CHAPTER 196(Final Preparations)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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CHAPTER START---

---The City Of Valua, Capital Of Rakia...

Standing on the balcony of the main castle, not like what would be Loki's pathetic attempt at a castle in comparison. No, this was an absolute fortress, meant to host hundreds of soldiers at any one time comfortably. A true king's castle where Ares stares out at the massive, two-hundred-foot wall in the distance. At the highest level of the castle is the Small Council Chamber. The room where the information that truly ran this country was shared among only a very select few.

He was currently standing at the balcony of this room waiting for his subjects. An ornate meeting room with red and gold decorations and furnishing. One clearly expensive table with inlaid gold in the middle, books, and scrolls neatly stacked on a desk off to the side.

The red of the decor matches his armor, intricate plate armor made to show off his well-defined muscles with delicate grooves built-in. The gold in the room was not much different from his hair, reminiscent of a lion's mane.

Looking down from his spot at the top of Rakia, a county built by his hands over a thousand years ago, a county he conquered countless others gods and familias to form. Challenging them and always winning to bring them into the fold. Without subordinate familias how would one control a quarter-million adventurers after all?

Under the mid-day sun, he could see the noble houses within the massive walls, all living well off the might of his county, his familia. But he needed more, he wanted everything this world had and then some, all gathered for him to rule over.

The wall in the distance, as massive as it was, ran in a perfect circle to protect the noble district. Rakia has four of these walls. Unlike Orario which had one outer wall to contain the monsters, Rakia's concentric walls were built to separate the citizens by classes, keeping the castle at the heart of the city for the most protection.

But more importantly, at least to Ares, it protected the vault.

The sound of the massive double doors opening behind him snapped him out of his reminiscing. With a small smile, he turns around and walks inside, shutting the glass balcony doors behind him and immediately moving to the chair at the head of the table. The most ornate of all the cushioned chairs.

"I'm getting impatient Martinus," Ares says as he takes his seat. Leaning on one arm of his chair with his elbow and propping up his head with his hand. "Give me some good news, now."

At his words King Martinus Rakia, an older gentleman almost seventy years old straightens up in his chair. The Rakia familia was named and chosen by Ares at the founding of his familia. Because of this their family wears the crown and acts as captain of his entire familia, but everyone knows who really runs things.

Martinus straightens out his red and black formal suit and adjusts the ornate gold and red crown on his head before speaking. The white hair on his head gives him a wise appearance as he addresses his god. "Lord Ares, everything has moved according to plan, ahead of schedule in fact," he says with pride, always happy to please his god.

Ares nods to the king who then relaxes back into his seat. The god shifts his gaze across the table to the other seats.

Prince Marius Rakia sat beside his father. Wearing similar red and black clothes with a youthful head of blonde hair.

Across from them was the most powerful member of Ares's entire familia, the only level-four general at his disposal. A middle-aged man no older than forty, with a head of black hair and a matching beard. The only notable about him was the small coin-sized burn on his forehead.

However the fifth person in the room wasn't at the table, he was standing stiff as a board nearby as Ares eyed him thoroughly. The man had a nervous bead of sweat running down his face. A head of red hair and wrinkles on his face from a stress-filled life of proud service.

"Crozzo," Ares addresses the man. "Any news on that deserter son of yours?"

"No lord Ares," Vil says with an apologetic bow. "Goddess Hephaestus is blocking any communication. Security around Orario has been unable to stop our messengers but it seems no messages can get to Welf."

Ares immediately has a deep and hateful scowl on his face. "That bitch always has to ruin things. First she makes those peace-loving abominations to spite me, and now she keeps my new weapon from me...she's lucky she has Orairo backing her up."

"I'm sorry lord Ares," Vil Crozzo does another apologetic bow.

"Have you at least been able to replicate his swords?" the general asks in a bored tone, not even bothering to turn his head and look at Vil.

"No sir," Vil says. His fists at his side trembling with resentment for his own lack of skills and his deserter son.

"Then we won't have to reinstate the Crozzo house as nobility yet," the general says with mild disgust.

"Inform us if you make any progress," Ares says in a dismissive tone. "Until then I don't want you in the inner district." With a wave of his hand, Vil politely bows once more and silently leaves the room.

"Sir," King Martinus begins. "I don't believe we'll ever get Welf Crozzo back into our ranks. Perhaps it's time we think of alternatives for our future endeavors."

"Agreed," the general says. "He's already stronger than any team we can send to quietly apprehend him. If we try anything then Orario could retaliate. The only real option is to hold his family hostage but even if their swords are crap compared to his they're our best smiths. We can't hold them hostage because he'd call our bluff. We need an alternative long-term plan than his swords."

"Not necessarily," Ares says. "Because of the non-interference pact all countries have, as long as we don't interfere with Orario we'll be fine. After this war we can use the new resources we get and bide time to take out The Empire, then The Far East. After that, we should have enough to burn everyone else to the ground no matter how strong their adventurers are. We'll be fine."

"I see," the King says. "Wiping out everything around Orario."

"Exactly," Ares says. "Now, what of the final preparations?"

"Done and being implemented my lord," Prince Marius says. "The thirty galleons we bought from The Empire are already en route to our ports. They should arrive in a matter of days and will be loaded and anchored within days of the enemy treeline in two weeks waiting for a messenger hawk to get into position. The trebuchets have already been prepared to be loaded with flaming oil to divide the tree-huggers when we attack. The remaining two hundred thousand soldiers should be organized and in position within the month. Overall we're one month ahead of schedule."

"How are the final Falna updates looking?" Ares asks the prince.

"Two hundred and ten thousand level-ones, thirty thousand level-twos, ten thousand level-threes, and one level-four," Prince Marius gestures to the general sitting across from himself.

"Good, send out the declarations so everyone else knows not to get involved. We only have fifty of Welf's swords remaining, more than enough to get rid of our enemy, but if we don't do this the proper way it gives others an excuse to join in. I'd rather have our target be given fair warning, they'll never swallow their pride and ask for help that way... it's against their nature," Ares says with a sinister smile.

---Folkvangr...

Laying in her bed at high noon Freya stares at the bedside table with worried eyes. The goddess was currently wearing an oversized shirt that obviously didn't belong to her and playing with the ring on her finger, staring at the jar of purple lightning on the table not a few feet away.

"Lady Freya," Heith's voice calls out as the healer enters the room.

Freya immediately jolts up in her bed to stare at the woman with an expectant look, "did we find her?"

"Unfortunately not, Horn's trail went cold to the far south. We believe she's moving through the desert toward Ozaira, but there are many villages between there and Orario."

"I see..." Freya considers her options for a moment before speaking. "How much money is in my personal account?"

"Pardon?"

"My personal account Heith, how much do I have?"

"Almost 1.5 billion Valis my lady," Heith says.

"Good, put a billion Valis on her head, unharmed and alive. Any information leading to her capture can also claim the reward, I want her at my feet so I can deal with her myself," Freya says with furrowed brows, an uncharacteristically angry look on her face.

"Are you sure about this my lady?" Heith asks. "Horn is level three. She is dangerous to most people outside Orario this could be dangerous."

"That's why our people will continue the hunt," Freya says. "Have Hedin take Allen and the Gullivers and whoever else he wants. Leave Ottar and Hogni in Orario. They can search for her and follow any leads that get reported."

"But none of our members are supposed to leave Orario on account of the potential war, we can't just send our adventurers on this hunt right now," Heith reminds her goddess. The guild wouldn't take kindly to this at all.

"Hmm, you're right," Freya raises a finger to her cheek and thinks it over for a moment. "Come here," she orders, beckoning the healer closer with a single finger.

Heith nods and approaches while Freya moves to drape her exposed legs over the side of the bed. Standing before her goddess the healer isn't sure what she wants.

As the woman is in front of her Freya stands up and looks her directly in the eyes, "I'm very lucky to have you Heith," Freya says.

Heith can feel both pride and confusion at the sudden confession. Nothing she hasn't heard before but while the woman had no romantic interest in her goddess, she always appreciated acknowledgment.

"Thank you lady Freya," the healer says with a small smile, hints of a blush on her pale cheeks.

SMACK!

Heith takes one confused step away from her goddess. A delicate hand raising to her cheek, fingers carefully running across the stinging patch of skin on her face. Her goddess struck her...she slapped her?

"Wha-"

"Shut up," Freya growls out, a dangerous and cold look in her eyes, hiding an inferno of rage just below the surface. "Look at that," Freya commands, pointing at the Lightning in a Bottle on the table.

"T-the gift he gave you?" Heith asks, her voice shaky and uncomfortable. Never having been on the receiving end of this kind of treatment from her goddess before.

"Mhm, Lightning in a Bottle. Like a symbol to show nothing is impossible," Freya explains as she reaches out and gently cups Heith's face, forcing the woman to look at her. "Yet Lightning in a Bottle seems so easy now that I have it compared to my own goals, isn't that funny, Heith."

"Uh, it-"

"See my goals are difficult because it involves people who I can't charm having to do things that they don't want to do. Things that their nonsense like, beliefs, morals, and ethics won't allow. These people are letting silly things like the potential of some little war killing people get in the way of my plans. So ridiculous, right?"

Heith only nods stiffly in response, not even blinking as she stares into the unhinged eyes of her goddess.

"Good, I knew you'd understand," Freya breaths a sigh of relief as she gives Heith a warm smile. "See I need Horn, preferably before Yang gets back to the surface. I need to talk to her...or whatever other method of persuasion I'll need. My plan needs her, my happiness depends on her, understand?"

"Mhm," Heith hums as she stiffly nods along.

"Good, good. See I know you've got a soft spot for helping people, but for what I have planned. I would strangle every man, woman, and child, in this entire world and burn it to the ground, to achieve my goals. So if you tell me what I can't do, and second guess my instructions one more time...what do you think I'll do to you?"

Heith, the proud healer of Freya familia, looked as if she was one second away from bursting into tears as she murmurs out, "I-I'm sorry goddess..."

"Good," Freya releases her face and sits back down on the bed. "Now go relay my orders, and bring me a bottle of wine, white," she says with a tired sigh.

"Yes my goddess," Heith says in a shaky voice as she begins making her way out of the bedroom, only to be stopped by Freya's voice.

"Heith."

The woman immediately stiffens, "yes?" she asks without even turning around.

"I'm sorry I hit you," Freya says. "But it was for your own good, I had to get my point across...before you do something to anger me and I lose control, you understand right?" Freya says, genuinely believing what she was saying.

"I understand, thank you for the lesson..."

---Babel Floor 50, Hephaestus's office...

"Well, what do you think?" Hephaestus asks, gesturing to the ornate staff on her desk.

Sitting across from her were Riveria and Loki, the great mage's new staff being an exact replica of her previous weapon which was sadly destroyed by Kulve Taroth months ago and had to be remade.

This new version was then sent to Hephaestus for the silver, metal finish it currently had. A thin layer of Adamantite and Mythril, approaching Durandal strength without compromising the flow of magic through the weapon.

"It's gorgeous," Riviera says, a gleam in her eye as she looks at the chrome staff with green leaves carved into it.

"Try moving it around," Hephaestus says. "Gotta make sure the balance is perfect."

With no hesitation Riveria takes the staff and moves a few feet away from the desk to wave it around, keeping one ear open to listen to what the gods were speaking about.

"So how much?" Loki asks.

"Hundred and fifteen million," Hephaestus shrugs.

"Ach!" Loki felt as if she just had a heart attack. "For a layer of reinforcement? Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously," Hephaestus says. "The Adamantite and Mythril on that came from the Trifecta vault, not mine." This immediately got both guests completely focused on Hephaestus. "That means it's literally the purest the world has ever seen, normally I wouldn't even use their things but Riveria had a friend vouch for her. Said Yang would appreciate it if she had a little extra defense. Believe me, I didn't even charge full price for that kind of purity."

"What friend?" Loki asks, narrowing her eyes at Hephaestus.

"Freya," the goddess casually responds.

"Huh," Loki scratches her head. "Why would she ev---"

"The money isn't a problem for me," Riveria immediately cuts off Loki, shifting the topic away from her dealings with Freya. "What's more important is that life threatening incidents like I experienced twice since the new monsters arrived have been happening more and more frequently for our familia and everyone else going beyond the first twenty floors. We need the best equipment available..."

"You know the drill," Hephaestus reminds them. "All my wares are in my stores, custom jobs cost extra and take time, and are rare, like this one," she gestures to the staff.

"What about Welf?" Loki asks.

"Impossible, everything he has available to the public is in my shop and custom jobs are unlikely."

"What about the things that aren't public?" Loki asks.

"Well, seeing as you're the public that's none of your business. But between the three of us, I feel much more comfortable knowing that stuff is locked away in their vault," Hephaestus says.

"Hmm," Loki thinks it over for a moment. "Well, what about one custom job. My baby boy Finn could use a spear matching his level-seven rank."

"Hahaha," Hephaestus breaks into a cackle much to the surprise of both her guests. After taking a few deep breaths she calms down enough to speak. "Do you seriously not realize Yang, and by extension his team, just don't like Finn?"

"What?" Riveria asks. "Why not, is this because of the Falna thing. He said we were past that!" she cries out with far more concern than was really necessary, not something either goddess missed.

"No, not that," Hephaestus says, although her gaze with her one eye narrows, piercing through both Loki and Riviera. "But I haven't forgotten that, peeking into the falna of my adventurer, I'm keeping that in mind next time you're buying from me for a big expedition..."

Loki felt a chill in her bones at those words, Hephaestus always knew where to hit people so it would hurt, their wallets.

"Then why?" Riveria asks.

"He thinks Finn is an annoying adventurer playing hero...which he is," Hephaestus points out. "And by extension so is your entire familia, and you guys have annoyed him more than once, he's not petty but he doesn't forget."

"Can't you just tell him to consider?" Loki asks, "this equipment can be life or death for my children."

Surprisingly Riveria is the one who answers this time, "that won't work. Yang hates being told what to do," she says.

"She's right," Hephaestus says, causing Loki to look at her. "I told him to keep a low profile and he flew across the city and put on a light show. Told him not to show his falna and he does that, although he wasn't exactly in his right mind. Then everyone told him not to put his dick in the most vindictive and petty goddess, and now he's playing house with Freya and she's obsessed with him. Telling him what to do just doesn't work, and that was all before he became the most powerful adventurer in the world...at seventeen no less."

"Damn, well hopefully we can figure something out," Loki says with a defeated sigh. "Alright mama pay the sexy goddess and let's get drunk to celebrate the new staff!"

"You know I don't drink," Riveria says with a roll of her eyes.

After dealing with the money transaction Loki and Riveria are walking down the hallway to the elevators to exit Babel, while the Elf was admiring her new staff like a child with a new toy. The goddess was trying to put the pieces together for another mystery.

"Soooo," Loki says, not sure what kind of answer to expect. "When did you, Yang, and Freya of all people get so close, hmm?"

Knowing she couldn't lie to a god as they'd be able to tell Riveria almost froze in step. She wasn't sure what to say, considering how possessive Loki was of all her adventurers, especially the women and even more so with the Elves. Not to mention the unspoken rule in Orario that relationships beyond just friends between familias are frowned upon if not outright forbidden.

"Yang and I are friends, that's all," she says. A technical truth as that was all she wanted to be, would her waning emotions agree, if she had any say in the matter, yes they would.

Watching the duo leave her office Hephaestus began playing with the ring on her finger, it's been a few hours since she last spoke to her adventurers, last she checked they were planning for some big fight. She couldn't help but wonder what they were up to now.

---Dungeon Floor 100...

Stepping out of the tunnel leading into floor one-hundred. The Trifecta is immediately bombarded by the scent of a disgusting mixture of fumes, a thin veil of smoke and ash hovering just above the ground. Strange black stone with a thin layer of ash and green power lay below their feet as the entire floor looked like a scorched warzone.

Looking up and round at the vastness of the boss room, they could easily tell this was the same size if not a bit larger than Orario. They couldn't even see the other side, the ceiling appeared to be as far above them as the top floor of Babel from the bottom, a good three-thousand meters.

What was also terrifying was that, they couldn't see the bottom. Ahead of them was a gentle slope, showing the entire floor was shaped like a massive bowl built into the floor, leading down to where they could hear, and feel, a low and steady grumbling.

"Be ready," Yang says as they step forward.

With both Welf and Thalie having three magic longswords on their backs for this fight, they felt nervous but confident.

As they take a few more careful steps down the slope, a cacophony of roars shakes the room.

Instinctively they each hold their heads, but are unable to cover their ears because of their helmets.

As the roar rages on the ash and dust is pushed all the way to the far walls of the chamber, and as the Trifecta look up from the floor, they see the Monster-Rex of floor one-hundred.

One monster, five heads, ten eyes staring at them as if to pierce their souls. Their eyes flicker all over the monster to track all its moving parts as they grip their weapons tightly.

A massive hydra-like beast, a gargantuan red dragon with the neck and heads of five different dragons sprouting from its body. A low flowing energy spread out from its torso all the way up the necks.

This blue energy allows them to see and trace the veins of all the heads, Blue, Red, Black, White, and Green.

Almost having to crane their necks even on the high ground they look forward to see a monster almost a hundred meters long and just as tall with two absurd wings that wound struggle to lift the five heads off the floor.

They'd finally arrive at The Queen of Evil Chromatic Dragons, the dragon goddess Tiamat accepts her challengers...

END CHAPTER---

The final chapter of 2021, wild that this is my first writing project ever, and it's already been ten months since it began. Hope you're all enjoying the ride as much as I am :)