Growth of Must-Save (4)

“So, I found the alchemists in that area…”

“Hmm, wait a minute. This goes above my authority. Follow me, and I will lead you to my superior.”

And that’s what the guild member of the Phoenix guild said as Louise’s party returned from the dungeon and made a report; then, surprisingly, the party was guided to the highest floor of the guild house. And there she was. The ice witch and one of the strongest beings in the dungeon city of Sherden: Eloa Von Serpe!

“It’s the guild master, Eloa Von Serpe.”

“He-he-hello…!”

Unexpectedly encountering the powerful figure, Renail replied with a quivering voice even though she wasn’t pointed out by her; then, she bowed her head. Eloa smiled lightly and offered them to sit.

“I heard that you brought important information. Have a seat.”

“Then excuse us…”

Such dignity and a remarkable aura befitted someone at the peak of the dungeon city, and the cold yet noble beauty added to that image. Of course, she was famous for her proud nature, and her posture was severe. Evan had requested her to leave a strong image on Louise’s party.

“Could you tell me once more about what happened in the dungeon?”

“Understood.”

Even Louise, who realized Eloa’s role, tensed up a bit as she started to talk. They encountered two alchemists in the undead dungeon who attacked the party, and when they were defeated, an unidentified man appeared and retrieved their bodies…the summary sounded simple, but Eloa maintained a serious look while she was listening to the story.

“As expected. I am now confident with that. The fact that cancer is growing in Sherden…”

“Cancer?”

“The reason why we requested your party to explore the undead dungeon was that we wanted to check if anything strange is happening inside that dungeon. Recently in the vicinity of Sherden…there has been a spotting of an unusually large number of undead.”

“The undead…?”

As Louise filled in the conversation, Eloa went with the flow and nodded her head in a serious way.

“Are you aware of the corrupted zone? It’s magic that keeps on creating the undead within a specific field. Precisely it’s a technique created through the combination of magic and alchemy…it was considered to be lost at one time.”

But discoveries had been made recently outside the city that someone tried to recreate. With the Phoenix Guild in the key role, large guilds felt suspicious. They secretly reported it to the Knight-Commander of Astray, Evan D. Sherden, intending to reveal the dark forces within Sherden through their active searches.

“I didn’t know such things were happening in this city…”

“So, it was the black magic. Disgusting bastards, the nameless god will never forgive them.”

“I am sincerely sorry your party had to get involved in this mess.”

“No.”

Louise stopped at Eloa at the agreed timing.

“They were after us anyways. There were numerous times that we’ve encountered them accidentally even before…so; there’s no need for you to apologize. But if possible, we’d like to acquire detailed information.”

“Information. Can I take that as your party’s intention to stand against them officially?”

Louise exchanged glances with each of her party members as she heard Eloa’s question. Enoch, who was brimming with faith as the priest of the party, nodded like there was nothing to ask—as if he officially joined the party—while Renail held onto Save’s sleeve with a slightly worried expression, and Save held Renail’s hand slightly before answering in a firm voice.

“All things will go as He planned. We just follow it.”

“Yes, our party made a decision.”

“Good; if everyone is willing, then I will provide my complete support. But before we do so, I must introduce you to a few people.”

“People?”

“They have Master Evan’s support, and I believe it’s better you work alongside them.”

Eloa signaled by clapping her hands; the back door opened wide, and two girls came out. Evan chuckled as he observed through the orb. It’s because they were also knights of Astray under Evan, just like the man they had encountered a while ago!

“Huhuhu, it must have been troublesome coming all the way here! From now on, the Holy Knight of the Vassal God, Lan, will aid you guys!”

“Idiot, that’s not our line.”

“Argh…these children will work with you guys from now on. They are very young, so ignore their unintelligible mumbo-jumbo. Their skills are unparalleled so that you can trust them in combat.”

“Uh, hmm…”

Although they talked foolishly, their skills were certain. Taken care of by Evan at a very young age to get the elite course education, they were the young heroes who became the holy knight and the priest of the Vassal God as they succeeded Aria’s path, one of the many heroes who saved the continent in the past! They were Lin and Lan of Astray’s junior group.

“So, these kids can wield the power of the Vassal God? I’ve seen too many imposters who pretend to be priests of the Vassal God, so I can’t trust them.”

Everyone who remembers those that saved the continent a few decades ago has high regard for the priest of the Vassal God. Even other priests held the priests of the Vassal God in high esteem at the same time they competed with them. And this was the same for Enoch, a priest of the nameless god. The joining of the child priests of the Vassal God wasn’t pleasant for one who promised to spread the fame of the nameless god by taking part in this party.

“Old man, are you also a priest?”

“O-o-o-old man!”

“Hey, Lan! You’re not supposed to call old people old in their presence!”

“Argh!”

Despite Enoch being in his twenties, his beard became bushy if he forgot to shave even for a day, unlike Raihan, who has a smooth babyface, if he shaved just once a week! Lin cast holy magic on Enoch as he became confused by the harmless attacks from Lan.

“Are you all right, old man?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…this surely is the holy power of the Vassal God.”

Although Lin was also calling him an old man despite her stopping Lan from saying it, Enoch decided not to worry about it.

“Everyone, just trust us and follow us from now on!”

“We will defeat all those black magicians!”

Although some damages were done during the recruiting process, all things went smoothly. As Lin and Lan were accepted into the party despite their unnatural and vague dialogues, the party was now composed of six members. And among the six, two were pure priests, and one was a holy knight, meaning a monstrous party had been formed.

“If we were to train on teamwork like this, we would make for the best undead response team.”

“Anyway, I know that you guys have only cleared up to the 20th floor…I’d like to send you to the dungeon right away, but there are a bunch of things to be done outside.”

“Just leave them to us.”

It was to buy some time in order to train Lucid and let him join, but Save, who knew nothing about it, replied in a firm voice. He was considering that this entire matter was a test given by Evan, knowing that Lin and Lan had the same affiliation as Jhin.

‘He probably wants me to lead this case. The disciple who pretends to be evil and the ones who came to help me are all guiding me to His will…no matter what ending it may give me, I will achieve what He wants.’

The schemer behind the act, the one that didn’t see through the entire plot and got involved hopelessly, and the one who willingly wanted to play with the flow despite the fact that he knew the act is in place; the scenario of Sherden was gradually coming to a chaotic conclusion.

“Great, I’m going to brag to that idiot Jhin!”

“You’re not supposed to go there now!”

* * *

Meanwhile, Shine was teaching the new student the skills that all thieves must learn. Not all skills could be taught in a short span of time, so there was no choice but to focus on a disguise and searching.

“Good, then we’ll start searching from now on.”

“Yes, teacher!”

The best method to improve the thief’s skill was hide-and-seek. It was now Shine’s turn to find Lucid, but he had already faced hardships. Surely, he could hear him, but there was no way of knowing the location of the voice.

‘What kind of monster did Master bring…?’

Shine thought Lucid would find the basic training difficult at his age, and that was a serious misjudgment. Although he didn’t receive proper training as a thief, Lucid was a rare expert of disguise as he constantly developed his unique skills. Moreover, as he followed Evan, he was able to face his unique skills, and thanks to the effect of his job as the ‘guide,’ his growth amplified, which led to his hiding skills making progress every moment.

‘But I can’t yield just because I can’t find him already…! Hey, cooperate with me.’

[Really, Shine can’t go on without me.]

In the end, Shine released the seal of his ability. All things had shadows, and he was able to trace them with the help from Ghost Lady Christina. Christina could activate her ability through the ghost bracelet whenever she wanted to without manifesting her corporeal form, so one could say it was Shine’s ability. If that weren’t the case, he wouldn’t have gotten the strange class called ‘Companion of the Shadow’ as his secondary.

‘I’ll be questioned to death if Asha finds out, so I will never mention the job’s name…’

Shine was able to find Lucid. As Shine stepped on his slightly protruded shadow and started a conversation, Lucid startled.

“I didn’t even see you moving.”

“Disguise isn’t all about hiding. Deceiving a person to think that he is being watched while achieving the goal by moving unnoticed, that level is what all thieves must reach.”

“Deceiving another to feel that he is being watched…I’ll keep that in mind, teacher!”

Shine just chattered whatever he could, but Lucid’s eyes were glowing as if he were deeply impressed. Shine blustered more as he was a bit excited.

“And the way you hid your shadow was immature. Try to think about what a true disguise is.”

“Understood!”

[You barely found him with my help…what if he is able to hide in the shadows completely?]

‘Then there’s nothing to teach him.’

It was the right answer. A person who couldn’t be found by Shine and Christina didn’t need lessons. And since being caught up in just one week from teaching was too hurtful to his pride, Shine decided to stop the disguise training for now and move onto the next level.

“We shall train with weaponry.”

“Yes, I’ve done my best for the basics!”

It would’ve been better if Lucid knew how to wield dual-daggers like Shine, but it seemed that his weaponry was slightly in limbo as he was called the Silent Fake Knight in games. His aptitude was a short sword, precisely a bollock dagger. It had a wide grip with a long but thin blade. It was a weapon that resembled an ice pick that focused on killing the enemies by stabbing. Since slicing wasn’t an option, only stabbing and cutting were two forms of an attack.

“The Heavenly Destruction Stance taught by the Commander was also fun!”

“Oh, the Heavenly Destruction Stance. Can you show me?”

“Yes!”

The Heavenly Destruction Stance of a dagger gave the most skill experience among all basic combat stances specialized for certain weapons like the Hive Demolition of the dual dagger. Like the Hive Demolition, canceling training was possible, and, of course, the sky and the ground didn’t get destroyed.

“Haaaaah, argh!”

Seven consecutive thrusts to the front at first, but this thrusting stance can be canceled with a flick of a finger. It’s a technique where, after a total of seven flicks were done, the user leaps and uses a reverse grip in order to stab it into the enemy’s head with all his might, but somehow striking the dagger from below while bending the knees was also considered to be the right movement. Perhaps there were some useless movements that were supposed to be added to the Heavenly Destruction Stance but excluding them at the last phase might have led to the subtle form, and since canceling existed here as well, the movement was completed by holding the dagger tight then flicking the pinkie once while bending the knee a bit.

“It’s a complicated move compared to the Hive Demolition. And it becomes harder as the cancel moves get added multiple times in between…”

“But once you get used to it, it’s way easier than the completed move!”

“Well, it’s because the canceling is simple.”

“And it gradually becomes easier to wield a dagger, so it’s fun too!”

[What a stupid yet optimistic view…]

Lucid was already ecstatic because people recognized and talked to him. If Shine were to read his innermost feelings, he might have shed a tear.

“I want to become stronger fast and make new friends!”

“Yes, and to do so, let’s succeed in freely controlling the unique skill.”

Like everyone else who was involved with Evan—someone who showed exceptional growth this time—a boy who could be the last member of the sub-party was progressing swiftly.