[Arc 4] Chapter 15: Shrine Rumble

Ciara's PoV:

"Oooooh!! This spider is awesome!" - Baron Oshun

Baron Oshun and I watched as the spider that Garami sent over let loose on the intruders. 

**spider-battle

The invaders tried to attack the spider from all directions with their hatchet-like blades but the spider blocked all the blades by using four of those oversized katanas before spinning like a top and sliced all eight of its assailants.

Some of the invaders shot blasts of magic but the spider jumped around the roof and walls, completely ignoring the laws of gravity. And did I mention that sticking to the walls and roof didn't lower its abilities to slice 'n dice people? Sick...

If you are a spider, then use your threads, not weapons!! However! If I retort out loud, I lose, so I won't! 

The spider kept on slashing through the invaders with such ease that one would not believe that they had pressured Baron Oshun's guardians just a few minutes ago. 

"...How is it doing that anyway?" - Ciara

"If it is an Outer One like this fellow, it would not surprise me that it has inborn resistance towards whatever trick those guys used." - Baron Oshun

Outer One… Aren't they one of those Lovecraftian monsters!? Garami, just how did you tame such a beast...

"!? Crap, they're trying to force their way through!" - Baron Oshun

Did the invaders realize that they stand no chance? If they are fleeing then that's goooo-ooii!! They are charging into the shrine!! Try to escape, you workaholics! Whoops, they can't. The spider is in the way.

"Hurry up and defeat them!" I shouted to the spider in my mind, but for some reason, each time one of them died, the remaining invader's movements became sharper and faster. I'm starting to see a pattern. No, that's impossible...

In any case, the invaders will be here any minute now. I have no time to waste on a detailed plan, so let's bet on a basic one!

I flew out of the building and started to prepare the magical bookshelves that contained my Water- and Ocean magic spells. Thirty of them should be enough, I guess? 

As soon as I prepared the last book, I saw the invaders running through the tunnels...ugh. My head's hurting. Is it the madness thing? Crap, then I got no time to waste!

In a haste, I released all the spells stored in the magic books and a small tidal wave appeared in the cave. I'm not kidding! All the books I had prepared included high-ranking magic spells that I learned in my time on this world! Maybe I overdid it a little...?

Several tons of water forced their way into the small tunnel opening along with the invaders out to the entrance. The spider may have been taken as collateral damage... whoops~.

---

Lily's PoV:

*SPLOOOOOSH!!*

Something's not happening by the cave~. I'm not seeing anything~. I'm enjoying this barbeque without some creepy happenings ruining my moment~.

Figaro~, Trip~, Store~, why are you turning so pale~? There is nothing scary-

"*SCREECH!!*" - Lunatic

*Splash*

.........I can tolerate eating the most grotesque monsters out there, I can keep myself from complaining about people making noise close by when I eat, but never, EVER pollute my grill with dirty and sliced up corpses!!

The crazy spider continued to fight the strange humanoids by the entrance where she and those invaders were flushed by the deluge of water. Not sure what that was, but I don't care! They are going down!!

...My head... when I try to get closer to those freaks, I start getting a headache. Getting closer isn't such a good idea...

"Garn! Burn those guys and I'll grill that big guy only for you!" I shouted to Garn who's yet to leave the beach.

The "big guy" refers to the exceptionally big octopus that had most of its body remaining. I wanted to save it for later, but food grudges can never be sated until you offer something in return!!

Garn started blasting huge fireballs at the humanoids. Soon after, the beach had turned into a scorching plain of flames. Ugh, the rotten, burnt smell is killing my appetite... wow. So this is how it feels...

"*SHA-HAAACK*!!" - Lunatic

Whoops. The spider survived. Tch. And it started a brawl with Garn. Come on birdies. There's nothing else here for us. Or, we could stay, but Garn will turn us to pancakes if he rolls over us…

---

Ciara's PoV:

And there goes the last one. The Volcanic Wyvern took care of the last invaders from a distance with those OP fireballs. Mission accomplished! But why are the wyvern and the spider duking it out now?

...Spider VS dragon (it's a wyvern though). Reminds me of some novel from Earth...

Despite being such a threat to the guardians of the shrine, once the invaders had to face someone with resistance towards whatever mental attack they used, or someone capable of strong long-range attacks, they were easy pickings. Makes you wonder why they even appeared here...

*Clank*

"OH YEAAAAH!! FREEDOM, BABY!!" - Baron Oshun

Small shackles dropped by Baron Oshun's feet. From the sound of it, I can guess that they represent those "limits" that his superior placed on him.

"Where are my manners. Mademoiselle, thank you again for saving my shrine, my honor, and honestly, my sanity! Even gods become dishearted if they don't get company..." - Baron Oshun

Baron Oshun made such a statement before kneeling in front of me and took my hand...ooh. First time I have had someone kiss my hand. I feel like a princess~.

At the same time, a System Message popped up. More precisely, the one that appeared while I was washing away the filth has more written on it now. Let's see...

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Your level has increased. You have reached Lv.16.

You have earned 0.4 Skill Points.

Due to Guild Master Garami's "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 0.4 Skill Points were earned.

Acquired title: [Drowner]

Acquired skill: [Suffocation Resistance Lv.1]

Karma Value has increased.

Karma Value has decreased slightly.

Acquired Blessing: [Baron Oshun's Fondness].

Acquired skill: [Mystic Linguistics Lv.1]

Acquired skill: [Seduction Lv.1]

Skill: [Linguistics Lv.21] is integrated into skill: [Mystic Linguistics Lv.1]

Skill: [Charm Lv.9] is integrated into skill: [Seduction Lv.1]

Through the Blessing: [Baron Oshun's Fondness], you have acquired class: Warlock Lv.1.

Through [Warlock Lv.1]; acquired skill: [Invocation Lv.1].

Through [Warlock Lv.1]; acquired skill: [Contract Lv.1].

You have been granted the opportunity to make a Contract with the Lesser God of Printed Arts and Deviant Sexuality, Baron Oshun.

Accept Contract with Lesser God, Baron Oshun?

Yes please~. And I got more out of this than I expected~! Even [Mystic Linguistics]! I wanted that one to evolve my Main class. Not sure about the Karma Value, but that thing's difficult to understand.

"Now then, mademoiselle, if you would excuse me... Mwa-hahaha! Look out, world! Here comes papa Oshun!!" - Baron Oshun

"W-wait a sec! What about the contract!? And this shrine-" - Ciara

"Just do anything you want with the contract~! And take this place if you want to~! Then, until we meet again! Sayonara!" - Baron Oshun

And with a theatrical bow, the Lesser God disappeared in a pool of ink. He must have been very sick of being locked to this place...?

Hmm, now I also own a piece of land with an abandoned shrine...let's give it to Garami. Watching over this depressing place is going to kill my imagination.

---

The next day, Garami's PoV:

"...This is getting ridiculous..." - Garami

Why is it that the number of strange stuff I own keeps on increasing even when I'm not doing anything?

I sighed as I looked over the sea from the ridge close to the cave entrance that led to the shrine currently added to my Dungeon. How did that happen anyway?

"*Siiiiiigh*..." - Garami

"It's that bad?" asked Alf who'd joined me on this inspection. He immediately joined my Skeleton Angler after looking at the shrine for a sec, though.

"Very. You can place a Return Terminal at the end, but I'm also forced to connect the shrine with one Territory through a Transfer Terminal. No other FP-producing facilities are allowed, only traps and the likes. No extra floors either, nor do I get CP or FP from owning the shrine itself. As for its usage... got no clue except for this enigmatic Quest," I responded while looking over the Quest again.

Very helpful. I understand soooo much now. 

The identity part must be related to the name of the Quest. But how do I name it?

Even if it's shown in the Dungeon Menu, I can't access it or do anything with it. The new tab in the Creation menu must be related to the "granting the shrine powers", but again, no clue.

"You think improving the Dungeon's Knowledge-stat will give you a manual?" - Alf

"Not gonna test that theory. I'm saving every DP I can to get one of the stats to rank B. And Knowledge is too far behind for me to worry about it now." - Garami

The 10 points from two level-ups from all the stuff we've done lately. The one point we got when Noire defeated that Wild Hunt Lord (who was the Dungeon Master in name only). I'm saving them all! 

"Damn that perverted Lesser God..." - Garami

"It was a show of goodwill on his part, remember? Blame your superior for adding that condition to release him." - Alf

The condition of having to defeat the invaders and protect the shrine...

"Can't. Gonna die." - Garami

"Good point. Let's forget this conversation." - Alf

We'll do that. And I'll have to come back to this thing later when I get more info. If even the goddess thinks this place's so important, it's better to keep it in one piece.

To do so, I've placed tons of Dark Areas and Turning Corridors to make this place the most irritating labyrinth that you can find on this continent. Plus, there are no rewards hidden in this place. That's gonna keep people too irritated from trying to clear the tunnels... I'll keep some guards here too, just to be safe.

"Better hope Mira's group have better luck then." - Alf

"Yeah... by the way, why're you not working?" - Garami

"Like Mira and the rest? Got nothing to do, so I'm preparing for the festival." - Alf

"In other words, slacking." - Garami

"Hey, better than wasting all my resources before the real deal." - Alf

Yeah, like Ciara who's crying rivers after I grounded her so she could replace all those magic books she used yesterday. 

"And your thoughts about those 'invaders'?" - Garami

"Some runaway human experiments. Definitely." - Alf

That's strange. I thought that it's only great minds that think alike, so how did he come to the same conclusion as me? Not that you need a Ph.D. to guess that. People with combat abilities equal to civilians with crystals that emit mind-wreaking waves lodged into their bodies? Don't come and tell me that's an everyday occurrence. 

*BANG!*

"Do we have a winner?" - Alf

"...Nope. They're just entering the next round." - Garami

We decided to ignore the spider and the wyvern who'd fought over 24-hours now and still haven't given up. And some people suggest letting guys like them join the festival? HAH!! I would be overthrown in a sec if they have Extra Skills...

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Humanoid/Fairy: Morgan Fairy

Description:

The Morgan Fairy is the wicked cousin of the Vivian Fairy. Unlike its counterpart, the Morgan Fairy is known for playing tricks on people they meet and for their craftiness. They are by no means less talented in the Water attribute than their kinder siblings, something that many that have encountered them dislikes with all of their hearts.

Appearance:

Morgan Fairies are, like other humanoid fairies, extremely small humanoids with insect-like wings on their backs. The Morgan Fairies have six butterfly-like wings in marine colors. Their hair- and eye colors are either a shade of blue or sea-green. Like many other humanoid fairies, they can alter their size to grow to human height.

Abilities:

Morgan Fairies have a great talent for magic, like other fairy species, and they specialize in Water-related magics and mental status conditions. 

While physically weak compared to their other stats, Morgan Fairies are exceptionally fast and dexterous, especially when it comes to flying, where they surpass the Vivian Faries, who tends to rely more on their magical abilities than the Morgan Faries. 

Like others of the humanoid fairy species, Morgan Fairies have a hidden bonus correction to any non-heavy crafting skill such as writing, handcrafts, or cooking. This bonus only works for the first line of crafting the fairy picks up.

Ciara's comment: WAIT!! Fairies get a bonus in crafting!? Why's no one ever told me!?