Part Twenty

“Hoo boy. This is pretty messed up. I’d almost think this place was a Dungeon with how many monsters are running around.”

“This is beyond even my wildest estimations. There’s bodies laying in the street. I know monsters aren’t as concerned with hygiene as the average human, but that seems like a poor decision on their part.”

“Considering that there’s Undead in some of these alleys, I can safely say it is a poor decision on their part.”

“Really? Is this more of what we saw in Southampton? Or…?”

“I can’t say for certain, but I think they may be naturally occurring Undead. All these fights are bound to cause a lot of deaths, which then generates Grudge and Miasma, which then causes the corpses to arise as Undead. And those Undead will generate their own Miasma. It’s a vicious cycle that doesn’t look like it’ll end anytime soon. There aren’t any freestanding clouds of Miasma yet, so I’d say it should still be safe for us to explore.”

“…We were right to have the girls stay behind. It’s hard enough getting through here undetected with just the two of us, but all five of us would get caught right away. Is it like this all the way through?”

“I…don’t know. If this conflict follows the kind of logic I’m thinking it does, then the center of the city’s already been claimed by the strongest monsters near here. These are just the weaker ones fighting over the leftovers.”

“Hm, let’s head back for now and tell the others. We may want to modify our plans because of this.”

It had been a week since we left Southampton, and we’d finally arrived in Bristol only to discover it was a literal warzone. Packs of monsters were fighting in the middle of the street. The entire city seemed to be overrun far worse than anywhere I’d ever seen.

Jeez, and to think things had gone so well up to this point. I knew it wouldn’t last, but this is just…I’m not sure what it is, but it’s not good. I think. Why would they be fighting like this if it wasn’t bad?

I wasn’t sure if this was connected to the shadow creature or not. The further we’d gotten from Southampton, the fewer signs there were of any odd activity, until there weren’t any. So I’d like to think that this was unrelated, but I just couldn’t. Coincidences are only fun when they’re fictional.

Still, there weren’t too many Undead here, just a few here and there, enough to let me think that this may be natural. If this conflict was just a natural outcome of so many different types of monsters living so close to one another, than I’d think nothing of it and call it a day. But my prior experiences led me to believe there may be a deeper plot here than it first seemed. Or maybe I’m just being paranoid. Who knows?

Hm, let’s see. Minotaurs, Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs, Kovis, and some sort of Troll or Ogre looking thing that’s too far away for me to Analyze. It’s mostly Demi-Humans who seem to be fighting. There’s a few other creatures mixed in, but I think they’re pets belonging to the other monsters. Oh, what is that!? Uh, damn, it’s too far to Analyze as well.

A rather giant humanoid had emerged from behind a building, and was now menacing the other monsters in a deep, husky voice that I couldn’t understand a word of. The fighting soon calmed down, and the giant returned to wherever it had been hiding.

“Well, that was…interesting. What do you think that was?”

“Whatever's taken over this city. Let’s hurry back. I get the feeling not even a hundred of us could fight that creature.”

“Agreed. I’m reckless, but even I know when I’m outmatched.”

***

“KUUUUUUUUU!”

“Gah! Hey, g-get off me you little furball! Dangit Regis, I told you to sit!”

“Kuu kuu~! Kuu kuu~!”

The second I’d come through the door, Regis had exploded away from Gwen and shot at me like a rocket. And even now he was prancing around me like a dog that hadn’t seen its owner in years, even though I’d been gone twenty minutes at most.

“”…!!!””

And of course the two self-proclaimed lovers of all things cute were now glaring bloody murder at me. It hadn’t been this bad at first, but as Regis continued to ignore the two’s efforts to get closer to him, they gradually became more and more jealous. And the final nail in the coffin had been when I’d given him to Gwen instead of them when me and Gwyn went scouting just now, even though he never would’ve stayed if it were one of them who had held him. He just didn’t like them.

“Don’t glare at me like that. I’ve told him to play nice before, he just doesn’t want to listen.”

““…!!!!!!!!!!””

If looks could kill, I’d be dead a million times over. Haaah, they’re taking this too far. Sure he’s cute, but he also eats like a hippo. He’d probably eat a hippo if he had the chance. Where the heck does he fit it all!?

“Kuuu~.”

Regis settled down at last and took his spot on my shoulder, ignoring the pleading looks coming from the two hopeless idiots. Gwen merely looked amused at the whole thing, and Gwyn was just ready to continue. And realizing that, Kalia was the first to regain her composure.

“Ehem, so what’s going on out there? We thought we heard something really loud.”

“It’s a bit of a madhouse. There’s monsters fighting on just about every street, and bodies everywhere. It’s not as bad on the edges of the suburbs, but even just a few blocks in it gets pretty grisly.”

“We might want to modify our plans again. I don’t know if what’s happening here is connected to the shadow, but it’s clearly something we shouldn’t get involved with.”

“……But maybe that’s exactly why we should?”

Heh? Of all people, it was Kalia who’d suggested that. Since she was usually all for avoiding unnecessary danger, I’d thought she’d advocate for finding new hunting grounds, not staying.

“Was there any signs that this could be connected to the shadow? Any suspicious activity?”

“Uh, not really. There were some Undead, but I’m inclined to think they’re there due to the natural progression of all this fighting. My Grimoire basically said that battlefields are prime places for Undead to appear due to all the Grudge and Miasma that result it.”

“If that’s the case, why wouldn’t we take advantage of this prime opportunity? If this is such a massive battle, then there must be something at stake for these monsters. Couldn’t we steal it from them?”

Kalia! Stop stealing my character trait! I’m supposed to be the one obsessed with loot!

“She…has a point. I’m sure that there must be something these monsters are fighting over, and even if there isn’t, they must surely have supply stockpiles like the Kobolds did. Or even better. What about that staff Michael took from those Mivians? Couldn’t they have things like that?”

“Hrm, I hadn’t thought of that. It’s true that there’s a lot to gained here, but there’s a higher possibility of death as well. Are we really sure we can accept that?”

“I can. Heck, we could die at any point, so why hold back?”

“Mn, what he said.”

Seeing that no one agreed with him, Gwyn gave into the opinion of the majority, which had somehow become how we decided things. And with that, our immediate path was set. All hail apocalyptic democracy!

***

With the days slowly starting to shorten, the evening was on us before we knew it. Most of the day had been eaten up by going into the city and scouting out a suitable shelter for the immediate future. We’d had to fight off one group of Goblins already, though that would probably be all for the night. The diurnal monsters were settling down for the night.

Okay, I think I have everything set up. It’s good that all I need for this is mana, glyphs and a Gem of Hatred. I’d probably need something special if this was a Ritual. Actually, didn’t Kalia say she couldn’t make anymore [Soothing Aura] stones because she wasn’t allowed to keep the athame she’d borrowed? I wonder if she could get one as a Dungeon Clear reward? Wouldn’t that be convenient? She did make a few to store, so we have them if we need them, but getting her an athame is a priority.

I was about to attempt the Grudge Magic Spell [Dreadful Birth], a spell that would create a familiar for me. I’d been practicing this for the last week, though I hadn’t used a Gem of Hatred for any of those attempts, so they’d never had the chance to work. Still, I thought I was as prepared as I could be. I’d collected a few dozen of those miniscule Gems from Southampton in order to practice with, so I could tolerate a few failures.

I’m just glad Kalia told me it was possible to learn spells out of order. How she learned a third-grade spell first I don’t know, but I’m glad she did. Learning this should be a lot easier than [Energy Drain]. Though, how she learned any magic without a Grimoire is utterly beyond me. I might have been able to figure out [Rot] or [Seize] on my own, but not something like this one! It’s way too complicated for that!

In order to make it easier on me, I’d carved the glyphs into the floor to help conserve my mana. While this meant I’d have to recarve them in the case of a failure, it lessened the strain on me as I cast the spell. You could technically do this with any spell, but it was more practical to do everything yourself when it came to simpler spells. Though I could see other uses for this. Imagine Kalia carving [Heal] into a plank. Casting it over and over would get a lot easier for her, though I’d imagine there’d be other problems. There always is.

Deciding to get on with it, I placed a single Gem of Hatred at the center of the formation I’d carved, then placed the tip of my sword so it was touching it. Then I began casting.

Light quickly filled the grooves in the wood, and an inky, black fog began to seep from my sword, encasing the Gem. This continued on for about a minute, growing more intense as it went, until the Gem shattered with a resounding crack!

I’d expected it to fail the first time, so I merely checked my Grimoire to see what mistake I’d made and went to redo the formation. Three times I did this before the fog was finally absorbed by the Gem, and the light faded from the glyphs. I took two quick steps back, and watched as the Gem began to dissolve, turning into a thick, bubbling liquid reminiscent of molasses.

Several minutes passed as the liquid continued to boil, slowly evaporating into a black mist just as thick as the liquid it came from. Once all the liquid had evaporated, the resulting ball slowly rose into the air, stopping at eye height. A single glowing, red light could be seen deep within the ball, and I could feel an intent within it.

Well that was….underwhelming. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. But, I think it worked. I can feel a connection to whatever this thing is, and that it’s feeling….curiosity? Hm, let’s see if I can Analyze it.

Dread Apparition

Rank: F

Status: Bound – Familiar

Description: A newborn Dread Spirit. Dread Apparitions are usually the result of either a mage creating a familiar, or a superior Dread Spirit attempting to create and raise new servants. Apparitions are very weak, and do not even possess the normal strengths usually found within Spirits. In order to grow and Evolve, a Dread Apparition must consume Grudge and Miasma, as well as the souls of deceased creatures.

Well, I made the weakest thing possible! Not that I expected much else considering the size of the Gem I used. Hm, and there’s no reusing the formation I carved, as it's completely corroded by whatever liquid this thing came from. Also, that Status thing in the Analyze result is new. Heheh.

The Apparition appeared to be rather similar in appearance to the spheres created by [Rot], except for the light (which was probably some form of eye) deep inside of it. Playing around to see what it could do would have to wait. If I needed to feed it Grudge and Miasma, then I had the perfect source for it.

Hehehe, hahahahah, Mwahahahahahahaha! Let’s see just how much you can eat little Spirit!

***

The answer? All of them.