Chapter 45: Gentle Indifference of the World

Now, I had the heart of a human, the blood of an archdemon, and a cursed weapon. The only thing left was the tears of the first spirit.

The aftermath of the Fafnerheimlen's attack had nearly turned Zweizen into a ghost town. I could only hope that most of the citizens managed to escape. In the meantime, WADI could probably deal with the remaining demons.

Luckily, now that the Fafnerheimlen had been defeated, his minions stopped moving and dropped to the ground. Still, they remained mindless; they wouldn't return to their original human or demon forms.

The minions were dead for good.

After defeating Thello, I also reached level fifty-four, so I pulled up my skill tree for upgrades. I gained a few boosts to my holy magic proficiency, attack, and speed, but the most important upgrade was a third spell slot.

I flipped through the grimoire's pages and stopped at a spell called Pegasus, equipping it.

Much like the spectral horse spell, Pegasus allowed me to summon a mount using mana to manifest the creature. Without Vortigern, I would need a faster way to travel, so this spell would definitely be quite useful.

Even though summoning spells required immense amounts of mana, my upgrades of holy magic proficiency have proven to be worth it.

Now, I needed to find Sakimi and Marigold.

While I searched through the streets, I said, "Virgil."

No response.

"Virgil!"

No response again. I was about to call out for the third time when Virgil finally spoke up.

"What is it, Claudia?"

"You know about Thello's situation?"

"Yeah. And by the way, his real name is Iago."

"I see. What's with his sister? Is she sick or something?"

"No," Virgil said. "I don't know the full story, but I heard that he got caught up with some shady people."

"Why don't you help him?"

"The higher-ups don't want to get themselves involved with a gang."

I clenched my fist. It made me furious, but I didn't have any right to scold them for their selfishness. That only made me grit my teeth even harder.

"At least do something to help Iago," I said. "Can't you do anything?"

Virgil sighed. "I'll see what I can do."

"Alright. Thanks."

"Anyway," Virgil said, "Congratulations on completing Polsius."

"Thank you for your kind words, O Great Guide."

"I smell sarcasm."

"How can you smell sarcasm?"

"It's a special ability of mine."

I let out a snicker, but it was short-lived. My expression soon returned to its aimless state.

"Are you not enjoying your time in this game?" Virgil asked.

"I am. It's just that so much has happened in such a short time. I don't think I've ever felt this much joy and pain simultaneously."

"Mm. I see. Now that you've defeated Thello, will you be heading to Enfernius now?"

"No. I've got to get the last ingredient for the Resurrection Potion."

"For Beatrice...er...Sakimi, right?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Well, Good luck. I'll be going now."

"Bye."

Virgil logged off.

Not long after, I came across Marigold and Sakimi. Immediately, a stray blast of mana came flying in my direction, forcing me to duck.

The two of them were locked in an intense battle, creating explosions wherever their attacks hit. Marigold flung arrow after arrow while Sakimi shot energy beams and various other spells.

What happened to Sakimi's anti-magic bracelet?

The demon girl cast Glaciate, unleashing a wave of freezing wind all around her. I reacted in time, using Angelic Blaze to intercept the frost. Next, I used Holy Shield in case any more ice came rushing at me.

Unfortunately, Marigold wasn't able to nullify the spell. She had been rendered to a block of ice.

Sakimi used telekinesis to fling herself forward while casting Arcane Blade. Before she could land a blow, I charged Chromius and fired it, knocking her out of the sky.

Then, I dashed forward with immense speed and landed a slash with Laevateinn just as Sakimi got up.

"You! I'll kill you!" she yelled.

I hit Sakimi with another slash, causing her to flinch. This allowed me to rip her staff out of her hand and place it in my inventory.

Before she could perform an incantation, I grabbed her and threw her over my shoulder. The blunt impact knocked Sakimi unconscious. Because of her fighting with Marigold, she was now at eight percent HP.

While carrying Sakimi, I walked over to Marigold and broke her out of the ice. Her nose and ears were bright red, and she shivered upon making contact with the air.

"T-T-Thank y-you," she stuttered.

To warm herself, Marigold took an arrow from her quiver and cast a spell that created a fire on the tip.

"Ah, much better."

"What happened?" I asked. "How did Sakimi break her bracelet?"

"It was the minions. When they started jumping into the colosseum, the two of us ran away, but we were quickly surrounded. I don't know if Sakimi did it on purpose, but one of the minions bit her bracelet with enough force to shatter it."

So that's what it was.

"Do you have anything to gag Sakimi?" I asked.

"Human...blood...delicious," Sakimi muttered.

I jumped backward when she suddenly spoke, but it was just sleeptalking.

That was when I noticed the red stains around her lips.

"She ate the minions to replenish her power," Marigold said.

It was hard to look at Sakimi the same way. She was once an innocent mage girl, but now, she was a man-eating demon.

I ripped off a part of Sakimi's robe and tied it around her mouth. We didn't have anything for her hands, but she wouldn't be able to cast any spells, so she should be mostly harmless.

"What will we do now?" Marigold asked.

"There's nothing left to do here. We're going to the Garden of Avalon."

"The mythical First Forest?"

"That's right. But it's no myth."

"Vortigern isn't with us. How are we going to get there?"

"Don't worry," I said, casting my Pegasus spell.

Threads of golden light emerged from my fingers, weaving the body of a horse with wings. Then, black reins and a saddle materialized. Once the golden pegasus was fully formed, it reared up on its hind legs, and it whinnied.

Marigold stood back in awe. "Wow. It's magnificent!"

The majestic beast snorted in response.

"Let's go," I said.

We got onto the mount, and I flicked the reins, urging the pegasus to pick up speed. Then, it took off into the air. The ride was exhilarating, almost like a roller coaster. I've always wanted to try riding a horse, but a flying one was way better.

While we cruised through the skies, I checked the map. Since my time in Polsius, more areas opened up, and the red tracking icon indicated that I was traveling west. But even now, much of the map was still greyed out.

Our destination was the Garden of Avalon, a secret location that couldn't be revealed unless you stumbled there while exploring.

That place was known as the first location that the Primordial Goddess of Order, Casoh, built on the planet. Then, she created Arboria, the first spirit to guard this place.

To complete the Resurrection Potion, I needed Arboria's tears, and fighting her was the only way for players to gain that item. Unfortunately, just like Retribution and Judgement, Arboria was a hidden super-boss.

In the middle of our flight, the pegasus suddenly shook side to side, almost making me lose my balance. Fortunately, the mount brought us back to a stable glide.

I glanced behind to see that Sakimi had woken up. She made muffled noises, but Marigold held the girl tight.

"Don't do anything to endanger us," Marigold said. "Or you'll fall to your death too."

Sakimi peered at the distant landscape below and glared at us. Then, she started shaking again.

Before anything terrible could happen, Marigold took out a coated arrow and made a shallow cut on Sakimi's neck. In a few seconds, the demon girl fell unconscious.

"I didn't want to have to use a sleep arrow," Marigold said.

"It's fine. After we defeat Arboria, Sakimi will go back to normal in no time."

Even still, I wasn't sure if the Resurrection Potion would work. All of my plans have fallen apart in the past, and it wouldn't surprise me if that happened again.

I could only pray to the gods of this world that they would pity me for once.

An hour later, we reached the westernmost edge of Polsius, where a bottomless ravine stretched out across the horizon. Above it, dense thunder clouds covered the skies in a violent blanket of blueish grey.

"Are we close to our destination?" Marigold asked.

"Yeah. It's just past this barrier."

We plunged headfirst into the thunderstorm, weaving through the tremendous gusts and static. My pegasus struggled to keep a stable flight, momentarily falling at times, but it always managed to correct our course.

Then, a bolt of lightning boomed on our right, nearly burning us to a crisp. It was too close for comfort, but we should be exiting the storm soon.

Up ahead, the clouds were thinning out, revealing stunning light rays.

We're almost there. It's only a little more.

Just when I thought we were in the clear, my entire vision went white, and my eardrums burst. I felt my body plummet, but I couldn't see anything, and my ears were ringing.

Shit.

The lightning!

Marigold! Sakimi!

No sound would come from my mouth, no matter how hard I called out.

As I fell to my doom, the wind whipped my body into a spiral until I finally crashed onto the solid ground.