B2 Stronghold and Secrets: Epilogue: A Soul's Worth and A Fox's Concerns
Lone had contacted Soph and told her it was safe to return. Once she was back at camp with Hamish and Breena in tow, and shortly following some warm soup had filled her belly, she passed out.
The toll of teleporting for three days straight, half of which with an S-ranker prisoner was finally catching up to the short woman.
"Poor wee thing's exhausted, eh?" Hamish snickered. "Ah'm gonna catch some beauty sleep anaw."
"I guess you'll never be waking up then considering your situation," Lone replied nonchalantly as he finished off his own bowl of soup, trying not to disturb Soph since she had chosen to rest her head and torso on his lap.
Hamish shot Lone a dirty look and gave him the finger instead of a retort before he stormed into his tent.
"Uh, g-goodnight, Master Lone," Breena said. "T-This... stuff with Sheelda... um, is it over now?"
"With Sheelda? Yes. Overall? Far from it," Lone replied, a haunted look entering his eyes.
"Ah. I, uh see... R-Rest well," she said with a strained smile before entering her own tent.
Lone sighed as he carried Soph into his tent. He got her out of her armour and then tucked her into bed. Choosing to sit next to her, he went over his notification log.
Item does not exist on Altros, however, there is an innumerable amount like it. 5,000 MP has been consumed to compensate for the difference.
The host has no understanding of the item. 50,000 base MP cost. 200,000 additional MP has been consumed to compensate for the lack of the host's knowledge.
255,000 MP has been consumed to recreate and restructure the item: [Dwarf [Sheelda McStuderson]'s [Soul]].
Warning! The host has consumed more MP than they possess. Bracket of extra consumption: 50,001-500,000 MP. The seal on the host's MP has been extended by 100-hours.
"Hah," Lone chuckled.
"Hahaha!" and then he laughed.
"Ahahahaha!" and then he cackled.
Some minutes later he calmed himself with the help of his ever-active Meditation. "An entire soul... An entire fucking soul only set me back by four days? Four days for the essence of a person? But Soph's eyes... Oh, Soph's eyes..." He held his head in his hands. "What did the system call them again?"
With his new mental memory vaults, it took him less than a second to remember. "Right, right... Jade Stars of The North. They set me back 10,000 hours. 416 days. 13.7 months. Over a fucking year. How can a soul be worth that much less than a set of working eyes?"
This more than anything else thus far helped to convince him that Soph's beautiful green eyes were special somehow, she just had no idea how to utilise them yet.
"One more thing to focus our thinning efforts on," Lone sighed as he kept looking at his notifications.
Sheelda hadn't used any skills on him yet since he'd told her to return and prepare any weapons or items she needed to give him everything all at once. He had, however, gained some levels during his recent interaction with Zel, or Tidsear g as he was truly known.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Infernal Flame Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 5.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Infernal Flame Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 6.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Infernal Flame Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 7.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Infernal Flame Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 8.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Infernal Flame Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 9.
Congratulations! The host's active skill [Meditation] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 2.
Lone sat in silence for a bit before he came to a decision. 'I wanted to spend the rest of my allocated four months training out here, but I need to get back to the guild. I have to look up skills that can deal heavy damage to demonic beings as well as find anything that can make me even more unkillable.'
He already wanted to find a skill that could harden his skin and muscles since Scott was able to cut into his flesh when he was training the kids.
Now that it looked more than likely that an Archdevil would try its best to kill him via proxy, it seemed to be the wisest course of action to prepare as much as humanly possible.
Thanks to the help of a properly rested Soph; Lone, Breena, and Hamish, were able to return to Krieg Moor by the afternoon of the following day.
Lone didn't suffer much injustice at the guard station upon entering this time, likely due in part to his spar with Guildmaster Hilda still being fresh in the soldiers' minds.
Then again, they knew what his mission was and they also knew he couldn't return until he had completed it or the scripture magic would have violently stopped him.
Perhaps they were afraid of the C-ranked foxkin that had successfully dealt with a triple-S ranker who had wiped out an entire krieg on her own? Lone didn't know nor particularly care.
Undue speciesism was the last worry on his mind right now.
He had already said his farewells to Hamish a few teleports before reaching Krieg Moor, so Lone, with Soph and Breena at his side, quickly made his way to the guild.
Once there, without any hesitation, Lone walked up to the only free employee counter and said, "I've completed all of my assigned quests. Here are the heirlooms I was tasked with finding, here's the device I was given to measure the enchantments at Krieg Stunfurn's branch of the guild, here's what the device told us unless it doesn't record that information itself."
He slid a piece of paper - his recounting of the readings from the guild's device - onto the counter and then continued, "And what do you want as proof of the blood mage's death? I snapped her neck, so I have her entire body but I don't know if you want me to dump it here or in a backroom."
The guildhall which had gone silent upon his, Soph, and Breena's, entry, erupted with the voices of all of the adventurers present.
"A D-rank'r killed an SSS-rank'r?! Aye feckin' right! E's a filthy liar, 'e is!"
"Aye! Bet the stinkin' bastard just hid nae far fae 'ere then came back after ah couple ah weeks wae some random corpse!"
Despite the local prejudice against Lone, there were some voices of reason. Perhaps because of his show of goodwill when teaching his fellow adventurers in exchange for hitting his Blood Clone.
"Did yes ferget 'ow scripture magic works? Bastard would be deed if 'e 'adnae done as it told 'im tae."
"Aye, an the cunt was able tae survive two 'its fae Hilda the Hammersworn. If it were Immortus the Immortal, ah'd bet ma left nut 'e some'ow outlasted the filthy mage then crusher 'er spine just as 'e said."
Lone smiled a little at how perceptive that particular dwarf was. "Well? I think it'd be better to dump her corpse here to clear up any suspicions."
The employee wore a strained look on her face but nodded. "Yes, that's probably wise, given your circumstances. I'll call the guildmaster to verify if it truly is the blood mage, but please, put the corpse just in front of my counter on the floor there."
Lone nodded and pretended to reach into his adventurer's pouch before he pulled out Rosanne's lifeless body.
Many oohs and aahs rang out from the gathered adventurers, all eager to witness the corpse of a supposed triple-S-ranker.
"Body's pristine," one noted. "Nae decay at all. As expected o' such ah strong person."
"Aye, but see the marks on 'er neck? Snapped through an' through just as the fox said."
"Feckin' mages, weak as piss physically, aye?"
"Strong 'nuff tae wipe oot ah whole city though. 'Is name is 'Immortus the Immortal' fae ah reason, eh? Ah'd ah died instantly in ah confrontation wae ah powerful blood mage."
That statement shut everyone up as several quiet 'aye's and nods resounded in the hall.
Before long, Hilda came down from the second floor and whistled, clearly impressed. "Aye, 'at's the blood mage. Ignorin' 'er face is ah perfect match tae the reports ah got, ah can still feel the lingerin' aura on 'er. Feckin' great job, Lone."
She pointed at the employee who had come to get her and said, "Go store the corpse, prepare their reward, and get the quest detail reports ready. Ah'm gonna 'ave ah wee chat wae Mister Immortal 'ere."
"Of course, guildmaster," the woman nodded before getting to work.
Lone, with Soph and Breena by his side, followed Hilda into a private backroom while he could hear the hushed praises of the dwarven adventurers.
'Finally some recognition. Maybe I'll be a hero of sorts by the time I work off my entire sentence?' he wondered. 'Here's hoping.'
Once they were seated in the private chamber, Hilda asked, "So, 'ow'd ya kill 'er?"
Lone saw no reason to lie so he summarised the fight truthfully. "Got Soph to teleport me next to her and I then impaled her with my tails. She turned to blood, escaping certain death, and then hammered me relentlessly with a few very powerful blood magic spells. She wasn't even able to crack my armour, let alone break it. When she realised she stood no chance at killing me, she tried to flee since she was running out of MP."
"But ya caught 'er?" Hilda asked. "An' this wee 'uman's ah space mage?"
"Nah, she's not, but she'll tell you about that herself when she gets her silver plate promotion exam," Lone shrugged.
"Fair. Go on then," Hilda pressed in excitement, happy to hear about the death of the mass-murdering blood mage.
"She didn't think she could outrun us since she could probably sense how much MP Soph has, thus, she took Breena and our other undisclosed companion hostage. We have protocols for such situations. At my signal, Soph teleported our other companion to safety while Breena merged with the shadows," Lone explained.
"Aye, Darkness. Dodgy yet powerful stuff, at Primal nonsense, eh?" the guildmaster commented to which Breena shrunk into her shoulders. "Ah ken aboot Hamish, by the by. Nae need fer discretion on ma account. Ah'm aware ah yer social status an' what affiliatin' wae it at this point would dae tae the already 'onour stained laddie."
"Ah, good to know. Well, at the same time, I had leapt forward and grabbed her neck, Soph surrounded us in a skin-tight magical barrier, and I crushed the mage's throat to stop her from casting any more spells, snapping her spine and neck at the same time," Lone finished.
"Brutal fuckin' bastard," Hilda said but her tone spoke of praise, not admonishment. "Well, Feck. Ye've gone an' got me all hot an' bothered."
Soph shot the SS-ranked guild master a dangerous look.
Hilda laughed. "Nae like 'at. Wanna 'ave another duel? If ah triple-S-ranked mage's magic cannae scratch yer armour, ah wonder if ma 'ammer still can?"
"Oh, I expect we'll be having many duels over the next few months as I earn my freedom. I'll fill out those quest reports then meet you at the training yard," Lone smiled.
"Maybe you can break my barriers too?" Soph suggested. "T-They're weak and I want to train them like Lone does his Bone Armour."
"Ah'm all fer smashin' apart magic. Let's go then lass, let yer man do the borin' paperwork while we go 'ave some fun," Hilda laughed as she shot up to her feet.
Lone got up too and warned, "Just her barriers. She's not me."
"Aye, aye, ah'm nae blind. Feck ah'm in ah good mood! One guildmaster rescued, another avenged! What ah year, what ah year!" Hilda boomed.
Lone's eyes widened. "Grand Guildmaster Sarah found him? Gilbert, Grimsley, and Shana, have all been brought back to the mainland?"
"Aye!" Hilda replied. "Ah only get the word ah few days ago, but aye, they're ootta the emerald sea an' back tae safety."
That lifted an extraordinary weight from Lone's shoulders. Knowing his first blacksmithing master, said master's niece, and his own father figure, were now safe was almost good enough news to outweigh him becoming an enemy of an Arch Devil. Almost.
There was a lot of preparing to be done if he wanted to stand a chance against what such an intelligent being would throw his way, that was for certain.
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