to find common ground to work with others.
“So, ready to go save your fellow Protector from suffering the same fate as you?” I ask.
Angry Growl.
“Very good, right this way then.” I say, then Teleport away before the dragon, or rather Pomeranian protector can do anything I might regret.