B4 Chapter 35 - Tired

“The design that Shivenar’s ballista makers came up with uses stretch ropes to launch the enhanced missile,” Vivi said, while drawing a rough blueprint of the idea. “It has proved to be a reliable method to one-shot most bosses. If you have better ideas, feel free to experiment. The enhancement string of flow runes and wind elements isn’t absolute either, but this string is confirmed to work.”

The row of demons listened cautiously with minimal questions, probably afraid of her reputation. Vivi had just killed a fifth elevation hunter, after all. They couldn’t know how someone like her would react to objections. 

Vivi could have made more friendly gestures like asking for everyone’s name around the room. If she wasn’t so pressed for time and eager to get home, she would have loved to ask around to hear what kind of people she was teaching. For now, she trusted that Adalene had picked a competent bunch for the task.

The demons did listen, though, and many of them showed curiosity. A woman with spectacles took Vivi’s break as an opportunity to nervously lift her hand to her side.

Vivi nodded at her. “Go ahead.”

“Thank you, Miss Runeblessed,” she said with a bow. “I don’t mean for my question to come across as an objection, but there is something I’m curious about. It’s a known fact that combining runes, even by separating two runes, will merely cause the second of the runes to burn as ether tries to pass. Following theory, your invention of combining fourteen ether roots in order should not be possible. Your invention must have circumvented this restriction, correct?”

“Exactly that,” Vivi said. “What you’re talking about is an attempt to combine two ignited runes. All traditional runes, by design, ignite a rune. If the ignition is not performed, but the rune is otherwise drawn, it will merely shape the by the rune’s instructions without activating any of its effects.”

Her terminology seemed to be new to the demons, which made sense, considering Vivi and Civar had invented many of the concepts. Vivi didn’t linger on nitty-gritty explanations, and moved straight to drawing two strength runes. One of them was a traditional rune with the final branch wrapping the rune together—the branch that ignited it—and the second was an incompleted rune that merely shaped ether with a strength rune’s effects without activating it.

From there, she listed the combination of runes and sub-elements that made Civar’s enhancement string. He’d been working on a new one by the time Vivi left Shivenar, so the string might have already been out-dated. Still, the string was more than powerful enough to destroy levelstone if used correctly.

Her words were doubtful as she kept explaining. The enhancement string was a powerful secret that could have been used to push Shivenar into a true world power. Vivi would have had so much more personal benefit to gain if she used her invention correctly. Not that she cared about earning more ether.

Much worse was the possibility that Norfolm would misuse it. If a world leader like Helegar gained access to the power to destroy an enemy city just by shooting a few missiles, the world could very well end.

Storm season could end the world just as easily, if it still kept growing as everyone assumed it would. Norfolm’s flimsy ballistas couldn’t be trusted to fend off against a colossus, and if there was a chance a slingshot launcher could help them, Vivi wouldn’t let herself be selfish. She had to trust Adalene to use her invention considerately.

“I suppose that’s all,” Vivi said. “With this, you should be able to create a simple slingshot launcher.”

Another demon in rougher work overalls raised a hand and asked, “Are you sharing the blueprint with exact dimensions?”

“I would, but I don’t have the papers with me, and my own slingshot launcher is my personal possession,” Vivi said. “I’m not here to hold your hand while you craft a weapon. My goal is to share the theory behind enhancement strings for you to create a weapon by yourself. Regardless of what you create, I wish that your weapons will only be used for defence, not to conquer.”

That was a naive plea, and Vivi had the hunch it would be broken regardless of what she did.

Until an idea came. “Any weapons created with enhancement strings will follow the rules of Freimar’s pact, and will be enforced by me personally,” Vivi said. “The enhancement strings are not to be used for conquering opposing lands.”

That was just a plain lie, but maybe it would make people think. And maybe, if it turned out that Freimar’s pact wasn’t completely full of crazies, there was a chance she could convince them to add her idea as an actual rule. To her, it made sense.

Regardless, she had done her job here. If Norfolm’s ballista makers were half as competent as Shivenar’s they would be able to create a slingshot launcher and improve their designs from there.

“You have the ingredients now,” Vivi said. “Please create a receipt, and use it responsibly. That’s all I have for today. You are dismissed.”

The demons gave her a salute with one hand sideways between their eyes, while simultaneously lowering their heads. She had no idea what it meant, but it looked like a respectful gesture.

To save time, Vivi left first, and she didn’t leave room for further questions. If even one of the demons had understood her explanation, that person could be the one to teach everyone who missed Vivi’s points. Nobody here should have been that incompetent.

Well, then, Vivi thought. The next destination. Let’s see what Adalene has done with the gauntlet.

“There’s no way she has cleared it,” Lucius said. “Third elevation hunters wouldn’t even pass the cave section. Maybe if they had your runeswords. Shilman could have passed it.”

He could have probably blasted through the lava level as well, Vivi admitted. Even if she’d defeated him, Shilman had been much stronger than her. He could have probably killed the odd stone gargoyle resting above the lava. As long as he hadn’t destroyed the spirit village with Aolinn and Helegar inside, Shilman’s activities in the gauntlet wouldn’t change anything.

Vivi’s position as the strongest hunter in the city—which she still doubted—gave her the right to walk to the gauntlet as she wished. She still told the group of knights outside the workshop where she was going as a formality, giving them the chance to escort her. They quickly led the way.

The hole in the mountain was only a five minutes walk from the palace. The landscape around the hole had changed considerably, as a full bivouac had been built around it with half a dozen tents. Guardsmen crowded the area, with a more sophisticated group in the middle. From the staves with orbs on top, Vivi guessed they were surge forecasters.

Vivi walked in and asked, “Who here can tell me everything that has happened here while I was gone?”

The guardsmen quickly fetched a man, whose body was covered from his neck to his knees with a black overcoat. His silver grey hair was considerably clean for the demons’ standards, but the left side of his face had a harsh crack. The spot was black and entirely solid with the rest of his face being a lighter shade of pale grey.

“Angus Floir,” he said. “Overseer of ingress. For Adalene’s troops, that is. You are free to enter.”

Vivi would have gone in regardless of his opinion, but was glad to avoid conflict. “Has anyone gone in yet?”

“Shilman Fried visited,” Angus said. “He did not share one word of his findings, and I have no information to share regarding his actions, other than a ledger of his entry and exit times.  Those might be incorrect if he has found alternate routes or used teleportation. As for us ordinary folk, our entry is currently blocked by ancient spirits. The spirits have shown interest in meeting the Queen, and have promised to take visitors into their encampment, but they require an undisclosed amount of time to prepare.”

You might be waiting for a long time, sir, Vivi thought. “Thank you,” she said. “I know the spirits. Expect to see me back in the next five to ten hours.”

With that, she climbed through the hole in the mountain, still the same size as when Vivi had first shot the levelstone open. Three spirits were standby on the other side, all turning to her. Vivi failed to recognize two of them from their ice-like features, but the woman in the middle must have been Jeanna. A curious but quiet spirit.

“Is everyone alive?” Vivi asked her.

“Your friends are alive and well,” Jeanna said softly, like a caring mother. “Us spirits… we have fought. Some have fallen. None are dead, of course.”

“Ah,” Vivi said. Fallen must have referred to running out of ether in combat. “I have plenty of ether to resurrect anyone who’s hurt. I would like to see the village.”

“Of course,” Jeanna said. “Your friends have hoped to see you. Follow. Be prepared to fight.”

Jeanna led the way, and she only spoke once on the two-hour walk down. That was to warn Vivi of an oncoming wave of blackness that she somehow predicted. An attack came with it.

Vivi refrained from using void ether for most fights, but fighting these weird animals in the pitch-black dark was still too risky. A clean hit in the wrong place would kill Vivi through her ascension skills, and wearing her armor would be far too impractical for the walk. Still, that was the only instance where she felt the need to use void ether. One or two of them with enough light to see weren’t too difficult to kill.

The descent to the forest still felt like an eternity, and Vivi wasn’t any closer to memorizing the path down. She asked Lucius if he could place the route to memory, to which he said there was no need to waste mental space, since the local spirits would lead the way regardless.

Do you even know how to set directions into memory? Vivi asked out of boredom.

“Of course I do!” Lucius insisted. “I am a spirit of a god, Vivi, of course I know how directions work!”

Vivi smiled and kept arguing. There was no winner, and the result was merely a pouting Lucius and some time spent in banter. Vivi apologized with a laugh, saying You’re funny for a cat, Lucius.

He didn’t find that very funny either.

Nonetheless, the forest’s light finally broke the endless monotone caverns. Vivi knew they were about to enter the village when the first spirits were sprawling on the ground.

“Some spirits still haven’t woken up?” Vivi asked.

“We offered ether to everyone,” Jeanna said. “Some refused to wake up. Some promptly died to… the mage.”

Ah, so he thought the spirits were enemies… Vivi thought with a sigh. She felt like she should have apologized again.

The main huts of the village were already in sight, with Alda’s and Aolinn’s farm to the right. Vivi paused when she spotted Aolinn knelt down at the fringes, examining a plant. One of the spirits stood nearby to watch over her.

Aolinn glanced at Vivi as well, and her head perked up a little. Vivi waved. After a moment of hesitation, Aolinn stood and walked forward with nervous steps. She wore the same dress, but its hem had been cut again and sewn to stop it from ripping, and her hair was braided.

“Welcome back,” Aolinn said. She curtsied.

Vivi smiled. “Sorry for taking so long. I’m glad to see you.”

Aolinn lifted her head. She watched Vivi’s smile nervously, eyes wandering off and then back. “You don’t hate me anymore?” she asked.

“No, I don’t hate you,” Vivi said. “Do you want a hug?”

“Uh,” she said. “Sure?”

Vivi gave a quick hug. “Sorry, I might be a bit sweaty right now.”

Aolinn shook her head, vaguely smiling. “You're not. Do you want to taste the berries we grew?”