Chapter 79: A god calls for help?
I need help! Immediately!" The god goes to his knees before us. I am together with Celes in our throne room in Asheim.
A few minutes ago this guy arrived in Asheim and cried for help like mad. The guards brought him before us after considering to throw him into a cell.
Luckily they were instructed to watch out for uncommon events and to immediately report them.
The guy has blue hair and looks like an elf. His magic power feels a little dim for an ascended being. He seems to be extremely shaken by something.
"I would suggest you gather your thoughts and explain the situation." Celes answers with a calming voice.
"Ah... Yes. I am Evenguar. I am the god of a small world at the fringe of the multiverse. I never had any problems with anyone and I am happy with taking care of my world. So I never saw the need to join any of these new big communities. But a few days ago something like demons appeared on my world. At first I didn't pay much attention to them. I thought they were just some new kind of prank, a neighbouring god had played on me. Or the failed experiment of some archmages."
He takes a breath and continues. "But then the demons became more and more aggressive. They destroyed whole cities on my world and plagued the mortals like nothing before. So I took a closer look at them and realized that they aren't just a prank! They are eating the souls of the mortals they kill. I tried to stop them, but they are a serious danger even to me."
Evenguar rolls up one of his sleeves and shows a blackened bite mark on his upper arm to us.
"I never encountered something like this before! I slayed them by the dozens, but their numbers don't decline. I am at the end of my wit short of cleansing my world completely. The mortals have no chance against these beings and I would rather kill them all than seeing their souls eaten."
He bows down to us again.
"But before that I hoped that someone from the big societies would help me. I can't save my world alone."
I stand up and walk towards Evenguar. "Show me that wound." Evenguar does as instructed and I hold my hand above it while I try to feel for his energy. His soul is weakened. It looks like he fought the demons to his limits. And a part of his soul is injured. Like something tried to rip a piece out of him.
~That wound looks like it was inflicted by a familiar of the great Calamity.~
Wardens voice echoes through the throne room.
"I thought they can't create more of them without a piece of that thing." I grumble at the unforeseen turn of events. Are they trying to flood the multiverse with those soul eating monsters?
~As far as I know the familiars of the great Calamity weren't able to create offspring when the Ascended fought them. We already assumed that one or more familiars of the great calamity survived the hunt. Given how much time it had. It's possible that it learned how to reproduce.~
I gnaw my teeth at the new situation. We have to contain this outbreak at all costs. "Send the Nomad with Evenguar to his world and try to save it if you can. Inform everyone of this turn of events."
~They are informed.~
I turn around and look at Celes. "Should we go and hunt a few monsters? I need some new test subjects."
Celes smiles at me and stands up from her throne. "You should always try to keep your training up."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Evenguar suddenly hugs me from behind and gets pulled away by the guards.
He wriggles in their grasp while thanking us. This fellow is creepy...
I don't know what he expected. Did he think we would look away while soul eating demons rampaged through the multiverse? "Don't thank us too early Evenguar. We don't know what we are dealing with. If worse comes to worst, we may have to destroy your world."
Evenguar drops his head. "I already prepared myself for that after I fought those things."
***Elhort, Domain of Evenguar***
After our warriors were ready, we came here with the Nomad and found the planet like that. Tanja and Nicosar joined us on this campaign.
I look down at the planet beneath us with curious eyes. It's one big forest with lakes and mountains. There are no oceans. It's still a beautiful world.
The main population of Evenguar seems to consist of elves, dryads and everything that's somehow connected to nature. I suspect Evenguar had a hand in it and built his own little paradise.
It's currently night and the cities are clearly visible by the little specks of light. The sight would be mesmerizing if it weren't for those dark spots on the map.
There are several cities with nothing left alive. We can sense it with our mana detection system.
Looking onto the screen, I see something like an epicentre from which the dead zone is spreading. "Someone else thinks the same thing as me?"
"There seems to be something like a source." Tanja speaks my thoughts.
"Then let's wipe it out with our weaponry and clean up the rest." Celes tilts her head while she's looking at the screen.
"I suggest to go down there and investigate with a small team first. If we use the heavy arms first, we may not find the cause behind this. We would be as smart as before." Nicosar gives us his thoughts.
"You may be right. Information is always important. And if we use the big guns first, there could be not much left to investigate afterwards." I scratch my cheek while I think about the situation.
Saving the world isn't as important as getting a clue what the Council is up to. It may be harsh, but one world of mortals in exchange for the possibility to get a clue on the Council's whereabouts?
"Then how about we go down there and investigate it." Celes grins at us and corrects her combat armour.
"Hmmm. Yeah. We have to go down there and gather information. Just nuking the planet would leave us as clueless as before." I start to give orders for a small team of elites to gather.
Meanwhile the Nomad starts to bombard the ravaged cities. To the mortals it must look like Armageddon.
It's a vain attempt, but maybe it will slow the demon's progress.
I take my staff and get out of the command chair.
Five minutes later we are on ground zero in our combat gear. There is me, Celes, Tanja, Nicosar and five guards. All of the guards are close combat specialists.
The forest around us looks dead and dry. We landed just a few hundred metres from the supposed epicentre. There aren't any demons here. By Evenguar's description they are partly humanoid, but oddly deformed with many claws and teeth.
They weren't very strong compared to a god, but there were many and they always attacked in groups, not caring for their own existence.
If killed, they would slowly start to regenerate and rise again after a few minutes. The story sounds like a bad horror movie.
"We have to head into this direction." One of the guards takes the lead and stomps off towards our destination.
Our group advances at a steady pace through a dead forest. There is brushwood, but the guard is clearing it with long heavy cleaves of his two handed crystal sword. I never would have imagined that one of my godly weapons would end up as a gardening tool!
"RWARRR!"
"Kyaaa!"
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM!* ~Sizzle~
Suddenly three -things- jumped out of the crown of a tree and landed close to our group. They started to storm into our direction while waving their claws. Claws and teeth everywhere....
They came directly out of one of my nightmares! Before I knew, I had waved my staff at those somethings which shouldn't exist. Incinerating them and a *Huuuuge* area behind them.
"What was that?" Celes arches an eyebrow at me.
I steady myself and try to regain my composure. "I changed my mind. I don't need those things as test subjects."
"I think she meant that girly scream of yours." -Nicosar
Shut up Geezer! "Since I fell into that pit with the Razor Claws inside, I may have a little phobia of things with too much teeth and claws."
At that moment another bad rumour about me was born as the guards started to whisper to each other.
In the distance a huge tree crumbles to the ground and the fire slowly starts to spread.
"That was when you were a little kid!" Tanja answers shocked.
"It was still a formative experience for me! …... One moment! Why do you know about that! We didn't even know each other at that time and I never talked about it!" I make an inquisitive look at Tanja, who starts to fiddle with her fingers.
"Um... you see... My family wasn't completely uninvolved in that. But your mother found out and we changed sides afterwards. Please forgive me for not telling. I thought your mother informed you. It was just a badly paid assignment at that time. And when your mother suddenly turned up at our main house and went on a rampage we learned which side was the right one!" Tanja bows down to us with pearls of sweat on her forehead.
Just what did mother do to them? If I think back to those times, she was pretty protective of me back then. Didn't she say once that any assassin who touched her family would wish to be never born?
"Anyway. Your spell saved us the time to search, your majesty. It looks like you wiped out the guards for the entrance." One of the guards points towards a big hole in the ground. It was freed of the brushwood by my spell.
We carefully walk closer to the ominous hole and I throw a glance down into it. It's a long tunnel and the end is not in sight. After a few metres, it looses itself in darkness.
"Whohoo. That feels like a dungeon! Aaah. Those good old times when you went on quests and tried to save the world." -Celes
Is that her viewpoint on the matter? When I was a normal reincarnating mortal and ended up in a fantasy world with dungeons and heroes, I always almost puked.
Who in his right mind would crawl down into a dark and dangerous maze out of his own free will?
"Can't be helped. Let's go down there and see for ourselves where the demons come from." Nicosar jumps down into the hole first.
One after the other we follow.
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