23 — Otherworldly Power

23 — Otherworldly Power

The day after the big party, I was minding my own business, about to have some Substance X, when Brod and Gulgar stopped me.

“Luciel, listen, I’d expect to jump up a few levels pretty soon,” my master said. “The monsters have gotten that strong.”

“I know you’re all about the health benefits ’n all, but you’ve gotta be runnin’ out of those after how long you’ve been drinkin’ that stuff,” Gulgar added.

“True, but I almost passed out when I had some for the first time in a while a few days ago,” I said, “so I figure I might as well keep my taste buds primed.”

“Stop, for the love of god,” they both pleaded at once.

If it was bad enough to warrant those two harmonizing so beautifully, it must have been pretty rough. Then again, this was a good chance to address my concerns about how I’d been having trouble leveling up. Veterans like them had surely hit their own share of plateaus.

“But I’ve been having a lot of trouble leveling up lately,” I said.

“It’ll go up,” Brod assured me. “Give it time. And we’ll make it easy for you, ’cause we’ll need you healing our asses nonstop.”

It wasn’t much of an explanation, but somehow I had a feeling he was right. I also got the hidden meaning behind his words.

“So you’re saying I’m going to need as much mana as I can hold.”

“Pretty much.” Brod’s eyes were firm.

“Noted. All you need to do is keep the monsters off me.”

“I can do that.”

“We will protect you, sir,” Lionel interjected. “You need only show me what you’re capable of.”

Brod huffed. “You think you can handle what I’m capable of?”

They looked kind of cool, talking and drinking at the bar, but in reality I knew this was them at their most relaxed. Now if only they’d stop bickering like kids.

A short time later, we piled into a wagon with some other adventurers and set out for the mine.

“Kefin, you’ll take point with Brod,” I instructed. “Lionel, you’ll be in the middle. The third row will be me, Ketty, and Estia. Gulgar will take the rear.”

“Not including the other adventurers?” Brod asked.

“For now. If the monsters were stampeding, we’d have an all-out war on our hands, but based on what you’ve told me, a small, elite squad would be best.”

“Huh.”

“Let me explain,” I began. “You can outpace even the fastest monsters, and Kefin can detect and disarm traps. Lionel excels at mid-range combat and will act as a wall between me and the fighting. Ketty’s fast on her feet and Estia is skilled at detecting enemies, so both of them will stand at my flanks to protect against ambushes.”

I simply didn’t trust enough of the adventurers to let them have my back. Of course, if the Lineage of the White Wolf had been here, it would’ve been a totally different story.

“And with Gulgar at the back,” I continued, “he can buy us time in case of surprise attacks from behind. I like to think I’m experienced enough to get a feel for everyone’s abilities, and this is the safest formation for me.”

“And here I thought you were talkin’ actual strategy.” I thought I could see the edge of Brod’s cheek twitch. “Your rank might’ve changed, but you sure didn’t.”

No objections were raised by anyone else. I took that to mean that either they had given up or my formation was objectively the best course of action. I chose to believe the latter.

“It shouldn’t be surprising that I still don’t want to die. Rest assured this lineup is meant to keep everyone else alive too. Not just me.”

Brod cackled and gave my shoulder a firm pat. “You don’t got the face of a kid no more.”

“Because I trained him in your absence,” Lionel said smugly. A clear taunt.

“You trained a gem I polished, Lion. Thought we went over this shit already.”

They had been bickering over whose apprentice I was since yesterday. Their friendship sure was beautiful to see.

The argument would go on for hours if I let it, so I interrupted them with a question. “We didn’t talk about the monsters too much yesterday, so just to make sure, they turn into magic stones when they’re defeated, right?”

“Nope. They have gems in their corpses, but they do leave bodies behind,” Brod replied. “Treat ’em as regular monsters.”

How did monsters spawn in a labyrinth? Was it a process? Or were they just illusions, the memories of Galdardia itself? If they had been transported, then that implied the existence of a being with power over reality.

And that was as far as I was willing to take that train of thought. I wasn’t about to risk jinxing myself.

“Won’t slaughtering them outside attract others to the smell of their blood?” I asked.

“We have to contain it,” Brod replied. “However we can. Mostly with fragrant herbs from the Doctor’s Guild.”

So this was a point of concern. I was surprised the Mage’s Guild hadn’t come up with a magical solution to the problem.

“When we get there, I’ll purify the area. Then we’ll focus on healing and eliminating the enemy. Assuming they’re patient today.”

The wagon jostled. I prayed that healing would be the only thing that today called for, and not burials. But until we got there, that was all I could do. Pray as the wagon rolled endlessly.

“How far is it?” I asked.

“Should be there in about half a day.”

I really should have asked that sooner. I looked at the lazily trotting horses with regret.

“I’m glad I found that out now. We’re switching rides. We’ll make better time this way.”

“Don’t think there’s gonna be much of a difference,” Brod said.

“You’ll see. I’m not anxious to throw myself into danger or anything, but the faster we go, the more lives we can save.”

Brod and Gulgar gave me strange looks, but when we finally set out in the carriage my team and I usually used, they understood. We left the other adventurers in the dust. Unfortunately, this was a matter of life or death for some people. The rest of the group would have to catch up with us at the mine.

“This musta cost a fortune.”

Brod was right. Had Dhoran taken this as a normal commission, it certainly would have cost an arm and a leg. Gulgar and my master were amazed.

“This was developed by the Research and Development department of Luciel and Co. All it took was some magic stones and treant wood, though mostly the former.”

“You’re a healer, former-Yenitian council member, and now a business owner?” Brod widened his eyes. “Since when?”

“It just sort of happened. I got lucky and invested in some talented people.” I didn’t really know how else to put it.

Our pace improved dramatically—like moving from a local train to a one-way express. We made the half-day journey in just three hours.

“You’ve gotta make me one of these.”

“Sure thing. But we go by foot from here.”

I could see something flying in the distance. We stepped out of the carriage, and I put it in my magic bag, then placed the horse in the hermit key.

“Is that what I think it is?!” Gulgar exclaimed.

“You’re one lucky sucker. We only found one of those things in our whole careers.”

Oh, I was lucky all right. Monstrously lucky.

“Guess I am,” I said.

“In that case, here.” Brod handed me a worn key.

“What is it?”

“A key like yours. It opens the hermit coffin.”

The hermit what?

“Did you just curse me?” I asked.

He chuckled. “Sounds like it, doesn’t it? You can put unconscious people in there.”

Fitting for a coffin, I figured.

“Unconscious? So you can only go in when you’re asleep or something?”

“Nah, you can go in when you’re awake. Just won’t close. But once whoever’s inside wakes up it’ll open back up and spit ’em right out.”

So it would work with paralysis or someone in a comatose state? And it could shoot them right out in the middle of a boss fight? But if I put it in my magic bag, wouldn’t that cause time to freeze for whoever was inside? No, that couldn’t be right. The hermit key went into my bag just fine. This required investigating.

“Have you ever used it?” I asked.

“Only once,” my master replied. “Hell if I know what to do with it, though. So it’s yours. If anyone can figure out a way to put it to use, it’s you.” He didn’t seem to want to look at the key directly for some reason.

“If you say so. I’ll definitely try.”

“Good. Now let’s knock that thing outta the sky.”

“Agreed.”

The monster in the air appeared before us—a flying lion. I cast Area Barrier, and everyone leaped into action.

“Sir, a spear to throw,” Lionel requested.

I tossed him a holy silver javelin, and he caught it confidently before swiftly sending it flying at the beast a second later. It soared with incredible speed, but the distance was great enough to allow the lion to dodge—only for it to plummet to the ground as its wings were severed. I could have sworn I’d seen my master for a split second.

Without missing a beat, Lionel swung his greatsword, swallowing the lion in an explosive plume of fire. When the smoke cleared, the monster had been decapitated.

“Simple enough,” Brod said. “Still haven’t lost your touch, eh, Lion?”

“Same to you, Whirlwind,” Lionel replied. “Your accuracy with a blade doesn’t suffer from your speed.”

The two had demonstrated incredible strength that, frankly, I didn’t think belonged on this plane of existence. It confused me.

“Lionel, were you holding back against the red dragon and the demon?” I asked him.

“I faced the dragon only days after my recovery,” he said. “And my equipment was in a poor state. As for the battle yesterday, I feared I would destroy the entire village at full strength. We’re currently in the wilderness.”

“So you’re telling me you still haven’t even gotten close to showing me your best?”

“I will say that I have gotten far,” he replied glibly, flashing a dauntless grin.

The limiters in his brain probably wouldn’t let him go completely all out either. But it seemed those concerns went right out the window when showing off to Brod. Lionel’s competitive spirit had been awakened.

“What, nothin’ for me?” asked Brod.

“I already know you don’t count as human,” I said. “What I’m more curious about is what monster could have managed to hurt you as bad as you were yesterday.”

“Somethin’ a whole lot nastier than that manticore,” Gulgar answered for him. “Three of ’em to be exact, and one was a variant. And he was protectin’ other adventurers at the same time.”

“Yeah, well you nearly got yourself killed takin’ all the hits for them,” Brod shot back. I assumed he didn’t like having the curtain drawn back on him. He could be so childish sometimes.

What I could glean from all this was that it wasn’t necessarily the monsters’ strength that had been the problem, but rather the presence of other adventurers holding them back. Were they not forcing Substance X on the newbies? If not, they really should have been.

“You and Gulgar used Substance X in the past, right? How were you affected that badly by those ailments?” I asked them.

The air seemed to freeze over. The two exchanged glances and the mood turned awkward. I could take a hint, so I rephrased the question.

“I would’ve thought you two could handle things with a group of high-rankers at your back. Was it that bad?”

“These chimera types are crafty. They hunt the weakest first,” Brod replied. “And they’re not all that’s out there. We weren’t ready for the swarms of ailment-inducing monsters. Keepin’ those at bay ain’t a simple matter of one little group of high-rankers.”

In that case, if things were that dangerous, what were we doing hanging around here? My master and his freshly riled-up rival could take on anything.

“Sounds like we need to move, then.”

“Hey, get back here! You want us to protect you or not?”

Impatient, I hurried over to stash the dead manticore in my magic bag. Soon, though, the others overtook me and assumed the formation I had laid out earlier. Satisfied, I increased our pace.

We arrived at the mine’s entrance ten minutes later. Or rather, what should have been the mine’s entrance. It seemed to have completely collapsed in on itself, and when I approached to investigate, I found out why.

It hadn’t been caused by any monster. No. It was a gateway. That same door that led to one of the imprisoned Eternal Dragons.