Sorry for the delay. I had to rewrite the last POV from the (P)(A)(T) chapter at least three tis, but I think it turned out well.
I won't take up too much space here. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comnt and I'll do my best to answer. Also, sorry for not replying to the comnts yesterday.
If you'd like to read 3 out of 7 chapters or just support , that's possible through my (P)(A)(T). If not, I still really appreciate you reading. Thank you so much!
(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori
As always, have a great Blood Moon and happy reading!
[...]---[...]
POV: Devas Asura.
One day and a few hours—that's how long it took to finally leave Shahrabad.
Or almost. I was still in the city, at one of the exit gates leading to the chains. Waiting for the four from Team Pebble…
Ignoring the chaos I had caused—both with the rain that purified everyone, even if it sparked panic, and the deaths caused by Tyrian, which were far more nurous than I had expected. I knew the governnt of this city was rotten, but two-thirds of it, including the governor-general?...
"Charlotte and Helena said I could act as I pleased, didn't they?… Let them deal with this shit later, then…" I muttered to myself, recalling the words Jinn had relayed from the Duchess and the Princess.
I had perford a 'general cleansing' of the city. I collected every last drop of branded ink I could find and screened the residents to ensure no one was still infected with the 'parasite.'
Curiously, and probably thanks to the way the Purification Powder worked, the population wasn't in complete turmoil.
They were still unsettled—seeing rain appear out of nowhere in the middle of the desert was strange; watching everyone who touched that rain start vomiting blood was more than alarming. But all of that, combined with shadowy creatures erging from nothing and dragging people into the rain itself? That should have been terrifying for everyone.
Yet, just a few hours later, after my Nightmares had vanished and I forced the rain clouds above Shahrabad to disperse, most of the people were already back to normal.
Of course, there was still a subtle tension lingering throughout the city. A residual fear here and there, but far less than I expected. Not that I was complaining—if it made my life easier, it was welco.
I had also used that ti to check the Ergency Mission. It had been completed at so point between tossing the Antlion Queen's soul into the spider egg I had kept and purifying the soul of the baby god she carried…
…Just rembering that thing stressed out.
Honestly, the entire situation was exhausting. But the worst part was how familiar it all felt. Frankly, I was surprised at how smoothly everything had gone.
Nothing exploded, no one who didn't deserve to die had died, Shahrabad hadn't fallen from the sky. And I had really expected at least one of those things to happen. Overall, everything turned out fine…
The fact that I now had one egg containing a baby god and another holding the Antlion Queen's soul was sothing I was kind of ignoring for now. Sa for so of the (CHAT) questions.
-//-
[Ergency Mission (Worldwide) - (Chain Mission - Parallel)]
Mission Na: Shahrabad isn't as prosperous as it seems...
Description: Heat has never been the deadliest thing in the desert; its creatures have always held that title. The sands have always been stained red, but never before have they reeked of decay as much as now...
Shahrabad has always been the haven amidst the sea of yellow grains, a floating fortress never shaken, a bastion amid the sands, whose fall was once unimaginable… But what happens when those seeking to bring down this paradise are far more cunning than the beasts lurking beneath the surface?
… But what if the threat cos from within?
Description (New!):
The corruption within Shahrabad's high ranks has gone unnoticed for too long. Almost long enough to cause sothing irreversible, leading to a situation that could only be described as apocalyptic.
The Ichor Ink on the skin of the city's inhabitants harbors sothing malevolent. The anthill beneath the city will give birth to sothing even worse.
Prevent the Flesh Seed from sprouting. Stop the birth of the "Rot World Tree (Crimson)."
Objective: Uncover what's happening in the desert. Prevent the fall of Shahrabad. (Complete!)
Reward: Life Crystal (5), Mana Crystal (5), 50,000,000 SP, Extractinator, Healing Potion (10), Mana Potion (5).
[..]
Secondary Objective (1):
Prevent the birth and creation of the Rot World Tree (Crimson). (Top priority!)
Reward: Desert Spirit Lamp (Empty), Broken Hero Sword (Complete!)
Secondary Objective (2):
Find a way to purge the "Nine-Pointed Crown Mark" from Shahrabad's inhabitants.
[Destroying is much easier than healing…]
Reward: Moon Mask. (Failed!)
[Healing is much harder than destroying…]
Reward: Sun Mask. (Complete!)
Secondary Objective (3):
Heal Ísis, Maribel, Ahinadab, and Beldin before the activation of the "Nine-Pointed Crown Mark."
[Four bodies. Mission complete…]
Reward: Sandstorm in a Bottle (Failed!)
[Four allies. Mission complete…]
Reward: Dye Vat, Bubble Machine, Thief's Di, Bomb Recipe (Random) (Complete!)
Secondary Objective (4):
Stop the Antlion Queen. Her ants have already caused too much destruction…
[One less monster… It makes no difference…]
Reward: Bast Statue (Failed!)
[One less Queen… It makes no difference…] (Increased difficulty!)
Reward: Ancient Chisel (Complete!)
Secondary Objective (5):
Does sothing that hasn't even been born yet deserve to pay for sins that aren't its own, for sothing it hasn't done?…
[Hypocrite, human. The difference between these two words is sotis lost…]
Reward: Trifold Map, Life Crystal (3), Mana Crystal (3) (Failed!)
[No] (Extre Difficulty!)
Reward: Naless Crown. (Complete!)
Secondary Objective (6):
Destroy the Pseudo Crimson Bio (Fake!)!
Reward: Crimson Flask (Complete!)
Secondary Objective (7):
Kill the Antlions that plague the desert!
[Calculating reward based on kills!]
Number of kills: 1,714,784!
Reward: Desert Key, Flying Carpet, Dunerider Boots (Max reward!)(Complete!)
Secondary Objective (8):
Ensure the traitors do not go unpunished!
Reward: 1,000,000 SP!, 1,000 Royal Gold Coins
Secondary Objective (9):
??? (Failed!)
Reward: ??? (Failed!)
Note: The Antlion Queen sleeps beside her child.
-//-
My eyes quickly scanned the screen displaying the mission details. I completely ignored the rewards I hadn't received. Every reward was tied to paths I had chosen—the failures didn't matter.
Instinctively, I first searched for the reward related to the thing inside the Antlion Queen: the baby god.
"Naless Crown…" I muttered.
I had really expected sothing with nine points. This city had so kind of obsession with the number nine. Nine-pointed crown. Nine chains. Even the Antlion Queen had them—both the crown and the chains.
The crown didn't even look like a crown. It was just a rusted bronze-colored tal band with a vague description: "Its na cos from its purpose. When nad, it will change to suit its bearer."
The bearer, in this case, was . The crown had bound itself to before I even touched it. Its rarity was also the sa as the Mini-Pylon: Orange-Devas. I stored the item in the VoidBag and resud reading.
Crystals—both life and mana—were always welco. Just like the SP. Fifty-one million was a massive amount that I would never turn down.
I had also received an abnormal amount of 'machines': Extractinator, Dye Vat, and Bubble Machine. All relatively useful, but the one I liked the most was the Dye Vat. The machine helped with dye production. It wouldn't work for more specialized dyes, which I would still need to make manually, but it was useful for industrializing so things.
I had wanted to create sothing like this for a while but never had the chance. I'll study how this machine works and then make copies of it.
As for the Extractinator and Bubble Machine, they weren't bad either. The first lived up to its na: extraction. More specifically, it extracted parts of stones, ores, minerals, and other materials, separating them.
The Bubble Machine, on the other hand, transford liquids and semi-liquids into bubbles. It sounded useless, but depending on the material, it could be quite handy.
The reward for curing Maribel and Beldin, since two of the three machines were from Anihadab and Isis, wasn't bad either.
Beldin's reward: Bomb Recipe (Random), ended up giving the recipe for a Dry Bomb. A bomb that exploded and absorbed a specific type of liquid. Not all that useful, since the VoidBag did sothing similar, but I saw potential in it—especially if I could specify which liquid the bomb should absorb.
Curing Maribel, however, gave the strangest reward, at least among the four: Thief's Di.
It was… well, a thief coin.
-//-
[Thief's Di]
Type: Accessory/Pet
Rarity: Pink
Prefix: Goldie
Damage: 1
Knockback: 1
Durability: 30,000
Ability (1): Can float around its bearer, emitting a faint light that slightly illuminates the surroundings.
Ability (2): Has a subspace with a capacity of 100 cubic ters.
Ability - Goldie: Randomly steals money and valuable objects within a radius of up to 100 ters from its bearer. Goldie stores and accumulates all the stolen money inside its subspace.
Description: A semi-sentient coin that seeks money and valuable objects for itself. Goldie must be bound to a bearer to move, but it will never bring any money to them, keeping everything for itself out of sheer greed.
Goldie will also steal from its own bearer if they're not paying attention.
[...]
~ Heads or tails?… You blinked, your money's gone! ~
-//-
The mont I picked up the coin between my fingers, it trembled for a brief second before beginning to float around , as a 'link' ford between us. The mana consumption was so insignificant that it was barely even noticeable.
It didn't emit any glow, but it was dayti—maybe that was why.
The coin, Goldie—since that was probably its na—floated lazily around . It didn't speak, but I could sense faint emotions emanating from it: greed, hunger, curiosity, and laziness.
("It's basically a cat?") Ozma's voice echoed.
"I got that impression too," I agreed. Blake and Kali seed pleased in the (CHAT).
I pulled a gold coin out of the VoidBag. I could imdiately feel Goldie go on alert, but it didn't do anything. When I offered the gold coin to the little thing, the brass coin collided with my hand, "swallowing" the gold coin into its subspace.
"You and Lucy are going to get along just fine, aren't you?…" I poked the thing in the air with my finger, and it seed quite satisfied with my 'tribute.'
The next reward I received was the Crimson Flask. I was expecting sothing rotten and disgusting, but I was actually surprised. The Crimson Flask was a liquid, basically the sa color as potions, a bright red.
It ca in an ornate flask, large at the base with a narrow mouth. The cap was made of ruby, and the glass had two handles shaped like angel wings. It was warm to the touch.
It was basically the sa as the Bezoar, except instead of increasing my resistance to poison, it boosted my resistance to Crimson infection and mutation. It also slightly enhanced my natural regeneration and resilience, fortifying my skin, bones, muscles, and everything else.
Surprisingly, not all the materials ca from the Crimson. Only three: Blood Orange, Rambutan, and Vicious Mushroom—three plants found on the outskirts of the Crimson, where the "cancer" wasn't as strong. The rest of the ingredients were more common, things I could find relatively easily.
[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]
Are you seriously gonna drink that crap? Dude, we just got out of a grotesque, fleshy cave a few days ago. Anything related to Crimson is nasty as hell. Why not just toss it?
(Iron Man emoji with a green face)
The ssage ca out of a sandstorm, which disappeared monts later.
Stark wasn't the only one who thought that. Pretty much everyone in (CHAT) did—myself included, honestly.
"I kinda don't want to either…"
("But you're going to.")
"…It's better to drink this now than turn into a atball later." I sighed, staring at the red liquid for another mont.
After hesitating for about ten seconds, I popped the cap off the Crimson Flask. The liquid didn't sll like blood, rot, or flesh—nothing that reminded of the Crimson. In fact, it slled like wild berries.
Before I could decide this was a terrible idea, I brought the flask to my lips and drank the red liquid in one go.
It felt like thick strawberry syrup. The taste wasn't bad, but knowing I was drinking sothing made with ingredients from that miserable place didn't help at all.
Once I finished, I tossed the empty flask into the VoidBag.
"Well, at least I got another recipe." I licked my teeth unconsciously.
If I had the chance, I'd recreate the Crimson Flask and distribute it to everyone I knew in Terraria.
I also hesitated to drink it because I thought maybe it would be better to save it for soone else. Maybe split the liquid among multiple people instead of just . But that thought didn't last long.
I was the one constantly exposed to all the crap this world had to offer. If I ended up getting thrown into the Crimson out of nowhere, it wouldn't be surprising. Better to have so extra resistance. I'd probably run into that damned brain at so point too—any help would be welco.
After drinking a few sips of water, just to ease my own mind, I went back to reading.
The Ancient Chisel and the Sun Mask were two items I wasn't sure what to expect from. In the end, one was good, and the other was useless.
The Ancient Chisel was designed for carving Runes, used by an ancient civilization that lived in the desert, probably during Alalia's ti. I had my own chisel, but this one seed much better, made with materials specifically attuned to mana resonance with Runes.
Like everything else, I'd copy it and make more later.
The Sun Mask, on the other hand, was an orange-gold mask shaped like the sun, complete with rays and all. It had two eye holes but none for the mouth or nose. It once belonged to a priest of Millia's aunt—the Empress of Light. It had also been blessed by the Fae herself, though to a lesser degree.
The mask basically enhanced multiple attributes of whoever wore it—but only during the day: strength, agility, endurance, regeneration, mana regeneration, and more. It also granted resistance against ntal corruption, helped against evil beings and spirits, and provided goodwill with spirits and light-aligned beings. With the Fae as well, by the way.
Useful. Very, actually. The only problem was that, for all of this to work, the user needed to have a blessing from the Empress of Light herself—sothing I didn't have.
"I'll give it to Millia later. Maybe she inherited sothing from Pink when she assimilated it." I tossed the mask into the VoidBag as I spoke.
The little sli still hadn't woken up. Jinn kept updated. I was worried, I won't lie, even though I knew it was probably nothing. The only reason I hadn't done anything drastic was because I doubted the Sli Staff would hurt her, and if she hadn't co out yet, she must have had a good reason…
Pushing those thoughts aside, I went back to my rewards. The Desert Key, Flying Carpet, and Dunerider Boots were next.
The key was the sa as the Frozen Key—the only difference was that, for the latter, I only had the mold. I tossed it into the VoidBag until I found the chest it belonged to.
The Flying Carpet was the best of the three rewards. The Dunerider Boots were good—a slightly downgraded version of my Angels Greaves, though they matched or even outperford my creation when in the desert—but the carpet? Now that was cool.
Who cares if the thing flew infinitely slower than I could run through the air? It was a flying carpet, and I had a Djinn—Jinn… Only one thing was missing…
"I need to find a monkey…" I absolutely needed one!
[(MOD)JinnOfTheLamp]
And the princess? Should I let Charlotte know you're planning a kidnapping?
(Chibi Jinn emoji popping out of a magic lamp)
Just like the emote, the ssage appeared from a magic lamp.
"I'll stick with just the monkey, thank you very much," I replied.
Of all the pink-haired won I had t, the least problematic was Annabell. And she was terrified of my presence.
Isis did cocaine—nothing she said could convince otherwise. Saya was a tsundere. Charlotte, a princess who would probably bring a lot of trouble with the nobility. I was already expecting so bastard to bring up the topic of an arranged marriage sooner or later.
And Neo was just Neo.
Two more ssages appeared from within a magic lamp.
[(MOD)JinnOfTheLamp]
Swapped for a monkey. I don't think the princess would be happy about that.
[(MOD)JinnOfTheLamp]
But, changing the subject—when are you coming back to the kingdom? Things are getting weird here. The cure we found has improved, but the storm is becoming more chaotic, and many residents are starting to panic. If it weren't for Alalia, people would have already started killing each other.
"I'll be back in a little over two, maybe three hours. I'm just waiting for Team Pebble to show up, then I'll head over." I replied, looking into the distance, where I knew the storm was raging. "How's the Proto-A?"
[(MOD)JinnOfTheLamp]
Functional. Not ready, but the main defenses and artillery are operational.
(Emote of a chibi Jinn in a spaceship)
"Focus on the ship's defenses. The barriers." Protection was always better, especially in this case.
After that last ssage, Jinn said her goodbyes to finish things on her end. I went back to checking my latest rewards. My gaze lingered for a mont on the last secondary objective.
The stream hadn't given any information. Just that I had failed… sothing felt off, but at this point, this entire planet was drowning in shit, so I didn't pay much attention to it.
The last two rewards were the Desert Spirit Lamp (Empty) and the Broken Hero Sword.
The first was basically a lamp ant to trap a spirit. It was empty but had enough runes for to know it was designed to contain a strong one.
After studying the runes for a mont, I tossed the lamp into the VoidBag and picked up the broken sword. It was brown, rust-colored, chipped all over, and snapped in half.
Useless for now—just a material, sothing ancient from a ti long, long past. Not even an echo of its power remained. But I knew what this thing was capable of, what I could create with it…
"I'll have to co up with sothing…" I muttered, staring at the broken sword for a mont before tossing it into the VoidBag.
I couldn't create the TerraBlade, after all…
[…]
I waited about twenty more minutes before Team Pebble arrived. Goldie managed to rob around fifteen people in the anti—just money, which I made sure to return using the VoidBag. Out of my own pocket, I let the coin keep what it stole.
Goldie was fast when it wanted to be—no one even noticed the missing money.
"Sorry for the delay. We had to organize a few things." Anihadab was the first to speak.
I could sense hesitation and slight fear from him and Maribel—sothing Beldin and Isis didn't share.
All four of them wore armor. Maribel, Isis, and Anihadab had leather and cloth armor, with Isis having so tal parts. Beldin was the only one in full plate armor.
"You decided to accept the contract?" I asked rhetorically. "I did say it was dangerous, didn't I?"
"And that almost made us back out. If a monster like you says it's dangerous, then shit, we're fucked. But the pay is good." Beldin spat on the ground beside him. "Not gonna say no to a good fight either."
"You did. But it's a personal request from the princess—we couldn't refuse!" Isis grinned excitedly. She wasn't wearing a helt, her pink hair contrasting well with the armor.
Charlotte was beloved by the people, wasn't she?
The princess had asked to hire Team Pebble in the na of the Crown after I assured her they were strong and could be considered reliable.
I asked if she wanted to recruit more people from Shahrabad, but she refused, saying she preferred quality over quantity and that organizing too many contractors from Shahrabad would be too much trouble and take too much ti—sothing they didn't have.
I disagreed slightly, but since she was the one paying, I didn't push it. Either way, I had my army.
Funny. I guess creating a storm that covered the entire city and showing off my Nightmares was enough for them to not even consider the possibility that I might be deceiving them. That, or maybe it was the fire hurricane…
"And the money is good. Very good." Beldin repeated. The dwarf had a slightly crooked grin. "Fuck, it's enough for us to almost retire. Not that I'd do that shit. But I do need to upgrade so gear."
"You were excited to go to the kingdom too," Maribel pointed out. Her muscles tensed when my gaze landed on her. "Sothing to say?"
"I want to find a dwarf woman. Fuck, you know? Sex?" The dwarf didn't hold back his words. No one present blushed or looked embarrassed. "The number of dwarf won in Shahrabad is tiny. And almost all of them are already married or taken."
"I know so people who'd say that doesn't matter," Isis sang, her gaze wandering.
"Look at and I'll rip those eyes out." Maribel drew her dagger and pointed it at the pink-haired woman.
"No fighting in front of our employer. I already said that." Anihadab stepped in before anything could start.
"I'm not your employer. Charlotte is." I pointed out.
"He calls the princess by her na…" I heard Isis murmur to Maribel.
"But in her absence, you were the one who made the request." The leader of Team Pebble said, his gaze lingering for a mont on my back.
"You know, I was kind of ignoring it, but what are those things?" Isis stopped gossiping with Maribel and stepped in front of .
She pointed three tis—twice at my back and once beside my ear. At the baby god's egg, the Antlion Queen's egg, and Goldie, respectively.
The baby god's egg and the Antlion Queen's egg were being held by the black hands of the Bone Helm, strapped to my waist. Goldie, the coin, was floating on its own.
"The eggs are too much of a hassle to explain. Ignore them—I'll leave them with soone else once we reach the kingdom." By soone else, I ant Alalia.
Fuck it, the baby god had an aura too similar to the dryad's. Not to ntion, it was literally a baby god. Too much trouble for to deal with. As for the Antlion Queen—it'd be cruel to separate the mother from her child after all the effort I went through, so I'd dump her on Alalia too.
"And the coin is Goldie. He, she—I don't actually know—is a thief. Watch your pockets." I warned.
"A thief?" Isis blinked before tapping twice on her right bracelet, making a silver coin appear in her hand.
She held it up in front of Goldie, who simply spun at ear level, unmoving.
"The coin is really a thief?" Isis asked.
"The little thing won't steal if you're watching."
Before I even finished speaking, she had already closed her eyes. In a second, Goldie vanished from my right shoulder, flew to Isis's hand, stole the coin, and returned before she could open her eyes.
Isis opened her eyes and stared at Goldie, glancing between the coin and her empty hand before turning to Maribel, who watched everything with interest—and, I'd say, envy.
The pink-haired woman blinked, staring at Goldie, then turned to Maribel.
"Found your kid, Mari!"
After about five more minutes of conversation, we left the city. We didn't climb down the chains—we just went to the city's edge and jumped over the wall separating safety from the drop.
"You didn't forget anything? What about your animals?" I asked.
"We left our ostriches with an acquaintance," Anihadab explained briefly. "We don't have any others. We're ready."
With that said, I pulled the flying carpet out of the VoidBag. It was red, with golden details and tassels at the ends. It was covered in runes, both stitched and painted onto the fabric.
I didn't need much to figure out how it worked and tossed it into the air, where it floated lazily.
"How much for the carpet?" Surprisingly, it was Isis who asked.
"It's not for sale."
"I can offer you Mari—" Maribel slapped a hand over her friend's mouth.
"It's not for sale." I repeated.
Isis deflated at my second refusal. Maribel looked offended, since Isis had clearly offered her, and I didn't even hesitate.
Once everyone was on the carpet—with Beldin clutching the fabric uncomfortably—I channeled my mana. A second later, we shot into the air, with the screams of three people echoing in the wind: Isis, Maribel, and Beldin.
Neither I nor Anihadab had scread. But our reactions were different—I had a big smile on my face, while the leader of Team Pebble had a serene expression, simply looking around.
"Uhuuuuuu!" Isis's scream was one of excitent.
"Aaaaaaaah!" Maribel's scream was of fright.
"FUCKING HELL!" Beldin's was pure fear.
"Afraid of heights?" I asked.
"I don't have wings, fuck it! I'm not made to fly!"
A solid argunt.
Isis poked him in the side. "Scaredy-cat~" Then she stood up. Maribel tried to pull her back down but stopped when she realized that even Isis's pink hair wasn't moving.
"What…?"
"The carpet has protection." I pointed around and made the barrier visible. "You'll only fall if you jump out. Other than that, it's safer than anything you've ever ridden before."
While the four of them did their own things, I shaped my mana around the carpet and created a wind barrier. Then I spun it behind us, forming a propulsion system with Shadowfla while creating a cone in front.
Our speed doubled—if not tripled. The only reason the sonic boom didn't happen was that it got consud by the Shadowfla.
Within minutes, we were at the outer edge of the storm. I covered the entire exterior with Shadowfla and the interior with my mana, nightmare energy, and spiritual energy. I made sure to reinforce the protection around the two eggs, completely enclosing them with the hands of the Bone Helm, which were now filled with eyes.
Before anyone could ask why I had done that, we entered the storm. All of them froze as the sensation of being watched fell upon us.
"...What is this…?" Isis whispered in an extrely low voice.
"Nothing. Sothing miserable that I'll kill as soon as it appears. Ignore it." I waved my hand and scattered Purification Powder inside all three barriers I had created. "Let know if you feel anything uncomfortable."
"Besides the creepy staring?" Anihadab was the one to speak this ti.
His voice was tense, but he seed to be trying to stay calm.
"Besides that. The rain shouldn't affect you—I made sure of it—but just in case, don't try anything stupid like sticking your hand outside the barriers."
("The gaze is getting sharper.") Ozma's voice echoed in my mind, the ntal microphone icon active.
("I noticed that too. And that's with the barriers in place. This thing is either more active or stronger. Maybe both.") My gaze shifted to the two eggs.
They were normal. The soul of the Antlion Queen was still inert, basically asleep, while the godly infant was in a similar state. The thing was semi-conscious but didn't seem affected by the storm.
The rest of the trip passed in silence. The four of them were tense, with only a few rare murmured conversations here and there. It took us a little over two hours to reach the kingdom.
[...]
"Ground… sweet, sweet ground…" Beldin collapsed onto the grass the mont we landed in my clearing.
The other three stepped off the carpet more cautiously, their eyes wide as they stared at the Proto-A.
"It's my ship. I'll explain later," I said briefly, starting to walk.
Before I could even take a step, Alalia appeared beside . I hadn't sensed her move.
It wasn't speed—I'd call it teleportation, but it felt different. As if the world itself allowed her passage through space. One mont she was far away, in the underground cabin, and the next, she was right beside .
Instinctively, I used Shadowfla to obscure us from Team Pebble's view. Alalia seed disturbed by sothing, and I didn't want her authority to take effect just because the dryad had lost her composure and forgotten how she affected people.
She was wearing "winter" as her clothing, but it quickly shifted to "sumr," then "spring," and what I assud was "autumn." The transformations flickered rapidly, repeatedly, for about ten seconds.
Then she stopped. She returned to wearing "winter" and turned to face . Even with what she herself had called a transformation that helped her think clearly, her expression remained mostly neutral—but she looked on the verge of tears.
Her lips trembled, her eyes were wet, and she barely seed able to hold herself together. Her gaze flickered rapidly, shifting between the godly infant's egg and .
Then, she jumped forward and hugged .
It was slow—I could have reacted and moved away this ti, but I didn't. She looked distressed, so I let her hold onto as she murmured, "Thank you, thank you, thank you…" over and over.
After about a minute, she cald down enough to explain. Alalia took a step back, pointed at the crystalline blue egg, and said:
"It's a dryad. I don't know why it has divinity, but it's definitely a dryad… I'm not… I'm not…" She sniffled again, her words coming out shaky, and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
Then, she smiled. And with absolute certainty, I can say it was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life—overflowing with joy, happiness, relief, and countless other emotions I couldn't even begin to decipher.
"I'm not the last anymore… I'm not alone anymore…"
Then she hugged again and broke into tears, her happiness completely undeniable this ti.
[...]
After calming Alalia down, she realized I had company and apologized for the outburst. She shifted into her wooden doll form but didn't stop clinging to .
She jumped onto my head and grabbed the godly infant's egg, creating a basket of branches, vines, and leaves to carry it above her—aning it was now well above my head.
"This is heavy. The weight is on my neck."
"You're strong. You'll manage." She giggled playfully and lightly tugged a few strands of my hair.
I didn't explain what had happened to Team Pebble. I simply handed them over to Charlotte, who had shown up after a while. Alalia had run ahead. Then, I made my way to the Proto-A to find Jinn, who was working on the ship.
"Welco back," she said without turning around, floating beside the Proto-A's wing. She was wearing her white dress. "Was it a good trip?"
"You literally watched the whole thing."
"But was it good?"
"It was… okay. The godly infant part gave a headache. That damn ink too." I sighed, a faint smile on my face. "Where are Dylan and the others?"
I could only sense Gilbert, Robyn, and Selina. Aside from Charlotte and Team Pebble, of course.
"In the kingdom. Helena had so things to take care of, and Dylan and lissa followed her. Darnell followed lissa. Gilbert and Robyn are training near Alalia's cabin, and Selina is probably licking the ship's floor."
"I am NOT!" A shout ca from the window beside Jinn.
"But she wanted to," the blue-skinned woman turned with a playful grin and floated down until her feet touched the ground.
With a tap on the Relic of Knowledge at her waist, the Sli Staff appeared. She handed it to .
"You could have told you knew the Sli Princess, you know?" Alalia gave my head two light pats. "I only found out yesterday—and by accident! Mil'li'a-io Kr'yo 'Li'ja Jou-sk was really famous, you know? The only daughter of the Sli King and Queen."
"You actually managed to say that na perfectly. I'm impressed," I praised.
Millia's real na was an absolute nightmare to pronounce, but Alalia had done it pretty smoothly.
"It never ca up. Millia was asleep when I spoke to you—she still is," I comnted.
"She's not asleep. She's sealed," Alalia said.
I blinked. "Explain, before I blow up the Staff." I looked at Jinn, but she seed just as confused as I was. Hadn't Alalia said anything to her?
"The runes. It's a bit complicated to explain, whoever made this Staff was ridiculously skilled with them. But, in short: the Staff is sealing Millia inside because it detected sothing dangerous. She'll only co out when the danger has passed. There are even teleportation rune matrices in case the Staff is attacked."
Alalia pointed, and her wooden doll finger extended until it reached the Sli Staff, poking the runes as she explained.
"It detected sothing dangerous, huh?…" I growled under my breath. "I think I know what it is."
That miserable damn eye. The Sli Staff must be able to detect when that 'thing' or parts of it are nearby.
I was good with Runes. At least, I thought I was. But apparently, not as good as Alalia. At least, not when it ca to reading matrices. I hadn't even known the Sli Staff could teleport.
Turns out, being broke and not having enough SP to analyze the Staff since I got it had co at a cost. Even now, it was still expensive—almost a billion SP. It was the highest SP number I'd seen besides the Reality 4D and the ti I tried to analyze Alalia.
I'll save up SP to use Analyze: Item on this later.
I placed the Sli Staff inside the VoidBag and spoke again:
"Alalia, can you take care of the baby god's egg and the Antlion Queen? If you can help with the Proto-A as well, I'd appreciate it."
Jinn had done an excellent job with the Mystic Symbols. I'd have to paint over the ones she made later since they had her mana and not mine. But the Runes were sothing she still hadn't mastered.
Either way, I was already going to paint over the Mystic Symbols, so re-engraving the Runes afterward wouldn't change much.
"Are you sure? My Runes are a little different. They don't work well offensively," Alalia warned as a branch grew, wrapping around the egg containing the Queen Antlion's soul.
"And defensively?"
"There are none better."
… Maybe I wouldn't need to re-engrave the Runes after all. Let's see how this turns out.
"Jinn, Alalia. I'm leaving the barriers to you two. Make sure the ship can sail on the Sun's surface. I'll handle the attack matrices."
Without wasting ti, we got to work.
"Should I do the Anti-Foreigner ones too?" the dryad asked.
"Not those. Leave them to ."
I'll make sure that fuck eye dies.
[...]
The next week passed both quickly and slowly. A week wasn't much ti to prepare beyond what we'd already done, but at the sa ti, the tension made ti drag on.
I didn't know how things would play out. What would actually erge. What the cultists had prepared to make them confident they could deal with Alalia. Entering what was essentially the dryad's ho was insanity, even for those bastards.
Alalia might not be a fighter. She had stated that herself when I asked, but she had enough power that it didn't matter much. Of course, if she used too much suppression, the Crimson and the Corruption would stop, but that was a problem for later.
The rush ant that many things were pushed to the background. The map of the old world, the discussion I wanted to have about what happened in Shahrabad, where the hell exactly the two corrupted bios were… everything took a back seat.
One day before the full moon night, we had everything ready.
The Proto-A was partially finished. There were still many things missing, but the ship had beco a flying fortress. Barriers were not in short supply.
I had enchanted everyone's armor with Anti-Foreigner Runes to help them, especially their helts. Everyone also had protective goggles and wore a layer of hydrophobic clothing under their armor, in addition to having a supply of Purification Powder.
We had made several bombs as well. Beldin, Ísis, and Darnell perford better than I expected. With so tutorials and tips from and a few people from (CHAT) — which basically ant Stark and Ruby — they created so useful things.
Selina had reinforced her exoskeleton to the extre, updating her technology. It was nothing close to Stark's, but the Mystic Symbols and the Runes I added helped bridge that gap.
Of course, I couldn't place as many Runes and Mystic Symbols as I wanted on everyone's armor and weapons. They didn't have enough mana to support that many matrices and Runes. Mana Stones would help, but only up to a point.
Dylan was the real surprise. He had made an armor suit for himself: a massive, full-body suit that looked like sothing straight out of a steampunk universe—more steampunk than the one Selina had made.
It was a huge contraption, easily around two ters and twenty centiters tall. It had so valves powered by steam and mana, but overall, that thing was ridiculously slow. To the point that a ninety-year-old lady missing a leg could probably outrun it.
That was why Selina, who also knew about the project, hadn't made one for herself. Dylan had done it for one reason alone:
"I'm an archer. I won't be moving. I'll be a living cannon. Give a target…" He grinned in a completely maniacal and proud way.
Then, he pulled a two-and-a-half-ter-long bow from his Travel Space, as thick as my forearm. The bow that his armor would use. It weighed at least two hundred kilos. The string was made of braided tal, and the arrows for that thing were nearly three ters long.
"… And watch put new holes in it."
Maybe I mirrored his manic grin. Maybe I was proud of my friend too, but that wasn't the point.
Darnell, lissa, Charlotte, Helena, the Pebble team. They were all prepared in so way. Alalia too. She said she was ntally prepared, muttering the sa phrase to herself repeatedly.
Gilbert and Robyn as well, but in a different sense: it would be a full moon. Robyn's curse, if it could still be called that, would activate at full strength.
We'd set up a room in the Proto-A for her to stay. There was also one in the palace and the Oakwood mansion. If Robyn was okay, she and Gilbert would join whatever happened, mostly as "support."
Everyone would be, really. The only one fighting on the front lines would be . I even gave the VoidBag and the Minimap an upgrade, just for peace of mind.
We were ready. The night began to fall in silence, and even then…
… We were caught off guard.
[The Wandering Eye Fish has been fished!]
[The Zombie rman has been fished!]
[The Hemogoblin Shark has been fished!]
[The Dreadnautilus has been fished!]
I was alone when the ssages appeared. Everyone else was in the realm. The strategy was: they would stay in the realm, along with the Proto-A, ready to be attacked, while I stayed in the forest, flanking the enemies that would co.
When the realm was attacked, I would strike from behind. It would be hard to notice . A hallucination in the dark wasn't seen. I was also suppressing my mana.
A series of pings ca through the stream. I ignored them all.
Those weren't the only ssages…
[A goblin army is approaching from the west!]
[A goblin army is approaching from the east!]
Red dots appeared on the Minimap. Its range had doubled to a twenty-kiloter radius. I could feel the presences erging in places where I was certain no one had been.
There was nothing but forest. No matrix. No goblin teleportation matrix.
It was dark, but still not night…
[The Blood Moon is rising…]
… Then, it was.
The twilight darkness was overtaken by a mist of blood-red moonlight. The clouds turned red. The rain turned to blood. The rivers flowed with blood.
Everything turned red…
Then, a presence descended upon the world. Staring at everything and everyone.
[You feel an evil presence watching you…]
For the first ti, my mind was bombarded by whispers I couldn't control. Erratic thoughts ca and went randomly.
I dropped to my knees, gasping, before I even realized it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the realm's barrier rise desperately.
Madness. A madness that wasn't mine. It ca from outside. Outer.
My head throbbed. The center of my forehead felt like it was splitting in two. My eyes burned, they ached, they pulsed with the presence of sothing in the clouds.
I pressed my hands to my head tightly.
I refused to scream.
My reflection appeared in the pool of blood on the ground.
My forehead was bleeding.
My right pupil was completely orange.
My left pupil wasn't.
The outer part was orange.
The inner part, neon green.
Among the whispers that ravaged my brain, one stood out: a calm, regal, proud, and lofty voice.
'No matter how much you evolve, how much you grow, you will never touch the stars. Give up in your insignificance and simply look at the Moon... human.'
[Eye of Ċ͂ͧ҉̭̦̱̠̲ţ̠̖̪̻̮̟̅̋h̟̺͕̼͙̟͚͙ͧ̓͞u̢̹̼̫͇͌͆ͅļ͇͖͋͊ͩh̜̠̲̒̑̆͠u̙̫̣̭̠̦̞ͥ̋͊̕ͅ ̢̝͖̤̳͍̈́̒͐has awoken!]
[...]---[...]
As always, have a great Blood Moon and happy reading!
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