Chapter 346: The Vargulfening

"I have made the connection." Aberth murmured. "After a few minutes I should be able to…hmm."

"What's the matter?" Mike asked, disembodied head slowly floating in a lazy orbit around the fallen god.

"You did not tell me that the one you are looking for was a Vargulf."

"She's not. Well, I should say that she isn't one anymore."

Aberth glanced at him. "Please explain. To my knowledge, there is no means of returning one of them to their original state."

"Honestly? I don't know, really. When I encountered her originally, I noticed that she had some unusual abilities. Out of curiosity, I attempted to cure her affliction with Healing Magic. While it was a difficult process for both of us, I eventually succeeded."

"That shouldn't be possible. The transformation into a Vargulf is not an affliction so much as a metamorphosis. The system does not recognize it as an abnormal condition, and therefore it should not be possible to 'cure' it, regardless of the method you employed. There should be more to the story."

Mike frowned in thought. "Well, the only other thing I can think of is the fact that she ended up as my familiar in the process."

"…You made a sentient humanoid into a familiar?" Aberth asked incredulously.

"Not intentionally." He shot back defensively.

"Still, that should also be impossible, at least with the original version of the skill. Perhaps if there was a strong enough link between the two of you…no, even then there would need to be an incredible difference in soul density." The god spoke, almost to himself, as he gracefully paced along the shelves of the inventory/pantry. "Tell me, are you by any chance a fallen deity or some kind of divine being from another realm?"

Mike shook his head. He considered explaining his situation as a Reincarnator, but wasn't sure if he could trust Aberth yet. For all that he appeared to be sane and reasonable, there was no telling how a millennia old divinity would react to that piece of information.

"Then I can only assume it was some fluke of circumstance. Nevertheless, if she is truly your familiar, then there should be no need for my involvement."

"Normally that would be the case, but several hours ago the connection was severed. I don't know how, but I do know that the process was immensely painful for her."

Aberth rested a finger along his right cheek in an unconscious gesture of concentration, a surprisingly human affectation. After a few moments he said, "There are a few ways to break that kind of bond. Most require the master's permission, or, at the very least, presence. To my knowledge, there is only one that can be used in this manner. Her abductors would have needed to remove or destroy the portion of her soul that was bound to you. Something that would not only have been immensely painful, but left her weak and vulnerable until she healed."

"What would something like that take? How would they even do that?"

"There are some magics in this world that can even affect the soul. Typically, such things are only available to practitioners of Divine Magic, but Arcane mages can learn a few tricks. I suspect that you, with your Elemental Healing Magic, are also capable of such a feat. No doubt that played a role in causing her change of form to begin with. However, of the various options, I suspect that the perpetrator used a ritual based on Divine Magic. It would simply be the most straightforward option given their resources."

"I see…I'll have to apologize for getting her into this mess when I finally find her. Speaking of which, have you narrowed down her location."

Aberth shook his head. "I am still working on it. There are some complications which have increased the difficulty of the task."

"What complications?" Mike asked, feeling slightly apprehensive.

"Her identity as a Vargulf has changed things. They are creatures of intense hunger, even in comparison to other vampires. Quite simply put, my connection with her has driven her into a frenzy, and attempting to determine something as complex as her precise location based on her sensory input is challenging to say the least. I am attempting to use others of my kin in the same location to learn more, but unfortunately, your former familiar is making that difficult as well."

"But she's no longer a Vargulf, right?"

"It seems you are under a false impression." Aberth replied with a sad smile. "As I said before, the transformation into a Vargulf is irreversible by anything short of divine intervention. I believe that your familiar bond, coupled with your mastery of Healing Magic allowed you to force her into a temporary reversion. Once that bond was severed, it was only a matter of time before she returned to her natural state. My involvement only hastened the process."

"I see…"

Mike had to digest this for a moment. Truth be told, he'd never questioned the miraculous transformation before, assuming that his innate luck had made it possible. It never occurred to him that he was only temporarily changing her form. For some reason, the idea bothered him. It felt like a bond of obligation that was tying him down.

After some further introspection, he determined the origin of the sensation.

[I never did plan on staying in this world forever, did I? As soon as I discovered there were ways to travel to other dimensions, a part of me had always planned on leaving. And yet, I understand that in doing so I would have to give up on the things left in this world to some extent. I would need to leave behind the people here. To be reminded of the fact that my departure might cause those closest to me to suffer, is…unsettling.]

His musings were interrupted by a soft exclamation from Aberth.

"Ah…I found her. She is being held in the city, under a mansion on the uppermost layer. There appears to be an extensive hideout carved from the cliff face, and a large number of my kin are present. Hold still for a moment."

The god walked over to Mike's floating head, reached out, and pushed one finger against the bridge of his nose. He was about to ask what the ancient being was doing when an image popped into his head.

He saw an ornate mansion painted in a mixture of light green and white. A strong iron fence enclosed the surrounding gardens, while a small army prowled the grounds.

"This is where your companion is."

"…Thank you. I'll be going then." Mike replied hastily, already preparing to pull his head back out of the portal.

"Just remember my payment." Came the quiet reply as the opening to his inventory closed.

[How could I forget?] Mike thought to himself. It wasn't something he could fulfill at the moment. With time and effort, however, it should be possible, and Aberth was content to wait. That just left the little matter of surviving the process, which was a little questionable at the moment.

As he prepared to lift off into the air, he noticed a circle of ghoul thralls surrounding him at a respectful distance. Contrary to their bestial natures, they seemed to have enough intelligence to recognize him as a dangerous being, something that made them more capable than several normal humans he'd met in the past.

Thinking back on his conversation with Aberth, he found himself wondering if these people might not be similar to Selene with her Vargulf problem. The change appeared to be just as irreversible, but maybe he had the skills necessary to fix them. After all, if Healing Magic could temporarily revert his familiar, maybe Life Magic could do so permanently.

The thought came to him with a mixture of annoyance and guilt. Annoyance because he was once again feeling obligated to help a group of people that he had no other connection with, simply because he had the power to do so. Guilt because he'd done nothing besides kill the thralls so far, essentially ensuring that there would be some casualties regardless of whatever miracle he proved capable of.

[I am beginning to see why so many of the gods avoid getting involved in mortal affairs. Once you accept any degree of responsibility for your power, it is an endless quagmire of situations you bear the blame for simply due to your inaction. The philosophical implications alone would be maddening.]

He knew these feelings would only get worse as he grew stronger and more capable. If he wanted to avoid going insane, he would need to establish some kind of defining limitation to his behavior. Perhaps a set of guidelines for where and how he would get involved.

[For the time being, however, I am going to focus on those close to me. The rest of the world can take care of itself.]

With that decision in mind, he took off in the direction of the vampire hideout, leaving the milling ghoul thralls to disperse and continue their rampage.

It took less than a minute to arrive, but by the time he did, the mansion was in an uproar. As he flew closer, he saw a few windows explode as dark humanoid shapes launched themselves into the gardens. There, the presumably human guards were treated like prey animals and hunted by the blood crazed vampires who apparently were still feeling the effects of Aberth's brief connection.

Watching the animalistic way the finely dressed men and women chased the mortals down and tore them to pieces, he found himself feeling slightly disturbed. Steeling himself against any possible sense of guilt by reminding himself that these were essentially vampire cultists who'd thrown their lot in with the undead and therefore deserved their fate, he landed and advanced inside, dealing with the occasional attacker with periodic bursts of Fire Magic.

He used Appraise on several of the vampires present, finding that they were almost universally quite young, with the oldest being a mere hundred and twenty. Thanks to his studies, he knew that, with few exceptions, the strength of a vampire was directly proportional to their age, with the most ancient members of their race being the most powerful.

[So they put cannon fodder on the first floor. Were they expecting to be raided?]

Using minimal effort, he pushed through the disorganized mob and entered the mansion. He sent his mana into the ground, finding it a bit difficult to do. Apparently this method worked better with stone structures. Nevertheless, he was able to develop a reasonable approximation of the building in his head, and used this information to locate the hidden entrance to the basement below.

Not bothering to determine what sort of hidden mechanism opened the section of wall that concealed the stairs leading down, Mike simply created a bar of superheated Fire Magic and cut himself a path. After that, he embedded his fist in the slab of the dissected wall and hurled it over his shoulder.

Beyond the opening, he could see stone stairs leading down. While descending, he tried to mentally compare the information he'd gathered previously with what was now available to him through Aerosense. The result was a mental picture of a sprawling network of tunnels and chambers which riddled the land under the mansion. To make matters worse, there were several escape paths he could identify. If he gave his enemies time to evacuate, then he might risk losing Selene's trail again.

With that in mind he hurried towards the largest group of moving creatures. If he was lucky, he could find someone with enough rationality left to question.

After running through the tunnels for a few minutes, he eventually arrived in a large room. A quick glance suggested that it was some kind of gathering or meeting place, and could have even been some kind of chapel, but the rampant destruction it had suffered from left the matter in doubt.

All throughout the room, a series of small-scale battles were taking place, with hunger-crazed vampires attacking one another in an orgy of blood shed. Dozens of scattered corpses suggested that there had already been extensive casualties, but the hostile creatures showed no signs of backing down.

Slightly overwhelmed by the savagery he was witnessing, Mike came to a halt at the doorway and simply scanned the chamber for a few seconds, letting the spectacle sink in. His attention was arrested, however, at a particularly vicious confrontation taking place near the opposite wall. There a large and fast-moving creature was fending off several attackers through a combination of superior strength and a carnal brutality that seemed to shock even the maddened vampires into hesitating.

With a sinking heart, he used Appraise on the Vargulf. He didn't need to read the resulting message to know he'd found Selene.