Chapter 160
“The Mission” Part 2
The morning sun caressed Kalysto’s face as a drop of sweat trickled down her forehead. At the same time, several violet windows appeared to her left and above them, a larger one appeared before her. Overshadowing her vision at the same time, the growling of the wolves was heard closer and closer.
[You have gained 300 experience points!] x40
[You have gained 200 experience points!] x30
[You have leveled up!]
[The user is now level 44!]
[You’ve gained 400 experience points!] x30
[Kalysto, someone has opened a portal near my kingdom! I want you to go and close it right away!]
Are you seriously giving me a mission right now? She frowned. Can’t she see that I’m busy?
“Ice daggers!” She conjured, and immediately stepped aside, evading the attack of the first wolf that jumped over the ice wall and lunged for her neck, cutting its head off.
Annoyed at not being able to close her boss’s window, Kalysto frowned.
We’re not even that close! She wanted to refute her. Not only was the kingdom of Solis between the two kingdoms, but there was also a vast desert and then a thick, wide forest between them, so one could almost say that they were two kingdoms apart. And that’s not as close as she had just claimed!
But she could hear the movement of those wolves she missed freezing as they climbed the ice she had conjured as they ran towards her. Ready to attack.
“Sorry, boss. I’m a little busy right now. Can I at least move the window of this conversation to the side?” Although Galatea had taught her how to set up the system to activate battle mode and have the windows appear to her left. The queen’s chat messages were the big exception. And they were completely immovable.
[ You can move them now.]
As soon as the new window appeared to her left like the rest, Kalysto immediately closed the violet window of the previous message in front of her, only to find a large mass of fuchsia energy heading in her direction.
Holy crap!
She immediately jumped to the side, evading the lich’s attack, but a lock of her hair and the bottom of the boot of the sweatpants she was wearing were disintegrated, as were many of the wolves she had recently frozen.
“And there went my experience points!” she complained under her breath.
[Kalysto, you dare to ignore me?]
A new window opened to her left, and Kalysto could feel the queen’s annoyance.
“Boss, I’ve got a damn lich that’s immune to my skills and he’s trying to kill me right now! Along with a huge pack of wolves! Excuse me if my attention is divided! I don’t want to die!” she shouted in annoyance, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Kalysto regretted it.
A shiver ran through her body, and a cumulus of black clouds darkened the sky.
The hairs on the back of the saintess’s neck and arms stood up, warning her of danger. Her face lost all trace of color, and she immediately turned to where the unsuspecting Koden stood.
“Koden, run! Run for your life and get away from here!”
“But...!” The young man tried to retort, worried for her safety in the face of the huge lich which was preparing a new attack at the same time the rest of the monsters launched themselves against her.
“Now!” Kalysto insisted, remembering too late that if facing a whole army of monsters while making sure the rest of the heroes made it out alive could be something that would scare anyone, the fairy queen was far more terrifying than all of them put together.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Maybe the eye of the tower, or whoever that giant eye belonged to, could compete against her.
But that was something she hoped she would never have to find out.
And as Koden ran away to where the rest of the heroes were on the other side of the wall, running as if her life depended on it. A small violet circle was drawn beneath Kalysto at the same time as hundreds of thunder and lightning bolts fell around the young fairy champion, making the earth tremble beneath her feet. A small portion of the powerful pressure of the queen’s presence spread around her, making it difficult for her to breathe despite the protection provided by the magic circle.
Ah.... more experience points lost! Kalysto lamented as she coughed and struggled to breathe. And with how close I am to reach level fifty in the midst of so many undead, thanks to the twenty percent extra experience!
A strong gust of wind ruffled her hair and kicked up dust in all directions. Kalysto immediately covered her eyes as the nearby castle walls collapsed. Almost a minute later, the smoke began to dissipate slowly and the smell of burning flooded her nose.
The trembling stopped along with the lightning and an eerie silence reigned on the battlefield for a few seconds as the queen’s presence and manifestation of anger disappeared without a trace, as if they had never been there in the first place.
[Do I have your full attention now?]
“Of course, boss!” She answered immediately, looking at the huge crater that had been created around her. Kalysto gulped as she looked at all the damage caused.
Note to myself, never again not to pay due attention to the boss! Or make her angry!
A couple of meters from where she stood, she noticed a black stain along with what was left of the lich’s staff. And in the middle of the dark cloth, a core glowed among the carbonized remains.
“What can I do for you?” She answered with the usual friendly smile with which she had attended to customers in her previous job.
[I heard from my godson that you are looking for three human friends of yours who were summoned to this world against their will.]
“That’s right, but I thought the demon king was your nephew, not your godson,” replied Kalysto, confused by Alice’s mention, knowing well how much the queen disliked humans.
Why the sudden interest?
[He is both! His mother was my cousin-sister. Now stop diverting the subject and focusing on trifles!]
She scolded her.
“Of course, boss” but despite her response, her eyes strayed to the lich’s core.
[I’m not in the mood to waste time negotiating with you. So I’ll get to the point.]
Then a new window opened.
[Mission: Destroy the portal in the kingdom of Balsahty and its summoner in less than twelve hours.
Reward: *Send three friends back to the exact same world and point from which the fairy champion was summoned.]
Kalysto’s body froze as she read that.
Can I save Alice and her grandparents? She got excited, but immediately wiped the smile off her face. Where’s the catch? She wondered, knowing full well that her boss had refused to help her send her friends back to Earth before. Why is it different this time?
“The portal is a bit far from where I am and the whole city has been overrun by monsters, so unless you lend me some help, it will take me a while to get there. And the last time I saw a portal like that, it was several meters above ground level, and I have no way to fly and get there.”
[I’ll send Hanna to help you. You both did an excellent job purifying my kingdom a few days ago. You should have no problem working with her.]
“It will be a pleasure to work with Hanna again,” Kalysto assured her. In fact, she liked the young fairy very much. “May I keep the remains of the lich’s core?”
[...]
[You can take them, I don’t need them.]
“Thank you,” she answered honestly as she stood up and walked over to where the core was. To her disappointment, the core was not in perfect condition, nor was the lich’s baculum, but at least she was able to keep the gems. “Absorb!” She whispered.
[Does the user wish to absorb the remains of this lich’s core?]
[YES/NO]
Yes!
[Congratulations, the user has acquired 97% of a new skill: ‘Dark Mana Manipulation’!]
Kalysto clicked her tongue, disappointed that she didn’t get the full skill.
I’ll have to track down another one of these liches and get his core! She got excited. I’ll have to level up first to hunt it down!
[Hanna is on her way, wait for her arrival.]
“Of course,” she replied, and when she saw that no other message appeared, she closed the chat windows and left her map open, looking at the purple dot of her boss and Hanna’s inside the fairy territory. “It’s going to be a long trip. I hope I have time to get the boys out of here.”
“Kalysto, are you all right?” Rita’s shout was heard in the distance as the group of heroes ran to meet her. The few monsters that had been nearby fled during the queen’s attack, allowing the youngsters to move freely. “What happened?” worried the blonde.
“She’s in a bad mood,” she replied as she glanced at the rest of the group before her eyes returned to the blonde, who understood the message immediately. “I have to leave in a few minutes.”
“That was your...?” Rita didn’t dare to finish the sentence and Kalysto nodded her head, making both the blonde’s and Koden’s faces lose all traces of color. “I think it’s better not to make her angry again,” Kalysto nodded.
“And I think we should find a way to get out of here as soon as possible” then her gaze fell on the only dark-skinned hero. “Oscar, how high can you jump?”