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CHAPTER 13: SOMETHING AIN’T RIGHT
❝ Athena ❞
Suspicious, Athena thought while descending the stairs she had climbed less than an hour ago. This NPC is too suspicious. Her brows creasing in frustration, she cast a troubled glance at her “passenger”. The pale girl was clinging to Athena’s back like a koala in need of affection, while also giggling creepily and muttering unintelligibly to herself. Too suspicious.
The semi-orc had been wary since the very beginning.
She could admit that she was partially at fault for how awkwardly their first meeting had gone. Even though it was the quest itself which had directed her actions in kissing the sleeping girl, Athena was fully aware how shocking it must have been to wake up to find someone had snuck into your bedroom, up to your bed, and had their face less than a few inches away from your own…especially considering orcs weren’t the most aesthetically pleasing race.
Although, she liked to believe she would have stepped away as soon as she saw signs the princess emerging from slumber—in order to avoid spooking her—if not for being herself still recovering from that immense pain which had struck her as soon as their lips had touched. Athena had nearly passed out back then. She still remembered the sensation of something slimy and burning creeping down her throat.
Which reminded Athena that she needed to clarify with the princess what exactly had happened. This presented too much of an unknown and Athena hated unknown variables. Above all, she detested not feeling in control, and loose ends were a huge liability in that aspect.
That said, and even considering her own part of responsibility in the previous unfortunate event—and also admitting that she hadn’t dealt with the immediate aftermath in the most…efficient fashion—this “Princess Victoria Sangbleu” was still far too suspicious!
Leaving aside the fact this quest had been given to Athena—more like “forced” upon her—by the freaking God of bloody Chaos, of all beings, there was definitely something deeply wrong with the princess herself.
Most of the time, the pale girl acted and talked like some pampered but ancient young lady. However, whenever she thought Athena wasn’t watching or listening, she would mutter to herself while making strange faces, sometimes frowning, sometimes giggling, sometimes grimacing…and sometimes all three at once. She was like a one-woman mute talk show.
Previously, when they’d been sitting inside the bedroom in silence—digesting the awkwardness—Athena had been perusing her status windows and missed notifications, while also keeping an eye on her “charge”. The whole time, Victoria’s face had been twitching through a whole spectrum of emotions, as if considering options and expressively agreeing with herself.
Not to mention she was also either completely oblivious…or an exhibitionist!
Athena coughed lightly, shaking her head and trying to get rid of the recent memories that would cause her face to flush. What is wrong with me? She couldn’t understand her own embarrassment. Ordinarily, she wasn’t exactly prude. If she were to be honest, she would call herself relatively crude—even crass at times. She wasn’t some clueless virgin. She didn’t “blush”. She certainly had been with enough girls not to be flustered by some shamelessly exposed flesh. Even if that flesh looked so flawlessly smooth, soft, and—
Enough!
Somehow, the sheer ingenuousness showed by this self-proclaimed vampire princess was making the burly semi-orc feel shameful—like she was taking advantage of someone who didn’t know any better. At other times, though, it felt like Victoria was purposefully enticing her. It was both confusing and frustrating! Athena couldn’t decide if this damned girl was manipulative or not.
Either case, she suspected Victoria was severely touched in the head—which wouldn’t be so surprising if she’d really spent several centuries alone in this tower.
This also raised the question of why the girl had been locked up behind a barrier in the first place. She’d hinted it was because of her vampiric transformation but was it all? Also, if she truly was the Progenitor/Leader/Queen of the vampires, then what was her relationship with the sudden release of vampires as a playable race? There had to be one. You’d think that “saving the vampire princess” would be a perfect quest to unlock the vampires, but it has already happened. What about those Night Walkers then? Could they know something about this?
Any of her reflexions only branched into more questions. Athena was starting to have a headache…though being pounded into walls by a dragon less than a couple hours before might have had something to do with that too. Healing potions only went so far, especially the cheap ones she had.
“Mmmmh…Thena…”
A mumble of her own new imposed nickname against her shoulder broke Athena’s maelstrom of interrogations.
“Yes?” she replied, not slowing down her descent. This tower truly is too fucking tall.
“Thou smell nice.”
She missed a step, stumbling briefly before recovering. Does this girl have no filter?! She wanted to snap at her charge, but their short interactions had already told the semi-orc that arguing was mostly pointless with Victoria. This blasted girl clearly was the type who only did whatever they wanted. If Athena wanted anything from the girl, she’d have to trick out of her. Rational arguments would likely just fly over her head. Just the type of person who pisses me off the most. Great.
After Victoria’s seemingly completely random comment, she continued to rub her nose against Athena’s nape, sending shivers down the tall girl’s spine. It didn’t help that Athena was also keenly aware of the twin mounds pressing against her back, separated from her skin only by two sheer layers of clothing. Exhibitionist little shit! She’s doing it on purpose, I’m sure of it!
Taking long, deep breaths and reciting mathematical equations in her head, Athena tried to calm her mind. This was a little trick her psychiatrist had taught her. Initially, it aimed at keeping her anger issues in check, but it also worked for about any sort of mental urges. She kind of wished she’d thought of using it to silence her libido back when she’d accepted that treacherous elven enchantress’ offer. If she’d spend a little more time thinking with her head rather than her crotch, she might not have been in such a mess.
But it was so hard not to look down into cleavages when you at least one head taller than most of everyone else. An unforeseen downside to her calculated choice of race. Though not a completely unwelcome one, she had to admit.
“Mmmmh…Comfy Thena…”
“…O, Lord.”
3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640…
To further keep her mind off the short but beautiful and soft-bodied princess, Athena checked her status window once more, calling out the command in her mind. Command. Status window.
Status Window
Avatar Name: Athena Pallas Level: 74 Race: Semi-orc Class: Shield Bearer Gender: Female Subclass: Soulbond Servant Marital status: Single Alignement: – Affiliation: –
Titles Dragon Slayer, Methodical Fighter, [Hidden], Unbreakable
Body & Soul Health: 5,240 Mana: 390 Stamina: 6,470 Reputation: 12
Basic Stats Strength (STR): 247 Wisdom (WIS): 10 Agility (AGI): 33 Intellect (INT): 14 Vitality (VIT): 124 Charisma* (CHA): 5
Additional Stats* Divine Affinity: 25 Luck: 1 Endurance: 42 Willpower: 37
Prime Magical Affinities Fire: 1 High Nature: 1 Low Water: 2 Low Void: 1 High Air: 1 Low Light: [Locked] Earth: 1 Low Darkness: 2 High
Sub Magical Affinities Blood (Darkness): 1 High Mind (Darkness): 1 Low Holy (Light): [Locked] Poison (Nature): 1 Low Ice (Water): 1 Low Runes (Void): 1 High Lava (Fire): 1 Low Soul (Darkness): 1 High Lightning (Air): 1 Low
Remaining SP: 15 *Stat Points cannot be added to this stat.
“Seriously…what the fuck…” she mumbled under her breath, not for the first time.
Command. Inspect Subclass.
Class: [Soulbond Servant]*
Rating: Unique Level: 1 Even the strongest beings in existence are not all powerful. Strong warrior battle next to their brothers in arms, kings appoint generals and are surrounded by guards, even the gods have their Apostles to accomplish what they cannot. The Progenitor of Vampires, once heralded as one of the Seven Dark Lords of Eden, had his Soulbond Servant, both retainer and companion, sharing with his lord a bond that went beyond loyalty and trust, a link between their very souls. You have been chosen as the soul-bonded companion of the current Progenitor, leader of the vampire kind, now your Lady, [Princess Victoria Sangbleu].
Current effects:
+250 Mana Points
+10% to all stats when acting in defence of your Lady, [Princess Victoria Sangbleu].
All magical affinities which have a lower level of proficiency than your Lady’s minus one are set at that level, with a minimum of Tier 1 Low. Exception: [Light] affinity and subs.
Class skills (Summary):
[Blood Bag] : passive : level 1 : enhance blood regeneration and the effect of your blood on your Lady.
[Master Compass] : active : level 1 : able to detect the general direction of your Lady.
[Mesmer Immunity] : passive : static : immunity against all forms of mind control, vampiric or otherwise.
[Soul Sense] : passive : level 1 : able to sense the position of nearby souls.
[Borrowed Authority] : passive : level 1 : vampires (and subspecies) are more likely to fear and respect you.
*Set as Subclass: effects reduced, slower levelling of specific skills
Once again, Athena took a series deep breaths. This time, however, it truly was her anger she was trying to quell. All this talk of master and servant was making her blood boil, and not in a pleasant way.
She wasn’t dumb, she could plainly recognise the potential of this class, but the simple fact it had been imposed on her without her consent caused her to instinctively reject it. She also felt intimately repulsed by the mere idea of being entirely dependent on someone else. Already at level one, more than half the perks of this class revolved around Victoria, and Athena felt like suffocating thinking about how this could only worsen over time.
The only thing preventing her from flying into rage, ironically enough, was Victoria herself. The princess so far acted nothing like a master, and although her antics were exasperating, Athena found herself unable to stay mad at the crazy girl. There was something endearing about Victoria’s joyful energy. Like a hyperactive puppy. She was annoying but you couldn’t find it in yourself to blame her for it.
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In fact, with some mental tweaking, Athena could almost persuade herself that their roles were reversed. Instead of a servant to some vampire not-quite-queen, she could see herself as some kind of beast tamer whose skills revolved around their pet. This might be a bit far-fetched, however, it was the only way she could somehow endure this situation.
She still fully intended to get rid of this class as soon as possible. No matter how she put it, or the amazing abilities of the class, she was still in the end dependent on a being other than herself, and that simple thought made her skin crawl.
That said…
While keeping an eye on where she put down her feet, Athena’s gaze shifted between the subclass description and her status window. What kind of fucking monster is this girl? Seriously? It said here that the [Soulbond Servant] subclass granted Athena the magical affinity of Victoria at most with minus one level of proficiency. This meant the princess had seventeen active magical affinities, prime and sub included. Two were [locked], but since they were displayed, they had to have been active at some point in time.
Athena herself, as a semi-orc, had previously possessed a tier one low [Earth] affinity. One which was pretty much useless considering her lack of a decent mana pool. Though, it did grant her a slightly higher passive resistance against the [Earth] element.
Every race besides human usually had at least one racial affinity. In return, humans had no malus learning any type of magic. Obviously, the more affinities you learnt, the more difficult it was to learn others, especially opposite ones [Fire] and [Water]. Not to mention having several affinities meant less time available to train each. Mixed spells were very uncommon. For this reason, it was rare for players to raise more than two affinities at decent levels—three was considered the extreme upper limit, with maybe a couple of sub-affinities.
This girl had all prime affinities and nine sub-affinities—NINE!!—and not at low levels too. Furthermore, one of her highest levelled affinities was the notorious [Void] affinity. Notorious because nobody had been able to figure out how to level it past Tier 1 mid. Victoria had it at the second tier. Not high tier one. Second tier!
Creasing her eyebrows, Athena recalled the books she was currently carrying inside her inventory. Ancient runes were a knowledge lost to most of the known world, but some researchers had theorised they were linked in some way to the [Void] affinity. Athena herself wasn’t really interested in this kind of obscure knowledge, but her mother, who played casually with the class [Librarian], had mentioned this a couple times.
Point was, this girl, Victoria Sangbleu, was a pure monster—even considering two out of the seventeen affinities were locked for some reason.
In less than a few hours, the half-vampire had already blown the semi-orc’s common sense away. And now, Athena too shared a part of these ridiculous specs. Though with her low INT and WIS stats, she wouldn’t be casting spells anytime soon, the respective passive resistances were already an unexpected boon.
Still not enough to make her reconsider ditching the subclass, but enough to calm her down a little.
Lastly, the new title labelled [hidden] which had appeared in her status didn’t make her feel any better towards this whole situation. Fucking mess.
As she continued to walk down the stairs, she passed in front of a door. Suddenly, she recalled passing several of these on her way down already. …You moron! She stopped on the small landing before the door and smacked her forehead. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts, and so thrown off her usual rhythm, that she’d almost forgotten to loot the rest of the tower!
“God fucking damned…” Cursing, she began turning back towards upstairs, when she suddenly felt a slight prickle against her neck. “Wha—” The prickle turned into a sharp pain, for a brief instant, before a jolt of electricity shot through her entire body. Her knees buckled and her mind blanked out.
When she regained her bearing, she was on all four on the stone landing and panting with a ragged breath. By reflex, she looked at the clock in the corner of her interface and concluded she had not lost more than a few seconds.
Then her mind caught up with what had happened. “The fuck…? Did I just…” she murmured in disbelief. She registered the absence of light weight on her back. Straightening up, she looked around. Soon she found the vampiric princess sitting in an awkward position with her back against a wall as if she’d rolled there—which she probably had.
A thin stream of blood was trickling out of her mouth. Fear gripped Athena…fear that her charge had died and thus that she’d failed her quest. However, that fear was quickly alleviated when Victoria raised a hand and wiped the blood off her chin.
“Wow. That was intense. Methought not this would be this potent. Truly nothing beats real blood.”
Athena was a smart girl. She actually prided herself in her thinking abilities. She quickly put together what had occurred, and the brief fear she’d felt was fast replaced by anger. “You—” she growled. This time, she didn’t even try to quell it. Although she didn’t know whether drinking her blood without her consent could be considered as an obscene act, she knew how she’d been made to feel without her consent. She felt violated, and in no mood to try and act composed.
“YOU LITTLE—!!” In one step, she closed the distance between them. Before Victoria had the time to react, she’d been raised into the air and slammed into the stone wall, a hand almost as large as her face choking her. “YOU BITCH!! WHAT IS YOUR DEAL?! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!”
Victoria didn’t answer. More like she couldn’t, actually, reduced to clawing at the hand restraining her and trying to give her throat some room. In her wrathful state, Athena didn’t seem to notice, or care. The muscular semi-orc continued to shake the thin dhampir like a ragdoll, vociferating in her face.
Eventually, the struggling princess managed to croak out a feeble and pleading, “The…na…can’t…breathe…”
Abruptly, as if burned, Athena dropped her on the ground and took a step back. Her left hand grabbed her right wrist, which was shaking. Her breathing was rough and her heart rate irregular. In her mind, the image of the short pale girl trying to catch her breath was superimposed to another figure—that of a nameless boy holding his bloodied face, just after she’d punched him and broken his nose.
Shit, shit, shit… She hated so much when she wasn’t in control, but she hated above all losing control. Closing her eyes, she covered her face with her hands and took long, deep breaths, trying to ignore the wave of self-loathing that hit her.
How many friends had she lost because of her fucking temper? She could still remember the expression of that boy, even though she’d long forgotten his name. One instant he’d been all smile, playing with her—not best buddies, but close—and the next, he was looking at her in fear and had never even dared approach her again. With reason, of course, it was all her fault. Fucking brute…
“Thena?”
A cold hand on her arm startled the tall girl. Parting her hands, she came face to face with two red irises surrounded by a circle of blue looking up at her in concern. Not fear, or disgust, but worry, as if she hadn’t just nearly choked that person to death—because Athena was sure the princess had been about to die. She’d felt so fragile in her hands.
“Thena, art thou alright?”
What was she supposed to answer to that? There was such a chasm between her expectations of what was supposed to happen and the reality, and that way of speech was just so silly. For a moment, Athena’s brain couldn’t seem to conciliate the two and just froze.
Eventually, she shook her head and straightened. Her breathing had calmed down.
“Yeah…I’m…I’m sorry…I don’t…I—”
“Meh. ‘tis already forgotten.” Surprisingly, Victoria shrugged and waved her off. “’twas mine fault in the first place. I really should have inquired for thine permission…and I think I kind of enjoyed it.” Athena couldn’t hear the last part of her sentence. Before she could ask, though, the dhampir spun around and walked towards the door. “More importantly…”
Athena’s prominent lower jaw almost hit the floor.
More importantly?! What is wrong with that NPC? Is she bugged? Should I report this? She had never heard of NPCs with personality bugs, but surely this kind of nonchalance after being suddenly attacked for no decent reason wasn’t…normal?
Was it?
Yet another surprise, all this nonsense was actually helping Athena calm down. Being constantly thrown off balance, her brain didn’t have much leeway to feel anything but confused. All extra mental energy was diverted to trying to keep her common sense from collapsing.
“Hey, Thena. Come here.” Victoria, standing by the door, was waving her closer. “Yeah, I think it is this door,” she mumbled to herself before glancing back at Athena. “Ah, do not fret about the other storerooms. These are all empty.”
“…I see…” Still not too sure what to do or think, Athena resolved herself to go with the flow—something she almost never did, considering how much she hated feeling unprepared.
Victoria pushed the door open. Contrary to its old appearance, the panel swung in smoothly without a sound. The dhampir skipped inside, incongruously whistling a merry tune, and the semi-orc could only follow, scratching her head with a complicated expression.
Once inside, her eyes immediately went to a large and imposing set of full-plate armour taking the centre of the room, worn by a wooden mannequin. For what felt like the zillionth time, here golden eyes widened like saucers. “This…”
The armour was the colour of platinum, with gold plating and engraving. A roaring lion decorated the front of the chest piece. Somehow, the armour looked fiercely functional without sacrificing elegance. It was a set fit for a warring king. Athena’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of such high-end equipment. Inspecting it, she wondered how many players could claim wearing anything comparable.
Item: [Lionheart Armour]
Part 2/3 of [Scales Guard]
Type: Defensive gear, artefact Restrictions: 200+ STR, [hidden] Durability: 100/100 Phys. Defence: 80 Mag. Defence: 80 An armour forged in ancient times, imbued with the spirit and magic of a powerful beast. Its pride and strength protect the wearer of this armour and grow with them.
Special Effect:
[Defence] and [Durability] may increase in case powerful enemies are defeated.
Her eyes nearly jump out of their orbits when she saw it was part of the same set as her shield. Her wariness returned too. For all she knew, the shield in question had been given to her by the very same God of Chaos who’d thrown her into this mess. It also had the same [hidden] attribute in the restrictions. Definitely suspicious.
She stood unmoving in front of the armour, neither stepping closer to take it nor walking away, her natural prudence warring against her natural greed inside of her.
“’Tis a gift from me to you, as thanks.” Standing next to the armour, Victoria patted the metal with a proud smile.
“I can’t…accept it…” Athena drawled slowly, while her mind was screaming ‘Of course you can accept it! It’s a quest reward! A set! Do you know how much this is worth?!’ But her instincts were also screaming at her nothing since entering this damned tower had been as it had seemed.
Victoria scratched her chin awkwardly. “To speak sooth, this here armour used to belong to my late husband.”
Just when the semi-orc thought she couldn’t possibly be surprised further, that blasted princess dropped another bombshell!
She is married?! Or was…?
Though, I suppose…She looks about sixteen to twenty…hard to say with the whole ageless vampire thing going on. Supposing she stopped ageing when she turned, and that she was locked up right after…I guess it makes sense for royalty to be married early on. Yeah…
Somehow, she was feeling very tired…mentally.
“Err…sorry to hear that,” said Athena. She had noted that Victoria had talked about her “late” husband.
“Oh, no need,” the princess replied. “I killed him.”
“……”
To Athena’s stunned silence, the vampire shrugged, rubbing her temples and grimacing as if she was suffering from a sudden headache. “He was a piece of dragon dropping in any case. No, perhaps dragon droppings are still nobler. The festering excrements of a sickly rabid pig would be more accurate a description.” As her words took on more and more venom, her face distorted in a disdainful sneer.
“……” Once again, Athena was speechless.
“Anyway. Art thou taking it?” Victoria’s sneer abruptly vanished and was replaced by a bright innocent smile.
Athena continued to stare for a little longer. This girl definitely ain’t right in the head…not that I am one to talk, I suppose. Eventually, she sighed and nodded, taking a step towards the magnificent armour. She put a hand on the breastplate. Command. Equip.
In an instant, the set of armour dissolved in soft light and reappeared on Athena, fitting her like it had been forged for her—which was a given, considering the game auto-fit functions.
“Uh? What is this?” However, as soon as Athena put the armour on, purple-black smoke started rising from the metal in ethereal volutes, and a distant hissing roar broke the silence of the tower. With eyes wide, the semi-orc saw the golden ornaments of the armour take on a purplish colour while the platinum-coloured metal darkened to a blackness so deep it seemed to suck in the surrounding light.
On the front of the breastplate, the engraved lion twisted and started to change. Its looks became wilder, fiercer, and all-around eviler. Scales progressively replaced the fur on its rear as its tail grew longer and the tip transformed into the head of a mean-looking snake. The shoulders of the lion bulged and the distorted head of a fanged goat emerged from its flesh.
*ting*
Due to your high enough affinity with [Darkness], you awakened the true form of the [Lionheart Armour]!
When the metamorphosis ended, Athena practically screamed, “Command. Inspect!”
Item: [Cursed Chimaera Armour]
Part 2/3 of [Cursed Scales Guard]
Type: Defensive gear, cursed artefact Restrictions: 200+ STR, 30+ Willpower Durability: 100/100 Phys. Defence: 80 Mag. Defence: 80
An ancient armour forged during the Twilight War, part of the [Cursed Scales Guard] set, and imbued with the soul of a dreadful monster.
The Chimaera was once a mighty beast feared for its strength and rage. With the body of a mutated lion bearing a supernumerary goat head and a poisonous snake as its tail, it symbolised the impossible and the absurd. Legend has it that the Chimaera was, in fact, able to increase its own power by absorbing other beings and assimilating their strengths, and such is the power of this armour forged with the remains of the creature.
However be careful, for the power of the Chimaera is a treacherous one and this armour will seek to drown its owner in the mindless rage of the beast.
Special Effect:
- [Defence] and [Durability] will increase as the armour absorbs materials (minerals, monster parts, or others) stronger than itself.
- New abilities may arise.
Curse:
- Will inflict the [Berserk] status to its wearer if their health drops under 10%.
- As long as the [Cursed Chimera Armour] recognises one as its owner, no other armour can be equipped.
“Part two out of the 3 of the [Cursed Scales Guard],” she murmured, a very bad feeling creeping up her throat. “Command. Equip [Shield of Medusa]!”
As soon as the black shield appeared beside her, it began the same transformation. Athena could only stare with anguish as the blackness seemed to deepen and the sleeping woman opened her eyes and mouth, revealing slit pupils and vicious fangs. Her hair also spread across the surface of the shield and turned into dozens of slithering snakes.
*ting*
Due to your high enough affinity with [Darkness], you awakened the true form of the [Shield of Medusa]!
Athena almost didn’t want to inspect the result, but she did anyway.
Item: [Cursed Gorgon Shield]
Part 1/3 of [Cursed Scales Guard]
Type: Defensive gear, cursed artefact Restrictions: 200+ STR, 30+ Willpower Satiety: 150/150 Phys. Defence: 169 Mag. Defence: 100
An ancient shield forged during the Twilight War, part of the [Cursed Scales Guard] set, and imbued with the soul of a dreadful monster.
The gorgons were female creatures which had the ability to petrify their preys with a single look. Although the species is now believed extinct, their power lives on though this artefact, striking fear in the heart of its wielder’s enemies, dreadful memorabilia of the once feared race.
However be careful, for the power of the gorgons is a treacherous one and this shield will seek to consume its owner.
Special Effect:
Will inflict the statuses [Paralysed] and [Fear] to anyone other than the wielder who meets the eyes of the gorgon skull. The duration and intensity of the effects depend on the target’s [Willpower].
Curse:
- Will turn its wielder into stone if not fed regularly.
- As long as the [Cursed Gorgon Shield] recognises one as its owner, no other shield can be equipped.
“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!” Feeling betrayed once again, Athena snapped her head towards Victoria, who had taken a step back and was looking at her with a complex expression, mumbling to herself again.
“Well, this certainly is not how I envisioned things to progress…maybe I should have? Nothing ever goes as planned anyway. Am I cursed? Oh, right. Well—”
“YOU—”
*CRAAAACK*
Athena was interrupted this time by a loud crashing sound coming from above. Looking up, she saw the ceiling fracture. It started to crumble. A large piece of stone detached itself from it, falling straight down towards the fragile dhampir princess.
Without thinking, Athena lunged forwards.
* * * * *