It seemed obvious that the ideal time for the Crimson Shadow to strike out at the sleeping Guild members would be when I was fully out of the picture. The message from Ren had been sent several minutes ago, probably just before my fight with the Minotaur.
The teleportation scroll was already in my right hand, without really thinking about it. Left hand brought up a health potion to my lips, but my eyes went over to the doorway that lead to the next floor. Part of me wanted to explore and find out if there was anything else malign hiding up here in this tower. The rest of me screamed to return to the others and help defend.
After a few moments of hesitation, it was another Chat message that swayed my eventual decision.
[Ruby: People are starting to wake up]
That was enough for me. I had removed both the STAR and magic restrictions on myself, as well as ended the sleeping curse on the Guild. I activated the scroll and vanished from the tower.
With the flash of blue light, I emerged into clear air. A fresh breeze cleared my lungs of the foul smoke from the burning machine as I took a deep breath. I was on the roof of the tavern.
“Motherfucker,” Ren said, shooting me a glare intense enough to almost make me fall to the ground. “Get back to killing.”
The fact that my Trauma status had vanished as soon as I had arrived beside her had been briefly distracting. I felt good. Slightly more alive, as my regeneration paired with a heal from the elf to patch up the wounds I had accumulated in my solo jaunt. Now, allowing the temporary elation to erase my exhaustion, I looked out to the woodlands to see who was attacking us.
From the looks of things, it was… originally two full regiments of some manner of Monster. To her credit, Ren had kept them from getting too close to the town. Several bodies lay strewn back through the forest, where trees had fallen from the battle. Now, those who remained were hiding behind pavise shields arranged like short walls.
“They’re using some kind of skill,” she continued, glaring daggers at the gathered troupe. “Even my best shots can’t pierce their shields.”
The scarred crater around the point where most of the trees had fallen was probably where she had used her explosive shot, but most of her others did direct damage. Without a clear bearing on the targets, they were both at an impasse. Crossbows and shortbows had been utilized in opposition, but they didn’t really have the range to fight back against her.
It was terrible, but I smiled. After having all of my skills and abilities taken away, I felt like a god once more with them returning to the grand stage. There was no need to flourish for this performance, however.
Those who stood against the Guild would fall.
I used
But as soon as they were in disarray, we had the advantage. While they broke rank to fight against me, it gave Ren openings to shoot. Her rifle echoed through the area as she blasted a head open, lightning then crackling from her target to the ones beside them, causing them to drop their shields. Several ran at me, hooked blades raised in the air.
I saw now that they looked like humanoid rats, with a distinctly roman flair. Perhaps not historically accurate, but it was close enough for my muddied mind. It didn’t matter at this point, they were all about to be dead.
In truth, I had expected worse. I could only assume that the intention was to catch us all asleep, and having Ren and I awake threw a spanner in their plans. The pair of slew through the majority of the ratmen, before the doors of the tavern burst open and the rest of the Guild—now hastily dressed back in their battle gear—yelled and poured forth towards the Monsters.
That was enough to cause them to rout. They didn’t make it far before the pair of us cut any remaining down. I turned my attention to the rather grumpy looking bear, but the appearance of a white dove beside me interrupted anything I was about to say.
Ren switched places with the bird, immediately grabbing me by the shredded and bloody suit. She pulled me in for a brief kiss before pushing me slightly away, glaring at me as if she was considering tearing my head off.
“I’m considering tearing your head off,” she began. “You almost died, didn’t you? Asshole.”
“Just a little trauma and a few cuts,” I lied brazenly. My eyes went into my STAR to dig out the logs from the fighting. Nothing good. “It was no sweat at all.”
“Well… you got it done, at least.” The elf glanced over to the side at the others. “I wish I could have been there, though.”
While the Guild picked through the Monsters for loot, I filled her in on everything that happened. It didn’t improve her mood any, but she deserved to know the full picture.
Eventually, once I was done talking and had started on my half-eaten sandwich again, she sighed and shook her head.
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“I can’t believe those kinds of curses could even exist, trickster. I thought we were overpowered and outside the scope of the System, but the Lady seems to have more tricks up her sleeve the closer we get.”
As much as I wanted to point out that I was the magician and thus had the most trick-laden sleeves around, I managed to hold my tongue. She had a point, anyway. No doubt the Lady in Red had picked up those with the greatest power along the way and kept them safest near her, rather than leaving them guarding one of the towns like the others we had slain along the way.
Even able to create Monsters now, her numbers were slowly dwindling.
I put my arm around her, partially to keep my exhausted legs from collapsing me to the ground. “You might not like this suggestion, but I think we should catch up on sleep in hell.”
She wrinkled up her nose and looked up at me, her bright blue eyes not filled with so much ire now. The promise of any kind of sleep was irresistible. “Fine, but we need to discuss this so that the group is still protected, even if it’s just for a few hours.”
Six of us needed sleep. Ren and I could do so in hell, and the time dilation meant we could get a full night in only a couple of hours in the real world. Wolf needed sleep too, but wouldn’t want to come with us. It would also put him in the position of being the strongest one out here, having to protect the others—even Tanya and Quinn needed rest.
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust the rest of the Guild to keep us safe, but I didn’t want to take unnecessary risks. We were at the stage where everything had to be all-out. No holding back, just in case we got left behind. Or dead.
There was one other option. I looked over as Tanya, Quinn, Fiona, and Leyla approached us. Ruby was in the background talking to Wolf.
“Ruby filled me in on what happened,” Fiona said, still looking a little groggy. She rubbed at her head as she glanced at the bodies of the ratmen. “I guess thank fuck you all didn’t fall asleep as well.”
Leyla nodded. “We would surely be dead, so thank you.”
I waved them away. It was just a necessary procedure, not done for thanks or accolades. Plus, nobody had been there to witness me. A fate almost worse than death. “Of course, I’m sure you all would have done the same in my position,” I said diplomatically. “Right now, we should leave this area. I have… a plan.”
The fighter rolled her eyes. “Is it to get sleep? We can’t siege a city when our best are exhausted.”
“Correct.” I brought up my Map. “We had planned to go to the dungeon for farming anyway, so why don’t we do that—and allow those who are tired to sleep inside it.”
They weren’t convinced at first, but could see my reasoning. Assuming we could clear the starting areas of the dungeon, nobody would be able to attack us from outside. Each Party would be safe in the little pocket dimension for as long as needed. We’d need to change things around so that those needing sleep could be protected, but it was better than leaving people out in the open world.
Under the weighty stares of myself and Ren, they eventually agreed to the plan. Without further ado, we left the town for the dungeon.
With the sunlight beating down on my tired body, the travel itself was arduous, but thankfully short.
We swapped Quinn and Tanya for Percius and Magnus. The pair would be able to watch over Wolf while the caster disenchanted the rest of my useless magical gear. Once we were rested, we’d return from hell and complete the dungeon with them.
Upon reaching the dungeon itself, it appeared to be some manner of old monastery or chapel. The door was a swirling vortex of color, indicating that it led to an instanced area. Not something that I had really questioned previously, but now, with my experience of traveling to hell, it made slightly more sense.
In our groups, we arranged ourselves before stepping in. I didn’t have the energy to give them much of a pep talk or speech before we went ahead, but they didn’t need it. Or at least I hoped they didn’t.
The first room once entering was the main chapel itself. Something modest and gloomy. A few stone pews, stained glass windows, and a staircase leading down into the floor where the stone statue at the front had been toppled. Green light emanated from the descent.
“Should be safe enough,” I determined, looking down the spiraled stairs with my nostrils flared. “I’ll block this doorway just in case, so you have enough time to call us if something happens.”
Wolf huffed and looked up at me. “I’m sure I can handle a few monsters, brother.”
“Be that as it may, you call us and we’ll be here.” I smiled and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “I’m going to eject every item I need disenchanting onto the floor, and then we’ll be off.”
Percius gave me a pensive nod. I could see why he had kept his skill secret for a while. Unfortunately, it was the easiest and best source of power for me before we set forward towards the city.
Ren sighed and sat down on one of the pews, knowing that this wasn’t going to be a quick thing. In fairness, had I the normal aptitude for Inventory management like others, it would take forever. My eyes skimmed through the boxes, barely registering the actual inputs normally required—the items just popping out into reality with a thought.
There were many of them. I had to keep walking about the chapel to find new areas to pile up all the trash items I had accumulated. While I had long thought that any item could be useful eventually, in truth, I often used the same handful of things. The usefulness of all the random shoes, swords, and hats was now in becoming shards to make Power Tokens.
So I had been right all along.
While the caster looked terribly overwhelmed, I traded him some gold and mana potions.
My hand went out and the doorway to hell bloomed into existence. Ren and I stepped through with barely a goodbye, the prospect of rest more important than social graces.
Back into the warmth and familiar throne room. I wondered if I could go other places rather than here every time. Over the right, my patron demon was hovering over the meeting table where the current council had been in mid-argument.
The sword hovered over, as the demons paused, frozen in place as if they were scared I might execute them just for doing their job a little too loudly. An amusing thought, but not the right way to run a kingdom.
“Bedroom?” I blurted out before my patron could engage with the normal formalities.
In perhaps sensing my urgency, he just turned in the air, pointing off to the side with the tip of his blade.
We left, allowing the council to continue their—probably short-lived—meeting about something or other. I should probably learn how to govern properly, eventually. A side door opened up into a rather impressive chamber, a wide four-poster bed on one side, all the furniture within an odd black wood. All accents red and gold. Somewhat cliche, and I was almost disappointed at the lack of skulls.
Not the safest place in existence, but for us now… this was home.
My exhausted brain barely registered laying on the bed, any thoughts completely evaporating as soon as I hit the soft pillow.
Perhaps the last sleep I’d ever have. I had earned it.