A Full Party Is the Real Way to Go to a Pool Party
All those skills he’d poured out to save Shrakhim had been worth it after all.
Quest complete! You have brilliantly completed the bonus quest Rescue Count Shrakhim. Grade: SS
You have obtained important information about the Cliad Sect as your completion reward.
As a grade reward, you have gained 200 EP and 15 enhancement stone shards. Ten shards are automatically converted into one enhancement stone.
He’d recovered the EP that had been burned in bulk while edifying the elves, and even picked up the enhancement stones needed to strengthen items. It was a huge gain.
Hero level up! Shrakhim’s level has risen from 1 to 2.
Hero stats increased! Shrakhim’s Martial stat Evasion rose significantly. His Intellect stat Judgment and Readiness rose sharply.
Hero ability improved! Shrakhim’s B-rank active skill Taunt - Attack Redirection has upgraded to the A-rank active skill Taunt - Sincere Attack Redirection.
Now Shrakhim’s taunt can, on occasion, truly enrage an enemy and force them to attack with full power. When that effect triggers, it can waste a great deal of the enemy’s strength, though it also leaves Shrakhim in danger as a side effect.
Shrakhim had grown tremendously in all sorts of ways.
Ability level up!
- Main skill Edification has risen from level 10 to 11. Its derivative skills Area Edification and Domain Edification have become even more powerful.
- Passive skill Harmony has risen from level 1 to 2.
- Passive skill Communion has risen from level 7 to 8.
- Active/passive dual-use skill Blooming has risen dramatically from level 4 to 6. New effect unlocked! You can now use Blooming to enhance your heroes even further.
Ho-yeong’s own abilities had grown stronger as well.
“Hmph... Looks like those elf bastards have decided to hole up in that cave.”
After rescuing Shrakhim, Ho-yeong landed on the ridge above the basin. He searched carefully, wary that the Cliad Sect elves might pursue them, but there was no sign of them.
“Tch. They’re not taking the bait so easily. I was hoping they’d get so desperate they’d pop out through the cave roof.”
“Why are you so displeased that they are not pursuing us?”
“If they came out now, we’d be grateful. We’d just wrap them up and eat ’em for lunch.”
The Marquis of Iolid and Keiji remained behind, ready for the elves to appear, while the Holy Knight order had mostly climbed up into the basin already. In other words, the cave exit was completely surrounded.
“I understand. You mean if the elves came out through the cave roof now, they would suffer terrible damage?”
“Exactly. Come on, Vulcher, let’s circle back over there.”
- Hoogru!
After pulling up the cave map in his status window, Ho-yeong shifted his forces slightly farther back and deployed them anew.
If those guys somehow get out of the cave, there’s no guarantee they’ll use the entrance honestly. Lucy Perhela’s spatial movement and summoning magic were pretty high-level.
The fact that the basin was enclosed by towering peaks bothered him.
What if, while we’re surrounding the cave exit, those bastards slip out over the surrounding mountains instead? What if they start raining spells down from all sides? Then we’d be the ones encircled and getting hammered. There was a stage like that in the game too.
* * *
At the same time, deep inside the cave.
“You idiots! You worthless scraps of bread! Flies can at least fly away, so what use am I to make of maggots that can’t even wriggle forward without crawling?! What business do I have with incompetent fools who can’t catch even one of them!”
The pontiff did not bother hiding his fury as he lashed out at his subordinates.
“Even Vailin, whom I placed at the exit, has been captured. That means Joren Tamer has now seen right through this shrine. Because of you!”
“O Heavenly Angel, if you permit me, I shall go at once and pursue them.”
Valepin knelt and pleaded, hoping to redeem his failure. The ice wall he had created still had not melted even slightly.
“Fool! Those wretches are surely waiting for us to come up. The Holy Knights are already all the way up there. Their number is... about fifteen.”
Even in his rage, the pontiff assessed the situation with cold precision.
“Th-then might I suggest moving the spell priests to the surrounding mountains?”
“You mean to encircle them from the other side?”
“Exactly! If my magic priests and I rain fire from all directions, even Holy Knights will have nowhere to go in this basin and will be burned to death.”
Lucy Perhela proposed exactly the same thing Ho-yeong had been worrying about.
“Not a bad idea. And if our warrior priests strike while they’re thrown into confusion, it would be ideal.”
“Brilliant as ever, Heavenly Angel!”
“Indeed, it is a sound plan... Guide of Twilight.”
Lucy had felt relieved when she saw the pontiff smile, but she had forgotten one crucial thing.
“But who is helping with the spatial movement? Saliad?”
“...Pardon?”
“I’m asking how you plan to use spatial movement when we’ve all been drained of our mana.”
“Ah!”
The pontiff’s smile vanished, replaced by a cold command.
“All of you, surrender your mana to me.”
“What?!”
“There are any number of ways to deal with those fools up there from down here. But since even my own mana has been drained quite a bit, I’ll make use of whatever pathetic little mana you have as well!”
As the magic priests drew back in hesitation, Lucy Perhela happily stepped forward and offered up her head, but the pontiff suddenly froze.
“Joren Tamer has pulled his troops back.”
The elves inwardly marveled at the pontiff’s ability. It was as though he could peer at the situation above even while looking nowhere near it.
“Forget the mana offering. For the next few hours, devote yourselves to recovering it. He’ll come in the end.”
* * *
The returning Shrakhim was greeted with great enthusiasm by everyone.
“That was amazing, Sir Shrakhim! Good heavens... you’re covered in blood and dirt from head to toe. Take off your armor and come here. I’ll clean you up.”
Even Peach, who had once found him repulsive, was moved to tears at seeing him again.
“H-hic. I couldn’t save anyone, and all I did was run off with my own skin. And even then, it was the Border Count who saved me... To be welcomed like this...”
“Stop crying, man. Maybe you couldn’t save anyone right now, but later on, in the end, you will. Thanks to the information you risked your life to bring back.”
Ho-yeong wiped Shrakhim’s tears away and motioned to Garza, who brought over the crystal orb.
“All right, then. From this moment on, you’ll be enjoying the exploits of our hero, Sir Shrakhim. Lakhim, are you all right with having your memories extracted?”
“H-huh? Memory extraction... you mean? As for exploits, that sounds far too embarrassing—”
“You agree? Good, thanks. Mages, please get the broadcast ready.”
The things Shrakhim had experienced inside the cave were projected as holograms.
I already shared senses through Communion to understand the situation, but seeing it as footage is smoother, and nothing gets skipped. And on top of that, it’ll burn Shrakhim’s achievements into everyone’s mind, which is great too.
The sight of the captured soldiers’ condition left everyone pale as death. Among the soldiers, some even turned away or started retching.
“I-I can’t believe it’s that horrible...”
“Meyril, don’t look!”
Peach covered Meyril’s eyes while keeping her own gaze fixed on the footage, trembling the whole time.
...I have to go there soon too, following Master. I’m scared. I’m really scared. But I have to burn this atrocity into my eyes. Only then can I help Master somehow.
Watching her with a heavy heart, Ho-yeong lifted the mood whenever Shrakhim’s feats appeared on screen.
“There it is now. Shrakhim’s desperate triple jump! And next, the best play of all: vaulting over the ice wall!”
When the screening ended, applause thundered through the camp.
“Right, then. Before we get into the strategy meeting... there’s something else to do first.”
Ho-yeong pointed to the collapsed Vailin.
“Garza. Let’s extract this elf’s mana too.”
“Yes!”
The marquis’s mages eagerly took out the mana stones. The mana Ho-yeong had drained from the elves with Mana Absorption had all been stored in those stones.
“All drained? Good. Then, Shrakhim, wake that pointy-eared wench up now.”
When Vailin opened her eyes, she was horrified. Her entire body was bound, her mana had been completely drained, and humans were everywhere around her.
“Wh-what is this?!”
Vailin ★★★
[ Stat | Grade | Base Value ~ Maximum Value ]
Martial B: 70 ~ 72 (Specialty: a swordswoman skilled at handling a Swordbreaker)
Intellect B: 68 ~ 74
Mana B: 51 ~ 53
Charm B: 55 ~ 57
Leadership C: 35 ~ 39
Mental Fortitude C: 32 ~ 34 (Quirk: suspicious by nature)
Edification F: 0 ~ 1
Background
An elf woman who had lived an ordinary life in Salia. She had long harbored doubts about the fate elves were born into, and was eventually swayed by the Cliad Sect pontiff’s ideology and received baptism.
But as she gradually came to recoil from the sect’s utter disregard for life, she also began to suspect the pontiff’s true identity.
I’ve never seen this character in the game... and her Edification is F. If I remember Lucy Perhela had an Edification grade of FFF and a value of -100, this one is practically respectable. Maybe she’s worth trying?
Ho-yeong decided to exploit the moment while Vailin was panicked and her mental fortitude was low.
The reuse cooldown for Edification is still active. Try persuading Vailin through the passive skill Influence.
“I’ll get straight to the point, Vailin. I am Joren Tamer.”
“You’re Joren Tamer? The evil man who seeks to ruin our paradise! But how did you learn my name?”
“You’re that surprised? I know just about all of your names. Including the pontiff’s. I was really curious who your so-called Heavenly Angel was... turns out he was nothing much at all. So he’s a teleportation mage, Karmada Ankana.”
“...!”
When the pontiff’s name was spoken, Vailin was shaken to the core.
How did this human know about the Heavenly Angel? And on top of that, how could he speak of the Heavenly Angel as though he were nobody at all...
“You know it too, don’t you? That all this Four Heavenly Angels and Heavenly Angel business is just a pose. He’s not an angel at all, just a deranged elf. You were talking about paradise a moment ago. If you listen to Lucy’s old lady’s words, those bastards were planning to turn this world into hell. Paradise built on top of hell—doesn’t that sound ridiculous?”
“Uuuh...”
“I may not have the ability to create the paradise you people talk about, but I’ve sworn at least this much: I won’t turn this world into hell. It’s not too late even now, so if you repent and help me, I’ll take that into account.”
Vailin’s eyes shook violently.
“Stop it! Just as I heard, you’re trying to seduce people with cheap words. I’m not going to fall for your tricks and cooperate with you, so kill me!”
Unfortunately, the attempt at edification failed.
Better to use her as a hostage than just kill her outright.
As insurance, Ho-yeong decided to keep Vailin alive.
“Really? What a shame. Soldiers, make sure that elf doesn’t get away.”
Sub quest alert! The progress of Discovering the Truth of the Cliad Sect has stalled at 95%.
Huh? It still isn’t 100?! I feel like I’ve figured out everything. Why the hell not?
Seeing Ho-yeong’s bewilderment, Vailin sneered.
“Are you planning to torture me now that you’ve kept me alive? Pointless!”
She assumed only that Joren Tamer was flustered because she had not broken.
“Even those humans whose hands and feet I cut off didn’t break, and you expect an elf like me to—”
In her eagerness, Vailin blurted out something she should not have said.
“What did you say? You were the one who cut off their hands and feet? Then who ordered it?”
After meeting Ho-yeong’s eyes, she clamped her mouth shut.
“Not going to talk? Fine, have it your way. Shrakhim, hold that elf down tight. Soldiers, repay her in kind for what she did to your comrades.”
“As you command!”
Vailin’s wrists and ankles were severed by her own Swordbreaker.
“Aaaagh—!”
“Shut it. Before I have to repeat that four times over—once for each limb you took.”
Ho-yeong said it firmly, cutting off her scream before it could spread.
“Don’t mistake this for torture. This is a punishment. Since you can’t run now anyway, think carefully about the pain your victims must have felt because of you.”
* * *
The sunset found the mountain range.
Time remaining until the start of the main quest Meeting the Cliad Sect Pontiff: 4 hours 30 minutes
📍 Location: Mountain Range Basin
🎁 Reward: [Hidden]
Quest progress
1. Party formation (complete)
2. Confirm the corpse of the Hogryphon Vulcher (complete)
3. Go to the enemy’s hideout (incomplete)
With all preparations finished, they now stood at the final step of the quest.
“Marquis, hand the staff to the young marquis.”
“Very well.”
The Marquis of Iolid passed the staff to his eldest son with trembling hands.
“My son, you are the one who will inherit the house after me, so you have every right to use this family heirloom.”
“I will uphold the honor of the marquisate.”
Ho-yeong took out a Supercoolant potion and poured it into the jade ring of the staff. The cooldown had been reset; now it was time to prepare the spatial movement.
“Let’s go.”
Behind the kneeling Demis Ezef stood Kristian, Keiji, and Peach.
Ho-yeong had resolved to keep his promise to the pontiff faithfully.
Achievement Alternative Route unlocked! Instead of using the dangerous magic circle the enemy prepared, you came up with a different route. Brilliant! Reward: 30 EP.
“As promised, I’ll go with only five people. But we won’t be entering through the door you open.”
The cave map was covered in every trap the Cliad Sect had prepared. That was thanks to the Marquis of Iolid’s Magic Scan, which had identified them when the cave exit was first opened.
“You’re ready too, right?”
- Minoom! (We’ll do our best!)
- Hoog! (Leave it to us!)
- Gobgob! (Let’s beat those elf bastards to a pulp!)
- Grem! (Grem!)
Watching the monstrous troops answer with booming voices, Ho-yeong smiled with satisfaction.
“I only specified which ‘people’ had to go. I never said not to bring monsters.”
* * *
The jade light pouring out of the ring suddenly turned gray.
W-what is this?!
There had definitely been no trap at the destination point.
Unknown event detected!
But instead, an event far more chilling than any trap awaited them.
You have encountered an enemy player.
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