Author's Note: It appears that one chapter wasn't enough to contain Null's awesomeness, so I split it into two chapters. This chapter alone is a whopping 7000+ words! Enjoy.
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The smoke coming out of Plague is purplish in color. Everyone becomes on guard. None of them are idiots. They know that the smoke is most likely poisonous. Null wants to see what he is dealing with.
“Identify.”
PlagueInformation: Very proficient in spreading poisons and plagues.Level302 Health ???Mana ??? Strength ??? Dexterity ??? Vitality???Charisma???Intelligence???Wisdom???Luck???Attack???Defense???
Null sucks in a breath. Level 302? He's nearly 100 levels higher than Null!
'He could probably sneeze on me to kill me. I cannot allow any of his attacks to even touch me. Even with the cleric's buffs, getting hit by his attacks would most likely result in a one hit KO.' Null solemnly thinks.
“Do you think I'm afraid of some little smoke!?” Swordedge yells out rushing forward.
'That idiot!' Null and Cici both think.
Naturally, with Swordedge being a warrior and Plague being an alchemist, even with their level difference, Swordedge would have the slight advantage when it comes to pure combat. However, Plague is no idiot. Swordedge runs with his sword in hand, attempting to use his speed to attack Plague before he can do anything. Plague scoffs at Swordedge while raising his arm and aims his open palm at Swordedge.
There was a symbol drawn on his palm. This causes Null to lose all his concentration.
'A transmutation circle!?' Null thinks shocked.
Plague activates the circle. Swordedge is about to get hit by whatever that circle does.
'I really should have seen this sort of thing coming.' Laments Swordedge.
Null grabs Cici and runs towards Swordedge. When the circle glowed on Plague's palm, it shot out an orange colored spray. Unlike the spray the scorpion they had fought earlier, this shot in a wide arc. Swordedge runs back, panic evident on his face. He sees Null running forward into the attack.
'Why is he running towards the attack? Why did he take Cici with him? He must have a plan.' Thinks Swordedge.
He runs towards Null. The events from Plague holding out his palm to Null running for Cici and Swordedge took about 2 seconds. The spray was close. Null doesn't even want to touch any of his attacks.
'No choice then.'
Null pulls out a scroll from his sleeve. This is something he uses in case of emergencies.
“Art Materialization!”
A big metal wall materializes from the picture that he throws down.
Due to the use of Art Materialization, you will lose levels. The number of levels you lose will depend on the rarity of the materials brought to be real. The picture that you used has cost you 1 level. You can gain these levels back. The structure created using Art Materialization is unstable, and will turn back into paint depending on how high leveled the object is. The time until stability collapse of this object or objects is within 5 months.
Art Materialization not only depends on the rarity of the materials used, but also on how intricate the design being materialized is. Null materialized a big metal wall large enough to shield Cici, Swordedge, and himself. There was nothing intricate about that, and the materials is common, so he only lost 1 level.
“Oh, this is surprising. You can use Art Materialization. This means you have intermediate in painting. Not only are you an alchemist, but also a painter.” Plague says impressed. “However, that skill costs levels doesn't it? Let's see how many levels you have to spare!” He says in laughter.
He activates the circle on his palm again. This time, a liquid clear in color comes out. It impacts the wall of metal. There is a sizzling noise that is coming from the contact between the liquid and the wall.
Null gets a hopeless look. 'Shit! That's acid! Level 302 and knows the Transmutation Circle skills!? Might as well just give him an AK-47 and a nuke to complete the fucking set!'
The wall of metal was steadily growing thinner.
“Null, what do we do?” Cici asks worried.
“I- I don't know. He has the Transmutation Circle skills. I don't think we can beat him.” Null says depressed.
Swordedge who listened in says, “What are you talking about? Only those in power can use the Transmutation Circle skills. It would be impossible for him to acquire those skills. They are closely guarded after all. Even a level 600 person would find it near impossible to acquire those skills.
There are certain classes that can only activate a specific transmutation circle, and to actually find a way to bind those compatible transmutation circles isn't easy. He probably has that one transmutation circle, and that is considered impressive.”
“Yeah Null.” Cici continues where Swordedge left all. “A lot of high ranking techniques deal with transmutation circles in some way. Haven't you noticed the glowing circle on my staff when I buff and heal you? I was gifted that by the Ianuaria Church. To bind with it took me 3 years in-game.”
“I actually don't really look at you.”
“Not unless you're drawing me.” She says under her breath.
“What?”
“Nothing. Well, now that we got that out of the way, do you now have a plan? This wall won't last for long.”
“I will just keep throwing things at him until he gets tired. Swordedge will be the vanguard. Cici will take the rear. Any objections?”
“Nope.” Cici says.
“None.” Swordedge replies.
When the attack stops, the group of 3 run from the wall, which was dissolving. Null and Swordedge
rushed forward while Cici ran back. Null and Swordedge then split up, surrounding him on two sides. Plague wasn't concerned. If they enter that smoke, they will instantly become paralyzed. He knows right now, Swordedge can do nothing. Plague is all too familiar with Swordedge's techniques. Right now, he is waiting to see what Null will do.
Null then fired off his poisoned needles. The needles made contact with his clothes. That cloth armor was incredibly tough, and could only scratch his skin. This made Null ecstatic. Now he will be affected by the poison! Or so Null thinks.
“You call this poison?” Plague mocks while taking out the needles. “If this is the best you can do, I don't even have to worry about dodging.” He twirls a needle in his hand.
Plague obviously is not affected at all. Throughout Null's time in the dungeon, he has been collecting poisons from the monsters that he defeated. Though the monsters kept steadily getting stronger, which meant the poisons had less of an effect, they still affected the monsters in some way. This is the first time that Null's poison had failed to work at all.
“Tch.” Null says in frustration.
He pulls a string and unfurls his crossbow. He fires a shot. The crossbow has never failed him before. Plague then leisurely pulls up his other hand which has the exact same transmutation circle drawn on it, and produces a jelly type of liquid instantly. It looks like he had started preparing the techniques beforehand. While the arrow had made it through the liquid, that strange liquid had slowed the arrow down by a large margin. By the time it had made it to Plague, it was slow enough that he could grab it with his hands.
“Oh? Your gauntlets are pretty interesting. Where did you get them?” Plague asks interested.
'Dammit!' Null thinks. 'Even the crossbow doesn't work!'
Null didn't answer, but Plague didn't mind.
“When I kill you, I'll take them for myself. I've never seen anything like those gauntlets.” He says while looking at the arrow in his hand.
Null was about to take out some bombs to throw, but the smoke surrounding Plague started to spread to both Null and Swordedge. They both chose to retreat and regroup. They made it back to Cici.
'Swordedge can't attack with that smoke in the way, and I can't attack with my long ranged weapons.' Null's thinks hopeless.
Cici ponders something. “Hey Null, doesn't that smoke that's coming off of Plague look sort of familiar?”
“What do you me-” A lightbulb goes off in Null's head.
“Swordedge.” Null takes something out of his inventory. “Drink this. When you're done, go attack Plague.”
“I take it you have some sort of plan to deal with that smoke surrounding Plague?” Swordedge asks.
“Yes.”
“What if it fails?”
“Don't worry. I'll still be alive, so take comfort in the fact that your death won't be in vain.”
“...”
He takes the potion and runs towards Plague.
“Rushing to attack again even though you can't do anything?” Plague admonishes. “You warriors truly are foolish.”
The smoke surrounding Plague spreads out and thickens.
'I really hope this works.' Thinks Swordedge.
Surprising Plague was not only did Swordedge not slow down, he actually sped up. He made contact with the smoke. The poison was more powerful than the one that the Purple Striped Salamander produces, so it did numb Swordedge a little. Nonetheless, he kept running forward.
'What!? You mean that brat actually found the antidote to my Purple striped Salamander poison as well?' Plague thinks shocked. 'Looks like it wasn't just luck that he found a cure to my disease.'
Plague then starts to get serious. He fires the orange liquid from his palm. Swordedge nimbly dodges it by zigzagging from side to side. He finally makes it to Plague's side. Plague prepares a technique that spreads out a liquid poison all over his body, but its too late for him to get out of this without being injured. Swordedge had slashed at him 8 times. By the time Plague's poison had come out, Swordedge had already retreated. Swordedge waits for the technique to die down before he starts attacking again.
“You insolent...” Plague says through gritted teeth.
The purple smoke starts to disperse and he starts releasing a red smoke.
Null yells out, “Swordedge! Retreat!”
“Like I'll give you the chance!” Plague yells out. “He aims his palm at Swordedge. Null had fired his crossbow at Plague. He had no choice but to defend. This gave Swordedge the ample amount of time that he needed in order to retreat.
He spread the smoke throughout the area. While Plague may not be as fast as Swordedge, his poisons can still spread out pretty quickly. The poison cloud had already spread throughout the area, including where Null, Cici, and Swordedge are standing. Cici had no choice but to have to divert mana to healing both herself and Swordedge. As for Null...
“Cici, watch after Swordedge. I will handle it this time. I now know how to beat him.”
The red cloud had no affect on Null.
'Even the red-striped salamander's poison failed. His alchemy talent far surpasses mine when I was at that age.'
Null rushes forward. Because of the red poison fog covering the area, Cici can not spare any mana to healing Null in case he gets hurt. Plague once again raises his arm to attack. Null isn't as fast as Swordedge, so he opts to launch his crossbow to divert Plague's attacks. He then takes out a throwing knife. What is weird, is that this throwing knife is covered with the antidote to the Purple-striped salamander's poison. Seeing that Null is using a throwing knife, Plague doesn't even bother dodging. He figures it's one of Null's useless poisons.
The throwing knife makes contact with Plague and breaks through his skin. His eyes open wide.
“AAAH! What... Is this?”
He started getting racked with pain. Plague's health started falling rapidly. His agony was Null's delight.
'Heh. I knew it. There is no way he could use both the red and purple salamander's poison at the same time without suffering from adverse side effects, so he must have a way to apply and completely remove the antidotes and poisons in his body. The antidotes for both the red and purple salamanders make a poison if you mix them together.'
Plague quickly took out the knife and removed the knife's poison from his system. While this was going on, the red smoke that covered the area started to disappear. He looks pissed.
“You've forced my hand!” Plague says with rage.
Some doors open up, and a multitude of monsters come out. Instead of the inherent randomness associated with the monsters they they had fought before, the monster are actually marching and flying in formation.
'Oh fuck.' Null thinks. 'That's how he does it. He releases different pheromones to control them.'
“Um, Null...” Cici says worried.
“The plan doesn't change. We'll kill him, and then we'll deal with everything else.”
The monsters actually were a blessing in disguise. He can't control the poison fogs and control his monsters at the same time, so they can now fight without worrying about it.
“Swordedge, you're going to have to defend me. I have to focus on Plague, so I hope you can do it.”
“Of course I can do it!”
Null and Swordedge run forward. Swordedge prevents any monster from coming close to Null. The bee monsters fought in formation, making it very difficult to fight them. The bees, under the command of Plague, exploited any openings that showed. Null was also fighting them when he could. They had almost made it until a huge number of bees had blocked their path.
It takes all of Null's and Swordedge's concentration to focus on bees while the bees are attacking. While they are defending, Plague takes a potshot at Swordedge since he sees him as the bigger threat. He shoots a liquid orange in color at Swordedge. Swordedge saw it coming, but couldn't do anything about it. He tries to dodge it, but it still hits his back.
“AAAAAH!” Swordedge yells out.
“HAHAHAHA! How do you like it!?” Plague has a wide smile, taking delight in Swordedge's suffering. “This poison attacks the nerves, making them more sensitive. It's like you feel heat, cold, and needles all over your body at the same time, but you don't need me to explain that to you right!?”
Even a slight touch gives Swordedge unbearable pain. He's about to fall, but he stops himself.
“No. Until I kill you, I will not stop!”
Swordedge fights through the pain and keeps fighting the monsters. Even defending causes him an extreme amount of pain. His techniques have obviously suffered a set back. Some bees are about to stab into Swordedge. Before they are able to, Null throws a smoke bomb. Not only does it make it so that Plague couldn't see them, it also had the unintentional affect of greatly calming the bees down and making them fall asleep.
With that done, Null pulls out his gauntlets and runs towards Plague. Plague, however was calm. Even though that smoke bomb did a lot, there was something Null didn't account for. The smoke bomb that he threw only worked in the general vicinity of Null and Swordedge. Cici was not able to be masked by the smoke's affects. When Null was almost within reach, he hears Plague say something.
“That cleric... It's thanks to her that you both can keep up with me. If I kill her now...”
'No!'
Null rushes back to Cici's location.
The bees that weren't hit with the smoke start rushing towards Cici. She sees the bees coming and does a technique. The bees launch their stingers at Cici. She had a panicked look at first, but then right before the stinger hit, she smirked. Her health fell by 40%. Plague then saw his own health fall. There was nothing that hit him. It couldn't have been Null or Swordedge, as they are preoccupied at the moment. His face shows shock.
“Confused?”
Plague hears who is talking to him. It was that unassuming cleric. How in the world did she even manage to hurt him?
“My subclass is Curse Shaman. Not only can I do buffs, but I can also do curses. I had long ago knew that you would eventually attack me, so I prepared accordingly. The curse I had hit you with is called Mutually Assured Destruction. It will give out damage equal to the damage you put on me. Given that I'm also a cleric, I can also heal my wounds. How about you?” Cici smirks appearing very confident.
In actuality though, this was a bluff. Though she did use the technique Mutually Assured Destruction, the damage given to the enemy is only equal to a quarter of the damage dealt, and this is when the skill is at intermediate. Also, while the technique is in effect, healing techniques and health potions will not work. Cici feels that Plague doesn't need to know this though.
“Yes, yes. A frightening technique.” Plague says. “However, I am well aware on how much damage my bees are capable of dealing. Looking at the amount of health I lost, it should only be a quarter of the amount dealt to you. Am I right?”
Cici's face stiffens. This causes Plague to smile wide.
“Hahahaha!” Plague gives a mirthful laugh. “You should learn to work on your bluffs more.”
The bees are now ready to deal a killing blow to Cici. A quarter of her health being dealt damage to Plague? He feels that that is nothing. As long as she's out of the picture, he could easily kill Null and Swordedge at his leisure. When the stingers were about to launch, Swordedge comes out of the smoke and attacks Plague throwing off his control by just a little. Some of the stingers are still able to launch at Cici.
When she is about to get hit, she resigns herself to her fate when Null comes in front of her. Before the stingers had hit, Null threw out the smoke bombs so that the bees could not draw near or see them. Null shields Cici with his body, taking the blows for himself.
“Null!”
Null had started falling over and Cici caught him. She had tears in her eyes.
“You- You actually saved me.” She said smiling with tears.
“Cleric...”
“Yes Null?” She says gently.
Because of Null falling over, Cici was currently hugging him. It looked like they were having a moment, but in actuality...
“Heal me you idiot!”
“Huh? Oh. Oh yeah.”
Null started to slowly get healed. Unknown to Cici, Null's face was red. This is the first time a girl has ever hugged him. Even Keimi before their falling out had never hugged him. Null doesn't know how to feel about this. When she is finished, Null quickly gets off of her.
“Null, thank you.” Cici says, really meaning it.
“I only did it so we could stand a chance against Plague.” Null says.
He gives Cici some smoke bombs, then he runs off towards Plague.
'At the rate we're going we're going to lose. This next move will most likely put me out of commission.' Null thinks.
There were other monsters there that weren't affected by the smoke. They tried to block Null's way, but Null nimbly dodged them. The area that was surrounding Plague had the smoke disappear. Null had given his remaining smoke bombs to Cici, so he is now out of smoke bombs.
Swordedge is barely holding on. He hasn't gotten a good hit on Plague ever since he had been poisoned. Swordedge sees Null coming and tries to hold off Plague as best as he could. A bee stinger shoots towards Swordedge's back. He was so focused on Plague and Null that he didn't notice it. Swordedge didn't know that it was the smoke that was originally keeping his back safe. Now that it had cleared, his back was now open to attack. Multiple stingers penetrated Swordedge's back. It was so much that he nearly passed out from the pain, but he still kept standing.
“You look tired. Don't you want to just die already and save yourself from the pain?” Plague asks Swordedge.
“As long as you live, I shall never die! I shall never tire!” Swordedge says indignant.
“AAAAAH!” Swordedge does his glowing sword technique, pouring all of his remaining mana into it. Plague managed to block it, but it left him open for attack. Unfortunately, Swordedge exhausted, couldn't follow up and he had passed out. The strain on his body was just too much. However, Null had made it there.
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'This is the move that will end this!' Null thinks. He pours most of his remaining mana into his hand. The mana starts rotating around his palm.
“Hmph. You think I'm so easy to defeat!? You're naive!” Yells out Plague.
Plague prepares his move as well. It's his most powerful paralyzing poison. He tosses it out at the same time Null arrives.
Null is hit, but he had no choice. Thanks to Swordedge making an opening from before, he will never get another chance.
'Flinch!' Null yells out in his mind.
Plague was about to kill him, but Flinch had made him stop for a tiny flash of a second. Because Plague's level is so much higher than Null's, Flinch didn't do much. However, it was still enough for what Null had to do. That mana he had in his palm struck out in the center of his chest. Since the mana hearts of humans are small, trying to aim solely for that would be nearly impossible with Null's present level of skill, but if he were to pour all of his mana into his palm to increase the surface area of his attack, he can hit it.
The palm infused with mana makes contact. It creates a shock wave that comes into Plague's chest and out of his back. Plague's mana system became out of wack and he had noticed.
“What did you do to me!?” Plague yells out.
Null didn't answer. The poison that Plague had given him is about to take effect. Null furiously slashed at him with his gauntlets. The final strike was a punch that resulted in another shock wave punch. The blades on his gauntlets impaled Plague. Plague then turned gray and disappeared. Null then fell boneless to the ground.
'All that and not a single bee pun.' Null thinks disappointed.
You have leveled up.
You have leveled up.
You have leveled up.
You have leveled up.
...
Due to the actions of not only finding a cure, but also defeating the man responsible for the disease that spread, you have gained the title Savior of Panford. You have reached maximum intimacy with all residents of Panford. Stores in Panford will sell things to you at a least a 60% discount. People of Panford will revere you and speak about you as if you were a legend. They will become loyal to you and never betray you. You could kick puppies and baby seals in front of them and they wouldn't care.
Fame increased by 87 points.
Null had gained 14 levels, 87 points of Fame, and a title, yet when Null read everything, he got an annoyed look on his face.
'Well I know where I'm not going when I get out of here.' Null thinks. 'I didn't even want to do this mission in the first place. I don't need to go back to town to get a reward if I have to deal with people coming at me. Guess I'll go wander until I find another town. I can kick puppies and baby seals and they won't care? I'm not even beautiful. That's a weird thing to have.'
He hears rapid footsteps approaching from behind him. Cici runs over smiling.
“You did it! You actually did it! Null, you are just too amazing! How are you so amazing!?” Cici yells excited.
She sits down and lays Null's head in her lap. Null wants to yell out no or run away, but there's nothing he can do while being paralyzed. When she lays his head in her lap, she starts rubbing his head.
“Null. I was wrong. I regret ever being antagonistic towards you. I still remember the day when we had first met. You were always by yourself never talking to anyone. Since you had gotten the award for best in Mathematics and Chemistry, I had assumed that you never talking to people was because you thought you were better than everyone else.
Now I know that in actuality, its the opposite. Because of the people around you, you chose to close yourself off. You've been hurt too many times. So now I'm asking, for you to become my friend. After that, if you feel like having friends is too much, then you can choose to do whatever you want.”
Null squints. There is no way some pretty sounding words will ever make him become friends with a person. He has also dealt with people who said pretty sounding words only for them to betray him in the end. He's not even bothering with Cici at the moment. He's wondering how he's going to get out of that area without running into the citizens of Panford. If even one person sees him, that person will alert the others to Null's location.
“We should heal Swordedge and get out of here.” Cici tells Null.
They wait a while before Null gets enough control for him to be able to move his arms. He uses the scant few ingredients he has left to make cure for both himself and Swordedge. He finds it in around 4 hours. Null first finds a cure for Swordedge. He figures that Swordedge must be in unbearable pain. Afterwards, he tries to find a cure for himself. Null finds something that will alleviate the paralysis a little, but he will still have to wait in order to make a full recovery.
Null finally recovered where he can talk somewhat. “Cleric... Dump me... In a ditch... Cover me... With leaves... Then go... I'll recover... Eventually.”
Cici shakes her head. “No can do. We're going back to the cabin and wait for you to recuperate.”
Null shakes his head rapidly. “No! Got... Annoying... Title... Don't let... Me go... To town.”
“I'm sorry Null, but I'm going to have to ignore that.”
“Bitch... Bitch... Bitch... Bitch...”
***************
It didn't take long for Swordedge to wake up. When Cici told him how Null had killed Plague, Swordedge kept praising Null much to his annoyance. With that done, they all go towards the drops and divide them among themselves.
Swordedge received the best sword among the drops, though it still wasn't as good as the sword he currently has on him. He decided that having a spare sword was all that he needed. He reasoned that if it wasn't for Null and Cici, he would've eventually died, so he decided to give them the rest of the drops.
Cici got a more powerful staff, a ring that replenishes mana faster, and half of the gold that dropped. Everything else went to Null. Null wanted them both to have more because he felt they deserved more, but they didn't change their minds. There was one drop in particular that he was happy to get. It was Plague's poison book. Now Null has a lot of poisons he can add to his arsenal.
Swordedge had gotten the poison out of his system, but Null will need a lot more time. Cici, with Swordedge's help, puts Null on her back. Null had tried vehemently to push her away or to at least settle for being held by Swordedge, but Cici did that annoying skill of lowering his stats so that coupled with his paralysis, Null had no choice but to stay put. They walk towards the portal that had opened when Null had killed Plague. It leads towards the entrance of the cave.
***********
There's a group of people currently heading towards the cave. One of the trackers in the group had found the cave Plague is currently hiding in. The group number at about 200, and consist of different professions. They are mostly made of warriors. There are also a few mages and clerics. Its like there are actually 2 groups of people. The mages and clerics had grouped together because they feel they can't deal with the warriors' arrogant and brash attitude.
“Man. I can't wait to chop some monsters up with my sword! It's been a while since its tasted blood!”
“I'll kill Plague with a single blow! I dare anyone here to match me!”
“Well I'll kill more monsters than anyone.”
“Hopefully Plague didn't run away.”
“Ha! Even if he did, our trackers will definitely find him!”
“Him run away? He's so arrogant about his potions, he thinks he's invincible. Fat chance he'll run away.”
One of the trackers then says, “It appears that there are 3 others who came through here as well. One of them belongs Swordedge. The others, according to Loretalon, are Null and Cici. Null is the one who found the cure for Plague's disease and the one who was supposed to meet us in town. Cici is a cleric with amazing skill. She has intermediate in her clerical mastery. If it wasn't for her, more than half of Panford would've died.”
“Hmph.” One of the warriors scoffs. “How arrogant! Swordedge came here by himself far earlier than Null and Cici. Even though he was idiotic to go there by himself, he is still powerful, so he can at least last a long time. However, the alchemist and cleric came by themselves?”
Loretalon didn't have the heart to tell the Qasburg force that Null was actually a librarian. If they were to know, they would have knocked some sense into Loretalon for letting both Null and Cici go by themselves.
“Only the two of them? Utter stupidity. A cleric and alchemist can do nothing by themselves no matter how high their level.”
The clerics and alchemists in the group take offense from that warrior's remark, but they don't say anything. They are used to the warriors dissing them until they need to be healed or cured. Then the clerics and alchemists turn into the best people in the world.
“Ah! I can see the cave entrance!” One of the warriors yells.
“Haha! Time to get our slaughter on!”
“I've been waiting for this!”
When they run into the cave, they see three people coming out. The warriors there recognize Swordedge who is one of those three people. Another person is actually piggybacking a ride on a beautiful cleric. This causes the people there to laugh. That must be the alchemist that was supposed to meet him in town. Serves him right for being arrogant, and he had ran away from the cave with his tail between his legs. Some of the warriors there think that the “alchemist” might actually now be afraid of the dungeon now. They hope they won't have to make him go inside the cave by force, but they'll do it if they have to.
“Ah sir! You've made it out alive!” One of the warriors there greets Swordedge.
Now with Swordedge there, no one would dare try talk bad about him.
“Yes. Fortunately I had Null and Cici to help me in time.” Swordedge says with praise.
Some of the people there smirk. If Null and Cici had made it over to where Swordedge was, that means that Swordedge didn't make it very far. After all, Null and Cici are only an “alchemist” and a cleric. How could they possibly get far?
“Sir, with you now with us, our victory is now guaranteed.”
“Do you need to prepare? How long until we head in sir? Do you need to recuperate?”
Swordedge then notices that the way they are talking to him is off.
He thinks, 'Ah I see. It's when I said that Null and Cici saved me. Who would ever expect a supposed alchemist and a cleric to ever make it far, much less to actually defeat Plague? I can't wait to see the reactions on their face.'
Swordedge then says, “Head in? What are you talking about?”
He plays confusion on his face.
Another warrior comes in and says, “We're here to defeat Plague remember? Has one of Plague's monsters done harm to you so that you can't think straight?”
Swordedge then gets a face that shows he understands. “Oooooh! Plague! Right, right. Oh there's no need to worry about that anymore.”
The Qasburg forces' faces show confusion. It has never been like Swordedge to give up. He will fight until the end. That's how he has gained everyone's respect.
One of top warriors there yells indignant, “We're just going to give up just like that!? I'm disappointed in you! Even if it were a level 400 monster, you would never back down! Plague must have damaged you with some sort of poison, because the old you would've never given up like that! Well we're going! I will carry on your legacy on how you used to be!”
Swordedge's face shows amusement. People see this and grow even more confused. Some of the sharper people there start putting two and two together. They feel that there is no way the three of them could go through the dungeons by themselves and defeat Plague.
Swordedge says to the indignant warrior, “Well you want to go and kill Plague? Well I find that for you it will be impossible to do that. Even if all of us wanted to go and kill Plague right now, it will be impossible. Hell, even if the entire country went to try and kill Plague right now, it will be impossible.”
“I'll show you! I'll let everyone here know who will kill Plague! AAAAAAH!” He runs towards the cave. Some of the dumber warriors run off with him. Cici just starts laughing. Swordedge laughs with her. Null was just relieved that his lower body was paralyzed. Otherwise, he would have gotten an erection from being on Cici's back. How embarrassing would that be?
One of the mages comes up to Swordedge and says, “Sir. Did you actually defeat Plague?”
Swordedge shakes his head. This confuses everyone even more.
Swordedge points to Null and says, “It was actually him that had defeated and killed Plague. It was also him who had saved my life. I will not take the credit for something that I did not do.”
Null's eyes stare at Swordedge, wanting for him to disappear to the bottom of the ocean.
“He fought so valiantly!” Swordedge says.
“Shut up.” Null says calmly.
“When I thought it was over for us-”
“Shut up.” Null says annoyed.
“He fought with all he had and reached for victory!”
“Uuuugh.”
Swordedge tells everyone there about their time in the dungeon. He talks about how far he made it inside even while being infected with that disease. He then talks about how Cici and Null saved him, how Null's intelligence and battle prowess proved invaluable, and how fearless he is in the face of danger.
The more Swordedge talked about Null, the more that pathetic image of a loser who was slumped on the cleric's back disappeared. Now Null looked like a dazzling star. However, he was still slumped over on the cleric's back. No amount of prestige could make that not look terrible.
The clerics and alchemists were the ones who were the most amazed. They had surrounded Cici and Null asking them questions about their battles. Cici was more than happy to share her experiences. Null looked at them the same way he looked at everyone else, so naturally they were only asking Cici questions.
Since their main objective had been completed, people had decided to return to the Qasburg kingdom.
“Hey, shouldn't we get the people that had went inside the cave?” One warrior asks.
A tracker says, “I've already left dozens of messages, but they said they will not be deterred until they defeat Plague.”
“Didn't you tell them that Plague's already dead?”
“Yes, but they said that Swordedge's weakness is also infecting us, so they're ignoring us.”
Swordedge then says, “Ah, they'll be fine. You guys go back to Qasburg's capital. I have to go protect Loretalon, so we'll catch up.”
With that, Cici, Null, and Swordedge separate from the Qasburg force. Upon reaching Panford, Swordedge says his farewells to both of them, and they split again. Cici then takes Null to her cabin. It's on the outskirts of Panford, so as long as they're careful, they won't be able to run into any people.
********
“As you can see, I'm 100% better. Thank Ptah that Null had come.” An old lady says.
“That's good to know. You're the last patient. It now seems that everyone has made a full recovery.” Loretalon says with smiles.
“Does that mean you're leaving Panford?”
“Yes. With this done I can finally return to the capital.”
They say their farewells. Loretalon then leaves and heads towards the direction of Cici's cabin.
***********
It's been 3 days in-game since Null and Cici had returned. Null is nearly 100% better. No matter how much Null had pleaded, Cici refused to let him be. However, Null is now annoyed in a different way. She has been really helpful in the past few days. She knows that Null doesn't want to go to town due to the new title he has, so she went and brought him food.
She also took Null's items and sold them. She even recorded the moment she left the cabin to the moment she returned so that Null can see that she didn't cheat or steal from him. Null would never trust anyone to sell his items, but due to his paralysis, Cici knew that Null wouldn't be able to attack him for touching his stuff. Due to Cici knowing how to deal with people, Null had gotten a lot more money than he would have if he had gone by himself before he had gotten his title.
Null doesn't like the new nicer Cici. It makes Null uncomfortable when people show him kindness. In his experience, that means that they are planning something.
Null is about to head out. Cici had bought Null a Kakashi-like mask to cover his face. Right now he is looking at the book Mrs. Allensworth had given to him, trying to figure out how to find out clues on how to upgrade the transmutation circle skills. He then hears a knock on the door. Of course, Null being Null ignores it. It was Cici who was in the other room who opens the door.
“Oh Loretalon. What brings you here?” Cici says pleasantly surprised.
“I'm looking for Null. I figured if he wasn't here, he would no longer be in this area. I'm about to leave and he still hasn't come by to claim his reward.”
“That's because Null didn't want any of the citizens of Panford to see him.” Cici tells Loretalon.
“Haha! That explains it. All of the people I watched over couldn't stop talking about Null.”
“Yeah. When I went out to go to the stores, there were people constantly coming to me asking if I've seen Null.”
“I figured he wasn't the type to like fame.”
Null was ignoring them and was still focusing on the mystery book. Loretalon looks at the book Null was currently staring at. Loretalon's face then shows shock.
“My goodness! In all my years, I have never seen a transmutation circle this advanced!” Loretalon says surprised.
Null looks up with wide eyes.
“Transmutation circle?” Null asks.
“Yes.” Loretalon goes to Null and points at the circle design on the top of the book. “This is a transmutation circle. What is something like this used for?”
“I don't know. It was just something on the book that I received.” Null says.
'A transmutation circle!? This was a transmutation circle!? It's been in my face in front of me the whole time!? I am an idiot.' Null thinks to himself. 'According to what Cici and Swordedge had said before, I would need to bind the transmutation circle to myself. That's only if I didn't have the transmutation circle skills. With Transmutation Circle Activation, I do not have to worry about bindings or whatnot.
I can activate or deactivate all transmutation circles at will. What a broken skill. Well it did require me to get intermediate in 5 classes. I can't show that I know the skill. I'll wait until I'm a considerable distance away from anyone before I activate the skill.'
Null actually gets happy now that he knows his next move. His face shows satisfaction. Cici doesn't know what brought about Null's change in mood, but she's happy for him.
“Here is the reward that I wanted to give you.” Loretalon tells him.
He takes a book out of his inventory and gives it to Null.
“This is a potion book which teaches you how to make advanced potions. It took me many years to fill it out. I hope that it will be of use to you.”
This makes Null even happier.
'First I got the poison book from Plague, the potion book from Loretalon, and I finally figured out my next move when it comes to the transmutation circles! I feel like dancing! I'll do it when I'm alone.'
“I will be heading back now. Thank you both for saving Panford and defeating Plague. If it wasn't for you, who knows how many towns would have fallen?”
He says his farewells and leaves. Null and Cici head out as well.
When they leave the cabin, Null tells Cici, “Remember our deal?”
She sighs. “Yes Null, I remember it. Can you at least wait until we leave Panford before we go our separate ways?”
Null thinks about what to do. 'Well, she has stayed true to her word so far, and she even helped me clear a dungeon. It's the least I can do.'
Null nods. When they finally make it out of Panford, they hear rustling in the bushes. Null had noticed that he was there the whole time.
“So you've finally come? HAHAHAHAHA! I've finally found you! I got tired of waiting!”
A group of people come out. It's Potion Commotion.
The leader has his arms crossed. He's wearing a profound robe, with a profound hairstyle. He has his arms in his sleeves. It's none other than TangSanLinleyBaruchYunCheChuFeng, or Schizo for short.
'God dammit. Can this damn Panford arc just end already?' Thinks Null.
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Author's Note: Don't touch that address bar! There's more coming your way! Feed my children!