Chapter Thirty Seven: Angels, Monsters, Acrophobia!

Waking up a bit later than usual, Thorous yawns loudly before getting up from her warm fur bed.

Fur… never in her life did she expect to feel something so comfortable in bed. Usually, she would sleep on a stone bed covered in rubbery animal skins. And if they had fur, it was usually very very hard.

But here, on this second floor, the animals truly had such comfortable skin. The fur would get between her very small scales, tickling her skin, warming her up.

Wiggling a bit, she stretches her body, only to end up touching something hard. Not necessarily furry, but something else.

Confused, she moves her head, finding Quasi, sleeping peacefully next to her, completely naked.

Her tail immediately stops moving as her mind attempts to adjust to the situation. She starts thinking quickly, remembering last night...

And nothing. All she remembers is going to sleep early while fully knowing that the commander had not returned to the city yet. But now, she questions those memories.

Licking the air, Thorous moves her hand down with explicit slowness, straight towards her crotch area.

She frowns.

Her pants had not been taken off. He must have sneaked into bed with her.

Shaking her head in confused disappointment, Thorous slowly slithers out of bed as not to awaken him. She then puts on the rest of her clothes, takes one last long look at the sleeping face of the commander, suppresses a shudder before opening the door and leaving the wooden house.

Taking a deep breath of the nice cool morning air, she takes a look around, finding that most of the population is already awake and working.

It amazes Thorous how impressive Marcia is at running a city. Possibly more so than Anathema. Buildings are being built at an alarming rate. Her people are leveling exceptionally fast. Even the Minotaur’s, stupid as they are, are being changed rapidly. They are being cleaned, taught how to do simple stuff, and are surprisingly motivated to do manual labor. Some have even obtained classes like [Builder].

Looking around further, she finds that her people are also hard at work, no doubt under Marcia’s discretion.

Finally, near a large fire pit, she finds what she had been looking for and walks quickly towards it.

________________

“Good morning Thorous.”

Jessica yells while waving her hand and smiling at the rescaled Gejan.

Thorous looks towards the [Priestess] who sits cross-legged next to the undead named ‘Mule’ while the spider named ‘Peter’ sits upon her lap.

“Morning.”

Thorous nods towards the [priestess] with utter respect. Initially, she had found the female human annoying, more towards at how fragile she is. Even the weakest of beasts could end her life quite easily at how weak she is in combat.

But the following events of the days prior, Thorous had quickly realized the usefulness of the women. She shouldn't have doubted the commander's companion at all. It was now clear to Thorous how useful and powerful the women can be. Being able to heal wounds that could take months in mere minutes with the only side effects as the feeling of soreness.

“There is food over by Darrow, I don't think he ate it all yet.”

And sure enough, next to the flame is Darrow, three sticks of meat in his left hand, while his other hand was trying to stick a fourth stick into his mouth. The man was a glutton.

“Go Darrow go, add another stick. You can do it!”

And of course, cheering him on is Lily, smiling and yelling towards the man.

Rolling her eyes, she makes a beeline towards Darrow and snatches a skewer of meat from his hand.

“Mmmmhmmmmm.”

Darrow of course protests, but his mouth is too filled for her to make any sense of what he had said.

She walks away from the glaring Gejan and takes a seat on the log next to Jessica’s. She then takes a bite of the skewer and smiles, enjoying the truly amazing taste. She cannot blame Darrow for his love of food, especially now that a [Cook] had made it. The juices were tantalizing, seemingly dancing with her tongue. A far cry from a Gejan diet of raw meat.

As she swallows, she looks around and finds two members of the core group missing.

“I’m guessing Marcia is already at work, but where is our scout?” Thorous asks, curious. They had come to an agreement to meet together for breakfast every morning to exchange information. It was actually Marcia’s idea, but she did say that she may be too busy.

Lillys’ tail whips quickly, a cheeky smile coming on her face,” She’s waiting for our grand leader in his bed.”

At those words, Thorous coughs, her tail flicking the ground before she blushes.

“Yes… it seems that the [Commander] found his way into my bed instead.”

Lilly continues smiling, already knowing that information. She looks to Jessica who is calmy smiling, her hand brushing the soft fur of the black spider on her lap. The spider in question seems to make a sound, a soft cooing. Peter enjoys the attention.

“He was tired from the trip,” Jessica starts, still petting the spider, “So when he came back during the night, he said something about stupid old people and walked towards your home.”

Jessica looks up, “I’m guessing he is still asleep at your place?”

Thorous nods.

“Yes, he seemed rather tired. I didn't want to bother him for training this morning.”

That of course was a lie. She didn't actually know if he was tired or not. She merely found it extremely… pleasant… in an unpleasant sort of way being near him. She never realized this before, but now, after having her class upgraded to [Swordmistress], she found herself confused at how attracted she is to him. Granted, as a male, she finds his strength attractive, but it is only now that she realizes that most of the attraction she has for him is seemingly forced. Like just being near him turns her on.

“Huh…,” Lilly voices, confused, “So you actually didn't fuck him?”

“Yea,” Darrow finally voices out loud, the food in his mouth having finally been eaten, “Why the fuck didn't you fuck the Commander? Do you think you're better than him? Huh?”

Yes and No. When she obtained her class upgrade, she found herself winning all of the spars against Quasi, but only because of her increased physical speeds. Though he was still much more superior than her in skill, his physical prowess was lacking. She was merely too fast and his body was just not fast enough to react even though his mind was clearly keeping up with her speed with ease.

But that is only true if he does not use his abilities. There are limits to her ability to dodge attacks, especially if the attacks come from every direction in the dozens.

“I woke up to him in my bed. I was already asleep when he entered my home.”

Darrow's eyes widen in acknowledgment.

“I see. I see. Sorry about that. I thought you might have found him weak.”

Darrow sits back, his tail, which had been ripping into the dirt from his anger, relaxes just as quickly.

Thorous rubs her temples in response, annoyed at the man for his blind Loyalty. Thorous fully believes that if Darrow was a female, she would probably be as obsessed with the commander as much as Tessa already is… if not more.

“Jessica, I’m guessing you haven't shown your new spell to the commander yet?” Thorous asks, trying to change the conversation. Sex is not something she wants to talk about, especially not in the morning.

Jessica, perking up, moves her hand and wipes her blonde hair back.

“Not yet. He was too tired and I don't think he will be too impressed with it.”

“Really? I thought it was amazing,” Darrow says, taking his final bite.

Jessica shakes her head before pointing towards a group of individuals training.

Thorous narrows her eyes, quickly finding a female Gejan slamming into a tree with impressive precision. Her scales are glowing and a seemingly ghostly image of a Desbat can be seen around her, seemingly like a cloak.

“Saura has the ability to borrow skills and stats from what she kills. I have never heard or seen anything like that before.”

Thorous just shrugs. The class is impressive, but her summons are temporary nor are they easy to get. Saura has to kill something many many times before she can obtain the summons from. On top of that, she is only able to have one form up at a time.

“Still, it is not that strong. I fail to see how it can compete with a regular class in reliability.”

“It doesn't,” Lilly interrupts, “and I agree that it is weak, but each of my people was chosen by Quasi. He said they have amazing potential for growth.”

“Then it must be true.”

Both ladies look at Darrow and roll their eyes.

“Did he explain why Lilly?”

Lilly frowns and looks at her side, staring at the weapon of bone. A weapon that Quasi had called a whip. A weapon that she found herself falling in love with.

“He said something about making a late game. I have no idea what that means, but I’m sure he has his reasons. After all, he hasn't failed us yet.”

To that statement, Thorous can do nothing but nod in defeat. The commander is nothing but a genius.

“[Priestess]”

All eyes turn around, including Jessica’s as they look at a Minotaur, his arm is hanging limp from his side while bruises dot his entire body.

“Hand bad. Need heal.”

Jessica sighs before standing up.

“Did you pick a fight with Zorren?” she asks, looking at the arm hanging limp.

“Ugh” the minotaur grunts in approval.

“Why?”

“Want be [Chieftain]”

“So you came for healing?”

“Ugh”

“If I heal you, will you try to fight Zorren again?”

The Minotaur pauses, his puny mind thinking with intense concentration. The hamster jumps on the wheel, running at speeds it has never been able to run before. For the first time in a long while, a certain organ is finally being used.

“...Yes”

Jessica shakes her head before placing Peter on the ground.

“Lay down, I’m going to need to set your arm first before I can begin. Darrow, I need your help.”

The minotaur complies and lays down on the floor.

For the next several minutes, Thorous watches as a Minotaur three times her weight whines like a baby during the whole process of just setting his broken arm back.

***********************************************

“Alright Jessica, show me that spell. I really want to see it.”

Jessica hesitates. Why did she hesitate? The skill sounds amazing. Freaking useful if you ask me.

“Come on. Your mana is full. Just cast it.” I say, waiting with anticipation.

She takes a breath and closes her eyes. I watch as her mana starts to reciprocate, compiling to her hands which she extends out.

“[Summon Minor Angel].”

Her mana exhales from her body, forming in the air, creating matrices and matrices of complicated strings of mana, each intertwining with all of the others faster than my eyes can keep up.

For a split second, at that moment, I feel the onset of reality bending. A feeling so similar to when a god travels dimensions.

But unlike what I am used to, the feeling is only there for the briefest of seconds. An explosion happens. Not of sound, but of the mana which disperses away from the being.

A being of gold and white. A humanoid figure which looks to be wearing a fully covered suit of golden armor with shiny white wings which are flapping, keeping the being in flight.

[Advanced Analyze]

Minor Angel Ezina Level 81.

Blessing of Eir: [Aura of Regeneration.]

Minor Angels are the most numerous of Heaven's denizens. They are also the cheapest to summon while also being the weakest. They have impressive combat abilities rivaling that of seasoned warriors while their bodies are resistant to physical damage. Unfortunately, their low cost means that they lack any inherent magic based ability.

This specific angel has been blessed with several healing related abilities.

The angel moves its head which is completely devoid of eyes, looking around until it settles on me.

It immediately raises its spear toward me.

Welp, she was right. She did say that Angels can sense powerful dark classes and will become immediately hostile to them. Sucks being a [Necromancer] sometimes.

“Alright Jessica, you can unsumm- what…”

The Angel lowers its spear… and then raises it… and then lowers it.

I look at Jessica who is looking at the Angel as it just keeps raising and lowering its arm. She is completely confused as I am.

“I don't suppose you know what's happening?” I ask.

“I'm… I’m not sure,” she says, frowning.

I continue to look at it, watching as the Angel moves like a broken record, raising and lowering its hand, posture changing from passive to aggressive every second.

I flick back my hair, “I don't suppose you can ask it? Wait does it even talk?”

“Um, Ezina, what are you doing?”

The Angel stiffens momentarily before its head turns to Jessica.

“Attempting to destroy entity [Necromancer]” the sound coming from the angel is both female and very crisp. It seems to not come from the head but instead from the entire body.

“Ok… so why aren't you attacking?”

“Cannot attack [Hero] entity without higher authority.”

Jessica looks to me, confused. Still not able to understand what is going on.

“I understand the problem. It's kinda a programming issue. The angel designates me as a target and attempts to engage combat. But as it attempts to engage combat, it immediately designates me as an allie. Pretty sure its a problem with me having two classes that shouldn't be mixable.”

“Ok… I understand.”

Really? You look like you’re more confused now than before. Whatever.

“Anyways, what can it do?”

“It can fight with the spear and can use the spell [Heal]. Also, wounds seem to naturally heal around her… and that's all I know. I haven't tested that much.”

I nod.

In other words, it's a summon that heals and has combat abilities to defend itself. And considering its level is the same as Jessica’s, then… holy shit she’s a level 81 [Priestess] already. [Advanced Analyze].

Jessica

Level 81 [Priestess]]

Jessica is an orphan who had been adopted by the church of Eir where she grew up in. She has sworn to her Goddess Eir and devoutly follows her teachings which include healing those who need it. Eventually, the church had sold her off to a [Slaver] where she eventually found herself owned by a [Hero].

Strength

9

Dexterity

12

Stamina

24

Perception

53

Endurance

8

Vitality

92

Mana

173

M/regen

1.2

Affinity

1

Intelligence

61

Willpower

473

Soul

171

Blessing of Eir: Increased healing Potency

Fuck me. She’s leveling like a madwoman.

“Jessica, how the hell are you leveling so fast? Did you get other skills too? Last I remember you were only in your forties.”

She smiles at me, her white teeth glittering with confidence. A far cry from when I found her. Now she is easily starting to look like a proper woman… a very proper woman.

“Yes! I gained soooo many levels working on the Minotaurs. Did you know they have four hearts and two stomachs? They even have a smaller secondary set of lungs. Even their bone structure is so much more different.”

So all she has to do is heal another species and she gains levels? That's so unfair. I literally have to kill swarms of enemies just to gain a level. I barely even gain experience raising the dead anymore.

“That's great, I’m sure you’ll get even more levels when you start healing the Centaurs today.”

Her smile falters, replaced by a look of confusion.

“What Centaurs?”

Ohhhhh, right. I forgot to mention them.

“Yeaaaaa, so things happened yesterday. I saved a group of them from death, carried their injured to a city, had a powerful centaur leader swear eternal loyalty to me and then listened to a shortened version of his life history for twelve hours…”

My flying undead lands next to me, Peter already sitting on top of it.

“And I also promised to bring them some healing help.”

Jessica stands there, her eyes looking to mine, to the undead, to the broken angel, and then back to mine. Her mouth is wide open in surprise.

___________________________

Hugging Quasi for dear life, she opens her eyes to the side, watching as the trees pass quickly from her vision. She closes them immediately, only to open them again a minute later.

Flying is not something she likes. It is definitely not something she will ‘get used to’ as Quasi had told her.

She quickly opens her eyes, doing her best to not look down, instead, looking behind her, gazing jealousy at the others as they relax on their mounts, seemingly indifferent of being several dozen feet in the air. Heck, Thorous and Tessa are relaxedly talking with each other, Lilly is standing on the mount, seemingly enjoying the feel of the wind striking her face.

And Darrow… he’s asleep.

Jessica quickly closes her eyes and curses herself for agreeing to be flown to the other city. So what if it would take several days to get there from just walking. They clearly have [Healers] over at the other city. There probably much better than her as well. Clearly, she doesn't have to be there.

“Oh shit, this looks bad. Really bad. Goddamit Zorren why are you afraid of goddam flying. Really could use you right now.”

“What's bad?” she asks Quasi, her eyes still shut.

“Well, it's hard to describe, so it might be best for you to look in front of us.”

Taking a deep breath, Jessica leans forward, opens her eyes and looks over Quasi’s shoulder.

She sees the city. A big city similar to her own, except the walls are larger. But that's not what keeps her attention. Not the Centaurs or the multitude of homes and buildings in the city. No, what attracts her attention is the massive monster of a beast which is ripping apart the city from the inside. Rampaging, destroying homes, killing, roaring.

Jessica moves her eyes away from the monster and instead looks down, contemplating if her chances of surviving if she jumped.

Probably much higher than going anywhere near the city.

“Huh… I’m not afraid of heights anymore.”