Chapter 14: 2-5: Settling In For The Long Haul part 3

The Golem Core was simple. The 'judgement' was rather like the sword in the stone—it was based almost entirely off the values of its creator. Noa didn't ask what I needed her to store a [Mass Cure Wounds] into a crystal for, she just yawned and did it. I added the crystal to the Core, selected the area on my World Map, and let the programming run its' course.

I had it set to systematically scan through the inhabitants of the Slane Theocracy for 'good' people, mark them, then pull them out into a holding area—a space much like the Waiting Room. Once they were in the area and they were fully locked in suspended animation, it would activate the Spell Crystal to heal them back to the best they could be. It would then deactivate, keeping them there until I gave the signal. Once I cast the Spell to wipe their memories, I would signal it from where I wanted them teleported.

It was a program. A program that dealt with people rather than integers. Human beings were reduced to mere numbers, saved to be reformatted for their new lives.

The program would take time, of course. A few minutes, perhaps. Not too long. Just enough time to run a couple thousand [Teleportation] Spells.

Enough time to gather the materials needed for part two of the plan.

I left the Core to do its work, raising my Guild Ring and closing my eyes. I opened them again to see a large tree, with two surprised Dark Elves in the middle of a conversation.

It was time to put on a little show for the troops. Toss around a nice speech. I needed Aura's cooperation for this to work properly, and I didn't want either of my girls to be present. Albeit for very different reasons. I didn't want Noa getting any ideas on how to deal with enemies from me, and I didn't want Archer to Trace my new staff. That would need to be explained, and I would need to dramatize my actions for the benefit of the audience my actions would surely attract.

*Cough*DemiurgeRubedoInnocence*cough*.

"Aura." I turned. "Follow me. I have need of your skills."

"O-okay." Aura didn't say another word, likely sensing the somber atmosphere. I waved a hand, activating an effortless transition back to the ground level of the Tomb.

"Aura." I addressed her once more, keeping my voice perfectly flat. "Listen to me. What we do today is not right. It is not just. But it is necessary. I do not revel in death, but I find it useful in removing those who would threaten the peace. I have stayed my hand for too long, but no longer." I turned to face her, deadly serious. "Today, I will not show mercy. I will not grant pardon. This is a preemptive strike to an enemy who must never be allowed to threaten us."

Aura nodded silently. "My lord, why… why are your Maidens not here to help you instead? I'm sure there's nothing I can do that they can't."

I shook my head. "I will not allow my beloved to see this act. It is mass murder, plain and simple. And while I know they will love me all the same, I do not wish for them to lose sleep over my sins."

'Yeeeaahh… Archer's done worse than this on her off days, and Noa would probably do something like this for fun. The only sleep lost for them is when I wake them up from the nap they're taking right now.'

"I don't really understand, but I will carry out your will." Aura bowed low. "What are we going to do?"

I chuckled, turning back. "You will have no part in this either, my dear. If possible I would have done this alone, if only to spare others the guilt of my actions. You are merely here to help me atone after all is said and done."

She looked confused but said nothing more.

Ah, well. I had at least played the part. "No matter what you see or hear, Aura, make sure that nothing interrupts me until I am finished." I ordered, stepping forward and dramatically planting my staff into the ground below.

I mentally brought up the World Map, selecting the Slane Theocracy. The glowing icon turned red as I activated Targeting, the Sage's Skill to ignore vast distances reducing the cost of casting such a long-ranged Spell to nothing. Golden light wove itself around me, the cash item I had bought so long ago to turn my Super-Tier Spells a different color seeming to function even without the Item itself present.

The wind picked up, roaring around me in an incredible display. Louder and louder it roared, safely hiding my words from anyone listening.

"I'm sorry, Momonga." I said to no one in particular. "Except, I'm not, really. I'm doing this because I feel like it, not because of Nazarick. I doubt you'll care much about it, really."

The Super-Tier Spell around me continued to charge, whirling slowly in a full circle around the focal point.

"After all… by the time you get here, they'll just be ancient history to you."

As one of the two existing Players who broke the Level Cap, not to mention one who had used said Levels to take several Job Classes granting unique Super-Tier Spells, I can be considered a bit of a wild card when it comes to casting. Not only can I cast my Super-Tier Spells an absurd number of times a day, but I have exactly a hundred and thirty Spells to choose from. But I wasn't going exotic right now, no, I was sticking with one of the most common Super-Tier Spells available. Except, I was planning to juice it up a tad bit.

"Class Skill: [Eternity Condemnation]. Class Skill: [Sentinel's Watch]." I began layering on Skills, using the time it took to cast in order to boost the Spell as much as possible. "Class Skill: [Mass Grave]. Class Skill: [Cherish the Fallen]. Class Skill: [Pardon the Dying]. Class Skill: [Soothe the Anguished]."

With each addition, the chances of surviving this Spell diminished. Sure it was extreme overkill, but if I was going to fire a superweapon into the heart of enemy territory, I wanted to make damn well sure I didn't have to fire it again. Besides, when else was I going to use all the Skills granted to me by the Rare Job Classes I netted for finishing the game?

"Racial Skill: [Ancient One's Mercy]." I continued quietly. "Racial Skill: [Funeral Dirge]. Racial Skill: [Final Farewell]."

Dong… dong… dong… dong…

The faint gonging noise was the signal made by the charged Spell. The wind died down, leaving my voice audible once more. The air itself felt pressurized, as if this were the eyes of some tremendous storm. I opened my hands palm-up and took a deep breath to release the Spell. "You who are born of earth… I release you to your mother's embrace. [EXTEND MAXIMIZE MAGIC: GAIA RECLAIM]!"

My ears popped from the change in pressure as the Spell fired, the air losing all its tension in a split second. Wind whipped about, and the ground shook below us. I lowered my arms, exhaling. Apparently the strain of casting Super-Tier Magic was more taxing than I had originally thought. Pity. It makes mass genocide so simple it seems like a shame to have its use limited by my own form.

"M-my lord." Aura stammered. I turned, noting that her cheeks were a brilliant red. "That was… a magnificent Spell. I am not worthy…"

I waved her off tiredly. "Not now, Aura. We have work to do, still. Come, stand here. It's time we see what my Spell has wrought."

A pulse of mana later, and we teleported away.

We reappeared in the midst of an enormous forest. A very odd forest, to be perfectly honest. In places, the wood was so dense and the trees so tightly twined together that they seemed impassible, yet despite how tall and immovable they seemed, the ruins they grew aroind didn't look old at all. If anything, they looked brand new.

"My lord… what happened here?" Aura asked quietly, looking down the overgrown street. Hundreds of trees had sprouted all over the stretch of cobblestone, destroying the road with an incredibly dense network of roots and branches.

"Gaia Reclaim is a very powerful Spell, though one that normally doesn't do all that much damage." I began, leaning back against the trunk of an oak tree. "But it has one main effect. Any Player or mob killed by it becomes some sort of plant. It's incredibly useful when one of your teammates is a Druid of some sort."

She blinked, comprehension dawning. "…Or a Nature Spirit." She said.

"Indeed." I tapped the bark of the tree, nodding. "Normally Gaia Reclaim is tiny in diameter and low in damage output, which makes it inefficient to use save for on already dying enemies. But I'm not exactly like other casters."

I really wasn't.

As one with the Job Class of Ultimate Raid Boss, my abilities scaled in both size and power according to how many enemies I was facing. And in this case… well. I had probably taken out well over a million people with that one attack, judging by the EXP my ring had gained. When I stacked on the additional Skills making evasion, defense, and resistances useless against it, I erased all hope of even a single soul surviving.

In a few seconds, every living creature in the borders of where my Skill considered 'the Slane Theocracy' to be had been transformed irreversibly into some manner of living plant.

"That's… incredible." Aura whispered in shock, reaching out to touch a tree. "The power… all this with one Spell…"

I nodded tiredly. "We're not done yet, I'm afraid." I stood up straight, pushing off from the oak tree. "I believe that when one chops down one tree, they should plant another in its place. This land was once a thriving civilization full of life and prosperity, so to simply destroy it would leave a bad taste in my mouth. No." I leaned in, tapping Aura lightly on the forehead. "It's time you stepped in."

"M-me, my lord?" She stammered. "I-I, I don't understand. What could I possibly do to help?"

I sighed. "Do you remember what I taught you before we left our old world?"

The girl shuddered, an odd expression crossing her face. "Yes, my lord." She practically whimpered, face turning a brilliant red.

…Okay, I am not going to ask.

"You should know several Spells designed to Summon live creatures to you, then." I continued, ignoring the Dark Elf's oddly erotic expression.

"I know several, my lord. Will [Mass Summon Creature] work?"

I nodded. Summon Creature was a Spell designed to Summon a live animal that matched the area's wildlife, so Mass Summon version of it likely did the same on a larger scale.

"Yes, I believe that will be sufficient. It'll be like this. [Repeat Area]."

Repeat Area was a simple Fifth-Tier Spell that made the next Spell cast have the exact same area of effect as the previous one. It was extremely useful, if a bit mana intensive.

I nodded towards her, and she took a deep breath. "[Mass Summon Creature]!"

There was an odd tug in the world around us, then various forest animals began to shimmer into existence. Snakes, bears, deer, elk, moose, even a few birds. I smiled at the sight, nodding once. "Good. My Spell shouldn't have affected insects, so we needn't replenish their population as well."

Aura nodded, glancing around. "I think my brother would love this place." She said wistfully.

I chuckled, nodding. "Well, he's about to love it a whole lot more. Are you ready for the last step?"

She cocked her head. "The… last step?"

"Like I said, I like to replace the life I take. All the life." Around me, the golden light of a Super-Tier Spell began to weave together once more. "[Repeat Area]." I chanted for the final time. Repeated casting of the Spell ramped up its cost significantly, but that wasn't an issue.

Actually…

"[Half Area]." I added, realizing that it might be bad if this hit the entire outer ring of the forest as well as the inner area. The diameter of my Spell shrank by half, extending out in a perfect circle from my position at the center.

This Super-Tier Spell didn't take nearly as long as the last, but it wasn't as powerful either. I raised my hands, rattling it off. "[Cast Higher Magic: True Polymorph]!"

A pulse of raw power rippled outward, making each tree glow as it touched it. I lowered my arms, sighing. "All right, that should be it."

"Um, pardon me, my lord, but what was that?" Aura asked tentatively.

I smirked. "Well, I used a Super-Tier Spell called [Cast Higher Magic]. It allows one to cast a lower-Tiered Spell at a Super Tier level. In this case, True Polymorph, a Tenth-Tier Spell. It lets you turn a creature into a different creature, an object into a creature, or a creature into an object. I chose the second of the options, and since the intended creature is of the same size and under Level 75, it worked flawlessly. All of the trees within the radius of the Spell are now a creature known as a Hamadryad."

Aura's mouth fell open. "You… you just brought them all to life?"

I shook my head. "With Spells that change something permanently, there's a wait time of a number of hours that reduces based off the Tier of the Spell. Since it was Super-Tier, it'll take pretty much the rest of the day for them to transform completely."

Significantly less with [The Sage's Last Stand] boosting the Tier twice more, but I didn't need to mention that.

The Spell was something of a trolling tool to most Players, since turning a different Player into an object was a good way to lock them out of the game for a few hours until the Spell's effects wore off and they were allowed to respawn.

It didn't work twice on the same object, though, and it didn't work on creatures with a high Magical Defense, so catching other Players off guard with it was pretty much the extent of its usefulness in-game.

It was still extremely funny to see their reactions, which totally made learning the Spell worth it even before the World shift.

"Let's head back." I decided, turning away. "I'm having breakfast with my girls soon, and I'm sure you'll want to rest after casting a Spell that large."

She nodded, inexplicably blushing. "Th-thank you, my lord. For letting me join you in this."

I raised an eyebrow. "…Not a problem. You were a great help. Go ahead and take the day off." I reached out, clapping her on the shoulder. "Have a nice day, Aura. [Greater Teleportation]."

The Dark Elf vanished in a shimmer of light. I stayed put, having one last objective while here. I raised a hand, placing it against the wood of a nearby tree. The funny thing about being in the middle of the forest is that all of the roots are intertwined in some way, making it incredibly easy to cast a single Spell and get results without having to track down a specific plant.

"[Boosted Magic: Speak With Dead]." I cast quietly, closing my eyes. "Give me a high-ranking official within range."

Normally the Fourth-Tier Spell needed to have a corpse and a specific idea of who you're talking to, but when you boost it to Sixth-Tier, it allows for far more wiggle room. It helped that all the souls were still lingering about, meaning that the Spell could just scan over their minds to figure out who to pull.

The sounds of the jungle around me became muted, dulled. I didn't worry about any animals attacking me, their instincts told them to get the hell away any time they got close. Instead I allowed the Spell to whisk me away, turning the world perfectly blank and silent. Then, before me, a single ghost materialized. I smiled to myself. '[Silent Maximize Magic: Charm Person].'

The ghost solidified, becoming an elderly man in official-looking robes. I put on a smile, spreading my arms wide. "Greetings." I boomed, layering my voice with power. "I am a messenger of the gods, come to reward your faith."

The trapped soul's eyes widened, and he fell to his knees. "M-my lord… thank you for hearing my cries, for in the darkness I could not see a light."

I ignored his words, instead making a show of reaching into my own hand to pull an object from my Inventory. "I have for you an artifact of great power. Take it."

With trembling fingers, he reached up to take the crystal from my extended hand.

"Remember, now, all you have done for us." I smiled kindly at him. "Remember of the treasures you guarded, the vaults you kept, the tunnels you fortified against invaders. Remember now, all you have given for us. This, is your reward. Wake, now, from your dreams, and receive what you deserve."

I cut the Spell.

"Dumbass." I said in amusement, leaning down to pick up the fallen Golem Core.

The Core was set to cast the Spell [Detect Thoughts] to steal the soul's unguarded memories, then use [Find the Path] to, well, map them out for me. The instant the second of the Golem Core's Spells activated, the glowing lines triggered my World Map passive Skill. I pulled up the minimap, smiling to myself.

Worked like a charm. Now to explore some ruins.

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