Book 3. Chapter 13.
“The smell of death.” Part 3
Blood gushed from the wound on her side without her being able to contain it while Tsuki’s body lay beside her, immobile. A cut ran across the fenrir’s torso from two fingers below his neck to the beginning of his hind leg. Blue blood gushed from the wound and even more blood lay on the ground.
“Tsuki?” sobbed Kalysto. Her voice trembled and her heart quivered at the precarious state of her pet, which did not respond to her call and immediately the saintess turned her face around, disfigured by anger. “Fireball! Ice spear! Ice stakes! Rain of ice stakes!” She conjured quickly as she pulled out a one liter bottle of holy water from her inventory that she had left uncapped and took three long gulps as she placed her left hand near her wound. “Regeneration!” She conjured, casting the spell with her left hand as the itch of the holy water concentrated on her stomach wound, and poured the rest of the holy water on Tsuki’s wounded paw.
“It’s going to be unpleasant but hang in there, Tsuki!” Although the wounded paw was shallower than the one on his torso, she poured the holy water on it, suspecting that it would leave an ugly scar on her pet and as soon as she finished, she put the empty bottle aside and put her right hand on the wound on Tsuki’s torso. “Regeneration! Jhil!” Then she continued to recite them mentally while opening her mouth as several tentacles of dark mana began to sprout from the eye. “Fire blast!” A flame of fire came out of her mouth and covered the eye completely. The creature’s shriek echoed all over the floor, making Kalysto’s ears hurt and Tsuki emitted a pitiful moan.
Mana control! Mana manipulation! Regeneration! Jhil! She thought, as she healed him and continued to regenerate the wound on her stomach while directing large amounts of mana into both hands and her mouth to keep all three spells active at the same time while making them as potent as she could, even though it greatly increased the mana consumption.
[Warning! User has lost 10% HP.]
Do you really think this is a good time for that? She complained, still healing them both while continuing to spew fire from her mouth.
[Warning! User has less than 10 MP left. Please wait a few minutes before attempting to use any skills again or your health will be severely affected.]
Really? She growled as she pulled a mana crystal from her inventory and looked at the scorched eye turned into a black mass still floating above the dungeon core. Absorb!
[Does the user wish to absorb this mana crystal?]
[YES/NO]
Yes! she thought as she looked at the enemy and then at Tsuki, who was slowly recovering.
[Congratulations! The user has acquired 1500 MP!]
“Regeneration! Jhil!” She continued to conjure and with relief watched as her own wound finished closing as well as Tsuki’s, whose blue eyes were fixed on her.
“Master?” He murmured in her mind, and Kalysto smiled at him tenderly while her eyes blurred with tears.
“Yes, it’s me," she replied.
“Master, when I finally got inside they were talking about a plan, and he handed something to her, but it disappeared in an instant and I didn’t get to see what it was," the fenrir groaned. “I’m sorry.”
“That doesn’t matter right now," she answered in a whisper. “Just don’t get in their way again,” she replied, turning her attention back to the eye in which several black tentacles began to envelop it. “Is it trying to regenerate? Dispel Ezhil! Ezhil Purification! Lightning!” She attacked immediately, preventing him from doing so.
Then she lunged at him, pulling her axe out of her inventory and burying it in the middle of the eye, but he was much tougher than he looked and she could only bury a little less than half of her axe.
“Ezhil Purification! Dispel Ezhil! Ezhil Purification!” She added, seeing how most of the black mana tentacles began to disperse, but not all of them.
So she stood on top of the altar, being careful not to touch the core, and dropped her axe to lay her palms on the nasty creature.
“Absorb!”
[Does the user wish to absorb this target’s stats or skills?]
Everything!
[Congratulations! The user has acquired 1500 MP!]
[Congratulations! The user has acquired 230 stamina points!]
[Congratulations! The user has acquired 200 strength points!]
[Congratulations, the user has acquired 150 points of agility]!
[Congratulations, the user has acquired 1500 HP!]
[Congratulations! The user has acquired the skill ‘Fire Creation’. Level 10! Class: Divine!]]
[Warning! The level of the skill ‘Absorb’ is too low to acquire the actual level of this skill!]
[Congratulations! The user has acquired the skill ‘Fire Manipulation’. Level 10! Class: Divine]
[Warning! The level of the skill ‘Absorb’ is too low to acquire the real level of this skill!]
[Congratulations! The user has acquired the skill ‘Black Fire Creation’. Level 10! Class: Divine]
[Warning! The level of the skill ‘Absorb’ is too low to acquire the actual level of this skill!]
[Congratulations! The user has acquired the skill ‘Black Fire Manipulation’. Level 20! Class: Divine]
[Warning! The level of the skill ‘Absorb’ is too low to acquire the actual level of this skill!]
[Congratulations! The user has acquired the skill ‘Dark Mana Manipulation’. Level 20! Class: Divine!]
[Warning! The user already possesses this skill, but the class of the absorbed skill is of a higher level and will overwrite the previous one!]
As soon as the last notification came out, a wave of dark energy shot out from the eye, throwing her against the wall at the same time as a swirl of black mana enveloped the eye and causing it to disappear amidst a swirl of shadows.
Only Kalysto’s heavy breathing echoed throughout the room as poor Tsuki lay on the floor, completely exhausted after all he had experienced.
“Master?”
“Give me a few minutes and I’ll put you in the inventory," she muttered as she stood up and grimaced at the pain in her back.
[The passive skill Pain Resistance has been activated.]
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“Is Master angry with me?”
“I’m not punishing you, Tsuki. I just need to get you safe before I leave here," she replied as she approached him and took out a bottle of revitalizing potion from her inventory. “Drink this. It will help you regain your strength," she commented as she cupped her left hand and poured the potion with her right so he could drink it.
“Thank you, Master," he commented as soon as he finished drinking, getting up from the floor and starting to walk towards the altar. “What do you think the eye gave to the sealed woman?”
“Whatever it is, it is surely in her inventory. So we have no way of knowing," she replied, feeling relieved that it wasn’t Persephone who attacked him. Immediately, she was angry with herself for thinking that.
Whoever it was, they shouldn’t have touched him! She thought angrily, frowning as she approached the altar, standing next to Tsuki and running a hand over his head, stroking his fur. I’ll make you pay for this!... No matter how long it takes me, I’ll find you and we’ll settle the score! Enemy of my boss or not, you just made it personal!
“Are you all right?” she asked him, crouching down beside him to check his wounds once more. Apart from the blood that stained his fur despite having used ‘Ezhil Purification’ several times and the scar left on his hind leg, where she poured holy water, everything seemed fine.
“Yes, master," replied the fenrir, turning his head to be petted by his mistress on his shins instead of his back. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
“We are a team," she added after scratching him a little under his jaw, making Tsuki’s tail wag from side to side, excited by the attention he was receiving. "Now, let’s get out of here," she commented before getting up, standing in front of the altar and taking the core of the tower. “Absorb!”
[Does the user wish to absorb this core?]
[YES/NO]
Yes!
[Congratulations! The user has acquired the skill ‘Shadow Creation’. Level 1]
[Congratulations, the user has acquired the skill ‘Shadow Manipulation’. Level 1!]
The core turned to ashes as soon as she absorbed it, and a blue portal appeared behind the altar.
“Well, at least the rewards were worth it," she said with a half-smile and they both walked to the portal, but before they reached it, the walls of the tower began to shake and fall apart. “Run!” She ordered, and they both ran for the exit. Appearing half a block away from where the tower was, and in the middle of a military control station.
“Intruders!” shouted a soldier alerting the rest of the group, who stood up and rushed to draw their weapons, pointing them at them.
Shit! She thought, immediately crouching down while she put Tsuki inside her violet inventory. Stealth!
Kalysto escaped from the military post and as soon as she had the chance, she jumped further away from there as the tower collapsed. The fairy champion was about to go to the meeting place with Sakura when an idea crossed her mind, and a smile appeared on her face.
Two hours and twenty minutes later, Kalysto had conquered the two dungeons that were under the control of the army and in which only authorized personnel or hunters registered in the hunters association were allowed to enter.
“Here are your keys," muttered Kalysto, deactivating the stealth skills and making herself suddenly visible as she sat across from Sakura at one of the cafeteria tables where her friend had said she would be waiting for her, and placed the key in question on the table. Next to a half-eaten slice of chocolate cake.
“Shit! Don’t ever scare me like that again, Kalysto! Where the hell did you come from?” She growled, holding a hand to her heart as she stopped watching the news on the big screen at the back of the room. The rest of the people in the room were too busy paying attention to the breaking news to pay attention to them. A reporter appeared on the screen and the image changed to a video showing the tower from afar as it collapsed and then showed two videos of the two places where the entrances to two dungeons had been before, reporting that no one knew what had happened and comparing the strange phenomenon to the conquest of the tower in London a few days before.
After punching Kalysto in the arm, who didn’t even flinch from the blow, Sakura approached her friend while caressing the sore hand with which she had hit her.
“You caused that, didn’t you?” she whispered. And Kalysto nodded her head as she took out a health potion and drank it. “Did everything go well with Natasha’s mom?”
“Yes, but she only made it to level seven.”
“I’ve been researching on the internet, and the few who have acquired a system have said that it’s not that easy to level up. Many die long before reaching level five.”
“If you do it alone, it’s a little more difficult, but with the right tools it’s possible as long as you don’t face enemies stronger than you," she answered before pointing to a croissant that was on the table. “Can I eat it?”
“Yes, I ordered it for you. I didn’t know how long you were going to take and I ended up eating Tsuki’s. Although I didn’t think I would give you for cleaning the city,” she whispered, pointing to the TV with the spoon she was eating the chocolate cake with. “By the way, Katia’s dad showed up. He’s in Washington. The only flight he could find gets to Boston in two hours.”
“That means while he gets a bus here, it’ll be at least another hour and a half. But I’m glad he’s alive. Katia must be happy for the reunion.” After ordering take-out, they met up with Natasha and Katia, who were a couple of blocks away.
Half an hour later, the five of them climbed the stairs to the third floor where they now lived while Natasha took the keys out of her inventory and gave them to her mother to open the door.
“I couldn’t get all your things back after half the building was destroyed, but I managed to save a few and put them in a box,” despite Natasha’s mother’s kind words, the fact that there was only one box left with all her belongings saddened Kalysto.
She was about to comment when the gasps from the rest of the group sounded in unison as Mrs. Tanner opened the door wide and there in front of her, right in the middle of the room was Natasha’s older brother with his pants down and a blonde, shirtless girl kneeling in front of him.
“Kalysto? Are you alive?” Jake asked as he covered his intimate parts with a sofa cushion, surprised to see the group of women at the entrance of the house. “Mom?”
“Jake Tanner! What the hell do you think you’re doing in my house, young man? Is this what you’ve been doing while I was in the hospital?” The older woman shouted as she slapped her only male child a couple of times while he hurriedly pulled up his pants.
“Is that my shirt?” Kalysto complained as she immediately recognized the shirt that the unknown blonde had just picked up from the floor and started to put on.
“Are you stealing her clothes again? How many times do I have to tell you not to do it?” Natasha got angry and immediately took the shirt off the young woman and threw it at Kalysto. “I warned you that I would throw you out on the street if you did it again!” She shouted while she pushed her towards the exit door where Sakura covered Katia’s eyes so she wouldn’t see anything.
“But I don’t have anything else to wear, besides I have nowhere to go!” said the young girl.
Kalysto burned the shirt immediately, feeling bad about getting rid of a gift from Alice, but the thought of who knows what else those two were doing while she was wearing her shirt upset her stomach.
After Mrs. Tanner kicked out the young woman, who apparently had been staying without permission in her house for more than a week, she handed Kalysto two boxes of her things. Then Sakura, Katia and Kalysto, uncomfortable with the tense family situation after that show, went to wait for the little archer’s father at the bus terminal.
Almost an hour after they arrived, Mr. Smith had not arrived, so bored with the wait, Kalysto began to close the notifications she still had open.
[Congratulations, the user has acquired the skill ‘Sphere of Light’. Level 1!]
[Congratulations, the user has acquired the skill ‘Light Creation’. Level 1!]
Kalysto grimaced as she closed the windows, and just then Katia shouted. Drawing the attention of the other two women as they saw her jump out of her seat and run out to embrace the tall, muscular blond who gathered her in his arms.
“Daddy!” Kalysto’s heart warmed at the touching scene as Katia’s dad hugged her and kissed the blonde’s forehead, tears of joy in his eyes.
“My little girl! My princess! Thank God you’re all right! You don’t know how worried I was!” sobbed the man as he hugged her tightly.
And although she didn’t want to, Kalysto couldn’t stop her heart from shrinking with envy at the memory of her missing father, who, like this man, had always been attentive and very affectionate with her.
“Thank you! Truly, thank you for returning my child to me safe and sound!” He thanked them.
“I only helped to bring them here," Sakura assured him.
“With pleasure,” answered Kalysto. After talking some more and refusing to receive an economic reward for helping Katia, they said goodbye to the girl, and while Kalysto said goodbye to Mr. Smith, he whispered: “It would be a good idea for her to have psychological help to overcome everything that happened during the kidnapping,” her voice trembled at the end of the sentence, which alerted Mr. Smith.
“What are you not telling me? What happened to my little girl?” he worried.
“I’m sorry,” Kalysto’s eyes filled with tears. “I... I didn’t get there in time to rescue her... the second time and he..." She closed her eyes as she saw the pallor and terror on Mr. Smith’s face, who seemed to understand what she couldn’t say.
“What did that bastard do to my daughter?” He asked in a broken voice.
“...I’m sorry...” apologized Kalysto with tears in her eyes. “He’s dead now, but... I didn’t get there in time... I’m so sorry…" she sobbed and Mr. Smith covered his eyes with a hand while tears ran desperately down his cheeks.