The Dark Part 04: A War Is Approaching

I should find a way to deal with this titanic worm thing, if dolrig says it destroyed a whole dwarven fortress then my chances of winning are lower than a needle on the ground.

Ariel, what's the plan? Run or fight?

{Notice: Neither, Ignore the titanic worm!}

What do you mean? I can't ignore the existence of a monster like that around me!

{Notice: A monster that size will need a large amount of food to sustain itself. You won't provide sustenance equal to the energy spent on hunting you, it will ignore you unless you make a move!}

So you're saying that I can just walk away and it won't follow me since I provide so little food?

{Notice: Precisely!}

"Alice, I will keep moving toward Roa. How long will it take you to reach your father's domain?"

-"Tomorrow morning if we didn't stop for the night, or at noon if we stopped! The former Von Eric Domain isn't that far away!"-

"The former?"

-"Yes, do you remember it's the Von Eric Hakai Monke domain now, and you're the leader!"-

"Yeah, I almost forgot that the entire Von Eric family is serving me now! I will be on my way, call me whenever you want"

-"As you wish, I will do that!"-

I need to get going before I crossroads with that worm, to the north we are heading.

"Mei, let's go!"

Mei climbed onto Connor's head, clinking tightly into his hair.

[Enchantment Magic], [Combined Magic: Earth Glide].

Let's swim right to the north, wait a minute! I almost forgot about my shapeshifting!

{Notice: For real? Why now?}

Don't know, might be helpful in some way!

Man, I hope this won't hurt.

[Shapeshift: Alice Von Eric Hakai Monke]

Engulfed in a blue light Connor's body morphed instantly, his height shortened a little bit, his eyes turned blue, with a long silky blond hair his form was that of Alice.

Egh… that's hurt, I can't breathe that well, I feel like something heavy is pushing on my chest.

{Notice: Take off your armor, it's crushing your chest!}

Connor painfully unlocked the belts of his armor letting the top piece fall off.

Finally, I can breathe. Connor reached to his chest and felt Alice's chest, it wasn't large but his armor was tight-fitting for him so it had no place for Alice's twin hills in it.

Connor called Alice immediately.

"Alice, your boobs almost killed me!!"

-"Wawawawaaw! What do you mean?"- Alice replied in confusion about why her chest was brought up out of nowhere.

"I tried shapeshifting and turned into you, didn't expect that my armor won't fit your chest, and ended up suffocating myself!"

-"Say that first! you sent my head into a storm!"-

"Sorry about that, also now that I took my time they are quite firm with the right amount of bounciness!"

-"Connor-sama, why are you doing this? Is there a deeper reason?"-

"Not really! I just wanted to try it at least once before I need it!"

-"Well in that case it's Okay I guess!? Now turn back to normal, you need your armor!"-

"Ok, Ok don't worry about it! see you later!"

…

[Shapeshift: Morph cancelation]

Connor turned back into his real form, sharpening his wits, I need to get out as soon as possible.

After wearing his armor back he jumped into the ground and started heading toward the north at top speed with Ariel on the lookout.

{Notice: A new monster type has appeared 87 meters to the front-left! Orange class}

Lead me to it, We will hunt everything for Exp.

Connor swam right toward his prey like a shark aiming for a seal, the ground was quite soft so it never hindered him.

Ariel, I don't think one shooting is possible since it's Orange class?

{Notice: There are four targets, not one, the total class is red. Taking one of them is possible.}

Well, then I will use my usual strategy, dig a hole underneath it then shoot it with the strongest attack you have.

As Connor reached underneath it he used his magic to trap the beast.

[Earth Magic: Hole], [Earth Magic: Earth spikes]

The monster growled as he fell into the hole, being skewered by the spikes must have been painful. To top it up Connor pierced its neck with a flaming sword instantly.

It didn't have a chance to react, even if the monster was on equal footing with Connor they still had a disadvantage with a surprise attack.

Ariel, now analyzes this bad boy. Connor touched the monster's corpse.

{Notice: Analyse started…

Analysis finished… Adding to the encyclopedia.

Showing details.

Name: N/A Race: Long-tailed poisonous frog.

Resistance: Poison.

A Monster type that lives around underground water sources and reserves. They are extremely poisonous to the touch. The Long-tailed poisonous frog has a scorpion-like long tail that it uses to sting its prey during the hunt, the venom contained in the tail is several times stronger than the one on the monster's skin.

Weakness: Fire(It burns the poison on the skin and dries the monster's skin making it painful for it to move), piercing and slashing attacks(The monster's skin is soft).

Oh shit! [Detoxification magic] Connor hurriedly cast his magic on his hand as it started to feel numb.

That was fast! Is it a paralyzing poison or a pain killer?

{Notice: It's what was called in your world a neurotoxin, you received a small dose, that's why did you just feel numb if you had by any chance received a tail sting your nervous system will shut down killing you!"

So that's why it was orange! if it can one-shot me then it is indeed a threat.

Since I did get all the information I need I will just have to prepare as his friends panic.

The other three monsters started looking for the one Connor dragged out but to no avail. The hole was already sealed the moment Connor took down the monster.

Slash!!!!! The sound of a sword meeting bone rang through the cave, one of the monsters cried in pain as his tail was cut off by a blade that came out of the ground.

Connor jumped out of the ground and slashed the monster's head clean off with his sword.

From the side of his eyes. Connor took a glimpse at the other two monsters readying their tails for a pincer sting from both directions. In a fragment of a second Connor reacted, was it because he was getting used to fighting, or was it because Ariel did get stronger and she is helping him, he never thought about it.

Stupid frogs [Fire Magic: Fire burst] Alongside a bright flash, Connor's body exploded in flames forcing the monster to halt their attack to not get burned.

Suddenly a hand emerged from the raging flames and forced its way into the frog's mouth.

[Wind Magic: Shockwave] the high-pressure air wreaked havoc inside the monster, inflating its stomach until it exploded.

With agile steps, Connor turned toward the last standing monster and aimed his hand toward him menacingly. [Fire Magic: Fireball]

As the fireball exploded it charred the poop frog face, and Connor did put it out of its misery by swiftly beheading it.

So this was an orange class? I did expect more than this to be honest.

{Notice: If they have a reasonable chance of killing you they are orange class and the frogs had it.}

Well that for you to decide, let's keep moving.

Between the shape-shifting and this fight, I did expand a good chunk of my MP, I hope I don't need to fight something strong, will it be wise to rest until my MP is full again?

{Notice: No need for that, your MP regeneration will take care of that as you move!}

In that case, I will keep moving forward until I reach my goal.

After a few hours of moving and hunting the usual monster on the way, Connor started to feel that the temperature was rising so he asked Ariel about it.

{Notice: A hot water source is about 40 meters below us, a hot spring!}

Yeah? I'm in for a hot bath but we need to reach Roa as fast as possible. Ariel marks this location, we might return back to it later.

{Notice: Already did, I've seen in your memories how much you like hot springs so I did take note of it.}

As efficient as ever, thank you!

…

And thus half a day has passed without much happening, Connor kept making his way toward Roa and Vanessa and her group following his trail.

Now Alice Almost reached her father's domain.

…

The Grand City of Eric, Lord Von Eric domain capital and one of the largest cities in the whole Dimiourgia Kingdom.

On top of the gatehouse, two guards were standing on duty, talking about the recent problem in the lord castle.

"Did you hear that? they say that Lord Alen lost the title of the family head!" One of them said.

"I did, some say it's false rumors! How could Lord Alen lose? The only one who can strip him from the title is the king!" The other said.

"News takes time to travel, maybe a rebellion occurred in the capital and the king died!" They said with a smirk face.

"Please don't say that! we don't need a war, Also even the king is chosen by the first hero blood running through his veins! How could a rebellion succeed?" The other questioned.

"I heard the king has four daughters, I bet one of them was chosen as the next queen and took the throne and now she is rearranging the kingdom to her whims!"

"I thought the king had a great relationship with his daughters? I really did expect him to rule until his natural death, but I guess not!"

"And thanks to that we have a lot of work on our hands. I just hope the kingdom isn't thrown into chaos like what happened 50 years ago!"

"Yeah, you're right… wait! something is approaching from afar at high speed… two, no three people on horseback! Where is my scope?"

The other guard handed him a rusty, copper-colored scope that looked as if it belonged to a pirate.

He took it and started looking.

"I see a dwarf, and two women, one with red hair and the other is blond, wait a minute!!... isn't that Alice-sama?"

"Alice-sama you say?! She was supposed to come with a carriage, and she never rode a horse before!"

"I'm pretty sure it's her! OPEN THE GATE ALICE-SAMA HAS RETURNED!" He shouted.

With a crackling sound, the rusty portcullis was slowly raised and the gate opened.

The guards lined up at the gate to greet Alice upon her arrival as she closed at top speed.

"Alice-sama, we welcome…'' Before they could finish Alice yelled at them as she raced between their ranks.

"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Alice passed like the wind.

"Sorry, we will give an explanation later!" Alva said as she passed by the guards.

"You have it tough boys. you will get used to it eventually!" Said Dolrig with a grin as he followed Alva.

"What the hell was that?" One of the guards said.

"Was Alice-sama always like this? or does it have something to do with lord Eric losing his title?"

"Probably… we will know later, anything but a war please!"

…

As soon as Alice reached the castle she jumped from her horse before it could even fully stop, and was heading toward her father's office as an old-looking butler approached her with a worried look on his face.

"Alice-sama, why the hurry? Is something the matter?" he asked.

"Sebas, where is my father?" Alice asked him.

"Alen-sama is in the meeting room with nobles on this land, I believe they are doing something very important and it will take long before they finish!"

"Then I'm going in, every minute counts!" Alice said.

"Alice-sama, your father is with very important people, barging in would be bad…" he said with a worried face, but Alice didn't listen and just hurried toward the room.

"It's not your fault, even if the king himself was in that room Alice-sama wouldn't care less. she has that much authority now!" Alva said to the old man.

"Alva-san, what happened during your travels?" He replied.

"A lot, follow me to the meeting room, it's Alice-sama's right to be the one to announce it!" Alva said with a serious face.

…

In the meeting room.

"What should we do? We don't have enough forces to deal with those huge numbers!" said a middle-aged man with a great mustache and orange hair, the scars on his face and arms are a testament to his war experience.

"Our resources and finances are quite low, we can't afford to buy large amounts of weapons and our blacksmiths output can't keep up!" a fairly young man that looked in his twenties voiced his concerns.

"Listen here, I told you that weapons are useless in this situation, we need to focus on mages and workforce for digging moats. I've faced situations like this in the past, arrows did nothing, and sending soldiers to fight those unholy spawns just led to their death." the man with a mustache said in a strong voice, he almost looked as if he was angry.

"As I said before, our budget can't cover the cost of mages, we can only rely on soldiers! Lord Alen, please say something to Andry!" The young man stood and called to lord Alen.

"That's right, Lord Alen it's your decision!" Andry stood up and looked at Lord Alen.

Lord Alen sighed deeply as he laid back on his chair.

"Andry, Steve, you know that I'm not the city lord anymore right? can't you make that decision on your own? I already sent a messenger to the capital to ask about why I did lose the title and also ask for reinforcement, so can't we just close the city for three or four weeks until reinforcements arrive?" Lord Alen said.

"It's true that our stocks are filled and we can last about a month and a half, but that doesn't mean we need to go on the defensive!" Steve yelled.

"No, fighting that large number is dangerous. We need to …" Andry was interrupted by someone violently trying to open the door, it was closed so no one would interrupt the meeting.

CRACK! SLAM! The door was kicked open. Andry instinctively drawn his sword, and lord Alen has put his hand on his blade too with a fire flickering from it, Steve hid under the table.

Lord Alen recognized the golden hair and blue eyes, She was his only daughter Alice. Even so, he never saw her wearing armor, less the heavy air she was giving. It was more as if Lydia was the one who barged into the room.

"Alice-sama! What is the meaning of this? this is an important meeting!" Andry tried to talk to Alice in a respectful yet criticizing voice. He was feeling threatened by her! I'm stronger than her right now. That's a fact that I can tell from my experience, yet I feel like I'm facing a huge boulder! I have never felt like this since I trained Lydia-san. From when Alice-sama was this strong?

"Alice-chan, did you miss daddy this much? Andry, Steve, the meeting is over! Just do what you want. I'm going to spend some time with my daughter!" Lord Alen said as the loving father he is.

"Lord Alen, you're always like this when it comes to Alice! can't you be a bit more serious?" Steve said in a nervous voice.

Andry tried to speak up again but he was interrupted by Alva entering the room and standing between him and Alice, Her rapier is drawn. With a golden glimmer in her eyes, she looked him directly in the eyes.

"It's my only daughter and my last family, at least let me spoil her!" Lord Alen replied.

"Father, we have a lot of problems in our hands so let's talk seriously!" Alice said.

As he heard that Lord Alen's expression changed, he took on a serious face.

"Take a seat Alice-chan, I want to hear your 'Very Important' reason for barging into an important meeting first!"

Alice sat on a chair that was empty and signed for everyone to sit including Alva, Dolrig, and Sebas that just entered the room. She then took the appraisal orb from her pouch and put it on the table.

"When you see my stat you will understand the majority of what happened!"

[Appraisal] Alice's stats were shown to everyone.

---------------------------------------

Name Alice Von Eric Hakai Monke. Level: 08

Social stats: daughter of the duke, The hero's wife.

Class: Holy healer.

Titles: Servant of the hero, Hero fanatic, healer, The hero's second wife.

Health: 116/116(21+95).

Mana: 140/145(110+35).

Stamina: 98/104(14+90).

Strength: 32/34(8+26) , Dexterity: 22/25(13+12) , Speed: 22/26(12+14) , Magic: 28(16+12) , Luck: 24/28(18+10)

Constitution: 22/37(9+28) , Wisdom: 35/36(22+14) , intelligence: 28(14+14) , charisma: 44/46(28+18) , Will: 38/46(28+18)

Skills:

[Holy Healing Magic: Level 11], [Holy Detoxification Magic: Level 10], [Martial Arts: Level 8].

Lydia's soul skills:

[Mace art: Level 17], [Holy Smite: Level 6], [Shield art: Level 17]

Blessing of the hero:

[The Hero's Holy Maiden: Level 9].

Conditions

Housing a second soul.

--------------------------------------

Everyone's eyes widened as they saw Alice's stats, what shocked them the most was The blessing of the hero [The Hero's Holy Maiden].

"Alice-sama, is that really true? Did a hero appear?!" Andry was the first to speak up and Alva nodded to him.

"I can't believe my eyes!" Steve said in a low voice.

As Alice looked at her father she saw him make a really sad face, filled with sorrow.

"Father…!" Alice said.

"What happened to Lydia?" He asked, with a steady voice.

"Lydia-san… She died on duty protecting the hero, but her soul found peace inside me. The hero has promised to find a way to revive her when he gets strong enough!" Alice said slowly to let everyone hear it.

"After we finish this meeting, tell Sebas the location of her grave so he can send a group to recover her remains and bury them in our household!"

"That doesn't need saying! That's out of the way, right now the hero is the master of the von Eric family, that's why you lost your title!" Alice just dropped a bombshell on them.

"How was that even possible? Choosing to change a family head needs the king's approval!" Steve commented as he heard Alice's statement.

"No, the king has that authority just because he is a descendant of the first hero, and now that the second hero has appeared those rights have been transformed to him!" Lord Alen said.

"You mean that the hero's word is stronger than the king's?" Andry said.

"Of course! The hero is the one destined to lead humans and save the world, no king shall stand above him!!" Alice made a statement.

"Then where is this hero? we need to see him! Is he the gentleman dwarf here?" Steve said with a faint smile.

"Why ask when you know the answer, kid! I'm not the hero! Obviously, there is a problem and that is why we were in a hurry!" Dolrig replied to Steve.

"Let me explain what happened!" Alice started explaining everything that happened so far…

"My god! The hero was targeted, right off the bat? and we don't even know the attackers!" Steve said.

"Poor Lydia, she died just after finding a suitable husband…" Andry made a sad face.

"He fell into the ground, probably fell straight up to the Underdark! We need to save him as soon as possible…" Lord Alen was pondering for a moment before he stood up and looked at Alice.

"Sorry, it took me some time to realize. You can sit on my chair Holy maiden-sama!" Lord Alen handed his chair to Alice. Nobody dared to complain as Alice was the rightful hire! Since the hero isn't present his highest wife will take the lead which is Alice.

Alice shook her head, as she replied to her father.

"No! No! Father, you don't need to call me the holy maiden! Also, you just want to retire early, aren't you? Sorry, but I will work you to the bone until the hero arrives!!"

"I can never deceive you! very well, I will work as hard as I can to be your advisor for now but we are announcing the hero as the family head today and that you are his holy maiden."

Alice swapped seats with her father and took the lead of the meeting.

"So, Andry, what is the situation of the city?" Alice asked, anticipating a huge problem.

"Well, that... A large force of the undead, mostly zombies and skeletons has appeared behind the western mountain and is closing to the city. Our scout determined that there is at least 20,000 undead between skeleton and zombies, the rest are wights and ghouls and other types!"

Alice was shocked, those numbers were just too big.

"Are you sure? Even multiple dungeons wouldn't miss those numbers!" Alice said.

"We are sure, our scouts are experienced war scouts, they will make a mistake like this!"

"M'lady, we did face a zombie troll right before the hero was dropped into the ground. I suspect that the same person or organization is behind this!" Dolrig voiced his idea.

"That's very viable, we still don't know their reasons but they can't be the hero since he appeared just recently! to amass this huge army you will need to lead a few years of work!" Lord Alen voiced his concerns.

"We have to deal with a huge army while trying to save the hero...I should ask him directly and probably get Ariel's Advice on this matter"

Alice called Connor to tell him what happned.