Echoes of angry mumbling bounced around ravine walls like a rabid bouncy ball. The source? A beautiful young woman with a keen edge on her dancing twin swords.
“Idiot! I swear when I lay my hands on him….”
Adrianne felt like she wasn’t the type of person to curse, but there was just something special about Novus that infuriated her. Maybe it was the way he had left her for dead in a slimy cave.
“I can’t believe he left me there! At first, I was concerned. But now? Urgh! A plan, huh? I’ve got a plan too. It involves my sword and your ass!”
Adrianne’s piercing motions towards the snakes grew faster as she vented aloud. On the inside, she was also venting her feelings.
Did he want to get away from me that much? Was it something I did? I know that last battle wasn't my best, but...
Adrianne shook her head clear and resumed her trek down the snake ravine. Unfortunately, she didn’t have Novus’ crimson wings to fly her out. So, she was left backtracking down to where the ravine met the island's shoreline and then back towards the town.
The stones crunched beneath Adrianne's feet, and snakes hissed as she passed through the ravine a step, and a swing, at a time.
Luckily, or perhaps, fatefully, one part of the ravine weakened as a bed of snakes collapsed that section of the dirt wall. Adrianne may have been concerned if it was the version of her before the Slime Colossus battle. Now, Adrianne seemed numb as her mind reacted without fear, and she subconsciously pictured Novus’ crimson-winged back. The thought filled her with both strength and rage as she dashed towards the nearby water with agile footwork.
You have become envenomed and will continue to gradually lose health.
Adrianne paid no attention to the snakes that bared their fangs at her. She had antidote herbs for that. Instead, she rushed past just in time as the stones, dirt and sand all came crashing down where she previously stood. In her mind, being a little envenomed was better than being buried.
Splash!
Adrianne slashed at a few snakes that were injured and buried beneath the mini landslide and slipped a herb into her mouth to replenish the health she was losing.
“This sucks.”
Slightly annoyed, Adrianne looked for a way past the sizeable sandy obstacle with her Spirit Eyes. Of course, she could cross the ravine waters, but that would leave her nearly defenceless against the snakes that were no doubt swimming inside it.
Mmm…
“Ah for… wait. Huh?”
Adrianne’s glowing irises caught a trace of mana seeping out from underneath the dismounted ravine dirt. But that was strange. What could be inside it?
Mmmmm…
The voice seemed like it was from the source of the mana, and Adrianne reluctantly began to dig at the dirt with nothing but her Endurance substat helping her.
“Oh my goodness. That reeks.”
Adrianne had to look away for a moment as a waft of rotting vegetables and spoiled dairy came at her at once. It stung her eyes, and she gagged before getting it under control again and digging. All thought that this was some valuable herb left her as she found the source of the stench and unearthed a dark greenish-brown layer of filth.
“What is this? Oh, it's an arm. When was the last time this guy bathed?”
The only thing keeping Adrianne going was the sunk cost fallacy of needing to finish what she started. And honestly, even that was beginning to wane.
“Is this hair?”
Mmmm!
Suddenly, a head popped out from the dirt.
“EEK!”
Puchi!
----------------------------------------
Of all things, why would they have rope? And why is it tied so well?
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
??? laughs at your situation.
Novus struggled to get himself untied from one of the few unscathed chairs around the house. But, it seemed that Circe was oddly well-versed in rope tying. Unable to move, Novus was forced to brush up on his lip-reading skills as his fate was decided in another room.
“Hey, could you loosen these ropes? They’re a bit too tight.”
Novus’ words fell on deaf ears as Edna cast a minor sealing spell on the room and closed the only door with a wave of her hand. So much for lip-reading.
Rid of the distraction, Circe continued the group's conversation by summarizing their situation.
“So basically, he’s a suspiciously knowledgeable, potentially dangerous immortal with origins and goals that we can't figure out unless he tells us since he's got protection from something.”
Goibhniu corrected his wife.
“Definitely dangerous.”
Edna added to the correction.
“And we have methods, just no good ones on this island. If I had my ego-altering chamber, I’d—”
“You finally built one?”
“Yeah, it was costly, though. Had to call in a few favours from the merchant guilds.”
Circe nodded her head approvingly as Goibhniu felt shivers run along his arms from the idea.
Aren’t those chambers outlawed?
Edna continued to try and come up with new solutions.
“Why don’t I just keep killing him until he relents? He may have a weak resolve, and it’s much less risky than poking around his mind and disturbing whatever was lurking inside.”
Goibhniu nodded his head, but Circe hesitated and spoke.
"What if he breaks and that odd power blossoms again? It was only for a second, but that's more than enough to tempt fate."
Edna unconsciously rubbed her arms as she remembered the azure eyes. Then, she nodded her head.
"You're right."
Edna clenched her eyes in thought, thinking of other methods people had used against her in the past.
"Oh! Do you remember Jofer and the one-eyed deer?"
"The guy I had to poison my way out of kidnapping me?"
"Yeah!"
Circe looked strangely at Edna.
"I don't think I told you that story."
"That's because he went after you because of me! Don't worry; he wouldn't have hurt you. His soul was already seeded to prevent something like that."
Circe's face started to turn, and Goibhniu jumped in to save the situation.
"Edna, what has this got to do with him?"
Edna seemed a bit confident but then quickly frowned.
"Well, I was thinking of kidnapping his family as hostages, but now that I think of it, The Divine are likely the ones that created these immortals. So it won't work."
Circe and Goibhniu agreed, and Goibhniu added his own method to see what the two thought.
“You think he’d respond better to more monetary benefits? He'd be like one of those information brokers.”
Circe and Edna both looked at Goibhniu in shock. Then, they both thought a little and laughed. Meanwhile, Goibhniu questioned the response.
“What? What was wrong with what I said?”
“If he were that easy to manipulate, he wouldn’t have threatened us to relent. Plus, with his ability to learn what he knows, I’m sure he could find a better way of profiteering off it than with us.”
However, the group's thoughts were veering closer to Novus's intentions. Coincidentally, Novus’ voice sailed through the doorway.
“I just want benefits!”
The trio, particularly Edna, looked to the room that was supposed to be sealed tight with her spell.
Pop!
The doorknob wiggled and fell off as Novus squeezed his hand through the now-empty hole. The hand opened and revealed a blackened slime core that looked quickly cleaned, likely with whatever was lying around the sealed room. Circe was the first in motion as she snatched the slime core and inspected it.
“A little damaged, but altogether useable. I’ll have to adjust the quantity if I want to remove the burned layer. But if I add some….”
“You brat! What did you do to my spell!?”
Edna swung the door open and found Novus looking at her like a deer before car headlights. Putting on one of his façades, Novus smiled and looked at the ground.
“The spell? Oh, I just tinkered with the mana loop a bit. A little skim off the edges and alter the route a tad, and the spell itself does the dirty—”
Thud!
Crash!
Edna threw Novus into the chair with draped rope on it as Circe ran in front, half-shielding Novus from Edna's follow-up attempts. In Circe's eyes, a delighted glimmer of anticipation was brimming.
“Do you have any more?”
Hearing this, Edna shrieked behind her.
“Don’t be tempted by his benefits!”
However, the bright shine in Circe’s eyes betrayed her sister’s warnings as a neat pile of slime cores gathered around Circe. Novus had gained a lot of slime cores, both from the path to the open crystal area and from the Slime Colossus itself.
Circe’s eyes visibly trembled at the sheer amount that was present. Her restrained aura was enough to scare away every slime when she went to the cave before, and she didn’t think there were this many there. Seeing Circe's emotional appearance to the near hundred slime cores, Novus decided to put the figurative 'cherry on top' of his bribe.
“Ah. Can’t forget about this one!”
“Stay strong! No benefits!”
Edna reached in to prevent Novus' trickery, but Circe’s hand was faster as she snatched the benefit first. Circe hurried away a bit and then slowly opened her hand. In Circe’s widened eyes was a reflection of an unharmed Slime Colossus core.
“WE’RE KEEPING HIM!”