Chapter 65 - Terran Royalty Series
It was an hour past midnight when Elliot arrived at the Crimson Palace. If he could hunt 3 in under an hour, he should be back at the guild by daylight, raising no suspicion from his guildmates.
He passed the green grassy fields and walked into the grounds of the palace. It was barren with life. The red soil seemed to be darker for some reason. Elliot shrugged the thoughts away and walked further, sneaking to find a phantom.
"What a kid," Lance whispered from behind him that made Elliot jump in shock.
"What the hell?" Elliot half gruntedhalf whispered. Why are you here?"
"I should be the one asking you that," Lance quirked his brow. "Midnight said you almost died a while ago, trying to hunt a Crimson Phantom, do you deny the allegation?"
"You make me sound like a criminal," Elliot scoffed. "But whatever. I have my reasons."
"And reasons being?"
"I cannot tell," Elliot replied and continued his walk to find the phantoms.
"You really are something," Lance sighed and brandished his white sword. He raised it and fired a beacon, catching the attention of the beasts nearby. "Let's finish up early then."
"What the hell are you doing?" Elliot gasped after seeing the roaming phantoms because of the light Lance conjured. Around them were five phantoms. Four of which were together North of them and one was on the other side.
'Multiple beasts detected.'
<< Crimson Phantom >>
<< Crimson Phantom >>
<< Crimson Phantom >>
…
"Making your job easier. I would love to accept a thank you by the way." Lance branished his other sword and smirked. "Let's dance."
He blasted himself towards four Crimson Phantoms. His blades lit up with their respective colors while Lance spun, slashing all the phantoms in one go. The beasts shrieked, instantly dying only after one attack.
"Wow," Elliot breathed. He felt the other phantom behind him, making him unsheath his sword and use Hasty Aspire to dash towards the beast.
"Lotus Blast."
His sword lit up with a glowing dark pink color, the blade formed engravings of flowers and curves. He hacked his sword towards the beast, firing a petal-looking slash with it. He continued slashing his sword, stacking the skill until it reached maximum where it blasted an entire flower-looking attack at the ninth slash.
The lotus flower rapidly rotated, digging its petals through the phantom's chest. The beast screeched before succumbing to its death. After the lotus flower vanished, the light from Elliot's sword died down, returning to its original light silver color.
'Crimson Phantom killed. +500XP'
'First Phantom killed. +5,000XP'
'Feature unlocked.'
< Terran Royalty Series >
// Collect materials from the King of Terran's domain to unlock Emblems.
'Emblems will help the Creator regain his righftul claim.'
Elliot stared at the notification. It was the first time he encountered a feature like this. Since the Creator was mentioned, he was sure it wasn't just from the regular Adventurer system. This was from the Manual.
"Are you okay?" Lance asked. Elliot looked at him before nodding.
"Of course," Elliot beamed. "I have an offensive magic skill now. Hunting phantoms aren't as hard as it was. You didn't have to worry about me."
Lance snorted and rolled his eyes. "Don't brag too much, kid. You still have a long way to go. But nice skill by the way."
If there was one thing Elliot learned from the leaders of his guild, it was to hide something. They were constantly hiding things under his nose that he didn't realize he caught their actions.
"Okay. So, what are we gonna do with these now?" Lance asked, looking at the carcass around them. "Are these enough?"
"I actually only need 3 of them," Elliot pursed his lips. "I don't have anything to do with the two."
"Let's leave them here," Lance said. "Phantoms, spectres, and ghouls would return back to life after a while so we don't have to worry about a thing."
"Oh, that's good," Elliot said and used The Creator's Sloth to take four Crimson Phantoms. He would use three for Isabelle and one to experiment on for his new feature. It was a good thing that he had an extra slot after absorbing the Skill Gem.
"That skill is called The Creator's Sloth, right?" Lance asked while they were walking back. "That skill is teaching you to become sedentary."
"It's also helping me reach my things when it's too far in case there's an enemy and we're all naked in a bath," Elliot grinned. "This skill is my favorite by far."
"Lazy dog but touché," Lance sighed. "If you keep being lazy, you'll get fatter. I mean, there's nothing wrong with gaining weight for other people but you shouldn't."
"Because my skill set requires agile movements?"
"No," Lance said and looked at Elliot seriously. "With your height, gaining weight will make you look like a barrel."
Elliot smacked Lance by the back of his head. "Why are you so mean to me?"
Lance laughed and was about to run away when a Axla appeared in front of them. She didn't wore her dress this time. Instead, she wore a set of Stealth Knight-like equipment. Fit overall suit, shoulder plates, and a belt where her scabbard hung around her side.
"Axla?" Elliot called.
Axla looked serious. She stared at the two and looked around before she talked, "I need to talk to you."
"Ed's not here though," Elliot said to which the woman shook his head. "He's still at the guild house."
"I have to discuss something with the both of you without Duke Haavok," she said. "It's something about Biankka."
Lance sighed after hearing the name, "What happened?"
"It seemed like our suspicion was right. She is using powers from outside our realm," Axla said worriedly. "We heard her talking to the Queen of Hell. If our hunch is right, the Queen is providing her magic that makes her even stronger."
"And why are you talking to us about this instead of Ed?" Lance asked. "He should know about this first."
"We best believe it was right to tell you first. We're going to make a decision we can't revoke. The Old Etheorian did not wanted to do this but we were left with no choice," Axla sighed. "We need the Eternal Chaos Sword. And I want you to convince Duke Haavok to wield the sword and save our realm."
"But you said that sword is dangerous," Elliot said. "What if Biankka was only waiting for us to unlock the Ethereum that protects the sword and is waiting right at the corner to ambush us?"
"We have no other choice but this," Axla said. "She killed three of her advisors in exchange for power and that power is enough to rival the Duke himself."
"Do we really need the sword?" Lance crossed his arms. "If unlocking it would be dangerous, why not just keep it there? That way, Biankka couldn't get her hands on it. Less chance of her stealing it."
"That is the safest way," Axla sighed. "But a large army from Hell is coming to Etheoria."
"The one who rules over hell even provided Biankka an army?" Elliot gasped. "Was this for free?"
Axla shook her head gently, giving the two boyd a sorrowful expression. "She sacrificed an entire village for the soldiers. Along with the captured guards. Biankka is not the same Biankka that you faced before. She's now even more powerful and has more soldiers in her side. But if we could only grasp the Eternal Chaos Sword on our side, we could win this."
Elliot and Lance were silent for a few seconds before Lance finally broke the silence. "Alright. But I have to talk to Ed about this. We don't know for sure what his take on this is."
"Okay," Axla said. "I will return to Etheoria to spy more. I will return tomorrow morning for your answer."
"Alright," Lance said. "We will talk to Ed and ask him what he thinks."
Axla nodded and returned to Etheoria, disappearing from Elliot and Lance's sight. They looked at each other and sighed in frustration.
"This was something bigger than I actually imagined," Elliot sighed. "I thought we would get a break from all the revelations but they only stack up. And they all look important so it was hard to determine which to do first."
"For now, let's go back to the guild," Lance suggested.
"Let's do that," Elliot nodded.
On the way back, he was looking at the new feature.
It looked like a tree structure. On top was the title, 'Terran Royalty' and it had five different branches with different colors. On each branch was a hexagon that had six branches on each of its side. The sides had smaller circles different symbols on them, finally branching into four.
The five colors– red, blue, green, yellow, and purple – were dull, meaning that they still weren't unlocked.
So how do I do this? Elliot thought.
The Manual did not respond to his thoughts. It still displayed the tree structure. No notifications, no instructions, no quests.
Elliot sighed.
Sometimes, you just have to make things hard.