After I cleared the compound and recovered all the "furniture", including the mansions - I didn't see any reason to leave them there unguarded - I assumed my favorite flying form and flew back to Windemere.
I thought about the motivations of this group. And what I would do to find that one out. The most reliable way was also the most brutal. Murder them and get the pure truth from their ghosts, then revive them. Part of me was baffled at how easy I could think about murdering a bunch of strangers because I was suspicious of them. It was almost as if I was back to being Apricot. Maybe my lamia physiology led to a certain predatorial and territorial mindset.
What I could say for certain was that Alloralla and Rosewise were softer and more accomodating than the current me. Lakerta had deeper wounds that were still open. Like growing up with only the undead and paranoia for companions. My experiences and previous memories helped temper that by a great amount. One can imagine what a creature with Lakerta's rage and my power would do without my consciousness to rein those impulses in.
Being with Lorna helped a lot to keep that aspect down. Nenandil too. Having the fairy with me was my anchor. Too bad she remains dormant from my birth until I can call her.
Basically, I felt as if my mind was slipping. As the wounds piled up, the civilized part of me felt like a cage. My feelings and impulses became more and more violent. Clearing the Dragonfall Dungeon helped but it was only a temporary fix. But enough of this edgelord bullshit moping.
I reached the dwarven convoy a few hours before they entered the city of Windemere.
I burst out exasperated.
She came out and sat straddled over my neck.
She kissed the feathers created by the Fox-kin Disguise Kit before darting down to the wagons. I accelerated to my maximum speed and went to the royal palace.
----------------------------------------
Invisible and incorporeal, I flew straight into Kazuyran's room. I felt a faint whiff of divine energy around the castle. It shouldn't be there and it made my paranoia flare. After confirming the dark elf was in his room, I assumed my normal form and removed the invisibility and materialized in this order. He averted his gaze.
"Clothes," the dark elf [Assassin] said.
I put on my silk sports bra. "Done, you prude," I hissed. "We got business. What about the newcomers?"
He glanced at me and averted his eyes again, "Second-rank Adventurers, all of them almost one hundred. And why are you covering just your breasts? Put on a skirt, at least."
I groaned. "Kazuyran, lamias don't need to wear skirts. We don't have hips or butts." I could mimic them by making that section of the tail thicker but that was not the point. "The Adventurers, are they a threat?"
He stared at my eyes and deadpanned, "A group of people of that level and armed to the teeth? Yes."
It was baffling. With those levels, they could very well take over their own country. Even Windemere wouldn't be safe from them without me here. I cycled my detection Perks while I talked, "Why the hell do they want to become vassals here in Windemere? They are mostly humans, I sense............... fuck."
They have two priests of Bundeus with them. I told that to the dark elf.
"What are you planning to do? They are guests of the King. You can't just {Assassinate} them."
I wonder why they keep trying these Scooby-Doo plots. Unless they want to create an incident by accusing Windemere of killing them.
"Okay. Here's what I want you to do. Please give me feedback if you don't think it's the best solution. I need information on these guys. What is their reputation, what jobs they took at the guild in other countries, how long they are together, which King or heavyweight nobles sponsor them? I think they were sent here as sacrifices because whoever sent them here knew I would murder them at the first chance."
He raised an eyebrow, "Will you? Because you sure look like someone that wants to murder something."
He was damn right. I felt my respect for the life of people I didn't know hit an all-time low. I think I needed to see a shrink. Good luck finding one in this dark ages world.
"We're going to stall this meeting for as long as possible. Please get me the information I need. I'm going to get Lorna and delay our return."
I shifted and flew through the wall using my evil ghost powers.
----------------------------------------
I reached the convoy and donned my gothic plate before becoming visible and stopping it.
"Halt!" I shouted at the lead scout. "Tell Alfondric I need to speak to my wife."
"Yes, Your Grace!" The dwarf scout turned his pony and went back to the convoy. I waited on the side of the road. After a brief chat with Alfondric, I took Lorna away from the convoy. The faintest blur followed her, I knew it was Nenandil using stealth.
We walked into the forest for a minute and I raised a sound barrier. I stored my gauntlets and held Lorna's hands.
"What is wrong?" My Queen asked me.
She studied me from one eye to the other, trying to figure me out. I told her what was going on straight. "The adventurers that made us come back earlier. They are all on the second rank and there are two priests of Bundeus with them. I can't find a reason to prove why this isn't a trap."
She wasn't buying it. Lorna's ears twitched and her tail was calling bullshit. "How do you even know? Is it your {Detect Favored Enemy}?"
"Yes. {Favored Enemy[Church of Bundeus]}. Also, Kazuyran {Appraised} them. All of them close to one hundred"
She took a deep breath. "What do you want to do?"
"I told Kazuyran to use his intelligence network to fetch information on them. What I want to do right now, is to take my Queen and go play house somewhere else while he does that."
Her eyes gleamed with hope, "You want to delay the meeting."
"Yes. But they already know I visited the palace. There was a faint divine magic barrier, probably to detect my siphon."
Lorna closed her eyes and I moved my hand to her back, afraid she'd faint. But no, she was just deeply absorbed in thought. When she opened her eyes, I saw the centennial Queen.
"How certain are you they came seeking trouble?"
"If there's one chance in twenty they didn't, we don't want that kind of fools in our country. But they set a ward around the palace, Lorna. One in twenty is too naive."
She sighed, "Eric is strong. But against... how many?"
I made a show of fingers, "Eight."
"Eight level hundred... If they came to fight, it's obvious that Bundeus won't leave you alone. But what does he want? To kill you?"
What does an asshole want more than to shit on everything? I shook my head. "No. Just to make me suffer by hurting the people I care about."
"I think I'll spend some time with the eleons. Get more bread now that you ran out of them," She teased. "Meanwhile, why don't you show our antagonistic guests our hospitality?"
"Are you sure? I'm not sure I can kill them all without a fight."
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Lorna was firm, "Yes. I won't let my country or my brother become hostages."
----------------------------------------
From there Alfondric sent some wagons to escort Lorna and Nenandil to Rosebush, the eleon town named after the illustrious [Sorceress] born there. A sign of the prosperity Lorna brought in Windemere, it wasn't a village anymore. I took Nenandil with me and returned to Windemere. It was time to hunt.
This bloody conflict has dragged on for too long. Ever since Bundeus ordered Rosalinda's death. I still had to track down that statue and both claim it and clear my mother's reputation.
Castle Windemere came into sight and I dove down. I felt the divine barrier being pierced again but that was inevitable. I could turn off the Perk that protected me from divine energy but that could be my end. Better let them know I was coming than risking it all. In the shape of the two-gram-heavy Etruscan shrew, I crawled out of the wall where the adventurers rested.
"It is here," a priestess of Bundeus said. "My spell sensed it entering."
A guy clad in the heavy plate but moving as if he was in beach speedos put a finger to his lips. "Shush, Lola. If that thing is here, we don't want it eavesdropping on us."
Too bad it was already too late. They were all ninety-seven or ninety-nine, as I used {Appraise} on them. The first thing that struck me. ALL of them had Royal titles, princes and princesses. Their Classes were one [Champion] like me, two [Mages], the two [Priests], two [Rangers], one [Warrior], and one [Rogue].
They talked a bit more about boring subjects, retelling old stories I was sure everyone had heard a thousand times. They ate, drank, and then each one of them went to their own bedrooms to sleep. Perfect.
I stopped next to their bedroom and checked. They had an intricate array of wards, some of them divine which would break as soon as they came into contact with me, regardless of any bypass ability I had. So I broke them and didn't strike. Instead, I retreated inside the wall and watched. The oldest caster, an [Archmage] woke up and sent a spell that woke up the other seven. They gathered in the mage's bedroom.
"What is wrong?" The [Champion] asked.
"The wards I put around our rooms broke. I don't know what but something tried to force entry and broke them."
"The anomaly?" Lola the [Priestess] asked, looking eager for a fight.
"No, Lola. We're all alive. You know how she acts. We'd be already dead if it was her. Gracius, do you sense anything around us?"
The older mage used a detection spell. It washed right over my {Grandmaster Surreptitiousness}. Since all of them were human, I even got a Skill bonus to hide from them. Doubled for the priests.
"Nothing. There's no living creature inside the rooms other than us. I'm going to recast the wards. You can go back to bed."
Gracius the [Archmage] started to trace the wards and in one hour had them up again. He laid down to sleep and I used {Magic Eater} on them, forcing him to wake up. He sprung up and only my reflexes to scuttle back inside the wall prevented him from finding me.
The [Archmage] knelt next to the wall and said, "I know you are here, Anomaly. We know how you fight and what you can do. None of your tricks will work on us."
I bet Bundeus decked them with anti-me measures. They were immune to {Royal Geas} and I doubted I could behead them either. A normal fight would be disastrous as we would ruin the whole castle if not the city. Inside the wall, I prepared myself. Let's see how truly decked these guys were. I slid my combat enchantment gear. Among other things, It added twenty to my Strength and Dexterity and several Skill bonuses.
<{Champion's Challenge},> I mentally sent to the mage.
"Oh, magnificent. Are you going to fight me honorably?" Gracius clapped his hands.
I cycled my detection Skills and Perks again. With a grin, I gripped my elven daggers and prepared. I jumped out of the wall and cast a spell.
"{Force Bindings}!"
The man talking next to the wall stared at me with eyes wide open. I dove in the middle of the room, far away from him. He wasn't the target of my spell because he was an illusion. A very well-crafted one. So well-crafted that I was picking signals of two people inside the room. One of them only appeared in my sight as a faint haze, now surrounded by bands of Force. Just before I sank my daggers on him, I used {Death Contract}.
> Gracius the [Archmage] lost 10 million HP (Base 58 x 183,447 multipliers [1] )
>
> {Equal damage split} activated. Gracius the [Archmage] shared 1,340,000 HP of damage with each of his partners.
>
> Gracius the [Archmage] lost 8.6 million HP (Base 63 x 183,447 multipliers x0.75 off-hand)
>
> {Equal damage split} activated. Gracius the [Archmage] shared 1,084,000 HP of damage with each of his partners.
>
> Contract Fulfilled. Assassination Successful.
>
> You killed level 99 Gracius the [Archmage]. You gained 1.4 trillion Exp. (base 98,010 x 14,056,376 multipliers).
>
> You killed level 97 [Arch Priestess]. You gained 43 billion Exp. (base 94,090 x 462,990 multipliers).
>
> You killed level 99 [Hierophant]. You gained 45 billion Exp. (base 98,010 x 462,990 multipliers).
>
> You killed level 97 [High Elementalist]. You gained 43 billion Exp. (base 94,090 x 462,990 multipliers).
There should be an achievement for that.
The illusion vanished as well as my kill's body. It was tricky to get both the {Assassinate} and {Champion's Valor} bonuses on the same attack. It required the target to not take any actions between the placement of the contract and the attack.
I had no time to spare. I dashed toward the next target I sensed through the walls but my body wouldn't move. The ghosts of my four kills flew inside me and were consumed to power a spell.
> You are afflicted with {Stone Blood}.
>
> You received the curse: Stone Blood (very rare): Your blood becomes stone. While your blood is petrified, you lose 100 points of Dexterity and take 1% of your health in HP damage per second.
> Stone Blood dealth 340,645 HP of damage. (base 454,193 x 0.75 Favored Defense).
>
> Stone Blood dealth 340,645 HP of damage. (base 454,193 x 0.75 Favored Defense).
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Did they prepare a sacrificial trap? Like these guys came here knowing they would die? What insanity! I had to do something. I ran through my defensive Perks. I activated {Shelter in the Eye of the Storm V}.
> Stone Blood dealt 10,220 HP of damage. (base 454,193 x0.75 Favored Defense x0,03 Shelter in the Eye of the Storm V).
It was still less than my regeneration but manageable. But the feeling of having one's blood turned to stone was suffocating. It felt like every single blood vessel had a needle stuck in it and my heart was beating with glass shards inside of it. I screamed in pain.
The other adventurers entered the room and started attacking me. I could do absolutely nothing against them and they were striking at my top half. I used {Chimeric Transformation} to cover my upper body in scales.
I had to break that curse. First I pulled {Erode Curse} to check the erosion status and switch.
> Greater Feeblemind (very rare): Your maximum mental Attributes are your racial average minus one. [5,75% eroded].
>
> Warning: Switching the target of {Erode Curse} will reset current progress.
Fuck it. I tried to break it straight away. It required one hundred and ninety million MP, a bargain compared to the ones cast upon me by Loki. Good news, I could break that curse in a year if I didn't switch. Bad news, it did nothing to help me stay alive till then.
The five Adventurers were still hacking away at me, adding insult to injury. They shaved three-fourths of my HP pool. The one doing the most damage was the [Rogue] because he had the same skillset as me.
If only I could get rid of my blood... That's it!
I shifted into {Water Elemental} form.
> The effects of {Stone Blood} are suspended.
I expanded and threw my tail around them, wrapping their bodies and squeezing with the pressure. While I was made of water, it by no means meant I was less able to manipulate physical objects than in my normal form. A water elemental's surface tension is as strong as they want to.
With that, I started to drain their vitality, burn their MP with a reduced-radius Manastorm, rattle the {Wail of the Banshee}, cast a patch of blight underneath me. I finally put a contract on each one of them and bit their heads off. I earned seven trillion Exp for my efforts.
> You reached Elemental Lamia [Water] level 16.
>
> You gained 1 human perk.
>
> You reached Royal Lamia Champion level 17.
>
> You gained 1 perk.
>
> You gained 40 Skill Points.
>
> You reached Cartographer level 55. You gained 4 HP.
>
> You reached Appraiser level 55. You gained 2 HP and 2 MP.
And the souls of these fuckers also merged into the curse.
> Your {Stone Blood} curse has evolved into {Invulnerable Stone Flesh}.
>
> You received the curse: Invulnerable Stone Flesh (unique): Your flesh becomes stone. While petrified, you have the following modifiers: You lose 100 points of Dexterity, Strength, Mind, Willpower, Charisma, and Ego. You are immune to all magic. You do not age. You are invulnerable.
Bloody motherfuckers. That was their plan, these guys intended to die from the start. If I weren't in elemental form, I would join Rosalinda as a statue. Probably forever.
With my judgment clouded by anger and pain, I thrashed the room. Goddammit, I want to kill a GOD! System, do something!
> Your attempt to acquire {God Slayer (unique)} has failed.
>
> Reason: Perk acquisition was blocked by Administrator Wyxnos.
>
> Your attempt has been reported.
>
> Error: {Shrouded from Divine Eyes} blocked the report.
>
> Resolving...
>
> Report skipped. Selecting lower-grade Perk of the same family.
>
> Your attempt to acquire {Improved Critical: Gods} has failed.
>
> Reason: Perk acquisition was blocked by Administrator Wyxnos.
>
>
>
> (...) <------ A lot of failed attempts later...
>
>
>
> Resolving...
>
> Report skipped. Selecting lower-grade Perk of the same family.
>
> There are no available Perks left in the family.
>
> Prompting user for a new Perk selection of the same rarity as the original choice.
>
> You have one free {Unique} perk choice.
While the stupid wall of text climbed up and I tried to see the perk names - I'm so not going back to my log to check - I calmed down a bit. There was one thing I wanted from the System.
"Give me the ability to access the System from birth."
> Your attempt to acquire {System User Privileges (unique)} has failed.
>
> Reason: Perk acquisition was blocked by Administrator Wyxnos.
>
> Your attempt has been reported.
>
> Error: {Shrouded from Divine Eyes} blocked the report.
>
> Resolving...
>
> Report skipped.
>
> You have one free {Unique} perk choice.
Goddammit, Wyxnos! Stop putting the cool stuff on the top shelf where we kids can't reach. At least I was really a ghost in the System.
I gave up on trying to select that unique Perk and picked one [Champion] Perk I wanted.
> You gained the Perk: Unescapable Duel (very rare): The target of your Champion's Duel cannot flee from combat unless you lose a contested Ego test.
Back to the unique Perk choice. Pocket dimension? Blocked. Perk stealing? Blocked. A greatly improved {Erode Curse} that works faster, cheaper, and breaks the damn curse upon completion instead of grinding it away?
> You gained the Perk: Improved Erode Curse (unique): Your Erode Curse also uses excess SP. The erosion progress is doubled. When the cost to break the curse is 1 MP, it is automatically lifted.
There we go. Now I needed to break this damned {Stone Blood} curse. Where did I put my monster magic cores...
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[1] 3.58 Strength/Dexterity (temporary grandmaster Short Blades benefit) x 5.08 Skill x 3 Mana Strike x3 Soul Weapon x5.52 Assassinate x 3.76 backstab x1.5 enchantment x4 Death Blow x3 Champion's Valor x3 Critical