"Who are you people?!" Pascal demanded as he pointed his sword at them. If they tried to attack him, he wouldn't hesitate to kill them. He could tell by the heat he felt behind him that Morgana would back him up as she had been doing before.
But their opponents didn't seem weak at all, in fact he was quite shocked by their display of power. The blue-haired girl made a long ice pike and held it like a javelin, one boy actually summoned a black python that curled itself into a striking position. With the visible muscles the snake had Pascal didn't doubt that it would be able to reach them in one pounce. The girl with the bow calmly aimed another arrow at him.
The other boys didn't showcase any ability, but their posture made him know that if he attacked, they would strike.
This is going to be a tough battle, Pascal thought. As he was about to release a [Resplendent Light] in their direction, a girl wearing golden clothes ran in between them.
"Stop!" She screamed, "Use [inspection] before you start a pointless fight."
'Inspection? I know what that is', Pascal thought, could it be…
They all used [Inspection], and realization dawned on their faces.
"Yeah, I bet you all feel really stupid right now." Sarah mocked.
"How were we supposed to know that they were also Followers?!" George complained, thinking her mocking to be unjust.
"I knew when that golden light flashed." To prove her point, Sarah made a golden sword.
While they were talking, Pascal and Morgana had reached their side.
"High Priestess." Pascal gave her a small bow.
"Overlord." Sarah greeted him back.
"I was told that more followers would appear soon immediately I accepted my quest, and now you are here. It is great to finally meet you faraway Followers. I was anticipating a lot, and I have to say I am glad that we are age mates." Pascal chuckled.
Sarah smiled, "Me too, I thought the Overlord would be an imposing old man with white beard, seeing you is a huge relief. But we are not the only Followers, more are coming soon – and that's just the people I know. There are definitely more that I don't know about, for example Ronan, we just met today."
"So, we need to hurry and get a good house before they all come." George said.
David raised an eyebrow at his comment "There's like hundreds of houses in this kingdom…"
"That we can't access yet." Pascal said, "The kingdom is covered with Wraiths. They are ghost-like creatures created from the resentment of living beings, and they would attack you the minute you walk past the empty gates. But I have a plan on how we can exterminate all of them. The Wraiths aren't really strong, they are actually quite easy to kill, but they are too numerous. The bright side is that once you kill one, it's gone forever.
"After I accepted the quest, I was given this," Pascal brought out the [Blesses Gem], "I was told to raise this in the highest point in the kingdom. I normally carry it in a sack, I have to say the [Storage Space] is really useful," Pascal noticed he was getting off track and cleared his throat, "The highest point is on that building," He pointed at the biggest construction at the back, "If I can get up there, the quest would be completed. We don't actually have to wipe out every single Wraith in the kingdom."
"Awesome, that would save us so much time and energy." George said.
"Time? Yes. Energy? Not really." Pascal shook his head, "You see, the Wraith don't all stay in one place, the actually converge to where they can sense living aura."
"So, we'd have to move quickly," Henry said, "You're sure they are easy to kill?"
"Very." Pascal assured.
"Then let's get started." Mary said and walked through the empty gate. Immediately she passed through she started running, everyone had no choice but to quickly follow her. The Wraiths that appeared were quickly killed by her arrows; she didn't even stop when she aimed, instead, she ran quicker.
"Why the rush?!" George yelled as he shot [Rock Bullets] at the Wraiths.
"We are on a race for time, we have to get the Overlord to the top of that building before our surroundings get overrun with Wraiths!" Mary used [Multiple Shots] to clear her way as she yelled back, "Now, quit complaining and attack!"
"I never said I wasn't going to!" George glared before creating multiple earth spikes in a circle around him.
"Try not to hit each other as you are attacking," Sarah was controlling multiple [Sword of Light], "Those with defensive elements, be attentive and protect us in time."
"Try to keep up with your teammates," Pascal yelled as he cut down Wraiths, "These things can attack us individually so make sure you are not behind, or else you would be entrapped."
Everyone nodded and raced to the building.
Ronan ran alongside Mamba, commanding it to attack with [Tail Swipe] and [Quick Bite], but he noticed that he was not moving as fast as the others, so he used the skill [Merge]. A pentagram floated in front of him, and Mamba rushed into it. Then his appearance began to change, black scales grew on his body and his eyes turned elliptical. He equipped his weapon; a sword which body wasn't straight but curved like a moving snake. He got it when he completed a quest.
His muscles were brimming with the strength of a python, he jumped and covered 3 meters in one leap. A few Wraiths wanted to entrap him, but he escaped their entanglement by using [Slithering Strike]. He twisted through their gaps and cut them as he passed. His sword was covered with his snake's venom which was instantaneous, so they vanished before his feet touched the ground.
David was throwing translucent [Projectiles] at the Wraiths, they were thin, long pikes that were almost invisible. He hadn't unlocked a mass damage skill yet and neither [Illusion] nor [Mind Shock] would work on the dead. So, he was mainly the protector of the team, using [Forcefield] to protect himself and others.
George was also protecting with [Earth Wall], but partially. He was mainly invested in attacking the Wraiths.
"Their trying to block our way!" Ronan pointed at the Wraiths that were gathering in front of them.
"I got it!" George said. He activated [Seismic Shock], but this time he did use himself as the center of the explosion. He actually grabbed the vibrations in his hands and launched it at the Wraiths. The blast from the explosion quickly cleared them.
"Whoa!" Ronan said after the ground stopped shaking, "That was awesome!" He gave George a thumbs up.
George smiled back. It felt nice to be appreciated, if only his troll brothers were this appreciative…
"We're moving to slow!" Pascal said.
"Well, it's a big city!" David grunted as he blocked a group of Wraiths from attacking him.
Sarah stopped for moment and used the [Herculean Strength] buff, "Maybe this would help."
Everyone felt their strength go up, and since strength equals speed, they began to move much faster, with Pascal and Ronan in the lead.
Veronica just became a Follower recently and she was only level three, so she only had three skills. The most efficient skill on the Wraiths was [Ice Bolts], [Ice Trail] didn't work well against them since they could float. She also had [Freeze] but that requires her touching them which was something she did not want to do. She saw a Wraith in the corner of her eye and threw an [Ice Bolt] at it. But at the same time a fireball was racing towards it. The fireball and her ice hit each other before creating a small explosion of steam and ice chunks which – thankfully – killed the Wraith.
Veronica looked back to see Morgana glaring at her.
"Your ice put out my fireball."
"Your fireball dissolved my ice."
They glared at each other for a while before scoffing and continuing their fights in separate places.
Henry was beginning to think being a jack-of-all-trades, master of none wasn't such a good idea. Sure, he had plenty of arsenal compared to the rest, but it was hard to think in the middle of a fight. He only remembers to switch elements when he occasionally glances at the others and remembers which elements they use.
This won't do, he thought. He decided to focus on just three elements for now, later he would arrange the elements into Attack Defense categories. He chose Air, Shadow and Earth. First, he used [Shadow Clone] and his shadow split into six places, five of them rose up and attacked the Wraiths. Since he could control the shadows appearances, he made their arms swords. Some Wraiths managed to pass by the shadows and rush towards him, so he used the earth to launch him to the air. Up there he bombarded the Wraiths with [Air Blades], before he hit the ground, he created a soft [Cyclone] to catch him. When his feet were firmly on the ground, he kept more energy into the [Cyclone], turning it from soft to sharp and dangerous and used it to tear apart the Wraiths.
"Yeah," He smiled, "I can do this."
Soon, with their unrelented attacks – and because they leveled up while fighting – they reached the building.
"We're here!" Pascal said.
George used [Seismic Shock] to clear their surrounding then craned his neck to look at the building, "Its looks more titanic now that we're closer."
"Quick, lets enter it!" Pascal wanted to rush into the building but was stopped by Sarah who grabbed his waist from the back.
"That would be too slow!" Then she proceeded to use [Valkyrie Dress], stretched her golden wings and zoomed upwards.
"She can fly?!" George shrieked.
"Yes, did you think those wings were for show?" David said.
"Well, they better hurry," Henry said as he readied himself to attack the wailing Wraiths.
"Why can't I fly…" George grumbled.
…
Pascal on the other hand wasn't feeling too good. Sarah was flying too fast and the air currents we're smashing into his face, making it hard to breath. After a few minutes of mild torture, the finally reached the top. When they dropped Sarah slumped down.
"Are you okay?" Pascal steadied her.
"Yeah," She wiped the sweat from her brows, "I'm out of mp though, so you have to take of that by yourself!" She pointed at the numerous Wraiths that followed them.
They can fly this high?! Pascal stared the Wraiths that were so packed together they only thing he could see was a big black cloud that circled them. Pascal signaled with his hand that Sarah should get behind him, then he raised his sword above his head.
"[Divine Illumination]!" He screamed.
A golden light burst from his sword into every direction, it was so bright that one couldn't directly look at it. Sarah stared incredulously at Pascal's back; she was sure she would never forget this moment. As the light shined on the Wraiths, they began clearing one by one until they all disappeared. Pascal groaned and dropped to his knees when the skill duration ended.
He didn't stop to rest and brought out the [Blessed Gem] and raised it high. The gem floated up from his palms and released a blue glow, then it released an invisible pressure that eradicated all the Wraiths in the kingdom.
Henry and the rest were a bit startled when all the Wraiths they were fighting disappeared, but they soon understood what had happened. They began cheering, even Mary.
Henry looked up at the blue glow in the sky and smiled, "They did it."
"We did it!" Sarah hugged Pascal.
"Yeah." He chuckled while returning the hug.
Suddenly, a huge gust of wind that seemed to be coming from every direction blew and almost blew them off the building, giving them quite the fright. After steadying themselves they noticed the wind wasn't an attack, it was rather blowing away the dust from every building in the city. As the wind blew and the dusts came off, all the houses came out looking brand new. The [Blessed Gem] shot a beam of light on the building Pascal and Sarah was on and began changing the color from its previous black into red with gold patterns. Golden gargoyles with different shapes and sizes grew around the edges.
The light speedily traveled through the body of the building and entered the ground.
As it moved new roads were made, long pole-like figures that curved at the tips were created. The houses colors changed into white with gold roofs. Beautiful flowers lined up some part of the road and beside the houses. The huge city walls previous color peeled off and a deep red color replaced it, then golden drawings appeared on the body. The gate was also recreated, its giant body was golden. There were patterns on it that the children couldn't see because of the distance.
They all looked at the miracle happening in front of them with wide eyes and all of them had the same thought in their heads.
Blessed be the God of Origins!