RD 2 Ch 11

Chapter 11

Circe watched as the newest clan members all entered into the portal and everybody else started to filter out of the coliseum. It would be probably two weeks before the entrants all exited. With Zane and Galen inside, both were likely prepared with food, water and weapons.

It was customary for the lead branch to supply those as a way to engender support for themselves, but there was no doubt that Galen would have supplies as well.

The two branches were at such a deadlock.

Circe’s eyes picked up the pretty saintess. The Lilim Saint, she corrected herself. What a wonderfully unique class.

Her hips swayed side to side as she walked down the rows to the woman still sitting watching the portal. “Worried about him?”

“Hmm?” Simone glanced up. “No. I’m worried about everyone else in there with him.” She let out a light laugh.

Light enough that Circe believed her.

Bran had shown just a hint of his strength, but Circe could also feel his vitality was remarkable for his age. Curiosity gnawed at her, a pesky thing she hadn’t felt in a while.

“Well then. We should pray for them. You and Bran have impressed me. There’s no need to wait for him at his parents’ place. You are welcome to come stay at my palace with me.” Circe wanted to keep the woman close. This Bran was tricky. The last thing she needed was him slipping away as soon as he exited. Before she got an opportunity to woo him over to Odyssey.

“That’s a wonderful offer. I really think Bran would do well in Odyssey if he’s allowed to go back to Vein City and operate out of there.” Simone was practically handing her the keys to a negotiation if Circe wanted later.

She seemed youthful and innocent, yet that level and her stats told another story.

Circe did the math and realized that Simone hadn’t really spent any gold on her stats at all. Maybe she’s not actually that old. “That’s good. I think I can accommodate that. Though Bran’s skills in hiding might make me want to send him some places further off when necessary.”

Simone laughed. “Just tell him where in advance and I’m sure he’ll find a way to profit off of it. He’s incredibly resourceful.” Her eyes held a soft love.

The two of them were a true couple.

Circe’s first expectation had been that this woman latched onto the Heros name. Perhaps all her time in the clan has made her rather cynical. “Tell me more about him. I’d love to learn more about him. What’s his favorite food?”

Simone smiled. “He’s easy in that regard. Comfort foods and small luxuries go a long way. Big items don’t actually have much more value than the small things. He’d be really happy if you made something yourself. Bread, pie, you name it.”

Circe almost laughed. She hadn’t cooked in a very long time, certainly not for a man, but there was something about Simone’s face that made her stop. “Interesting. Yes, he’s someone who appreciates sincerity.”

“Very much so.” Simone’s head turned as someone shouted.

Circle didn’t hear the first person, but she heard the echoes of everyone else.

“The instance! It’s! The level!”

[The Blood Dragon’s World Level 2 S 1/1]

Circe’s brows furrowed. She was in the pit a second later, reaching out to touch the instance.

Electricity crackled and forced her hand back with a few burns.

“Can’t get in?” Hercules landed next to her a second later, followed by Zeus.

“No. I could probably force my way in though.” Wind gathered in her hand.

“Don’t.” Zues grabbed her and she jerked her hand out of his. “Zane’s in there and well prepared.”

“Galen too. There shouldn’t be an issue. Actually, it might be a boon.” Hercules rubbed at his manicured beard.

“A boon?” Circe asked. “You think this is training to be taken advantage of? This instance was originally at one hundred and thirty seven. If it even regains half of that…”

“It has only gone up a single level for now. It might not even go up again.” Zues stated calmly.

As if to prove him wrong, the level ticked up to three.

“Perfect. May the strong survive.” Hercules put a big hand on Zeus.

The two of them had palpable tension arcing between them.

Men and their dick measuring contests. A few levels might not be bad, but more could be a problem.

Circe bit her thumb. An S rank monster gained about 100 stats per level. The strongest in the instance would only need twenty levels before the advantage of their bloodlines was completely erased. At that point, the monsters would scale five times faster than the players as they leveled.

She turned to glance behind her at Simone.

The woman wasn’t even looking remotely worried. Everyone was panicking about the people inside, yet Simone wasn’t even concerned about Bran. Was he really that capable or was it blind confidence?

“We aren’t touching the instance.” Hercules yelled at the other families. “A few extra levels won’t bother the participants. Everyone, go back. We’ll manage this. If it gets too high we’ll intervene.”

“Agreed. For now this is no challenge.” Zeus chimed in to calm the masses.

Circe bit back a bitter smile. No, you won’t.

Both of you are hoping this kills the talent of your opponents youngest generation. Why did both of them have to have SSS rank classes? That was going to put these leaders into a pissing contest for sure.

Circe glanced back at Simone who gave her a thumbs up. “Really?” She made sure to move her lips plenty. Bran couldn’t have even entered if he was any higher than level one. Whatever experience he had or had done, he hadn’t leveled.

Simone nodded again and someone tried to shoo her out.

Circe leapt across the distance and stood before the Heros who was trying to shoo Simone away. “She’s my guest. You don’t tell her what to do.” Circe’s tone was flat and the Hercules Branch member lost all blood in his face before her. “Understood?”

“Understood.” He nodded quickly.

“Why are you so confident?” Circe glanced at Simone.

“Because even if he seems like a loner, he really always wanted to belong to the Heros Clan. If push comes to shove inside there, he’ll just put the whole burden on his shoulders and crush the instance.” Simone smiled.

Circe raised an eyebrow. “There’ll be a debate whether to interfere later. I need a real understanding of Bran’s strength.” Not that the debate would go anywhere.

“He can do it.” Simone said with conviction. “He’s far stronger than me.”

Circe inspected and saw the woman's three thousand stats. The woman was telling the truth, but how the heck did a level one get that strong, before he even unlocked his bloodline?

Or did he cause the problems with the instance?

“Was Bran planning to do anything strange in there?” Circe asked.

“Just take advantage of awakening his bloodline, and probably take all the loot.” Simone said.

There was no way Bran’s bloodline awakening could have caused this with the instance. Besides, the ancestor spirit inside of there was so powerful, there was no way Bran could affect the monster.

Circe nodded her head, starting to feel better as she talked herself through the scenario. The ancestor spirit was inside. It would help in the worst case scenario. It wanted more blood.

“Alright, come back with me. We’ll rest and wait for Bran’s return.” Circe nodded for Simone to follow her. The rest of the coliseum had been cleared out and those men who’d been tasked with clearing it were looking at them nervously.

It would be a better environment to just leave.

***

The femur bone swished through the air, sending a few level two cyclops flying. Every few swings, I’d burst into a Charge and knock another back before continuing my rampage. They were a piece of cake as S rank monsters went.

I smashed through the cyclops. A moment later, Zane as well as the rest of the group came forward to join me.

They came in fighting with such sloppy formations that I had to stop.

“No, if you two are going to fight together, you angle like this and you like this.” I grabbed two who were fighting a cyclops together.

The cyclops tried to smack me and I swatted away its spear.

“See. If you go like this then you’re outside of each other’s swing arcs and can fight relatively freely with a few degrees of movement.” I activated Blood Barrier as an eye beam from a cyclops ripped through the air at me. “Get it?”

The two of them nodded rapidly and I stepped away, nodding to myself. “You’re using a sword. That means using the cutting edge. You just hit it with the flat! Two hands. Two hands.” I used my femur to smack his free hand every time he tried to wield the weapon with a single hand. “You might be stronger, but it takes some getting used to with the wrist to keep the angle right. Two hands will keep the blade forward.”

Turning, I spotted another group of two doing so piss poor I had to step in. “Don’t fire at your ally.” I knocked a fireball out of the air. “It's tall. If you are going to shoot over your partner, aim for the head.”

“But it moves so much, the head is hard to hit.” One complained, and I had to remind myself not to just knock the stupid out of them. We were not in an apocalypse yet. I needed to try to build some friends.

“Well, I guarantee your ally with their back to you is even harder. By that, I mean you’re going to pay for it later. If you can’t do that, then call out and have him move.” I grumbled before turning to the one tanking the cyclops. “And you, if you have a ranged user behind you. A basic move is to pull to the monsters side and circle around your ally so they have a nice side shot. Don’t put the monster’s back to them unless you think you’re hot stuff. Because then the only retreat is further away from your party and likely into monsters. There you go. Footwork, footwork.” I smacked his wandering knee back in.

New recruits were always a pain and in the middle of fire and brimstone you didn’t mess around when it came to correcting them. Instead you just got it done and hoped they’d survive another day.

A cyclops must have not liked my instructering and came for me.

“Look carefully.” I pulled out a D rank sword from my spatial ring and called for those fighting to pay attention. “There’s a lot more to being a master, but to get started you have three moves. The thrust.” I met the charging cyclops with a thrust to its gut before backing away. “It’s using the top third of the blade to do any real damage. Focus on the vitals. This works well with a shield. Then we have the swing.” I drew back my sword and cut across the cyclops body while stepping back out of its reach. “It’s your main choice, but angle matters hugely and you can easily over extend. Finally, and I don’t recommend this for beginners, we have the chop.”

The cyclops bared down on me as I spoke, raising my sword high over my head. “The chop leaves you completely vulnerable for a moment, but if used correctly.”

Stepping forward, I swung the blade high over my head before bringing it down with as much force as possible, squeezing my muscles to the max while leaning into the weight of the blade.

It tore into the cyclops, starting at the shoulder and ripping all the way down to the center of its chest.

The monster collapsed to its knees and faded into the dungeon.

“It can end fights quickly.” I finished my commentary for the lesson on chop. “Now if you are having trouble, just ask for a shield and focus on your thrusts. That might be the safest way for all of you.”

“Uh.” A guy raised his hand as he jumped back from the cyclops. “I’d like a shield.”

“There are so many more types of strikes!” One of them shouted as he worked at a series of slashes. He at least seemed to have an idea how to use the sword. But then he started rattling off a dozen different Japanese sounding names.

My expression grew long. “Shut the fuck up. Kill things if you have that much energy. Everyone, focus on the basics.” I pulled out the femur again. “Your leg work is crap. Do you only fight in a single walking line?” I went over, and the guy with the many words for slashing got his hips and legs knocked around by me as I corrected his footwork.

[Training F]

Not bad.

“Please. Leave him alone. He looks like he’s going to cry.” Zane called over.

I glanced at Zane. His fighting style was well rounded. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. “You need better battlefield awareness. That group needed reinforcement thirty seconds ago. The one next to you can step over to fill your hold.” I lifted the bone with a sinister smile. “Yes, even you need to improve.”