Will was still examining the summoning circle as the Golems near him kept reporting to him of nothing unnatural occuring. It was a relief to hear that the Witch isn't here, but then where did Valerie go? And what caused the entire world to violently shake?
From afar he could see all of Valerie's men going crazy trying to find her. Many even suspected it might be Will, but they knew it was wrong, the sudden rumbling, the summoning circle lighting up, it was clear that the summoning circle took her.
That still didn't stop people from thinking that the summoning circle might've summoned her in another part of the world, like what happened to Will, but they don't know that Will is a special case.
"Hero, please help us find her!" Veronica came up to Will.
"I have dozens of my Golems scouting the entire area. If they find her they'll tell me."
Of course his main reason for his Golems scouting the area is to see if the Witch is back.
Will took out his communication stone to message the Empress, but she wasn't responding back.
'Either she's dead, or she's in another world where we can't reach her, most likely she's back on Earth.' Will thought.
But he was getting messages from someone else, Sandra.
{Will, did you feel that? What was it? Wasn't the mountain dragon dead?}
The Golems had told the Reyes people long ago what had happened, but to stay hidden for safety reasons.
{I don't know. Keep everyone down there until I make sure its safe}
{Please be careful}
Will put the communication stone away. He grabbed the summoning circle and placed it inside his mask. Next he teleported to Lea's forest.
There is only one person he could think of that knows a lot about the summoning circle, Lea.
Upon arriving in front of the forest he saw a lot of trees and vines prohibiting him from entry.
"Lea! I know you can hear me! I want you to tell me what you know about this!"
Will produced the summoning circle in front of him. The trees and vines coiled around the summoning circle.
A thick tree vine coiled around Will's wrist, he could hear Lea's voice inside his head.
"Why is it broken?"
Her voice sounded mad and annoyed.
"The shaking, or whatever it was, broke it!"
"How could that break it? None of the other devices my father left me are broken!"
"I don't know what to say. When the violent shaking happened someone was standing on top of it, got teleported to god knows where, and my system malfunctioned for a bit afterwards."
"Wait, your system malfunctioned?"
Lea appeared in front of Will. She was surprised to hear that.
"Are you sure your system malfunctioned? And it's already fixed?"
"Yes, why, isn't that normal for it to happen?"
"A system cannot malfunction, that I am sure of. Although I can guess why you think that. It can also explain why my fathers devices stopped working for a bit."
"I thought you said they weren't broken."
"They aren't, but they just weren't working at all… For a bit."
"Now that I think about it the same thing happened to my Golems." Will recalled his Golems acting weird during the violent trembling.
"I think I know what might have caused this: it could have only been another system."
"Another one?"
"Yes. I don't know what system exactly, but if I had to guess it could be one of two systems, the Master system, or the King system, also known as Rex."
"The King's system is also called Rex?" Will didn't feel that was a good name for a system.
"It's latin for 'king' a language we spoke a long time ago."
"Oh. So you think it could be one of those two systems."
"Yes, but I don't know why they would cause the world to tremble without reason. Although, now that I remember, before my father left me, I overheard him say that he was going to war, it might be a war against a system or more?"
"You think?" Will asked.
"Yes, Will, I think. It's a memory I can barely recall from a time that happened a long time ago."
"Okay, but is there a way for you to fix this? Or at least find a way to summon Valerie back?"
"You mean the Empress?" Lea asked again. She knows who is who without leaving her spot because whatever the trees can see she can see also.
"Yes, her."
"No, Will, I don't know how to fix this device, or how I can bring her back."
"Isn't there something you have from your father that can help? Not even to see if she's still alive or back on Earth?"
"No, Will, nothing I have can fix this. I tried to recreate my father's devices for millions of years but I never got close, his ability to create these devices is beyond anything. The only way to bring her back is if you find my father, but that's not happening. I don't know if your system can recreate anything close to what my father has built, but you can try."
"Damn!" Will sat on the ground feeling frustrated.
"So long Will. Also, I heard from Silvas what you did, thank you for sparing the idiot elves who wanted to raid your kingdom."
"Hm. Before you go, tell Silvas I want to say 'thank you for helping us with taking down the mountain dragon'"
"Goodbye, Will." Lea disappeared.
"WAIT!" Will screamed upon remembering something important.
"What?" Lea's head popped out of a tree.
"I also have something important to ask! What about the Witch? Is she ever going to return or what?"
"I do not know. We're gonna have to wait and see. But I wouldn't worry about her too much. I have someone working on a cure for her zombie virus if she does come back."
"You do? Who?"
"Bye, Will." Lea disappeared, again.
Will took the summoning circle back to study it and examine it thoroughly since there was nothing else he could do.
Meanwhile…
Silvas was sitting cross legged. In front is the hole where the Great Sage was buried. It had been covered in dirt, no one would know of his grave besides him, and Lea would do her best to keep anyone away from defiling his grave.
Silvas had carried his corpse inside Lea's forest, and buried him there so that Lea would protect his corpse from being defiled. Even if he wasn't an elf, Silvas could bury him inside Lea's forest. But the site of his grave held a significant place in his heart.
Beside his grave was another grave, the grave of his late wife. It had been almost 300 hundred years since her passing, yet Silvas always placed a new batch of flowers on top of her grave every week. No one was allowed in this place that did not receive his permission.
Not once had he missed placing a batch of flowers on her grace. Now he had to bring two batches of flowers from now on.
Silvas sincerely hopes that he would never have to bury anyone else here, as the only ones close in his life were his son and grand daughter. He hopes that by the time his time comes, his body would be placed beside his wife and Roy.
"Thank you, Roy. I got to see Camilla again even if it was from your memories. If she were still alive she would be happy to see how Arbor and Grace turned out, even if she never got to meet Grace I am sure she would've been proud. Take care in your next life." Silvas smiled when he recalled a certain memory from him. Tears formed but he wiped it off with his thumb.
After saying his final goodbyes to his friend, Silvas stood up. He headed to his village where all the elves were waiting for him worried.
"Dad!"
"Grandpa!"
Grace and Arbor ran up to Silvas.
"Dad, where did you go all of a sudden?"
"You said you had to use the bathroom, but you ran out of the forest. We tried to follow you but Lea said it was too dangerous!"
"Everyone, I'm alright. The mountain dragon is already dead!"
Hearing that the people rejoiced. They had been suspecting it for a while, but hearing it come from Silvas's mouth they felt relieved.
Adaline walked up to Silvas. Silvas smiled at her and said, "thank you for your help, Adalis."
A few days ago…
During the intense fight between the Great Sage and the mountain dragon, Silvas was getting increasingly worried that his friend wouldn't be able to win.
After the second day he decided to help his friend after not being able to do anything about it. But then he realized something, how was he going to help? No one had the level of power to compete with those two monsters, especially not an ordinary elf who can only use a bow and arrow.
Then he remembered someone, Will.
'That hero, William, perhaps I can ask him to help?' Silvas thought.
Lea had placed him in the same category as the first three heroes and the mountain dragon, so he thought if he could ask him to help they could save his friend.
If he weren't the king of the elves he would've stormed out of the forest already. So he had to be sneaky about it. He lied to his family about going to the bathroom, and before anyone realized what he was about to attempt, he grabbed his bow and arrows, and dashed out of the village.
"Lea, please, do not let any elves outside of this forest." Silvas asked, but didn't expect Lea to listen to him. Even if he is the king he doesn't expect his goddess to listen to him.
Of course everyone immediately realized that Silvas left the village. Many tried going after him, but for the first time Lea was keeping them inside the village against their will.
Silvas ran out of the forest. As soon as he left he could hear that insufferable roar that made his ears ring and bleed. The fight between the Great Sage and the mountain dragon took place near the village.
Silvas at that moment had to retreat back to the forest. He knew he had to take the long way around to avoid the dragon's roar from killing him, but that would take too long.
Going on foot alone he knew it would take a day to reach the Sun kingdom, if he took the safe detour it would take longer.
"I have to do this! I can't let him die!" Silvas, as he was about to run out of the forest again, a single vine gripped him by his waist that prevented him from leaving.
Turning around he first thought it was his Goddess stopping him from doing something stupid, but it was none other than Adaline.
"The Adalis! Adaline, was it?" Silvas was surprised to see her.
Adaline nodded. They weren't that close to begin with.
But Adaline knew that he wanted to take down the dragon, she wanted to kill it, too. If the mountain dragon didn't die soon, it would destroy the Sun kingdom and possibly kill Sandra, which would not only be bad for her but also for Will.
And also Adaline cared deeply for Arbor. So if Silvas died, Arbor would be sad as well. She couldn't let any of that happen.
Adaline placed Silvas on her back, and she ran.
"Wait, Adalis, William's kingdom is the other way." Silvas pointed behind her.
Adaline knew, but she was more sensitive to sound than humans and elves. If she were to take the direct route, the dragon's roar would leave her gravely injured. And so Adaline took the long way out to avoid the mountain dragon's roar.
In order to speed up Adaline had transformed into her exotic form, which she hadn't used until recently as she had no real reason to use it. It was also the first time Silvas had seen her exotic transformation.
What should've taken a few hours to arrive at the Sun kingdom with Adaline, instead it took her an entire day of running.
Once they were close enough Adaline stopped running as the mountain dragon's roars were hurting her. Even taking the long way the mountain dragon's roars still affected her the most.
Silvas was also affected, it felt like a shotgun was being fired off beside his ear every time it shouted.
"This is good, Adalis. Thank you for your help. You should head back quickly."
Adaline ran back to the village taking the same route back.
Silvas would come across one of Will's Golems not long after, he told him he wanted to help take down the dragon. To his surprise Will was planning on doing that already. By the time he saw Will he was wearing the same dragon armor the elves had described, but it had different glowing colors that moved.
What had scared him completely was the large thing beside Will, the Devourer of Gods. A Golem so massive and menacing, equipped with many weapons attached to its body.
If Will had more time he would've made many improvements to the Devourer of Gods.
Will would then pack-a-punch Silvas's bow and arrows, giving them the best enchantments, and give him the best armor to wear for the fight.
Will knows that elves are great at using bows and arrows, and Silvas is the best at using the bow and arrow among the elves.
After testing the pack-a-punched bow and arrows, Silvas could fire his arrows from four miles away, which was way more than should be humanly possible.
Will told Silvas to aim for the dragon's left eye. All of his arrows are equipped with {Explosion: X} enchantments to utterly destroy its eye.
Before Silvas could take out its eye, Will's Golems would be pinning down the dragon with their endless barrage of bullets to keep it in place, and the Devourer of Gods would be pinning down one of its hands and, if it could, take out its right eye. Only then can Silvas destroy its left eye so it would be blinded for good.
…
"Does this mean it's finally safe to leave?" An elf asked him.
"NO!" Silvas shouted which startled the elves.
"No. You cannot leave yet… the truth is although the mountain dragon is dead, the Great Sage died as well."
Hearing that piece of news, all of the elves were shocked, at first. After all, the Great Sage is the strongest hero to have ever lived.
Many of the elves rejoiced upon hearing the news. They despised the humans, and to hear that their strongest hero is finally dead, they could go all out without fearing him anymore.
Seeing their faces, Silvas realized what they were thinking.
"The Great Sage is dead, I was there when it happened. Before his death he transferred his final memories to me and one other person… after I saw his memories I believe that the Witch will be back soon."
Everyone fell quiet.
The Witch is someone equally or even stronger than the Great Sage. She was immortal, she could turn others into zombies by simply touching them. Many elves' lives were lost when the first three heroes fought.
Many believe she was sealed away, but others believe she was dead for good. In reality no one really knew, besides the Great Sage.
Rias, hearing his words, shuttered. Her dad died when she was younger after he used himself as a body shield to protect her from one of the Witch's blades.
She could never bring herself to destroy her father in hopes of curing him.
For the past three hundred, she had hidden his body, with the help of Lea, to find a cure. Every other month she could hunt for lonely humans, drag their corpses to her father so his body could go on.
Back when the first zombie outbreak occurred more than half a year ago after the heroes were summoned, she made some progress with the zombie cure. Many thought it was because she was smart, but in reality she has had three hundred years of practice.
And when she first met Will, she thought he had a method to cure her father. She went as far as to break his base, dragged Grace into it, and even got them both banned from his castle. Ever since then he had forgiven Grace, but not Rias.
"According to his memories she isn't dead, but she is sealed, which is what we expected already when Grace brought that zombie corpse to us eight months ago. That is why I want everyone to stay here for a few weeks, just to be sure for our sakes. BUT! Even if she hasn't returned, in the near future do not mess with the Sun kingdom at all costs!"
"Sun kingdom? The hero who killed Radix-"
"Yes, him!" Silvas interrupted the elf. "As you all know 300 half-elves, and a couple of pure elves went to raid his kingdom, only two lives were lost. But I have seen his prowess! I believe in my eyes that his power can be compared to the Great Sage! But his strength will only continue to grow as time passes."
Silvas counted himself lucky that Will spared all but two of the elves who attempted to raid his kingdom. But he didn't know if Will would help the elves in the future if the humans would kidnap them.
Before, he could rely on the Great Sage to protect the elves as they were friends. But Will isn't a friend to the elves but some of them, Arbor and Grace.
'Perhaps I should find a way to make a sort of peace treaty with William… but that didn't stop humans before due to our species' ongoing hatred with one another. But if it's him… maybe it'll work.'
Many of the elves looked at each other. Just when the Great Sage finally died, their king is saying that there is another hero who is just as strong as he was.
Some of the elves tried to argue that they should imprison him before he could grow stronger, but they already tried that, twice, and failed.
"That is all." Silvas went back to his home to sleep. Grace, Arbor, and Adaline would go on with their merry lives. Adaline wanted to go back to the Sun kingdom to see Will.
Elves grouped up talking about Will coming up with ideas for him, what they could do to stop him from getting stronger, and if they could make any lures or traps to imprison him.
Silvas entered his house, but Rias followed him in.
"Silvas!"
"What is it, Rias?" Silvas looked at her, annoyed.
Rias closed the door after making sure no one could eavesdrop on them.
"I need to tell you something important." Rias whispered.
"I'll make some tea and we can talk about it during tea."
"No!" Rias grabbed his arm.
Silvas was taken aback, Rias is never this assertive.
"My father… he's alive… in a way."
"Your father?" Silvas was once again taken aback. Her father died when Roy was fighting the Witch 300 years ago.
A single day had passed since Valerie's disappearance. Will always kept his Golems scouting the entire area 24/7 with another Golem by his side to let him know if he finds anything.
Three days went by. When he was sure the Witch wasn't back, he gave the order that everyone hiding in the mines could leave the hole and go back to their everyday lives. There are still many Golems patrolling the area and protecting the Reyes kingdom from any threats.
Will ran up to Sandra. He hugged her tightly without wearing any of his powerful enchanted dragon-scale armor.
Nobody else saw Will as he had teleported to his room where he told Sandra beforehand to meet him there. He missed seeing her after all this time.
"Will? Are you okay?" Sandra asked. She grabbed his face gently.
Will's eyes were wide open. The part beneath his eyes was baggy and dark due to lack of sleep. His hair was greasy, and he smelled of dirt, sweat, and something else that was pungent.
"Your hands are soft like marshmallows."
"Thanks?" Sandra realized Will was tired.
"Also I am indeed fine, yes indeedy. What about you? Haven't slept in three days. How's life? How's stuff?"
"We're fine, thanks to you. Will, you need to shower and then sleep. I haven't seen you like this since that one time when we started dating."
"I'm fine… I still need to do something. Do you by any chance have a soda or something?"
"There's no such thing as 'soda' in this world, at least not yet. You're delirious. Will, please sleep but shower first. I'll prepare everything for you."
"I still need to do something that involves my hobby and a few more things."
"Fine. Finish your hobby and get back here fast."
Sandra left soon after to help other people any way she could.
Meanwhile, Will teleported miles away from his kingdom. He has been waiting to do this for days.
Out of his mask, the corpse of the mountain dragon appeared. Will was pushed back while wearing his armor just like last time.
"It's a good thing it didn't shrink to its original size. I wonder just how many magical items I can craft with its body?" Will smiled.
His eyelids started getting heavier. Will shook his head.
'I'm getting sleepy. I need to do this fast.'
The mountain dragon was on par with the Great Sage, so that must mean the weapons he could make from its body should be powerful. At least he hopes so, if not then he knows he has a lifetime of apex dragon essence to make powerful magical items.
He plans on using weapons and armor crafted from the apex dragon to use against the Witch if she does come back.
While wearing his pack-a-punched dragon scale armor, Will attempted to pull out its scales to make a new armor set. But even pulling a single scale proved to be difficult.
"Seriously, how can its scales be this hard to pull? No wonder the Great Sage had so much… What was the word? Plsh? Pwish? Whatever." Will was tired to the point he couldn't think properly.
Will thought of something else. He teleported back to one of his Golems and said, "Golem, bring every single worker Golem out of the hole, and use them pickaxes tooooo… zzzz." Will fell asleep standing up.
"Master?" The Golem called out to Will.
"Hm? Pft! I meant to say, gather the mountain dragon's corpse. I trust you to know what to do."
"Yes, Master. I know exactly what to do. But first can you craft hundreds of chests for me?"
"Zzzzz…"
"Master?"
"Hm? Yeah? Sure. A hundred breasts for my Golem."
"Chests, Master. Not breasts."
"That makes more SEAnse! Sorry, voice crack. I'll do the tests(chests) later. Gather all the materials for the chests, gather the bodies(dragon corpse) and… bye."
Will teleported back to his room, took off his armor and threw it beside his bed, and was about to sleep, but Sandra stopped him.
"Woah, you need to shower first. You can't sleep covered in filth!" Sandra said.
"I'm… so tired. Just this once."
"I know you're tired, which is why you need to be fast about it."
Sandra dragged a very tired Will to the shower. With the cold water Will was a bit more awake. It took him no more than five minutes to finish showering.
When Will was finished, Sandra had already prepared him comfy clothes for him to sleep.
"You've worked hard Will. I don't know exactly what you did but you've done so much for us." Sandra basically started dressing him in his clothes as he was too tired to do it himself.
"Sandra… this is why I love youuuuuuu, and why I count myself lucky to have you… zzzzz."
Will was sleeping standing up, again.
Sandra chuckled to herself, she didn't think it was possible for Will to sleep standing up. One time she saw him playing video games for three days straight with Alex and both were dead tired like he was right now.
Sandra carried him and laid him down in bed as if he were a kid.
"I'll do my best to tend to the people. Just take a break as long as you need. You've earned it." She kissed him on his forehead and went outside.
While Will was sleeping, he began dreaming. He dreamt of what the Great Sage had shown him on his final moments, about what really happened three hundred years ago.