There was no sign of the monster den while Zarian and Bianca flew around in the air. At least not from close to the dire wolf pack.
Their hopes picked up when they saw a squad of spectral spiders waiting near the dire wolf pack. By then, the intelligent beasts have grown ustomed to seeing the Outsiderse and go near their den.
Adults and pups watched from on top of a shattered fortress grafted into their blocky hillock. Nightfall arrived and the spectral spiders exined what they saw through amunicative dance that Zarian could understand.
The invasive monsters were to the northeast, not that far away. Their monster den was immersed in strange,nd-altering magic. The eeriend magic felt threatening and voracious to the spectral spiders, which sounded like the perfect ce for cruel and evil monsters like the wulvers to im as their den.
The spiders hadn’t delved too deep in fear of being found out. But once they’d seen the invasive wulvers, they came rushing back here to make a report.
“Oh, you guys are so cute and outstanding.” Bianca scooped up the sessful scouts and hugged them. It was a little funny how she grew to like them despite how much she’d once feared them.
The spectral spiders reciprocated by providing an entertaining dance circling around their campfire. Bianca cooed and pped to their dance, acting more like a girl living in her favorite fantasy picture book.
An adult dire wolf stalked down from the hill of crumbled fortresses and waited outside of the firelight’s edge. Zarian waved his hand for the dire wolf toe forward, and just as he thought, the intelligent beast recognized the gesture.
Once it drew close and sat near the fire, Zarian could tell the dire wolf was old. Most of its fur was patchy, gray with age, and the skin underneath had rough scars. It was also the strongest at Level 29.“You will hunt wulvers?” asked the dire wolf, using an ability to speak English. Despite being in another world and universe, English seemed like themonnguage here, at least in the Walled Continent of Corma.
“We will y the wulvers in their den,” Zarian said.
“What do you want?” The dire wolf sniffed. “You are evil. And evil wants.”
Zarian pointed at Bianca, who looked at the conversation with frank amazement. This was like watching a Studio Ghibli movie for the first time, but in real life.
“To make her stronger,” Zarian said.
The dire wolf sniffs at Bianca. “She is good. She hunts evil. Why do you help her?”
“Because we’re friends!” Bianca cheered.
“Good and evil? Friends? This is strange. Yet, you hunt monsters and help pack. We bring food, so you’ll be strong for the hunt.” The elder dire wolf looked back and yipped at its pack.
A pair of dire wolves came trotting up with dead beasts held by their jaws. They dropped them near the fire.
The elder wolf dipped its head at them. “Eat your fill. Be strong. Hunt monsters. The pack gives thanks to you, evil one, good one.”
Zarian nodded, getting more out of the conversation than food and acknowledgement. He’d carefully manipted his aura to weave into the elder wolf’s aura to see how far he could take it.
He stopped before touching one of the elder’s fuzzy skills and pulled out just as carefully. It was easier to manipte aura with Tranquil Mind and a touch of Adrenaline Jolt.
Satisfied, he stopped experimenting with his aura and turned to the meal, his ravenous hunger peaking. Para skinned and prepared the meat. Bianca used her Searing sh Array +1 to gather firelight and cook the meat with magic, doing a fast job.
Then Zarian feasted like a wolf himself, tearing the meat apart. The dire wolves watched curiously and brought them more caught beasts to feed the Parasite Cloak.
Later on, the pups came down from their den to y with the spectral spiders. The adult wolves watched, and the humans enjoyed a magical night with the friendly beasts of the forest.
The next morning, Zarian woke up with no new gains. It wasn’t surprising, but he felt a little disappointed after so much rapid growth. As for Bianca, she looked distraught when she received no growth, no earnings.
“Give it time,” Zarian encouraged. “It’s going to be a big hit once we aplish this side quest.”
“I have to go all the way, don’t I? No backing out. I have tomit to the highest good. My good.”
Bianca looked up the hillock where the dire wolves lived. A few were stalking about under the pre-dawn morning and looking back down at them.
A few pups came out and barked cutely, as if to cheer on the pair of good and evil Outsiders.
“Yeah, I’m going all the way.” Bianca wore a determined face, eyes shing with light.
“Let’s go kill babies.” Zarian grinned like a sinister viin, his eyes turning void-like ck.
“Wulvers! We’re killing evil wulvers! To save the cute magical puppies!” Bianca added quickly.
Zarian collected as many spectral spiders as he could carry. He didn’t like dismissing them unless it was necessary.
Thankfully, they weren’t too big and could hitch a ride on the Parasite Cloak.
With Bianca in his arms, heunched into the air as the morning sky lightened up. By the time they neared the wulvers’ main grounds, the tip of the twin suns bathed their backs.
“Wow,” Bianca said. “The morning … and the sunrise … so beautiful. It fills me with hope.”
Zarian was going to make a joke, but his Fractured Mind stopped him in his tracks. The way Bianca had spoken about the morning sunrise and hope sounded important.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
He waited, and his patience was rewarded.
“No matter how dark life can be, there’s always a new dawn,” Bianca said.
She didn’t notice it at the time, but Zarian’s entire body shivered from those words. The darkness he held close to him shivered as well.
<em>Is this what you call an epiphany?</em>
It was cheesy. Very, very cheesy.
But why did it hit Zarian so hard? And why did her goodness feel … stronger?
Zarian paid closer attention because it wasn’t just important for Bianca to grow. It was also important to learn what made do-gooders special.
“Are we ready?” Bianca asked, sounding way too calm and determined.
<em>Who the hell are you now? Did that epiphany make that much of a difference? Is this the power of good? </em>Zarian found it both interesting and scary, which wasn’t hard with a multifaceted mind like his.
“Yeah, we’re ready. Let’s go,” he said nonchntly.
They lowered their attitude and entered the section of the forest that seemed unnaturally dark. In fact, the eeriness of the changes prompted a notification from the System:
<strong><You’ve entered the Invasive Wulvers Lair (Umon-Level 35).></strong>
<strong><Would you like a mini-map at the cost of reduced experience? Yes or no?></strong>
“Lair, huh? I’m guessing since it’s not a dungeon, no dungeon core. But if we eliminate the boss of the wulvers or enough of the wulvers themselves, maybe that’ll break the hold they have here,” Zarian said.
“We have to remove all the wulvers at whatever the cost. A mini-map would help us catch them, <em>si</em>? If it’s okay with you, Zarian, I vote for the mini-map.” Bianca’s determination shone brightly through her eyes and around her body.
Her goodness felt heavier.
It would’ve been scarier if they weren’t on the same side, and if Zarian wasn’t so interested in seeing how far Bianca could push her good alignment. Zarian didn’t feel an extra power from being evil +1, but he would sometimes think in more cunning and conniving ways.
Could the good alignment give straight up power boosts?
<em>Of course, goodness would get a straight up cheat power up!</em>
Further observation was needed. That sort of fluctuation in power had never happened before, not with Bianca.
Then again, Zarian and his party hadn’t given Bianca time to do more outside of support. Yesterday was her first time truly killing enemies with her sh skill.
How far could a determined Bianca push herself today?
“We’ll go with the mini-map option,” Zarian said. “Besides, there’s no doubt we’ll get some solid and well-earned levels from this. We’re clearing a wholeir andpleting the side quest backing it.”
They hit the misty, cold forest floor with a softnding, Zarian’s cloak contracting close behind him. Crooked trees, their stone blocks ckened and piled at the base, arched over them like the skeletons of murderous demons.
The air was cooler, and it smelled of rotten flesh and old blood. Dawn light struggled to reach through the darkened forest top and shine past the curling fingers of mist.
A few sunbeams broke through anyway. That was enough for Bianca to reach with her Light Affinity trait and pull light onto herself.
For this one, Zarian pulled his hood down and showed his face. He formed a seven-foot nodachi out of darkness. It was harder, denser, and sharper than the previous version.
The System tried to enforce its penalty on him. It didn’t stick as well as before because of his aura maniption.
Zarian had a far easier time controlling his sword swings and thrusts mystically than physically. Still, there was a portion of his control that wascking because his Strength just wasn’t there yet.
<em>It’s close. The Parasite Cloak +1 is helping me a lot with its threads reinforcing my body. But I can use a little more.</em>
He couldn’t afford to waste too many Free points on Strength and Agility. More and more of his attention was needed in Mysticism, Willpower, and Wonder.
He also couldn’tmit to crazy training like Naomi to build his physical stats. He could only join in partially. Being a wizard required a lot of study.
Still, there had to be a solution for him to override the melee weapon penalty. After thinking on it for a while, a new ludicrous idea came to exist in his Fractured Mind. Zarian smirked when he realized he was going to be a menace to almost everyone.
<em>When we get back to the soldier camp, I’m going to be the most bullshit wizard ever.</em>
For now, he endured the slight melee penalty. He would fix it soon enough.
Bianca kept gathering more motes of light from the lonely dawn beams breaking through the darkened, misty wulverir. While she worked on that, Zarian opened a channel of aura between him and her.
He focused on upholding the link even at the cost of feeding her less in one go. That way, he kept her aura topped at a consistent rate, which came with a horrifying feeling.
Her aura of heavenly light and arced rainbows kept munching on his dark aura without mercy. Being evil came with some diforts here and there, Zarian supposed. At the very least, he and his party would benefit once Bianca grew further into her power.
The spectral spiders scuttled up rotten, barren trunks to reach the skeletal branches above. They stayed together in one group. They weren’t needed for scouting right now and could act as backup support.
Para wavered the cloak around from behind Zarian, dramatic as always. He rested the seven-foot nodachi on his shoulder and waited.
Half an hourter, the first enemy showed up.
Zarian moved ahead of Bianca’s radiant form to face the iing red dot. He used Identify as soon as the wulver broke through the thorny foliage and brambles.
<strong><Invasive Wulver, Monster, Level 33 w Ravager, Best Alpha Skill: Frenzied sh></strong>
Zarian found it interesting how the wulvers had different identities inside theirpared to outside.
Outside, they were called forest wulvers. Here in their, it felt like their true identities appeared as invasive wulvers, which Zarian had thought of them the whole time, coincidentally.
While having these musings wasn’t appropriate in a fight, Zarian’sbination of traits and skills made it as simple as breathing and walking. He already had his nodachi swinging in a decisive downward cut while lit by his ck Fire spell.
The zing dark de met the invasive wulver’s outstretched ws. The nodachi hacked through them all.
Zarian kept the zing de going. He struck with a meaty, bone-snapping chop through the vicle and into the ribcage.
Para’s tendrils and bone stakes struck the earth behind Zarian like support pirs. She kept him in ce against the wulver’s flying momentum.
Zarian grunted as he jerked his head aside from a spray of blood vomiting out of the wulver’s mouth. He jerked his head backward when the creature snapped its bloody teeth close to his face. It refused to quit even with a sword halfway through its chest, ck mes stripping thest of its vitality.
A dime-sizedser burned a hole through the wulver’s head. The sh-fried brain made popping and sizzling sounds inside its skull, the creature dying on the spot.
Para’s tendrils yanked the creature off the zing dark sword. Without vitality, the ck and gray mes covering the corpse snuffed away quietly, leaving a fresh corpse with a split torso, chopped-off ws, and one smoldering hole in its head.
“Is this cheating?” Bianca asked from behind Zarian.
He turned to look at her and winced from the abundance of good aligned light.
She was lit up like the most obnoxious Christmas tree around, using up more of his aura to keep over a hundred tiny suns ofpressed dawn light prepared. The tiny suns revolved around her like she was the center of her own universe.
“There’s no cheating when fighting absolute evil, is there?” Zarian replied.
Bianca furrowed her shining brow in thought before shrugging. “Eh, yeah, that’s true. Let’s go kill them all.”