Chapter: 79
A wave of blue fire surged forth from the nearby treeline. Sif yelped in surprise at the sudden attack. I jumped in front of her and conjured a Lightshield. With my [Light Manipulation] skill now at level 5, I was able to conjure these strong shields for only 20 MP! The blue flames slammed into my shield. I grunted at the force of the hit, and I felt my MP decrease by a bit extra, but my shield held.
"Hoh? You were able to block my attack. That's quite impressive for a crow with only 8 wings. Your skills won't save you though! Not after what your kind did to my daughter!" The woman's voice echoed out around us. This time it was laced with anger. I couldn't pinpoint where she was, though. All I saw around us were empty woods. She sounded like she was coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. She had to be employing some kind of illusion magic.
"Using such cowardly tactics to face us? A simple witch like you can't beat us!?" Sif declared while brandishing her sword towards the woods. I wanted to facepalm at that. Sif was apparently not that great at sensing magical power. If she was, then she would know that this woman was clearly toying with us. That attack wasn't even close to what someone at the peak of the Ultimate class could put out.
I started using my upgraded [Observe] skill to try and find our hidden opponent. I wasn't able to see them, but in my vision, I noticed a hazy outline to our left. I conjured an overcharged Lightspear for 10 MP and hurled it in that direction.
BOOM!
An explosive blast echoed out where my Lightspear collided with our enemy's quickly conjured magical shield! I felt that I caught them by surprise with my attack, but I didn't actually injure them at all.
"Wow, Layla! That blast was amazing. You leveled dozens of trees. Surely, the cowardly witch has perished!" Sif cheered for me. She went to sheathe her sword.
"Don't let your guard down. She's not even hurt!" I yelled out. Sif stiffened and did as I told her.
"Layla?" The woman's voice called out questioningly. As the smoke from my blast faded away, I could see who we were facing. "Is that who you are?"
"Shit…" I muttered out. It was an incredibly stacked and beautiful nine-tailed fox woman. It was Yasaka, the leader of the Kyoto Yokai… "Lady Yasaka? Can I ask why you are attacking my friend and me? We're not even technically in Kyoto, just the forest nearby," I said. We weren't even technically trespassing in Youkai territory yet, not unless we entered Kyoto city unannounced.
Yasaka took a moment to look at me before she let out a sigh. "I apologize. I thought you were another group that I recently had a scuffle with… I am wondering what Gabriel's missing sister is doing in Japan, though," Yasaka asked.
"Gabriel?" Sif asked me. "I thought your sister was Penemue."
"Sif, I have like a million brothers and sisters," I replied.
"WHAT!?" Sif exclaimed in shock. I think I broke her right there…
I turned back to Yasaka, who was giggling at us now. It seemed that our short scuffle had ended. She didn't look like she wanted to keep fighting us at least. "I'm sorry for attacking you. Yesterday, we had some intruders in Kyoto. They tried to kidnap my daughter, and she was unfortunately poisoned," Yasaka said before shooting me a glare. "Some of the attackers consisted of Fallen Angels.
Ugh, of course, it did. What was with my race and always causing problems with everyone else? I sighed before replying. "On behalf of the Fallen, I can only apologize. I can also promise that the perpetrators will be punished when we find out who they are," I said with a diplomatic voice. I didn't think this was a coincidence. Our race's leader, Azazel, accidentally disappears himself trying to rescue me and a day later, members of our race launch a raid on Kyoto. They were probably just waiting for such an opportunity. I'd even suspect them of sabotaging his artificial sacred gear, but frankly, the majority of Fallen Angels are not tech-savvy. I couldn't think of anyone who'd be able to do that in the first place.
"That's a start…" Yasaka said. "But it's not enough. If you really want to make amends, then I want you to get in contact with your sister Gabriel."
"Gabriel?" I asked. "Why her?" I didn't remember any interactions between Heaven and the Yokai from my memories. Heaven didn't even have that big of a presence in Japan since there were that many followers of Father in this country.
Yasaka scoffed. "You're clearly very important to her. The church put out a 10 Billion USD reward for any information that could lead to your safe return after Azazel's supposed experiment gone wrong. The whole supernatural community was up in arms about it. That's a staggering amount of money, after all…"
Hell yeah, it was! I wonder if I could turn myself in to collect!?
[Worth a shot?]
"Ok, yeah, me and Gabriel are close. What do you need from her?" I asked again.
"I need her to send the Saint Asia Argento to Kyoto," Yasaka grimaced. "We've tried everything, and nothing so far has been able to purge the poison from my daughter." Yasaka explained with tears in her eyes. "We even bought a phoenix tear for 100 Million USD, and it didn't work! My only hope is the legendary [Twilight Healing] sacred gear at this point."
Huh? Only [Twilight Healing] could save her? Now wasn't that a convenient coincidence? It seems my 30 points in luck was paying off.
[Quest Issued→Heal Yasaka's Daughter Kunou from the deadly poison afflicting her!]
[Reward→ Level Up! Yasaka's Favor.]
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