Judar Outpost,
Outlands, Serisis.
10:30 a.m. 16 th Banem 1092.
Judar Outpost was a small barrack/fortress located at a small settlement on the Outlands border. Adventurers and soldiers with missions in the Outlands usually stopped by this post for resupply and rest before venturing into the dangerous lands.
Currently, a terse silence hung over a room in a private quarter as a skinny lycan shaman examined the massive orc who laid on a bearskin rug. Rudega and Ragnaf stood to the side with complicated expressions, while Chu Ling and two commanders stood next to the shaman.
While everyone waited with bated breath, the shaman finally finished his examination and looked up at Ragnaf with a grave expression. “When was he poisoned?”
“Two nights ago,” Ragnaf responded, his eyes dark. “Can you cure it?”
The shaman shook his head. “If you had arrived a few hours ago, maybe, but I’m afraid it’s too late.”
“What?” Rudega trembled, unable to keep calm. Only Durst could prevent an all-out war. The orc’s credibility was such that his one word was equivalent to a thousand of Rudega’s platitudes. Without Durst, Rudega knew he had no way of convincing the orcs they were being manipulated. “How about a priest? Surely a healing spell can cure this?”
The shaman once again shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. This is not an injury but poison. Only the dispel spell can erase it. However, this strand of poison,” he muttered as he cast a pensive look at Durst, “I’m afraid only a grandmaster poison expert can dispel it. It’s a sinister virus that mimics the infected’s blood. My dispel level is too low to differentiate between the real blood and infected blood. Worst case scenario, I might end up killing him if I cast dispel on him right now.”
Despair colored Rudega’s eyes as he slumped to the ground and buried his head in his hands. “What do we do now? He is our only hope of turning this mess around.”
A heavy silence hung in the room as no one could find the right words to say. Chu Ling and her commanders did not know these people well enough to start offering platitudes, and the shaman did not have any good news to share, so he kept his mouth shut and waited for his prompt to leave.
At this moment, however, Ragnaf’s voice suddenly cut through the silence. “How long does he have left?”
The shaman’s eyes brightened, glad he finally had something that could at least be construed as a bit of good news. “An orc’s regenerative abilities are truly extraordinary,” the shaman praised. “He is rapidly replenishing the blood cells eating up by the virus and healing his organs almost as fast as the poison is spreading. That is the only reason he is still alive, as well as why he’s still in a coma. His body has shut down to conserve its resources for this fight. At the current rate, I’d say he has just over one month left – two at the most.”
“Two months,” Ragnaf muttered. “That should be enough time. I’ll find someone who can heal him within that period.” The orc’s gaze hardened as he gazed at the bed-ridden Durst. “This is no way for a proud orc to die.”
Ragnaf turned and was about to leave the room to begin his search, but Chu Ling hastily called him back. The orc paused, confused, and looked at the princess, wondering what she wanted.
Chu Ling let out a sigh, recognizing the desperation in Ragnaf’s eyes. Two months. Did he want to find a Grandmaster Poison expert in two months? In Serisis of all places. That was a fool’s errand if there ever was one. She usually would not have cared and let the orc do whatever he wanted, but after hearing their story from Rudega, she could not help but sympathize with their plight.
The Summoned had manipulated their clans to start a war, all so they could swoop in later and eat up the spoils. The Summoned had also significantly damaged the fragile ecosystem in Serisis, almost causing a civil war in the process. Thankfully, the worst outcome was prevented through the aid of Rosendun and the strange Summoned guild, Hopeful Maggots.
Perhaps it was because she too had experienced the ebb and flow of the waves left behind by the reckless Summoned, Chu Ling found herself wanting to help. “Hold on,” she said to Ragnaf, preventing him from going further. “We might not be able to help, but I know a guild that has a habit of performing miracles. Perhaps they might have a cure.”
“Really!?” Rudega shouted, unable to control the excitement in his eyes. This was what it meant to see the light at the end of a tunnel.
“I cannot guarantee 100%,” Chu Ling stated. “But, if there is one guild that should be able to do something, it’s them.”
Ragnaf paused, eyes flashing as he looked at the princess. “Who are they?”
An embarrassed smile tugged at the corner of Chu Ling’s lips as she said, “They’re called the Hopeful Maggots.”
Kover Dungeon,
Briarhoard, Rosendun.
10:45 a.m. 16 th Banem 1092.
The Kover Dungeon was an infamous high-level dungeon in Rosendun. It occupied a vast mountain range close to the northeast. This dungeon, which had risen after the ‘Moon Incident’ which saw a terrifying mask occupy the moon, contained a portal to the Netherworld – precisely, the Cambion plane of the netherworlds.
The portal regularly spat out low-level demons and creatures with the sole purpose of destroying everything they came across. Like most naturally formed dungeons, a small barrier prevented the demons from leaving their floors or dungeons. However, once the number of monsters surpassed a certain threshold, the barriers would break, and the monsters would spill out like a tidal wave into the world, destroying everything they came across.
This was the feared ‘Monster Tide,’ and every country tried their best to find and regulate dungeons to prevent this from happening.
The Kover Dungeon was especially notorious because of its high spawn rate. If the dungeon were not cleared at least once a week, a Monster Tide would erupt. Due to the increased risk, the Royal Family sent a permanent extermination request to the Adventurers’ Guild.
The rewards were mouth-watering, so many guilds took up the offer, but as one would expect, one guild had already begun clearing the dungeon by the time the others caught up.
Naturally, that guild was none other than the tyrannically famous Hopeful Maggots. Luckily, the Kover Dungeon was way too large and had far too many entrances for one guild to monopolize it, giving other guilds something to do. But it came as no surprise that most of the elite dangerous paths which had the best loot and most dangerous enemies had already been seized by the Maggots.
Typically, the Summoned would complain about how the Hopeful Maggots were being too unjust or unreasonable or selfish. But all thoughts of anger or protest died when they actually saw the guild in action.
The Maggots’ method of fighting was utterly different from other guilds. Most guilds relied on numbers and calling upon skills and magic to safely defeat an enemy. The Maggots, on the other hand, rarely used skills when fighting. They challenged their enemies with hair-raising real combat, only utilizing their skills as the finishing part of a combo or a heavy strike after breaking an enemy’s guard.
Unlike most other guilds, if a Maggot were given their weapon of choice in real life, they would be as deadly as professionals. This was as a result of Kashi’s mandate to prioritize actual combat over skills in training. It was also why there was an equal number of Summoned and Resident warriors in the guild. Most Summoned could not keep up with the harsh training and eventually quit.
The reason Kashi did this was for the latter stages. At the early levels, it was still okay to rely on skills to defeat enemies. However, aside from those massive enemies that were walking targets, most elite enemies near the end-game were small, human-sized monsters.
These types were quick, fast, and relied on real-combat with a blend of skills thrown in. Those people who were satisfied spamming their combat skills would be given a rude awakening when they became defenseless before rapid 12-hit combos.
This was the power of the Hopeful Maggots.
Surprisingly, today there was a massive crowd in one of the dungeon paths. This path, labeled ‘Death Road,’ contained the dungeon’s strongest elitist Cambions. The Cambions looked like red-skinned humans with bat wings and a long, scaly tail. Most guilds did not dare face these quick masters of death as the Cambions did not give the Summoned any time to bring out their skills before impaling them.
Which was why it was such a strange sight to see a single woman facing off against three Cambions with nothing but a bow in her hand. Cold aura oozed off the gorgeous woman, rendering her unapproachable. Those cold eyes tracked every movement in the hall as arrows shot out of her bowstring at impossible speeds.
The arrows’ path were insidious and cruel, repeatedly striking the Cambion’s vital parts despite their attempts to dodge or escape. How could they? In the time it would take a regular archer to shoot one arrow, this woman would have accurately shot several dozen. Worse yet, these arrows were systematically released to force the prey to the desired position before finishing them off.
The Cambions had never been so distressed in their lifetime. If any other guild had come, they would have been able to play them to death. Countless others had fallen to their speed and illusion techniques, but this woman rendered their efforts mute.
Speed? Her arrows were exponentially faster.
Illusions? Nothing seemed to work on her. They could not be sure, but it seemed to have something to do with the Nespian Tiger sat next to her. Its grey eyes never left them despite how many illusionary figures they sent out to confuse the archer.
The peanut gallery swallowed hard as they stared at the indomitable archer. They all knew this woman’s identity. She was perhaps the most famous person in Rosendun: Leila Lightwood, vice-guildmaster of the Hopeful Maggots.
As they watched Leila effortlessly toy with the Cambions, the gallery could not help but wonder. If this was the vice-guildmaster, then just how strong was Kashi?
Bzzzz!
At this moment, a soft buzzing sound came from the Nespian Tiger, Hogosha.
“Who is it?” Leila asked.
Hogosha growled as it looked at the rink on the ground. It infused mana into its claw and tapped the device. Moments later, it looked at Leila with surprise and reported, “It is from Serisis, master. From Princess Chu Ling.”
“Chu Ling?” Leila murmured. “Did something happen?” This was a crucial time for Serisis and Rosendun. So much was riding on their agreement, and neither party could afford any mishaps. As a result, she did not dare to leave the phone ringing.
Leila put down her bow and looked at the Cambion elites. Her cold gaze was akin to the scythe of the grim reaper. Without being told, the Cambions descended and warily looked at her. “That should have been enough for you to understand my ability,” Leila said, her gaze never leaving their eyes. “You have two options. Surrender or Die.”
The spectating adventurers fell into deep silence and then erupted in a cacophony of shouts of disbelief. That’s right. While other guilds were focused on exterminating the monster, the Hopeful Maggots were considering recruiting some of the stronger demons into their midst.
Well, recruitment is too generous a word. After all, they were still demons at the end of the day and could not be trusted. It was more like forced servitude with great benefits. Like the actual demons they were, Cambions loved their own life before anything like pride or loyalty.
They immediately agreed to surrender, believing they would always get a chance to play these guys to death later on and steal the guild’s resources for themselves.
Unfortunately, that delusion was bound never to be a reality.
Leila waved her hand, and a Maggot walked out from the crowd and handed a massive book to each demon. The demons were confused at first, but their eyes went wide in shock upon opening it and reading its contents.
This was a contract! And not just any contract. It was a blood contract overseen by both the god of merchants and the high devil Beelzebub. If either party reneged on the statutes in the contract, they would immediately be struck by divine lightning, and their souls would not return to the circle but sent to Beelzebub.
This contract was exceedingly vicious, and the more they read it, the greater the demons’ headache grew . Unlike those low-level contracts with a lot of vagueness that were open to interpretation, this contract was specific – so specific that it felt like the drafter had thought of every single possibility and added them to the contract, hence why it was so thick.
The Cambion demons looked at each other in despair as they signed their lives away to the Hopeful Maggots. However, at the same time, a part of them was excited. A guild that could create a contract strong enough to be blessed by both a god and a demon was certainly not weak. Perhaps this would turn out for the best.
Leila was pleased with the despair she initially saw in the Cambions’ eyes. This showed that the contract was even more effective than she initially thought. Hmm, she would have to later thank Miote for drafting the first copy.
With the matter of the demons taken care of, Leila finally picked up the rink and answered the call.
As expected, Chu Ling’s energetic voice immediately came through, “Hey, Leila-chan, I have a favor to ask...”
Leila patiently listened to Chu Ling’s report on the situation in Daggerfall , as well as the status of Durst, Rudega, and Farvulia. The gears began to spin in the young lady’s head as she reflexively began to ponder how to utilize the situation to benefit the Hopeful Maggots.
Leila soon arrived at a rough outline for how she would like to play this out. However, this case was on a much grander scale than usual, so she decided to contact the irresponsible Guildmaster. Also, there was the matter of the poison. Although Leila was confident she could find someone in the country strong enough to cure the poison, she was not sure she could do so in the brief timeframe.
Compared to her conventional searching methods, Leila was sure that the unreasonable Kashi would somehow find a miracle to solve the situation. A slight smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she recalled the sight of a red-haired warrior staring at a Lich’s domain packed with dozens of undead dragons and thousands of undead nights, and unreasonably declaring, “It’ll work out somehow,” as he rushed at the horde.
What was worse was that it did work out somehow. At the time, Razznik’s excessive damage managed to accidentally destroy a mountain that secretly contained the Lich King’s phylactery. With the Lich’s soul exposed, the then-named Aileera only needed a thunderbolt spell to destroy it, bringing an end to the Lich and, in turn, the army under its control.
Leila, or rather Adachi Ayumi, inwardly smiled as she realized just how much she had changed since she first met Suzuki, and then Razznik and finally Suzuki. Each man had added some color to her black and white world. As someone raised with endless responsibilities, she initially had a drab outlook on the world, one consisting solely of what would be profitable and what wasn’t. Her interactions with people were exclusively measured on how much impact they would potentially have in her future.
That was until she met Suzuki.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Leila recalled the panic when the famed ‘Club Destroyer’ first visited the Archery Training Center, claiming he was there to learn. Some rowdy boys had gone up to ‘teach him a lesson,’ but within seconds, it was the boys who had their heads planted in the ground.
That unruly young man then approached her and said, “I heard you are the best here. I am only interested in learning from the best. What do I have to do to get you to teach me?”
At the time, Ayumi had assumed this youth was here to show off his strength in front of her and nonchalantly stated, “Clean the dojo for a month.”
“A month is too long,” Suzuki complained. Just when Ayumi was about to sneer, he added, “I will be everyone’s gopher for a week. Cleaning, fetching drink, wiping sweat, whatever. If I do this for a week, it should be enough, right?”
“Do what you want,” Ayumi dismissively replied. She knew many nutcase fans in this dojo wanted to get close to her. This unruly youth who thought he could solve everything with strength would soon face a rude awakening. All she had to do was wait until he lashed out at someone, and she would kick him out.
As expected, only thirty minutes later, there were shouts, and the dojo’s trainees quickly gathered around Suzuki, who was squatting on the floor, his hair sopping wet. Apparently, someone had spilled something on the floor. When he went to clean it up, someone else ‘accidentally’ poured water all over him.
That was also the first moment that Ayumi truly got interested in Suzuki as a person. That was because while he had his head down, the young woman felt her skin crawl from the dense killing intent billowing out of him. These children who had never faced anything dangerous were not sensitive to this pressure. But her father, as an ex-military man, had ensured she was exposed to killing intent from a young age so she would be able to tell if someone was targeting her.
However, what Ayumi found truly horrendous was the fact that Suzuki’s killing intent was on par with those ex-military bodyguards and mercenaries who had taken countless lives. Her father had said that only two people were able to cultivate such dense killing intent. Those who had forged a river of blood with their hands, and the mentally, most likely, criminally insane.
While Ayumi was in the process of trying to determine which of the two the youth was, Suzuki’s killing intent slowly but surely receded, and he finally raised his head. Ayumi looked into the indifferent eyes that held no trace of the anger he should be holding and shivered.
The young lady was sure that if this youth went berserk, he was perfectly capable of slaughtering everyone in this room, and it would not result in the slightest wrinkle in his face.
Typically, Ayumi would have reported such a dangerous existence to her father right away. What would happen afterward would depend on the investigation of her dad’s people.
But maybe it was because Ayumi was at the height of her teenage years and beginning to feel a bit rebellious. Or perhaps it was the inevitable allure of danger toward young teens. For whatever reason, she decided not to report this case and see how it turned out.
Over the following week, just as she expected, Suzuki was forced to endure all sorts of humiliation and ridicule over his gopher role. Countless times, she thought he had finally lost it and would retaliate, but he endured all the way, up until the last day.
Standing before the stoic Ayumi, Suzuki had calmly asked, “I fulfilled your condition. You will not go back on your word, will you?”
“An Adachi never goes back on her words,” Ayumi flatly replied, irritated that this youth dared to question her integrity.
“That’s good then,” Suzuki stated. “Let’s start right now.”
Before Ayumi could get another word in, a group of boys came over and ‘accidentally’ poured their water bottles over Suzuki. One of them smirked as the droplets fell to the floor and mocked Suzuki, “Clean that up, brat.”
However, unlike their previous encounters, Suzuki suddenly turned to glare at them and said in a low, almost growl-like tone, “Fuck off!”
“This shit. Know your place!” A youth yelled, and forgetting Suzuki’s reputation, threw a punch at him. Contrary to expectations, Suzuki did not dodge and got a solid hit on his cheek, causing him to crumple to the floor. The child was surprised but then excitedly yelled, “The legends are only so-so.” His friends immediately joined him to kick the downed Suzuki.
However, after about ten seconds of beatdown, Suzuki suddenly rolled away and got to his feet. His body was littered with bruises, but the nonchalant expression in his eyes made everyone feel cold. Did this guy not feel pain.
“Four kicks from you. Seven from you. A punch and ten kicks from you,” Suzuki coldly narrated and then inspected his body. “One cracked rib, a broken finger, and multiple swelling on my arms and face.” The young man said as if speaking about someone else’s body. The coldness deepened as a pressure cold enough that even the normal teenagers could feel it emanated from the young man. The teenagers’ hearts leaped to their throats as they felt a deep sense of fear like they had been locked onto by a Shura. “This counts as assault, right? Whatever I do from now on is in self-defense.”
What followed was a brutal scene so intense, Ayumi had mentally blocked it from her memory. The only thing she recalled was the indifference in Suzuki’s bloodstained face as he stood among the ‘corpses.’
The situation had nearly caused a major scandal, but because the school wanted to sweep the issue under the rug, Suzuki only got community service for a month as his punishment. The people Suzuki beat up were children of some influential figures, and if the story came out that their children were bullying a child and got beat up in return, their reputations would take a huge hit.
Of course, the main reason the parents backed off was that Suzuki had the bruises to prove he had taken a beating. No court would back them if the situation went public.
Ayumi, seeing how things turned out, could not help but hold some admiration for Suzuki. He was not a reckless fool but was smart enough to ensure the blowback was manageable. However, she had never met someone with that much strength who could sit back and take so much humiliation. Furthermore, she recalled the callous manner in which he counted out his injuries. No average person could treat their bodies that way.
It was almost like Suzuki did not care about himself as much as he did not care about others.
This was why the first thing Ayumi said to him after meeting him for training the next day was, “Do you want to die?”
At that time, Suzuki’s answer—she needed close to a year before she finally understood what he meant.
“Leila-chan?” Chu Ling’s voice broke through the rink, pulling Leila out of her thoughts.
The wisben shook her head and let out a wry smile. Was she having flashbacks because she was close to seeing that unruly youth again? Leila sighed and then said, “Give me a moment, Ling-san. I need to consult our Guildmaster. If anyone can help, it’ll be him.”
“Oh? The elusive Guildmaster,” Chu Ling praised. “I really want to meet him. He should be enough for me to have a satisfying fight, right?”
“Of course,” Leila replied, not wishing to break this feisty princess’ heart. Kashi could do that on his own whenever they met. “Please excuse me a moment.”
“Sure. Let me know the result.”
Leila nodded and then cut the call. She then once again injected her mana into the rink and mentally chose the target she wished to call. Seconds later, a Rink buzzed in a forest several kilometers away.
Lymar Village,
Kirkcour Woods, Rosendun.
11:00 a.m. 16 th Banem 1092.
Kashi sighed as he gazed at the blood cocoon at the center of the formation. Even though he could sense the frankly frightening waves of mana flowing into that cocoon and was expectant of the final result, he felt bored just watching.
Just over a day had passed since the ritual started. Except for some slight pulsating now and then, nothing much had changed.
Kashi was reminded of the other cocoon in his world, and a slight panic grew in his heart. He looked at Drixali, who obediently stood next to him like a powerful bodyguard. “How much longer do you think this is going to take?”
Sensing Kashi’s fears, Drixali replied, “Do not worry, master. This child’s evolution is different from that of the one inside you. Her bloodline is… It is on a level even I do not dare to dream of. That is why her transformation is taking so long. This child’s transformation should be complete in an hour or less. However, you will need to connect your bloodline with his before then, so please prepare yourself.”
Kashi was about to scold Drixali for once again calling him ‘master,’ but at that time, his rink suddenly buzzed.
“You have people who call you?” A cold voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
“Hmph, I knew you would pop out at this timing,” Kashi victoriously snorted as he turned to look over his shoulder. However, to his surprise, there was nobody there.
Suddenly, a voice whispered in his ear, “I’m over here.”
Kashi nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned around again and saw Shadow standing in front of him with a smug smile. With a resentful glare, he asked, “What was that?”
“Ventriloquism,” Shadow replied. “It’s a pretty useful skill, don’t you think?”
“Stop learning useless things,” Kashi shot back, but even he felt admiration for the skill. He had been completely fooled. Hmm, maybe he should look into learning that skill sometime.
Shadow sighed when he saw the greed in the daeben’s eyes. This freak would probably really learn this skill, and what’s worse, he might even get better at it than Shadow himself. Choosing to change the topic, the assassin looked at the orb in the daeben’s hand and asked, “Who’s calling?”
“Oh, yeah, almost forgot,” Kahsi murmured as he injected his mana into the rink and tapped on it. “Oh? It looks like it’s Leila.”
“Leila-san?” Shadow asked with surprise on his face. “Why would she be calling you of all people?”
“What do you mean why?” Kashi rebuked with a snort. “I’m the Guildmaster remember? Of course, she’ll consult with me when something happens,” Kashi boasted and waited for Shadow’s response so he could fire back his prepared defenses.
However, the assassin did not respond and only looked at Kashi with equal parts disdain, contempt, and ridicule. Consult him? Shadow would probably give Kashi a prize if he could even remember all the divisions working under him and had an idea of their current status. After suffering under that withering silence for five seconds, Kashi finally bowed his head and apologized, “I’m sorry. I won’t do that again.”
“Answer the call,” Shadow said, feeling a bit better after his initial despondence over Kashi’s unfair levels of talent.
Kashi answered the call and, under Shadow’s judgmental gaze, greeted his Vice-Guildmaster with solemn respect. “Leila, thank you for your hard work. It must have been hard on you handling everything on your own. How are things on your end?”
There was a brief silence, and then Kashi’s famous Vice-Guildmaster responded in an incredulous tone, “What drugs are you on?”
Shadow could not take it and immediately buried his face in his hands, but his shaking shoulders betrayed the laughter bubbling up his throat. What’s worse, Kashi looked at Drixali, and despite the demon’s straight face, he could see the centaur’s hands shaking as he struggled to hold in his amusement.
Kashi could not bear it any longer and immediately complained, “Hey can’t you treat your Guildmaster with more respect? I’m your superior, you know? How can you ask me if I’m on drugs?”
“Oh?” Kashi could almost see the mischievous glint appear in Leila’s usually cold eyes. “Great, Superior Guildmaster, would you like to hear this week’s report? I can even have some documents sent over so you can personally peruse them all. I promise you’ll really feel like a Guildmaster by the time you’re done.”
For the second time that day, Kashi bowed his head and apologized. “Please spare me. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
“Hmph, that’s better,” Leila chuckled, feeling good about herself. It always felt good to get one over Kashi, this cheat-like existence that made others’ hard work feel like a waste of time. Leila had no illusions that if it were based on strength alone, Kashi’s quest to unite the continent would have gone much faster. But because the daeben was focused on Unification and not Conquest, the guild was forced to take a long, roundabout route that required experts like herself and Miote and a lot of paperwork Kashi greatly resented.
“So, what’s up?” Kashi asked, losing the formal speech.
Leila found it much easier to deal with this careless Kashi and carefully reported everything Chu Ling told her.
Kashi’s brow rose. “Did you say poison?”
“Yes, why?”
“Nothing,” Kashi replied. “I should be able to cure it with Yggdrasil’s power.”
“Yggdrasil?”
“Oh yeah, I haven’t told you yet.” Kashi quickly gave a summary of his inner world, Yggdrasil, and its healing prowess. After accepting the centaurs into his inner world, Kashi knew there was no longer a point in keeping it secret. Besides, this was not something the Adjudicators could take from him.
“While that could work,” Kashi said, “I have a better idea.” The daeben looked at Shadow and said, “Hey, laugh time’s over. Please help me get that druid.”
Shadow immediately stopped laughing and peered into Kashi’s eyes. “You. You’re planning on doing something crazy again, aren’t you?”
“What? No,” Kashi denied as he casually took out several easels and canvases from his inventory. As he set them up as if about to open a painting gallery, he said, “I plan on taking it easy for the next month. No more fighting, I promise.”
Shadow looked at the canvasses and murmured, “You’re the craziest when you’re not fighting.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” Shadow replied with a shrug. “You said I should get the druid, right? I’m going,” he said as he turned to leave.
“Ah, Larsial’s with him right now, I believe,” Kashi called out to the retreating assassin. “Tell her to come too. She won’t want to miss this next part if it works out.”
Shadow hesitated but then nodded and disappeared down the path, muttering under his breath, “And he still dares to claim he’s not going to do something crazy.”
Leila, who had been listening, asked, “What are you planning?”
Kashi said, “You said he only has about a month or two to live, right? This means by the time he gets here, he could be on his last breaths, if he even makes it. What if we could make it so he could have arrived here in mere seconds rather than a month?”
“Are you talking about your dimension creation skill?” Leila asked. “I indeed factored that into my calculations. I was going to ask you to create a dimension that we could use as a relay station between Rosendun and Serisis. The only problem is your limited gate keys.”
“Rosendun and Serisis? You’re thinking too small, Lei-kun,” Kashi teased.
“Did you just shorten my name!? I told Suzuki and Razznik not to do that. Also, don’t call me kun!” Then as if recalling the meaning of Kashi’s sentence, Leila added, “Wait, what do you mean I’m thinking too small. If it were not for your limited keys, I would dream bigger too.” The lightbulb finally went off. “Wait, could it be… did you increase the number of keys in this short period?”
Kashi snorted. “How can that be possible. I’m not god. I haven’t even had time to paint new dimensions recently.”
“Then what’s your plan!?” Leila nearly roared, unable to handle the suspense any longer. This bastard was definitely enjoying teasing her.
Kashi pictured Leila’s frustrated frown and inwardly laughed, content with his payback for her earlier humiliation. “The reason I can only create a few keys is because those dimensions are not stable. If there are too many gates, the dimension might fall apart.”
“How do you know that?”
“Instinct,” Kashi replied. “During Razznik’s days, he visited many unstable dimensions. These dimensions usually could not handle too many people at once and usually had a very limited number of entries compared to Destia and the Netherworld. It just goes to show that my strength as a Dimension Painter is still too weak to create dimensions strong enough to handle multiple gates.”
Kashi took out a small painting of a street in Riven. “Compared to that, I can draw an unlimited number of portals to other locations in Destia. Why is that? Because Destia is stable. Going by that assumption, if I were to own a dimension as stable as Destia, perhaps, wouldn’t I be able to create just as many numbers of keys?”
Leila’s eyes went wide as she began to connect the dots. “Are you talking about?”
“Yes, my inner world,” Kashi replied with a glint in his eyes as he took out Rosario’s brush and twirled it around his fingers. “Care to see how many keys I can create?”
CRACKLE!
At that moment, the heavens suddenly rumbled, and divine lightning shattered the sky apart as if some divine being was expressing its displeasure… or was it excitement?
Whatever the case, Kashi looked up at the skies and let out a defiant grin. “Kami-samas, welcome to the show.” With that, the daeben slashed Rosario across a canvas.
Shadow and Larsial happened to come to the square at that moment with a bound Rayatha in tow. As they stared at the lightning rumbling above and the maniacal daeben surrounded by torrents of overbearing mana, Shadow shook his head and muttered, “Indeed, he’s scariest when he’s not fighting…”