Brand New Life Online: Rise Of The Goddess Of Harvest

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As the demon's entire body slowly dissolved into ashes, I swiftly moved forwards, leaving behind my draconic body and releasing a wave of powerful healing magic. The body of the elf man that had turned into the demon remained still alive, though he had his limbs cut off due to all the battles, I had managed to not target his more important body parts!

"I have to heal him, quickly!"

I quickly grasped him with my vines, healing him constantly and feeding him with my sap. His limbs regrew and he was barely saved from dying out of blood loss. As we descended together below the rain of ashes, I noticed the presences of the researchers flying closer.

"That's the elf!" Hermes said.

"Kill it, Planta!" Elbedo said.

"Yeah, if you don't, he'll go insane again! Now!" Hermes cried.

"Stop! Don't kill him! What's wrong with you two?!" Cecilia cried, quickly putting herself in front of me. "That man… Now I can finally see him, he's my brother! Don't you remember him? Arafunn!"

"Arafunn?! It's him!" Mercedes gasped. "Right, stop! If he's already unconscious, there's no point in killing him. The demon or whatever was controlling him is gone."

"T-That's but if he endangers the city again…!" Elbedo groaned. "If it wasn't for everyone here, half the city would have been consumed by the fire!"

"That's right, we can't just spare him because he's your brother, Cecilia!" Hermes said.

"Stop it!" I said, hitting the floor, as a tremor was unleashed. "Nobody is going to kill him. And whoever dares, will have to go through me first."

I stared at the dragon and the elf man, who quickly calmed down the moment they sensed my presence. Clicking their tongues. It was really weird how they wanted him dead so much! There's definitely something suspicious out of it. And also, I knew it was related to Cecilia somehow! That reaction she had couldn't be just ignored either.

"So you rescued him, huh?" Mark slowly went back to his normal, humanoid shape. "Is the scenario completed even if we didn't kill him?"

"I don't know, there isn't any message yet, for some reason…" Rita said.

"Something should pop up eventually, right?" Lily smiled, as the Divine Ward slowly dissipated.

"Whatever was possessing him was our foe, without a doubt, and we slain that demon." I said. "So this is just an innocent man. Don't you remember how confused he was? Whatever happened to Cecilia's brother, he wasn't in the right place. He was being controlled by something else, by someone else…"

"T-That's…" Hermes muttered. "But who could do such a thing? So this is not the end yet?"

"Hmmm…" Elbedo groaned. "I suppose I have to admit I went overboard, perhaps due to the amount of destruction it caused, I had grown panicked. My apologies."

"It's fine, I understand." Mercedes sighed. "Hermes, where's your apology?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry." Hermes nodded. "So what do we do now? Where do we bring it?"

"IT?! He's my brother, jerk!" Cecilia barked angrily. "Planta, can I carry him? I might be weak, but I should be strong enough to carry him. Let's bring him back home. We'll explain to the elders what happened here later.

I think he needs to rest over a bed first."

"O-Okay, you can have him." I nodded, as Cecilia carried her brother, barely.

I left behind a special barrier ward on him, which I conjured using the help of the Great Spirit. With that, he should be able to protect himself from at least a single attack. If he's ever attacked, I'll quickly learn about it too. I don't know if this might work across scenarios, but it was worth giving it a try.

As we moved back house, a system message finally popped up in front of us, startling us for a second. But it told us that everything was completed accordingly. For a moment, it felt as if the Dungeon was trying to determine if our actions were correct or acceptable, and they indeed were!

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have completed the First Scenario: {Defeat the [Abyssal Dark Hell Knight: Lv300+] while protecting the four researchers from death and the citizens of the city!}

[Congratulations! You've managed to save the city and also save the lives of the four researchers from death once more.]

[Although you were intended to slay the elf that became a demon, you only destroyed the demon possessing him and saved his life instead, excellently done!]

[A new Scenario Hidden Requirement has been unlocked due to your incredible deduction abilities.]

[Scenario Requirements]: [Protect the four Researchers, kill the Boss, protect at least 30 civilians from death: Complete]

[Scenario Hidden Requirement]: [Incomplete.]

[New Scenario Hidden Requirement]: [Save Arafunn: Complete]

[Scenario Additional Score]: [+500.000]

[You have qualified to get the highest rewards of this Scenario. However, the rewards will be accumulated and administrated once all Scenarios are completed.]

[Current Score]: [1.300.000]

It was finally done! And it made us feel quite relieved. The scenery around us quickly shifted after the system windows popped up, quickly showing the passage of time. How Cecilia brought Arafunn to their house, left him sleeping, and then continued talking.

"What happened to your brother, Cecilia?" Asked Mercedes. "How could he have gotten himself into this situation to begin with? Do you know anything?"

"I am just as clueless as you are… Arafunn was always a good brother, caring and gentle. I doubt he would have ever become corrupted by demons so easily, even less work with them!" Said Cecilia. "I fear he might have become the victim of something else, a pawn used by someone."

"When was the last time you saw him anyways?" Hermes wondered, crossing his arms. He didn't seem that happy about the whole situation. He was honestly the most suspicious.

"It has been a few weeks. He's been working over the Merchant Guild so he's always busy." Sighed Cecilia. "But I was never reported he disappeared though."

"This is weird, so until now he's been hiding what happened to him, huh?" Elbedo wondered. "Could it have been some brainwashing spell?"

"If it was that ugly demon, for sure it was something like that." Mercedes said. "But Demons won't get into your body out of nowhere, someone put it inside of him."

"And the real question is who…" I said, as the rest of my team seemed to nod.

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