[DCI] Chapter 72 - A New Challenger Approaches (Patreon)

“Oi, what the fuck?” Our newest recruit blinked repeatedly in wild shock while taking a tentative step back.

“Please, excuse my friend, her filter goes off at the worst moments.” I sent Aisha a faint glare. “You have nothing to worry about regarding your physical safety and comfort.”

“The remark is related to virgin blood for a magical ritual,” Levia clarified.

“Ah.” The crimson-skinned lady cocked her head back in understanding. “Still, way to greet a guest for the first time. Especially like this.”

She glanced down at her charming figure, gesturing at the state of her undress.

“Understandable. We have all been in the same position as you.” My witchy lover nodded softly. “As our Master said, please pardon the rude drakan, we are currently pressed for time and she might have attempted to get to the core of the conversation a bit too quickly. Our apologies.”

“And what’s the issue?” The horned female tilted her head.

I flicked my wrist and turned the smartwatch on, projecting the illusion of the Emergency Assignment window between us.

“Shit.” She clicked her tongue. “Couldn’t have picked a worse time for a new summon, could you?”

“Fetching reinforcements right when you require them seems like a decent time, doesn’t it?” Aisha squinted at her with some traces of annoyance. “Would you have been able to come up with a much better solution if you were in Master’s shoes?”

My hand ventured to her firm shoulder and squeezed it gently. “From our perspective, yes. But from hers, she barely has time to prepare or get to know us.”

“At least he gets it.” The newcomer sniffed lightly. “You really should have—”

“Unfortunately,” I cut her off as politely as I could. “We had no luxury of time to pick a different minute, hour, or even day. Our last assignment has just ended, literally, and it wasn’t an easy one. While we aren’t completely beat, I’m not going to lead my team into an unknown territory with a strained time limit without ensuring we have utilized every tool at our disposal to raise our survivability when we are quite spent. I would have loved to get to know you at a more leisurely pace, but life often likes to kick us right in the balls for some random fun. Well, at least us guys.”

She silently eyed me up and down with those clever amber eyes of hers before sighing to the side. “Not to sound too rude, but seeing the so-called master and supposed leader of this group barely being able to stand straight without leaning against one of the members while his role obviously seems to be a more backline-worthy brain of operations doesn’t bode too well for the party from an outsider’s perspective.”

Aisha grit her teeth and was about to step forward when I tightened my grip, pulling her back. She looked at me intensely, eyes filled with a silent request for permission, but I shook my head. If our new companion was the type not to respect their superior if they appeared unworthy, there was only one way to remedy that. Even if I usually didn’t like using it.

Moving closer on my own instead, I put actual effort into fighting off the sluggishness invoked by Levia’s Hex and the numbing pains coursing through my body whenever I did so. I looked down at the much shorter woman, forcing her to raise her gaze to meet mine.

At the same time, I let the Overlord’s Presence run wild.

“Does your kin tend to judge the value of others during the moment of their weakness, oni?” I questioned her with as much intensity as I could muster.

Her eyes widened immediately after both my overbearing aura and strict tone reached her, causing her figure to shiver lightly. I could feel myself exuding confidence and raw power as I regarded the small nuisance, and I was thankful this whole presence didn’t invoke only lust in her, letting me tone that part down according to my wishes, more or less. I bet she still appeared a tiny bit tickled with that particular quality of my energy. I had no illusions about being able to hide the nature of my Class completely.

For a little while, she simply stared back at me with mouth agape, her lips parting and joining repeatedly in an attempt to form a response, which seemed stuck somewhere inside her stupefied reaction. It was only when I raised a brow at her that she broke out of it, understanding that I was expecting an answer.

“N-No, sir…” She lowered her head a little bit, still retaining faint eye contact. “I have been too hasty coming to a conclusion on my own…”

Recalling everything, I got off her, not wishing to intimidate the red girl too much for no real reason. I stumbled a little as the aftereffects of this stunt hit me, but Aisha was fast to catch my back, wrapping her arm around mine.

“Please, please, please, stop acting so hot, or let’s fucking destroy this Dungeon already before I lose it…” she whispered into my ear with a needy whine.

I could only offer her an apologetic smile in response.

Levia stood on her tiptoes to touch my temples properly, most likely further raising the strength of her spell as I experienced more sluggishness, and turned to face our guest.

“Master is currently under my Hex, his Constitution lowered to a minimum,” she said coldly. “That is the only viable way to combat the side effects of consuming two physical stimulants over the course of an hour. If you wish to challenge his authority, do it when both of you are in your prime.”

“He is not some cowardly backliner,” Aisha growled. “Oftentimes, he is our shield, fighting shoulder to shoulder with me, a Berserker, even as he watches over the battlefield like a hawk. I’m starting to have doubts if a scrawny ass bitch like you can take over even half of that role.”

“Enough. Ladies. Please.” I sneak a palm onto the angry drakan’s tender behind and give it a stealthy, quiet smack. “Let bygones be bygones. Both sides made a mistake. You made a little blunder, and so did… Ummm…”

“Shuri.” The short girl finally shared her name with us after I realized we had not gone through introductions. “And, truly? Two of them at once? Won’t that make it difficult to do practically anything now, not to mention clearing another assignment?”

“Don’t worry about that. We still have a few of those in stock. I’ll be back to full strength after downing another. I won’t be dragging anyone down,” I reassured her.

“Are you insane?!” she shouted loudly, then realized her outburst and cringed slightly, glancing down at my waist. “I mean, third dose? That’s extremely dangerous and painful. Why not just send the three of us to handle it since these two seem to be in an alright form?”

“Unless I’m literally immobilized, I’m not going to let my subordinates face the threat of a Dungeon alone,” I stated firmly. “I might not be as strong as either of them is, but I can still make it easier for them to do their thing. This is my assignment and I’m not offloading it onto others like they are slaves.”

Shuri raised her gaze to look at me in silence for a brief moment, seemingly searching for something in my eyes. After either finding it or not, she nodded softly to acknowledge my words.

“That’s mighty honorable of you. I can respect that. Not many Summoners and Commanders share this belief,” she said.

“Maybe that’s because he is an Overlord and not some bottom-tier familiar collector.” My drakan mate grinned proudly.

“Oh, Elders…” The petite lady shivered once more, again looking my way a little apprehensively. “Isn’t that even worse?”

Just as the last words left her lips, she smacked her mouth shut with her palm, her eyes going wide. But Aisha only cackled while throwing her head to the back.

“No, trust me, love, it’s much, much better.” The taller horned lady winked at the shorter one. “But, I’m afraid we don’t have enough time for the entire other Overlords bad, Lucas good debate. So, an oni? I’ve never seen one with skin this bloody. How did you know, Master? Your training?”

“Not necessarily.” I chuckled awkwardly, my expertise coming from the consumption of a vast amount of modern media regarding fantasy and folklore creatures. “Even if I would have been surprised by her skin color, she still possesses the characteristic horns and exudes a noble aura of fierce grace seemingly effortlessly thanks to her sharp eyes and face, holding herself like a, pardon my expression, savage princess. It was just an educated guess. Plus, you know, I could have simply checked while you weren’t paying attention?”

“Ah, right. Silly me.” She slapped her forehead. “She does feel like a princess, albeit a little rude one.”

“She is a princess.” Shuri cleared her throat. “Or rather was. I don’t think it’s valid now after my death. Hopefully, the clan will be able to go on. I was the only child of my parents and they are not getting any younger. I regret not seeing them off before my latest delve. Or telling them the truth behind the illness that forced me to live in solitude.”

“I sense a story I would gladly offer the support of my presence with, but as Aisha said, our schedule is dangerously tight right now.” I offered the noble oni a respectfully apologetic nod. “Personally, I believe that you still are, considering that you still are alive. Now, we should move on to the introductions and prepare for the task as much as we can. Levia, this wise Witch here, will require your assistance with an enchantment that will aid us in the battle. And we need to gear you up quickly too.”

“I agree.” The crimson-skinned oni curtsied elegantly. “My name is Princess Shuri Blackcrest, the daughter of the Scarlet Sun tribe’s Chief. I offer you my thanks for providing me with this opportunity to take a new breath in this world. Alongside my gratitude, I also offer my skills, abilities, knowledge, experience, and talent. May the Scarlet Sun guide us through this journey together.”

“It’s kind of amusing seeing this brat change into a proper princess at the bat of an eye, though it clearly doesn’t fit her much,” Aisha whispered into my ear, but judging by how Shuri’s brow twitched up in annoyance, I wasn’t the only one privy to that comment.

I jabbed the aggressive lady with my elbow and gestured at our new friend with my eyes.

“Nice to meet you, Shuri. Aisha Erlivyre, a drakan Berserker as you have noticed. I’m looking forward to witnessing those skills of yours.” She took her turn, issuing a clear challenge with her tone, and sneaking in an obvious double meaning, which fortunately went completely over the head of the shorter girl.

I was already getting a feeling that these two were going to have an issue.

Or just an extremely active rivalry.

“I am Levia, a lunar elf Witch, though in this life, I focus on the development of my arcanas rather than typical rituals and magic. You can think of them as pocket spells sealed inside metal plates,” my composed elf girlfriend introduces herself politely. “Master Lucas supports my endeavor with all his heart. I believe that, as a fellow artisan in a different field of craft, you will find his guidance remarkably beneficial. Simply keep an open mind to everything and do not immediately reject his ideas because of your pride as a craftsman or decades worth of practice.”

Sighing lightly, I directed a kind smile at Shuri. “And I’m Lucas King, a human Overlord, currently employing the help of two subordinates. Don’t let their praise get to your head, it’s mostly exaggerated, so watch your expectations. I’m not omniscient or infallible. Any of you has more experience in this profession than I could ever have so feel free to point out my mistakes. Here are our profiles so that you can get a grasp on our current power.”

Within a few taps, I managed to display all three status windows side by side, letting Shuri examine them briefly. She skimmed over a number of skills and abilities, but it was obvious she wouldn’t know much about some of them without reading the full description so she focused on the easy-to-figure-out entries. And our basic information.

“Two of you already have titles?” Her brows rose in surprise. “That is impressive.”

“I’ve had mine since like ten while he basically started like that.” Aisha preened under her admiring gaze. “And this bookish cutie should be getting hers in a minute. You develop insanely fast under Lucas’ care, and she fully embraced it not that long ago. Just wait and watch as she receives two at once, I tell you.”

The corner of Levia’s usually inactive lips curled up a tiny bit as she glanced my way, her pale blue cheeks darkening just a tad. We were both excited to see the day she would become one mighty Witch. And that day was not far, as Aisha had suggested.

“I would happily share my own numbers with you, but I don’t think I got any artifacts with me after the revival.” Shuri looked around, patting whatever bits of fabric covered her enchanting figure, creating a quite stimulating sight.

“It’s alright. As my Subordinate, you are part of this management system of mine. Here is your sheet.” I tried not to stare too much and focused on showing her information to all of us.

★━━━━━━━━━━★

INFORMATION

★━━━━━━━━━━★

Name: Shuri Blackcrest

Race: Oni

Age: 30

Affiliation: Lucas King

Position: Subordinate

Class: Armorer

Level: 1

★━━━━━━━━━━★

The first bits didn’t give us much, but it was nice to learn her age at the very least. Not that it mattered that much with the different life spans of different races. Therefore, we hastily scrolled further.

★━━━━━━━━━━★

ATTRIBUTES

★━━━━━━━━━━★

Strength: 8

Agility: 6

Constitution: 15 

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 13

Handicraft: 5

Fortitude: 5

[Available Points: 0]

★━━━━━━━━━━★

“I would have thought that a frontliner would show more Strength,” Aisha commented as her brows furrowed in concern.

“This is a very good split for someone of her Class. Shuri relies on her bonded armor to fulfill her role, and just like my weapons, it makes it easier for the user to use it. To the others, her gear might weigh like a mountain, but to her, it would be like wearing slightly reinforced clothes or metal paddings. She needs a high Constitution to bear the physical and spiritual strain coming from the technique, but Strength and Agility will be covered by her own changes to the armor as she constantly tinkers with it. High Intelligence and Wisdom prove just how much thought and practice she’s put into her craft. The former would always be the top one for this Class, but this kind of balance is the result of her dedicated efforts,” I replied, soon realizing I had beaten our new friend to it as she looked at me. “Oh, sorry. I should have let you.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Honestly, I couldn’t have explained it better. Did you know an Armorer in the past?”

“Not exactly.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “You can say that I’m a scholar of Classes. I studied most if not all of them and their branches.”

“The two of us had the same reaction,” Aisha joined in. “He knows stuff you wouldn’t have ever figured out on your own. And fights like a beast. Where can you find a male that does both so well?”

“The universe is a vast and unending space.” I rolled my eyes. “There are bound to be a few. Next slide, please.”

★━━━━━━━━━━★

GENERAL

★━━━━━━━━━━★

Heat Resistance (C)

Fire Resistance (D) 

Light Armor Proficiency (C)

Medium Armor Proficiency (B)

Heavy Armor Proficiency (A)

Maintenance (C) 

Renovation (C)

Mana Control (D)

Dismantling (C) 

Forging (A) 

Smithing (A)

Tinkering (C)

Cooking (F) 

★━━━━━━━━━━★

“Your skills must have reached the far end of an S-rank for them to start at an A after the rebirth,” Levia noted. “Perhaps even EX-rank. That is a lot of hard work, enough to earn plenty of respect from your peers. I tip my hat to you, artisanal sister.”

Shuri fidgeted a little, making it obvious she wasn’t the best with such direct praise. It was very possible she hadn’t gotten enough of it during her previous life. At one point, you just learned how to live with it, and even if you showed appreciation for each kind comment, it simply didn’t cause your mood to spike so much anymore. We would need to make sure she felt appreciated.

“Let’s just say… I had a lot of time on my hands even before becoming a Defender…” the oni girl hesitantly shared.

It felt like another part of her story so none of us pressed any further. It wasn’t yet our place to do so. Not on the very first day.

However, someone might want to argue that there would be no better time since it could also be our last day.

“Maintenance I get, but what’s this about Renovation?” Aisha redirected the conversation back onto its rightful tracks.

“It’s basically a higher-tier Repair skill,” she answered. “I can do much more than you with your Field Repair, but I require more supplies, resources, and tools for that. In simple words, if we need to fix or take care of some gear, I would be more effective here in our home base, while you would be more effective in the Dungeon.”

My fiery drakan squinted at her after that and I patted her on the back. “Calm down, no one is replacing you in caring for my weapons and armor. I’m sure the two of you can learn a lot from each other and find a good way to cooperate. Maybe take turns or something. You know I appreciate everything you do for me.”

Still glaring at the more petite female albeit somewhat softer, she leaned aside to place a quick peck on my cheek, her eyes not leaving Shuri’s eyes for a moment. It was the first actual sign of something more existing amongst the members of this party, and it certainly caused a slight raise of eyebrows from our crimson princess.

Great. Now Aisha was suddenly getting territorial.

This was going to go so well.

★━━━━━━━━━━━━Author's Notes━━━━━━━━━━━━★

Long before even introducing the third character to the series, I was deeply thinking about what kind of a unique lady I would like to invite here. But then, I got a weird idea. Sure, I could go for a unique personality, but what if I combined the two existing ones? And now, we have a somewhat aggressive "warrior princess" just like Aisha which causes sparks to fly between the two due to their incompatible characters, while at the same time finding a scholarly common tongue with Levia as both of them are ladies of knowledge and dedicated craft.This is bound to be fun going forward, isn't it? Just perhaps maybe not all the time for Aisha :v I feel like these two are going to butt heads rather often.What do you think?★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★