agoraphobic_dragon

Godfather's System 204

“It looks like everyone’s mood is shiny,” Zolast said as he looked at us. 

“Yes. Precious,” Limenta grumbled with annoyance. 

“It’s not as fun when you’re the one wearing the armor, right?” I said with a chuckle, amused by his frustration. Since Concealment had limited impact on the beasts, Limenta wouldn’t be operating as an assassin against the upcoming corrupted monster horde. 

That meant, he was wearing one of our amazing golden armors ...

Godfather's System 203

I couldn’t help but sigh as I looked at the fateful location that almost cost me dearly with the destruction of a divine avatar, the location of the giant breach. Now, in its place, there was already a half-constructed city that was large enough to rival Oniphia, minus the triple siege wards. 

There wasn’t even one layer active. Somatons probably thought they still had time, so they wanted to construct a solid, interlocked structure rather than building a layer first before add...

Godfather's System 202 - Interlude Mahruss

Mahruss shuffled in discomfort as he tried to adapt  the unfamiliar weight of his armor. Well, unfamiliar was the wrong statement. He had worn that golden armor multiple times, often to trick others that the boss was still around. But, it was the first time he would have to fight while wearing that particular piece of armor. 

It was ironic that he was feeling more stressed about the armor he was wearing and the role he was supposed to play than the enemy forces that were gathe...

Godfather's System 201

As much as I wanted to stop and be surprised at the notification I received about the heart of a flying castle, the events had developed too far for me to slow down. I ignored the risk of integrating with the core. Instead, I wrapped the core up with some of my mana, hoping that it would be enough to keep it hidden. Afterwards, I ran out, my Concealment still in full force. 

Even with my Concealment, running to the edge would have been a challenge if the top floors were occupied li...

Godfather's System 200

The wait didn’t last long, but I managed to check enough empty rooms to find a discarded set of armor in one of the rooms. It was damaged and waiting  for  repair, but it was still enough. 

Then, in about a minute,  an alarm started to ring, and the gates leading to the lower parts of the castle slammed down, blocking access while the guards started to shout in alarm.  

I stayed in the room, waiting, wondering how my last-minute recruit would perform. It...

Godfather's System 199

Sneaking into the flying castle was no simple task even under normal circumstances, and the alert state of the army at the time didn’t make it any easier. I looked for an opportunity, which I was yet to find even as the sun started dipping down. 

Admittedly, trying to cause some trouble for Somaton wasn’t the only reason I wanted to sneak into a flying castle. We were yet to discover their working principles, and even Zolast had failed to learn anything desite his access to anc...

Godfather's System 198

“How dare you ignore my orders, you commoner dog! I’m ordering you to leave my territory,” a shout reached my ear. 

“Jackpot,” I muttered as the sound reached my ear. It came from my right, a bit over a thousand feet away. I could see about fifty people, split into two groups. I was happy to see that the larger group actually had one of the barons. 

It was always good to have one of the higher ranking nobles. I used Concealment as I approached them. 

Godfather's System 197

What was my great, awesome plan? 

An artificial hunt. 

It was a simple, incredibly so as a matter of fact. I had no doubt that, if I asked Takis to plan something, he would have come up with an incredible, complicated plan, but I had lived long enough to know that complicated plans were hardly necessary when dealing with two dangerous forces with significant friction between them. 

I was inspired by the times I had dealt with rival gangs, particularly the kind...

Godfather's System 196

As I pulled myself out of the water, looking at the cliff, I couldn’t help but call the System and go over the changes.It was the first break I had since I started my travel to my Somatom. 

By swimming for three days without a break. 

Originally, it would have taken more than ten days, but I made a point of investing fifty points to Speed, and twenty points to Strength. Combined, they had increased my movement capabilities considerably. 

Though, even while t...

Godfather's System 195

“I thought that heroes were supposed to be young, boss,” Mahruss said as he looked at me, while Zolast continued to layer several spells on the dungeon entrance, doing his best to remove the pocket dimension that we used to make them join my Heroic Party, collapsing it to remove the evidence. 

Mahruss and Takis, we invited while moving to the dungeon, and they decided to accept the offer after another explanation. 

Adding five new people to the party had been surpris...

Godfather's System 194

“… And then, after calling Jertann a Hero, he departed after sending Zolast his regards,” Karak finished explaining. To be fair, it was the third time he had explained, giving every single detail he could remember. He spoke that much without prompting, showing how much he had been affected by the kidnapping. “Boss, we need to find him!” 

“And, we will,” I said, sounding far more confident than I was actually feeling. “The battle at the Wall is already over, and Zola...

Godfather's System 193

The priest of Zeus looked at me angrily. For a moment, I thought that he would actually accept my challenge, but then, his gaze met with the other priest. A subtle shake of  his head was enough to make  the priest of Zeus swallow his disagreement. 

“Of course not,” he managed to say, unable to control his anger. “The last thing I want would be to accidentally malign your great high priest.” 

“I thought so,”  I said smugly, while, at the same ti...

Godfather's System 192

For them to set the tent barely took a minute, in an area that could be classified as neutral ground. Their speed was a surprise, but not in a good way. Under the current circumstances, it made sense to play slowly, and maybe even waste more time to try their luck with more assassination attempts. 

The fact that they were hurrying up wasn’t a good sign, at least not in my paranoid mind. It might be that they just wanted to finish what they planned and leave, but watching the inte...

Godfather's System 191

We managed to arrive at Town Maell before the flying castle, but it had been a close call. When we stepped into one of the tunnels that led directly to the inner town, the castle was just a couple miles away, and approaching rapidly. 

I sent a signal to Limenta, asking him to take Takis and a team of elites, and use a flying cart to go support Zolast. Since I was here, I was confident I could defend the town even if the worst happened. There was only one flying castle here.  2024-02-01 20:18:54 +0000 UTC View Post

Godfather's System 190

Unsurprisingly, Baron Maell wasn’t thrilled with the idea of meeting up with his ‘loving’ uncle. He was antsy even with my presence. He walked back and forth at the cart’s rear, his steps hard enough to shake the vehicle. “How dare that traitor show his face… I will kill him,” he muttered repeatedly. 

I didn’t engage with him, nor that I care about the beautiful view that was sliding under us, too busy paying attention to our environment while we went to Town Maell....

Godfather's System 189

My initial plan was to deliver the mana bomb against the army that was planning to attack us, but, once I caught up with the attacking army, I began having second thoughts about it. 

The offensive regiment was barely two thousand troops strong.More importantly, they were rushing forward recklessly. There was no need to weaken them when the caravan had already bunkered down, with enough ballistas to turn their position into an unbreakable bulwark. 

Then, Limenta sent me a...

Godfather's System 188 - Interlude Karak

Karak watched the city guard as his left hand tightened around the heft of his spear. They moved to arrest the people he had pointed out earlier, each of them having already passed the line they could approach without authorization. 

They listened to him, because at this point, almost half of the city guard members were ex-Dawn Hammer members, preferring the easy life of a guard to the constant, daily struggles of a guild member, their life split between hunting dangerous monsters ...

Godfather's System 187

“Are you ready, boys?” I asked as I looked at the shrouded figure of Limenta, standing next to Takis wearing gold armor, putting the last touches to escort the huge caravan that contained our promised weapon delivery.

Well, fake delivery. I had actually handled the real delivery with Terma’s help, putting our speed to good use. They were safely in a secret warehouse at the Wall I had hired through Iron Trust, defended by Zolast in case our trick was discovered, ready to be deliver...

Godfather's System 186

The week that followed my short yet memorable trip to Oniphia was surprisingly idle. Other than a few hidden trips to Oniphia where I smuggled several more crates of weapons in order to further fuel the fears about the unchecked smuggling that triggered a witch hunt in the city. It was surprisingly trivial once I understood the design of the port wards, particularly since the wards were geared toward detecting beasts rather than men. 

Other than those trips, I did little other than...

Godfather's System 185

“Do you have anything to drink?” I asked even as I sat down, while Zolast let the flying cart start floating. He threw a bottle at me. “Just what I needed,” I said as I chugged. “So, have you been attacked?” I asked. 

“Twice,” Zolast said. “Once by a team of archers hidden in my path, once by a trio of flying carts, two of them I captured successfully,” he said. 

“An unexpected profit,” I said. The flying carts weren’t prohibitively expensive, b...

Godfather's System 184

Once I was convinced that the flames wouldn’t suddenly turn into a portal, it was easy to ignore the spread of the cursed flames. After my Charisma-backed order, people ran away faster than the flames could spread. The property damage to the city was for the city lord to worry about.  

Instead, I paid attention to the approaching forces. A dozen cloaked figures. Nine of them moved openly, wearing the armor of the city guards. Six had melee weapons, while three had arrows. Their w...

Godfather's System 183

As I returned to the inn arranged for me by the city, I was tempted to leave the city instead. Other than finding someone to frame for the fake-smuggling, I had accomplished all that was  necessary for the fake operation. At this point, I could leave the city to proceed with the operation, and it would still work well enough, and I could go back to make sure Town Maell and Town Yoentia operated perfectly. 

I sent a message to Zolast, asking whether I should do so. His answer a...

Godfather's System 182

My decision to meet with the city lord immediately had led me to a waiting room. It was stocked well with food and drinks, and there were two servants ready to serve for any need that might have been prepared already. 

But, I was kept waiting for hours. 

It wasn’t a surprising development. I didn’t have any friends in the city, only enemies; including the city lord himself. If it wasn’t the veneer of honor that had defined most of their life, they might have actual...

Godfather's System 181

As I stood in front of the gates of Oniphia, I was having conflicting feelings. I was in awe as I looked at the giant walls, even the outermost layer tall enough to create a claustrophobic feeling. It was hard to argue against the impressiveness of the city. 

Yet, I was still disappointed. The more impressive the city was, the more it contrasted with the rest of the border, showing just how easy it would have been to build the rest up to a similar level. The more I learned about th...

Godfather's System 180 - Interlude Takis

“Third group. Pattern red-twelve. Attack! Fourth group. Pattern green-four. Suppressive fire! Spearman, set up a wall,” Takis shouted, and twenty ballista attacked at once, cutting his path of approach successfully, but his opponent still retreated easily, leaving the magic bolts to explode uselessly.  

Third failed attempt without using his command skill. Dealing with an opponent that possessed high Speed was harder than he had expected. 

That would not do, Takis th...

Godfather's System 179

“No, I do not know what a domain is,” Zolast said as he poured himself another drink. I looked at the bottle, but he shook his head. “No drinks for you. It’s your punishment for killing Tarug. Do you have any idea how much work I have to do to smooth things over?” he said. 

“Fair enough,” I said as I collapsed on the chair. I was still wearing my dark cloak, and we were currently in his tent, near the second battlefield. The combined efforts of Takis and Zolast had br...

Godfather's System 178

The silence that filled the plains following my declaration was beautiful. It was a daring declaration, but the shift from blue glow to golden seemed to imprint the desired message. 

Naturally, fighting against a thousand soldiers just by myself was dangerous, no matter how overwhelming my stats were at this current point. All the Baron would need was to ask the mages to contain me with their spells while focusing on ranged attacks. A simple strategy, but more than enough to deal w...

Godfather's System 177

It was fun to see the sudden wave of uncertainty spread through the soldiers, and that was with no kind of emotional influence from me. I didn’t blame them. From their perspective, I belonged to a mysterious church with many incredible achievements.  

From their perspective, I might have been strong enough to rival Lord Crusader, which would mean a fight would cost many lives from them before they would finally triumph. The fact that I decided to defend my retreating army alone r...

Godfather's System 176

“What’s the situation?” I asked Takis once our forces started walking, two of us at the rear of the army, ignoring the risk of the forces behind us. They were busy dismantling the wards around the construction, checking for traps.

However, even as they did so, two mounted wings separated from the army, each with two hundred soldiers, taking a wide turn, but their eventual attempt to envelop our forces was rather obvious. 

As for why they didn’t attack directly; the ba...

Godfather's System 175

 Jertann’s prediction about increasing hostilities turned out to be accurate. Barely an hour after our combined training and reporting session, I received an alert, saying that one of the new mines that was under construction near the border between Town Tarug and Town Maell was about to be attacked, an approaching force detected by our wards. 

I didn’t know how to respond to it ... or rather with what identity. 

Problematic, because the mine was under the juris...