BLAIR | Chapter. 148: Snuffing out the Flames (Patreon)

Chapter. 148: Snuffing out the Flames

Victor simply saw unbridled destruction. It was like a swing from god, one that carved the earth and evaporated the forest with a flashing scintillating light, the trees had disappeared with nothing but wisps of smoke, the dirt had disappeared and become a deep ravine, one that went dozens of meters down. The rift of the earth was tens of meters long, and yet.

She survived.

He barely saw it, vines that pushed Blair out of the way at the last moment, he could see it within her face too. It was like an excited grin. She looked towards Aria, her body was shining with wisps of glittering gold. It made Victor shiver, and yet the dark elf simply smiled as she stood up. He had seen horror in her eyes just for the briefest second and now she was smiling, she was obviously happy and thrilled for some reason. Aria smiled, her muscles bulging. She looked like a barbarian right now. Victor just didn’t understand it, both of them were pretending as if the earth hadn’t been torn asunder just a few seconds before.

“Elf, you are alive.”

Blair snorted. “I take it that’s just the start of the skill?”

Aria grinned. “Bingo.”

The elf stood up without care, grabbing her bow and dusting herself off. Victor couldn’t actually understand how she was so collected, and yet she just was. It was as if the destruction that could’ve erased her existence didn’t matter to her. They held each other’s gazes before Realm Breaker, the elf, sighed.

“And now the mana is gone…”

“Mana?” Aria raised her brow. “I don’t need mana for this skill.”

The Savior of the Humans simply shook her head, clearly disappointed in something. She stretched before the rebellion leader, the human elite, as they just looked at each other. Then, the Savior nodded.

“Good, kill her.”

“Kill her?” The woman laughed. “Great jok⁠—”

In an instant, a salvo of vines hit the woman launching her a couple of meters back as she was impaled onto the ground. It was like an assault of deadly tendrils that were laced with thorns and poison. They attacked and pounded the woman onto the ground as she simply grunted. Meanwhile, her adversary, the Savior, simply watched with keen interest.

“So it’s still there.” She smiled before turning to Victor. “There are two heavily injured humans that got away, go kill them.” She pointed towards the south-west.

He blinked. “Kill?”

The Savior nodded. “It is your duty, not only did they try to take away your home, they also sullied and disrespected your values. Do it for yourself, not for me.”

Victor stiffly nodded. Blair was right. This was his home now, and yet these people were trying to take it away from him, at the same time he owed everything to her. His life had long been lost. He tightened his fist and turned around. Whether it was a human or a monster, he had a duty to uphold. With that resolution in his mind, he bravely turned around and headed in the direction.

He had resolved himself to die that day. He closed his eyes. Now, this was his duty to uphold.

* * * * *

I pondered for a brief second as I saw Fluffy’s vines doing their beast to kill the woman for me. I could sense it, her skin was akin to steel, the best that could do were shallow gashes and superficial cuts, but that was enough to make me smile widely. I had been apprehensive, I feared she could deflect the damage or simply be immune to it, but now I just understood. I simply didn’t have enough attack power.

I grinned as the skill came off cooldown, nocking four arrows simultaneously. I pulled back the single Lyco Puff arrow and aimed at the crater on the ground. With a grin I floored my mana and fired, in an instant the crater exploded into a spore mist of toxins, a second explosion resounded at the same time the notification I was waiting for came.

[Activated: Mark of Death.]

I grinned as the vines twisted by supernatural forces, slamming into her chest all at once. For the first time, the human leader gasped in pain, and I took the chance. I pulled back the string once more, this time with three arrows and pushed my mana, a glittering and enchanting purple took over, before anything could be said I fired. Two arrows with Azaleas and one with All-consuming puffs. I saw the streaks hit with a curved light, the ground exploded and through my senses I felt the Ayas Azalea sprout, while the Silver Azalea burrowed into her body, the All-consuming puffs latched and drained her vitality.

She screamed, but I still held off. I could feel a lot of residual mana, but it still felt like it wasn’t enough. A dozen or so more vines slammed onto the crater once more as my treant waddled forward. And at that moment, a deep bellow entered my ears, one full of fury and rage. A scintillating light blinked for a moment before the vines exploded, the dirt and rocks went flying as a deep rift formed off from the ground. I heard grunting as the human leader walked out of the crater.

She was bleeding and drinking a potion, her body was bloodied but the golden aura was still present within her body, the Legendary Skill still active.

“What’s wrong, Savior? Strongest being?” She grinned. “Is that all you got?”

I cocked my eyebrow. “I could’ve killed you already, you know?”

“Bullshit.” She drew back, holding the war-ax at the back of her body, as she swung forward with a sideways sweep. “You can’t kill me!”

Danger flashed and I dropped through the ground, a scintillating light flashed through the forest and the trees behind me exploded, splintered, felled in a single moment. I got back up, thankfully my treant was out of the crescent arc or it would’ve certainly died.

The woman snorted. “You have great skills to be a coward, I’ll give you that.”

I could feel my mana lingering on her body, but it still didn’t feel like it was enough. It was lacking just a bit⁠—

Screams echoed in the background.

“Looks like that’s the last of you people.” I smiled.

“I am enough!”

She rushed towards me with a mighty swing, I dodged and the trees to my side were splintered in an explosion of wood. I slid back, in an instant Frictionless Slide kicked in and the rough dirt became nothing but small bumps. I prepared three more arrows and fired them without hesitation, the woman screamed as she was engulfed with a smoke of spores. She was launched back by coiling vines and festering tendrils, before I smiled. Burn.

They exploded into purple flames that consumed the grass and dirt, she was engulfed in them but with nothing but a measly grunt they were dispelled. She stood up with a lunge and looked at me, before speaking in a jeer.

“Strongest? I could’ve killed that snake myself.”

“Then you should’ve done just that.”

With a gruff I shot more arrows. She flailed back as they exploded into purple explosions.

“Attack.” I commanded once more.

The treant snapped from its stupor and all of its vines, became a salvo, an inescapable barrage that curved midair from the effects of Mark of Death. They traveled through the explosion smoke and hit the woman as she let out a sound of discomfort. It was a weird status quo, at first glance anyway, but soon I would have all of the accumulated lingering mana necessary to do things. I smirked as I tossed a bead of nectar onto my mouth. It tasted sweet just like victory.

At that moment, the woman screamed.

“ENOUGH!” The vines exploded with radiant light and the billowing dirt cloud cleared. “I WILL KILL YOU NOW!”

She bellowed as she aimed for me with her swings. I simply slid back, managing to see the trajectory of all of the swings before they would even happen. She screamed in rage.

“I am your judgment! I am your vindication!” She took a deep breath as the mana coalesced within her body. “I am an avenger, I am the Vengeful Vindicator!”

In an instant, she swung, I barely dodged out of the way, but my treant⁠— it exploded in a blink. Fluffy. I winced as blood spluttered from my insides. I felt as if my mind had been hammered, as if my stomach had been churned, slid back through the ground as I struggled to get up. She looked down on me, even though her body was bloodied and bruised she paid it no mind as she gave me a triumphant grin from a few meters away.

“Are you finally done running?”

“Is that how it looked to you?” I smiled. “You are stupid then…”

She frowned. “Looks like you won’t regret anything in death.” She raised her war-ax up. “Then I’ll just kill you now.”

And prepared to swing.

* * * * *

Victor took deep breaths. His arms were shaking. He didn’t expect the people to beg for mercy, they cried for him to spare his life and yet⁠— he still fired the arrows. One through the forehead and the other through the heart, both of the men dropped dead in that instant. His head pounded with sharp pain as he recounted his experience. Slaying monsters was different, and even watching people die was something he was numb to, but killing?

He looked down at his shaking hands, there was no blood, but even then he just felt… Shaken. He had killed people. He had a great reason to, his life was not his own anymore, he was just repaying for his life, he was protecting his home, snipping a problem at the bud. But even then, the scene replayed in his mind over and over again, how the arrow pierced through the man’s skull, how his brain-matter sputtered with a torrent of blood.

How the other man screamed, how the man had attempted to kill him, how he had to punch the man away and scramble for his bow to fire an arrow through his heart. He remembered everything vividly, and adrenaline pumped through his heart, but he had done it. He had protected his city. Victor questioned his moral choices, but slowly he waddled over to see if he could help his Savior in some way. And that’s when he saw it.

A flash of scintillating light that exploded the trees along with the treant. Victor rushed, using his Prophecy to get information about what was happening. He saw Realm Breaker, the elf throwing up blood as Aria towered over her, but she was clearly bruised and exhausted. She slowly approached as they spoke. However, he only paid attention to the last exchange.

“Looks like you won’t regret anything in death.” Aria raised her weapon up. “Then I’ll just kill you now.”

Victor hurriedly nocked arrows to try to stop her as she raised her ax.

Then the elf laughed. “You really are stupid. Darkest⁠—” Victor’s heart dropped as he tried to turn away. He knew what was coming.

“Goodbye now.” The ax was swung.

“INSTABILITY⁠—”

His ears ruptured, the earth rumbled as everything was torn by the deadly purple explosion. Victor saw the elf fly, but her body looked mostly intact and her smile was something that he wouldn’t forget. The entire forest shook and then, there was only silence. Victor gazed ahead, there was a simple crater without blood, and finally, it was over.

The rebellion was over.

* * * * *

[Level up: You have achieved level 118. Prophecy Bonus: +2 WIS  +2 VIG]

I coughed, struggling to get up. I had slightly miscalculated the radius, and had hit my back against some tree. But the notification for her death was there, I didn’t level up much or anything which was a major annoyance considering how unkillable she was. But I supposed that The System might’ve not taken into account what skills the being had before dying. However, I had gotten something unexpected.

[Feat Achieved  ⁠— Budding City Lord — You have ruled your city with an iron fist. Nipping out any problem before it could fester further. Intuition for brewing threats inside your city. 10% bonus to all attributes while inside your city.

“I am, City Lord,” ⁠— City Lord, the City Lord of City.]

It could prevent any further issues from appearing unexpectedly, I was glad. Perhaps it wasn’t a world-shattering Feat, but it simply put me at ease.

I saw a flash of light appear next to me, and The Light Maker stood there along with Elasia and Lumina. He sighed while the other two gave me nods of approval.

“That was great,” Lumina said. “She just exploded out of existence.”

Elasia nodded. “Perhaps a bit too extreme, but you aren’t completely out of battle, so I suppose it’s fine.” She crouched next to me and offered a potion. Its vial was slightly ornamented but I accepted it, drinking it whole.

My mana was at rock bottom, so I also consumed a mana potion from my ring.

“You know, if you just used the Legendary Skill from the get go she might’ve died.” The Light Maker commented.

“How am I supposed to know that?” I frowned. “That just sounds like seeing who has the strongest skill and then the weak one dies.”

“Pretty much.” Lumina shrugged. “Don’t worry, if you have the higher level you can with confidence go for those.” She smiled at me. “That said, do not turn it into a habit, what Ron says is true, but it’s simply a circumstance thing.”

The Light Maker grumbled as I nodded. I heard footsteps coming from the distance, and we all turned to see Victor. He was shaking and looked slightly meek, but he smiled upon seeing me.

“Looks like you’re doing great.”

I nodded. “The rebellion is over, is it not?”

“It is…” Victor agreed with pause. “That… we had about eight-hundred people alive, and now the number is down to seven-hundred…”

“It’s fine, it’s not as if the city will downgrade.” I commented with a shrug.

“That’s not what I mean.” He shook his head. “So many people have died… So much bloodshed.”

Lumina just sighed. “It’s just part of The System.”

Victor pursed his lips. “That, it is.”

I thought for a moment, dropping all of my resentment for my words. “Hopefully, these are the last lives that are thrown away. The dragon must be slain in order to attain peace, and the planet will need to be captured too… But once that is done, bloodshed will be behind all of us…”

I drifted to my thoughts as Victor asked something that I ignored. Someone else replied to him and they began to feed him information, things such as planet ownership, patriarchs and matriarchs, it wasn’t all that important. What mattered was, how would I deal with the dragon, and now that I had quenched and extinguished the flames of rebellion, what would happen now?

My thoughts wandered for a few seconds before finally making the decision.

“Elasia, can we open the city to the elves?” I turned to her.

It was best to deal with any and all rebellions in one fell swoop.

She blinked. “It is possible, though why now?”

“I want to unite the city before heading to kill the dragon. Whether the commanders actually become united or not…” I took a deep breath. “It doesn’t actually matter.”

Elasia nodded. “Then, when will we be opening it?”

I smiled. “As soon as I recover.”

◇ ◇ ◇

I was back to top shape, and a prompt opened before me. I designated an area, a cave in the upper strata of the forest of moon. It was closer to a cave system that Lumina had helped me find. After a deep breath, I looked at the prompt before me. It was time to snuff out all the possible flames of rebellion.

[Offer summoning and citizenship to every Woodland Elf in Continent #4? Summoning will be carried out in the designated area.]

Yes.