RD 3 Ch 35 (Patreon)

Chapter 35

"Nyx is near that thing, so whether it's cute or not doesn't matter. We have to go save her." I told Gloria and Simone.

"Wait, what?" Gloria peeled the talisman off her forehead. "We're going to go to that thing?" she sounded surprised. “In that case, it’s not cute at all, it is terrifying!”

"While I'm not a coward, I have to agree with Gloria's sentiment. Going for the thing seems like it entails a high degree of risk," Merlin deadpanned. 

"Of course it does, but that doesn't matter. I'm going. Whether you help or not is your decision, Merlin." I replied.

Merlin frowned at me, hesitating. 

It was Simone who solved this stalemate, grabbing Merlin's hands and staring at her with eyes that would even make even a puppy feel shame. "She's part of this group, Merlin. Aren't you going to help her?" Simone's pitiful super puppy dog eyes didn't diminish one bit. There was a sort of war between the two as they stared each other down. 

I bumped Gloria's hip and whispered into her ear, "What's happening?" 

Gloria talked out of the side of her mouth, quietly. "Hush. Let Simone do her thing. I think if you actually want to save Nyx, we're going to need Merlin, as much as I hate to admit it. Unless, of course, you want to do Bran things." Gloria turned and gave me a poignant look, squinting at me as if she could peer through me and see what sort of crazy scheme I was planning.

Truth be told, my goal was to rush there, snag Nyx, drop a handful of talismans to stall the giant monster, and get the heck out.

"We aren't going to fight it," Merlin broke away from her staring contest with Simone, clearly starting to break down under the pleading look.

"I have no plans to fight it. I just want to get Nyx free." I agreed.

Merlin nodded. "A rescue operation shouldn't be too much of a risk. I think between my League Step and Teleportation, we can manage to escape it no matter how strong it is." Merlin continued to nod to herself as if her brilliant plan was coming together before her eyes. 

"And I'll make sure that if any of us get scratched, we're all patched right up," Simone broke away from her puppy dog eyes into a giant grin as she clapped her hands with finality. 

And as if that sealed the deal, Merlin's shoulders slumped. "Yes, we'll go rescue Nyx. Let's just make sure Antonio and his people can get out. When we're done here, Bran, I want to head towards the higher end exit. Like you said, there may be some benefit from exiting on what would ostensibly be the more dangerous side. I'll take these two with me, but I'll need some mana potions. I'm going to League Step with all of you," she said searching for a benefit. 

I held my hand out, turning it over as five high-grade mana potions appeared racked between my fingers. "Not a problem," before I could even finish my words, Merlin had swiped all of them from me, stashing them away in her own spatial ring. 

"Out of curiosity, how many more of these do you have?" Merlin asked, eyeing me. "They're quite efficient mana potions." The woman couldn't look me in the eye as she asked the question. 

"Well, they should be good, given that they were part of the reward that the Heros Clan paid me." It was a half-true answer, at least. 

Merlin nodded to herself. "Yes, the clans have incredible resources, don't they." 

I turned to Gloria to see if she understood what was happening.

The Mob Princess just shrugged before mouthing 'Simone', as if her involvement explained everything. 

I took one more look at the map amid the inscriptions, fixing the location with a giant monster in mind. "Alright, let's not waste any time. Simone, do me a favor and contact Antonio and his people. Meanwhile, Merlin, let's get going." 

"We have to step outside for League Step," Merlin said, which told me that she couldn't go through solid objects or at least not a solid wall.

I nodded and rushed outside, only to see Antonio just arriving. 

"Bran, what's the hurry?" The duelist asked, putting a hand on the pommel of his sword. His eyes shifted as he checked to make sure Simone and Gloria were still okay. Then again, he had a system-backed oath as a repercussion for the duel that he challenged me to. He would have known that any harm would come to them. 

"Going back the way you came from," I said. "The third member of the group that came in with me just reappeared in this trial, and she's back that way." 

Antonio frowned. "We shouldn't go back that way. There is an absolutely terrifying monster."

"Did you get a good look at it?" Merlin asked hurriedly.

"You mean did I inspect it?" Antonio nodded. "Just long enough to see its stats. That thing is not something we can take on," Antonio insisted, pulling at my arm as if to lead me away.

Yet, he didn't have enough strength to actually move me. My determination to go get Nyx wouldn't be moved.

"Well, that's good, Antonio. You can take your people and head towards the west pillar of light," I pointed off in the distance. "That should be an exit, though we are going to go save my companion and then likely try to exit the other direction."

Antonio glanced to the east. "That exit opened first and might have a benefit," Antonio cleared his throat. "But most importantly, I should stay near Simone and Gloria if you're going somewhere dangerous."

I raised an eyebrow at him the way he looked at the two of them. "I don't have anything to be jealous over, do I, Antonio?"

The man snapped to attention, staring at me with wide, fearful eyes. "No, I would never disrespect you like that, Bran. I am simply bound by the oath of my duel, and I need to see it through. It would be reckless of me to let the two of them go off into danger. It would stain my honor, and this system might damage my class." He told me.

I smiled and nodded. I hadn't actually been that concerned, but it never hurt to make sure people understood the boundaries from time to time. After all, Antonio was a good little guard dog.

"Fine, now that we're all here, Merlin, please, why don't you help us speed across the distance?" I pulled out Nyx's rangefinder so that I could track her. As Merlin's ability activated, I took a step with her, the five of us were in a small cluster riding the wave of her ability.

"You don't have to stand that close, Simone." Merlin glared at my first love, who was nearly clinging to the older woman.

Simone laughed with a giant smile on her face. "I wouldn't want to be left behind."

Merlin shot me a glare as if telling me to get Simone off of her, but I could only shrug. I had no control over what Simone did, nor did I want to.

As before, League Step devoured the distance between our group and Nyx.

The rangefinder's pull increased noticeably. Each large step was pulling slightly to the right, and I held it out so Merlin could use her ability accurately and send us in the correct direction.

At this point, the colossal form of the racoon-like monster could be seen in the distance. I would have mistaken it for a dragon based on the silhouette if I had not seen it through my talisman.

"At least we're not heading straight for it," Antonio added. As we deviated our path, we were heading off at maybe a ten degree angle from the monster, though the monster seemed to be searching for something.

Its giant head whipped back and forth before it spewed another one of those breaths of fire that landed amid the forest, curling into whirling tornadoes and setting the rest of the forest to a slow simmer. The red glow of the fire gave the monster an impressively domineering silhouette outlined in red.

The ‘dracoon’ as I was now calling it in my mind, was powerful, and we were close enough to its colossal frame for me to use Soul Gaze on the monster.

[Dracoon

Level: 928

Status: Healthy

Strength: 15612

Agility: 12976

Vitality: 18634

Intelligence: 6739

Spirit: 8729

Skills:

Fight SS

Firestorm Breath SS

Pounce S

Hardened Scales SS

Tough Skin SS

Volatile Blood S

Scavenge SS

Fear S

Flight SS]

When I did, I immediately understood Antonio's concern. That thing was incredibly powerful. I was certain that it had not been unleashed here as a challenge for the trial. 

No, it had been unleashed to clear the field. For whatever reason, the demons intended to pressure us to leave onto the next trial as fast as we could.

I had no idea why they would be in a hurry, especially after this part of the trial had taken so long. Plus, it was likely the resources in this trial were limited, and people would have naturally left on their own after the resources dried up.

"Bran, I think coming into direct conflict with that thing is inadvisable," Merlin said. "So much so, that if you engage it, I will go explore the exit on my own."

"That's fine, Merlin. I don't think that's a good idea either.”

Looking at the monster stats, even with my entire bag of tricks or my ‘Bran things’ that Gloria had taken to saying. I don't think I could take it down. At most, I could provide a good distraction, but hopefully we didn't need that.

“Let's focus on getting Nyx and getting out of here," I said to the group, trying to calm down Merlin and Antonio’s concerns that I might go after the dracoon.

"Excellent," Antonio said, his voice filled with relief. He focused on my rangefinder, noting that we were steadily increasing our distance from the monster as we neared Nyx's location. Merlin followed the rangefinder's lead, happily shifting away from the dracoon as we raced through the forest, devouring the distance with each stride. Suddenly, the rangefinder twisted in my hands, flipping backwards, and Merlin's ability came to an abrupt halt. 

I spun around and ran back in the direction we had come from, only to spot a stone statue of Nyx coiled up on herself, her serpents splayed out in every direction. 

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," Merlin said, suddenly noticing the statue.

Antonio crossed his heart and bowed his head in prayer.

I laughed at their responses. "Nothing to worry about. Simone, can you figure out which of her serpents have the talisman?" I asked.

"On it!" Simone saluted, then checked one side while I checked the other. She reached up and pet one of the serpents before sticking her fingers inside.

Simone must have activated the talisman because the petrification began to recede, pulling away from the serpent and turning its stone-gray hair back into the lively, sea-foam green that was Nyx's natural color. 

Another serpent returned to her hair as the change raced along her side, pulling back the stone and revealing her soft skin. I snatched her up, only half of her de-petrified, and hugged her fiercely, squeezing her body against mine.

As she finally came to, the petrification reversed enough for her to squeeze me back.

"Bran!" she shouted excitedly, grabbing the back of my head and pulling it into her well-endowed chest before wriggling in excitement. Her serpentine tail became free of the stone and coiled around me, squeezing me within an inch of my life. 

"Would you look at that," Antonio chuckled from the side. 

At Antonio's words, Nyx became more alert. "Oh, there are other people," she said quickly, scanning and seeing Antonio and Merlin and uncoiling from my coyly. All the while, her serpentine hair began to peck me with a flurry of kisses, as if we were reunited lovers. 

"Why is her hair doing that?" Merlin asked, causing Nyx to blush from the tips of her ears down to the exposed skin at her bust. She threw herself off of me, her tail coiling and catching her. 

"They have a mind of their own," she said, grabbing at her hair and pulling it away from me, even as it struggled to reach out and continue peppering me with kisses.

I grabbed her hair and pulled her back towards me, kissing her passionately on the forehead and squeezing her head to my chest. "It's okay, I missed you too, and I'm so happy you're back," I said.

Nyx rubbed her cheek against me. "I'll tell you about everything later." Nyx opened her mouth to tell me something more, but before she could, the world lit up again as the dracoon unleashed another one of its terrifying firestorm breaths.

This one ripped through the forest, setting it ablaze and interrupting our reunion. As the fire swirled around us, the dracoon's head shifted towards us and its beady black eyes glimmered with intelligence, locking onto our group now lit up by the forest fire. 

"We should talk later," Gloria said hurriedly, pulling Nyx off of me. At the same moment, Merlin activated League Step, sending all of us hurtling away from the dracoon as the ability devoured the space between one step and the next. 

Merlin let out a breath of relief as the dracoon did not follow us through League Step. 

"Don't rest so soon," Gloria warned. The hulking figure had already taken to the air and with a single beat of its wings. It covered nearly as much ground as Merlin's League Step. 

Big creatures were often not considered fast, but in this case, the thing was hurtling forward. The dracoon might even be faster than Merlin's League Step.

She leaned into the ability and began marching forward at a quick pace, the rest of us hurrying to keep up. 

I held onto Nyx's arm, unwilling to let her go now that we had been reunited.

The dracoon, however, seemed intent on catching us. A stream of fire roared overhead, flying in front of us and setting more of the forest ablaze. Most importantly, it forced Merlin to stop her League Step ability short, lest she send us all straight into the heart of the blazing firestorm. 

With a giant whomp in the air, the dracoon descended.