Ten minutes before the plan started each one of the four have already went to their positions, waiting for their master's orders. Nunu at the southern part of the capital. Mel at the north-western part. Ella at the north-eastern part. While Ello is inside as a maid.
The plan Michael made is that the three to cause a commotion to create a distraction while Ello rescue(kidnaps) the princess using the secret passages that Ella found.
-Nunu, Mel, let the rescue operation... Begin!
-Understood!!!
With the orders from their master, the three started.
Nunu turn into a dragon. A fierce red dragon that took everyone by surprise. He shot multiple
"
As Nunu rampage on the southern part, Mel has activated her totem curses scattered around that she prepared beforehand and summon thousands of bugs. The totem curses made everyone sluggish while the fast and small summoned insects brought terror to the north-western part of the capital. The evil spirit witch indiscriminately attack all those who retaliated.
"
The undead group appeared and began their mission.
At the north-eastern part of the capital, twenty strong undeads has been spotted. The undead squad was being led by a death knight, Ferdinand, while Ella shot explosive bullets from a far. The undead slaughtered the knights who are guarding the castle walls. Ferdinand did not stop killing one after the other, those men, ignoring the women and children.
Because of these the capital entered a state of emergency, all the guards, mages, and adventurers quickly went to the scene to stop the attack by the unknown terrorists.
"Commander, a dragon is wrecking havoc at the southern part. A witch also attack us at the north-western part while there are a small but elite force of undead at the north-eastern part!"
"Those who can use holy attributes quickly go to the north-eastern part where the undeads are! Those who can use fire type spells go to where the witch is! And those who can use water go to where the dragon is! Quickly contact the sorcerer king as well!"
The soldiers, mages, and adventurers quickly obeyed the commander's orders. As the leading country around the world, they have already went through many unexpected situations as such.
A mage quickly made contact to the sorcerer king.
-Master!
-What is it?! I am very busy right now!
-The capital is under attack!
-Figure it out by yourselves! I will get there shortly!
With her words, the mages at the capital was forced to face the predicament they are facing right now.
The quick response from them can be only be accomplish through rigorous and repetitive training. It is indeed impressive. They have confronted and is already now at the advantage.
"Keep burning all these bugs!
"Show them what the empire can do!"
"These undead are nothing!
Half of the undead have already been purged while the witch is almost defeated. However they may have fast their response were, Ello have successfully went to the princess' room.
"Who are you?" Layla ask.
Without answering Layla's question, Ello hit Layla to knock her out and quickly use the hidden passage beneath the bed that not even Layla was aware of. Using the hidden passages, Ello quickly went to the designated location at the south-eastern part of the capital which is located outside of the capital's walls.
An infiltration like this is only possible due to Ello's
Nunu originally wanted to rescue(kidnap) the princess himself. But he can't since his master, Michael chose the best option where everyone gets to use their skills to the fullest while having the highest chance of success.
-Ferdinand, retreat now!
-Understood.
The undead started to retreat while Ella supported them to make sure that no one would follow after by sniping them off.
"Good job out there"
"We are grateful for the praise, master"
The undead knelt down to the little girl.
"We need to go now.
At the north-western part of the capital,
"Burn that bitch!"
Witches are known for their notorious deeds therefore the reaction from the people can be considered as perfectly normal.
Since Mel focus on quantity rather than quality to quickly make chaos in this part of the capital, the bugs that she summoned were weaker than the guards and adventurers thought it would be.
Using her broom, Mel ascended to the sky.
"Sorry, my mission is done here already! Hope we get to meet again"
She said as she blow a kiss to the male guards and adventurers.
"What does she mean that her mission is complete?"
"Fuck this is only a distraction! They are after something else!"
The people down on the ground have figured out Mel's words and quickly sent it to the commander. But it was already too late. Ello is already near to the the designated location with the unconscious princess.
The commander issued a search for all the important people, treasures and confidential information in the capital. The royal family, the aristocrats, the vaults and the well known merchants. They then found out that princess Layla was gone from her room leaving no trace behind.
They contacted the sorcerer king again the moment they found out that the fourth princess went missing.
-Master! The princess has been abducted!
-What?!
The contact was cut.
Ella, Mel and Ello with the princess have arrived at the designated location. Mel shot a signal to the sky to inform that the job is now done. Nunu quickly flew away before the royal guards who are also known as the empire's strongest knights came to the scene.
"Keep your promise, okay big sis Mel!"
"Yes, yes, I will! I promise!"
"What are you two talking bout?" Ello look at the two suspicious allies who seems to be planning something.
All of them escaped. The girls went to a city on east side of the capital while Nunu drew the attention of the flying mage battalion so that the girls can escaped with no one tailing them.
And so, Nunu's quest of 'Saving the damsel in distress(?)' went successfully one way or another.
-------------------------------------
In the holy kingdom, the two kings have began to fight.
"Imaginary World: Transparency"
"Magical World: Spatial domination"
Transparency allows Max to be able to pass through everything, including magic. While Mana spatial domination allows Hasshule to freely manipulate all the space around her.
A battle which will only be won if you are able to strike first.
Knives came from Hasshule's back but stop midway. As she is able to freely control the space around her by expanding her mana, any physical and elemental attacks are pointless against her. Even with that she still covered herself with a multi layered barrier.
"Show yourself already, Maximos! I am very busy right now!"
"I can't. I have to stall as much time as possible"
(So they are after me. More importantly, Maximos never show hints like this when he do his missions. Meaning he is being forced to do this somehow. I'd be able to free him from whatever it is if only I can touch him)
These were the thoughts of the sorcerer king. She can't move from her current position if she activates 'Spatial domination'. Which forces her to confront the phantom king.
Even the phantom king's special skill 'Transparency' also have its own weakness. Max needs to show himself for a split second to attack therefore Hasshule used 'Absolute spatial domination' to somehow get Max if she can. In the contrary, Hasshule needs to create a barrier by focusing spatial domination. An average barrier will be breach easily by transparency so a barrier that's created by warping space while constantly changing the wavelength is needed to make sure that the phantom king won't reach the sorcerer king.
Five minutes have pass and nothing happened.
The sorcerer king have been standing on the same spot for five minutes, alone. Maximos have already left right after speaking, completing his mission to stall time.
"That bastard!"
Hasshule deactivated the 'Magical World' but kept the barrier for insurance and then went back to the capital. Right after she went back Michael have already left his position and went back to where the tower master is, ending the commotion outside.
"I'm back"
"You sure like doing high risk plans, don't you" Gwen said.
"Of course not!" I replied.
"Do you still have some mana left for your transformation?"
"Yes. It should be enough for another three hours"
We then went back outside, to the garden. We acted as if surprise why they were on their guard. They noticed us.
The envoy of the giant kingdom came to me.
"May I ask where were the two of you"
"Be careful, he can tell if you are lying or not" (Loki)
Now that is troublesome.
"I talk with the tower master for a short moment and did some personal things. Is something wrong?"
The titan look at me with doubtful eyes.
"There was a giant skeleton knight and a lot of undead magicians just now so I thought that whoever attack might be after the hero. That is all"
The banquet resume.
I have to say the envoys from the other human kingdoms are really pushy. They are just asking me to go there so that they can make more money by advertising that I went there.
The envoy from the dragon kingdom raise his glass and gently made a sound using the spoon. All of the attention of the people in the garden went to him.
The dragon stood up and look towards me, "I know that what I am going to say might be a little rude but may I ask a friendly duel with the hero?"
This is bad. Really bad. I can't even use my martial arts yet since my body is still recovering. Not to mention, I don't want them to know that I can summon spirits so that would mean that I can't summon any of my familiars. Why the hell is a big shot true dragon even asking a fight with me to begin with?!
I stand up to answer the dragon's question.
"Of course. I can't do it tomorrow due to the Gods issues so we can have it two days from now. Is that okay?"
[The Gods will reduce your mana by a hundred thousand if you really do not have anything that doesn't include the Gods]
They sure are piss off of me, huh.
"It is. Thank you very much for accepting my selfish request"
The envoy sat down and the banquet resume.
After the banquet, we went to our respective rooms.
"Did you tire yourself too much?"
"No. But I am sure that Hasshule sis will get mad at me in the future" Max replied.
The two must be close to for him to call that girl as 'sis'. I do think that he is the most child like among the seven.
"Hehehe, good job!"
"Why was she so mad to begin with?!"
"It's because some of my underlings abducted the princess at the empire. That's why I made you to stall time since if she is able to go back there, none of the kids would be able to fight her. She is in a different league after all"
Based on Gwen, even my 'space alteration' would look like a child raising a spoon against an adult veteran when compared to the sorcerer king's 'spatial domination'. There is no way I can either stop her or show myself to her now.
"Of course! Sis is one of the strongest among us after all" He said proudly.
"Then, are you the weakest?"
"I'm not! I was just taken by surprise from whatever it was that made me unable to use my skills! If I knew what that was I would have won against you!"
Yeah, right. Winning in my own domain would be impossible even for Gwen. Troy would win though since his physical abilities are much higher than mine.
The problem now is how to win against a true dragon. Can I even win to begin with? I just have to make sure that I don't die. Easier said than done but I can't see myself winning against that guy. Base on his stats, he is a fire type user just like Nunu. If I use spirit synchronization with either Inosi or Fegonia I won't be able to use their skills to its finest since I never saw them using it.
The night pass as I desperately thought about a plan on how to fight the true dragon without embarrassing myself.
As the sun rise, I offered a totally pure dance to my backer, the Master of Souls for about six hours. Thankfully I know how to dance.
With that, the Gods aren't going to deduct my mana anymore since I offered a wholeheartedly dance offering to a certain goddess.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Yes?"
"Sir Lucas, the pope and the king are asking for your presence"
They are?
"Okay"
I followed the girl priest to a room underground. I readied myself even though there is no hostility since something smells fishy about the sudden call.
The priest knock twice and left. I open the door.
Inside, there was three chairs and a round table. The king and the pope were sitting down on the chair.
I slightly bow down and sat on the remaining chair right after closing the door behind me.
"We receive an oracle just now stating that we should give you this" (Pope)
The king took out a crystallize vase full of water. Without the lid the water would have already been spilled.
[Quest of the Goddess of Water]
[Mission: Help the sirens located north-west in the map of the world]
[If you accept this quest you will receive the pure holy water from the holy well]
So she wants me to help her worshipers in exchange of giving me something that can help me to fight with the dragon tomorrow.
"If it is an oracle, then I am very thankful for your help. I am also sorry for making two legends such as yourselves to go all the way for me" I said as I bow down.
"No no, you are the hope of all races. This much is nothing to the two of us, right?" (King)
"Yes. It is time for the new generation to pave their own way. We old men will watch from the side" (Pope)
I took the vase.
[You have accepted the 'Quest of the Goddess of Water']
Time Limit: Five months
Reward if successful: Blessing of the Goddess of Water
Upon Failure: seventy thousand mana will be confiscated. You won't be able to form any contracts with any water type spirits
Mission: Help the sirens problems regarding their natural predator, the giant sea serpent who loves to eat sirens.
+
I'm getting mix feelings all of a sudden. Giant serpent? I don't think it would be 'him' but the quest seems to be decent enough which is no problem for me.
"May I ask something?"
"Go ahead" The pope replied.
"What are the abilities of the seven demon generals of the demon king?"
The two glance at each other then look at me.
"There are currently six since I have already killed one of them back then"
"Ruler of water, sea king Leviathan. Ruler of darkness, vampire king Vladexer. Ruler of chimera, chimera queen Entokri. Ruler of insects, insect queen Deolimere. Ruler of plague, poison king Dilitrio. Ruler of pain, king of torture Crowley. Each one of them possess power that is on par to the guardian of the magic kingdom, Troy Maigrema"
They are telling me that those guys are on the same level as Troy?! Isn't Troy considered as one of the three strongest dragons?
"Honestly, the only reason why I was able to beat the other demon general is because she was on a weaken state while I had the support of thousands of priests. So we will support you at everything that you do for you are the only one who can pave the way to all of us"
"I understand. I will do my best. Please excuse me"
I stood up and went out.
On the way back I process as much information as I can from what they told me. Loki also verified that everything they said is indeed the truth.
I took a look at the properties of the water.
[Status information]
-A vase full of purest holy water from the holy well. This amount of holy water can instantly kill any demon regardless of their rank. They will quickly turn to ash leaving nothing behind.
-It can also be use to cure diseases. As it is the purest holy water, it can cure any disease.
-It can also be use as an offering to summon a powerful spirit.
+
Everything is truly amazing. First option is a bit 'no go' since I need the dead bodies of those who I beat, even if they are demons. Second is also good but also a 'no go'. Divine healing can also cure any diseases as long as my proficiency is high enough. So the best one out of the three would be the third one.
After entering my room, I quickly put the vase on the floor.
"My name is Michael Santiago. At this moment, I now open the gate to the spirit world"
Strong wind blew.
"With this pure holy water. Heed my call to those who live on the sea"
The magic circle shined.
"I offer a drop of my blood"
I use a lot of mana and Maximos was alarm.
"And here, the Gods shall be the witness of this summoning"
A snake? A small snake appeared. Just like Fegonia the small snake showed dignity. Its scales were glistening with brilliance.
"I challenge you into a duel" I said.
"Hahaha. I accept. You will win if you can touch me even once, human!" The snake replied.
How the hell is the snake even talking?
[The challenge has been acknowledge]
[Activating dueling grounds]
We showed up in a very hot place. A flat land with an erupting volcano.
"Open
Taking the initiative I summon countless skeletons. They were the only ones I can use since I have already use the others. I emitted holy attribute making the skeletons attack the snake instead. To see what the snake can do, I decided to use low leveled undead monsters like them to see what the snake will do.
"Typhoon"
Even though the snake was far away from me, I heard his voice clearly.
I quickly look up and dark clouds started to form.
No way. A typhoon while a volcano is erupting?!
The heat of the volcano and the chilling winds of the typhoon began to clash. The typhoon's strong winds blew the low leveled undead away like pieces of paper in front of a strong fan.
Now my environmental advantage is gone.
"Is that all, human?" The snake said.
"Of course not!" I yelled.
I took three bottles from my inventory and toss it to the snake.
Boom!
The two nitroglycerin bottles I toss exploded and the other one was a bottle of sodium hydroxide. Chemical weapons like these only works against those who have a materialize body like him so hopefully it affects him just for a bit.
After the smoke subsided from the strong winds, a guy appeared.
He is the snake from earlier, no doubt about it. What's more he is unscathed.
I want to summon Inosi but he is currently doing something else.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The volcano erupted. The composite volcano erupted and the thick ashes started to disperse due to the strong winds from the typhoon.
"Grand magic: Sanctuary"
A light field form. The ashes and strong winds weren't able to enter the dome of light. Now that the whole place is being ravaged by the volcanic ashes, surely that guy is being hit or affected negatively someway or another, right?
Even though the whole area is being covered by ash, I was able to hear him speak very clearly.
"Grand magic: Wrath of the water guardian"
The whole place was envelop with water. Half of the volcano was underwater in the blink of an eye. The space limit of the dueling grounds is five hundred meters in radius and the water reach almost half of the volcano.
I who was still inside the dome of light kept pouring mana so that the water won't get in.
The ashes underwater began to go up as if clearing the water from its impurities.
The water became crystal clear. The guy open his mouth.
"That was a very splendid plan. To use the harmful ashes of an erupting volcano against a water spirit and making my own attack to backfire on me is truly magnificent! It would have been hard for me as well if I didn't made the whole area underwater. Now, what will you do?"
This guy... is he a sacred beast or a superior rank spirit? Never mind that, both
"Spirit summoning: Fegonia"
Fegonia appeared, enrage at the spirit I am fighting with.
"A legendary beast with the blessing of a goddess? Truly magnificent!" He said.
"Nia, remove all the water using wind then freeze it"
The frost gryphon shriek and flap its wings. The powerful wind that its wings created push back all of the water. Without pause, Nia's emitted ice that sparkled which resemble thousands of fireflies, the water froze creating a giant dome of ice.
Nia wag its tail happily as she rub her head to me knowing that she did a good job.
"Yeah, good work"
The guy look around, smiling like a maniac.
"WONDERFUL!!! All your plans is made so so thoroughly. I am speechless honestly! How long did it took you to do all this?" He said as he twirled around.
He turn to me.
"None. I made it all up at the spot. It's not my style making plans on the spot since I end up making flaws so, yeah, I made all of this on the spot"
He clap his hands in awe.
"I shall return the feeling you gave me then!"
I rush to him as water gather in his hands.
"Grand magic: Devouring wave"
"Phantom World: Teleport"
Dumbfounded, he canceled his grand magic.
(How did he get here instantaneously?)
The water spirit look at me with confusion, not knowing the methods of how I got in front of him in a flash. Someone who isn't an arcane user or a spatial mage was able to teleport. It is by all means preposterous, base on his knowledge that is.
"I won"
[You are now exiting the dueling grounds]
[Affinity towards water type spirits have increased]
We exited the dueling grounds. I quickly healed myself to restore the stamina that I lost. I canceled Nia's summoning as well.
"How were you able to do that?" He ask with a frown.
I raise my left hand to make a peace sign.
"Teleportation~" I said in an insulting tone.
He sat down, angry at me. He kept throwing daggers, my goodness.
[Status information]
Name: Witrudo
Class: Shaman/Arch-mage (Legendary beast)
Sex: Male
Race: Water spirit (Mid rank)
Age: 816
Level: 20
HP: 40,000/40,000
MP: 56,000/56,000
Strength: 64
Agility: 58
Stamina: 94
Intelligence: 73
Level cap: 20
Psychological state: Extremely mad at his new master
Status: Familiar
Abilities: Water
Attributes: None
+
I have so many questions. How was he able to fill the dueling grounds with that much water even though his mana is only five digits? Even Gwen can't do that, as far as I know. Why does he have two classes? Why the hell is he mad at me when he was the one who said that all I need was to touch him? Mid rank?
"Udo, you are a mid class spirit?"
"Yes. It is because of my dual class"
"What's so special about it"
"The arch-mage is pretty good but the better one is the 'Spiritualist'. It gives me the ability to freely control and receive power from water spirits. Despite being a legendary class beast, you can say that I am already at the peak of sacred class because of my innate talent, dual class. So I am pretty much better in using water spells in comparison to an arcane user because of it. After all, it naturally amplifies all of my spells
Even if my mana is lower, by combining the mana of several to hundred of inferior water spirits, pulling off something like that is pretty normal"
So that's why he was so powerful. Wait, there were water spirits in the dueling grounds?
He scoffed.
"Hey Udo, why are you mad at me?"
"Nothing!" He yelled.
Maximos entered the room, he look at Udo with dissatisfaction(?).
"Um, master, who is that guy? Why is he emitting so much power? His power alone is like Hasshule's"
Really? His power rivals that girl? Doesn't that mean that girl is also... Forget it. My mind will only get destroyed if I think any further.
"He is a legendary beast. A water type spirit as well"
"L-legendary b-beast?! No way!"
"Hey kid, what did you said?!" Udo yelled.
Now I don't have anything to do today. Except for that one.
Someone knock at the door. Using aura, I found out that it was the three. I canceled Udo's summoning, forcibly sending back to the spirit realm.
The three sat down.
"What happened to your attributes, uncle?"
"I am not that old! Sigh. I won against this guy" He pointed at Talep.
That is to be expected already. Talep's anti-magic attribute is only applicable to elemental and arcane spells while his holy attribute would be meaningless since Zel also possess it.
"Old man Zel did face some discrimination at first so in the end, we decided that he would use the corpses of the monsters instead of humans or any race at that. He even won the mage's endurance match" (Phoebe)
"How many times do I have to say that I am not that old" Zel muttered.
For some reason I don't want to know what the hell is this so called 'mage's endurance match'. My instincts are telling me that it is absolutely dangerous one way or another.
"You better give me a quiet life now! I demand it! If you want, I can just teach youngsters on how to fight properly"
The way you talk is one of the main reason on why we call you an old man. And he doesn't even realize it.
"Sure!"
"What?"
"You can teach some of my new underlings. They are a pretty rowdy bunch but if it's you I am sure you can do it"
"Is it a leisure life?"
"Yes"
"Something that pays well?"
What happened to you only wanting to accompany me so that you can brag it to your family, old man?
"Yes. The monthly salary would be ten golds. Since you will be in the northern continent, that would be even more, no?"
"I accept!"
No hesitation? What turn him into someone like this?
"I am now kinda curious what this job now" (Talep)
Converting the currency, ten gold in the northern continent is fifty golds here in the central since most products are cheaper there.
Plus, an intermediate holy knight earns ten gold per month. Not including the dangerous situation you will be put in, I'd say the pay is quite low. The only perks of being a holy knight other than receiving the holy attribute is that you can get yourself healed in any church for free.
"Do you also want to go?"
"Yes please! If it is only training people then I am happy to do so!"
The righteous image of Talep in my head is starting to crumble away.
"Are you also coming with us, Phoebe?"
"No. I still have things to do here"
I then gave the information regarding about the ones they will train to find out their reaction.
"The ones you will be training are drug dealers, criminals, those who are part of the black market and many more. Still want to go?"
The two look at each other and gave an enthusiastic expression.
"Even better" They said in unison.
Eh? For real?
After talking things out they decided to go at dawn. Since Zel still remembers the path there there was no need to ask May to fetch them up.
Before they left, I made sure to cast a marking on them so that they can go inside the underground facility, except for the room with the teleportation gate.