Chapter 127

I left the room barely a minute later, the occasion far too important to neglect despite my desire to laze around after such a spectacular occasion of physical exertion. My power might have increased even further with the extra level and the additional divine light tricks, especially against the undead, but the enemy was still strong enough to deserve my full attention.

The delay we suffered as I teased Titania was already pushing the limits.

The first thing that got my attention was the chaos that filled the area in the walls. The town was understandably filled with existential fear, enough to overwhelm their courage developed by their rapidly-increasing levels. Understandable, as while the endless waves of monsters hitting the town were nothing more than a natural disaster.

The undead army that surrounded the town represented a planned action to erase the town. And the undead didn’t get their scary reputation by failing such extermination missions often. Citizens run around in panic, hoping to find a route to escape, fear dominating their minds to understand such implications. It was weird...

Or not, I corrected my thought even as I extended my senses to feel the thin aura of death covering the city. I subconsciously ignored it for a while, because it was not an active spell, but a natural side effect of being surrounded by an army of necromantic constructs, their death energy radiating naturally.

After several times I had invaded their base, I barely registered it. But I was forgetting one thing. I was level thirty-one, most of the citizens were barely level five, and which meant the aura of death was much more domineering.

And the fact that people around Titania didn’t show the same symptoms, her light-natured mana suppressing the effects of the death aura handily in a large circle. I quickly cast a couple of spells to destroy the miasma, radiating from Titania to make it look like she was responsible for casting it.

The more exhausted they assumed Titania to be, the sooner they would react.

When I finally stepped the walls, disguised as a common militia, keeping Titania in my field of vision in case of an emergency. However, she wasn’t my only target to protect. I sneaked through the guards, my Subterfuge combined with my Arcana turning me into a ghost on the battlefield.

It was trivial to sneak into the room that was arranged as a temporary field hospital, piled with medicine and other supplies to help her healing efforts, but empty other than a few civilians wearing white robes, and a familiar curvy blonde with a tense expression.

I cast a spell to distract the civilians as I sneaked behind Marianne —making sure I could still watch Titania from a window through careful positioning, before hugging her waist. She flinched, but her tenseness was short-lived as I whispered into her ear. “How are you doing, my sweet bunny?” I whispered.

“Caesar,” she gasped in a relaxed tone. “You scared me.”

“Sorry, sweet cheeks,” I added with a chuckle even as I kissed her neck, though still watching Titania as she rained orders to the defense team. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“Well, you did,” she answered, trying to sound stern, but with my arms around her waist, she had a markedly difficult time maintaining her angry tone with her body melting against mine. Hugging her from behind, once again feeling her generous curves, was certainly a treat.

“How do you feel about the upcoming battle?”

“I ... I don’t know,” Marianne murmured even as her gaze danced in the room. “I’ll probably stay here, healing the more dangerous candidates.”

“I see,” I murmured even as I gently nibbled her ear. “How about joining the battle?” I asked even as I nibbled her ear. “Your new ability would make you shine against the undead?”

“D-do I have to?” she suddenly stammered, tensing despite the hug.ViiSiit novelbi/n(.)c/(o)m for latest novels

“It’s your call,” I countered after kissing her neck to calm her down. I understood where she was coming from. “You don’t have to put yourself forward unless you don’t want to be famous,” I said. “It’s an opportunity for you to show off, but it’ll also bring a lot of responsibility,” I whispered. Ultimately, I didn’t really care about the limited assistance she would provide. I didn’t teach her to have an additional combatant, but to make sure she could defend herself against a surprise assault.

“I ...” she murmured before falling silent for a moment. “I better stay hidden,” she decided even as the explosive flares started to happen outside. “I had watched Cornelia suffer under the expectations of the others, and it certainly didn’t help any. It’s better if I stay hidden.”

“As you wish, love,” I said even as I tightened my hold around her waist, punctuating that with a kiss. “Just don’t risk yourself trying to keep your abilities concealed. I was tempted to slide inside her to help her power up even more, but two things kept me back. First, empowering her wasn’t the smartest thing I could do under the circumstances, when I might need my mana for whatever ploy they had in mind. It was similar for the Divine Spark as well. Unlike Titania’s light magic, the temporary skill she would provide me was not critical enough.

And since she was not a combatant, her achievement wasn’t really critical as well. It could wait a couple of days.

The second reason, the wounded finally started to flow to the infirmary, meaning she was busy trying to heal everyone efficiently.

“I’m going outside,” I said to her before leaving. Slipping out without being noticed was trivial, so was climbing the walls to examine the attacking army.

[Level: 31 Experience: 489893 / 496000

Strength: 46 Charisma: 58

Precision: 40 Perception: 42

Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49

Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51

HP: 6324 / 6324 Mana: 7595 / 7595 ]

SKILLS

Master Melee [100/100]

Master Tantric [100/100]

Master Biomancy [100/100]

Master Elemental [100/100]

Master Arcana [100/100]

Master Subterfuge [100/100]

Expert Speech [75/75]

Expert Craft [75/75]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (1/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

[Cornelia - Level 21/25]

[Helga - Level 17/21]