Published at 16th of February 2024 2:24 pm

Chapter 45. Contractual Benefits

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

“Don’t you want to consume the boss?” Nox asked Lillin after catching his breath.

“I wouldn’t even if there was anything left for me to have,” she replied. “That thing… its minions… they felt sickening. I don’t think we would’ve survived the energy.”

“Mind if I have at it, then?” Joey enquired. His spearhead floated over his right shoulder. “Nar wants to consume the boss’ remaining arcane signatures. It will fulfill my side of the contract for a few months.”

“Go ahead.”

The spearhead hovered above the Voideborne leader’s remains—or whatever remained of it. Nox’s arrow had destroyed the head, both arms, and the stinger. The torso appeared more or less intact, but new white flames slowly melted the chitin. Nox felt traces of Void Essence slowly escaping the body. He detected Mind, Shadow, and some Spatial, too.

“This thing was controlling the draugr?” Nox wondered out loud.

“That’s what it looks like,” Caitlin stated, gobbling mana and stamina recovery pills. All the color had drained from her face, and the elemental armor lay in pieces. “I’m guessing the creature brought them from its original dimension. Otherwise, the Arachne would’ve assimilated the host bodies.”

Colorful wisps burst from the monster’s remains and flowed into the djinn container. The lights contained in the glass brightened, and Joey glowed, too. Nox sensed the junior apprentice’s mana swell despite the distance between them. It felt no different from when his star grew following Lillin’s more substantial feasts. The glass turned smoother, and the edges appeared sharper. It also gained a couple of inches, and etchings appeared along the body, giving it more detail.

“This is why you wanted to push on.” Caitlin sounded perturbed. Her clenched jaw betrayed her fury.

“I’m sorry, Cat,” Joey said. “I’d be in violation of my contract if Nar waited much longer.”

“And you couldn’t tell me that? We were far too close to dying. I would’ve arranged for us to challenge a more suitable rift. Perhaps that one wasn’t on the verge of ascending.” Caitlin sighed, shaking her head. “Maybe it was wrong of me to trust you. At least it’s over. We’ll need to rethink this once—”

“Hold on a moment,” Nox said, frowning. Despite the recovery pills and empowering brew, he struggled to stand. It felt as if the fight had significantly fatigued him. “The rift is still stable.”

“So?” Joey raised an eyebrow.

“It means the Voidborne hadn’t yet completed the incursion. The rift’s original rulers are still alive.”

“They’re down there,” Lillin said, pointing at a tunnel directly behind them. “I couldn’t feel her earlier, with the void essence dulling my senses. It's clear as day now. She’s weak and injured but still alive.” She glanced between Nox and Joey. “I’d like to consume this one.”

“Nar needs to rest between meals and assimilate the absorbed energies,” Joey said. “Whatever is down there is all yours.”

“The pills recovered my mana, but the elementals aren’t ready yet,” Caitlin said. “I can assist with healing, barricades, and perhaps entangling roots, but nothing more. Can you manage with just that?”

“I’ve more or less recovered my full strength.” The cuts covering Lillin’s body thinned but didn’t fade. However, the flesh underneath stopped pulsating. Nox guessed they weren’t high on her priority lists. Repairing her bones and organs demanded significant energy and focus. She likely fixed them before bothering with skin-deep injuries. “If you don’t mind being horrified, I can take the brunt of whatever the boss can throw at us. You’ll only need to whittle the thing down enough for me to finish it off.”

“That’s assuming it doesn’t have an army protecting it,” Nox said. “Although, if the creatures are like any Arachne we’ve faced so far, I don’t think we need to be worried. My arrows cut through them like butter. Given how stable this place is, I don’t need to hold back either. What about you, Joey? How are you feeling?”

“Amazing,” he answered. The junior apprentice’s flushed cheeks and dilated pupils made it look like he had just taken a puff of Sellis Weed. He showed the party his manameter. “My mana system is overflowing, and I feel stronger than ever.”

Joey Greengrasse

Journeyman

Djinn Fire | Pact Manipulation | Pact Shaping

78/75 | 29/28 | 23/23

“Any morsels of wisdom from your pact?” Caitlin asked, using a short, professional tone.

“I think I understand Djinn Fire better now. It feels like I can control it a lot better than before.” Joey turned to Nox. “I might not have your range or destructive power, but I should be able to eliminate a mass of foes at close range without putting myself at risk or using too much mana.”

“Djinn Fire and Illusory Essence gives you a fair bit of flexibility,” Nox commented. “If I were you, I’d use the invisibility a lot more to get behind enemy lines, unleash a massive attack, and then flee.”

“Sounds like a plan. So, are we ready to move?” Wooden armor coated her forearms and lower legs, forming thick gauntlets and greaves. “The Voidborne might be gone, but the elementals still aren’t happy about this dimension. It's much too cold, and I think it might be tainted. The sooner we get out of here, the better.”

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“Let’s move on then,” Lillin said. “I’m ravenous.”

The party faced no further resistance during the remainder of their descent. They passed areas where the Arachne and Voidborne had fought. Only half consumed insectoid and human flesh remained to indicate what had happened. Molten lines crisscrossed the crystalline walls. The first Arachne wave had casters among them. Nox guessed the Voidborne eliminated the elite magic users amongst the mostly feral beasts.

It took them half an hour to reach the rift lord’s lair. It sat in a network of high-ceilinged caverns. Ancient machines Nox didn’t recognize, rough huts, and several primitive structures dotted the area. It almost counted as a shanty town, but the creatures they slaughtered didn’t quite feel intelligent enough to build such structures.

The boss sat in the middle of the enormous cavern, looking beaten, bruised, and mangled. Several female bodies melted together, forming her torso, and four heads grew out of her neck. They all faced in a different direction. She only had seven remaining limbs—each was a coiled mess of several arms and legs— and two bent in the opposite direction at the joints. Slime trickled out of three empty eye sockets; only half the heads had lower jaws.

Given the reasonably undamaged surroundings, it looked like the Arachne queen had successfully repelled the invaders from her people’s homes. Unfortunately, she paid a dear price for her actions. The Arachne Queen struggled to move as the party approached, stumbling and falling on her belly a couple of times. Most, if not all, of her subjects had perished, too.

“Mercy,” the queen’s several hoarse voices begged, speaking out of unison. “I’m the last. Let me live.” One head burst into tears. “The Cosmic Spider will thank you. She’ll shower you with rewards. Riches and power unlike anything—”

An empowered arrow made of fiery red crimson glass destroyed all surviving heads and ripped through the torso. The rings spinning around the arrow severed limbs and shredded the body into ribbons.

“You were supposed to let me finish it,” Lillin complained.

“Does it matter?” Nox asked. “Her magic should still be intact enough for your consumption.”

“So much for the thrill of the hunt.”

“She was as good as dead, and I didn’t want to hear her miserable begging. I’m just about tired enough to consider her plea. Would you like that/ Would you want me to consider letting her live?”

“No. I suppose this is better. It’s no fun, is all.”

“By Niddhogg’s taint, you two are the strangest duo I’ve encountered,” Caitlin said, rolling her eyes. Light tremors shook the caverns. Crystal chips and dust rained around them. A building collapsed behind where the queen had stood, revealing a white portal. It was their way out of the dimension. “Can you eat so we can return home?”

“Fine.” Lillin sighed. She marched up to the Arachne, opened the ugly mimic mouth in her stomach, and lapped up the head and torso’s remnants with a long, triangular tongue.

A wave of energy washed over Nox as Lillin finished her meal. He felt the benefits of her feast almost straight away.

Nox Ratra

Journeyman

Crystalize Essence | Essence Animation

129/127 | 25/27

Essence Shaping | Arrow

53/53 | 13/12

Despite his exhaustion, excitement bubbled up deep inside Nox. He was ready to leave the journeyman rank behind and advance to adept. The development didn’t just come with an increase in his maximum mana and the ability to solidify another planet. Adept mages gained physical benefits, too. They weren’t as prominent as that of an aether warrior, but he’d be healthier, live a naturally longer life, and require less sustenance.

The rank also came with mana circuit growth and mental benefits, reducing the strain of using more powerful magic. Nox was excited about his mana zone growing most of all. He had long accepted the fact that he’d never get to use long-ranged magic. However, every inch counted. The further he could conjure defenses from his body, the less likely Nox was to get hurt.

“Anything of interest?” Nox asked Alexander. His army of squirrels scoured the village and the ancient artifacts, looking for functional or interesting relics.

“Nothing besides a handful of runescripts I’ve never seen before,” the potential druid answered. “I’m collecting all scrolls and tomes. The runes are different from what we use. I only recognize a handful of characters. Grandmother might find them interesting. The Arachne are supposed to be extinct and from her origin universe, after all.”

“Sure. I got all the reward I could’ve wanted from this delve. It's probably the same for Lillin, too.”

“And me,” Joey added.

“Unless you find something obnoxiously powerful or possibly worth a fortune, you and Caitlin are welcome to everything in the village,” Nox said.

“I’d rather not touch or use anything in here,” Caitlin said. “It's all yours, Alex.”

“Thank you!” Alexander grinned. An army of squirrels emerged from the shanty town, carrying scrolls, tomes, scraps of paper, and art. The last of them was so faded and creased that Nox struggled to see anything notable.

The party regrouped, and Lillin approached the portal first. “It’s fine. This will take us home.”

“How can you tell?” Nox asked.

The mimic woman grinned. She leaned close enough to whisper into Nox’s ear. “The Arachne Queen was a planeswalker. I suppose I’m a bit of one now, as well.”

“What?!” Nox struggled to keep his exclamation quiet. The Woodsons and Joey were far enough away for them not to hear the conversation. He studied the portal ahead of them it was much better shaped than the dimension’s entry point. Nox guessed the Arachne Queen had created it to serve as an exit but lacked the time and mana to grow it. “Does that mean we can travel by portal now?”

“It's not that easy.” Lillin shook her head. “I’m afraid I’ll need to pick through the queen’s memories and study portal magic so we don’t end up at the bottom of the ocean or in the Void.”

Before Lillin developed gravity magic, she and Nox spent hours studying portals in the Trade Empire’s libraries. He had hoped to flee the Gedge’s abuse and resulting isolation using it. The Golden Isles regularly floated past settlements that appeared significantly happier and more hospitable.

Unfortunately, the branch of spatial magic suffered from endless challenges and limitations. Opening a portal didn’t appear particularly challenging. However, accurately connecting it to one’s destination was apparently impossibly difficult. The records only named a handful of human mages capable of such spells.

The pair put the conversation on hold and exited the unstable dimension. It would close before long. The party returned to their home universe, and the rift disappeared behind them. Only a perfect circle of blackness remained at the crater’s heart.

“Did Kris say anything about how we return home?” Joey asked.

No one in the party had an answer for her. They hesitantly glanced at each other before shrugging and climbing toward the crater’s edge.

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