As the meeting between the powerful and elite continues, the Adamantium Party comes to a small shop in a dark alleyway South of the city. A small sign that says "All Seeker" with an arrow pointing down to a staircase that leads to a small basement.
The party was reluctant to go in, it was as shady as it could get. Though people say this is a good place to find answers to your questions.
"I guess this is what the Baker says can find a way. Bahamut, do you sense anything?"
"I sense not much aside from a few objects that have Divine aura."
"Even the Merchants say that this person has the power to see weaknesses through "Divine" eyes."
"The shopkeeper told me the person there is a Demon of sorts."
"This is crazy, but the kids told me that this could be real. As they see people exit it before their lives change."
"Just as my Master says, here goes nothing."
The party goes down the stairs that leads to the shop, when Grifvet opens the door, the Bell trap rings and they can see a tall woman inside it. She seems to be wearing a black Witch's robe, and inside the robe is a visibly jet black gown though there's a certain type of elegance that comes off her. Her shop's atmosphere was heavy but also welcoming. It has a strange sense of home to it, as if she's been living there for quite some time now. Her mature voice rings out in the shop and a tall beautiful woman in high heels shows herself.
"Hello dear Adventurers, welcome to the shop of "All Seeker" for those who seek something, can find it here. How may I help?"
Ingraine was quick, immediately talking to the curvy woman.
"We'd like to ask you a question. Our friend here Bahamut needs some advice on dealing with a problem."
"I see, I can also sense feint Divination with your Dragon friend. I assume it's a unique type of Dragon?"
Bahamut's also mature, soft motherly female voice rings out.
"Yes, you could say I'm a very special type of Dragon. I've reached a point where only very few could be like me and that dress of yours... I like your taste."
"Ah, I see. Well I do not ask my client for their more personal information unless needed. Please, do sit down and thank you, for the compliment."
The Witch sits down on a table with a Magic Crystal in the middle. Grifvet picks up the little Bahamut and sets her down near it.
"I see, it's my first time getting a request from a true Dragon. I hope this gets interesting."
"What thou meant by True Dragon?"
The Witch takes a few seconds to stare at the small Black Dragon, she notices her Golden eyes and her scales are not normal. It's sturdier than the other Dragons she sees flying on about and is shiny and most of all, she has four legs. Something only said in the Legends of old.
"A true Dragon is what I call those of the Dragon race who have never left their true form in exchange for humans... or those who had risen beyond that and became Godlike."
"Ah yes, I have indeed risen to such levels, but I have strict orders from my Master to not use all of my powers and divinity. Hence, this more pathetic form. Let me introduce thyself. I am Bahamut, companion and friend of my Master Knight-General Paul of Eldwood. The Dragon of the Void, the almighty one that roams the Abyss and guides lost souls to whence they belong. Capable of great Unmaking and Destruction."
"I am the great witch of Grandure, former Head Magician of the Mage Corps Leeyah Tiechbaum, I once served many years ago for the army of Sir James. I was one of their head Magicians till I delved deep into Demonology and got kicked out of my Institution and my title stripped. I was then branded as a Witch by my Colleagues."
"Well, I'm happy to know you're not lying to me. Though I feel a great sense of melancholy and sadness... with regret? In your heart, I shall not dig for it now for I have urgent matters to discuss."
The party members could only stand in amazement as the two beings conversed with their deep womanly voices, Pierence and Ingraine though, began to look around the shop, picking up and checking the various sorts of magical items and artifacts. Grifvet though is staring at a Genie Lamp.
"If anything catches your eyes, please do tell me. Many of the things in this shop came from my days in the army."
"Oh, of course. You seemed to have been through a lot of places."
"Ehehehe, I just like to travel."
Bahamut then breathes in and out, readying herself to explain everything.
"Now back to our conversation, I must find a way to unseal my Master without alerting the great mages. You see, they were seen as an unending force that could kill everyone, and after coming here were frozen." She went on about how before it, they were at war against Breznick, Keyneth and Libertus. Defeating the Sword Saint and making her run.
"He's very powerful, having resistances and magical seals and blessings to defend himself from such attacks. But the Great Mages that attacked him and his friends were more than powerful. I think they were the most proficient out of everyone."
"The problem is, even if you were to say... a God. You wouldn't still be able to just silently wish it away with giant amounts of Mana. It'll still get detected. That is a problem, if what you said is true, then you must use a certain item to stop that. Destroying the seal will be easy if what you said is true about your Masters capabilities." She starts touching the Crystal Ball, pouring a bit of mana into it.
"The only method you can rout this is to prevent them from teleporting in. But seeing how they used such powerful magic, I recommend maybe overloading it? The use of those seals are usually done by mounting curses and spells on top of each other. If it's such a large place and holding down such powerful people with natural resistances. All that one needs to do is to nudge it for it to collapse. Now, about stopping them from teleporting in."
"Such a device exists within these lands?"
"On the top of the shelf, there on the right. You see that Staff?"
Grifvet looks at where she was pointing and sees a Staff made out of Silver with a strange Crystal on it.
"Yes, that one."
"That's a very rare Crystal. That must be expensive." Eattare being a Magical user herself knows how staff work and the crystals it uses to project magic.
Leeyah then falls silent in thought.
"Has something come to your mind Miss?"
"Little Dragon, tell me. Are you more than what you're showing right now?"
"And why should I answer this?"
"If you answer my question, I shall give that expensive staff to you for free. Not only that, I can assure you its capabilities will prevent any creature from teleporting in. Though to do it proficiently, you must first be able to hold it and direct your Mana into it, turning the Spatial Magic into proportions way too big for any human to conjure. Do that, and then send a surge of Mana into your Lord's frozen body and watch it increase his resistances and his friends, which will crumble the seal."
"I see, well. I'm a Dragon God. An Ancient Black Dragon, founder of the lineage of Volcanic Red and Black armored Dragons."
"I knew it! It's not everyday you see a talking Dragon. Then this, come back here after you've freed your master. I have a job for you to do. I'm sure though as a Dragon God, you can turn into a human. The job I have for you will be your form of payment."
"Ugh... I do not have currency with me... it seems that I have no choice and my human form has long been destroyed by an army of humans that sieged my Labyrinth."
Ingraine carrying most of their Coins asks for the price instead.
"How much is the Spatial Magic Staff?"
"About Four thousand Aeralous Gold at least. Ten thousand if I were to sell it to a Museum."
The group stops a bit and Grifvet's jaw drops.
"Ohhh... that's expensive..."
Ingraine then teases Eattare.
"Eattare! Call your Dad!"
"I am not!"
Bahamut after sighing a bit looks back at the Witch.
"No need, I'll make the deal. This has become a problem."
"I'm sure you can do it. You're a Dragon God after all."
"Isn't there any other way to use this Staff? I would rather not turn into a human."
"Is your Lord important to you?"
"I already know where this is going. Okay, okay. It seems that I'll be borrowing more magic than I have to." Bahamut then lowers her head. "I can do it, but I must make sure these mortals are far, rebirthing my human form will take a great stress of the soil and the land, I must be careful and not suck the Mana out of their very souls... Hmmm..."
Defeated, Bahamut flies back to Grifvet's shoulder and rests. Eattare, being the tall girl that she is, grabs the Staff from the top of the shelf.
The party thanks the Witch with a bow and heads off to the North gate. Eattare, being the Party's most proficient magician, she's in charge of keeping the staff safe. As they exited the shop, they once again heard commotion on the main street. They look and it's the carriages of the various heads of states and generals that have attended the meeting. All rapidly speeding off of the Kingdom and back to their respective lands. The commoners are gossiping with each other that war is upon them once again and it'll be big.
"It seems that we must hurry before they make their move." Ingraine starts to look worried as the situation continually falls and war looms.
"Alright! Let's go!" With excitement, Grifvet walks into the alleyway, heading to the North gate.
The party was infected by his courage and followed him. Ingraine could only smile at her party members, headed to the derelict city. Bahamut could only watch as the enemy of her Lord ran past her in the main street.
"I suggest we walk for a few minutes and I shall transform myself into my bigger form. I do not recommend we take the carriages. It's gonna take far too long."
"Woho! Gonna ride again on top of a big dragon! I feel like we're now part of the tales of the old!"
Ingraine hops around, feeling like a Hero from the stories she reads and Pierence, being the young lad that he is, fixes his leather armor and his hat with an Eagle's feather. Dusting off his shoulders.
"I can't believe I'm actually agreeing with you guys here. I just hope that we can come back alive and tell our parents of our exploits. It's been many years since we formed this party. Looking back, I'm happy that I found you guys."
"Don't be like that, we will return alive. We have Bahamut here to protect us and even maybe her Master!"
"I guess so. But Bahamut, you better make sure your Lord isn't some Evil being or something."
Bahamut sighs and has a lazy look on her eyes.
"I have said before, they wear Evil as a sleeve, but in reality, they're Neutral to all things."
"Why wear Evil when you can wear Good?"
"I never knew why myself, but my Master and his friends would always say that Evil tends to look cooler."
"That's a very shallow way to look at it."
"They weren't really that smart..."
Ingraine was already way ahead of them, gesturing for the group to come to her.
"Guys, let's go! Let us not waste time!"
Ingraine tugs Pierence to make haste and runs to the North gate. Bahamut flies along with them. After running for a few minutes, they arrived at the North Gate. Most of the commotion had already settled down and the gate guards were letting people in and out. They got out without a hitch and outside, they regrouped and started walking to the woods. After a few minutes and the city's wall out of sight, they looked for an open spot.
As the Sun was setting, they found a lake. It was a beautiful sight, as the Sun was setting behind it, the tall trees covered its half and its rays pierce through the leaves. The lake had a very solemn and peaceful atmosphere.
"This! Everyone stop, I'll change into a bigger form."
Bahamut spreads her wings and climbs a little bit, she then performs a head dive into the water, looking like the tip of an arrow. She strikes the lake with good momentum. After a few seconds, the liquid started overflowing and suddenly, she appeared out of the water, heads first. This form of hers is easily one hundred feet tall. Her wet armored scale shines like a mirror as the setting Sun's rays bounce off it.
The party members could only look in awe with the magnificent sight that was beholden in front of them. Bahamut then stands on her four feet. Her wings rose above the water and she spread it, splashing even more water to the party members. The wingspan was enough to cover the lake's width and her immense figure was intimidating, her Golden Dragon eyes shining as it looked down upon the small humans. Her voice was even deeper this time and it was mixed with some light roaring.
"Come humans, we must get there before they do."
Her voice was precise and surgical. She turns to the left and drops her right wing, it was strong enough to become a solid walkway. The party members hurriedly run to her back where her sharp spine and scale are aligned evenly and perfectly.
"Hold onto something, I'm about to fly."
Just as she said that, Eattare casts gravity magic on everyone, pinning them down on her. Her wings started flapping, its down wash was so powerful the water on top of the lake was getting thrown into the surrounding forestry. From afar, the large Dragon was an image to behold as it rose from the treelines and into the sky.
Due to her wings' immense wingspan, she was able to reach speeds of up to one hundred miles or more, but for the sake of her riders, she kept her speed at no more than 70 miles per hour. Though at that speed, the Kingdom of Meilurious which was almost one thousand and five hundred miles away could be reached within 24 hours if she was to only take breaks for the party members.
As the flight continued, Bahamut slowly climbed higher and higher, till reaching a five thousand feet or so. The party was in a daze the entire time, looking down on the villages, farms and towns they'd pass. All looking tiny and small. Bahamut though, she tries her best to hug the clouds and avoid the eyes of the people. Though the setting Sun meant many are preparing to head home or are already home. She continued to flap her wings, steadily heading North. As the Sun disappears and darkness rises, the air from such feet becomes very cold. Using her magic, Bahamut heats up her metallic like scales. Just enough to keep the adventurers in good temperature the entire ride to the abandoned city.
As the night sky took its place, Ingraine and Eattare could only look in awe of the starry sky above them. Though they've seen it thousands of times already, they never saw it at such a height where the night sky was as clear as day while Grifvet and Pierence had their mouths open, just mesmerized by the sight.
"Wow, if only I could stay in this moment forever."
"Yea, you tell me. I always looked at the night sky, I always thought of it as beautiful, but I never knew it could look even better."
Bahamut knows that if she continues flying at her pace, she could reach the outskirts of the city at about Three o'clock in the afternoon. The party members were slowly getting sleepy, as the calming wind and the hot scales of Bahamut gave them a good atmosphere to sleep calmly. The members put their sleeping mats in between Bahamut's sharp spines that're pointing upwards. Though the party was deep in sleep, Bahamut was determined to fly back to her Master and unseal him.
After almost seven hours of non-stop flight, the Sun was already high above the horizon when the party members were awakened. Ingraine was already energetic and ready to go while Eattare and Grifvet were still not in the mood to rise. Pierence on the other hand was still deep in sleep. Seeing this, Ingraine walks up the Bahamut's head. Sensing this, the Dragon soars a bit. Straightening her body so that Ingraine could walk up to the top of her head.
"What is it?"
"Thank you so much for letting us experience this."
"Cherish it, for even the Elves lifespan is but a blink to my kind."
"You said that people back in your world hated each other much. Have you ever found out why? If everyone was so powerful, why did they need to fight?"
"Many of them have many different views of the world. my Master included. The weapons they made were sure to bring power to the more unlucky people, but at the same time, powerful and insane magic overshadowed the use of their machines. It was all about power, and scaling it by whatever means necessary to survive."
"I guess with so many powerful people, many would rather focus on gaining such power than help each other out."
"Though not even my Master's method was good. They used war and violence to sell their creations and machinations. In the end, they only got a few interested buyers but he told me they were all very powerful. One being the Men of the Woods."
"At least your Lord and his friends weren't after more power."
"They have no reason to. For them, this is the way to survive by selling weapons. The firearms they call it, were powerful, precise and dangerous. But a proficient general could easily beat them as shown on their first defeat. Magic could still take them on."
"So your Lord's faction already tried to show their firearms and machines?"
"Yes, though many were amazed by the achievement. Powerful Knights and Mages could easily defeat their machines. Many were melted, some crushed with powerful earth magic. Though their firearms were proficient, some Knight armor was able to completely deflect its shots. Thou was there, on their final stand. Castle Eldwood. Even to this day, its courtyard has the scars of that battle."
"But how come people are so afraid of them? If they were able to be defeated easily, what's the point?"
"It's the untold power of their technology that grew the fear. At first, they were slaughtering the invading Kingdoms. But after some thinking, they managed to outsmart and adapt quickly to the situation. They used the elements to confuse the machines, sat many alight and combined water magic also proved difficult to their metal ships."
"So they were winning at first?"
"Yes, their biggest advantage was the sheer range of their metal birds. It was able to lay waste to the first armies and clear the skies of fellow Dragons. But the human and humanoid Generals quickly knew of this and used stealth magic and other methods to get around them."
"And now they returned?"
"Indeed, this time they had built their tactics and managed to drive off the Sword Saint without problem from their gray city."
"That's the place we're headed to right?"
"Mhm."
As the two continue to converse, Eattare, Pierence and Grifvet are preparing Breakfast from the supplies they have left. They thought their trip to the forest of Treuat was gonna be multiple days, so they had extra rations left.
"Ingraine! Morning Food's ready!"
"Okay Grif!"
Bahamut once again soars, straightening her body as Ingraine crosses her neck safely and sits down with the others.
After a while, afternoon reaches and just as Bahamut expected. They'll reach the abandoned city around Three O'clock. She lowers her altitude to about a thousand feet, and on the horizon, they can see the abandoned city. The landscape around it was Ice and Snow. They could see Demonic beings roaming about and flying. It varied from Troglodytes, to the disformed Eldritch Mages and Abyssal Wolves crawling the vegetation that was left.
Bahamut senses this and flies around the territory, the members of the party readying themselves for the action. They flew around the are more and Bahamut makes the decision to land on the forest next to the abandoned city's frozen airport.
"I'll open a clearing to the forest next to my Master's headquarters!"
"Mhm! We're ready!"
Bahamut opens her mouth and lets out an immense fire breath. Even from the height of a thousand feet, her fire breath was able to be concentrated to the forest next to the airport. The fire was so powerful that the nearby ice and snow started melting from its immense heat. Bahamut senses that there's more Demonic beasts and she powers her fire breath even more, turning the Yellow to Orange colour into light blue. It becomes even more concentrated, looking like a giant laser coming down from above.
"Yea! That should shock them!"
"I think that's enough, we should be able to take on the remnants."
"Hold onto something. I'll start diving."
After holding into something, Bahamut performs a head on dive. The sheer speed she got from it almost threw off Eattare and the Spatial Magic restricting Staff. Her massive legs hit dead center in the opening she burned. The party members quickly got off her by sliding the wings.
"Stay a bit far from me. I'll transform into my human form."
"Okay guys, you heard her. Follow me, there's a big rock right there." Pierence points to the right of Bahamut, the big rock was enough to accommodate them.
Bahamut waits for them to get behind it and starts her transformation. Great lightning struck her body and it started transmutating into a human form. The surrounding trees started to die, even the life from the soil disappeared and the snow thawed as the Mana from almost everything around her was completely sucked dry. After a few seconds, Eattare peeks out of the rock and sees that Bahamut has successfully turned into a human. Her form was an extremely tall woman with jet black hair, straight bangs with long side bangs that reached her knees, while her long straight hair looked like they were about to touch the ground. Her golden eyes shine through the smoke and she immediately turns her attention to the party members hiding behind the rock.
"Wow, she's beautiful..."
"And tall!"
"Eattare, prepare to hand her the staff. Let's get to work."
"Look at her Knight armor! What is it made out of? Looks like molten rock and steel and is that a gown underneath it?"
Bahamut immediately starts walking to them, she senses that the seal holding her Lord is indeed overloading from the Debuffs and Resistances the players have after her sudden action of taking the Mana off the surroundings, and killing the life out of a ten meter circle and the trees a bit far from it. With this she takes the staff from Eattare.
"Go inside their headquarters. In the West of it, there should be a small hallway, that's where they're holding their meeting. I'll aid you, but I won't be able to release all of my powers."
"No problem. We know what we're doing."
Bahamut takes the staff, she holds it with her two arms and casts Spatial Restriction. The range was immense, immense enough to prevent the Great Mages from simply teleporting into their surroundings. With the staff activated, she slings it to her back and unsheathes her ancient longsword. The weapon was like no other, shining forever and seemingly made out of a strange metal that is yet to be seen. "Hmph, even when I already took the Mana from this area, I still don't have enough."
"Enjoy the sight of my face without a veil, not even my Master has seen me without it. Now, let us go forth!"
The party headed to the airport, as they exited the burned area they encountered some Abyssal Wolves. These wolves were armored and their red eyes cast Intimidation. Though the party members were high enough to not be affected by it, they could feel the danger these beasts could do in numbers. They prepare themselves for their attack.
Two immediately come at them, Pierence takes them out with specialized Divine Arrows, ornate by the Holy See. It burns them and turns the two into ashes. Four then come from their left and right. Eattare casts speed on Grifvet and Ingraine, giving them the leg up to dodge and slash the attacking wolves. Another four appeared in front of them, blocking the edge of the forest where it leads straight into the airport parking lot.
Bahamut performs a quick slash even though the Abyssal wolves were still far, her sword swing was so fast that you wouldn't even notice she swung if it weren't from the air that was obviously distorted. All of the sudden, a long oval shaped fiery ball comes out milliseconds after. It burns everything that was in front. The fireball continued till it hit some frozen military trucks parked on the road outside the terminal parking lot.
They quickly run to the snowy parking lot. Encountering frozen skeleton soldiers, Pierence and Grifvet were hit by sheer fear of seeing these undead humans. Wearing uniforms that have the pattern of the land and strange metal tubes. More Abyssal Wolves come out of the forest behind them, and one large wolf shows itself. Revealing a massive armored hide and heterochromatic eyes that shines. Bahamut notices its power, it was above the party members. As they were running through the parking lot, she stopped running and turned around. Ingraine notices this and stops too.
"Don't stop! Keep going! I'll take this one on."
Seeing the sheer courage in Bahamut's eyes, she could only nod in respect and catch up with Eattare. Bahamut then casts numerous spells on her and her sword. The blade then catches fire of orange and blue. As the party members were weaving through the parked military vehicles in the parking lot, they could hear Bahamut's swings and slashes and the pained roars of the Wolves. As the party nears the Terminal, they could see a pack of Reformed Vultures take off from the airport and start diving to them after gaining altitude. Just as these large rotting Vultures with beaks and talons as sharp as swords were about to grab Pierence who was jumping from the rooftops of the vehicles, Bahamut quickly showed up with her dragonic wings in full spread. Her longsword quickly cuts through the Vulture, tearing its lower part clean.
She passes through Pierence and her eyes shine as she uses her mana to fight the powerful creatures feeding off of the undead energy used by Eldwood to power their army. The party safely enters the terminal and starts their search for the Security Wing.
Far away, one of the great mages appears before Elizabeth who was in her office in the Castle of Nickols. The main headquarters of the Kingdom of Breznick.
"It has happened hasn't it?"
"It has. I suggest you start your march there now."
"I get it that they have used some sort of magic preventing you from teleporting right to them."
"Not only that, they seemed to have a Dragon God."
"Who are them? Soldiers? Cultists?"
"More so, mid-level native adventurers with the help of Bahamut. The Chinese New Year Event Dragon God."
"I want to sigh right now but it seems that I have to get up immediately."
"Yes, and call everyone. This is a Dragon God we're talking about. We might have built strategies back then that could kill one within a day, but this is different now."
"I know."
Elizabeth stands up from her chair and exits the door. Heading to the main lobby to talk to the King of Breznick. She turns into a hallway with Victorian era styling and straight into the Throne room. She kneels before Breznick and speaks hastily.
"My King, some natives are trying to unseal the Knights of Eldwood."
"I told you, you don't need to bow. But as per right now. I think its better to hold back."
"But my King, it's now or never."
"I've already sent my Honor guards in the company of the one with the Hero skill. Sigured."
"But my King, what if the leader of Eldwood shows up. Even someone with such an unobtainable skill could get kill-"
"Do you not remember the player Kingdoms that once tried to take over the Holy Imperial Kingdom of Jude when this was all still a game? That NPC with the Hero skill was so powerful that entire player armies even with NPC Companions were laid to waste."
"Even though this is no longer a game, we must protect the natives. They don't know what they're getting themselves into."
"Then so be it. Look, these people don't even like the rest of us. We're invaders, strangers, that have suddenly appeared in their lands. If it weren't from our barring differences in levels, I'm sure they would've already killed us all and burned the Cathedrals preventing us from respawning."
"But my King, this is real life now. Are we just gonna sit by and watch people die?!"
"I have a Grandma that's in fucking ICU. I have to return to her by all means necessary. I know we can still respawn after dying, but who knows when it'll stop? Those natives in the Kingdoms? They absolutely despise us, fuck them. Stand down Elizabeth. This will not only help us gain favor but also lessen the burden on our army which doesn't even have a proper chain of command."
Elizabeth stands up in disappointment but she knows she can't just leave as it is true the natives want to claim their castle and armies for their own personal use. She just hopes the Hero Sigured is enough to take on the undead army of Eldwood.