Tales of the Old World Demon Lord
Chapter 33 – Rescue mission
[Eternum Calendar 1971]
“Mor… gant?”
Even as she wandered closely about death’s door an odd sensation overcame Yvonne. A sighed with a sense of relief as all tension, anxiety and even pain started to dissipate from her body. All it took was the appearance of a small but significant power player in all of this to absolutely turn the tides of a losing battle. A boy no older than seven yet carrying the mysterious presence of a figure that was many times greater than what was initially apparent; it was the moment Morgant had stepped onto the field that all else seem to freeze in time.
Scoffing and defying the very laws of nature and physics, a single arrow was stuck mid air as though time around it had ceased. The owner of the missile, Gerald, could only stare hopelessly awed at the complete mockery of assault. Such a display was but a small testament to the boy’s alien prowess; an inconceivable power that, despite originating from it, this world did not understand.
“What… did you?”
Through the eyes of his crystalline army, Gerald had witnessed Morgant’s powers before, yet even then the magnificence and elegance of it was far beyond his comprehension. It did not require any crude display of strength or any overtly oozing magic- as though he commanded nature itself the arrow stopped by his will. Just being in the presence of this small boy, Gerald could feel the air becoming several times denser and harder to accept. A slight gaze into the boy’s eyes he could see things that he himself instinctively registered as something he wasn’t supposed to see.
An unending abyss to a power that dwarfed anything he had known.
Morgant broke off their little staring contest as he crouched down to check up on Yvonne’s critical state. He examined the small holes drilled into several places on her body and though they never hit any vital areas, the injuries were severe enough to be life threatening. She was losing too much blood too quickly from those unnatural entrances.
It was an unfortunate fate that Morgant had no ability to heal others, or himself for that matter. Up until now he had focused solely on his offensive capabilities, a fact that slightly bothered him now. He took advantage of his [Enhanced Kinetic Version] passive ability that allowed him to accelerate his thought processes, effectively slowing down time for him to think about his next course of actions.
Taking down Gerald wasn’t going to be too difficult of a task but doing it while protecting the children and somehow keeping Yvonne alive was obviously not a feat he could realistically achieve. Time was of the essence and every second counted against Yvonne’s continued survival, even now the situation was only getting worse.
‘Tch, if only I had Sovereign’s complete memories…’ Morgant cursed himself and his own predicament. It was a missed opportunity that amongst the information and memories that he had so far inherited, most of them were useless in this situation. By now he had had strong grasp on what kind of person Sovereign was and what his specific expertise were. Amongst them, the most useful point was that Sovereign had intensive medical knowledge, knowledge about Old World medical techniques that could’ve been used to perform an emergency procedure to save Yvonne.
Alas Morgant could only silently watch as he had yet to receive even a minute fraction of such memories and skills. ‘Shit… what now?’ his face soured as he listened to Yvonne’s haggard breathing. HE had realized his mistakes then, that he had become far too reliant on the aid of the Old World to solve his problems for him, so much so that he had neglected the fruits of this world’s labor. ‘Magic… if only-’yet he stopped there.
Surely if he had magic then it might have been possible to save Yvonne now, however there was no point in regretting it now. It was already far too late to be dwelling on such things, so if that was the case then there was only one course of action left. He had gotten to this point because he relied on the Old World then what use was there in stopping and doubting it now?
He made up his mind to cross the point of no return ages ago. He had decided to call upon the knowledge of the Old World once more.
“[Ingrid].”
He called out to a nostalgic name. Gladsheim had not moved anywhere and this place was still well within its domain so there was no reason Ingrid could not respond to his summons. In the first place it was Ingrid herself that had first called out to him from Gladsheim all the way to his orphanage so this should have been a given.
Immolating bursts of azure flame cast throughout the maelstrom of Alice’s unstable winds, a sea of blue flames lit ablaze the dreaded contours of the demonic land. The master ghast of Ingrid’s tomb had awoken with a vengeful spirit, stepping foot onto the outside world to answer the call of its long ancient master. An elegant figure of a translucent mistress appeared before Morgant and knelt to the one who commanded.
“[I have answered your call, Director. What shall you have me do?]”
A simple holographic interpretation; not physically present, yet it was undeniable that Gladsheim’s influences were large enough to cover even the desolate forests of Vertloch Snowdown. Morgant could not help Yvonne, but Gladsheim had all the correct tools at its disposal to do so. It was then a natural course of action for Morgant to rely on those very tools passed down to him by his predecessor.
It was sudden but not at all unexpected that Gerald wouldn’t wait for them to be done. Nothing had gone the way he had planned it, ever since this ‘boy’ had appeared in front of him everything had gone awry. Backed into a corner he had no choice but to fight. He pulled back his bow and fired several arrows, trailed by even more shadow projectiles. Yet no matter how many times the same actions are repeated, without any new significant variables the same result was destined to occur.
Those arrows were halted mid air just like the one from before. Slightly irritated by Gerald’s rude interruption, Morgant twisted the arrows and flung them back to its sender. Instantly and effortlessly crushing the shadows that had assisted Gerald since the very beginning, Morgant turned and whispered through the howling winds in a low humming voice.
“Do not interfere, sub-human trash. I will deal with you later.”
A sharp but simple message but it was deeply engraved into Gerald’s head. With those honest to god disgusted eyes and voice filled with nothing but malice, Terror, the likes of which he had never felt before crawled up his spine. Not even the one he thought he feared the most, ‘Dian Cecht’ had come close to letting loose such a menacing aura.
“[Can you do it?]”
Morgant asked Ingrid, continuing to converse in the old world tongue to exclude Gerald. The question was of course on whether Ingrid had the ability to save Yvonne, though it was more a rhetorical one since the answer was obvious.
“[Yes, it is indeed possible, however the problem is that I am currently only here as a means of projection. To start operating on her would require her to be transported to Gladsheim as fast as possible. That being said she has sustained an incredible amount of damage and moving her haphazardly may result in instant death.]”
Morgant’s face paled for a brief moment but soon returned to flavor. There was no time to be dawdling around and thinking about the possible repercussions. There was no real choice; it was either let her Yvonne die here or try to bring her back to Gladsheim with the possibility of her dying en route. To choose the option with a 100% mortality rate would be foolish.
“[Do you have a means of transporting her back without me?]”
It was a valid question considering that the Ingrid currently present was nothing more than a projection with no physical influence. Even the sea of azure flames that appeared on scene was nothing more than an illusion. Yet despite this she gave a devious smirk as she replied merrily.
“[As much as this world has stolen from us, I have stolen in return.]”
As she spoke the very grounds beneath their feet trembled as though surrendering themselves to Ingrid’s will. Following the quick tremor was a brief moment of silence before the floor erupted into a spectacular geyser of sand and dust. Ripping and crawling themselves out from the heart of the ground were skeletal monsters adorned with howling dusk armor, aged yet still technically relevant.
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“[Hmm? Those are… undead? I seem to recall seeing them before in the dungeon. So that too was your doing.]”
Several undead knights slowly rallied themselves out of the ground to Ingrid’s command.
“[Yes, during my stay in this era I have studied what little magic was available to be studied. Initially my plan was simply to use them as camouflage to blend in but their utility was far too great to pass by as simple idling objects. I had hoped that their vile presence hadn’t offended you too much, Director.]”
Sovereign’s, and to an extent also Morgant’s, principle dictated that the dead not be disturbed unless specifically asked to. It was a small arbitrary moral choice considering the extent of their willingness to bend others to their will, but it was one that they had followed through regardless. Due to the incomprehensibility of this one capricious choice, Ingrid was unsure if Morgant was going to be accommodating to her decisions of using undead units. Though luckily going in her favor was the fact that these undead were more aligned as ‘summoned units’ rather than ‘resurrected units’, so there was still room for oversight.
“[It’s fine. Then please take her carefully back to Gladsheim and begin the operation right away.]”
Morgant commanded as he breathed a sigh of relief and shifted his focus back onto the enemy. A cowardly deer caught between headlights, Gerald awaited for Morgant’s inevitable judgment.
“[Understood, Director].”
One of the undead knights carefully lifted Yvonne’s powerless body in its arms and started to march slowly towards Gladsheim. It was not too far from their current location and if there were no obstructions then there was a very good chance that they would make it back in time to fix her.
“[Then, what shall I do about these children? Are they also to be taken back to the refuge of Gladsheim until the matter has been settled?]”
Ingrid asked as she pointed towards Morgant’s childhood friends.
“[Yes, please take them with you.]”
Complying with his commands without even having relayed the orders through Ingrid, the skeletal knights carefully pick up the unconscious Celina and Ren to be taken back.
“Now then… Gerald why don’t we have a little chat?”
…
“There! I see one!”
The town of Vertloch Snowdown was not a particularly large one and navigating its simple layout wasn’t too hard. Yet even still, finding a small box in the hidden deeply somewhere in town was not such a simple task. It was only because of good preparation and insight that the search team was able to have an easy time locating them.
The first of the ‘Blood Shrines’ that were supporting this horrendous ritual was found. Hidden neatly behind a small run down building and far away from anyone’s notice, it was only because of the ‘Vampiric Runes’ left behind by Yvonne that Francisco was able to locate them.
A small and ornate black box oozing a strange and disorienting miasma, such a distinct object practically screamed its identity. As they approached the box an abominable smell insulted their noses.
“Ugh, what is that smell? I can’t even begin to describe it…”
Este commented as she swiftly covered her nose with her hands. Even then the smell continued to assault her to the point she was actively feeling sick from just being in its presence. Unable to withstand it anymore she pointed towards it and fired off a series of low level elemental missiles.
[Fire Bullet], [Ice Bullet] and [Lightning Bullet]. A combination of all three elementary-level magic was enough to destroy the box. Upon doing so a burst of black flames erupted from the remnants, only to slowly dissipate with a howling cry of agony.
A few more minutes later the reddened skies became slightly less menacing thanks to the weakening of the ritual. Noticing this small change the search team’s expression lightened up as a small glimmer of hope shun in their eyes.
“Okay, now that you’ve all gotten a good grasp of what these ‘Blood Shrines’ look like I will draw up a map for all of you. I think we would be able to cover more ground faster if we separated.”
Francisco turned to address his team. A small platoon of men stood behind him eager to put an end to all of this horror. They were mostly comprised of the members of the Townguard who were now under his command now that Yvonne had disappeared.
It didn’t take long for Francisco to draw up a map of their hometown with the locations of all the Vampiric Runes left behind by Yvonne. After doing so he cut the map into small portions and handed them out to each of the search team members. With a small pause he took a deep breath to address his team.
“Unfortunately I do not think destroying these boxes will banish the crystalline monstrosities banging at our gates, but it will dispel the ritual. I can’t say that we’ll all make it out alive even if we stop this abhorrent ritual but what choice do we have but to try? If we want to survive through all of this then we have no choice but to start pulling our own weight.”
Far from a motivational speech, the best Francisco could do was give them a serious wake-up call. Their situation had now descended to the worst possible one but they still need to do something about it. The team stayed silent but nodded all the same with determination to see this through. Even if they were to die to monsters they at least wanted to ensure that their deaths wouldn’t be used as a basis for even further evil.
The Blood Ritual needed to be dispelled.
Wordlessly the members of the Townguard, Este, Lilith and even the Mayor went their separate ways to search for these Blood Shrines. The only member left were Enrich and Francisco, neither of which had much in the way of combat abilities.
“I wonder it was fine to leave everything up to that boy.”
Enrich asks in a melancholic voice.
“I wonder…? He was the one who came up with the plan but if it was just to that extent even I would have some reservations. However the thing is that it wasn’t just that, everything went exactly as he predicted down to even the kinds of action Miko would take. It’s just so crazy accurate that I’m not even sure what to think anymore.”
“Yes well, even if everything is going accordingly, I believe in this specific situation that is both a good and bad thing… considering the enemy.”
A small silence interrupted the flow of their conversation as they both sank deeply into contemplation. There were only three people that knew 100% of what was going on behind the scene yet they were not the ones with the most strength. In a world where strength and power took on an entire dimension, intellect could only get so far… or at the very least that’s what both Enrich and Francisco had thought until they had met with Morgant.
“A ‘God’… is it? Admittedly I know very little when it comes to the kind of power that boy employs- it doesn’t feel entirely correct to call it ‘magic’. He himself called it ‘psychokinesis’, but I fear even with such an amazing power it might not be enough to deal with what’s about to come.”
Francisco whispers to himself.
“Oh? Even though you’re the one who he approached to have as an adjutant you still don’t quite have him nailed down yet do you?”
Enrich responded with a small chuckle, slightly irritating Francisco.
“What’s with that? A second ago you were seriously wondering if it was okay leaving everything to him.”
“That was simply my concerns as a reasonable adult; I meant to say that not about his talents but whether it was okay to leave such a heavy burden on a developing child’s state of mind. If I am permitted to speak freely then I believe that you don’t have enough insight on the boy.”
“Just what do you mean by that?”
Enrich smirked.
“I mean exactly that. Do you honestly think that he was planning this entire thing only on a single dimension? He is certainly very distinct from anyone else in this world, and if my predictions are correct then that boy has one more trump card up his sleeves.”
“One more trump card?”
“It seems that it’s easy for him… to predict the movement of someone who can predict the future.”