Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 69 — Aftermath

With a sudden jerk, Noah opened his eyes.

It took him just a second to regain his bearings as he looked around his surroundings. He was sitting in a nondescript room, quite typical of the rooms he had seen in the Celestian parts of the city, with white tiles, polished floor, and somewhat modernistic decorations with traces of minimalist design.

Abyssal Awareness spread out around him, the information from his senses flowing in a steady, constant stream. He was in the guild right now, in one of the resting rooms, and could feel the others in nearby chambers. All except Zax.

Tony was still sleeping, the changes from the evolution remained ongoing for the abyssal symbiont. He could feel the wyrmblood fueling the symbiote.

Noah stood up from the bed, stretching his limbs as he felt more fresh than he ever had before. The jump in his attributes had been massive; he could feel it slowly starting to settle into his body. He could think faster, no, not just think faster, he could see, hear, feel, and process all kinds of information faster than he could have before.

It was like the resolution at which he felt time had been upgraded. The sensation was eerie; the world around him felt slower. Noah had already noticed this happening as his attributes had been growing over time. But with a sudden jump pushing him way over the 500 mark, close to a thousand, and sending nearly all his sub-attributes into the B grade, the difference was indescribable.

Walking up to the mirror hanging on the wall, Noah looked at himself. His hair was longer now, likely as a result of the Lifeforce changing his body, forcing it to grow. He had already seen his eyes; the rounded pupils were now vertical, giving him an eerie look. Noah grinned. He did not dislike it.

Sensing somebody walking outside his door, Noah used Arcane Step as he teleported outside. With a startle, a young woman jumped, clutching her chest. "Hey there, sorry about the jump scare. Do you have any idea how long I've been sleeping? And where one of my companions might be? His name is Zax."

“Umm, yes. You have been sleeping for roughly one day. And, your companion should be—"

“Oh, nevermind, I see him. Thanks,” Noah said, before using Arcane Step once more as he teleported away to the chamber just below him.

As he appeared with a flash of blue light, Noah saw two things happen in rapid succession. First, two people rose with extreme speed from their chairs, the one on the right drew a blade, swinging it towards his throat with an intent to kill. The second followed right after, reaching for the sword swinging towards Noah.

Without any time to think, Noah moved on instinct, his hand transformed, claws forming upon them as he intercepted the sword. Dark, gooey matter flowed from within him, forming armor around his neck, while hardening the skin in the area. Sparks flew as the blade that was swung at his claw, deflecting his fingers, but stopping at his throat, cutting through a thin layer of his armor, but enough to draw blood.

“Noah!” a shout came from a familiar voice, behind the two figures. It was only now that Noah began to register who was present in the room. Raesar stood next to the woman, his hand grabbed around her wrist. Noah looked at the woman; she was tall, taller than him, with a muscular figure covered in scars and a menacing aura that flowed around her. Her hair was white, her eyes blue; he could somewhat tell that she was a Celestian, though she certainly did not look the part. Noah used Identify.

[Veteran Blademaster - ???]

“How did you get through the wards?” the woman asked.

"Ekira, he is—" Nae tried.

“I know who he is. But I need to know how he bypassed our defenses,” the woman said, glancing back for a brief moment, before her eyes returned to Noah.

“Wards? There was one?” Noah asked. “I just used my ability.”

Ekira glanced down at Noah's body, noticing the arcane runes imprinted upon him. “We will discuss this further another time,” she said, withdrawing her blade.

Noah let out a breath as the sword moved away from his throat, the aura of the woman receding. Raesar stood next to him, a smile upon the man’s face. “It is good to see you, Noah. You have grown.”

“It's great to see you too,” Noah said. “But what are you doing here?”

“Let's return to the topic at hand,” Zax said, drawing everybody’s attention. “Now that Noah is awake, we should fill him in on what all has been happening.”

“They don't know our identity. We're merely a powerful mage to them,” Zax sent to Noah telepathically.

“Got it. Is everyone else still sleeping?” Noah asked back.

“Yes, your Path evolution sped up your recovery. The rest will take a little more time. It seems you got some good options,” Zax replied, with the barest hint of a smile.

Walking towards the table at the center of the chamber, Noah took a seat that Nae summoned from seemingly nowhere.

“Right, I’ll give you a rundown. After the three of you went into the astral rift, the guild began to crack down on the cultists remaining within the city. We declared a state of emergency, taking control within the city, making sure none of them could escape. From the intel we gained from the captured cultists—not much, unfortunately, as they all died from a binding spell we could not break—we managed to locate all the cultist hideouts in and around the area and clear them out. The only thing left was to find out the main base and who was hiding them from detection. We did find the latter,” Nae said.

“Vix,” Noah said.

“Indeed, although we found out too late. The Pit was already empty, all its resources moved and relocated. The only thing left were the scraps and junk within the hollowed-out arena. The rest, we found out from your friend here. He’s given us a general rundown of everything that happened and has been helping us settle things within the city. Everything being said, good job, Noah. All of you have saved the lives of countless people, and the guild has taken note of your achievements. Your bounty is under review for—actually, I'll let you find out on your own," Nae said.

“The fact that you sent them under my nose without ever telling me still pisses me off,” Ekira said, leaning back in her chair as she snorted.

“So, are the cultists gone now?” Noah asked.

“I wish. They were scattered; we got most of them, but definitely not all. Adventurers are still out there looking for the escapees in hopes that we can find out more about their activities. The good news is that the cult's hold within the Melior Republic is basically in shambles. We've dismantled the Pit, taking it all apart. The process also allowed us to crack down on all the criminals that ran around the city freely before. Heartillia is safer than it has ever been,” Nae said.

“And what’s the bad news?” Noah asked.

“We have found out that all three of the cults are working together. An unprecedented event. Like the churches from the Pantheon, the cults have had relatively friendly ties with each other, but never have they come together like this before. If they really are joining forces, their combined threat presents some greater problems. Especially if we take into consideration that the primordial gods may also be working together. But even so, it still begs the question of who was leading them.”

“Actually, what has Lord Krios been doing during all this? Because, from what we found out, he was the most likely one to have been helping the cultists,” Noah said.

The atmosphere within the room changed, expressions shifting; Noah could not tell why.

“Ah… you don’t know, do you?” Nae said.

“Don’t know what?” Noah asked.

“Lord Krios is dead. He was assassinated.”

Noah stared in disbelief. “When? How?”

“One day before you returned. We still haven’t found who did it. It was in his own manor. One of the servants found his body,” Nae said. “His wife, Ayra, has taken the position of acting Lord and governor of the city, we did a check on her background as well but found everything clean. So if Lord Krios was involved, his wife wasn’t aware of it,” Nae said, before sighing. “But given his position and circumstances, we are still investigating his ties to the cult. It’s all a mess. A giant heaping mess.”

“Someone silenced him then? And you have no idea who?”

“No. It wasn’t the binding spell like the cultists at least. Lots of the Lords and governors want to hold a funeral, and hunt down those responsible. Having the guild ask that we investigate him for charges of crime now… is difficult. Krios was well-liked by his peers,” Nae said.

“The perfect way to get rid of evidence. Feels like it should be proof enough,” Noah said.

“I wish it was that easy. You have no idea how frustrating managing all of this has been for me,” Nae replied.

“We are looking into it," Ekira said. “But even if we find Lord Krios guilty, what then? You intend to punish a dead man? Our goals are to focus on finding the people within our ranks who may have led to this breach. Tightening up regulations. And making sure this cannot repeat.”

“Anyway, that is for us to discuss. We appreciate everything you have done so far, but this is our job now,” Nae said.

“Indeed. And we intend to make sure you get compensated. Your friend Zax has already made his request, and the guild will be looking into finding ways to free him of his shackles. I remember you had brought up the topic of the slave girl. Zax's stories about her helped. And we are already working on making sure she will be safe,” Nae said.

“There is the matter of this shard of the dead god. The church wants to claim it,” Ekira said, turning towards Noah. “To claim you.”

“In three days, a committee of higher-ranking guild members, governors, and church officials will be there to give an honorable reward to your party for your help in saving the city. At that time, this will also be discussed in my presence. You will be asked some questions; make sure you don’t lie, Noah. You are in good consideration right now, so there’s very little chance that the church will get a hold claim over you. Just make sure you are on your best behavior,” Nae said.

“Right,” Noah replied. "I’ll make sure.”

“Alright, well, you can go and rest now,” Nae said.

As Noah stood up, Raesar looked towards him. “We should spar sometime.”

Noah grinned back at the guild master. “We should.”

“We will head out with Noah as well,” Zax said, standing up. Together, the two of them stepped out, making their way through the guild.

"Do you intend to keep your identity a secret?" Noah asked.

“For now, at least. Until we have gained a better perspective of how society has changed. It has been a few centuries since we were around. And humans change so quickly,” Zax replied.

“From your perspective we surely must,” Noah sent back.

“Not just ours, Noah. Yours too. At this rate, you will be an A-ranker before the end of this decade, possibly faster. And if so, you too will be immortal,” Zax replied.

Noah’s smile slipped. “I guess I will be. I haven’t really thought about it much.”

“It is perhaps a difficult thing to come to terms with as a human. We dragons are born in solitude. We have no mother or father to raise us. We fight for our own survival since birth. Very few among my kind take to forming relationships, most prefer their own company. But for your kind, it is different. Very few will ever make it as far as you. You should be able to feel it by now. Your companions, even now, will struggle to keep up with you.”

Noah frowned. “Yeah, I could feel it. I was just trying not to think about it.”

Zax put an arm on Noah’s shoulder. “We will be around for a while yet. So you don’t have to worry about it.”

Noah looked at the dragon, giving him a smile.

“Now, if you are free, why don’t we travel around the city? It has been some time since we have seen human cities, and this one is particularly peculiar,” Zax said.

“Oh boy, do I have some fun stuff to show you,” Noah smiled, as the two teleported out with a flash of magic.