"When we agreed to check out the ruins," I say. "I expected, y'know, ruins that seemed uninhabited. Those are ruins, but they ain't uninhabited."
The castle's walls are mostly demolished, though I can spot a few figures walking along the parts that are still stable. A few people are standing near the holes as well to keep watch. They're dressed in red cloaks with black decorations, some of them also looking like they're wearing dark red armor. With night having already fallen, torches and braziers are the sources of light.
Well, them and Tielmar's two silver moons and much larger blue moon, which are shining in all their glory right now.
That makes it kind of easy to take in the mountain resting on the edge of a cliff from our own spot hiding on another, taller cliff. Two of the castle's four towers have fallen and the keep is somewhat crumbled. A significant portion of the main building itself has also been demolished.
The three of us are currently lying on our stomachs to examine the ruins of the castle.
"This was definitely the sight of a battle," Caleb says. "Look at some of the stones – they're straight up boulders and their forms suggest magically-created. Most castles are built with potent wards, and that was true five hundred years ago. Whoever attacked here was extremely powerful."
"But why wouldn't they start cleaning up?" I ask. "It's almost as if they don't plan on staying here for very long?"
"They don't," Adam answers.
"Something they said I can't hear?" Caleb asks.
"No," Adam answers. "Something I can smell. Demonic energies. It's… rather strong. Plus, that ritual they're doing that? You don't paint the runes with blood."
I barely manage to make out the ritual that's being set up. Or rather, the ritual that cloaked figures are currently checking it over. Though I can't make out the details too well from this distance, I can see enough to tell that they aren't setting it up anymore.
It contains a massive ritual that looks black from here but is probably blood based on what Adam said. A brazier of black-and-red flames burns in each of twelve points around the ritual's border. At the very center of it is a square table. I think it's made out of stone but I'm not too sure. There's some sort of pattern carved into it based on the texture it has from here but I can't tell what's actually carved there.
"Demonic energies?" I ask. "There are demons here?"
"Probably a long time ago," Adam responds. "Not anymore. The way it feels… most of it is probably from an object. Though each person also has demonic energies, but it's not theirs."
"Demon-worshipers, ugh," Caleb makes a face of annoyance. "I remember dealing with some of those a few years ago. There must have been some sort of demonic item sealed in these ruins. Some idiot managed to locate it, break the seal, and started a cult. The members are all injected with some of the demonic power. It's… corrupted them, for a lack of a better word. They're still human or whatever else they were before, but their magic has a darker touch to it. They can't use any holy or light magic and the other magics they can used are infused with demonic energy. That makes it a pain in the ass to counter."
"How'd you deal with them?" I ask.
"Eh," Caleb says. "We gave up trying to find a way to handle it ourselves, tracked down a powerful magician, and hired them to drop a meteor on their camp."
If all else fails, drop a meteor?
"Their weapons are all probably infused with demonic energy as well," Adam frowns a little. "So getting cut would be a bad idea. We don't have stuff to boost our resistance to demonic energy. That means any injuries received will take longer to heal, hurt a lot more, bleed worse, and weaken us, among other things."
"You think it was a trap to lure me here," I say. "So that they could use me, a Summoned, as a sacrifice for that ritual? Because I'm a bit certain now that's meant as a sacrificial ritual."
"Not you," Adam says. "Whoever gave you that map a couple of weeks ago wanted you to take care of this."
"How can you be certain?" I ask.
"They're all weak," Adam huffs. "You'd be able to handle this alone, with some effort. With all three of us? It's a piece of pie. The timing of our arrival, though… I think it was your mysterious god friend who gave you the map."
"Why?" I ask.
"A solstice will occur in two hours," Adam answers. "The moons will go dark. During the Triple Blood Moon, the balance of energies is perfect for summoning a demon. They must be wanting to summon a high-level one."
For us to arrive here only hours before it happens would take an intense level of prediction. If someone knew this was going to happen, they could have gone to Amadikols instead. The people there would likely have dealt with this before now.
Unless they're in on it, of course, but my gut says otherwise.
"It always amazes me how those of draconic heritage can sense that sort of thing," Caleb says. "By the way, that sword of light you got from the Dungeon is extra-effective against demons."
"Demons, not people with a touch of demonic energy," I say. "You're certain they weren't just estimating we'd arrive in the last few days, Adam? We did go off-course a little and could have been here a couple of days ago."
"Positive," Adam says. "Their sacrifice is a fairy."
"How certain are you?" Caleb asks. "Fairies are notoriously hard to find. Even the Titan's Grasp doesn't know where the nearest gate to their realm is."
"I can smell them," Adam taps his nose. "They might have the same base Magic and Mana as most people, but their bodies are made of magic. It has a unique scent, too. I only ever heard about it from Grandpa, but this is definitely the smell of fairy. With their bodies made of magic, it makes them perfect as a sacrifice. Ah. There he is."
A semi-unconscious man about our age is being carried by four of the cult members, each holding a different limb. The most I can make out is that he's male, has what I think is brown hair, and has some sort of cuff on each wrist and leg in addition to a gag in his mouth.
As I watch, the cultists chain him to the stone table at the center of the ritual, then ungag him. The fairy tries saying something, but I can't make it out due to our distance.
"What's the plan?" Caleb asks.
"It's about three hundred feet from here to the ritual, right?" I ask.
"Closer to three hundred and fifty, why?" Adam asks. "Why?"
"I can handle that kind of tumble," I say.
"What do you mean?" Adam asks.
"I want you to throw me down there."
"…what?"
"You have the Strength for it," I say. "Just pick me up and throw me. They're keeping an eye on the outside in case someone shows up. Let's crash their party straight at the heart of it. If you're right about how weak these fuckers are, then let's fuck up their plans from the start. I kill the ones at the ritual, you two then find your own way down and help take out the rest of these fuckers."
If needed, I'll help the fairy return to his realm as well. I'm sure his family would be grateful for it and being owed a debt by some fairies doesn't sound like a bad idea. Actually, there's a chance it could be since I know almost nothing about real fairies. For all I know, they could be tricksters like some of the fae myths back on Earth.
Adam sighs, then tells me to get ready. I sit on the ground and hug my knees to my chest, then Adam picks me up and spins around a few times before releasing.
The throw sends me high into the air as well as rather far and the speed surprises me enough that I lose my breath for a moment. Just as I catch it again, I crash straight into one of the demon cult members. He's not wearing metal armor, which makes it quite the soft landing.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
For me, at any rate. None of my bones seem to have broken but I heard some crunching from within my landing cushion.
"Perfect aim!" I exclaim as I stand and stretch, cult members staring for a few moments. "Anyone here want to surrender peacefully?"
A few of them draw their swords while others begin firing off spells. I draw my own sword and run it through the cultist I landed on, then avoid a few attacks. Adam wasn't wrong about how weak these guys are and I easily cut through all of them without taking a single attack to myself.
"You know," I say when I clear out the cultists close enough to the ritual to cause a problem. "You're actually kind of cute up close. Let me get you out of those chains, we're here to help."
The fairy looks like a guy my age, if a bit on the short side at 5'5", and he has a really cute face. He's slender in build, the back tops of his ears are slightly pointed, and his hair is brown while his eyes are green.
I can't find a way to unlock the chains so I decide to use my immense Strength to simply tear the metal apart. Much like the people here, it's fairly weak. Tearing them still takes a bit of time, but I'm fortunate in that Adam and Caleb crash-land in to take out the approaching cultists.
Once the fairy is freed from the chains, he sits up and rubs the cuffs on his wrists.
"Mana-draining, huh?" I ask as I read the descriptions. "Well, doesn't mention adverse affects if broken. Let's try… ah-ha! Weaklings. Couldn't even make ones that can resist 50 Strength or higher. Those tore easily."
I finish tearing off the cuffs, then the fairy rubs his wrists a little more.
"Want some help getting home?" I ask. "Or is it through a secret fairy method that others aren't allowed to use? We'll have no issues with that."
"We'll have to wait for the king to open a gate," he shakes his head. "He probably sealed them all after I got kidnapped."
"The king?"
"Er… yeah," he nods. "The Fairy King, first and most powerful of all fairies. These bastards broke one of our gates to get in and His Majesty probably closed the rest to avoid anyone else getting kidnapped. Well, my disappearance may not have been reported, seeing as it's already been a few days and no one showed up."
A few days? I was told about this a couple of weeks ago. Definitely a god's work, then. Why did the mysterious god want me, specifically, to deal with this? And why did he let me know where this happened but not guide the fairy's brother…
"Wait," I say. "Your disappearance wasn't reported?"
"Probably," he shrugs. "My brother and I got into a massive argument a few days ago and I sort of ran off. It's not the first time I've disappeared on him, so he probably thinks I'm just doing my own thing right now instead of having gotten kidnapped by a demon cult. Do you… have any [Mana Recovery Potion]s?"
"Why?" I ask. "Oh. You don't like being low on Mana? Here."
I hand him a couple of potions and he downs them all before asking if I have a couple more. The cost isn't too much with my funds and the fairy probably wants the feeling of Mana again after having been drained of it for a few days. Adam did mention that they're creatures made of magic, after all.
After the fairy finishes those, he stands up and stretches. Then he claps his hands above his head, turns his hands around so their backs are touching and palms facing away. The fairy brings his hands down to his sides until they're about waist-height, palms still facing downward.
Light begins to flow out from beneath him, quickly taking on the form of a magic ritual. It's a golden light that seems to radiate away from him as his a sort of wind seems to blow upward, strong enough to affect his hair.
"Come!" His voice is filled with magic. "Evisalb!"
A sort of drawn-out chime sound fills the air as the sounds of Adam and Caleb fighting the cultists stops. From the light below the fairy appears a creature, a fox with greenish-blue fur, silver eyes, and flames on its paws, the tips of its ears, and the tip of its tail.
The fox – I'm assuming that Evisalb was its name and not some magic phrase – lets out a small war cry, then charges forward at an incredible speed. It crashes into the chest of a cultist, who drops like a rock. The creature continues to fight, occasionally turning into water to allow attacks to pass right through it.
"That's pretty nifty," I say.
"Yeah," the fairy nods. "I'm a [Summoner] by focus, though [Mystic Beast Summon] is only Level 1 so I only have Evisalb at the moment. Summons only last as long as an amount of time equal to one second per 1 Mana as well, which is why I wanted to get back up to full. Though he does drain my own Mana for his spells once he uses up what he has and I don't have much since I used it all on him."
"The charges and water-shifts?"
"And the bites and tackles," he nods. "The running is wind magic, the water-shifts is water magic, the screaming from the bites is because he's injecting fire straight into them, and the tackle is earth magics."
The water magic is pretty obvious since he's switching into it. The wind magic involved is probably for bursts of speed, while earth magic probably makes his body harder and heavier to increase the amount of force on strike.
Injecting fire magic straight into someone sounds… like something I hope never happens to me. I have no qualms with someone using it against evil, demon-summoning bastards like these, though. They were going to sacrifice someone for their spell and deserve horrid pain.
"Nifty," I hand him a couple of more potions. "Here. He seems capable of handling this on his own. How did you get captured?"
"A trap," he answers. "I had full confidence my brother would show up to rescue me which is why I wasn't too bothered by this. A human, a snow leopardkin, and a demihuman dragon… that was a surprise."
His brother must be pretty influential if he can convince the Fairy King to come search for him directly. How does the fairy hierarchy work?
"Seems one of the gods felt your brother might not make it on time," I say as he downs a potion. If the gates are sealed, what are your plan for returning home?"
"Probably hang out at the nearest gate until it gets opened up," he downs another potion. "People tend to be weird about fairies. They either love us, hate us, respect us, want to sacrifice us… you get the drift."
"Yeah," I answer. "We were actually guided here by a god, so if you'd rather not spend the wait alone, you could join us for our trip. We're heading to Amadikols, the Holy City a couple of days' travel southwest of here. You should be safe for that."
The fairy contemplates that choice while Evisalb finish up his job, then vanishes into a puff of light. Adam and Caleb collect the bodies of the cultists, and Adam throws [Fireball] after [Fireball] at the pile until it's nothing but ash.
"There's a demonic item here," the fairy tells me as Adam and Caleb approach us. "I think it had been sealed in some sort of secret vault that someone managed to stumble upon. Probably while looking for anything loot-worthy. With how powerful the item was, it probably called to them. It's in the temple now. Problem is that it's high-tier and needs something holy to destroy."
"I know some basic holy magic," Caleb holds up his right hand and golden light wraps around it. "Really just [Holy Burst] and [Enchant: Holy]. High-tier compared to these guys is definitely-"
"More powerful than you," the fairy states. "Significantly more powerful. Holy magic is good and all and will definitely be twice as effective, but at your power? Not enough."
"Hm…" I say. "Alright. Let's go get the object."
"What?" The fairy asks. "Why?"
"Well," I hold up my right wrist, showing of the cuff. "I can store it in here. Since everything gets hit with a temporal lock, that will render the demonic item inert until such a time as I pull it out – which I won't do until I have a way to destroy it."
After examining the cuff, the fairy nods and leads us to the object. It turns out to be a book with a cover of leather made from human skin, a dark red jewel set into the center of the cover and black chains wrapped around it with no visible end, keeping it tightly bound.
"It's extremely high-tier," the fairy tells me as I examine it. "Able to speak to others. It'll probably start talking, whispering sweet words to us in an effort to get us to kill each other so that we can't tell others. Or to convince us to side with it in exchange for power. I think it's actually an archdemon that's been bound up, which would explain a few things."
"Oof," Adam says. "Sucks to be him. We're going to a Holy City, so we can probably find someone powerful enough who can destroy it."
"Probably not," the fairy says. "You'd need at least 1,500 Magic if using purifying holy magic or 3,000 Magic if not. This thing is extremely durable and last I heard, the average Level for the typical adventurer is only around Level 30 or so. Even among us fairies, that's true."
Which means I can't just stab it with my sword. That sucks.
"Adam?" I look at him.
"I don't think Grandpa or Avuldrax are close to that," Adam shakes his head. "Even as old and powerful as they are."
"It's not an issue," the fairy says. "We just need to wait for the Fairy King. He's Rank 5 and nearly entirely thanks magic-based Classes that are Tier V. He knows holy magic. With his power, destroying that thing would be a breeze. So all we have to do is wait for my brother to realize I'm missing and the tome's destruction will be a matter of how long it takes them to track me down."
"Is he really Rank 5?" Caleb asks. "I've heard the rumors, but you fairies are so secluded and keep to yourselves enough that no one really knows for sure."
"He is," the fairy answers. "Though he doesn't flaunt it. Most fairies don't actually know his real level of power. I only do because he showed me his Status a few years ago. Hanging out with people would be much preferred to waiting by the gate alone. I'll take you up on that offer."
"Alright," I say. "My name's Jamie, that's Adam, and that's Caleb."
"Pleasure to meet you," the fairy says. "I am Leif. Let's get the tome and get going. I want to get out of this creepy place."
Adam and Caleb voice their agreement to this place's status as creepy.
"Yeah," I reach for the tome.
"What is it that you-"
"Zip it, punk," I slap the book. "Sweet words aren't going to work on me."
"But if you-"
I pull out my [Sword of Sacred Light] and stab the book, which yelps. It's not strong enough to actually damage the tome, but the holy power within it is enough to cause pain for the item.
"Now," I say. "That didn't do any damage, but the raw holy power within it really hurts, doesn't it? Want another taste of it? No? Keep your fucking voice to yourself, got it?"
The tome tries to protest, only for its words to fall silent once I chuck it into my storage. I notice Leif staring at my sword as I send it into the storage as well.
"Found that thing laying around," I tell him. "Thought it might come in handy so I kept it. Do you want some clothes? Mine will be a little big on you, but you won't have to be naked."
"Hm?" Leif is still distracted. "Oh. Yes. Clothes."
I hand him a pair of brown pants and a dark green tunic, though his feet are a size smaller than mine so my spare boots won't fit him. No matter.
"Alright," I say. "Let's put a safe distance between us and here, and once we're in Amadikols, let's see if we can't replicate what Caleb's merc group did in the past."
"What did they do?" Leif asks as we begin walking.
Caleb decides to answer this extremely enthusiastically, his tail flicking about energetically.
"We hired a high-power mage to drop a meteor on a camp of demon-worshipers!"