Chapter 20: Spirits Society, here we are.
Neverrain Mountain was located in the northern border of Holy Cloud Continent. It was the base for Spirit Society, a well-known fortress occupied by spirits. This spirit society was actually a society founded by the famous Pink Demon, Ria.
There were two level of gateways surrounding the whole mountain. Every gateway were guarded by spirit gatekeeper appointed by Ria herself. She hated being disturbed the most hence she set out a rule stating that there was a need to defeat the gatekeeper before anyone could meet her.
"Ugh, another boring day guarding this gate."
Sofia sighed as she stared at the sturdy metal gate in front of her. The metal gate remained unmoved for almost two years already. There were even lots of moss all over the gate.
"What do you expect? It's been years since the last time anyone came."
Assira rebuked. She was also fed up with her current duty. Guarding a gate which never been breached. Was there even anything more boring than that?
Sofia was a silver haired stern looking beauty while Assira was a petite green haired girl with a cute face. They were both top tier spirits for sure, thunder spirits and nature spirits. Sofia was a Defender while Assira was an Archer. They were both sitting inside the watch tower beside the metal gate.
"If only there was someone brazen enough to actually attack this….. eeeh?."
Sofia had not finished her line yet when suddenly a loud shattering noise interrupted her.
"Blooooook!!"
The huge metal gate was sent flying a few meters away without notice. Both Sofia and Assira was dumbfounded at what just happened.
"Whoa… you just jinx us Sofia."
Assira commented in an astonished tone. She was really looking forward to whatever bound to happen to those people who dared to destroy their gate.
Sofia ran toward the front of the gate area to look for the people responsible in destroying the gate. There she saw six people in total, all covered in grey cape.
"Hi there, is this perhaps the base of Spirits Society?"
A normal looking male suddenly approached Sofia as he asked the obvious question. There was even a metallic signboard with the name of this place on top of the gate they just destroyed.
"Of course it is. What do you want?"
This spirits was quite headstrong and short fused. She got angry right away as she answered Mays's question. She was not to be blamed though as Mays himself destroyed the gate without any reasons.
Spirits had random personalities. The main reason was mostly because players were lazy to write their detailed characteristic in their spirit tablet description. The only fix things about them were their gender and loyalty. Gender would stay the same as whatever they were set for and their loyalty to their master was totally unbreakable.
They could have different personalities altogether but they would never said no to their master. That was the ironclad rule of the spirits whose description were not personally written by their master themselves. These information was told by Jace and Sanortep so there was no reason for them to be fake.
"They really do act like normal humans. Intriguing indeed."
Mays commented as if he didn't heard what Sofia just said.
"Tch, this guy!"
Sofia snorted as she leapt toward Mays with her sword unsheathed. She didn't plan to spare this person in front of her for sure.
"Whoa… that's dangerous."
The sword slash was beautifully evaded by Mays. Sofia whose anger clouded her thought started a barrage of attack toward Mays nonstop. One sword slash after another flew past Mays without even one managed to graze him at all.
"Okay, that's enough. Sorry for breaking the gate earlier. I was just testing something."
Mays tapped the shoulder of the attacking Sofia leisurely as if he didn't felt any tension from all the attacks so far. The speed of those attacks were obviously high but apparently they were still far from enough to injure Mays. He managed to evade every attack by hair width thanks to his keen senses.
"Sofia, enough!"
A loud and clear voice echoed and Sofia immediately stopped attacking as she tidied herself.
"Sorry. I lost myself a bit there."
Sofia apologized. The voice from before was from a young, sweet looking maiden. And of course, she was an over world beauty on par with Mays's spirits.
"It's okay. We all knew how short your fuse were. So, what's up?"
"Nothing worth your attention, Lady Minerva. Just some intruders inside our mountain."
Sofia tried to brush it off as if it was something insignificant.
"But you didn't seem to be winning though?"
"Uh!"
That simple truth made Sofia speechless. Minerva sure didn't beat around the bush.
"Now the big fish come out hehe."
Mays was amused the moment he saw the arrival of the new girl. She was obviously higher ranked compared to the girl who tried attacking him earlier. From just her looks alone, Mays could deduce that this girl have a full legend ranked equipment for sure.
"Kuhuk!"
The new girl started attacking Mays out of nowhere with a fireball but it was blocked by Mira's [Ice Wall].
"Master, let Mira deal with her please please!!"
Mira was totally eager to join the fight. She tried her best to hold back but the moment that new girl appeared and used magic to fight, she decided to join in as well.
"Tch! Lightning Arrow!"
Irritated by Mira's sudden interruption, Minerva snorted as she immediately casted another spell directed at Mira. Three lightning arrow materialized out of thin air and shoot through the distance with a shocking speed.
"Shield Trigger!"
A huge shield appeared and blocked all three lightning arrow. Behind the huge shield avatar stood Damia with her shield shoved forward and her sword unsheathed on her other hand.
She was the one blocking that attack. Nobody asked her to intervene but she did so because of her own reasoning.
"Mira, you're currently grounded no? Leave this to me and stay at the side like a good girl."
Damia always acted like a big sister toward both Mira and Aloha. She was not the type to talk a lot but she did play her role perfectly. Since Mira was punished by Mays for her hyperactive behaviour, she thought that it would be her duty to take over and let Mira stay out of problem.
"Uh, okay."
Reluctantly, Mira agreed and walked away. Mays just grinned at the whole scene without saying anything. He did felt good because Mira who always acted on a whim actually listened to Damia. His plot from before was a huge success apparently.
"So you guys not gonna group up and attack me? How boring."
Minerva provoked.
"I alone is enough. Let's settle this."
Damia leapt forward and slashed downward using her sword. Minerva agilely evaded as she predicted the trajectory of the sword slash.
"Nice move, but not enough! Rain of Chaos!"
The sky cracked when several human sized meteor rushed down hastily from the distance darkness. Seven meteors rained down toward Damia who readied her defensive stance.
"Last stand!"
Damia had no intention on backing out either. Her skill [Last Stand] might looked unremarkable since it had almost no cinematic even back in the game but its defensive skill was second to none.
One after another, the meteor landed directly at Damia. However, Damia showed not even the slightest sign of being pushed back by the destructive force she faced.
Craters after craters were made around where she made her stand but it was obvious that the person herself was unaffected by the attack.
"My turn! Shield Bash!"
Right after the seventh meteor landed, Damia ran toward Minerva without wasting her breath. With her big shield covering almost her body, she rammed forward without worry.
"Flame Constraint!"
Flaming chain shoot through from where Minerva caster her spell. Minerva was a fire spirits so her affinity with fire element was the most. Because of that, most of her skill were fire attributes one. She could use other elements just fine, but the power would be weaker than her main affinity.
The flaming chain got bounced off as the shield moved closer and closer to Minerva.
"How come?!"
Minerva was quite shocked at how her flaming chain got deflected as if it was nothing.
Usually, her [Flame Constraint] was more than enough to fend off a normal [Shield Bash]. She had faced more than ten max level knights to be sure herself. This was the first time something like this ever happened.
Damia was Mays's only spirit with knight's build. Usually, she would never be summoned. Mays was normally more than enough as the main tank for a whole dungeon raid. That was true unless they faced a dungeon boss with extreme offensive power that even Mays couldn't fend off.
That was the only time when Damia would came into play. True, Damia might be lacking in the offense department but she was way over the top on defense. Her true purpose was that of a meat shield, someone whose sole purpose was for taking hits without dying.
Maximum physical resistance. Maximum elemental resistance. Over seventy percent defense percentage. Abnormally high HP. Damia was the perfect, best meat shield in HeavensTale. Nobody could compare with her, not even a max level knight player.
All thanks to Mays's great idea of gear combination for optimum defensive stats together with a full set of legend tier equipment.
"Ugh!"
Minerva was sent flying several meters away. Both Assira and Sofia were dumbfounded by the outcome of their clash. They thought for sure that this knight would fall right away when Minerva herself stepped forward to face them.
"Still want more?"
Damia asked nonchalantly as she stood in the middle of the battlefield gallantly. She really looks like an unmovable mountain when she stood there motionless.
"Tch, I lose. I'm not thick-headed enough not to admit that."
Surprisingly, Minerva yielded without much resistance. She was no fool either. She knew herself that she had no way in winning against Damia. That single exchange already proven that this knight was built to counter people like her. It was just a matter of time for her to be defeated if they continued the fight.
"Follow me. Since I've been defeated, it was my obligation to guide you to the next level."
Minerva was the leader of the first level. There were a total of three entrance gate all over Neverrain Mountain. Spirits were assigned as guards at every gate in pairs but the overall supervisor for all these first level gate was Minerva. Minerva was one of the four elemental spirits after all.
With Minerva leading the group, Mays and his spirits followed behind her leisurely.
"We are almost there."
Minerva didn't even looked back as she talked.
Mays on the other hand was actually quite astonished after he saw Minerva. He was the one who guided Ria on how to build all four of her elemental spirits after all.
Since they never put a detailed description for this character, he was amused when he saw how this character turned out. Overall, her personality ain't bad. She even admitted her loss without much fuss.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, once again Mays and the others came upon a huge metal gate. Since the surrounding were blockaded by towering wall all over the perimeter, there were no other way to move forward apart from passing through the gate.
"Stop! State your business, stranger!"
One middle aged man with big build shouted from on top of the watch tower above the wall. From his looks, Mays knew right away that he was a spirit for sure. Normal human wouldn't have that perfect chiselled face unless they do plastic surgery.
"Open the gate, it's me!"
One simple command from Minerva and the gate was opened right away.
"Sorry Lady Minerva, I didn't notice your presence at first."
That gate guard immediately prostrated in front of Minerva after he opened the gate. It was a serious offense for him since he didn't notice his superior.
"One week inside the dungeon. Never make this kind of mistake next time."
"Thank you for your benevolence, Lady Minerva!"
Minerva gave a light punishment to the gate guard. He thanked her before he stood up and led everyone deeper into the mountain.
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In the middle of the mountain stood several big building with elegant looking decoration all over the perimeter. The tallest building among these was the Spirit Society main building. Besides this building were other important building such as management hall and also lodging area. There was also a large arena ring in the vicinity.
There was already a crowd gathered in front of the Spirit Society main building. There were around two hundred spirits gathered here in total, numbering to almost a complete set of spirits one could own back in HeavensTale.
"Whoa… what a sight!"
Damia who always remained silent let out a remark. She never saw an assembly of over a hundred spirits before this. Not to mention that all these spirits were summoned by one person.
"A great sight indeed. That Ria sure do whatever she wanted hahaha."
Even Mays himself was astonished. True, he himself had all two hundred and fifty spirits inside his archive but he would never be so bold as to summon every single one of them. From the looks of every single spirits here, Mays knew that they all had decent gears for sure. In time like this, he really envied those money warriors.
"Wait for me here, I'll notify master."
Minerva was incredibly polite when she mentioned her master.
"Okay, make it quick."
At the moment, Mays had a conflicted feeling about meeting Ria for the first time. They did spent a lot of time together but that were all online. They had never meet face to face before this.
"Kururuk!"
A loud explosive sound came from the Spirit Society's main building. Minerva walked out of the building soon after with bruises all over her face. Her face was quite pale compared to before.
"Don't tell me…"
"Yeah sorry. Apparently she didn't want to meet anyone at the moment."
Minerva meekly answered Mays as she apologized. She knew her master too well. She was a hot headed woman who always do whatever she wanted. She never cared about other's opinion of her.
"Oh my, I never thought Minerva would obediently talk to some random guy."
"I know right. I smell something fishy here."
"…"
Three world class beauty walked out of the main building after Minerva. They were none other than the Four Great General of Spirit Society. Minerva was also one of them. Mays had heard about them from Sanortep and Jace prior to this but seeing them first hand gave him a totally different vibe.
These four actually wore the exact same gear. Including Minerva, these people were all magic caster with the same build. The only difference was the color of their robes since it was correlated with their elements.
Their facial feature, body stature and personality was also slightly different since those were generated by the system according to the prior setting by the player themselves. But their overall looks were practically the same. They were those people who often be called quadruplet.
"No no no… this person is just different. Even his spirits are over the top!"
Minerva tried hard to refute. She really got beaten by one of the spirit of this hooded guy though. She had nothing to say about that since she was beaten fair and square.
"Should I just destroy this building as to force her to come out?"
Mays threw a casual remarks as he yawned. He already got bored of waiting.
"No master you can't do that."
Aloha was the first to comment.
"That was immoral. Also, this was Lady Ria's properties. You should be a little considerate."
Even the all-time silent Silvia retorted. Mays stared at her as if he couldn't believe what he just heard. Silvia actually showed concern about someone else. That was totally rare for sure.
"Yeah master that won't do. We should just wait patiently. For now I guess. Even I would be enraged if they make you wait more than ten minutes!"
Mays shook his head since he couldn't determine what Syaitona really wanted him to do. She did want him to wait patiently but at the same time she was also the one who became enraged from the waiting. Such inconsistency. Surprisingly, Mira didn't say anything about this.
"Mira."
"Yea?"
"It's okay to act like normal."
Mays did feel bad when he saw Mira fidgeting all over. It was obvious how hard she tried to hold herself back. Mira who lose the bet promised to behave and stopped causing trouble. Mays pondered about it and gave in. If anyone was to blame, it would be him for writing that kind of description for her personality.
"For real? Master won't put Mira back in the archive?"
"Yeah. I promise. Just don't overdo things okay."
Mira immediately jumped on Mays and hugged him tightly.
"Mira loves master the most!"
Not planning to let go, Mira hugged Mays for quite some time before Syaitona and Aloha dragged her away. Syaitona even smacked Mira's head once.
"Just because master being lenient doesn't mean I will."
Syaitona snorted. She was the leader of these spirits after all.
"Uh, meanie."
Mira couldn't even rubbed her sore head as both her hand was still dragged by Syaitona and Aloha. Damia and Silvia only let out a small sigh since it was something which happened most of the time.
"Come here for a sec."
"Em?"
Knowing that waiting would get him nowhere, Mays decided to make his move. He grinned as he asked Minerva to pass a message to her master, a message that would make her master came out for sure.
"I just need to tell master that?"
"Yeah. And she would came out right away hehe."
Right after Minerva walked into the main building, Mays himself moved toward the center of the ring by himself. He told all his spirits to stay where they were to reduce casualties. He didn't want those spirit to get caught up with his matter.
"WHOOOOOOO..... DAAAAREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE???????!!!!!!"
An uber loud shout reverberated from the main building.
"Hehe… it's starting then."
Mays started stretching at the center of the ring as he saw a flashing pink flash rushed out from the roof of Spirit Society's main building. That pink flash disappeared from his sight as it flew toward the sky in top speed.
Everyone present stared at the vanishing pink flash with dumbfounded face, trying to figure out what that flash really was.
"Hehe, lets find out how much you have improved over these years."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone