Chapter 100 - Mt. Turra

"… Well, still better than A-pillow, I guess."

Branches and torn roots lay strewn all around the area, and the trunk of the tree lay flattened on the ground, shredded to the point that it was more "chunks" than "trunk." The druid lay unconscious facedown on the ground; a single blow to the back of their head was all it took to knock them unconscious. I had expected more of a fight, but their Mana had clearly been running low, as mine was.

[Mana: 19/131]

Most of the drain came from Swing For the Fences!. The damn Skill mentioned the cost varies, but the second slash alone had taken almost 100 points of my Mana. For them, I guessed it was likely having to make the tree I had just put through the Klum Blender 3000. The only other Skill I'd used was Mana Blade, and it was finished from there.

"You really had to put on a show for us, didn't you, Mr. Arrogant Hero?" Termi says nonchalantly, dragging the giant over to throw onto the druid, who is already thrown on the mage. Eniyala joins in by throwing a bound Healer and A-vanilla into it with rocky chains, crafting a new sigil in her hands. She finishes a few seconds later, tapping her fingers together. "Lock. And Termi, are you really surprised? He is quite the idiot, remember?"

As she speaks, the blue rocks shift, moving to wrap over the other party and holding them in place. The Healer struggles, obviously to no avail, before turning her head desperately to A-quilt-o.

"You… you let them win, right? I mean… there's no way you got beat by that kid, right?!"

He flinches a bit, before barking back in reply, "Shut your mouth, bitch! Just look at his forearm. I didn't notice until he broke my damn gauntlets. That's the sigil for the Sword Saint, so either he's ballsy enough to wear that sigil and not care, or he's strong enough to show off… You know."

'Well, he got it a quarter right… It's not exactly my choice to show it off, though. Not like I'd tell them that,' I think sheepishly.

Coming to the realization herself, the Healer begins to completely ignore A-stupid-o and smiles sweetly at me. "Heeeey~ The big, bad, Sword Saint, huh? You need a Healer in your party? I can provide plenty of restorative… options?" She trails off as she peers at the look on my face in growing confusion.

I am unable to hide the feeling of disgust that shows itself through my facial expressions. "So this is what a pick-me girl is like in this world, huh?"

She falters, before straining against the rocks. "W-wait! I'm not whatever a pick-me is! Just… pick me to be in your party! Please? You won't forget it!"

I stick my tongue out at her. "Nah, you're a perfect fit for the dumbass Brawler there."

She seems to be at a loss for words, so I turn to Eni. "How long will that Lock Spell last?"

She spins her finger in a circular motion, and a sigil pops up, resembling a clock. "A little less than an hour, as long as the Mage doesn't wake up."

"Cool. So we're good to go?"

Eniyala nods, turning to everyone else. "Alright guys, let's head into the city!"

Just then, we hear heavy footsteps behind us. "What's going on?" Ro asks cheerily, cracking his knuckles. I roll my eyes. "Coulda used you like ten minutes ago, Lizard Boy. We're going into the city now, you coming?"

He cheers, hopping up and down before following behind our group as we begin walking down the stairs leading just below the mountain, the only light coming from Mana lights lining either side of the wall like a mining tunnel.

- - -

Despite how long it looked to be, we were only walking in the dark tunnel for about five minutes before it began to slope upwards. We passed one or two groups on their way out (Lynsel worried so much about what they would think of us after they saw the group tied up outside that Eniyala eventually caved, releasing the Spell). As the slope grew slightly higher, a few tunnels open on either side of us, and foot traffic rose as people came in and out of the tunnels, mixing with the traffic going in and out. However, it was well-maintained thanks to everyone staying on their right side of the tunnel.

It was like the roads on Earth, except if everyone actually knew how to drive well.

I also notice that most of the people we pass were either Beastkin or Dwarves, the tallest of the latter being 3-4 inches shorter than Termi. It vaguely reminded me of the Old Man, and I briefly pat my armor in silent appreciation.

Finally, less than another three minutes later, the walls fall away, and a beautiful sight hits my eyes. "This is amazing," I wonder as I take it all in.

There is no sky; it is inside a mountain, after all. But large, glowing ball shapes stick to the rocky ceiling of the mountain; some of them crawl around to find a better spot to stick. Their gentle, but strong blue and green lights illuminates the entire open area of the city, which all has a brown, orange, and light blue theme to it. Surprisingly, a good majority of the buildings are all near-skyscraper levels, reaching almost to the top of the open area, with windows going three-quarters of the way up to boot. Of course, there are smaller buildings as well, but 'smaller buildings' is an overstatement, as they still rise anywhere from a fifth to half of the ceiling-scrapers height.

The roads are lined with smooth, flat orange and brown rocks, and just like the other cities and towns I had seen, people bustle back and forth — though, once again, it seems to flow much better thanks to the organization of the people walking. Even now, as I and a few others of the party marvel at the view, the opposing lanes of people easily move around our halted group.

"Even the streetlights are pretty," I note as I look up at the lights, clearly powered by Mana as they glow different colors. "For a city full of smiths, this—"

I am quickly cut off by Termi hurriedly reaching up and slapping her hand over my mouth. "Why don't you just scream out, 'hey, I'm a racist prick,' then?!" she hisses quietly, looking back and forth frantically. Thankfully, no one has taken note, so she lowers her hand with a heavy sigh. "Look, being a few months old doesn't excuse ignorant and stereotypical bullshit like that. I still don't know if I even believe that."

I give her a puzzled look. "I'm sorry, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Smiths?! Really?"

When she realizes the blank expression I have is genuine, her eyes widen in understanding and amazement. "Shit. Maybe you are only three months old," she says quietly.

She goes into detail describing how offensive it was to assume all Dwarves were smiths, and that the highest chosen Class for the Dwarven race was actually a tie between Miner and Architect. She kept feeding me information, but I stopped listening at some point as it was beginning to make me feel dizzy.

"… And that's why you can't call them the S-word," the small lady finishes proudly.

'Could have just said it's like a slur,' I think to myself, deciding against voicing that aloud. "How do you know all that, anyway?"

"Oh, my mother was half-Dwarf, so she told me lots of things."

"So you're part Dwarf?" I ask, only partially surprised. She glares at me, crossing her arms. "I'm a quarter Dwarf."

Resisting the urge to say, "so part Dwarf," I gesture for her to lead the way. "Would you care to show us to an inn, Miss Quarter Dwarf Guide?"

Without a chance for me to react, Termi whips around, kicking my shin so hard it flies out from under me, and with a slip of my other foot due to the force, I fall forward to the ground, clutching my leg. "Ow, motherfucker! Jesus, can't take a joke?!"

She points her nose in the air, heading deeper into the city. The party begins following her, and Yorun and Ro even hold back laughs. I stare at the glowing lights (bugs, I think?) blankly. "I hate all of you," I mutter, shaking a bit of pain out of my leg and standing up. I brush myself off quickly before slipping into the stream of people, slowly closing the distance to my group.

By the time I manage to catch up through the heavy flow of bodies, they've already arrived at the inn. As I slip back out of the stream, Ro snickers. "Took you long enough."

"You guys got here like five seconds ago," I bark back snappily.

"Five seconds before you, though," Eniyala chirps as we walk into the inn. Our group draws several looks; although we have a 'Quarter Dwarf' and a Lizard Boy in our group, the majority of us are still plain humans, after all. The Dog hybrid receptionist is cheery as he greets us, however, his tail wagging slightly.

"Welcome to Mt. Turra's most popular inn, the Glowing Emerald! Will you be staying with us tonight? How many rooms?"

As I go to request three rooms, Eniyala catches my hand. "Just a minute, sir," she says, and our group immediately huddles up. "Look, Klum, while you could probably rival our dragon buddy on terms of hoarding money, we should all get our own room tonight. We deserve it, after camping together for so long. Sorry, Termi."

Termi shakes her head. "Don't be, girl. We all need our personal space. Even this idiot," she says, gesturing to me.

I snort. "Y'know what, let's vote on it. Those in favor of saving money, raise your hand." I raise my hand up, looking around expectantly. Ro raises his hand excitedly… and that's it. I frown slightly, lowering my hand. "Okay… everyone in favor of spending mor—"

Everyone else's hands all simultaneously shoot into the air. Ro never even lowered his hand, still looking around happily. "Did I win?" he asks with a huge smile on his face.

"WE won," Eniyala corrects with a small smirk. I look at Lynsel, who mouths an apology. "Traitors," I mutter, turning back to the Dogman. "Six rooms, please," I say with a sigh. Everyone behind me cheers, and I hang my head. 'My poor Gold…'

Everyone hurriedly says their goodnights before rushing to their room. I'm left standing alone with a few breezes of wind where my friends used to be. "It's five o'clock… And we haven't had dinner…"

Luckily, I kept a pouch of Gold on me, so I treated myself to a small dinner at the bar before heading to my own room. I took enough time and downed enough drinks that by the time I got to my room on the fifth floor, it was almost 8.

I stare at the nice room for a moment, until my door shuts with a quiet click. "I am pretty sore, so this rest should be good. It'll likely be a few days before we can even get any information on the duo we're looking for. My body is young and able, but it can't go on without rest forever. After all, I'm still human."

I flop onto my side, too tired to even reach the bed. "I'll take a nice bath in the morning…" I tell myself slowly before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

"Snrrf! Huhh… ?"

I startle awake at my desk. "Great. Been awhile since I've dreamt this one so vividly," I sigh, standing and stretching out my back. "Man, my soreness too? Jeez. Alright, c'mon Lu|<£-um."< p>

I pause, touching a hand to my throat. It felt like I had just stuttered my name out, but nothing had sounded wrong to me. Just in case…

"Klum. Klum. Kee-luuuum."

Nope. Nothing wrong.

I brush a few strands of white hair away as I head for the opening in my cubicle, but jump back in fright as a shadowy hand curls around the office wall. "Boo," a barely visible figure with bright red eyes pulls himself around the corner. Though I can't see it, I can feel the malicious grin hiding underneath the wavering shadows of his face. "Think you can escape from me? From us? From your past, or your fate in the future?" He cackles, as more hands wrap their dark fingers around the edges of my small office.

"Sh-shit," I mutter, shoving the first figure back and running out, towards the corner office. "Just have to get to her office…"

"Where you going, LUKE?!" The figure screams, leaping at me among others racing for me.

"Fuck off!" I yell back, reaching over my shoulder. My hand closes on a handle, and instinctively I swing my arm around in a low arc. "Peak of the Waning Gibbeous!"

The black blade extends as I swing, severing the multiple dark figures' legs. They fall to their chests, crawling forward. A few seconds later, their legs are back, and they are running at me again. I turn the edge of the cubicles, sprinting and leaping into the fifth one.

"You can't escape us," a dark figure turns around in its chair slowly, before jumping out at me. "Fuck— Starblade…"

I execute the star-shaped slashes, and twist my torso around on the final, horizontal slash, extending it around my body. It dices the figure, and cuts through the cubicle to reveal the fourth one behind me.

Light brown hair swings lightly in the wind pressure created from my blade. "Jeez, you could have knocked," the thin woman sighs.

"Right, sorry. Have you not realized that the entire office is—"

"By the way, what's my name?"

"Christy. Anyway."

"You fucking fool."

I blink in surprise, then horror as I feel a hand clamp on my ankle. An unnatural grin spreads across her face as the other figures jump over the walls and roll around corners to grab at my body, locking my arm in place. "I told you, fucker. You can't escape any of it."

I struggle pointlessly against the darkness, but more hands drag me down, pulling me slowly into the floor. "We're going to consume you, and there's nothing you can do to stop it," Christy says, her voice matching the one I first heard. "Now… give us your body!"

I startle awake, panting and sweaty on the floor. Oddly enough, Beholder's Eye sits in my hand, and several deep scratches sit in the floor, walls, ceiling, and bed. "…Shit."

I rub the grogginess out of my eyes as I stand up, returning the handle to where it should be — its sheath. I wipe the sweat from my brow, looking down at my dirty armor. "… Double shit," I groan, turning my head to see a door behind the headboard of the large bed that I hadn't slept on.

Reaching over, I turn the handle and push the door open. "Oh thank the Saints."

I begin peeling my armor off quickly, stumbling into the bathroom. The destruction of my room in my sleep could wait; right now, a modern jacuzzi bathtub was desperately calling my name.

- - -

"Ahhhh, this is the start of recovery," I sigh happily, my breath blowing hot steam in a cloud into the cold air of the room. I stroll back out the bathroom with a simple white t-shirt and gray shorts on, a towel wrapped around my shoulders as I use it to dry my hair. Tousling it as a finishing touch, I check the time on my phone. "Huh. Should check on the others, I guess."

I walk out my door. "I'm 521, so someone will probably be in 520…" I wonder to myself as I cross the hallway to the door across from mine. I knock twice, trying the door, and surprisingly it opens. "Hey, wakey— eh?"

I look up to see a girl with obsidian black skin and hair, and bright orange eyes, looking up at me from her position on the edge of the bed. I freeze, as she's wearing nothing but a tank top and a small pair of shorts. Feather tufts extend from behind her elbow and right over her knees, as well as behind her ears. She also freezes, midway through drying her long hair with a towel "Uh, I'm so sorry…" I begin, trailing off awkwardly.

She doesn't say a word, as her eyes lock onto my forearm. "You."

"M-me?"

She bolts onto her feet, spreading her arms. "How did you know we were here?!"

"Ma'am, what are you—"

Before I can finish my sentence, I watch as the feathers grow and spread, and her mouth grows into a beak. Her arms flatten and extend, turning into black wings, and the claws I just noticed on her feet grow longer and her legs grow rubbery. "Oh, shit. You're the Agile Bird."

[Skill Detect Dark has been focibly activated.

Proximity: 12 feet]

I watch the number skim to zero as she flies into me, grabbing me with one foot and shoving me back. I'm helpless as I fight against her hold as we go through one, two, and three walls.

Right out the inn, into open air.