Healer Book 5 -- Chapter 26

Chapter 26

“Report!  Did you just recently… perform a check of this dungeon to ensure it is in full working order?”

Thaden’s confidence was consequently high after his latest experience in The Mines of Khanordun, so he wasn’t necessarily worried about the flying Charee who just landed in front of them, but he also wasn’t prepared to be completely ignored.  For some reason, he expected all of the Wardens – as he was 99% sure these newcomers were of the same type as at least 3 of the Aelveen – to know who he was, but other than a confused glance at the presence of a Contender nearby, they seemed to treat him as nothing but scenery.

However, they did change what they were going to ask the Aelveen, likely to avoid a panic if the Contenders began learning about the Adversarial infiltration.  That let him know that they were aware of him, but didn’t consider him important enough to address at the moment.

Other than that, the trio of powerful new arrivals was a strange sight for Thaden, as he’d yet to meet any Charee with a higher Level than the Regional Leader for the Adventurer Coalition – and they were over 400 Levels lower than these Wardens.  For some reason, he hadn’t pictured the Charee being able to get that strong, which he knew was probably all sorts of racist or prejudicial, but even if he knew differently now, it was still odd for him to see it in person.

Che and Lyn had quickly joined the others as the Charee Wardens were setting down, and Thaden just watched from behind as they looked at each other suspiciously enough that he was expecting some sort of detective to pop out and say, “Aha!”  That didn’t happen, of course; what did happen, thankfully, was Tac responded calmly and confidently to the spokesperson for the Charee, an extremely powerful female named Ghareta. 

“Yes, it has been cleared for further Contender admittance.  We just finished another one called The Badlands to the southwest, and were resting before we got back to it.  This last one was… difficult.”

“Excellent!  I’m happy to report that an additional five dungeons have been cleared since we started our sweep, though I’m concerned that the number of them in… suboptimal condition… appears to be more than expected.”

“We have noticed that as well,” Tac said with a serious nod.  “I also fear that we have learned some critical information that may help us in our objective.”

“Oh.  What critical information is that?”

Tac leaned forward and whispered, and though Thaden could hear him, he pretended like he couldn’t.  “A Legion Commander nearly broke out with an incredibly dangerous, sizeable force at its command.”

“Surely you jest!” Ghareta and the other Charee Wardens looked surprised, but were also clearly chock full of disbelief.  “Such a thing could never happen.”

Rather than argue, Tac just said, “Just be on the lookout… and be careful.”

“You as well.”  The Charee Wardens turned to leave, but then Ghareta stopped and asked, “By the way?  How is your search for… your other objective going?  Any luck yet?”

Thaden thought it was more than obvious how all but Tac couldn’t help but give the Contender in their midst a side-eye at the question, but apparently the Wardens were blind to subtle hints.  “Not yet.  I’m sure we’ll locate our target soon, though.”

“That’s good to hear.  Do you want us to help search for you?  We might have an easier time interacting with our people compared to yourselves.”

“No!  I mean, that isn’t necessary,” the slightly flustered Aelveen quickly covered for his outburst.  “What would help us is a plan to divide up the Region so we aren’t overlapping each other in our dungeon maintenance.”

Ghareta stared at Tac for a few seconds, as if she was starting to suspect that something was wrong, but she eventually nodded.  “That would certainly assist in clearing our objectives in a timely manner.”

Thaden somewhat faded into the background as the two Wardens began to hash out a plan to assign different parts of the Region to each group, as he didn’t want to get involved.  He still listened in to it all, and Sadia did as well, so he didn’t miss anything despite not being in the meeting.  While he probably could’ve added in his opinion, especially as he’d traveled over most parts of the Region in one way or another during his hunt for the Anchor Dungeons, the last thing he wanted was for the Charee Wardens to question why he was even there.  Because then he’d have to try and convince them that he was one their side, and they would likely think he was lying because they could “sense the taint of the Adversary” in him or some such nonsense, before he'd be forced to kill them repeatedly until they saw reason, and so on.

He didn’t want to have to go through all that again if he could help it.

“Alright, I think that’s a good plan.  With any luck, we’ll have this whole operation completed in no time.  Good hunting!” Ghareta said, again turning away to leave.  Of course, just as he thought he was in the clear, she turned around and her eyes homed in on Thaden, before tilting to the side in confusion.

“Who is this Human Contender and why do I sense something… off about him?”

Inwardly sighing, Thaden got ready to start arguing and trying to convince these new people he was actually good and not an agent of the Adversary, which would inevitably lead him to killing everyone, but he was saved by Tac. 

“We found him near the dungeon here, and he likely still has the taint of the malfunction that flooded the area before we came.  He should be fine in a short time; if not, we’ll assess the situation and act to eliminate it before it gets any worse.”

The quick response was completely at odds at the fumbling hesitation of earlier, and it quickly seemed as though all the Charee bought it.  Ghareta nodded and turned away again, but this time she didn’t stop.  30 seconds later, she and the other two Charee Wardens were in the sky, disappearing into the horizon in their hunt for more “malfunctions”.

Almost the instant that the other Wardens were out of sight, all 4 of the Aelveen seemed to deflate, their postures indicating an exhaustion that they had been hiding while their visitors had been there.  While they had gotten some rest while he was in the dungeon, it obviously hadn’t been enough; they still looked better than directly after Resurrecting them the last time outside of The Badlands dungeon, but they clearly needed some more time to recover from the experience. 

“Thanks for that, by the way,” he said to Tac, who turned to him wearily. 

“I didn’t do it for you,” the Aelveen Warden said in response.  “I did it so that I didn’t have to see a fellow Warden die when they foolishly decided to attack you,” he continued in disgust.

Thaden nodded, knowing that all of them were still a bit sore about the whole killing and Resurrecting thing, but there was nothing he could do about it.  What he could do, however, was help them recover.

“I know you told the others that we’d be searching for more concentrations of Adversarial energy immediately, but I can tell that wouldn’t be a good idea.  You may try to hide it, but you all look like you’re about to drop at any point.  Let’s head to Darkwood Vale and get some rooms at the Adventurer’s Coalition there; I think what you need is a chance to relax and recover before we go all-out.  Besides, I have some business that I need to take care of there before we do this.”

“But there is no time to waste; you told us yourself that the infiltrations by the Adversary are worse than we originally,” Fer argued, though Thaden could see her heart wasn’t in it.

“I did, but it won’t do any good if you go into another dungeon and collapse from exhaustion, which would likely force me to Resurrect you again when you died.  I’m pretty sure you don’t want that to happen, do you?”  The fear in their eyes at that prospect was evident in the way they opened wide and looked away from him.  “We’ll get to them when we do; forcing yourselves like this won’t help anyone.”

Each of the Aelveen shifted in place, indicating that they likely thought that they should argue for continuing their hunt, but none of them said anything to refute his words.

“Good.  Let’s go.”

A minute later, they were on their way to Darkwood Vale, where Thaden could see Corinna, unload all the junk in his Inventory, and finally look at his notifications.

                   *

Fer’la’vina ignored the stares and whispers coming from hundreds of Contenders as she and the others in her Party made their way toward the front of the gates of the city they were about ready to enter.  What made it easier was the fact that most—but not all—of the attention wasn’t on the Aelveen, thanks to the cloaks that now covered them; while the thick, green cloaks didn’t reduce their height, which was considerably taller than every Human Contender nearby, it did conceal their features and obscured their names and Levels from anyone trying to see them.  She and the other Wardens rarely ever used the Camouflage Cloaks nowadays, as they weren’t necessary in their normal duties, but it was something that they always possessed in case infiltration into a Region – once access opened for them – was necessary. 

While this necessarily drew attention from the Contenders nearby, it was Thaden that they stared at and whispered about, starting with his flamboyant equipment and extending to his incredibly high Level compared to the rest of them.  As she looked around at the Humans outside the walls, she didn’t see anyone higher than Level 166, though she was sure there were some with higher Levels inside the city – but not much higher.  Thaden, as has already been discovered, was an anomaly.

“Badges, please.”

She watched as Thaden flashed his Diamond-Ranked Badge, only eliciting a tiny sliver of surprise from the Charee City Guard at the gate.  She thought about her own Badge and what kind of reaction it would produce when she showed it, but thankfully the Guard who let Thaden through took one look at them and gulped audibly, before waving them through without any questions.

Fer was slightly disappointed that she couldn’t show off her Platinum+ Badge, as it was one of the perks of being a Warden that she hadn’t flexed in many centuries.  It basically told anyone who saw it—and recognized it—that they were the authority in a developmental world, and could do or demand pretty much anything they needed from the populace.  None of them would ever abuse that power, of course; they wouldn’t have been chosen to be Wardens if they were prone to doing something like that, after all.  But that didn’t mean she couldn’t get any satisfaction from seeing people react to knowing she had it.

While none of the Aelveen had been to this Region or this city before, it felt familiar enough that she didn’t think she’d be able to get lost, and so much wood around – as well as the nearby forest – felt comforting in a way she didn’t know she needed until she walked in.  Thaden led them unerringly through the streets of the city, and before long, they emerged into a large open square, where she could see a familiar Coalition building ahead of them.  It didn’t take her long to notice that it was undergoing repairs, as a significant chunk of it seemed to be new construction.

“What happened here?” she asked, and a shadowed expression overcame Thaden’s face for a moment before it disappeared.

He pointed past the Coalition building to another one, which appeared to be the ruins of a large structure, though it, too, was undergoing repairs – but it was far from being finished.  It didn’t take long for her to look around and notice that the buildings surrounding this heavily damaged structure, which were a mixture of residential and commercial ventures, all appeared to be new construction.

“One of the Adversary’s Elites blew it up, destroying many pieces of the city and killing thousands of people.  It was… a mess.  I barely killed it before it could expand its spatial pocket far enough to encompass the entire city.”

Spatial pocket?  What is that?

“It was you that eliminated the threat here?” Tac asked, as surprised as Fer was.  “What was it?”

Thaden grunted in assent, before responding in a monotone voice.  “Soul Harvester; Level 734.  It had this ability to suck the souls out of people so they couldn’t be Resurrected, and it did that quite a few times before I could kill it.”

Fer nearly tripped over her own feet when she heard that.  She had heard of Soul Harvesters before, though she didn’t know much about them; what shocked her the most was the Level he purported it possessed.  Level 734?!  How is that possible?

If that was a sign of what they were up against, which she was beginning to suspect was the case based on the Level 655 Legion Commander that thoroughly destroyed the Aelveen when they went up against it, then they were in trouble.  The System’s Level restrictions on the Wardens, which were designed to stabilize the energy within the Regions, could end up killing them because the threat the Adversary was presenting was too much for them to handle!

Once, she would’ve scoffed at Thaden’s insistence that he killed something so far above his Level – because such a thing was impossible.  Or so she thought.  Now, though, after seeing what he could do in person, and after witnessing that he achieved over 3 billion Monster Value in the Endless Onslaught Challenge less than an hour ago – which she mentally guesstimated meant that he had survived against Level 950+ monsters – she didn’t have a doubt that he had done it.

But didn’t he just say that he barely survived against the Level 734 Soul Harvester?  Did that mean he was a lower Level at that time?  In the end, she supposed that it didn’t really matter how much of a lower Level he was before, because she knew that unless they had every single Warden of Tarth working together, they likely wouldn’t be able to kill a Level 734 monster if they were all stuck at Level 567; the difference in Level was just too great, as had been proven against even a Level 655 Legion Commander.  Now, if they had their full power and were allowed to unleash their abilities at Level 900, they would have absolutely no problem killing dozens of Soul Harvesters like that.

But they didn’t have access to that power – and the plans of the Adversary just became even more sinister in her mind.  It was almost as if they knew that the Wardens would be restrained if they were to attack the Regions this early after the Contenders arrived, and were planning on taking advantage of that fact. 

We’ve been outmaneuvered from the start.

Her dark thoughts were pushed aside for the moment as they entered the Coalition building, before finding themselves before a counter with a young Charee behind it.

Thaden turned to the Aelveen, hesitating for a moment.  “You know, I forgot to ask; are you in any way affiliated with the Adventurer Coalition?”

Chuckling, Fer pulled out her Platinum+ Badge along with Tac and Che.  She finally got to see the look she had missed experiencing on the City Guard, as his eyes widened considerably.  “Ooh, are those Platinum?  How did you get those?  No one here would tell me how to upgrade my Badge past Diamond.”

Smugly, Che answered, “Well, first, you have to have the required Badge Rank Progress, which will take you a long—”

He waved a negligent hand.  “Done already.  I’ve had enough for months now.”

Che paused, as flabbergasted and tongue-tied as Fer felt.

“Oh.  Uh, well, then all you would need is to visit with a Warden, who will be able to upgrade your Badge,” she said quietly, all of the smugness having departed.

“Really?  That’s all it takes?  Well, it’s a good thing we have some Ward—”

Che cut him off before his loud announcement spread around the lobby of the Coalition.  “No, it has to be a Warden assigned to your Region.  Which, if you hadn’t guessed by now, is a Charee.  So, unless you want to go find Ghareta and ask if she’ll upgrade your Badge, it’ll be better to wait until… later.”  They still couldn’t share details on Developmental Phase 4, which was when most Contenders will become familiar with the Wardens and what they could do. 

“Ah, well, at least I know now.  It’s only a matter of time, I guess.”  With a smile, Thaden turned to the female Charee behind the counter, but she had obviously already seen the Warden’s Badges when the brought them out, as she looked like she was on the verge of collapse.  Fortunately, she appeared to be made of some strong stuff, because she recovered quickly enough.

“I’ll have rooms prepared for our distinguished guests.  Give me a few minutes and I’ll lead you to them personally.”

The 5 of them waited in the Lobby in the corner, again ignoring the stares and whispers—and not-whispers, as well—as the Coalition receptionist disappeared.  It was only a few minutes later when she hurried back, before beckoning them to follow them.

“I’m sorry we don’t have any Platinum rooms available, as we weren’t aware that they would be needed for quite a while.  We do have a pair of Diamond-Ranked rooms, which you are more than welcome to split however you desire, or we have numerous Gold-Ranked rooms if each of you want a separate one.”

“The two Diamond-Ranked rooms will be perfectly fine,” Tac said at the head of the Party.  If Fer remembered correctly, they could easily shift the massive bed that came standard in such rooms into smaller, individual beds for up to a dozen individuals, so it was absolutely fine.  She could only assume that Thaden wanted his own, and she wasn’t going to complain as she thought about the soft mattress waiting for her. 

The longer they had to travel through the building to reach the Diamond-Ranked rooms, the more exhausted she felt.  She now knew that what the Human Contender had told them before they agreed to come to the city was true; the bone-deep weariness she could feel throughout her whole body was completely a result of so many Resurrections happening in such a short time, and while she didn’t think if she was at Level 900 again she would feel this bad, that certainly didn’t apply at Level 567.  If she was a few hundred Levels lower, she might have been almost completely incapacitated by now, instead of at least mobile and functioning relatively normally, if extremely tired.

Fer was barely even aware when they finally arrived, nor did she stop moving even as Tac adjusted the enormous bed into smaller ones for them to use alone.  She only somewhat noticed that he was carrying Lyn by this point, as she was practically asleep by that point, before she collapsed on top of the bed she had picked out, sinking into its glorious softness with relief.

It didn’t take her long to accompany Lyn into the blissful sleep her body and soul desperately craved.

Chapter 27: https://www.patreon.com/posts/120699446