Chapter 17 - Aftermath of the Cavern Battle

I was fighting the Earth Dragon along with Knight Fernand and the other soldiers, when I heard Haliel shout that we could use magic again.

For monsters, we could still use our spells even in corrupted mana but at the cost of being [Tainted].

It was great news because we were starting to lose the fight.

Many soldiers were killed but with the handicap gone, the formation and strategy won over the dragon’s strength.

“Ahhhh!”

As we were celebrating the would-be impossible victory, Haliel suddenly collapse.

Both me and Yoichi rushed over to her side as she was rolling around.

When she finally stopped moving, strange markings appeared on her and her temperature rose.

I also saw that she was [Tainted] when I [Identified] her status window.

Yoichi ordered everyone to leave the cavern when he felt the corruption starting to spread again from the crevasse that Zeph made.

Haliel was also in need of immediate medical attention so when we got outside, Yoichi told me to go on ahead.

“Alright then, I’ll be going on ahead.” [Blaze]

“Good. Now everyone let’s make our way back too.” [Yoichi]

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Yoichi left earlier this morning with many soldiers to go and subjugate the horde of [Darkened] monsters in a cavern not far from Llyn.

Haliel and Blaze also went along with them to help.

By now the sun is already beginning to set as I was talking with Gelion and Merilien.

They wanted to go too, but Rinor was against them going so they stayed behind.

I myself wouldn’t have allowed Haliel to go too, but she really wanted to and Blaze was also with her so I agreed to let her go in the end.

“Mom, I can’t wait to get as strong as Haliel and Yoichi so I can also help protect the people.” [Gelion]

“Hehe, don’t worry. You’ll get there soon enough, just have patients and train diligently.” [Eril]

“Why did she get to go and not us? It’s not fair….” [Merilien]

“Come now Merilien. You wouldn’t want to go against your father now would you?” [Eril]

“I...I guess not….” [Merilien]

As we were chatting, a guard ran into the room out of breathe. 

I could tell immediately that it was not good news by the look on his face.

“Y...your Highness! Blaze is back, and he is heavily injured and he was carrying a girl with him.” [Guard]

“Take me there immediately!” [Eril]

“Yes Ma’am! This way please.” [Guard]

“Mom what’s going on?” [Merilien]

“Only Blaze has returned. I need to go ask him what happened to the others.” [Eril]

“What about Yoichi then?” [Gelion]

“I don’t know but Blaze probably does so I’ll ask him.” [Eril]

With that I followed the guard to where Blaze was.

When I saw him, he was just changing back to his human form from his Pheonix one.

“Blaze! What happened? Where are the others?” [Eril]

“Things did not go as we planned, but don't worry we didn’t get wiped out. More importantly, Haliel needs medical help. She just suddenly fainted and her temperature has been raising since.” [Blaze]

Taking a look at Haliel, I saw that she was breathing heavily and uneven.

Weird marks on her body were also glowing in bright red.

“What happened?” [Eril]

“I’ll explain what I know after we have a priest take a look at her.” [Blaze]

“Guard call a priest to my room immediately!” [Eril]

“Y..yes Ma’am!” [Guard]

Rushing back to my room, Blaze told me what happened in the cavern.

‘There was a level 95 Shade this close by!? And Haliel helped Yoichi defeat it?!’

‘The shade also had a Earth Dragon mount!’ [Eril]

Both Gelion and Merilien were still in my room when we got there.

They gathered around Haliel as Blaze laid her onto the bed.

“What happened to Haliel mom?” [Gelion]

“Haliel…. I shouldn’t have let you go.” [Eril]

“So Yoichi is still alive?” [Merilien]

“Yes he is, and he should be here soon. I don’t think he’ll waste any time getting here.” [Blaze]

Not long after we got in the room, Rinor showed up with the priest and guard.

“What happened Eril!?” [Rinor]

“Something’s wrong with Haliel and Yoichi and the other encountered an level 95 Shade within the cavern.” [Eril]

“A...a Shade!? Why was it so close to us? And where is Yoichi then?” [Rinor]

“He should be back now Rinor, but please we need to get Haliel’s fever down. She’s been affected by the corrupt mana.” [Blaze]

“She what!? Wasn’t it only supposed to affect monsters? Priest get to it, we need her alive.” [Rinor]

With Rinor’s order, the Priest came over to Haliel and began examining her.

He gave her some medicine to keep her fever low but he didn’t know what the patterns on her were.

“I’m sorry Majesty but I will need the help of a High Priest or Holy Priest if I want to get rid of her status condition.” [Priest]

“It’s fine, I’ll help you.” [Yoichi]

“Wah? Yoichi but you just came back from combat!” [Eril]

“It’s fine, we don’t know what would happen to her if the status [Tainted] becomes [Darkened] so we can’t waste time. Well let’s get started!” [Yoichi]

Just as Yoichi finished saying that, he began chanting the purification spell with the Priest.

“Essence of Saldir, I call upon your Holy Power to bring Light to this Cursed Mortal. Holy Purification!” [Yoichi]

“Blessing of Edes God of the Forest, please heed my call and assist me in healing the cursed. Purify!” [Priest]

As they finished their chants, both magic circles went into effect.

Haliel floated into the air and gave off a blue and pale golden light then she slowly came back down.

Even though she was just purified, the markings stayed on, except they don’t glow anymore.

“W….why does she still have those markings? Did the spells not work?” [Eril]

“It should have. Let me check. Identify!” [Yoichi]

Status WindowNameHalielGenderFemaleRaceHalf Elf  (Variant)TitleTaboo ChildAge10Fame-100Level69Health6,287(+3,332)Concentration2,827(+1,498)Mana10/9,639(+5,109)Strength2,419(+1,282)Endurance948(+502)Intelligence15,877(+8,415)Wisdom11,870(+6,291)Agility3,419(+1,812)Stamina1,858(+985)Offense1,851Vitality2,371(+1,257)Defense725Magic Resist30%Faith0Fighting Spirit867Bonus[Variant] +10% to All Stats

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

[Taboo Child] -10% to Fame gained (Fame default: -100)

[Prodigy] +43% to All Stats (stacks with [Variant])

x1.3 to All Stats gained

[Elemental Master] +45% to all Affinity

All spells with attribute does 45% more damage

[Weaken] Temporarily halves stats until fully recovered from shock of Darkness

[Seal] ?????

“She’s fine, but there’s two new status condition on her. One is [Weaken] which is a temporary debuff that lasts until she is fully healed and it doesn’t mean Health-wise. The other is [Seal] but has no further description so I’m not sure what this does.” [Yoichi]

While Yoichi was talking, the priest also went and healed Blaze too.

“So… she just needs to rest now? Thank goodness. Thank you Priest, you can go now.” [Eril]

“Glad to be of service your Highness.” [Priest]

With that he bowed and walked out of the room.

“So Yoichi, explain to me what happened in the cavern. Especially about this Shade that you encountered.” [Rinor]

“I’ll give you a short description of it for now. The full report of what happened will be given to you by Lilith tomorrow.” [Yoichi]

“That’s fine, go ahead.” [Rinor]

“First off, I just want to say that we wouldn’t have made it back alive if Haliel wasn’t there. If we had failed, the capital may fall not long afterwards with the amount of monsters in that cavern. Anyways with Haliel’s buffs we made it to the core of the cavern. It was there that we encountered the Shade name Zeph, and his Earth Dragon mount. The dragon was level 85 and Zeph, level 93, a fight which would’ve been impossible to win especially when we couldn’t use magic in that much corrupted mana.” [Yoichi]

“So how did you win that fight then?” [Rinor]

“It was a spell that Haliel used, and I know I was surprised when I saw her using a spell in there too. After she did, the corruption completely vanished and using every ounce of mana and strength that we had, we defeated both Zeph and the mount. It may seem impossible but it’s the truth, because I’m sure my [Identify] wasn’t mistaken. Also Haliel leveled up by four whole levels from just that one fight from 65 to 69. I also leveled up but that’s besides the point.” [Yoichi]

“Hmmm… I see, then I really must thank her when she wakes up again. It would seem that her strength had already come in handy…. Thank you, now I must attend to other matters. Oh, and tell me when she wakes up, I need to properly thank her.” [Rinor]

“I too must organize another subjugation, though I hope this time would be easier…” [Yoichi]

With that Rinor and Yoichi walked out of the room.

Now it’s just me and the kids in here again.

“Mom, Haliel will be fine won’t she?” [Gelion]

“Don’t worry Gelion, the Priest and Yoichi already healed Haliel so now we just need her to get better.” [Eril]

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After I confirmed that Haliel was fine, I walked out of Eril’s room.

When I got back to my remaining soldiers, I fell to my knees, exhausted from using [Holy Purification].

“Huff…..huff.” [Yoichi]

“Yoichi! Are you alright, you suddenly just walked off when we got back.” [Lilith]

“I had to go make sure that Haliel’s fine.” [Yoichi]

“Anyways, what kind of spell did she use for that to happen?” [Lilith]

“I’m not sure but I think it was [Cleansing Dissolution]? Since it has [Cleanse] in it that must mean that she purified that mana in the cavern. But how much mana did she use for it? Even with the amount of inner mana that she has, without outer mana, it should’ve been impossible.” [Yoichi]

“Wait outer mana!? But the corrupted mana in there was so dense that you could see it. And if that is true then that mean…..!” [Lilith]

“She somehow managed to use the corrupted mana too. But even if she used it, it shouldn’t [Taint] her after just one use, wait the mana was dense wasn’t it. Even with [Cleanse], if the amount is big, your body would absorb some of the corruption and slowly filter it and with the amount in there…. I hope she will make it.” [Yoichi]

“....” [Lilith]

We remained silent just thinking about what’s going on inside Haliel’s body.

With that much corruption it really will take her a while to filter it.

“Well, either ways there is no point in worry about it. Here a mana potion.” [Fernand]

“Yeah. Come, we still need more work to do as well as prepare for another subjugation. But what really worries me now was what Zeph said before he died. That he was a ‘small fry’ to the higher ups, which means there are even stronger Shades out there….” [Yoichi]

“Well, that just means we have to train harder from now on right?” [Fernand]

“Yeah, for now we need to take care of what’s in front of us.” [Lilith]

As I was still exhausted, both Lilith and Fernand came to help me up and we went over to where my room was.

We spent a while thinking of a plan then I went to bed as they left to announce the plan to the other soldiers.