In the depths of my dream, I faced the Black Knight, only he took the form of just his armor and glowing red eyes. There was no person inside.
We were in a rocky area. Waves crashed furiously against the cliffs. Distant, unearthly sounds echoed from afar. A reddish sky glared down at me.
Behind me floated a giant sphere of familiar golden mana, waiting there, ready to pull me back to its ocean world at any time. Well, I wasn’t actually sure if the golden energy that formed as a result of my Dao tattoo was actually mana, but until I learned more about it, the detail didn’t matter.
“If you’re showing up in my dream expecting me to be a guilty mess, then you may want to reconsider wasting your time,” I said.
The Black Knight froze, his sword still mid-swing.
“That’s right,” I continued. “I don’t regret taking you out. It’d be a different story if you didn’t kill those people. I still remember your words, and I finally met the Lord Ruler’s daughter. So the question is, why are you here?”
The Black Knight’s eyes blazed into sickly flames, and he howled. Tears of blood and molten lava flowed from the helmet’s slits. When the blood touched the ground, they turned into giant crystals. Suddenly, he spoke. His voice gave me chills.
“I… I wasn’t here until a moment ago,” he said, his voice ghostlike and demonic. My hairs were likely standing up on my real body. This was no longer just a dream. Full control, full awareness and senses were triggered.
And now I could smell the salty ocean. Something felt off about it. Every fiber in my body told me not to look at the water. The golden sphere once again considered pulling me, especially if I turned to stare directly at what appeared to be blue water.
“That insufferable demon in human skin,” Andros said, his voice suddenly normal again. “Listen to me. Do not trust her.”
“That much is obvious,” I said. “No one does.”
“Her motivations, her actions, they’re twisted,” Andros continued, ignoring my smartass comment. “She placed a spell on us, the Black Cross. It makes sure we follow orders without fleeing during the night. But it has a downside. It makes us too focused on the job, madmen. I didn’t realize it until you were already slaying me.”
I tried my hardest not to visibly react, but on the inside, that did more than just give me pause. But as quickly as it shook me, the steel within reawakened. I did not regret saving those people. Whatever spell she cast was so high level that no one, not even the Lord Ruler, apparently noticed it. Andros continued to talk.
“Our family members are hostages… were hostages. She probably killed them when she returned to the capital.”
“No, she’s not at the capital,” I said. “Not yet. Are you sure about this? Her father’s strong as hell. How did he not notice the spell?”
“It is a subtle spell, a spell that you cannot detect unless you know what it is,” Andros said. “Nothing short of divine intervention will stop her from casting it again, perhaps on you or anyone powerful around you.”
My eyes widened.
“Fear not, she would have a very difficult time getting her Dao past yours,” Andros continued. “Simply killing her isn’t an option without a plan to kill the Lord Ruler. She’s his favorite daughter. He may likely go berserk upon her death, bringing down the full power of a C-ranked spell book user upon you and everything you love. You’re taking good care of Yukihara, my former D-ranked companion but…”
“But what?” I said, gesturing for him to continue. Once again, getting advice from someone who should be dead felt like cheating, but at this point, as the cheat potion maker, well, I already passed the threshold of playing fair. “What’s the difference between a C and D?”
“Heaven and Hell,” he replied. “An irony, considering where I got sent for something out of my control.”
“You’re… Never mind,” I said. “A C is that much stronger? Well, at least I won’t have to fight the Lord Ruler again.”
Andros frowned. “Now is not the time to be jesting.”
“You know about a lot of things, but they couldn’t at least tell you of our fight?” I asked, shaking my head. “You know what, let’s not get off topic. Why are you here, Andros? If you’re asking me to avenge you, I suggest you consider fucking off. What the hell do I look like? Hitman?”
“No,” Andros said. “I have been made aware of your defiance of the heavens. It is because of you that they allowed me to come here, to speak. I think they’re frenzied over something. Perhaps the hero staying put with no intention to leave the town. Perhaps you, defying the heavens.” He actually shook his head. This bastard probably gave me a pitying look through the slits of his helmet. I could tell. “None of that matters, for I was brought here by… I was brought here to warn you, first about Ling. Second, deliver their short message. But you know, I can be defiant too.”
“What short message?” I said.
Suddenly, the golden sphere behind me brightened, but I still didn’t take my eyes off the Black Knight.
Andros burst into laughter, his eyes reflecting the golden luster. His tears vanished and the puddle of lava turned into mist. “Wanda didn’t help me, didn’t help my family when we needed her. I don’t care if they cannot interfere with the human world. They’re supposed to be deities. If we serve them, our fates shouldn’t end by the hands of a spoiled child.” He laughed harder. “You did free me from the spell, that is my true reason for requesting to come here. I hate you, but I am thankful. Even in Hell, I can freely move. That thing behind you just closed the entrance! It is sending me to the land of the dead in exchange for also defying the heavens. You’ll be fine without hearing from them anyway. That man… that thing said children imitated their parents. Deities breathed war back in their prime, a conquest for realms. Perhaps you’ll stop it from happening. Perhaps you’ll remain uninvolved. But for this second message. A message from them, you will not be receiving. Too bad.”
Andros vanished, leaving me quite confused. What man? What message?
“Not that I give a damn about what they’d have to say,” I said, “but thanks for the warning, you asshole.”
I chuckled, though the humor faded away quickly. Princess Ling could place spells on people, controlling them somehow. Why the hell did the ability to control people have to exist?
Maybe it wasn’t as simple as that. Andros seemed in control of himself during our fight, even had the audacity to give a monologue because he thought he’d won.
At least the Lord Ruler didn’t bother with talking when he tried to kill me. There was nothing worse than having to hear a speech before getting blasted to hell and back.
I still didn’t look at the water. Every fiber in my body told me to avoid looking at it. So I didn’t. It clearly wasn’t just water.
“Okay, maybe just one look—”
The golden sphere didn’t like my joke, pulling me back to the golden ocean world before the words could leave my mouth. If it reacted like that, then I could only be glad to have not witnessed whatever Lovecraftian horror lived in there. Perhaps it could be this hell Andros got spared from.
There were so many questions, but the sphere was unsurprisingly gone, having either rejoined the ocean below or left.
The warning about Ling made me nervous, but at least she was on her way home. We’d never see her again.
Abruptly, I woke up to see a dark-feathered peacock-like bird snuggled on my chest, asleep. Lady Feathers quickly woke up and if she could smile, it’d probably be sheepish. She let out a sound that was close to a peacock’s, I think, though higher-pitched.
I damn near had a heart attack just for her being on my chest when I awoke. Damned bird.
Wolverine wouldn’t have allowed… wait, where’d my wolf go? Milia stirred awake, frowning when she noticed that we were in the early morning hours. Maybe four in the morning.
Lady Feathers fluttered her wings and hurried to the door. She stopped in front of it, turned and stared at me. She pointed at me, then the door.
While that actually would’ve freaked out the old Nate, by now, I knew the animals were far from normal, so I followed her. Milia trailed behind us seconds later.
You know that feeling as a new parent, the one where you’re getting woken up by your small kid. This was like that.
The elicrone led us outside and there, we noticed that the spirit beasts, including Alexander’s pet, who should be in town, congregated near the tower, tense. This felt unnerving. They watched the west, clearly anticipating something, but what? A hallow? Or something just as evil.
That was when I thought about the dream, the timing of it. But what were the odds of that little psycho coming all the way out here? Well, hell. I took this into account, however. The village and Kyushu were simply too close to not search first before going home. So I warned the hero’s party that she’d check out the village.
The first thing I did was upgrade the stable and the other things such as feed and hay barn and pig housing from F to E. It was surprisingly cheaper than the others, costing only twenty-one spirit coins. We took in the majestic horses. They loved the E-ranked feed and hay.
We’d let them run around in the grassland later. That or the far end of the cow pasture.
When they strolled into town and Ling went anywhere near the stables, she wouldn’t see extra lightning horses for a town that shouldn’t be able to afford them. Then again, with the town now an E-rank, keeping the hero’s party hidden may actually be easier.
“What’s going on?” Milia asked. “Wait. You don’t think…”
“Let’s check the tower,” I said. Rather than using the ladder, we simply jumped to the main area where Wolverine and Cheetara awaited. My wolf’s tail wag started as soon as he saw me. He barked once, headbutting what I knew was the tower’s main control interface.
“Woofy, Cutie?” Milia said. The kitten jumped into her arms.
“I just need to see who’s coming,” I said, eyeing the west before accessing the interface.
The interface was very similar to the red cube’s in terms of aesthetics.
[Choose an option. 1. Observe. 2. Access shed. 3. Transfer/receive item. 4. Upgrade.]
I selected Observe. And like a drone video or perhaps a real-life strategy game where I had full three hundred sixty-degree video, I scanned the main traveling road. Sure enough, fast figures shot from the village, having stopped for who knew how long, headed this way. It’d take two days for normal horses. For lightning horses, the entire four-day trip became a less-than-a-day trip.
“So we’ve got the headmaster and his two brats, and hitching a ride with them is the one and only crazy princess of the hour.”
Milia looked somewhat worried. She had the expression of not being in the mood to fight this early in the morning. I probably shared the same look, honestly.
After Milia examined the long-range observation interface, she sighed.
“I have an idea,” she said. “But you’ll have to slow the horses down.”
“An idea for… what?”
“Turning her around,” Milia replied, though I couldn’t tell if she was oddly looking forward to this or not.
“Turn around someone as strong as that?” I asked, skeptical.
“I… I still want to explain my full story when my family gets here,” Milia said. “It’s something that must be shown. They’ll bless the upcoming wedding. Consider you family.”
“Okay, so what are you getting at?” I asked.
“I… suppose I’m just asking you to trust me,” she said.
I looked at her and nodded. “Alright. I’ll leave this to you. Wolverine, Cheetara, let’s go.”
The kitten hopped onto my shoulder as I descended the tower in one easy leap. Milia’s determined look as she watched the observation interface while glowing with power was what I saw as we took off on Beakwing. The griffin seemed to know the plan without me telling him.
It took us only a few minutes to reach them. We were in the sky, under the influence of the potion of masking.
Yes, it was one of the most overpowered potions out there, especially being ridiculously easy to make thanks to Milia’s garden and forest. It can only be made from herbs found in them.
“The fun part starts now. Sorry, horses. Cheetara, shoot the ground in front of them,” I said. “They’ll throw off their riders or fall into the hole.”
As fucked up as this seemed, they were warned. To pursue Raider after he wanted to be left alone was practically begging to be attacked. It was possible that they brought Ling to force me along. Nobles truly didn’t know when to back the hell off.
Cheetara aimed a glowing paw plenty of yards in front of the horses. She unleashed a basketball-sized sun that slammed into the ground so fast, it created a shockwave that carried out for dozens of meters.
That caught them by surprise, the lead horse falling into the hole. The other horses were knocked over by the shockwave.
We remained in the clouds, watching, but there was simply no way they wouldn’t counterattack. The threat, Ling, stood, searching around. In fact, they all frantically looked everywhere but the sky.
“Raider, is that you? We do not wish to fight. We’d like to talk,” the headmaster shouted. I didn’t bother replying.
“Why would he be out here?” Luna snapped. She looked quite pissed about getting dirt all over her clothes. They weren’t wearing the school uniform, just robes or shirts and trousers, Ling included.
“Hey! You show yourself right now and apologize,” Ling said, furious. “I do not like being knocked off my horse. That is much too rude.”
“You don’t think this was a bandit sneak attack?” Simon asked, much too loudly, a novice move that would certainly get any of his party members found if they attempted to be low profile.
I couldn’t hear anything else after we increased our altitude, winds blasting in my ears.
“Good job, Cheetara,” I said to the kitten. “Now it’s your turn, buddy. Strike from behind with a quick flash. Really quick, so they don’t know.”
Wolverine did just that. And his attack was exponentially more powerful than before, holy moly. It also created a shockwave.
“You two aren’t doing magical steroids, right? Because wow, that was strong!” I said.
The pets had no idea what I was talking about, of course, being overexcited. Observing, I noticed Ling firing a few halfhearted magical blasts in random places, not giving a damn about her company because they dove to the ground to dodge. The headmaster seemed to be telling her off, which finally got the crazy ass princess to stop.
I seriously felt bad for anyone who’d end up with her due to some politically arranged marriage. He’d soon discover that a relationship sure as shit wasn’t about looks. No wonder the hero ran all the way to the middle of nowhere just to get away from her. To give him credit, he heeded the warning of Dream Me. I would totally tell him to stop being an idiot.
Another reason why Milia didn’t want her near the village was in fact that very dream. Though instead of drugging the hero, I was willing to bet she’d cast her mental spell instead. Something that’d likely make suggestions to Ramon that he wouldn’t be able to easily ignore, despite being immune to mental magic.
It sucked that this type of magic existed. It truly felt like cheating compared to me. Yes, that was what every cheater probably said, but that was beside the point.
The party below seemed to decide on running to their horses and escaping the assault, but I refused to let them.
“It’s your turn, Beakwing,” I said. “Create a very short windstorm. Knock the horses back to their feet.”
Beakwing unleashed devastating winds that luckily didn’t hurt anyone. The horses, seeming fed up with everything, just stayed down. They ignored the demands of the humans wanting to see them humiliatingly bashed to the ground again. In fact, one of them snapped at the human girl. I couldn’t hear, but she seemed to have yelped, backing away as fast as possible.
“Okay, we may have went a little too far. They’ll eventually get the horses back under control,” I said.
I had a sneaking suspicion they were certain this attack belonged to me due to its non-lethal application.
Come on, Milia, I thought. I’m out of time. Another attack from me and they’d likely catch onto us. The rule of three, perhaps. That or we have a mishap and accidentally kill one of them. Also, the horses didn’t deserve the abuse. What? I’m being that guy for this situation.
Abruptly, something changed. In order to observe it, I risked potion sickness to down Eagle Sight.
I dry heaved once, feeling last night’s dinner threatening to come up, but thankfully after a second or two, the nausea vanished. That was when I noticed Ling… screaming, eyes wild, as she frantically brushed herself off. Tears fell from her eyes.
Wondering what the hell was happening, I looked down, zooming in thanks to the potion. The moonlight and the glow of ambient electrical current around the horses’ feet allowed me to see… hundreds of spiders. All of them chasing Ling. The princess… hated spiders. Okay, to be fair, I related to that. Creation was a troll for allowing them to exist.
Ling suddenly started flying! Like a Dragon Ball character. We were too far for her to notice, and she headed back west, still crying.
How did Milia know she hated spiders?
I looked at the headmaster and his students. Luna seemed terrified, but nowhere near on the level of Ling. Simon seemed spooked too. Titus only sighed, defeated. His assurance of getting his way would likely never show herself in these parts again.
Milia had done it.
