Chapter 51: Tail End of Calamity?

The first thing Crimson did after sitting down in the wagon was scroll back through the logs in his [Blessing] to see what other changes had occurred after the fight with Mulgis. He’d completely skipped over them in his excitement over [Darkvision].

—————

-[Skill] Level Up!

-[Aura of Will] 1/10 —> 2/10

-[Ul Byrn] 4/10 —> 5/10

-[Advanced Sword Mastery] 9/100 —> 11/100

-[Ru Mikiri] 1/10 —> 7/10

-[Adaptive Footwork] 2/10 —> 3/10

-[Defense Pierce] 4/10 —> 6/10

-[Darkvision] new!

-An extreme effort was exerted! Additional stats awarded.

-Achieved a type of Adverse Victory! Increased awarded amount.

-Achieved an Outlasting Adverse Victory! Increase CON reward.

-2 STR, 2 AGI, 4 CON, 2 VIT, 1 WIL, 5 PER

-Displaying Status.

-Name: Crimson

-Race: Half (High Human, ???) -Age: 16

-Affiliation: [Adventurer’s Guild: Brass]

-Active Title: [Lucky] [Sword of the Forgotten Path] [Blessings of Trans'Du'Niir] [Rean] [Madit]

-Titles: Lucky, Linguist, Master, Holy Envoy, Unparalleled, Sword of the Forgotten Path

-Health (HP): 1100/1100 Regen/s: 3.6

-Magic (MP): 500/500 Regen/s: 5.5

-Condition: Tired

-Class: [Sword Savant] 5/25

-Sub-Class: [Locked]

-Sub-Class: [Locked]

-Stats:

-Strength (STR): 39 Agility (AGI): 40

-Constitution (CON): 33 Vitality (VIT): 36

-Intelligence (INT): 50 Wisdom (WIS): 55

-Charisma (CHA): 7 Willpower (WIL): 36

-Perception (PER): 59 Luck (LUC): 90

—————

That was no small amount of stats to get from a single boss fight. He’d need to go back for a round 2. Maybe if he maintained the level difference, he could get a bunch of extra stats from grinding the boss?

Next to him, Verity snored, head on her knees as she napped during the ride back. They’d napped for at least three hours considering the amount of daylight left, it was amusing that she could already sleep. Crimson felt like he’d already had most of a night’s sleep.

It was early evening, the spring sun was still up, but would be down soon enough, and there was a nice cooling breeze brushing across Crimson’s face as he surveyed the hilly terrain that passed by.

The creature pulling the cart was a monster, so they were moving at quite a quick pace, probably about 20 or 30 miles per hour, and the only reason they weren’t bouncing enough to vibrate the teeth out of his skull came down to how well maintained the road was. Completely smooth, it was a blessing Crimson was grateful for.

At this pace, it didn’t take too long to reach Falst, but there was a problem. Crimson had to do a double take, then tapped Verity’s back rapidly to wake her up to get a second pair of eyes on the city. Maybe there was something wrong with his eyes?

Groggily, she said, “Wha- what is it? You better have a gods cursed good reason, or I’m going to beat the tar out of you.”

“Just wake up, do you see a cloud of smoke rising from Falst?”

Verity turned and looked at the sight he was seeing, seeming stunned as well.

Falst was shaped like a crown, a circular base portion forming the walls, the massive arches that reached up to support the castle that hung over the city, and the castle itself added to the crown-like appearance. Normally, aside from the massive crystals hanging from the underside of the arches, there was nothing in the air between the city and the castle, but today, there was a cloud of smoke hanging between the city and the castle. Portions of the smoke were red from unseen flames.

The breeze that Crimson had enjoyed was too light to disperse the smoke, so the smoke was amassing in a dangerous way, surrounding the castle as it slowly ascended.

It wasn’t like there’d never been a fire in Falst, half the buildings were made of wood after all, but there were more than enough people who knew water magic to make it a non-issue. Any fires that appeared were quickly dealt with before they spread.

For there to be this much smoke, there had to be several massive fires in the city.

The wagon came to a stop, it cresting a hill had been what allowed Crimson to see the smoke, and it seemed the driver wasn’t going to continue, so he grabbed Verity by the arm and they jumped off the wagon and began running to the city.

Crimson knew some water magic, so there might be a bit he could do! Even if it was only a single person, a single room, he wanted to do something to help!

He ended up leaving Verity in the dust, and forced himself to slow. It was of the utmost importance that they remained together. There was a good chance that this much fire was caused by arson. If they were forced to fight, then they needed to be in a position to have each other’s back. The real world wasn’t as kind as the dungeon, death would be permanent.

It didn’t take long for them to run the distance to Falst. The gate was unmanned, and the reason why was obvious when they passed through the gate, but stopped before entering the city proper. Guards were gently trying to corral a pack of completely silent citizens, holding torches or fire balls. The second they saw something flammable, they would subject it to the blaze, spreading the fire further.

This group of people appeared to be under Lv.10, based on how they were moving, which meant that the guards with an average level of 24 would have to be very careful not to hurt them too much. While the gods might not punish them for behaving violently against weaker people in a situation like this, the instinct to hold back was so ingrained that Crimson could understand why they weren’t taking more decisive actions against the group.

Occasionally a member of the mob would get separated from the others, and a few guards would descend on them to bind them, either with rope or magic, and drag them away thrashing to get away.

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As he watched, he noticed another unusual phenomenon. Some members of the group would randomly drop to the ground, and begin weeping or stare around themselves in shock and horror. It seemed they were being controlled.

Crimson no longer had [Eyes of Will] equipped, so he couldn’t see their will to see if they were afflicted by the same mania he’d come across earlier that day, but their behavior was similar, being dead silent with wide eyes and taking violent actions.

That said, the situation seemed a bit under control. There weren’t many guards, but they were very effective at keeping the mob as a relatively contained group. The burnable stuff nearby had been doused in water - some of it was singed from an attempt - and the size of the mob was slowly decreasing every few seconds.

As Crimson inspected the sight, he stepped out of the archway, into the city proper, and was immediately hit with a pressure on the back of his skull. It wasn’t a physical pressure, but a mental one. It wormed its way into his [Mana], and he could feel it tearing at his sanity, trying to incite feelings of frustration and anxiety, but unfortunately for whatever this magic was, his body was his absolute territory. He was at his most powerful with his [Mana] while it was in his flesh, so with a focused effort, he shoved the influence out of his [Mana], causing the pressure on his head to vanish.

Next to him, Verity was clutching her head, groaning. After a moment, she fell silent and her eyes began to stretch wide. Recognizing the signs, Crimson immediately tackled her, and while using a grab to hold her in place, he stretched his [Mana] into her body, finding every pocket of the influence he could, and shattering them.

It was much harder to do in Verity’s body than his own, her [Mana] fought him and the influence, so it was a three way battle between them. Crimson knew what he was doing though, and after a few minutes of wrestling with her, he managed to extricate the last of the influence from her [Mana], causing her to fall back panting, sweat slicking her forehead.

“You good now?” He asked, trying to slow his breathing.

She nodded, so he continued, “It seems like whatever is going on is only affecting people with a low level or low WIL. None of the guards seem to be having any issues, and the only ones I’m seeing riot are low leveled.”

“What could have caused it?” She asked.

He was about to respond, but felt another wave of influence strike them. He beat it back again - it was easier this time - and turned to Verity, intending to pin her again, but after she shook her head a few times, she beat back the influence on her own.

He grimaced, and she grimaced right back at him. It seemed that the origin of the influence was near the center of Falst, based on the direction of the wave he’d felt.

“Let’s head to the city center. Whatever is causing this needs to be stopped.” He said.

Verity raised an eyebrow at him, “What do you expect we can do if this is only targeting low leveled people? We’re the targets here.”

“Find the source, then find someone strong enough to deal with it.”

“I guess that’s the best thing we can do in this situation.”

They bumped fists, then headed into an alley way to avoid the mob. They wove through the streets, avoiding groups of guards and some regular - higher leveled - citizens capturing the rioting mobs.

Most of the fires were contained, but Crimson used some water to put out a small one that went unnoticed as they passed a particularly violent mob. He was running a bit low on [Mana], and his [Tired] condition meant that his recovery was slowed a fair bit, it was maybe a little less than half of normal?

The real problem was that even the amount he recovered was used up immediately to fight off the waves of influence. It took Verity over five seconds to shake it off with just her WIL, and it would probably take him a few seconds with his WIL alone, but they couldn’t afford to be frozen for a few seconds, so he used his [Mana] to throw it out, escaping every attempt to control him near instantly.

The influence didn’t attack in a consistent pattern, they once got five minutes to themselves, and another time they barely recovered in time to be hit by another wave of it.

It normally took 20-30 minutes - traffic dependent - to reach the center of Falst. This area was the most under control, with members of the Temple using [Barriers] to create prisons to hold the mobs. There was even a small triage where rioters were being healed of the mania one by one.

It wasn’t fast enough.

Crimson surveyed the area, waiting for the next wave of influence to get an idea where to head next. It took a few minutes, but eventually he was hit hard from in front of him. It seemed he was close.

He began to work his way forward, shoving his way through crowds and dodging around mobs. He had to shout more than a couple of times that he was sane to keep from being captured, and the fact that he could speak was taken as proof that he wasn’t infected.

They reached the fountain at the center, and he stopped to wait for another wave. It didn’t take long this time, just a few seconds and he got hit by the strongest wave yet. It took Verity 10 seconds to recover, and he burned through 5% of his [Mana] to get rid of it.

It was…in the fountain?

A frown turned to fury as Crimson remembered the fact that one of the entrances to the secret passages was in the center of the fountain.

He stepped into the fountain and sloshed his way to the center. A few people called his name, but he ignored them. Typically, he’d use his [Mana] to keep the water off himself, but between wet socks and mind control, he’d take the wet socks.

He shoved his way through a curtain of water to enter the central chamber, and his socks weren’t the only thing wet anymore.

Drenched from head to toe, he surveyed the chamber, and was frustrated to make eye contact with Damus of all people.

The corrupt [Priest] was leaning up against the wall, legs draped into the open trap door that led to the secret passages, his eyes wide with the same mania that afflicted Falst, and cradling a menorah that had twisting wisps of black smoke trailing off it, but there were no candles.

Crimson reached out with his [Mana] instinctively, and after touching it, was certain that it was the source of the problem. Whatever it was, the [Mana] inside was screwed up with the [Corruption Affinity] in a way he’d never seen anywhere else. He could feel it eating away at his [Mana] as he prodded at it, and was forced to sever his connection to that [Mana] when the corruption began to creep along it.

Damus was much stronger than he was, there was no way he could resolve the situation on his own, so like he’d told Verity, he backed off to find someone who could resolve the problem. Damus’ empty eyes boring into the back of his skull as he left.

Sloshing his way back through the fountain, he stepped onto bricks that became drenched by the water running off him, and shook himself to get even more water off.

Verity backed away with a small cry as she got hit by some of the water droplets.

She immediately returned when he stopped shaking and asked, “Nothing?”

“No, Damus. He seems to have found a [Relic] of some kind that’s causing this mess. I determined that it would be best to find someone who can suppress him.”

“Damus? He’s the cause of all this?” Questioned a voice that approached.

Turning, Crimson saw Rei running over, not far away, a small group of [Priests] following after her.

Crimson thumbed at the fountain and said, “He’s under the center piece, holding a menorah that seems to be the cause of this problem. We’ll need someone specialized in [Purity] to deal with it, I’ve never seen that much [Corruption affinity] in one place.”

Rei glared with her one eye, her lion ears twitching, tail lashing, teeth gritted. She didn’t hesitate, and stepped into the fountain, stalking to the center. After a moment, she walked out, dragging Damus by his collar. He was still cradling the menorah - it seemed like she hadn’t tried to take it from him. Likely a good idea.

She chucked the soaking wet Damus onto the bricks near Crimson, and he kept a death grip on the menorah.

Staring at him for a long moment, Rei eventually stepped out of the fountain and dragged her husband away, toward the temple. Crimson glanced at Verity, and she shrugged back at him.

Unsure as to whether they should follow, they eventually settled outside the temple entrance. Close enough to be grabbed quickly, far enough to not be under foot.

Once Damus was in the temple, Crimson stopped feeling the waves of influence. It seemed like there was something about it that acted as a barrier, so Rei had made a good move to prevent the damage from spreading.

Without the additional waves of influence, the mania cleared up quickly, and within 15 minutes nearly everyone was sane once more.

Was this the disaster the God of War had warned about?

Troubled, Crimson looked around the central plaza once more. Injured people, half burned buildings, and nary a person who wasn’t exhausted enough to drop.

As the last of the fires were put out, Falst became dark, the sun long set. He spotted [Magic Lights] appearing over different crowds, letting the clean up continue.

—————

Crimson and Verity ended up assisting where they could in the recovery efforts. Moving people, healing them, passing out water, and just doing what they could. They did stay within shouting distance of the temple which limited their actions to an extent, but just sitting around had started to feel awkward quickly.

They came across a few familiar faces as they worked, including Rhea - who Crimson dragged off to the side to perform maintenance on her [Mana] -, Fade, Mortimer, and Talis of all people. The latter three all received only tired nods of recognition from Crimson, and they all continued their work without stopping to chat. It was surprising to see Talis here, but it shouldn’t have been. The last he’d seen of the greed filled kid, he’d been leaving Lupaken for Falst to attend the tournament. The other familiar faces he’d seen were all important people who entered the Temple. The guild master Lars and the king with his entourage.

It wasn’t until morning that Rei stumbled out the Temple, clutching her head and appearing mad enough to spit fire. Crimson happened to glance up at her right as she spotted him and waved him over. He pointed at Verity - who was working nearby - and tilted his head in a silent question. She considered it for a second, then nodded, so Crimson tapped on Verity’s back to get her attention and pointed at Rei.

They both stepped away from the cart that they’d been passing out blankets from, and the placed they’d been was immediately filled by others.

It was nice to see people band together in the face of a disaster like this.

After working their way through the crowd to Rei, she spoke to them, “Come inside, we need to talk about what happened.”

He nodded, and they all went inside. He braced himself as he entered the temple, expecting to be hit with a wave of influence, but there was nothing.