RSK 13

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Chapter 13

Alessa POV~~~~

Walking was more difficult when I paid attention to it. If I was looking at my surroundings or talking to Oberon as we walked, I would be fine and walk like I did before I changed. The moment I started paying attention to putting one foot in front of the other I would take off like a spring. 

Oberon had me run for a three second count and I crossed nearly four dozen meters in that span. What was scary was this was only level one. The revenant or my other undead haven’t hunted anything yet as Oberon wanted me to adjust to this level first. I could understand why the Vampire country, Hizin, was so terrifying to the other kingdoms. 

The King of the human kingdom, Holy Light, was rumored to be level four hundred and seventy-two. If the vampire King was near that level, then I couldn’t see how the humans could survive a war. From what I understood, the sun and their lack of numbers were the reason that hostilities were only along the borders, and not outright war. 

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Oberon asked suddenly. 

“Just that humans are lucky to survive in this world,” I said solemnly. 

“Ah, the monster debate. The main thing that humans have going for them is their ability to reproduce and reach an age to be combat effective in only a few short decades. Yes, some monsters reproduce faster, but they are weak by far. The stronger monsters such as dragons take nearly two centuries before they reproduce,” Oberon nodded. 

“I guess everything in life has a balancing agent,” I mused. 

“Indeed,” Oberon chuckled.

We finally made it back to the castle a few hours later. Of course, nothing had changed while we were gone, but it was still nice to have a place to call home. Zriq met us at the entrance and stared at me in shock. I just smiled and walked past him to head to my room. Oberon also went on his way towards the throne room. 

Holy Light City, Church of Yuin

“And inherited from the Goddess, we learned that…” the priest then yelled in pain gripping his head. The priestesses and other members of the church also gripped their heads while screaming or yelling in pain. The people there to convert or give donations looked on in horror, some of the more superstitious ones making a run for it.

This was the scene from around the continent in every Yuin church. People panicked and started speaking of demons or a great calamity that was about to befall the world. The pain only lasted ten seconds but ten seconds was more than enough time to cause people to change their minds about converting. The archbishops and Pope of Yuin scrambled to find out what happened to their Goddess. 

“The only thing I get from the Goddess is her image crying. Something horrible must have happened,” the Pope said sadly to a gathering of people.

“How could this have happened?!” One of the bishops cried. Murmurs and whispers echoed through the room as people discussed.

“She refuses to tell us. We must raise to this challenge and find the cause ourselves,” the Pope said quieting the gathering. 

“Where do we even start?” A nun asked, her head in her hands. 

“Send out inquisition forces to all the major cities. Spread out further until we find the cause. This could be a test from the Goddess, and I refuse to fail her,” the Pope ordered. 

“Yes Holy One,” everyone said then rushed out of the room. 

The room was quiet for a moment before there was a flash of light. “You know what to do,” the Pope said to the figure clothed completely in white clothes. 

There was another flash of light then “Yes!” Drifted back to the Pope barely above a whisper. 

Town of Guil (two days ago)

“We can finally be on our way,” Jack said excitedly. 

“If the support hadn’t taken so long, we could have left yesterday,” Lizabeth said gruffly. 

“Now, now, they require more time to prepare then us,” Jack said with a smile. 

The group of fifteen people left the town earlier in the morning. The regular scouts had gotten an estimation of the location based on the path the pair took along with the number of oasis in the desert. Given the size of the caravan, they figured for roughly two to three days’ worth of travel before they would reach the area to begin their search. 

The first day they encountered the usual monsters the area was known for. The budding C rank party handled them all without issue. They set up camp and the support groups took turns keeping watch. It was an uneventful night much to the relief of the support group. 

The next day, the travel was even faster than usual as they encountered almost no monsters. It was unheard of this deep into the desert and only served to raise the tension of the group. When a Pounder scorpion showed up near the end of the day, everyone was more relieved than worried about dealing with the monster. They set up camp and the Golden Wings rounded up the support parties’ leaders. 

“We should be in the correct area?” Jack asked Kale, one of the men that claimed there was a city. 

“Yes, though I was running, the landmarks are most assuredly the correct ones. We should reach it in a few hours,” Kale said confidently.

“We’ll set up a base of operations once we get a bit further in so that we have a fall back point in case something happens. From there the Golden Wings will scout the area to create an accurate map. One week and we’ll all be rich!” Jack exclaimed with a fist pump. 

Oberon POV~~~~

The sound of tapping echoed through the throne room. It was a very piercing sound caused by my own bony finger tapping on the throne’s arm rest. I was listening to a report from the Spector, getting irritated by the second. The biggest problem was that I wasn’t sure how to deal with this situation. 

A group of adventurers had shown up on the edge of what I considered my territory. I knew the city would attract attention, but I thought I would have a few more weeks before anyone showed up. I had forgotten about Alessa’s followers when they ran away while I raised the city. It seems they brought reinforcements. 

“Zriq, would you go fetch Alessa,” I ordered him. 

“At once,” Zriq said with a bow then left the throne room. 

A few minutes later, Alessa made her way into the throne room, though she looked a little ragged for some reason. 

“You alright?” I asked concerned. 

“Vampires don’t sleep…” Alessa said, “but I feel tired as shit.”

I laughed, “I bet it will take a while to get used to. Plus, it doesn’t help that you haven’t drunk your fill of blood yet,” I said, leaning forward. 

“So, what did you need me for?” Alessa asked.

“Your pursuers from the other day are back, and they brought friends,” I answered. 

The ragged look was replaced with one of rage. I was worried she was going to run out of the room to hunt them right then and there. The red glow from her eyes intensified by a few degrees. 

“Where!? I’ll kill them!” She demanded. 

“I agree. I’m just worried about what will happen if this party fails to return,” I said, waving her down. 

She considered it for a moment, “If they consider this like a dungeon dive, they would have to gather a higher rank than the party that failed. That could take several weeks to several months depending on the situation in the kingdoms,” she explained.

“The adventurers aren’t free of national boundaries?” I asked. 

“They used to be, but an incident a few decades ago forced them to work based on their national ties. Not sure how it works exactly but I know the higher-level adventurers are treated like national weapons and are guarded and controlled by the royal families,” Alessa answered. 

“Sounds like that system is broken,” I said shaking my head. It helped me in the long run, but it was sad that something that worked for so long could fall apart. 

“Yes, I’ve heard of countless border villages that could have been saved if the neighboring country would have allowed their adventurers to help,” she said, shaking her head. 

“At least that answers my biggest question. If we kill them it will give us a decent amount of time to prepare for the next wave,” I chuckled. The ethereal flames in my eyes growing brighter. 

“When do we hunt them?” Alessa asked excitedly her red eyes also grew brighter at what I assumed was the thought of revenge. 

“We’ll let them have the rest of the day. Then we’ll start just pass sunset, before the moon rises,” I said. 

~~

A few hours later. Alessa and I were making our way towards the camp of adventurers. Alessa was taking to her new form quite quickly. She moved through the night better than a shadow. Her Reverent kept pace with her even as she grew more in control.

This would be my first real interaction with the people of this age. I was excited to see how I matched up. From the scrying spells I cast before we head out, this group was overconfident. They assumed it was just an empty ruin with a lucky cursed family member. I couldn’t wait to rip their haughty expression off their head. 

“I know this will be difficult for you, but they are the enemy,” I said to Alessa. 

She looked at me with a confused expression then said, “I don’t think I’ll have any trouble. I’ve been hunted half my life, quite literally by these ones. I think it time I hunted them for a change.”

“Fair enough,” I chuckled. 

We crested the dune that overlooked the camp of adventurers. I was glad they weren’t complete idiots. It wouldn’t be fun if it wasn’t at least a little challenging. They had a decent number of sentries up, who for the most part, were alert with weapons bared. Large light spells kept the area for several dozen meters exposed. They even choose a high spot, as much as one could get in a desert, and an earth mage had raised some walls around the spot. 

“Should we just rush? With our numbers we could easily take them,” Alessa asked looking behind us. 

I glanced back as well. The massive number of zombies and skeletons formed an impressive army. I noticed that many of them were starting to get red eyes and realized that the scent of the living was lingering strongly in the area. I would need to decide quickly before a frenzy started. 

“If we rush them, we will probably lose any blood bags we could have gained for you,” I said, looking back over the encampment. 

“At this point I don’t give a damn,” Alessa growled. 

“Alright. Then let’s have some fun,” I said.