Arc | Chapter. 144: Interlude: Collective Challenges (Patreon)

Chapter. 144: Interlude: Collective Challenges

Reposted, nothing was changed from the previous 144

“It’s been almost two months, are you sure you don’t want to return to Arc and explain your mistake?” Jake asked in the background.

And Giselle gritted her teeth as the Erebus Spider went off in the background. It was much stronger than the Emera Spider even at the same Tier, and the only reason it existed was because of the mistake Jake, the Weapon Master had just mentioned.

Oh, how she wished Arc had never tasked him out of all people to keep her in check, because he was damn annoying. The two apparently met by chance, Jake wanted to kill someone and Arc protected them, and apparently Arc decided to give him another ice spear and later hired him with SS Tier weapons!

Her plans to raze a nation were no longer in motion, all because Arc had intervened, and now she was stuck in servitude. Giselle hated every second of it, but more than anything she dreaded her next encounter with the Heroine of Frost.

She could imagine it, a disappointed small frown.

“So you hit SS Tier instead of your spider?”

It was all because she had had to fight some undeads back when the things with the Hero of Necromancy happened ⁠— who was now dead by the way ⁠— and now she was stuck desperately trying to fix her mistake.

The Erebus Spider tore down the trees, it tore through the monsters of the forest, it razed its surroundings as its venomous acid sprayed with a whistling hissing, melting the scales of its target. The target, of course, roared in all of its mythical glory and with a swiping motion purple flames enraptured, sending the Erebus Spider flying.

“So?” Jake asked behind her.

“Of fucking course not!” Giselle screamed and swiped her hand towards the Erebus Spider. “[Command of the Spider Deity: Limit Break]!”

In a single moment webs shot from the flying spider. In a single moment it stopped in its tracks as its entire body creaked. With its thorned limbs it pulled itself forward, its wretched figure prowled towards its enemy as if it were prey, except⁠—

“Aren’t you pushing the Erebus Spider too hard?” Jake absentmindedly asked. “I mean you’re trying to get it to kill a dragon out of all things.”

Giselle looked back at the purple being that was rising from its spot, it was littered with wounds, but nonetheless it was a mythical creature.

[Dragon of Mystical Fire. Tier: SS].

Then the dragon turned and fired a deluge of purple in their direction. Giselle snorted and kicked as spider limbs were put in front, meanwhile Jake grabbed a staff from the air and slammed it down. A dome erupted and the flames hit⁠— they dispersed and burned the forest around them and a moment later the spider arrived, tackling the Dragon of Mystical Fire.

“You know that your spider might die, right?” Jake pointed. “It’s still very much an S Tier being.”

“It’s not going to die, and if it is then you can interfere with the fancy ice weapons you got,” Giselle scowled, more annoyed than anything.

“I don’t know how you’ve forgotten, but they shattered almost a month ago.”

Giselle paused. “Then doesn’t that mean that Arc has kicked the bucket?”

“We’ve talked about this; if you wish to seek proof that Arc is dead we can go looking.” Jake crossed his arms. “And before you say: ‘What’s stopping me from killing you then?’ Well, we already had that conversation too.”

Giselle paused for a moment remembering that conversation.

“Well if you kill me and Arc is still around then what will happen to you? We can go find out if she’s around, I heard rumors she was seen during the selection of the king of Draliz.”

In the end, she had an irrational fear towards things. She didn’t want to test her luck with something as insane as seeking Arc and then finding out the results. Not yet anyway. She at least needed her spider to be of SS Tier so that if Arc was alive she could at least say:

‘Hey, I fucked up, but look I fixed it!’

And that’s why she had to do something about it. They had heard rumors about another Hero being in this forest; it was called the Jade Forest and it was in another continent. Though instead, they stumbled upon a dragon and now they were beating it up. It had attacked them first after all, saying something along the lines of:

‘Hero scum! You must be connected to the traitor!’

Thankfully, now that she was SS Tier she had a greater ease in producing SS Tier spiders, so now that meant that it was just a matter of time before she could present something to Arc in order to make up for her mistakes. And now all she had to do was ensure her spider came out victorious⁠—

“[Flames Of The Beyond].”

And an explosion of purple occurred, sending the Erebus Spider flying. Giselle sighed and turned to Jake who was already getting two spears belonging to primordial beasts.

“So I guess this is not our last stop?” Jake asked playfully.

“Of course it’s not!”

And at once, both began to use their strongest skills on the Dragon of Mystical Fire.

* * * * *

Malz had been in her room for a few days now. Too preoccupied with her thoughts to even care about helping Ceylon with the letters in regards to the Heroes, and it was all because of her past, it was because of Mysa, the Heroine of Darkness.

That day, all of the memories came back, things that she had buried deep in her heart had come in full force. And, whether she wanted to admit or not, Malz felt a deep sense of sadness, of course, she felt anger, but without the Dragon of Water here or the Hero of Humans, she just felt… drained.

Mysa was…

What wasn’t she?

Malz didn’t think too much about her, she hadn’t for some time, it was too painful. She remembered the day they met as clear as day.

She had been injured, hurt, and a hero stumbled upon her. But rather than killing her, she said.

“Huh, how about I nurse you to full health and I fight you on fair terms? You’re a Grand Dragon Elder after all, I’d like to honor you or befriend you even.”

She remembered asking if she was stupid, but all she did was cross her arms.

“You know, in kindergarten I wrote dragon rider as my dream job.”

And that was just the stupid of many interactions that led to their friendship, and eventual… partnership.

Malz… missed Mysa, she was a goofball but she was capable of being serious, witty, confident and even vulnerable. It was… she’s never met someone like that since. And it was all because of that man.

Malz gritted her teeth.

“The fucking Hero of Human⁠—”

And her door was knocked. Her thoughts immediately stopped, as she made an effort to calm down sensing who was at the door. Finally, after about five seconds of silence, she spoke calmly.

“You can come in Ceylon.”

There was a pause before the door opened, and there she saw the noble girl of the Arlow house and the current ruler of Draliz. Ceylon, a girl with golden locks for hair and piercing blue eyes, though right now rather than displaying her usual confident appearance, she looked awkward.

“What is it?” Malz asked, she was in her bed.

Ceylon hesitated before sighing.

“It’s you, you haven’t even opened that door in five days now, let alone do anything.”

Malz immediately shifted. “I’m just thinking.”

“Is it about the Hero of Humans?”

Malz was about to instantly answer a ‘yes’, but she couldn’t lie. Not to Ceylon at least, Arc’s closest companion.

“Not quite.” Malz sighed and readjusted in her bed to look at Ceylon. “It’s about my… deceased wife...”

“The Heroine of Darkness?” Ceylon asked.

“Yes, it’s about Mysa.” She nodded. “She made me promise to try to find love again, but with everything coming back to me…”

Malz didn’t want to say it, but she couldn’t even think about Arc at the moment, it was… too much for her. Sure she liked Arc, but aside from the fact that Arc was akin to a wall when it came to those type of feelings, it was also just too fast for Malz to like Arc. But she still did before everything, now however she felt guilt.

Maybe it was her desperation to fulfill Mysa’s will that she opened her heart so much to the prospect of finding someone else, she didn’t know. But right now, she felt like a betrayer, she felt guilty, she felt gross with her entire existence.

She wasn’t like this… not before she met Mysa, nor when she was with her… she wasn’t like this until the last decade.

“I guess it’s like reopening old wounds.” Malz sighed, finishing what she was saying. “And it either makes me sad or angry.”

“Right…” Ceylon sat at the foot of the bed. “I’m sorry, I can’t… imagine what that must be like, but you know I can offer an ear; I can listen. It’s the least I could do after you’ve done.”

“I don’t know.” Malz turned to look at the ceiling. “I have a feeling it’ll just make me sadder, if I’m being honest.”

“And maybe that’s fine, it’s fine to hold attachment for things, but it’s also important to move on.” Ceylon looked at the ground. “I read that in a book once, I used to… read novels in secret instead of studying in the past…”

“Right…”

“Anyway.” Ceylon shook her head. “I guess what I’m saying is, you can appreciate Mysa without feeling… this way,” Ceylon said carefully. “You don’t need to be… sad about it.”

“I’m not… sad.” Malz shook her head. “Or I am, but it’s… different. I don’t know how to explain it. I know Mysa is gone, it’s just, it’s just… why must that fucker live? He shouldn’t be alive. He shouldn’t…”

Malz gritted her teeth in silence before letting out a breath.

“I suppose the closure I once had is no longer there anymore. Mysa is dead and I want to fulfill her will, and for as long as the Hero of Humans is alive I cannot do that.”

A sigh left the Dragon of Shadows.

“If I do it like that, it makes me feel like less of a hu⁠— dragon.”

“Right… then don’t. Focus your energy on dealing with the Hero of Humans, even if it’s asking Arc for help in regards to it when she returns.”

Malz paused. “Right… maybe…”

And then, there was silence. It extended for multiple minutes, and at some point Ceylon began to fidget, but Malz paid it no mind. Instead, she focused on thinking about what Ceylon had said. To some extent it was like feeling in a limbo but also, it was like going back to how things were before she met Mysa.

Of course, now Mysa was in her heart now and the fact that the Hero of Humans was still alive greatly ached her. But, at the same time she couldn’t spend her days feeling sad, she had to continue living even if it was with the constant annoyance in her head.

Finally, she sighed and began to get up.

“Alright, let’s reply to those hero letters.”

Ceylon paused before nodding.

Truth be told, Malz still felt a deep sense of sadness and disappointment within herself, but she felt like she could do it.

* * * * *

Elsewhere, the Dragon of Water finally arrived at his destination.

It had been a five-day long flight, but now he was here, standing at the entrance of the cave. And from within the darkness, stepped out a man with toned features and gray hair, and upon seeing the Dragon of Water, his sculpted face immediately lit up with a smile.

“So you got it?”

The Dragon of Water nodded as he produced a water bead that exploded to show a long black staff with runes all over its surface. At the top, a ball of crystal resides.

“I got it.”

“Good hand it over⁠—” And the man paused, looking at the collar on the Dragon of Water’s neck. “You got it at a price didn’t you?”

“That is correct.” The Dragon of Water nodded. “Which is why we need to talk, Master.”

The man paused but sternly nodded and waved the Grand Dragon Elder inside.

It was time for the Dragon of Water and the Hero of Humans to engage in a negotiation neither of them wanted to have.

The Dragon of Water sighed.

It was all due to the terms Malz had given him…