[LD-1] 44. Divine Duty (Patreon)

XLIV

Divine Duty

Aila dug two fingers into her neck to loosen a muscle. The pop was like an explosion going off in the room’s quiet, whose tremors wormed their way into my heart.

Fear and admiration did war in my brain. There was something to her movements…a hidden grace? Her limbs travelled along smooth arcs, gestures that could’ve solely been the result of movements practised a thousand times.

I controlled a shiver.

She must’ve sensed me looking, for she faced me and opened her mouth—

Alexa took off and cleaned her glasses. “Aila, this place…is Lei a deity of some kind?”

The Monster spun. “Trying to get information out of me, huh?”

“Unapologetically,” Alexa said. “Surely, you don’t mind praising your patron?”

That made the priestess smirk. “Smart. I like you. Did you lead this ragtag group here?”

“It was a combined effort,” Alexa said without pause.

Which only grew Aila’s smile. “Lei is a deity of bounty and entertainment.” Between blinks, she vanished again and reappeared on the other end of the room, near her nimbus. “She’s the First Daughter of Indra.”

I bit my lip. ‘I cannot see her move.’

My gaze found Kiba. Though he’d remained quiet, he’d not once taken his eyes off the priestess. His expression was hard, but I got the sense that he wasn’t as lost as I was in her movement.

“First Daughter…” Alexa mouthed. “I’ve never heard of her. Is her dominion the same as that of her father?”

Indra was the god of thunder. He was well known. However, he was not a major deity among humans. Not in the way a god like Lord Null was, at least.

“You’ll find out once the game starts,” Aila chuckled. Then she motioned to the side, where the entrance slowly parted. “The entrance to the first floor will be closed until the timer runs out. But you can get a lay of the land.”

We all stared at the entrance. A deep layer of darkness covering the inside didn’t allow us to see the other side.

“What about you three?” Alexa asked. “Are you taking the other exits?”

There were two more doors.

“We’ll each head through a different one,” Aila said. “Like you, Ogram will be challenging the tower. You won’t run into each other unless you both make it to the second floor.”

Which meant he could also leave early. Something I suspected wasn’t even an option in his mind, given the way he stared daggers into Aila.

Alexa stepped up towards the orc lord. “That means we have the same goal. Why don’t we work together?”

We turned toward the candidate with butterflies in our stomachs. If we could fight the Monster together…

The priestess did not speak up and only smirked at the question.

Ogram didn’t respond at all.

The president turned to Rhaast. “Could you translate?”

Which made the goblin smother a laugh. “He heard you loud and clear.”

Not a heartbeat later, the orc lord spun around. His heavy boots clanged on the ground as she trudged toward the exit.

The hope that’d spawned inside us fell down an endless pit.

Rhaast shook his head. “Sorry, he’s always been a bit of a loner.”

He didn’t move to follow the candidate out of the room, which had us raising a brow.

“Loner, I told you,” he repeated. “Said not to follow him, so if you don’t mind, I’ll be going with you.”

“Huh?” Shota snarled. “Do you think we’re stupid?”

“Rhaast is not a true participant in the game,” Aila cut in. “The system has placed him under restriction. He cannot attack anyone.”

“You could be lying,” Kiba said, voice low.

Aila waved him away. “Maybe I am. However, you cannot stop him from following you.”

Shota crossed his arms. “We’ll attack if you so much as set a foot through that door.”

“You’re free to try,” Rhaast shrugged. “Then again, if you do, the system’s restrictions will lift.” He flashed his crooked teeth at the end of his statement.

His level was still a question mark.

“I don’t think it‘s’ wise to try him,” Emily whispered.

A whoosh going through the room swallowed her words. Ogram vanished through the exit.

I glanced at the timer.

12:40

“You should go,” Aila said. She hopped back onto her cloud, wrapped her feet beneath each other, and linked her hands. “The stairs will be cordoned off, but you can get a lay off the land. Not that it will do much.”

And though we wanted to put off entering, there was no good reason to.

We headed for the exit. As always, our tanks were the first to phase through, followed by our main melee damage dealers. I went in after Alexa.

Before stepping through, though, I turned over my shoulder for a last look. A very faint haze surrounded Aila’s face like a mask. Mana licked her cheeks, the energy sparking where it touched.

Kil had remained quiet ever since he revealed Aila’s nature. He hovered behind me, changing elevation repeatedly as he did so.

‘Are you scared?’ I asked.

The eyeball did not breathe, yet he paused to collect his breath.

Of course not, Master. The battle will be hard, but we will win. So what if she’s one of the Ten? So is Master.

That’s what he said. But his voice didn’t contain the usual bluster and cheer.

I stepped through the gate.

Space warped, and Aila drifted out onto the topmost floor of the tower.

An open sky swarmed with raging clouds greeted her. Lightning coiled along the soft cushions like snakes, the intermittent flashes of which cast out the shadows covering her face.

She enjoyed the spectacle before speaking up.

“Did I really have to come all the way here just for this?”

Her head remained pointed up at the sky for a long time. Then the air darkened. The storm thickened. Clouds twisted and whirled until a column stretched from the atmosphere towards the ground. Thunder struck repeatedly as the collection of energy formed into the vague shape of a female humanoid.

Most deities did not answer their priestesses directly. But the connection Aila had with the goddess was not that of an average priestess. And so Aila did not step back or fall to one knee as the avatar strolled forward to place a hand on her cheek.

Do you doubt me?

The words were not words. Merely an impression that fell upon the mind.

“I would not dare,” Aila said. She looked away from the piercing gaze of her goddess. “But…”

They were weak. One was a babe, not even level twenty. The other, a mere candidate that lucked his way into his position. How could this be worth the collusion of multiple Clans? Especially given what their faction had sacrificed to make this happen.

The avatar of Lei lowered her arm.

If the god had an answer for her, she did not give it.

Be careful. Or you will lose.

In a flash, the gathered storm collapsed, and the darkened sky returned to its previous state of flashing, but uncontrolled lightning.

Aila balled her fists. She did not agree with it, but denying her duty was not an option. The gods were aware of things mortals like herself would never be. They did not think in decades or even centuries—an action they took in the now may only show its fruits thousands of years later.

With a sigh, Aila turned towards the two wide staircases heading down.

The system chimed.

Twenty participants confirmed. Two hundred defence points gained. How would you like to allocate your resources? Please choose which guardians to create.

Note: automatic generation is possible.

A list of possible temple guardians popped up in front of her. Two hundred points weren’t a lot, but it wasn’t little. She had enough to create a single, powerful guardian and a group of smaller ones. The smaller ones were weak, though. Not even enough to wipe out the humans.

Sending them their way would then also be quite useless. The candidate may not be a threat to her, but he was still stronger than the whole human faction combined.

‘Better use them as a distraction to keep him busy.’

Choice confirmed!

Creating temple guardians.

Dozens of lesser spirits in the shapes of animals burst into the world. The thunder coiling around their forms seemed potent. But Aila did not spare them a glance. Instead, she focused on the mass of energy collecting in the centre of the chamber.

The name she’d found on the list had been quite interesting.

Spawning Imperator Sho’Shia.

The creature’s creation was not the product of an instant this time. The world warped slowly and deliberately.

Thunder shaped a silhouette three times taller than herself. Square jaw. Tusks protruding from the sides of the mouth. Grey skin, glinting like metal. The creature’s hair was bundled into a ponytail with a hairband spun from golden silk, and prayer beads threaded into a band around a wrist she wouldn’t be able to link her hands around. The last item the system gifted the guardian was a crystal staff encrusted with an azure gem.

It was eye-catching. However, the attention couldn’t help but be drawn to the strangest part of its appearance: its neck wasn’t centred on its shoulders but came out the right half.

There was a bandaged stump on the left side. A spot for a second face that must’ve once existed but been cut off.

Aila huffed. She supposed a healthy, double-headed ogre would be too much. That would’ve probably only been possible if they reached the fifty-member threshold.

Temple guardians created. Please direct them as you see fit.

She could take control of any one guardian. Doing so for the lesser ones wouldn’t be worthwhile, but the big one…

Her gaze travelled towards the staircase leading to the human side of the temple.

‘The more I get rid of, the better.’

Her god was right. It paid to be careful. If she underestimated the candidate, took too long to kill him, and the humans came up here while they were fighting…

Then she would still murder them all.

With a shake of the head, she called her nimbus, sat, and cast her mind into the ogre.

The beast wouldn’t be enough to kill all the humans, so she’d need to be selective with her targets. The one with the scythe was a given, but the boy with the animal vibe or any combination of the higher-level ones would work. Getting the leader would be good, too.

A sigh. “I’ll see who I can get.”

She sent the ogre down.