Mansion of The High Priest of Fartuna
Leader of the Gold Bands Adventurer Party
Every once in a while as an adventurer you're forced to take quests for the money rather than an actual desire. Working for the Black Priest certainly falls under that line. In order to get promoted to A rank adventurers and be able to access dungeons of the same rank we have to do missions for the nobility and have them vogue for us to the guild. Such rules are exactly why adventurers are even allowed to exist. So many of us like to think of ourselves like roaming knights but in truth we have far more in common with mercenaries.
Mercs with extra steps.
The adventurer guild tells the new hires that the guild is a shield protecting them from being abused by merchants and nobles until they are strong enough to deal with them on their own but in truth the entire system is a way to monopolize talents before the country can get ahold of them.
You can imagine the adventurer’s guild as a safety net to catch rebellious young nobles kicked out of their homes for whatever nonsense reason while actually having talent. They leave home, join the guild, then using whatever money they have to their name or talent they developed with a noble education they rapidly rise in rank. The government’s administrators see the young upstarts and connect them to their old noble family and quickly come in to take them into their families rival factions to use them for a future political play.
Of course not all of us are like that.
My party, my family, were all just slum rats who scraped together a modicum of talent and power over so many years fighting for our lives. When this mission is over we’ll be able to leave this godforsaken country and go west, as A rank adventurers we can pretty easily immigrate to whatever country we want as long as they aren’t at war with our home.
I can tell Monique how I feel about her.
Stand proudly before her parents as I ask for her hand in marriage.
Ryley is a strong soldier, I’ve taught him everything I know I’m sure he’ll lead the party well if I have to leave. I know her father won’t want me to stay an adventurer and if we have a family… I’ll want to be there for her.
“Hey, Boss?” I looked up at the young man, almost twenty years my junior. His talent can only be described as someone blessed by the gods. The level of creativity he has with magic is inexplicable. The last time I meant with the guild leaders they confronted me on if he was a reincarnated or summoned hero. I told them he absolutely wasn’t, made up some story of my brother knowing his mother.
Let’s ignore the fact that my brother died in a gutter when we were both kids and I literally found this kid wandering the woods.
“What’s up Ryley? I thought you were inside getting some sleep. Not time to rotate shifts yet right?” I looked up at the stars, it felt like I’d only been out here a couple of hours. The kid should be getting as much sleep as he could.
“No… No. There’s still plenty of time. Things were just getting… strange inside. My instincts said I should leave for the time being and you always say to listen to them so…” He drifted off to a mumble but I knew what he was talking about. My danger detection skill had been blaring to stay away from the building all night. There was a reason none of the rest of the party had been willing to go inside.
We all knew the rumors about the Black Priest. He was just a kid though. No need to tell him more than absolutely necessary.
“Yea. You’re right. If you think you shouldn’t be inside then just rest out here. Have some wine and sit down. We can talk while I stay on guard.”
He thanked me and sat down grabbing the bottle of wine and taking a full swig of it.
He couldn’t have been more than sixteen but drank like he was even older than me.
I watched the shadows cautiously but nothing seemed worth noticing. The Black Priest had hired us to stop thieves anyways, no way would they just charge in and attack the front gate. Eloiuse had set up magical runes all along the outside of the building that would shine bright light and let out loud ear shattering streaks when they were set off.
No thrive was getting inside. It’s embarrassing to admit but on a mission like this, I, as just a warrior, was by far the most useless in the party.
“Boss… There is something else… Something I need to tell you.”
I looked over at the boy drinking to my side and closed my eyes praying he wasn’t going to admit to what we all already knew but were keeping quiet on.
“Kid… You don’t need to say anything. In this world… In this line of work… sometimes knowledge can be more a curse than a blessing you know? We’re a party. We’re a family. You’ve only been with us for six months but because of you we’ve all gotten so strong we can take the A rank advancement test. You don’t need to prove anything…”
The kid started to talk but stopped and just nodded. “I just… I want you to know you can trust me and… Keeping secrets…”
I gave the kid a half-hearted smile. “You shouldn’t think of it as keeping secrets. I guarantee you everyone in this party had things they didn't talk about with each other. In fact take this as a lesson, if you ever join a party that insists it doesn’t have secrets from each other, leave immediately cause they are definitely some trap, you’ll be drugged and sold off as a slave to a noble before you even finish your greetings.
The kid laughed at me before shaking his head and downing another swig. “I guess you're right… Must just be the air tonight has me feeling worried.”
I laughed with him and slapped him on the back. “What are you worrying about? You're not even eighteen you little brat. Leave the worrying for old men like-”
Before I could even finish my sentence I felt the air freeze around us.
It landed with the force of a dragon.
I could only make that comparison because I had been on the ground during the last Great War when the vikings of Presson invaded and Roma Fortuna summoned one to hold off the hoard of pillagers. The ground shook so much both then and now it was as though the earth itself was trying to shake off the monster.
I somehow managed to force myself to move, throwing the kid behind the gate and slamming my fists on the button to activate the forcefield over the mansion and signal the alarm.
The beast stood there before me as though it was taking stock of me as much as I was of it.
If it wasn’t going to move I might as well use the gift of time.
The kid seemed barely conscious, he has a talent for magic but at times like this that can backfire horribly. If your opponent has thick enough magic and incorporates it into them they can stun you and make you feel sick by rushing your brain with a flood of contained sensations. The fact that he’d already been drinking no doubt didn’t help at all.
If we survive I’ll have to apologize to him. As party leader this was my failure.
Well if we survive anyways.
“Appraisal” I murmur the activation keyword for the magical eyeglass I wore to show me the monster's stats.
Level: 6 Name: Ghoul Job: Farmer
STATUS: SEALED
Infamy: 100 Fame:SEALED
I could see there was more beyond that but everything was scrambled, a clear indication of an evil god’s machinations. The eyeglasses weren’t all powerful but experience taught me that if there were things they couldn’t read it either wouldn’t appear or would indicate a ‘Sealed’ status. To give a scrambled result almost always meant the protection of a hire being and when discussing monsters that meant evil gods.
“Ryley I know you're struggling but you need to listen to me and report back!” I wove my words with my ‘Courage’ ability, giving him a resilience against fear and other debilitating debuffs. All the while I kept my sword raised and at the ready.
I could hear the kid groaning some kind of response behind me and I took that as confirmation.
“The monster isn’t attacking and has protections of the evil god, you should take that to mean it’s intelligent and deals in curses, debuffs, and chaos. You guys will need to prepare holy countermeasures. Have priests standing by on the sidelines to help with the cleanup. It’s level isn’t high but all things considered the risk and probability for evolution should be at play. In all likelihood…”
I didn’t finish my sentence. I didn’t need to.
“It’s been great working with you kid. I know you’ll do right by the party. I hope you find what you're looking for in this life.”
“Boss!” He shouted at me and tried to run to my side but the barrier wouldn’t let him through, not when the monster’s aura was so strong it was actively pressing against the barrier making it glow a spectral blue in the night sky.
“Vanguard. Warrior. Berserker. I Stand Alone Against God’s Enemies. Fallen Paladin…” I recited a long list of buffs and blessings onto myself, along with a long slow prayer to a god who’d abandoned me so long ago.
“Alabaster, you who protect those who wander through the long plains and hills of your chosen country. I come to you a fallen and damned warrior approaching my final battle seeking your pity and power. My friends at my back, my enemy before my eyes, a cursed monster of a kind never spoken of. Before I cross into the great unknown I plead only for the strength of my youth once more so I might lay this beast to rest.”
I felt power seep into me from the wind shifting from the ocean seabreeze to the great hills to the west. It reminded me of my days so long ago when I was only a boy with a dream. Power not to slay foes but to protect the weak. Power of a Paladin.
“You didn’t abandon me…”
I wept at my god's power that blessed me once more. I knew the gods were finicky creatures beyond mankind's true understanding but this time at least, her will felt clear to me.
Protect and survive, don’t give up.
“Boss…” I heard the kids aghast exclamations at my welling power.
Not that I could blame him, but this isn't’ the time for that.
“Blue flare! A single high power enemy! Get the others and get out of here dammit!” I shouted at him as I pulled my sword back breathing in a deep breath as I heard his feet pounding the ground behind me, fading into the background.
I saw the monster grin slyly, having apparently waited for that moment. We each took in a deep breath and bellowed out as loud as we could.
As I lit the world around me with the divine aura encasing me I saw the shape of my enemies body.
His arms and legs were elongated and bent backwards not unlike certain beasts that stemmed from insectoid monster families, his face though was pure canine with his maw stretching outward like a coyote or wolf. I could almost mistake him for a beast-man but he didn’t have any kind of fur or tail, rather he was totally nude with a frame like that of an emancipated plague victim. You could almost think him weak if not for the crippling aura he gave off and the… things moving in the shadows all around him.
They were coyotes on the ground and vultures in the air, occasionally I could even make out worms and other insects appearing and disappearing into the ground. Scavengers each and everyone of them.
This creature was a symbol of the end times. I was sure of it.
The longer he existed I could feel more of my gods pressure on my body, pushing, no- demanding I strike this beast down right now before it gets any stronger. If it survives this world will not.
I brought my sword down onto his frame as he shifted to moving on all four, his roar still shaking the air. I could feel his power fighting against my own buffs but somehow I managed to come out on top. My sword cut at his body, I expected some kind of intense defense but rather than that the sword simply sliced through and cut off his arm.
Before I could respond though he pounced on top of me with that unnatural weight like the pressure of the world was pushing us down. I couldn’t even imagine reacting to that in time and he wasn’t going to let me. His body was burning due to the divine magic encasing me but he didn’t care at all his jaw slammed down onto my own and tore it pure off the bone. It took everything I had not to pass out from the pain alone.
I managed to force myself to roll away as his pressure loosened for a moment.
When I stood up I realized why.
My arm, and his own, had both been devoured full.
He didn’t even stop to remove the chain-mail and leather armor I had been wearing.
With horror I watched as the wound on his arm closed up and began bubbling, rapidly rebuilding itself before me, bone, muscle, veins, fat, before finally skin.
It was good as new, I couldn’t even tell that he looked a little less emancipated.
“He..Hehehehehe…” I couldn’t help but laugh.
Right. This is a creature of the end times… I’m just an old warrior. A fallen paladin. I was never going to fight it and win using normal means.
I felt my waist get a little heavier as the wind grew heavier and then suddenly lighter.
I didn’t have to wonder what was there now.
It was the very same thing that made me lose my faith.
The monster looked at me with some sense of weary. Maybe it’s instincts were telling it that I was serious. Maybe it was considering running away.
Monique. I’m sorry I’m such a worthless partner. Let’s meet again in the next life, I wanna just run a little inn, some place where I can hear the stories of real adventurers, while sleeping with my love and tucking our children into bed. Safely.
“Come here you monstrous fucker!” I cast the only spell I’d ever learned and mastered. Taunt. And charged it, utilizing my Barbarian Howl to maximize the effect. It seemed to be trying to resist but failed to fight its instincts, after all, a delicious meal just jumped up to be eaten.
His jaw seemed to grow even wider snapping and popping painfully as he clamped over my stomach snapping me in half but what he couldn’t have predicted was the white ivory dagger that jutted out of my heart.
“Glory Be To God.” I said my final prayer as a multilayered shield was spontaneously formed around us and the entire space went white with divine fire.
Thanks for the chapter and good luck on your new story