M.D.Syl
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Chapter 133 colorless
🕑 Added 2024-01-15 17:30:39 +0000 UTCAuthor notes:
This chapter is dedicated to kirra labas for supporting me on patreon right before the break.
Thank you!
Very much! <3
Was in a bit of a bad place and that pretty much made my day.
Chapter 133 New Threats IV.
Putting an innocent life in jeopardy,
Just to achieve your goals.
Is the evil act of the ruthless and cowardly.
The brave do not compromise.
The honorable do not compromise.
Life isn’t a gamble, life is sacred.
Brigit, the Lady of Life.
Still drowsy from my meditation, I hug Kolag as he helps me stand up. “Thanks… any ideas when this assassin will be here?”
“A few minutes, could be now! I ran as fast as I could.” He looks all around, surveying my room.
“I see, how long did I meditate?” I ask, massaging my throat and feeling the pulse of mana in my neck. I am hungry, and tired.
“Today is Rakisha (September) the eighteenth. It’s been three weeks,” comes the echoing reply. His hand glides on the arming sword at his hips.
{28} Rakisha (September) the 18th.
Uh... I’ve been in a trance for three weeks… how?! I didn’t even notice the time! I was so stuck in my own fantasies, but there was something else, something that lured me deep into my head… What was that? I wonder if it’s this thing’s soul… I need to test it without a soul in my blood, see if I can still go that deep, or if I need a soul for that… Either way… that’s the longest I’ve ever been in middle meditation… I’m getting better at this… it’s a cause for a celebration… “Why didn’t you wake me up for our weekly mee…”
“Watch out!”
Kolag pushes me aside, almost knocking me clean off my feet. By the time I regain my composure, a trio of throwing daggers have rebounded crisply off his armor with a sharp chorus of metallic clings.
“Tsk…” A feminine figure on the windowsill jumps out.
Frowning, I wrap my belt around my waist and grab handful of rose petals from my pouch. “Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! lah shitol ni latsa lah, fel ka’am J’an nia kent.” <Gravity, I command you! you will give me to defy you, and move as I want.> A violet speck of light darts out from the purplish cloud that appears around my waist.
I fly out of my window after the woman, she runs on the palace’s roof toward a rope at the edge of it. The sun is setting at the distance, and if I was running right behind her it’d be in my eyes. But since I’m flying above, it’s at the wrong angle to blind me.
I point at the woman. “Hod myrsha!” <Ground pull!>
I hope to triple her gravity and make her fall down, but nothing happens. I stare wide eyed. She keeps running, as if my spell doesn’t affect her at all. She reaches the rope and disappears behind the edge of the rooftop.
Kolag jumps out of the window, running after her with loud metallic stomps.
Must be iron! I fly above her. “Fotyr folo!” <Firefly!> My fiery arrows are easy to aim since she moves down in a direct line. But to my surprise, the bolts disappears slightly before it reaches her. She must have an item that nullify magic! This isn’t iron, my firefly would hit someone wearing iron. This has to be glass or jade!
The hooded woman reaches the lower wooden rooftop of the stables, and runs toward its edge. She spins and toss a metallic object my way.
I dodge, it’s easy to do with my flying speed.
Kolag leaps off the ledge, and lands between the woman and her next rope with a loud crack. The lower wooden roof breaks under his feet, and he falls down into the stables below to the loud neighing of the horses underneath. The woman steps back to avoid the collapsed section.
“Latsa.” <Lift.> I take out three arrowheads from my belt with ‘Minor Telekinesis’ and “Kushgari yefa!” <Metal fly!> I hurl them all in three possible dodging points.
She turns, bending her body and twisting. She moves her hands around wildly, dodging and deflecting my arrowheads.
She looks up. A pair of red eyes glare at me behind a black cloth mask.
The world slows down.
It turns dull.
Everything blurs.
Nothing...
Nothing...
Nothing!
DODGE!
I wake up with a gasp, a sharp object a centimeter from my face. Too close for my barrier magic. “Ritsa!” <Repulse!> I shout while dodging desperately. The steel dagger is not thrown away by my ‘Repulse’, it leaves a burning scratch on my cheek and hits the wall behind me, a flock of red hair floating down. What on hells was that?!
“Tsk…” The woman jumps to the next rope that leads down to the palace’s yard.
I fly above her “Nimuwal!” <Water unlimited!> My water jet floods her rope but when it reaches her, it disappears. I fly lower. “Rial aluwe ri!” <Cold surface freeze!> I cast the amplified mastered instant freeze I trained. The rest of the water jet freezes solid and drops on her head. But it breaks and melts before it reaches her.
The liquified air does not disappear, but there's not enough of it. It leaves small patches of frost on her black leather, and I catch a glimpse of her skin on her shoulder. The vapors rising from her remind me of acid, but it's clearly just water and air. Snakes! Snakes!
She lets the rope go and jumps down, rolling on the ground to pad her fall.
“Rinim ril shariss!” <Ice sharp fly!> The remaining ice below me forms a pair of spikes, and I send them flying in her direction.
The hooded figure doesn’t even dodge, the ice melts before it reaches her. What’s going on?! Why is my magic not working?! It’s ice! It’s physical!
A group of guards hurry to block her way. She runs toward them, her form blurring. She parries a spear shaft with a dagger and closes the distance before the confused guard can even blink. She slashes his throat and turns his body around to block a stab from another guard.
Maybe only material not created by magic can hit her? She did dodge the copper bolts… I fly above her and send another hail of arrowheads her way. “Kushgari yefa!” <Metal fly!>
She catches another guards and uses him as a meat shield to block the arrow heads, then drops the lifeless man to the bloodied dirt.
“Tans fe-lasiuak." <Loud words.>
"Move away from her!”
I call to my guards from above, and they scatter on my order. I fly downward, and spot Berthold in the assassin’s way. He just stands there as if his feet are buried underground, mouth agape. He’s unarmed in casual wear, not prepared for this chaos.
The assassin catches him as a hostage and holds a dagger to his throat. Her red eyes glaring at me behind her cloth mask, not glowing this time.
I lift a pair of spears with my mind and look at her, avoiding her red eyes, just in case. “Tell me who hired you, and I’ll let you go.” My eyes focus on the black dagger against Berthold's bulging neck bump.
She presses the dagger against Berthold’s throat. Her other hand releases him, placed on his lower back. “You’re not making the demands here, not if you want this man to live!” Her low voice is muffled by the cloth, and her head is hidden behind Berthold’s shoulder.
Berthold squeezes the assassin’s wrist, and pull away the dagger from his throat by sheer strength. The assassin lets out a grunt. A moment later Berthold arches in pain, and a dark stain appears on his brown shirt at the right side of his abdomen. “So what will it be?” she asks as Kolag approaches with rushed metallic stomps, his claymore leaning on his shoulder. “He’ll bleed out soon,” she notes.
Apathy... I'll lose Berthold... It's fine... I never cared much about him... I push away any image I have of the short man happily weaving a tale near the campfire.
No! I won't have another Lezere! Doesn't matter how much I care!
It's fine... I need to learn how to deal with losses. The only way to practice is let him die...
The snakes?! He doesn't have to die! He's mine! He's not going to die! I won't allow it!
How am I even going to save him?
I narrow my eyes. “Fine. Go. I won’t pursue.”
She steps back dragging Berthold with her.
Oh no you don't! He's mine! Mine! “Let him go!”
“Tsk. If I let him go, I’m dead. He’s coming with me.” Her eyes glow dangerously red again.
“Not going to happen. If he goes with you, he’s dead, and in that case I can simply throw these spears and impale both you and him,” I state coldly. “Who hired you? Was it the King of Blue Cypress City?”
“Tsk, I know he’s valuable. I’ll call your bluff.” She fasten the dagger against the short man’s neck drawing a thin trail of blood from his throat. “He comes with me, or he dies!”
Oh lady, I’m not bluffing! If he goes with you he’s good as dead, and that’s not happening! “Ritsa!” <Repulse!> I send my first spear her way, I do not aim high, nor do I aim directly at her. This spear is supposed to miss, it’s supposed to make her react.
She dodges and pushes Berthold into my spear’s path. The spear impales the shocked Berthold right in his injured abdomen.
Ritsa! <Repulse!> “Kushgari yefa!” My second spear intercepts her dodging path, followed by my remaining bronze arrowheads. She spins and attempts to deflect the projectiles with her hands, but she’s not fast enough.
The assassin is thrown back with my spear in her chest, and gets impaled to the outer wall surrounding my palace. Gotchya!
Berthold!
“Inara! What the fuck are you doing?!” Kolag shouts angrily in Toml'a.
I float forward. Berthold gasps, looking at the spear protruding from his abdomen. Blue eyes wide as saucers, doubting reality. I try to pull the spear out of his stomach with a “Minor Telekinesis” cantrip. He grunts and collapses. I adjust my magic and pull the spear out, gently. A violent stream of blood gushes out from the wound, staining his pants and the grass.
Once the spear is out I feed him a healing potion. I’m lucky I didn’t hit his spine with this… It was supposed to miss, and it’s better than let her take him.
The wounds in Berthold’s abdomen close up slowly but at a visible rate. “Did you just throw a spear at me?” Berthold asks, dumbfounded.
“I guess I did… Sorry, it was supposed to miss, she pushed you into its path. I needed to get her away from you. I couldn’t let her take you. Are you alright?”
He nods rapidly, gulping visibly.
“Let Jolla take a look at you, just to be sure.” I pat his shoulder and hand him over to Kolag. I step toward the downed assassin as she attempts to pull the spear out of her breast with a grunt. She coughs, and I can see the blood stains on the dark cloth covering her face.
“My offer still stands, tell me who hired you. I’ll provide you with a healing potion, your life, and even a job. I won’t ask again.”
She tugs the cloth mask down and exposes her tanned face, she spits blood at my face. “Tsk… Venomous snakes in a jar…” Some of her curly dark hair falls out of the hood.
“I’m waiting…” I say, crossing my hands on my chest.
The woman leans her head backward against the wall, and close her red eyes. “Everyone dies one day,” she says, trying to convince herself.
“Yes, but you don’t have to die today. Tell me who hired you, you’re clearly skilled, and I’ll pay you double to work for me. Is dying really worth it? What will your death achieve?” I already have Ryon… but I wouldn’t mind another skilled assassin at my side… Even one bound by money… I hope I have the gold for it… She’s as good as Ryon, and she’s experienced at battling mages… Do I really want such a potential danger? I'll keep her under guard at first at least...
She gives me a bloodied smile. “I would’ve loved your offer, if only to get close to you and kill you. But I’m already dead. I will see you at the Silver River.” She chokes, white foam coming out of her mouth as her head collapses down on her chest.
She poisoned herself… oh no, you don’t! I cut my wrist, and move my hands at the right gestures casting the ‘Lesser Cure Poison’ spell. “Sefius, rod’e, mo’ento sho rod’eshil xsi si to sha sus mo’ento xsias. Sals si to xalias.” <Life, wood, focus all poison in this one’s body and force it out. Heed this one’s plea.>
The elementals show up in crimson and green clouds of smoke, but the moment they get close to the assassin, they disappear in a multicolored puff. Her slow heartbeat cease. With the bulging dark veins on her face, I figure she’s already dead. Damn it… her ability to nullify magic canceled my healing spell… What am I going to do now? How do I find who hired her? How did she nullify magic? Probably an object if it worked while she was in this condition… let’s see…
After a brief search through her series of pockets and bandoliers, I find a large amount of steel daggers and throwing weapons. I also find what I’ve been looking for. A smooth black rock, with a glowing myriad of colorful patterns on it. The colors swirl on the rock’s surface, and release a feint magical glow. Holding the object drains my mana slowly, and the colorful pattern pulses in rhythm with the drain, like an odd heartbeat.
Kolag triple checks Berthold until the short man pushes him away in annoyance. And only then, he turns to me. “What were you thinking?! What if the spear hit him in the heart?! Or the spine?!”
“And letting the assassin take him hostage was a better idea?” I frown at him. “He wouldn’t survive, you know.”
He steps toward me aggressively. “You don’t know that! We could’ve find him and…”
I fold my hands, refusing to step back from the approaching armored giant. “Could’ve should’ve would’ve. He’s alive now, isn’t he? And she’s dead. I’d rather risk hitting his heart than having another repeat of Lezere. I’d take a small risk of killing him myself, than finding him dead in a ditch somewhere and being helpless to do anything about it! Or used as a hostage for…”
Kolag shoves a metallic finger in my face. “You gambled with his life!!!”
"Oh and maybe you should gamble with my life and stab me again! For your opinions! I did it to save his snaking life! I risked my own life just as much to save him. Sometimes you have to take a risk to take action."
Kolag backs off as if I've impaled him with a spear too.
I step forward. "Say it! Say you regret waking me up. Say you wish I was dead right now! Say it!"
*~*~*
Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 91
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: connected: 41 neutral gems. Conversion ratio: elemental : neutral-3:1, neutral : elemental-1:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 34 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 17 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 25/26 gems
Water: Affinity 6: connected: 75 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 8 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 17 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 102/113 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream. Aria's Increased Voice.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freezem. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors. Hot Water Conjuration. Boiling Waterjet.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burstm. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield IIm. Imari’s Minor Telekinesism. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pullm. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.
Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.
Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Tukado's Pushb1x3. Tukado’s defense IIIb1x4m. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2m.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.
(Little letters by spell sides: m=mastered. a=advanced. b=bound spell, number near the b is how many gems of the mana pool binding the said spell takes.)
Focus capability: 21 patterns.
Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.
Personal Wealth: 965 Magic Gems.
Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
40g Rose petals.
10g Lavender petals.
10g Sowbread petals.
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 30/100. Unlocked.
Present Companions:
Kolag of house Befar.?
Jerro.
Sharlafyn Nettledew.
Berthold.?
Ryon.
Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
Nim <Water> 1/10
A'arkalu <Wolf Tongue> 4/10
Injuries and scars: Scratch on the cheek.
Curses: unknown extracted parasite, possibly bloodline related. Gone due to an unknown bloodline magic.
-
Kingdom’s treasury: 26,163 Golden Peas.
Kingdom’s citizen:
Red Cedar City: 3,609 adults. 1,654 children.
Apricot City: 1,877 adults. 504 children.
Total: 5,990 souls.
Kingdom's army: 123 Footmen. 16 Peacekeeper Knights. 500 Blood Spears.
Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Aisha?
Comments
M.D.Syl
Thanks! You have no idea how good it feels to hear something like this from a reader. I'm not posting this on R&R, because people will see it as an excuse over there. I've got some condition with my hands (from overworking them and typing too much.) This is the real reason for the break (and the decrease in my comments.) I got to the low point of thinking that nobody cares to read my work anyway and that I should stop uploading entirely to keep my hands functioning. Then you came along right before the break and proved me wrong. Not to worry. I'll probably just slow down my upload rate to once a week in order to work less.
kirra labas
There's no need to thank me, I genuinely think this is a great novel. In fact, I should be the one thanking you for dedicating this awesome chapter to me.
