Book 3. Chapter 24
“Falling” Part 3
Kalysto ignored Darla completely, not at all interested in what the saintess had to say.
Instead, she concentrated on regaining the skills she had lost, though it was obvious that Darla’s skill level was far below what she had lost. She would have to focus on training practically from scratch.
No wonder Mhiralla chose another saint. It was more than obvious that this one wasn’t doing her job. She thought with annoyance, however, she was eager to regain her lost power. If I hadn’t lost it, I could have saved my father.
This last phrase was the one that night after night was repeated in her mind like a mantra, which was beginning to border on obsession.
If only I could recover his remains, perhaps I could revive him. Although she knew it was an absurd idea, she couldn’t get it out of her head. If only he had been stronger....
Despite the time that had passed, she couldn’t help but continually reproach herself for how weak she had been, which was why she had dedicated herself body and soul to training after she spent a few days in mourning.
“Absorb Sleep well! Absorb Blessing! Absorb Blessing Ezhil!” she conjured, but just as it had happened with Dispel Ezhil, Blessing Ezhil didn’t seem to be in Darla’s repertoire either. “Another one I’ll have to wake up almost from scratch!” she muttered to herself. “Maybe if you had spent more time fulfilling your duties as a saintess instead of sleeping with the king and who knows how many others, you would have advanced faster!” It was too strange for someone as hardworking as Kalysto to see that someone who had been in the same class as her for years had never worked hard enough to advance as far and as fast as she had.
No wonder the queen set up such a long contract in the beginning and then was so pleased with how fast I was advancing… too bad she planned the attack on Mhiralla so poorly… if she had gone in person, we would never have failed. Who the hell would think of sending a bunch of weak mortals to fight a goddess?
Just thinking about how poorly organized the rescue had been made her blood run hot, and while she could understand that the queen was too busy organizing escape routes for her people while still spying on the advance of the priestess of Seth-Mainyu and her army as they destroyed other kingdoms, it felt too strange to her.
She could almost believe that someone else had taken matters into their own hands.
Maybe it was Artemis. With how accelerated she is it wouldn’t be strange at all. Not if I take into account what she planned for me when we first met. She thought as Darla continued to scream, the pain from the loss of her abilities clouding her judgment and making her only able to let out a couple of incoherent babbles that made no sense at all.
A powerful explosion sounded nearby, causing the earth to tremble beneath their feet and the ceiling to shake along with the walls of the vast room.
“Master, an army of level 70 goblins along with an army of level 120 undead are attacking the temple! They are led by a level 100 goblin named Arkhas. He is a fire mage!” reported Tsuki. “The building where the heroes were staying and training has just been destroyed.”
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At first, the news didn’t mean much to Kalysto.
“Looks like I won’t be able to take my time with you like I wanted to,” she whispered, conjuring a dark mana dagger and burying it in Darla’s shoulder, making her scream. “Jhil!” she conjured, only to repeat the same process twice more, checking that the skill had returned to her, albeit much weaker, before continuing with what she had been doing. “Absorb luck! Absorb strength! Absorb agility! Absorb charisma! Absorb intelligence! Absorb stamina!” More screams came out of the saintess’s mouth without anyone being able to stop her aggressor, and a satisfied smile lit up Kalysto’s face, only to disappear half a second later. “Shit! Eric and Madha are still with these people!” She suddenly remembered, feeling bad for the pair of shadow mages who had trusted her. “Absorb MP! Absorb HP!” As soon as Darla’s body turned to ashes, Kalysto stood up. “Tsuki! Do you know if the two shadow mages managed to escape before the building was destroyed?”
“I heard that the other saintess escaped along with a guard, but I don’t know about the two magicians you’re talking about, master,” he reported.
“Don’t worry, we’ll soon find out,” she assured him as she approached the holy water, brushing the surface of the water she conjured: ”Absorb!” The slight white glow that surrounded the water disappeared completely. Then she repeated the same process with the statue of the goddess Mhiralla, but as soon as she began to feel a subtle flow of energy enter her body, it was suddenly cut off and the statue immediately self-destructed, its remains falling on top of her.
Kalysto was agile enough to dodge them, but she had no doubt that the goddess had realized what she was doing.
Interesting, that means if I find other temples with statues of her, I might acquire something else. She thought, getting excited about the idea.
Unfortunately for her, the sound of fighting could be heard closer and closer, so she had to hurry and leave the compound and start searching with the help of her pet for the two shadow mages that had been summoned the same day she had arrived in Elinor.
But when she arrived at the place Tsuki had told her about, there was no way she could find any of the survivors in the ruins of the building.
However, unlike other times, luck seemed to be on her side this time. Because in the midst of the rubble, a male voice she knew very well called out her name.
“Kalysto, what are you doing here? I thought you had found a way back to Earth!” The surprise on Edward’s face was priceless. “Kalysto! Help me!” The young man shouted, his face full of sweat and dirty with dirt after a long day of training. The sword he had been using was under the rubble, as was the lower half of the young man’s body.
However, Kalysto did not listen to the brown-haired man’s desperate pleas and approached him with a calm step.
“Have you seen Eric and Madha?” she asked, completely ignoring Edward’s precarious situation.
“Why are you asking me about them? Wasn’t it you who helped them escape?” The confusion marked his face so sincerely that Kalysto had no choice but to believe him.
“I see,” she murmured just before she turned and began to walk away from him as the knights of the temple of light were brutally slaughtered by the horde of monsters. And a group of two hundred of them came up to where Edward stood, their weapons held high, dyed in blood, and ready for battle.
Edward’s face was disfigured with terror as he watched them advance and, in desperation, he tried to crawl away from the rubble, but in vain. Nothing he tried could help him get his leg out that was stuck under dozens of debris and two columns that had fallen on them just above the piece of wall that was crushing his leg, although he managed to shake off the two pieces of debris that covered his back.
“Kalysto, please help me!” the young man cried, full of desperation. But Kalysto just watched him with a blank stare.
“Why would I do that?” She answered just before ordering Tsuki to enter her shadow again and teleport back to Desmond’s kingdom, making several stops along the way, as she was not yet capable of teleporting long distances.
At the same time, the sharp blades of two undead and three goblins buried themselves in Edward’s body.
His screams echoed throughout the temple and even further afield, but no one came to his aid.
By nightfall, the capital of the kingdom of Balsahty had been completely destroyed.