Arc | Chapter. 51: A Bug (Patreon)

Chapter. 51: A Bug

In a far away land the Hero of Shadows smiled with great happiness, his name was Siegfried and after living for centuries in contempt he had his wake up call. The Heroine of Frost⁠— that wench⁠— had attacked him out of insanity and killed him. And now, he wanted revenge, but he also wanted to not be stomped ever again, however more than absolutely anything he wanted his revenge. 

He wanted to make sure she died, to make her pay for her insanity, to make her regret what she had done, regret coming to this world⁠— regret becoming a hero and not dying in training instead.

Everything. And he was looming closer to his goal.

Siegfried grinned looking down at the bloodbath around him before finally looking at the system notification that loomed at the center of his vision.

[ You have vanquished the: Hero of Felines, from the world. Tier: SS. ]

[ You have leveled up. ]

[ You have leveled up. ]

…

He grinned, the Heroine of Crows had escaped him, but the Hero of Felines hadn’t been so lucky to avoid dying after their resurrection. It was almost a universal fact that heroes could resurrect; that they would be like cockroaches and have resurrection points aside from some exceptions.

Of course, there were some heroes that did not possess a revival skill, but those were rare. However, it didn’t mean that they were any less, in fact they were stronger. And Siegfried knew one of these heroes and he was also going to⁠— fucking kill him!

He stomped, blood splattered around the dark cave, entrails and animal parts surrounded him. And right now, it was deadly quiet. The Hero of Shadows smiled to himself once more, he could feel it, he was on the edge of a breakthrough now.

Tightening his blood stained fist, he grinned.

He was on the verge of learning a new SS Tier skill.

Aside from the one that came with his boon, he had yet to acquire one, and in spite of leveling more than five times already it had yet to be given to him, but now, he knew he was close. So close that he could just smell it.

It was right there.

With a smile he finally relaxed and walked, his boots squelched across the wet ground as he made his way to the exit of the cavern. His mood was great; it truly was. Everything was going according to plan, and for as long as another hero didn’t interfere in his fights, the keeper of order wouldn’t be showing up.

Now, he just had to find another hero.

With a smile, he marched, but at some point he started to maniacally laugh. That was until he saw the exit after making a turn. Standing there, facing away from him was a red armored man with a helmet on; two long horns protruding from it as he looked into the starry sky, a long draping cloak of felt adorning his back.

At that moment, Siegfried felt his whole being shiver, and then, the man turned to him.

“Your actions have been deemed unreasonable, however the balance has been shifted too much.” The man spoke emotionlessly as he took a step forward. “That is why your punishment will be to help this world.”

The Hero of Shadows had a bad feeling.

[???. Tier: ???]

[Appraisal] finally responded, the system window remained before it started to flicker, the text became garbled before it disappeared.

And at that moment, his whole world went black.

* * * * *

Regis’karr blinked. Arc’s words resounding in his mind.

To… take her to the Forgotten Places…?

He hadn’t misheard, she quite literally said she was free and that they should go now. And that was… Regis’karr blinked. That was…

“No!” He responded in immediate denial. “That⁠— that’s not even how it works!”

He turned around in frustration, he wasn’t screaming, but he was frustrated. His⁠… his deep thought had been interrupted by the hero he was supposed to serve, and while he could certainly let it go and even learn to get used to it, he couldn’t wrap his head around not being listened to.

“I even said that I needed the help of the other dragons!”

“Well then, let’s go to see the other dragons and do this dragon blood thing,” Arc said, crossing her arms. “It can’t be that hard.”

“That’s…” he trailed off. “It is harder than you think, but I guess I haven’t explained it to you. Ignoring that however, how could you even forget how tentatively I talked about the Forgotten Places?”

He said turning around, only to be met with a frown from the person he served, one that gave him a bit of a bad feeling, and a moment later it all made sense.

“Regis, you have been in this fucking room for a month, I ran out of patience long ago.”

Regis’karr blinked. “Wait it has only been a couple of⁠—”

“It has been a month.” Arc reiterated. “You have been here for that long, there are even notes on the ground from the servants asking you questions, and look.”

She pointed only for Regis’karr to look at the floor and see dozens of squared pieces of paper with writing in them. His mind couldn’t wrap around what he was seeing, but it was an undeniable fact, a weird one that greatly confused him.

He blinked in shock. “But how could this be…”

“You just lost track of time or something,” she said, shaking her head. “Stop trying to excuse it, point being I want you to be useful, I’m tired of waiting.”

“Right, that is fair…” Regis’karr nodded. “I know you established a business, what else have you been doing throughout the… month?”

Arc raised her brow but decided to answer, finally uncrossing her arms as she walked into the room.

“I have mostly been enjoying various restaurants, though I realized that the better the food I ate, the less enjoyable it was, so I decided to do it sparingly like two weeks in. I’ve also been visiting an ice workshop where I can relax while everything else blows over. And…”

She frowned.

“News of the Hero of Frost are spreading everywhere, which is annoying, especially about the fact that the Dragon of Flames is his stead. So you better⁠—”

“I know, I won’t bring it up nor do something as stupid again.” Regis’karr nodded, his tone certain. “Once more I am extremely sorry for my previous mistakes.”

Arc paused before shaking her head.

“That’s all I’ve been doing, and also ensured that the Grand Duke wouldn’t be able to touch Ceylon’s family ever again, though I didn’t do anything; Thomas said he’d deal with it after I informed him my intentions of permanently crippling the Grand Duke, so I guess I don’t have to bother.”

Regis’karr listened. It sounded, to him at least, for the most part relaxing. Though, he didn’t comment on it, lest he misunderstood something. And then, Arc asked a barrage of questions.

“So, how about you give me some useful information? What are these Forgotten Places? What is this corruption thing exactly? Why can’t we go meet the other dragons?”

Regis’karr blinked, as the woman took a seat on the bed he had been laying on for all this time. His brain processed what was just asked of him.

“I cannot answer that many things at once⁠—”

“Just do it in order.” Arc sighed.

Regis’karr nodded. “Well first, I guess I’ll answer the easiest question. The dragons are probably not all present at the Maw of Dragons, so we must summon them first.”

“Okay, and then let’s just summon them and do the blood ritual thing then.”

“Are you really sure? You know you’ll stop being human and become one of us?”

“And what makes you think I’ll behave like a dragon all of the sudden?” Arc retorted, raising her brow. “It’s just more strength, and even if it’s undeserved if it helps me I shall take it. Because I realize now that the Hero of Flames has a very real chance at killing me if I don’t continue to grow stronger.”

“Right.”

“I gave you time, the Heroine of Spiders cannot create an SS Tier spider in a short time, and according to Jake ⁠— after contacting him with a message scroll ⁠— it will take at least six months to a year for a single spider.”

Regis’karr awkwardly nodded.

He felt like he was finally getting the full picture, and if he wasn’t misunderstanding Arc had a very simple problem: time. She didn’t have decades to get stronger, but mere years instead before the Hero of Flames came after her. So now, he understood that this month he had taken to just think was something rather… unacceptable.

“I understand, then let’s see this meeting request made and head to the Maw of Dragons at the end of this conversation.”

She agreed and Regis’karr continued focusing on the next easiest question.

“As for what the corruption is… it’s a bit complicated. I think it is easier to see the Forgotten Places as gaps in the world. Gaps that lead to a different place, as for how to define this place, I do not know how to explain it.” Regis’karr thought for a moment. “They are like a pathway you see? Once you enter, even if you find yourself in some broken down ruins, outside of these ruins is and even in the ruins, you may encounter the corruption I’m talking about.”

Regis’karr did his best to explain an abstract concept, so he continued.

“The simplest way to see the corruption is as something that breaks reality, an almost impossible clash of the laws of reality itself, and the reason it exists is because…”

He trailed off for a moment, wondering if to actually share this information or not, but in the end, he relented.

“The System is the reason the corruption exists. And the corruption itself makes things less, but also more. It will distort them and break them, and at the same time create something new, something terrifying that is enhanced by it. Any living being that is corrupted will get marginally stronger, but also become replaced by something else.”

“So it’s like a system bug, got it.”

“A system… bug?” Regis’karr blinked.

Arc nodded.

“Yes, the stupid server room malfunctioned after being attacked and now it’s sending glitches throughout the land, all while we live in an rpg game where numbers mean everything.” Then she sighed. “The more I learn about the hidden secrets and what happened in the past, the dumber it sounds.”

“Dumb…?” Regis’karr processed.

He didn’t actually understand almost anything Arc had just said, other than what he was saying was something stupid in her mind. Or rather, that the situation was stupid, but… how?

“You don’t understand, it’s a threat to the world!”

“Of course its a fucking threat,” she snorted. “And the fact that it’s a threat is fucking stupid.”

Regis’karr paused, utterly baffled by her response, and then, she spoke again.

“Let me guess, it can corrupt the whole world, consuming it whole?”

“Yes… that is exactly what will happen if we leave it unattended.”

“I figured.” Arc sighed. “Are there any other world ending things that I should keep in mind? Well not like you or I can destroy this corruption.”

“Right…”

Regis’karr inwardly agreed that the corruption problem was something that was nigh unstoppable, not without the help of every single hero in the entirety of Arlas at least.

“As for world ending things…” he trailed off. “The looming wars and hero organizations, the attempt to recreate arcane magic⁠—”

“So the corruption is the main problem?” Arc asked, interrupting him. “What about the Dragon God? Are there other gods?”

“There aren’t, and yes it is the main problem.”

The woman nodded at him, before standing up.

“Alright.”

Then she met his gaze.

“The conversation has come to an end, send in the meeting request.”

Regis’karr gave her a small nod of confirmation before getting to work.

* * * * *

The Dragon of Frost entered deep thought atop of a mountain.

Regis’karr had been sent in the name of the Grand Dragon Elders to recruit the Heroine of Frost. And, he hoped for his success, even if it took years of arduous work. Heroes were strong beings, dragons were too, but unlike them heroes united out of selfishness while their goals were much more selfless.

However, with a hero on their side, they would hopefully be able to shift the status quo of the world as a whole. Perhaps begin to take other heroes under their wing in order to focus on the issues at large. But at the same time, simply killing the heroes was a desirable outcome for them, able to micromanage the world in an ideal way for itself.

That was why it was so important to the Grand Dragon Elders to recruit the Heroine of Frost, all to bring change to the world.

However, the Dragon of Frost was ancient, and wise. Wiser than most of the Grand Dragon Elders, and he knew⁠— he understood that he couldn’t put faith in the fact that the Heroine of Frost would remain by their side, let alone serve their selfless goals.

That was why he had come up with a plan. To control her, to make her fully subservient. A small sacrifice to save Arlas, this dying world, and it all began with:

The blood ceremony.

He had already made preparations, but they weren’t going to be used for years or decades to come. However, even then, the Dragon of Frost prayed for Regis’karr’s success.

But for now, he’d enter slumber until that day⁠—

And an alarm blared in his mind, along with a message written in ancient magic, a simple one, and yet it was one that the Dragon of Frost couldn’t believe.

The Heroine of Frost has agreed to join us in order to become one of us through our blood. Let us meet at the Maw of Dragons, I am on my way there with her now.

It was… nothing short of a miracle.

But one that the Dragon of Frost was going to take full advantage of.

He stood up, and beating his wings he took flight towards the Maw of Dragons to make his final preparations.

All in order to bring the Heroine of Frost to their side.