Chapter 9 - Success!.. or?

 

"quickly, let's search them. I'll pack one of the robes and bring with us, Kiwi, watch the girl."

 

"Sure, I'll take the ones to the left" Herod replied as we took a side each and started patting down the quite disgusting corpses, or carcasses.. 

Body parts… 

Whatever it was right now. 

"a scroll Nana!" Herod yelled as he held it up, waving it. 

I nodded.

"Keep going, we'll look at it later." I replied.

he nodded back.

I found another sphere. 

I carefully opened my storage and put it in. 

 

"nothing else on this one" I mumbled then stripped the body of the robe parts. 

I laid it out on the floor, squatted down and grabbed the edge of it. 

Focused out my magic on repairing and the robe just, slithered together again as if reversing the process of ripping it apart. 

Then I used some force to make it clean. 

Folded it and put it in my storage. 

Herod was patting down the second body. 

I moved over to the last one. 

"So much for superior pureblood" I said quietly for myself as I laughed a bit. 

"fucking lunatic cults."

I held out my hand, held up the last body, separated everything from it using my telekinesis skill. 

Some papers. 

I threw everything to the side but the papers which I grabbed. 

"hum." I tried to read, but it was enchanted to be unreadable. 

"Someone at a high level has scrambled these notes.'' I said. 

"why do you think that?" Herod said as he came towards me. 

Looks like he's done searching. 

"I have to actually focus on dispelling it, carefully." I focused. 

 

-

This type of dispel was sort of like a puzzle, where the amount of pieces in the puzzle revealed how high the level of the spell was. 

I could place and remove pieces, so it wasn't on my level. 

You'd know it's a magic user very skilled at scrambling magic if you can't redo a move in the puzzle. 

And these puzzles are often designed to automatically "open" or be readable to those they're intended to. 

I'd say this was at least a level 90 magic user. 

There were about a hundred thousand pieces to put in place. 

But adding more pieces was easier to learn than to make it so you can't redo a move in the puzzle, forever locking it for the person that fails it. 

This just takes time. 

-

 

"aaaand.. Almost" I was close. 

There! 

"wait. This is." I paused and looked through it. 

"what? This is what?" Herod said eagerly. 

 

The tortoise-girl made another sound. 

"She's about to wake up, clean up" Kiwi communicated. 

 

I snapped my finger, turning all the cultists bodies to nothing but ash. 

It is way easier to turn dead things into ash than living things by the way.

 

"If this is correct, there is one of these sanctums dedicated to her" I pointed at the huge glowing wall painting in front of us. 

"in block 3 as well." I sighed. 

"Well, then we gotta stop them as soon as possi-" I interrupted him, 

"but that's not the worst" I looked at him. 

Teared up. 

"Here's confirmation that the suspicions we had about the country to the south is true." I dried my tears with my sleeve. 

"If this is to be trusted that is." I added quietly. 

Herod sat down. 

Let out a big sigh. 

"How do we deal with this?" he said silently, I heard the depression in his voice. 

He hated these pureblood crazies, 

"I'm not sure, but.." I went silent. 

 

He was technically a full on lizardman, but he couldn't understand how sick someone can be. 

To be so extremely hateful towards someone.. 

that they'd go to such lengths as to wanna exterminate them.. 

I get his hate. It sickens him, how they act, preach.. 

they've asked him to join them in the past too which he hates.. 

And they even look down on all the so-called pureblooded races that are of beastmen, reptiles or amphibians too. 

It's only a human Pureblood that's worth something in their eyes. 

They just lure them in to use as fodder on frontlines, experiments or suicide missions. 

All his best friends are so-called halflings or filth to these people. 

All those that fight beside him. 

Fuck those lunatics. 

 

"So this is basically just an infiltration, a black operation, an attack disguised as a Pureblood cult." I said. 

I took my paperslime, put the documents in it. 

"Well, we go back with this girl and talk with the commander." I said. 

Went over to her, summoned a knife and cut the rope that held her wrists. 

Then removed it. 

She opened her eyes. 

She was dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of linen pants. 

Quite filthy and a bit torn all of it. 

"You're safe" I said, as I waved my hand above her, infusing magic into her with anti-anxiety properties. 

 

-

Something I learned by watching Daerons alchemy. 

I've learned a lot that way, by imagining the process he does and applying magic force. 

I always experiment with it before using it like this of course. 

I had a few nights where I got high as fuck on that spell before I learned how to dose with it.

-

 

"huh? What.. What happened..?" she said, a bit groggy. 

She tried to look around. 

"We saved you, you had been caught by a cult that kills people like you and me, the Pureblood Society" I said. 

She looked confused. 

I smiled at her.

"You're safe now though, we neutralized them" I said as I held her hand, pouring warmth into her with some fire energy.

"What is the last thing you remember?" I asked. 

Herod looked at me, then observed her. 

Looking worried. 

"I.. I.. I remember drinking.. Yes.. I was at a pub.. Then I woke up now.." she paused. 

I kept smiling at her 

"that's good, that's a great help." I answered. 

she started crying. 

"th-thanks." she stuttered as she sobbed. 

"it's okay. We got you now." I replied in a calm manner.

"I was.. I was unhappy.. But.. I don't want to die" she said as she reached out and dragged me down, hugging me. 

Crying. 

I hugged her back. 

"It's okay, miss. What's your name?" I said calmly as I comforted her. 

She now sat up hugging me. 

"Emilia. My name.." she said. 

 

I signaled to Herod, writing in the air and moved my storage beside him.

He nodded, grabbed a pen and paper from my storage and started writing. 

 

"okay Emilia. My name is Nana. Where do you live?" I said as I petted her head. 

"middle.. West.. Block 4.." she said, sobbing. 

I looked at Herod. 

He looked back. 

Could it be? 

"Is the pub you went to by any chance called Kitchen Jam?" I said with a bit of a shaky voice. Please don-.. 

"Yes, that's it" she said. 

I looked down, sighed. 

"Thanks, that's a super great help! We know exactly where that is." I said.

 

That's the pub we went out drinking at the other day. 

The one we usually frequent. 

Wouldn't be impossible to miss something in the smashed state we were in of course. 

But it still felt bad, like something was going on or wrong and I felt guilty for not, stopping it before it happened since I was there.

 

"Do you want to go home or do you want to come home with me for the evening?" 

I let go of her, stood up and walked over to my slime that was done and put it into the storage and closed it as I said 

"it's okay if you wanna go home to, I ca-" she interrupted me 

"please take me home with you sempai.” And she bowed with her head to the floor before me, still teary in her voice. 

"please please.. I don't feel safe.. " she said. 

I was a bit shocked for a second by the head to floor begging. 

 

“stand up, or sit, it's okay. I'll take you with me and guard you personally, okay?" I said, she sat up, smiled at me. 

Tears ran down her cheeks. 

"thanks sempai, thanks." she said with a shaky voice.

I smiled at her. 

 

"Kiwi, please show yourself." she staggered and fell back as Kiwi appeared out of thin air before her. 

A fully armored spirit wolf, radiating with light energy. 

"oh right," i put my hand on her armor and absorbed the magical force. 

"wha-whats that?" she stuttered. 

"this is Kiwi" I smiled and leaned my head to the left. 

"She's my spirit wolf I created, no need to be scared!" 

Herod packed up, put the notes and scroll in a satchel he had. 

"i'll go back to base then Nana and report, you go home, I'll cya tomorrow" he waved. 

"Yes, sounds good, take care Herod!" I said and waved back. 

"don't feel bad, that spirit wolf has scared me many times," Herod said, chuckling as he walked off. 

Emilia giggled a bit. 

“okay” she mumbled, a bit more joyful now as she seemed to feel safer, or maybe my drug spell was kicking in. 

She started petting Kiwi looking happy anyway.

 

I turned around. 

The altar. 

I went up to it. 

Observed it a bit. 

Looked like a big black purplish stone.. 

I squatted down and touched it. 

Tunnels in it to direct blood, which I suppose failed.. 

But that.. 

I stood up and looked at the gigantic picture. 

That thing. 

I hope that's not what they're summoning. 

I get a bad feeling. 

I can't remember it's name though. 

It kinda feels like something is watching me, but I can't see or sense anyone.. 

I tried a scan, focusing, trying to see if we missed someone. 

Nope. 

Nothing. 

Must be because of the creepy setting. 

 

Emilia grabbed my shoulder "shall we go.. Excuse me.. Nana is it?" I snapped out of it, looked at her, took her hand. 

"yes, Nana is my name" I smiled and leaned my head to the left. 

"And yes, let's get home." I said.

“Well, one thing.. better remove it anyway.” I mumbled, pointed at the purple stone altar and fired off a ray of light energy at it that disintegrated the thing.

Then I turned to her, took her other hand and held them both tight. 

"Okay, hold on tight, don’t wanna end up in the wall or something" I said. 

"o-okay" she stuttered, sounding afraid and confused, looking at the ash pile where the altar had been, then at me and back and forth.

 

A flash.

Then I let go, turned around and opened my front door. 

"wait, we're outside now? What?" she said, sounding confused, surprised and amazed. 

I giggled. 

"Come on in, it's just teleporting" I gestured with my hand as if to welcome her in. 

 

---Back at the sanctum we'd left later the same evening---

A shadow appeared from the painting. 

The top half of a body, it leaned out very slowly from the painting, looking at the aftermath, slowly reaching out its right arm sensing the room with it as it moved it from left to right.

Analysing, scanning the place with some sort of magical power. 

It was oozing darkness, like ash was falling off it in an upwards motion slowly. 

Looking like the silhouette of a man with horns. 

A huge arm with thorns at random places along it, a hand with claws like katanas and huge wings sticking out from its torso.

The wing on the side where the figure reached out its arm stuck out a bit more. 

They were like a mix between a dragon's wings and an angel's wings. 

It was completely black, no light reflected from the shape.

"Well then, it seems like the halfling didn't disappoint" a voice said as the dark figure leaned back into the painting, disappearing completely as suddenly as it had appeared. 

And there was nothing again in the sanctum except the smell of what had happened.