The night had arrived, Kanbe had been healing up to recover from Malaskador’s attacks for a few hours, and Saida wasn’t anywhere around. But due to the help he had granted to Themeria, the Themerians chose to help Kanbe to find Moriarty.
The clue he had gotten from Themeria was that the FA and the Doryoh clan didn’t see eye to eye, but there were rumors of Moriarty and Joryujoh talking and doing some sort of deal that very same day. From then on, all the FA members that had been spotted had a few Doryoh clan members acting as lookouts.
Luckily for the hero, Themeria was well aware of where the Doryoh clan’s most renowned business was located. And so, Kanbe was guided to the Doryubori and told that he would have to find something to get Magiro to cooperate with him.
But what they haven’t told Kanbe was what he was going to see, and smell, when going inside the Doryubori… Or how much it costed the entrance fee, even if it had an escort added to the price, as the entrance alone costed 70 copper coins.
70 copper coins was a 70% of a silver coin, and it was what a normal family of five paid for a week’s worth of food in Elstivia, which led to Kanbe getting worried about how everyone would look at him for wearing an armor and carrying a weapon.
But that’s when helping out Themeria paid off further, as he was given an office suit akin to one used for businessmen in Japan. A black office suit, with a white shirt and black necktie, black trousers, and black Oxford shoes.
With that suit, Kanbe entered inside the Doryubori without raising any suspicion. Even though he was accompanied by a rather cheerful and voluptuous elven girl, with green eyes, long blonde hair, a mole just below her eye. This girl was wearing a green summer dress which was slightly transparent (not enough to show what she was wearing below), green stockings, and green stiletto heels.
Once Kanbe was inside the Doryubori, he smelled a fragrant smell akin to lavender and aconite mixed together. It did relax him slightly, but Kanbe didn’t notice it due to the low concentration of the drug in the air.
As the hero was guided around the room, he looked around while seeking a proper table for him to sit down. He felt relaxed, yet his body wanted to sit down and enjoy some time talking with the escort that went besides him, and the girl seemingly smelled nicer for Kanbe at that moment.
Kanbe was led to a table located near the stage, in which some swing music was being played by a band of humans and dwarves, while the girl looked happy. Once Kanbe sat down on a seat, the girl made sure to sit down beside him and hug his arm, but Kanbe was already affected by the air in the area to notice the clear attempts of the girl to seduce him.
On the stairs, Magiro was looking at Kanbe. The owner of the establishment, Magiro, was wearing a tuxedo jacket, a red dress shirt, a red bow tie, a black and red bow tie on his neck, and black snake leather shoes.
One of the grunts of the Doryoh clan walked near Magiro, with a worried look on his face, while Magiro kept his gaze on the hero.
“Sir, first Rei and now the original Hero skill holder? I am worried. They might be after the few journalists and politicians we have sent to the pit of acid with cement shoes.” The grunt said, while looking at Magiro.
“No. They are after Moriarty. Malaskador warned me after meeting Rei. The suit comes from Themeria, so the Tokugawa boy is friendly with Themeria, and Malaskador hates Themeria. Takuto also had connections with Themeria, maybe they are connected too, but Takuto never told us about Kanbe. After all, the patriarch has close ties with Takuto.” Magiro said, while keeping an eye on Kanbe.
“But what if they find out about our smuggling? Katas hates the Doryubori, it's an insult to him. It wouldn't be a surprise if he tried to use this to attack us.” The grunt said while sweating.
“Don't worry. If he tried that, most of his advisors would end up in prison for being regulars of the Doryubori. And our paper pushers make sure that most of the Doryubori is legal, and our smuggling is legal as long as they don't learn where we send the things and don't check the tax bill too much.” Magiro said confidently.
“But if we get under the scrutiny of the heroes…” The grunt said, pondering over the risk.
“Oh, yeah. We pull out another heavy move like the one Joryujoh did. But this time, we do it perfect. He had a wonderful idea, but lacked the prep work to pull it off perfectly. Next time? We make sure to get both Haseya and Rei as Doryubori escorts, and we get them properly messed up. If the dark lord appears, we get the heroic girls to kill them. And then we wield them to carve up the deal and burn it. Once that happens: Game over for Rivialt and Elstivia. And also for Sansifta’s civil war. No limitations over us means one thing: The trio of idiots will get burned badly.” Magiro said while smirking at the grunt.
“Oh, I see. What a great plan, sir!” The grunt exclaimed while smiling.
As the grunt and Magiro talked, Kanbe was focused on trying to listen to other people. His mind wasn’t fully focused, but turns out that mana does stabilize the body, and a high level of mana control and mana affinity could stabilize a poisoned body.
Not like stabilization made him immune, but he could handle more drugs than he would normally handle, it just increased the toxicity threshold of his body and the resilience of said body.
“Oh, what a great surprise Magiro got us! A hero turned into an escort! Shame he placed the extra drugs off the table, as she hasn’t signed the waiver to allow herself to enjoy them!” An excited young man exclaimed, while clearly drinking.
“Oh, well. Just like the syrup transactions. The mana lumberjacks who can’t sell some mana syrup because it’s just a bit thicker than it should normally be are happy about that. They get a 30% of the price of the smuggled syrup, and get six times what they would get from Rivialt’s average pay. Shame the Doryoh clan only gets the one with more thickness, as it’s less quantity and brings less heat than the real thing.” An old man said, replying to the young man, as both were in the same table.
“I can understand what the Doryoh clan does, father. They always say that a healthy society is a healthy business.” The young man said.
“Yeah, at least it's better than the motto of Themeria. They don't know that if they take down the Doryubori, the king will be after them too.” The old man said.
Kanbe was interested in what the two individuals said, it wasn’t a lead to Moriarty, but it was a way to annoy the Doryoh clan after they went after Rei. Yet he was worried about the other hero, who was an escort right now, but he couldn’t start acting up as that would bring many grunts towards his location.
‘It would be best to find information about Moriarty. The Themerians said that a client of Moriarty loved coming here and get drunk.’ Kanbe thought to himself, while his thoughts remained normal.
But Magiro was keeping a close eye on Kanbe, he was starting to notice that the drug wasn’t working as much as it should work against Kanbe. Which led to the yakuza to nod at the escort who was with Kanbe, to try to distract him and unfocus him with her charm.
“Sir, let’s get a good sirloin! I am sure you haven’t tasted the Don Sirloin we serve here!” The escort said, excitedly, while hugging Kanbe’s arm.
Kanbe at first was going to refuse, but seeing the face of the girl made him just relent and follow what the escort said. He was awfully aware of falling into the trap of this business, to get someone wasted and penniless, but his mind was falling for the charm of the girl thanks to the weakened state of his mind.
***
Away from Kanbe’s table, Rei was serving sir Daraish with a few of the more experienced girls. Daraish was a close confidant to Moriarty, and the errand boy the killer for hire had for Rivialt, and everyone here knew. This made all the escorts to fear him, as if they tried to fish some information from him… Well, the next ones to appear in the newspapers would be them.
Sir Daraish was an elf with an average height, fat white body (there was no other way to call it, the man was obese), with blue eyes and short black hair, who was wearing an oversized office suit and a pair of black shoes. By what the girls told Rei, Moriarty had given Daraish that suit, and it was a sort of camera outfit for Daraish. To keep an eye on what the fat fool did, as the escorts explained.
Nonetheless, the issue lied in sir Daraish himself. He spoke of everything once he was a bit buzzed due to the sake served in the Doryubori, and the girls had to work harder this time due to Rei being here.
Originally, Rei would be put to serve normal tables and kept far away from Daraish. While Magiro trusted the drug mist made by the Doryoh clan, he wasn’t a fool and knew that at least a few weeks to weaken the excuses of the arcane hero and her capacity to reject the waiver. This waiver would allow the clients to use the special items on her, and increase her base pay twofold while also giving less working hours for the hero.
Said items, stipulated in tiny words of the waiver, were enhanced versions of the drugs, which would turn the escorts into dimwitted fools. A perfect failsafe plan to keep high paying clients happy, and keep people trying to infiltrate the Doryubori to dig out any sort of dirt of the clan.
But what crashed Magiro’s plan was that somehow the noble elf had heard the news that Rei was an escort (courtesy of Haseya saying outloud in the mansion of the heroes, and the maids telling the noble to inform Moriarty), and he quickly made sure that Magiro had no choice rather than putting her with him.
And so, Rei managed to get exactly the position she wanted. She could hear the noble talking about Donny’s death, Katas asking him to inform him while Donny’s former employer also wanted to get Moriarty’s services for the lover boy, and how Moriarty reported the deed done to Katas with a letter.
‘All according to plan! Now to get out of here, inform Kanbe, and get Katas with no other choice than to sacrifice Moriarty and this fat pig! Falco was wrong, we can catch him!’ Rei thought to herself, while grinning.
Unluckily for the arcane hero, the escorts were trained in recognizing some signals of people that could be snooping, and being so close to them meant that they could keep an eye on her.
“Sir Daraish… Would you be so kind of letting us drink a bit?” One of the escorts, a girl with cat eyes, cat ears and tail, who had green eyes and snow-like skin said. This girl was wearing a purple summer dress, with a pair of 12-inch stiletto heels.
“Oh, of course. But remember, do take the medicine! I paid a lot for it!” Daraish replied to the catgirl escort, with a smirk.
“Of course! No safe drink for us!” The escort replied, while getting several martini glasses and filling them with a blue liquid.
The other escort accompanying the catgirl and Rei, a tanned human with black eyes and long black hair who was wearing a blue and black summer dress and 12-inch stiletto heels, looked at the catgirl with a worried face.
“Ah, you may have not signed the waiver… But you jumped into the mess. So I’ll take it as you decided to sign it after today!” The escort said while putting one of the glasses besides Rei.
Rei gulped in fear, she thought the escorts wouldn’t try that… But she had no other choice than to sip the drink calmly. But even if she sipped the drink, trying to look cute for the fat elf, the enhanced drug was way too much for her. Even thinking was incredibly hard for her, and she was giggling to herself and the words spoken by the other escorts, as they sounded incredibly hard to understand.
As Rei was trying to avoid getting poisoned, she didn’t have skills to withstand it and quickly lost control of her body. She kept giggling, and enjoying the party, even though Daraish saw the chance to touch Rei and get her to act out.
Magiro glanced at Rei, from afar, and he smirked proudly. He could always get the paper pushers to deal with the drug incident, and give the escort a stern talk about not ignoring the necessity of the waiver (followed by a slush fund to make her troubles disappear), while defending the Doryubori by saying that the employee had messed badly in a misunderstanding.
But there was one thing that no one considered, not even Rei nor Kanbe, and that thing was the existence of Haseya. She could be down due to the moment of the month, but she still had a lot of intel she could share and use for her own benefit.
Yet, this time, she had managed to escape the trap of Magiro with her knowledge of the Doryubori and the luck of the moment of the month.
In this medieval era, she couldn’t use her abilities as efficiently as she wanted to use them. But she had to be cunning about what she could use, and what she couldn’t use, while considering the best method to use it.
This time, the regressing hero had planned the situation with Leshelle and Hiro. Using the chef skills and the alchemist skills together, Haseya managed to fully heal up Hiro and Leshelle while sending Sho to search for Park.
Something didn’t click with her, as Park wouldn’t die so easily, and so she remembered one story told by Park. One that she never believed until today.
***
In another timeline, way before Haseya became a girl. In the attempt number 138, after defeating hordes of undead, Haseya rested with Park and Hiro in a campfire with a few tents made of black leather. Both explained their stories, but Haseya didn’t listen to them until he heard Park talking about Rubedo.
“Man, Rubedo wrecked me! I thought that I was dead that time!” Park said while cackling.
“I thought you were dead! We all did! After that punch, the best we could do was pray that your brains were sent to Asthalos!” Hiro exclaimed while frowning.
“I wasn't around the group back then. But I heard what happened. But it couldn't be that bad if you managed to regenerate!” Haseya said, right before drinking some ale.
“Oh, but it was! You see, I got a special skill known as Bloody Dark Soul. Even if I get my head bashed in, I can regenerate. Albeit takes a few hours minimum at full power, and leaves me weakened for a few hours. But took me a few days to get back up and then a few more to arrive to Rivialt without guide!” Park retorted calmly.
“Hm. Well, that you still draw breath means that the story must be true. I heard about you facing Rubedo.” Haseya said calmly.
“Yeah, that man is too powerful for his own good! But being one of the Sunken Guardians means that you have to be that powerful.” Park said, while frowning.
And so Haseya and Hiro kept hearing Park’s stories for the entirety of the night, while eating and drinking, like good friends until dawn arrived.
***
Back in the present, at the Doryubori’s gate, Park and Sho had arrived and had pushed the bellboy away while Hiro was on the roofs to shoot down any guard trying to stop the two party members.
“Rei is here!? It’s gonna be fun! Ah, Haseya and Leshelle are going to prepare something fun! I can fill it in my bones!” Park said with a wide smirk as he punched the door down.
“Doryoh clan! It’s time for you to feel pain!” Sho exclaimed, clearly angry with the Doryoh clan.
A hot fireball arced through the air, shattering a chandelier into tinkling shards that rained down on the startled patrons, who didn’t expect this sort of attack. Laughter and happiness died in choked gasps as several figures wearing office suits and armored helmets materialized in the opulent space of the Doryubori, spells crackling at their fingertips as they circulated mana to prepare the next attack.
The Magic Corp had noticed the moves of the Doryoh clan, and the fact that using Rei’s addition to the escort business as a PR move dragged their attention quickly. Metallican was in the front, leading a lot of non-godslayer agents who had been trained during the years.
“The black suits are intruding our room!? These fuckeeeers! This was all of Rei’s plan, huh!?” Magiro said with a frown on his face. ‘This is going to be hard to salvage! It’s an all-out attack, and if they find the vat of acid… We are done! We must suppress them until Joryujoh arrives!’ Magiro thought to himself.
Even if the grunts of the Doryoh clan were godslayers, their low numbers and focus on blunt and cutting weapons didn’t help with the long ranged expertise of the Magic Corp. The fight was going to be gruesome, due to the absurd numerical advantage held by the Magic Corp, and there was almost no way that Magiro and the grunts could repel them all at once.
Tables splintered under the impact of magic corp agents being sent flying towards the tables by several grunts of the Doryoh clan, which led to the scattering of wooden shards and glass bottles being broken. Patrons dived for cover, shrieking in panic, as the escorts moved away from the fight while dodging all sorts of bullet type spells, which came in the shape of bullets made of fire or darkness or more material elements like a bullet made of rock.
But things got even worse for the Doryoh clan, as Themeria went after the Doryoh clan to assist Kanbe, and that’s when Magiro noticed the entire disadvantageous situation. Even though it was a disgrace for the man, he had no other choice than to summon Malaskador and hopefully drag the FA into the mess.
‘There’s no other choice… Agh! Joryujoh! They caught us! Malaskador must come here!’ Magiro thought to himself, as he summoned a massive blade that resembled the tuna knives used to fillet giant tuna, with a glimmering brown wood handle, and a bright azure blade with the kanji that said Gio to his left hand.
“Hm. Finally got you, Magiro! The Doryoh clan will no longer hold a hand over Rivialt!” Metallican said, confident of his victory.
As Metallican prepared to use his skills, Magiro charged at the grunts of the Magic Corp while using all the Enhancer skills he could use, and a combination of Quickened Step and Shukuchi which looked as an incredibly fast leap towards the closest agent of the corporation.
The agents were surprised by Magiro’s sudden attack, as they weren’t used to fighting godslayers, and couldn’t raise any barrier to defend themselves while Magiro’s arms bulged in size due to a sudden torrent of mana going through them.
“Mighty Impact!” Magiro shouted, while the arms were bulging and the veins of his arms could be seen.
Steel blurred, a whirlwind of motion that carved a bloody path through the enemy ranks. The agents crumpled left and right, limbs flying as if the agents had been sent to the grinder, while the agents tried to teleport or run away from the angered yakuza. Screams were cut short, replaced by the rhythmic thud of bodies hitting the ground. The air hung heavy with the metallic tang of blood, while Magiro took a deep breath, and even Metallican was surprised by the savagery done by the yakuza.
“Our armor isn’t enough to stop that man!” One of the grunts exclaimed, a man, while falling to the ground due to the severe slash he had received while running away from Magiro.
“Why!? It’s the best armor we should get! It’s enchanted against cutting damage!” Another grunt, a female, said as she clutched while trying to avoid losing blood.
Metallican frowned but decided to try to attack, until he saw the blade that Magiro was using, which explained the entire situation. Once he noticed the weapon, he focused on using the mana to fly towards Rei and grab her, while signalling the agents to back down by waving his right arm quickly towards the exit.
“It’s a weapon made by Gio! Get away from Magiro! Those weapons tend to be far stronger than our mage based equipment! Our equipment is not a defense focused one, so a weapon like that blade will absolutely cut us down!” Metallican shouted, while looking clearly scared of the situation.
The agents looked surprised at Metallican, but followed his orders, leaving Themeria to fend for themselves while shooting spells haphazardly to cover their escape. This led to many Themerians suffering wounds from the splash damage of the spells cast by the Magic Corp, and enough wounds to allow the grunts of the Doryoh clan to push away the female ranker group.
Sho and Park took the chance, caused by the entire fight, to help Kanbe and pulled him out of the Doryubori, while many people tried to escape the battlezone. A few of the patrons of the Doryubori died due to the sudden attack of the Magic Corp, and the escorts ran to the rooms upstairs to avoid being hurt once they saw a few clients dying, while others like Daraish managed to teleport away.
In fact, Daraish was running away quickly from the Doryubori when Hiro shot his head off from a distance with a compound bow he had gotten from the maids in the heroes mansion.
The entire fight was chaotic, and it could be described as hell on earth due to the amount of casualties from both clients and Magic Corp grunts, which did attract the attention of the guards who came to stop the fight.
Magiro kept cutting away, while Metallica used Earth Binding to bind Magiro, as the grunts and Themeria started running away from the Doryubori. The yakuza could have broken free if he hadn’t gone through at least twenty agents before, by using all sorts of skills, in the savage display of strength from before and hadn’t used Limiter Release.
Limiter Release damaged the body, adding to it the stamina cost it had on the body, and while it seemed a perfect skill for this sort of situation… A protracted fight would quickly tire out anyone who used Limiter Release mindlessly, and that’s what happened to Magiro as he was forced to do so in order to protect the grunts.
This seemed won for the Doryoh clan, but Magiro knew that the situation was exactly the opposite. Themeria and Magic Corp had given the guards enough motive to search the entire Doryubori, maybe plant some false evidence if they didn’t find anything wrong, and that would be the end of the Doryoh clan.
Or so it would be, until Malaskador appeared in front of Park and Sho with his usual smiling face. Magiro looked relieved to see the devil there, as though he had started slashing away with his skills… He was already exhausted. Using Limiter Release haphazardly wasn’t a good move for Magiro, as that drained stamina and health like a black hole, and with the remaining stamina… He couldn’t break free from Earth Binding.
Metallican saw Malaskador, and quickly looked at Magiro, which made the yakuza smirk at the man. Only to see how Metallican chuckled for a moment, while aiming at Magiro and shooting a barrage of mana bolts to the arms and legs to fully immobilize the yakuza.
“So, Malaskador. Did you like our 15-minute raid? We were just rescuing the heroes tricked by the Doryoh clan.” Metallican said smugly, as Malaskador used an Occult Blast to try to hit Rei, while teleporting a few meters away with Rei and leaving her besides Sho and Park.
“I did not. Too fast, it was chaos. No one versus one. It was just you sending a few rankers and foolish grunts against a godslayer, ambushing him and forcing him to use Limiter Release to protect his people. So many idiots dying for stupid things. And you dare to destroy my chance of messing with that Tokugawa!” Malaskador said, as he kept his smile in front of Metallican.
“Well, not like you can go against us. The guards will be coming here soon.” Metallican said confidently. ‘It’s my true plan, get the guard involved and see them learn the mana syrup business. Well, not mine… Haseya gave it to me. I know that taking down the Doryoh clan will not happen while Magiro and Joryujoh still draw breath. And I know that fighting the FA and Doryoh clan would never work out for us. Not with the Pavilions and Chimeralot waiting for us to mess up.’ Metallican thought to himself.
“Ah, I know something you doooon’t!” Malaskador said smugly.
Metallican seemed to frown, while Malaskador’s grin became wider, as it seemed like a standoff between two godslayers. The assistant manage of the Magic Corp started preparing his bracelet to shoot a Gem Blast attuned to a ruby, which would shoot a fire blast at Malaskador, while the devil waited calmly.
“And it should be time… Right now.” Malaskador said, while a huge burst of wind passed through the Doryubori as it carried Haseya and Leshelle out.
Haseya was wearing a brown leather armor, that covered all of her body, alongside some platform boots for her to not be smaller than the average grunt of the Doryoh clan. What happened to both Haseya and Leshelle was that the boots did cause some extra noise, which attracted someone’s attention and that someone threw them out.
From the Doryubori came out a tanned beauty, with purple hair, black eyes, a voluptuous and toned body. This woman was wearing a green dress with a massive window for her cleavage in the area of the sternum surrounded by a snow-white textile product sown together with the dress, which ended in baggy pants instead of a skirt, a pair of white flats. Around the waist, there were golden threads that held three small bells in the area of her stomach and across the dress there were some golden filaments used to connect the entire dress sown together with the entire outfit.
“Yep. Paytell is here. Dodging Jackie however you can, Paytell?” Malaskador said, with a devilish grin on his face.
“Malaskador, shut it. She’s always looking at my chest!” Paytell said, with a bright blush on her face.
“Jealousy due to being more attuned to mana? That’s the same with Thundy. But never let her know I said it. I don’t want to face more thunders, thank you very much.” Malaskador said, trying to avoid laughing.
Metallican felt like if he was being ignored, and it was a clear fact that Malaskador and Paytell (this one unwittingly) were ignoring him, and that led to the assistant manager to shoot at Malaskador with no remorse.
But said fire blast was blocked by an earth wall created by Malaskador, as it had used the mana in the area to create rock just above the surface and create said wall, before it crumbled due to the explosion caused by the fire blast.
“Quick shot, are we? Paytell, pray tell me: Yours or mine?” Malaskador said calmly.
“Absolutely yours, just like Kanbe. The rest are mine, though. An archer, a barbarian, an assassin, a regenerator, a healer, and a sword girl. Deal with the healer, murder the rest with long range. Should do it.” Paytell said calmly.
“Lovely! I do love talking with you, Paytell! Oh, we should drink some chai after this!” Malaskador said excitedly.
“Oh, I love chai tea-” Leshelle said, while getting up after being thrown like a ragdoll by the wind.
Before Leshelle could finish his words, Paytell summoned a jambiya (a short double-edged sword with a distinct curved lower half) made of mythril with the same kanji as Magiro’s sword, and a T-shaped hilt made of gold and adorned with rubies, amethysts, and other precious gemstones.
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The female godslayer quickly released a fire blast from the blade, which struck Leshelle and sent him flying a few meters after exploding, as she looked quite angry.
“Ah, that again. Excuse her, she’s tired of hearing chai tea. And she was from India, not like I expect any of you idiots to understand that. So she’s pretty tired with the stereotypes of India.” Malaskador said, as he started laughing right after.
As soon as Leshelle got up, the barbarian hero felt like if he was pushed to the ground by a cane. And that was what was happening, as Moriarty had appeared while changing his look to a handsome copy of Katas.
“Ah. Paytell. I heard there was some commotion over the Doryubori, and I came here to see that my jackass errand boy has died. Headshot. Hm. Remind me to fetch Hiro and cripple him. And I should ask our dear bomber about where she gets her acid, I want to ensure he stays crippled. Do you know how long it’ll take me to find another errand boy!?” Moriarty said, while holding a light brown cane that had the tip made of mythril, and the derby handle was golden with several engraved gems and had the shape of a dragon's head.
Said cane was being used to push Leshelle to the ground, and it didn’t require much strength from Moriarty to do so. As Haseya tried to get closer to Leshelle, she was quickly met by a mythril blade hidden within the cane. The cane had a small intricacy, which was a small silver piece in the area of the cane holder, since the cane had a blade attached to the handle which was hidden by the rest of the cane.
“Don’t rush so fast, dear. I am still going to quarter you all like pigs.” Moriarty coldly said, while using the sheath (the lower part of the cane) to push Leshelle to the ground.
“So finally you appear, Moriarty. Using Katas young self to further distract?” Haseya said while frowning.
“Of course. Did you think I’d let you have a win? Sorry, but I don’t do that. So how about you all give up? Rei is not in any shape to cast any spell, I know very well how the drug of the Doryubori works. Worms its way inside the brain, and messes the chemical computer that the brain is. Of course, it is weak. Unless you use enhanced drugs, which she is undoubtedly under their effects. Her brain is a puddle of happiness and joy right now, try to get her to cast a spell, and you’ll see her laughing her ass off.” Moriarty said, as he looked at Rei who was giggling to herself.
“If you know it, then you know the antidote!” Sho said, as he rushed to grab Moriarty, only to be stabbed by Moriarty’s blade. To be exact, he was stabbed in the right arm.
“A few hours of sleep, and let her ride off the effects calmly. Don’t try to get her to cast any spell until at least 10 hours have passed. It’ll either explode her brain, or she’ll have a mana shock. It’s somewhat healthy. Of course, depends on the concentration. By the way, nobody moves or his arm is going to be salami by the time you get to hit me.” Moriarty told calmly to Sho, who was screaming due to having his right arm impaled by Moriarty’s blade.
“Heh, just like what Evan said of you. You abhor having messes to clean up, so you’d rather give up any fight than fighting.” Haseya said before scoffing.
This made both Paytell and Moriarty to glare at Haseya, as if they had heard something weird coming out of her mouth, while Metallican looked clearly surprised.
“You must have studied him a lot to know that.” Metallican said, as he took the chance to shoot a bolt of pure mana at Paytell.
Paytell simply used her weapon to deflect the bolt, while looking clearly angry and charging at Haseya until Themeria started using bows and javelins to attack her. The weapons rebounded, even when hitting the cleavage area (in fact, most attacks were aimed at that), while Paytell shot several fireballs with her weapon at Metallican, forcing the assistant manager to teleport away.
As Paytell went after Haseya, Malaskador used the Occultist Portal to summon a kraken with thousands of limbs to find and toss away all the Themerians and agents (Exceptuating Metallican) away from the fight.
“It’s not fair to get the rankers involved in godslayer business. And to be fair, we got everything we wanted from them. And I lost all ambition for worldly acclaim, after what you and that magician did to my Magnus Opus. So let’s continue what we left before, Metallican!” Malaskador said with an excited voice.
Metallican glared at Malaskador, as he got ready to fling spells at Malaskador, while Kanbe used holy magic to try to help Rei.
Kanbe thought that the healing magic, Divine Salvation, could handle the effect of the drug themselves. But it wasn’t an effect that could be dispelled by driving corrupted mana away, so he was trying to find a solution to it until he noticed that he could use Holy Heal and Divine Salvation together to restore the body, using what the healing spell found wrong as a signal for Divine Salvation to heal Rei.
“Divine Salvation plus Holy Heal. Spell Combo: Divine Cleansing.” Kanbe absentmindedly said, as he got focused on helping Rei, while his brain worked on its own and his body moved following his brain.
And it worked, but in a way that amazed even the godslayers in the area, as light went inside Rei’s body and Rei coughed black blood from her mouth. It had taken out all the compounds of the drug in her bloodstream, alongside the extra lipids within her veins, cleansing the entire body.
But that was just the start of the fight, which was going to be chaotic, and it was going to cause a huge upheaval of what many knew of godslayers due to what Kanbe had done. But the last part was going to be another day, as conflict started and the fight had truly started, with Haseya parrying however she could Paytell’s attack.
***
Far away from the fight, Nigredo and Jackie were relaxing in her hideout until they saw Azmosdei going inside the hideout with a worried face.
“You fools! I know why Joryujoh isn’t around! The Murim Hero has ambushed him! And the other heroes are going to mess with the Doryubori!” Azmosdei exclaimed with a worried face.
“Oh, that means we have to go assist Joryujoh. And hope that Paytell is helping Magiro.” Nigredo calmly said.
“You have to. I can’t show my face here! If I get caught, I’ll be in deep issues!” Azmosdei said, while frowning.
“Oh, wait. Didn’t Magiro have the summon whistle for Wu? Don’t worry about the Doryubori. If things get too troubling there, either Malaskador or Wukong will save him. And Paytell should be there, knowing her. She’s too proactive for her own good.” Nigredo said, as she smirked.
“Yes, but the worrying thing is knowing where Robin is. I called him too. Paytell tends to dodge me. I am so jealous of her curves!” Jackie said, while pouting.
“Either way, best I start moving out. If things have gotten this crazy, I guess I should start distracting the Murim Hero while you all get Joryujoh.” Nigredo said while smirking.
“And if Robin was called, either he’s busy or he has met his demise. That jackass tends to go near deathly situations. That yankee will get his ass killed at this rate.” Azmosdei said.
Nigredo had one of her signature purple cubes orbiting around her head, while Nigredo looked at it with a surprised face, as Jackie was getting ready to go outside.
“I know where Robin is. He is assaulting the castle, on solo mode. That jackass probably heard about the farm girls Katas grabbed to try to have a new child.” Nigredo said, while trying to calm herself down.
“Heh. Typical Robin. He says he is just a greedy phony, but in the end… It’s like Evan said. The FA is filled with jackasses who either do terrible things for their family, or jackasses who act like heroes.” Jackie said, while smiling.
“And then there’s you, Jackie. Bombing like no one’s business, just because you want to make the kids smile with your explosions.” Azmosdei said, while smirking at tthe bomber, as Nigredo stiffled her laughter.
Jackie simply scoffed, and left quickly, while Azmosdei shrugged and sat down on the sofa besides Nigredo who simply kept the purple cube orbiting. Even though, she had already sent some assistance for Joryujoh. One that would surprise vastly the Murim Hero, even if it wasn’t the one expected to appear.
***
Inside the castle of Andving, in the basement to be exact, Saida was kept in a stone cell made of stone bricks placed carefully.
The basement itself was what anyone would call a medieval dungeon, made of stone bricks and wooden gates that acted as a way to keep the prisoners imprisoned, with torches illuminating most of it with a dim light.
Saida was in a cell, with both of her arms bound by iron chains that connected to the wall located the furthest from the entrance, as a punishment for her investigation. Saida could escape the imprisonment easily, using her ice magic to weaken the iron chains and then fracture them, but chose not to do that as it would bring more terrifying consequences for her.
But as she rested inside the cell, even if it was in an uncomfortable position, as an elf of 1 meter and 70 centimeters with blonde unkempt hair who had snow-white skin, green eyes, a scar on his right cheek below a beauty mark, a monocle on his right eye, and a large teardrop shaped purple earring on his right ear.
This elf was wearing a black necktie, a black vest which had a white shirt below it, black pants with a black belt that had a pouch attached to the left side and behind had a pitch black dagger sheathed with a brown sheath, and a pair of black boots. On his pouch he had a white orb, that acted as a camera, and he was carrying a notebook on his right hand as he was writing on it with a pen in his left hand.
‘How did he manage to get inside!? The guards should be making sure no one gets inside!’ Saida thought to herself.
An elven guard with long blonde hair, fair skin, stout constitution, pointy ears, and black eyes who was wearing a white shirt, brown pants, and brown boots, tried to crawl towards the intruder. It was clear that he had suffered some sort of damage, which nullified his movement, and his back was bleeding profusely.
“Agh. Still trying to stop me? It’s surprising after facing the skill combo known as Unhealthy Slash. It’s a combination of Shadow Slash, which nullifies the healing, and Flesh Cutter, a skill that prevents movement while you have a wound caused by it.” The intruder said with a disinterested look in his eyes, as he put his notebook and pen inside the inventory.
“You… You are going to be a scourge upon all elves…” The guard weakly said.
“For freeing a few farm girls, all of them having a high fertility result in the medical checks, who are going to be used by Katas to handle his bloodstained hands? Fuck that old fucker. I am freeing them all, and if you try to stop me once more… I’ll end you myself. The scoop will be glorious, though. Daring liberator, going inside a dungeon to free innocents, killing a corrupt guard and exposing the corruption of the elven king. So go on: Try it. People like you are exactly the sort of individuals I can’t see as sentient beings, no matter how hard I try.” The intruder said, as he unsheathed his dagger.
The guard tried to crawl one more step, only to be stabbed in the head by the intruder as the dagger released an electrical shock.
“Hm. You asked for it. Like that psycho said: Blind loyalty is never properly paid.” The intruder said calmly, as he cleaned and then sheathed the dagger.
As the intruder searched the body of the guard who tried to stop him, Saida tried to understand what was going on.
But a minute after, the intruder found a set of keys hidden within the equipment of the guard and started taking photos of the entire dungeon with the white orb he was carrying.
“What are you doing!? Katas will not forgive you, no matter what, if you do so!” Saida said while glaring at the intruder.
“Oh, well. If that fuck dares to try that… I will beat him up and leave him with an inch of his life. His plan is repulsive. Nonetheless, I will free you later. I can't have you going after Moriarty. So once our plan is done, even if you put any proof of godslayer wrongdoings… They all will be blamed to Katas or just considered as impossible to punish by normal people. It's not what I like doing, but it's what must be done. Otherwise, Moriarty will murder until he takes control of Elstivia or Rivialt. Maybe both if you poke him too much.” The intruder said, as he scratched the back of his head with the key to Saida's cell.
“So you know who I am already. I suppose you are a godslayer. But not a grand godslayer. Those are revered and know in the godslayer circles. But none told me about you.” Saida said while looking at the elf.
“Oh. That. I peeked on Ezneas, to make money with photos of that goddess. She's so angry that would smite anyone who talked about me in any place where their people are located. But I suppose she'll forgive me sooner or later. I am Hermes, a grand godslayer.” Hermes said calmly.
Saida looked surprised, while Hermes opened up the cage in which Saida was located and freed up the princess.
“If you think I’ll follow what you want to do… I am not going to!” Saida said as she ran away from Hermes.
“Hm. This is why I did that jackass move. They never see it coming.” Hermes said, before chuckling.
As Saida was going towards a wooden set of stairs to go to the castle and warn the rest of the guards about the intruder, she found a view that would be nightmare fuel for anyone.
All the guards of the entire castle had been incapacitated, with clean stab wounds on their backs, as they had been ambushed by someone. The entire castle was quiet, and no one seemed to notice what was transpiring, and the worst of it… It was the fact that it had been a one-man job all along, and that man had essentially taken over the entire castle in a single night.
Saida quickly ran towards the bedroom in which Katas would usually be, only to see the elven king tied down and being used as a sort of blockage for the main door of the castle, and the answer she would hear would terrify her.
“W-What? How? How could one godslayer do this!?” Saida asked, terrified of what she was seeing.
“Ah, well. I am a grand godslayer. Codename: Hermes. If you ask about me to the female godslayers, they all will be hitting you in the head for reminding them of what I did to them all.” Hermes said, right besides Saida, as he had quickly approached her with an uncanny speed without her even noticing.
Saida fell to the ground, and crawled away from Hermes, as she was clearly scared, and the intruder simply chuckled to himself.
“So, princess. I’ll tell you the same I told Katas here. In the morning, when the new guards come and open the doors, they’ll see a bound king with clear proof that a godslayer has entered and showed their strength. In fact, I’ll make some nice photos of you. You may be the granddaughter of Evan, but your acts against Legias… Yep, those are a big no. But I’ll consider this as being an apple born from a rotten tree. Just like Evan says: Don’t expect anything from a fruit born from a rotten tree. But seeing that from a descendant of that psycho is just sad. It’s not even refreshing, seriously, and I am the one who should hate him the most. Especially after his ‘Delegation or get burned’. Why must I be the bloody messenger, fuck all creation if that’s my duty in life!” Hermes said, clearly tired of Evan.
“Wait, what are you going to do to me!?” Saida asked, as she kept trying to find a way to escape the intruder.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll just tie you up and get photos, like a good journalist. Just that I do a side gig of catching bad people, and doing shameless photos of them. You know, I get paid for selling those photos! Ah, before you call me a perv… It’s not that I am a perv. If Evan considered that, I’d be dead. Nah, I am just after the money.” Hermes said, with a smirk on his face. ‘Also, with this, I’ll make sure that you and your father don’t ever try anything stupid. The embarrassment I will inflict onto you will suffice to keep you silent for a century.’ Hermes thought to himself.
As Saida tried to escape, Hermes quickly bound her ankles with some ropes as he looked within his inventory which outfit to use to get photos of the elven princess. And so the princess would learn the hard way what it meant to go against a godslayer as chaotic as Hermes, during the entire night.
Robin Arak Status
Race: Elf
Gender: Male
Age (in elven years/in human years):52 years old/ 20 years old
Height: 1 meter and 70 centimeters.
Likes: Taking care of his daggers, sneaking on Wukong, fishing, freedom, getting embarrassing photos of cute girls, peeking on girls, loyal people, going with Wukong and Evan, teasing Evan, being with his comrades.
Dislikes: Elizabeth, corruption, slavers, having to deal with Darya’s anger.
Level: 60
STATS:
HP: 70000/70000
MP: 20000/20000
STR: 500
VIT: 600
INT: 200
DEX: 800
AGI: 800
Magic affinity: Basic Magic, Dark Magic, Thunder Magic.
Skill affinity: Thief, Assassin, Paparazzi, Magician, Enhancer, Survivalist, Shadow Walker, Ninja, Craftsman.
Titles: The greatest reckless man in the world, the herald of all jackasses, insane paparazzi who peeked on a goddess, public enemy of Zerax and Ezneas, grand godslayer, he who took photos of the girls of the four heavenly group, he who sneaked in Neradath, he who survived Sumeragi’s and Evan’s wrath, Hermes.
Job: Paparazzi, Thief, and Jackass.
Special skills:
Speed Barrier: No matter how fast the user is, they’ll be immune to damage caused by going fast and will never take falling damage.
Resurrection: The user has been resurrected and reincarnated in a new body, resetting his level to level 40 without losing a single skill point.
Mana resupply: Active, 0 MP. The user recovers an 80% of the total mana the user has used in the last hour. Only works once every day.
Super body: The user’s body is far better than usual, so it can withstand way better than the average person the side effects of skills like Limiter Release.
Super Perception: The user’s perception abilities double in terms of effectivity, and enhances the processing speed of the user.
Royal Surge: The user recovers 50% of their remaining HP, and all of their mana when they lose 50% of their HP.
Skills:
Ninja (Master):
Presence suppression: Makes the user harder to be detected by anyone, allies included.
Hunting Eyes: The user can find tracks faster than normal people. Also allows to detect trails like blood trails.
Tool Mastery: The user can repair tools with enough materials, and their accuracy while using tools increases.
Grand Ninja Sensing: The user’s mana sensitivity is greatly enhanced, so enhanced they can see the magic traps clearly.
Grand Ninja Blade Skills: The user can use more efficiently the ninja sword, and so increases their speed to wield them.
Death Absorption: Active, 0 MP. After killing an opponent, the user can absorb the mana that the dead has and use it to replenish their own mana pool. This said, the skill takes a few minutes to work and if hit while doing so… The damage will be critical and will paralyze the user for half a minute.
Ninja Evasion: Active, 5 MP. The user can avoid an attack really fast, even when they are in the middle of the air. That said, this won’t help them avoid spells that target the user specifically, like Guided Bolt.
Ninja tool Precise Throw: Active, 10 MP. The user can throw a ninja tool in such a precise way, there’s a high chance of them hitting a fly with them.
Precise Throw: Active, 25 MP. The user can throw any item in a really precise way, less precise than the ninja tool throw skill, but it takes a few seconds to fully function.
Hearing Boost: Active, 10 MP/Second. The user can enhance their hearing in order to hear conversations from 100 meters away.
Ghost Walk: Active, 15 MP/Minute. The user can walk without making noise, and without being detected.
Sky Jump: Active, 50 MP. The user can jump midair, and at least up enough to reach to a third floor.
Concealment of the Ninja: Active, 20 MP. The user can conceal their position, but can’t move while using this skill.
Flesh Cutter: Active, 30 MP. A quick slash that is shallow, but can cause a grevious wound that can’t be healed with normal means.
Shadow Slash: Active, 40 MP. Pinnacle skill. A fast slash, aimed at the back to ensure that the target can’t move.
Assassin (Master):
Mastery in daggers: Increases the damage caused by daggers and short swords and the ability to wield them.
Night Stealth: Allows the user to be unseen while he/she is in the shadows.
Night Vision: Allows the user to see in the shadows.
Ash Corpses: The corpses of those that the user kills may be turned into ash if the user desires so.
Mastery in throwing daggers: The user can throw daggers and their damage is greatly increased.
Assassin Sense: Active, 1 MP per second. The user can see through walls and can track down a target of the user choice.
Stealth step: Active, 2 MP. The user can teleport anywhere in a 10 meters area.
Double stab: Active, 5 MP. The user can stab a target two times and the damage caused is increased a 50%.
Execution: Active, 20 MP. The user may execute an enemy who cannot move or has not detected the user.
Shadow double: Active, 35 MP. The user creates a double that can be used to kill a target or to distract people.
Gatling throw: Active, 45 MP. The user throws several daggers to different directions and can bend the directions of the daggers.
Execution drive: Active, 100 MP. The user can execute several targets at the same time and turns himself or herself invisible.
Enhancer (Master):
Hardened skin: Increases the defense of the user a 50%.
Instant Reflex: The user returns to the attack stance when the enemy throws off-balance him by a previous attack. It can hurt depending on how the user is thrown off-balance.
Magic Soul: The user gains a 50% extra resistance to magic.
Body Enhancement: Active, 1 MP. Increases for a brief period of time (1 minute) all the status a 20%.
Skill Boost: Active, 3 MP. The damage caused by skills is increased a 3% for a long period of time (1 hour).
Evasion enhancement: Active, 5 MP. The user increases his speed when he dodges attacks during a brief period of time.
Improved Body Enhancement: Active, 10 MP. Increases for a long period of time all the status a 20%.
Improved Evasion Enhancement: Active, 25 MP. The user increases his speed when he dodges attacks during a long period of time.
Neural Enhancement: Active, 30 MP. The user makes his brain go faster, obtaining increased attack speed and reflexes.
Battle Aura: Active, 50 MP. The user increases all the power of the muscles and allows the user to imbue the weapon used with magic so not only can be stopped without any kind of mana skills.
Limiter Release: Active, 25 MP/second. Nullifies any limit that the body has, increasing a 90% all Status. But causes pain and overuse will cause the death of the user.
Paparazzi (Master):
Photographic Memory: The user can remember everything they have done, and seen. That does mean they can copy skills, just do good copies of the movements of the enemies they face.
Photographer: The user’s accuracy while using an item that takes photos raises a 25%.
Dead Men Don’t Talk: If the user stays totally silent and don’t move, their stealth will work far better than their average stealth.
Photography: Active, 10 MP. The user can take a photo while using a recording orb. The photo is shared in the recording orb, but it has a perfect resolution.
Silent Hiding: Active, 15 MP/hour. The user can become almost untraceable if they don’t move at all. This skill hides the user’s mana and presence, but not the remains of mana from another user or the smell.
Spirit Photography: Active, 200 MP. The user can create any kind of photo with a paper made for photography. The photo comes from the user’s memories, in short… They can’t create false photos, but those photos can be used to track those that appear in the photo.
Emergency Escape: Active, 10000 MP. The user can escape from all seals and prisons, as long as they have a house in a range of 25 kilometers. It works only once per month, unless you pay a fine of 10 gold coins. Pinnacle skill
Thief (Master):
Sticky fingers: Passive. Can steal things easier.
Dagger Hitter: Passive. The accuracy of the user doubles when they are attacking with a dagger.
Agile Thief: Passive. The speed of the user is increased a 20%, but also allows the user to pick locks and pockets easily.
Thieves’s loot: Passive. The user can loot skill orbs from the targets that are killed by them, but can only obtain one skill orb at affinity level (the lowest grade).
Steal: Active, 10 MP. The user can use mana to infiltrate inside the inventory of the target, and steal items from said inventory.
Stealth Aura: Active, 5 MP/second. The user can use an aura on their body to lower their presence, and so they become harder to detect even while using sensory abilities. The user can move, but loses a 20% of their total agility while using this skill and can’t use other skills while this skill is working.
Perfect Backstab: Active, 100 MP. The user can only use this skill before a fight starts, and if the user is just right behind the target. This skill allows the user to deliver a perfect backstab that will cause critical damage, paralyze the enemy, and make grievous wounds on the area where the strike is delivered.
Shanking: Active, 10 MP. The user can stab up to five times in quick succession to a target, as long as the dagger does not rebound. It does lower damage, but each stab has a higher chance of becoming a critical hit.
Disarm traps: Active, 150 MP. The user can disarm all kinds of traps by using mana to interfere with them, but this skill leaves a trail of mana that can be detected by anyone with sensory skills even after an hour passes.
Detect All: Active, 1000 MP. The user can release a pulse of mana that recognizes everything, from simple pebbles to magical traps that couldn’t be detected otherwise. This skill stuns the user for half a second after usage. Pinnacle skill.
Survivalist (Master):
Survival Specialist: Passive. Allows the user to survive harsh conditions for extended periods of time, and grants the ability to recover from any ailment with enough time.
Survivalist Stomach: Passive. The user can withstand easily eating rotten food, with only some minor indisposition.
Survivalist Compass: Passive. The user knows always where he/she is, and which path to take in order to go back. Only works as long as the eyes are open, and if the user has seen the path they have followed.
Survivalist Last Stand: Passive. If the user is going to die due to not natural causes like starvation, once per month, they can heal themselves up to optimal condition.
Trap Making: Active, 10 MP. The user can make all kinds of traps, as long as he/she understands how to make them.
Mapping: Active, 20 MP. The user can make a map of the area with their mana, to plan where they go.
Marker Addition: Active, 30 MP. The user can place a mana signal on an object and is able to sense it in a range of 200 meters.
Light Sprint: Active, 2 MP/minute. The user can increase their speed a 200% while running. Pinnacle skill.
Craftsman (Master):
Total knowledge of the creation of battle tools: The master version of Knowledge of the creation of tools. Allows the user to create any tool that aids in a fight like kunais.
Master Creation of tools: Active, 2 MP. Allows the user to create a master class battle tool like kunais.
Master Refinement: Active, 5 MP. The user can refine the tools made by himself/herself with no mistakes.
Master Mass Creation of tools: Active, 20 MP/second. Allows the user to create 20 master class battle tools like kunais per second without stopping as long as the user has mp and the materials.
Shadow Walker (Master):
Umbra’s path: The user’s speed doubles if they are in areas filled with darkness.
Tamed Shadow: The user can see from every single shadow in a range of 100 meters.
Dark Blessing: The user gains an increase in mana regeneration of a 20% while they are in a dark area.
Dark Needle: Active, 5 MP. The user can create a needle made of darkness and fused it with a shadow to attack an enemy. The user can control 10 needles at most, and their damage depends on the darkness of the area and the intelligence of the user.
Dark Cocoon: Active, 10 MP. A perfect defense made of shadows that wraps around the user. Also defends against skills like Heart Crush, but only endures 40 seconds.
Shadow’s path: Active, 20 MP. Anyone who is stepping in the user’s shadow will be stabbed and impaled by needles made of dark mana fused with shadows.
Shadow Cloaking: Active, 60 MP. The user becomes untraceable for 60 seconds, and their speed doubles.
Hex of Shadows: Active, 1000 MP. The user can mark someone, and track them as long as they have gone through a shadow during an entire day. Also, it causes the target to have nightmares every single time they sleep that deal massive mental damage. Pinnacle skill.