Chapter 141: One-Up – Part 3

Chapter 141: One-Up – Part 3

"The elven youth are so much more respectful," Azador whispers to Palo as the two knights watch the noobs get fucked in the ass by the Symbols of War.

And the mass of muscles twitches as he snorts softly, making so much noise in his bulky armor that it's almost un-elven. "Well, these are humans and dragonkin. What did you expect?"

Azador's eyes narrow at another young man that he just gave advice to as the fool decides to humiliate his opponent by stabbing the Symbol in the balls... except that Symbols of War don't have balls.

The senior knight sighs softly, trying not to visibly facepalm. "After seeing the fourth one get gutted? A bit of sense in their jar heads? No offense to you, Your Highness," he adds and glances at me.

I have a small issue with what he said, so I politely reply, "None taken... but I don't really like terms like 'clay' and 'jar' being used to refer to humans, just as much as I don't like the terms 'lizard' and 'mustch.'"

Azador takes a couple of seconds to process my subtle chiding, then lowers his head respectfully and cautiously states, "Very kind of you, Your Highness. I'll watch my tongue."

Palo glances at him curiously, then promptly continues, "There are many hot-blooded elves, but the dungeons in the High Forest are merciless, so they usually die very quickly. That's why you don't see many in Escanso."

The old knight unhesitatingly returns to his normal demeanor and replies, "But their numbers must be very small in comparison to that of other races."

And I add, "Adventuring attracts a rather unique type of person, and the most common temperament will always be the humble farmers and laborers."

We hear a cry of pain and turn our gazes just in time to watch as another noob eats shit.

"Then I guess the desire to get gutted like cattle is seemingly attractive to adventurers considering how they like to ignore our advice," he flippantly remarks as he pats his flowery beard.

"There is a considerable number of them that seem to be masochistic," I wry add.

And Palo remarks with a sympathetic tone, "I can't blame them. Half of these Symbols seem like they'd be amazing partners in bed... if only they didn't wish to kill us."

Azador gives him a concerned look, but I smirk suggestively and confess, "I also can't deny that I find the female Symbols of Mankind attractive."

And the grandpa chuckles softly. "There's a joke here that I'm not courageous enough to make about you and how you converted Her Highness Aoi," Azador amusedly states.

Is it really a joke if it's the truth?

"I certainly do wish to 'convert' more female monsters in the future. Imagine the day that we can solve our differences through a sex battle," I wonder with a dreamy tone.

"Well, the dryads already do that," Palo suddenly remarks, and we both immediately turn to him in surprise.

"How do you know that?" Azador hesitantly inquires.

And the bodybuilder smirks smugly like a Chad as he brags, "Just a benefit of wandering the High Forest instead of growing roots on your ass in Escanso."

But the old knight assumes a very elven, prideful smug expression. "Don't try to brag about that sort of thing to me, child. I know every brothel in Escanso and also which establishment caters to whatever fetish you may have. I can even refer you to specific corners on the third level if you want something more 'intense.'"

That catches me off guard, and I reflexively blurt out, "The Chimeras fuck in the streets in plain sight. What are you actually doing that it needs to be hidden on the lowest level?"

He awkwardly averts his eyes as his smugness takes a hit, only to meet with Palo's teasing pair, which helps him recompose his elven pride. Then he clears his throat and hesitantly explains, "There are certain things that you can do with [Blood Magic] and [Slavery Magic] that can be quite... 'stimulating,' but the legality of them is 'questionable' purely because of regulations, so you need to go to the right places to see them being offered in the open."

And we're both impressed with how "cultured" Azador is.

"The Vamiro flowers in your beard, did they grow from monster blood, or something else?" Palo bemusedly asks.

But the old fart simply grins like a villain.

We continue to slowly climb the Steps while keeping the buffed Symbols at bay. Then evening arrives, and though nobody besides those with clocks know of it, the hunger for dinner is enough to tell them that we've been in this place for too long. This phase is for the adventurers, so we hold back our desire to hurry them and continue babysitting, but we make sure everyone at least eats a snack.

And they all also get a turn on the frontline, but due to sheer numbers, the adventurers remain fighting the longest, and then they even get a second turn, which they loudly complain about. Yunia gives them a tongue ass-fucking, reminding them that they need to fight for their Experience, and she's so rough on them that they turn from spoiled brats into whipped simps. They're becoming so obedient that I feel our control over them is nearing absolute.

I just wish there weren't so many noobs who get shit on by the Symbols on steroids... If we were to let the Bestowers live, the monsters wouldn't get buffed regularly, but then the Bestowers would make the Blight phase a lot more "Blighty," and the occasional gutted noob is better than that shit. If we had enough priests, we could weather the Blight, but our strength lies elsewhere, so we use the most optimal strategy for our army.

The desolate remains of the settlement gradually disappears in the darkness as we go further and further up, and the Blessing of Light is also drained from the Steps as the Symbols follow after us. Soon, the Great Steps begins to look like it's floating in the absolute darkness, steadily being consumed by the encroaching Darkness as we flee from the never-ending horde of twice-risen monsters.

And as we're (metaphorically) driven further and further away from the Realm, other forces start to become able to exert their power upon us. The men start to get twitchy and jumpy, and even we feel a mounting discomfort, even though we've killed all the Bestowers we could see.

We see movement in the darkness. Puffs of mist that quickly dissipate, a thunder strike that lights up some clouds, debris flying about, a faraway explosion, a glint from the reflection of something very large that briefly enters the edge of our Lights.

"This feels like an underwater horror story," Lina remarks through [Bind].

"Sometimes the types of books you've read concerns me," Ciel replies and glances at our little wife.

"What do you mean?"

"You've read too many books in secret from your parents."

"Is that bad?" She hesitantly asks.

"A child needs an adult to explain things and comfort them during the harder parts."

"Well, aside from the nightmares, I grew up fine... I think." But she starts losing confidence in her own words with each second.

And Ciel doesn't feel like she needs to reply.

But we're soon put back into combat mode as we sense stray mana with an odd, "hateful" flavor coming from the Darkness, and everyone tenses up as we realize what's coming.

I immediately crack the whip, "Alright, you helpless whelps and weed brains! Get the fuck off the frontline while we deal with this shit!"

"Aye aye, sir!" A cheeky adventurer shouts and jokingly salutes.

Ciel uses her best announcer voice and guides the adventurers back to the top while Nohopu and Alcander bring the Lordsguard back down.

"Your Highness, allow me to deal with these," Aisco requests and points to the reanimated Symbols.

I glance at him worriedly, but the dude has [Fire Magic] at 81, so I won't get in his way. "Do as you wish."

"It'll take all of my mana, so keep me safe afterward."

"You just want to do this to get out of having to fight," I tease and flash a smirk.

But he unashamedly admits, "Yes. It's also a great opportunity to push my abilities to the limit."

I hold back a grin at the audacity of this fucker. "Alright, then, you lazy bastard. Make it worth it."

"Always." Then he moves to the edge of the Step and raises his anime-like fire staff.

"Should we be concerned about the safety of our men?"

"I'm no amateur," he flatly replies, then starts gathering his mana.

I concernedly insist, "You did come from a mercenary company with an appallingly high number of Wicked."

Just a hint of distaste seeps into his voice, but then the characteristic elven smugness overpowers it. "My comrades were fools who let their emotions fuel their flames. I, on the other hand, have one singular desire: to destroy everything."

Ok...

Then his eyes gloss over, and he begins chanting with an awfully dreamy tone, "I dream of a candle, a single, insignificant flame in an endless field of dried leaves. A drop of poison falling towards a crystalline lake. The smallest amount of quantifiable violent destruction almost touching the bottom of a tower of glass. And the Realm stands still as the fire starter threatens to unleash chaos.

"I simply give it a push, let it fall, and two extremes collide. Nothing more is necessary from me, so I shall stand here and watch as the fire spreads and consumes it all. This... is my [Pyromaniac's Wish]."

Lines of fire shoot out of his anime-like staff like lightning and envelop each of the Symbols, tying them up like ropes, and then the monsters burst into flames and collapse, writhing as they try to overpower their fiery bindings.

Ignoring the horrifying way in which it kills, what's curious about this spell is that I definitely felt both [Lightning Bolt] and [Fire Whip] in it, though there's also quite a lot of its "structure" that I have no idea about.

And to the benefit of my "Sanity," the Symbols seem to quickly pass out, so I guess Aisco isn't that completely heartless.

My body finishes regenerating, and I snarl angrily as the fire of rage starts to clear the exhaustion I'm feeling.

Not yet...

Swords, daggers, and spears are launched against me, only to plink harmlessly off my mirror-like scales, though they do bother me a bit with their constant poking.

Then someone grabs Ted from behind, and she's sucked into their [Item Box].

YOU INSOLENT WORM!

I instantly shoot forward as I cast both [Rush] and [Haste] on myself, my bottomless fury clearing away the exhaustion instantly.

Jarn [Equip]s a [Gate] Scrubber and activates it. Then the [Gate] mage freezes in realization and lets his spell fizzle out.

The mages see me coming and clear out, but the thieving little kitten doesn't move until it's too late, so I crash into her like a truck, and she's sent tumbling along the stone floor. She's instantly knocked out, which is a small mercy considering her limbs are now bent in the wrong directions, though she isn't dead.

"THESE THIEVES SHALL BE DEALT WITH LATER!" I roar as I summon a nature elemental, who immediately binds the thief and the mage together.

Then I summon Ted again, and my little teddy bear floats back to Gandalf's side, who's seemingly still like a statue as he stares at me, though I don't know if it's from fear or confusion.

I find Fran and Armaa Bro, but they're both busy fighting on the frontline, so they don't seem to be related to this. Bell-end is paying attention to me, and he's telling his men to not interfere.

Once our eyes meet, I see him stutter and swallow heavily, but then he immediately turns his attention back to the battle. I find it unlikely that he's involved in this, but it's always good to reinforce the idea of who's in charge here.

The message has been sent, and we still have a horde to grind through, so I return my focus to the battle. My brother is being a stubborn lizard and refusing to die, so I spread my wings and fly up because I don't feel like using another Breath to kill this one.

The last Blessing that we're given is a hidden one. In the face of an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, there's only one thing that humanoids can do to survive: unite.

This Blessing is like [Weaverism] because it subtly connects our minds, allowing us to fight as one in ways we never could before. And with that coupled with my godly steroids, even the Symbols of War are nothing more than goblin fodder.

I fly down and cast [Telekinesis] on myself to increase my weight...

GRAND SLAM!

I turn on my side at the last moment as I crash into my brother.

There's not even a single moment of hesitation. Aoi grabs his head and presses it against the floor with the weight of her whole body, Alissa and Léonne blind it with arrows, Hana and Yunia lift the scales and stab him right in the foreleg joints, and then Lina starts cracking the scales under his neck.

My brother begins to resist and writhe, so Roxanne casts [Explosion] in his brain, but even then, his resistances are so high that he only gets mildly stunned.

And that's all the help we needed as it gives Aoi and me the chance to grab his head and pull it backward, exposing the underside of his neck. Even a Symbol of Might can't resist concentrated attacks while completely immobilized, and everyone, even Jacques with his longsword, attacks the weakened scales.

Though the bastard still lasts for a good while, he eventually stops resisting, and then Aoi and I suddenly find ourselves holding his decapitated head.

Other dragon variants appear, but the true bosses are both dead, so now all we have to do is continue to farm the Symbols. This battle was supposed to last longer, but Lords heavily tip the balance of power, and the Dungeon Master of the Labyrinth isn't the kind that tries to compensate for things like that.

Once the last monster finally falls, just Alissa and Léonne are enough to deal with the one-eyed, mouthed, smoky tendrils before we have to deal with "phase two" and the boss fight "mechanics."

I'd like to explore a scenario dungeon like this another time, but with only the girls and me, just for the challenge.

Then the Sanctuary sphere explodes outwards, destroying Ender's head, but even that would never be enough to kill him.

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