Chapter 89: Chapter 89 - Not Getting My Hopes Up

"Elemental Ice: Triple Icicle!" Exclaimed Prysm, firing out three sharp shards of ice at a group of seven Firefoxes.

Some of them managed to spring away and evade the incoming projectiles, but two of them got hit, getting pierced through and killed instantly. One raced towards her, springing at her with a snarl as embers of flame sparked around its mouth as a fiery glow emanated from its throat.

"Elemental Wind:...," Began Prysm, and as it closed in on her and began to shoot out the flames, "Asphyxiation!"

She then shot forward with her Soul Weapon towards one of the remaining four, leaping up as it fired out a ball of flames at her from its mouth, before raising her axe up high and swinging it down as she plummeted down towards it, splitting its head open as it began to jump back, but too slow to dodge her swing.

The last three then began to flee, she swiftly responded by flinging her axe at one of them, striking its back and slicing into its body, blood gushing out upon impact. She’s gotten a lot better at controlling the increase of weight of her Soul Weapon, without overdoing it.

"Elemental Wind: Double Wind Slash!" She then chanted, swinging her hands out in either direction of the remaining two Firefoxes.

She fired out slashing waves of wind at each of them, slicing them both apart and killing them. She pumped her fist triumphantly, before turning to me with a smug grin...

"How was that? I didn’t need any help from you at all this time," She remarked with a pleased look on her face, as I walked over.

"Yeah, that wasn’t too bad, I guess," I shrugged in response.

Quite a while has passed, a little over two years since the first time I visited Kieph Town. Today’s the 5th of December, 2015, and I was currently heading back to Kieph Town for the first time since then.

I’ve been traveling throughout the nation over the last two years or so, looking for my brother, and I’ve heard a fair bit about him in several towns. And, well, on the bright side, it sounds like he’s doing fine. But on the down side, I’m yet to run into him, there’s been a few times where I’ve just missed him.

He’s been making a name for himself as a Platinum ranked Adventurer, having even completed a few quests in the Labyrinth. But he doesn’t seem to be staying in any one place for too long, I always seem to be just one step behind him.

At least, that’s how it was for the first year or so after I left Kieph Town. In the year and couple of months since then, he seems to have completely vanished. I had made a request to all the Guilds I visited to inform him about me, and I even left them my phone number to give him.

But I’ve visited those Guilds again during the last year, and he’s apparently been to none of them in that time. I’ve been trying to determine his timeline over the last few years, but there’s a lot of estimates and uncertainties.

That said, the last place that he seems to have visited was Kaygee Town, the town near the Labyrinth. It’s possible that he entered the Labyrinth to train in.

That’s why I’m headed to Kieph Town, it’s been long enough, and I want to try and rank up further. I’ll then head to Kaygee Town and enter the Labyrinth, maybe I’ll find him there.

On another note, I haven’t encountered any Knights or Nobles since Kieph Town...they had been searching all the towns and villages for a while after I escaped the capital, but it seems like they’ve given up on finding me now.

And so, as of a few months ago, I decided to shed my disguise. I can always just put a wig and colored contacts on if I run into any Knights, I was getting tired of constantly having to dye my hair.

Anyway, while we’ve mostly been traveling using Prysm’s Teleportation Skill, we occasionally walk a bit and try to find Monsters to fight, just to make sure we don’t get rusty.

We’ve also been sparring regularly, and she’s slowly but surely starting to put up a real challenge against me. I’m fifteen now, and she’s twelve.

Since my body’s still developing and growing, it’ll probably still be a while before I’m at a level where I can head back to the capital to save Rhyle. And it’s not just my physical condition, Spellcasting and mastery over Skills also takes time to hone and sharpen.

We’re currently on the outskirts of Kieph Town, having teleported not too far from here about half an hour ago, and encountered those Firefoxes a few minutes ago. I had Prysm set her Teleportation Point in a secluded area about a kilometer or so away from the town, just to be safe.

"So, ready to head into town?" I suggested, as she put away her Soul Weapon and I opened up my Pocket Dimension.

"Even after all this time, I’m still not used to this," She sighed, as she reluctantly headed into the portal.

Well, here’s hoping that I run into Argent in this town, but I’m not getting my hopes up. I wonder where he is and what he’s upto right now? Whatever it is, I just hope he’s okay...

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Point-of-View: Argent Stryker

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"Ugh, disgusting as always...at least it’s edible," I sighed, as I slurped down a Slime.

"Can we go back outside already, Argent? I want to eat some cooked meat again," Complained Izzy, as she shook my shoulder, having been resting her head on my arm.

"Hm...yeah, I suppose it’s about that time. Alright, we’ll start heading back up after a few more days," I replied, after mulling it over and patting her shoulder.

I’d been hunting down Nobles and Knights whenever I came across them outside of the capital, it had been going pretty well for about five or six months.

It got pretty easy towards the end, because each time I killed some of them, more would show up a few days later to look for the ones I killed. And while killing them had been pretty rewarding, I didn’t get as much information out of them as I’d have liked.

Most of them didn’t know anything about the attack on Juana Village, and even the few that did didn’t have much information of any real value. I have a few names of the Knights involved in that incident, but not nearly as many as I’d like.

Eventually, as another group of Knights showed up and I attacked them with Izzy, two of them managed to escape, since one of them had the Teleportation Skill.

They’d seen our faces, and of course, the fact that I’m traveling with a Monster. So, I decided it would be best to lay low for a while, in case they spread the news about that.

It’s unlikely that they’d inform any Guilds about it since Nobles despise treating Commoners like people, but I couldn’t risk it. And so, I headed for the Labyrinth with Izzy, who wasn’t too happy about going back after spending a century and a half down here.

I’ve lost track of time, but I think I’ve been here for maybe a little under two years now. There are small streams of water that can be found in Labyrinths, so water wasn’t a problem. Food, however, was another story...there are some edible plants that grow in Labyrinths, but they’re not very easy to find.

So, before coming in here, I looked up which Monster species are safe to eat. Unfortunately, most such Monsters live outside of the Labyrinths.

The options I was left with were basic Slimes, the tentacles of Sprouts, Minataurs and a few others. I’ve tried them all and they’re all absolutely disgusting. However, after a few months had passed, I realized something...I was getting stronger at an unnatural rate.

Which means that eating Monsters over a prolonged period of time actually makes a person physically stronger. Not only that, but my injuries heal faster and I’m more durable too.

I used that as motivation to continue forcing down the disgusting food, but it seems like I’ve reached the limit of how much stronger I can get using this method.

So I think it’s time to leave...I can’t stay down here forever, I’ve still got my objective to fulfill. First, I’ll go to Marri Town and see if I’m now good enough to rank up to Diamond. And if I do rank up...I think it’s about time that I head to the capital.

It’ll probably take a couple of days or so to get back to the top...I’m not sure exactly which floor we’re on, but we definitely went past the fortieth floor.

I had been slowly and steadily descending the Labyrinth over the past few months, deciding to stop once Catastrophic Grade Monsters began appearing regularly. Ah, and speaking of which...

"Great, another Mega Slime, looks like a Mega Poison Slime," Sighed Izzy wearily.

"Leave it to me," I replied, as I manifested my Soul Weapon and activated Intangibility.

Oh, and I can now use my Spells and Skills without chanting out loud. After coming to the lower floors of the Labyrinth, speed became vital to survival, including speed of Spellcasting.

The time it takes to chant is time that I couldn’t afford to spend, or I’d be killed. It took a while, but as of a few months ago, I can consistently cast somewhat simple Spells without chanting, and I can activate my Skills and manifest my Soul Weapon without changing as well.

Anyway, as the massive purple blob burst out a dense cloud of poison gas, I turned intangible as I shot towards it, the gas passing through me before I leapt straight into the Slime’s body and swung my blade at its core, turning the edge of the blade tangible right as it closed in on the core, slicing it in half.

The Slime then collapsed into a large, gelatinous puddle, the core falling onto the puddle with a splat. I remained intangible as I waited for the poison gas to dissipate...from what I’ve read about the Intangibility Skill, I don’t need to breathe while in that state because my intangible body will automatically absorb oxygen from the surrounding air.

Well, that’s mostly just a theory, but it makes a lot of sense. After all, since I can pass through objects, it stands to reason that air passes through me, but despite that, it never feels like I’m out of breath or choking when intangible.

"Can we leave now?" Inquired Izzy hopefully, as she approached me.

"Yeah, sorry to keep you waiting," I replied as I patted her head, "Let’s get out of here."

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