ALL NOVEL Chapter 164 “ Leveling up.”
Chapter 164
“ Leveling up.”
A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead.
I have to close that portal... I have to get stronger and make sure I can send Alice and her grandparents back home. She thought as her aching body protested from the effort and a twinge of pain in the right side of her body told her that she had broken a bone during the last fight. I can’t leave them in this world knowing that this place will be destroyed in a little over a year. I must make sure they are safe.
Kalysto took out a small bottle of holy water and drank it in one gulp, repairing the damage she had suffered after the powerful blow the lich had given her.
His blows were too strong for a mere necromancer. Which again made her wish she could negotiate with the queen again in exchange for stat crystals, but her current reward was not something she was willing to lose for anything in the world.
Or maybe I can get them somewhere else. She thought as she watched Hanna, whose violet eyes gazed with childish curiosity at the remains of the houses in the part of the city they were in. The walls and doors were stained with the blood of the civilians who were found walking unsuspectingly in the streets at the time of the invasion. Their mutilated bodies lay on the ground along with those of soldiers and monsters who had perished during the initial combat.
In the midst of all that chaos, the pretty fairy looked so out of place with her clean clothes, her white armor on without the helmet and her long pink hair pulled back in a high ponytail.
Kalysto, on the other hand, looked like someone who lived on the streets and hadn’t bathed in months. Her brown hair was tangled and full of dust, and her clothes were dirty, torn, and burned at some edges. Not to mention her face.
“Good morning, champion!” Hanna greeted her with her usual smile when she saw that she had already finished as if the woman in front of her did not look like a beggar who was near the gates of hell instead of the saintess that the queen had been careful to choose. “I hope it is clear to you what our mission is for today,” she commented, and the unusual seriousness in her words sounded like a scolding in the tired ears of the champion of the fairies.
“Of course,” answered Kalysto, relaxing her features. Taking a more serious attitude as well. “And good morning to you too, Hanna. Please excuse the delay, I needed to get rid of these monsters to give some time for some friends to escape,” she answered and for a few seconds it seemed as if Hanna was evaluating the veracity of her answer, but then the fairy’s face returned to normal and the strange gleam of cunning in her violet eyes disappeared completely. “The portal is in that direction,” commented the saintess as she extended her arm and pointed eastward with her index finger.
“I know,” replied the pretty woman with fine features and pink hair without even turning around or taking her eyes off her. “Are you ready to go now, or do you need anything else? I have no idea how many hours it takes to close a portal. I have never participated in a similar activity before, so I don’t think we should waste the little time we have.”
Does that mean I’m the first saintess in this world to try it? The brunette was surprised. Or just the first she had ever heard of who could do such a thing? Before Earth was invaded she had never heard the word portals other than in some fantasy novel or comic book. And the only time she knew of a portal being closed was because the boss of that dungeon and all the monsters inside it had been defeated by the protagonist.
Yet, she had already closed one and hadn’t even had to enter it.
However, the fact that the portal had the skill to defend itself had taken her by surprise.
Would this one also have dark mana tentacles? She wondered, curiosity getting the better of her.
Hopefully, it does, so I can increase my dark mana capacity! So far, that was the only stat she hadn’t found any other way to increase.
“We can leave immediately, but...” Kalysto hesitated for a few seconds before continuing. If whoever opened the portal is who I suspect it is, I’ll need a couple more levels before I can be sure I can defeat him. That damn orc has a monstrously high defense! “Can I ask you a favor?”
“That depends,” she replied, and all traces of cordial cheerfulness disappeared from her kind face.
“What does it depend on?” Kalysto frowned, suddenly alert to her sudden change of attitude.
“On whether it is in my power to help you and whether I will like what I get in return,” smiled the fairy, like someone explaining something obvious to a small child. “Besides, we haven’t finished our previous transaction yet,” the fairy continued, and Kalysto’s shoulders relaxed, knowing that the woman in front of her had not refused to help her.
The old memory of two phrases her father always used to say to her came to her mind: ‘We always pay our debts... the good or the bad ones.’ ‘And always repay the good or the bad that others do to you.’
“In that case,” she commented, allowing a thin smile to bloom on her dust and dried-blood-stained lips. “I would like to negotiate with you, I want you to bring me closer to the undead so that I can purify them, but to keep me away from any other monsters that might pose a danger to me while you lead me to the portal. I will give you two liters of holy water after we finish this mission as payment.”
“Almost the entire city is infested with the undead,” the fairy commented as if to gain some sort of advantage, however, there was no trace of greed in her gaze or in the tone of her voice. Instead, she turned her head to the side like a pet would while trying to understand a new command from her master, which she had never heard before. “These are the people who kidnapped you. Why help them? Why not let the monsters destroy them completely and just destroy the portal as the queen ordered?”
“As much as I would love to teach them a lesson and make sure they can never summon people from my world again, I don’t think they are all guilty of such a charge” at least a small part of her thought so. “Besides, if I eliminate most of the undead, that would give the innocent people of this city a chance to survive. And the real culprits of the unwilling summoning are the king,” which she had already taken care of, “the temple, and the court magicians.”
“...” Hanna’s violet eyes fell on her without losing any detail of her features, evaluating the truthfulness of her words and finding voids in her defense.
“And I could definitely use all the experience points I’d get from killing them, which would help me level up and make sure I have enough power to destroy the portal and whoever is guarding it.”
“... True... And my job is to get you there and then make sure you get back to your room in the palace in one piece, not to help you destroy the portal, or kill any monsters,” Hanna concluded. “And it’s true that leveling up would make your job easier and what better opportunity for a saintess to level up than a city overrun by an army of thousands of undead.”
“... True,” agreed Kalysto, beginning to get a little nervous at the sudden silence of the fairy.
“Normally fairies would not venture into a human city that has such a large temple dedicated to the goddess Mhiralla,” she explained, making it clear that she was only there because the queen had ordered her to be there.
“And I’m not asking you to go near them,” she assured her, noting that at no time had she refused the possibility of helping her to kill more than just the undead that were near the route to the portal. “Since I have the nerve to ask you for a new contract without having fulfilled the previous one, I would like to add one more reward. Would you like to receive a blessing?”
“A blessing?” Curiosity and greed shone in Hanna’s eyes at the unexpected proposal. “And when would I receive it?”
“Immediately,” she hastened to answer, “but it would be just once,” she negotiated, and this time, it was Kalysto’s turn for greed to shine in her eyes. “Of course, if you want me to add one more blessing for you to use in the future, you will have to advance me here and now at least 100 of the mana stones with 4,000 MP from our deal this morning.”
“If we stay at least two hundred meters away from the temple, I will help you purify most of the undead in this city,” Hanna negotiated.
“We have a deal!” Kalysto got excited, securing the new contract immediately and activating her stealth skill as soon as Hanna flew with her through most of the city.
Forty-five minutes later, Kalysto had spent almost all the mana stones Hanna had given her in advance, as well as half of her collection of revitalizing potions.
Sitting on the thick branch of a tree near the mansion over which the huge portal stood, Kalysto couldn’t help but let a smile spread across her face as she drank another revitalizing potion.
It was worth it! She was excited as she closed the notification windows that had opened to her left, enjoying how much she had grown in such a short time. Status window!