Level 1 Fallen

Chapter 172: What Comes Next?

Honestly, I expected that the war would have been declared over as soon as Erebus had killed the enemy king. However, there was no such announcement, even after he slew all three grandmasters. Instead, it seemed as if the war would only end when one side conceded defeat.

Thinking of this, I looked back at Diane, uncertain about something. “If Ella wins this war, now that it is a war of extermination, will she..?”

However, Diane immediately shook her head. “No, the defender doesn’t get the attacker’s trait if they win. They’d have to launch their own war of extermination on the attacker’s homeland for that. And, given what we’re seeing with Erebus… I doubt he’d be open to the idea of joining her for an attack on the dragon capital.”

“Quite right,” Wisteria agreed with an amused smile. “Anyways, we’ll get going once the dragon decides to grow a few brain cells.”

It felt… unsatisfying to watch Erebus decimate the entire dragon army like this. Everyone in the city, myself included, had prepared ourselves for some epic war, one where we were pushed back but managed to hold out against all odds until the final moment. I imagined my barrier riddled with holes, forcing me to pull out all the stops in order to barely squeeze out a victory.

Instead, the master of the League of Assassins had been waiting from the start, ready to step in as soon as things started to look grim. Admittedly, I could see why he didn’t want to allow any damage to happen to the city, since the whole point of his actions was to prevent extra damage to the NPCs. It just felt anticlimactic to have him fight them all off on their own.

Is that how people look at me when I fight? I thought to myself, before shaking my head. The surviving dragons fled back to the nearby mountains, where the king was already fuming. Drake stared at the city with hatred in his reptilian eyes. However, Erebus calmly stood before the city in his colossal form, arms behind his back in an open invitation to continue the fight.

“Who is that!?” Ella asked, running down the path along the wall. Her eyes were wide in horror as she looked at the shadowy figure standing outside the crystal barrier.

“That’s my master,” Wisteria answered in a calm tone. “He’ll be wanting to meet with you after all of this is over, so try not to log out for a little longer.”

Ella hesitated, before nodding her head dumbly, trying to process what she was seeing. Clearly, this was the first time that she had witnessed a battle of this scale. Though, the same could be said for me, too.

He has to have the shadow equivalent of Ella’s trait. Diane messaged me secretly, glancing in my direction. That’s the only reason why he’d be thanking me for showing the dragon form. Combining the dragon form that negates mana burden and a trait that lets you copy skills of the matching element…

After sending that message, her eyes lit up, glancing at Ella. Do you think we should get her the fire dragon version?

I hesitated for a moment, imagining how much stronger Ella would get if she was able to completely ignore the cost of her skills. However, at the same time, she said that she worked at a fashion company. Perhaps a dragonoid would not be the best choice to display fashion for human women? You can tell her the method to get the skill, and then let her make the decision for herself.

Diane smiled slightly beneath her mask, lightly nudging Ella and pulling her aside. Meanwhile, I watched as the dragons continued to gather, with Drake roaring uselessly towards the shadowy figure. I don’t know about the others, but Motan clearly knew who Erebus was, so I didn’t imagine them wanting to prolong this fight any longer.

Seeing that they were not immediately surrendering, Erebus held a hand out to his side. A black vortex trembled beneath his hand, from which a sleek rapier began to emerge. Its blade was long and thin, with a triangular tip, and a swept hilt covering his hand. However, given his size, this rapier was taller than most buildings.

“If you want to fight, let us fight,” he said calmly, beginning to walk towards the mountain where the dragons were gathering. I could see many of them back away at his approach, including Drake. With an indignant roar, he turned and flew away, clearly unwilling to prolong the battle with Erebus any longer than he had to.

Satisfied, Erebus lifted the sword into the air, focusing. “For the next sixty days, all dragons who come within twenty kilometers of this city shall be slaughtered without mercy.” His voice echoed out, ensuring that the fleeing dragons could hear him. After this, he flipped the rapier into a reverse grip and plunged it into the ground, splitting the earth beneath its blade.

Following this, he stood, leaving the blade behind as he walked back towards the city. He did not even wait for me to remove the barrier, simply teleporting inside with the same ease that he left. “That should keep them away,” he said after returning to his human form.

Diane hesitated, looking at the towering sword stuck in the ground. “Will that not continue to burn your mana now that you’ve gone back to normal?”

Erebus blinked, before letting out a light laugh. “Oh, that? No, don’t worry. If I didn’t attach a turret enchantment to it just now, the sword would be permanent. It is a creation of my Shadow Forge skill.”

Just how many grandmaster skills does this man have?! I thought to myself, my eyes widening. Part of me was curious to know who would win in a fight between Erebus and Kelly. In my minds, both of them had strength beyond comprehension, so it was hard to tell without knowing their exact levels.

“Sir, if I may?” I stepped forward, looking at Erebus. “Why did you pretend to be Jafar when you approached me?”

Erebus simply smiled, as if expecting the question. “I knew of the enmity between you two, and wanted to see your thoughts on this battle. Nothing more, and nothing less.”

His answer left me with more questions than before I asked, but he didn’t seem interested in elaborating. “For now, you should go. Black Scale won’t be able to declare another war for at least a month. However, once that time is up, I imagine they will begin plotting against you. Especially now that you have interfered in their war here.”

“Wouldn’t they be afraid that you’d just show up again to beat them off?” Bella asked hesitantly, but Erebus shook his head.

“There are certain rules that I have to abide by. If there is no threat to the NPCs, such as a war of extermination, I will not interfere. Otherwise, the truly powerful forces of the dragons would get involved themselves. We hold each other back by staying within the roles that we placed upon ourselves. If anyone tries to go against these roles to exert control over the world, the others will all turn against them to keep the balance.”

Hearing this only surprised me further. This meant that his status should have been higher than Kelly’s, who was free to go to the front lines of the battle against demons whenever she wanted. Still, I nodded my head at his advice, turning to face Bella and Diane, the latter of which had just come back from her talk with Ella. “Let’s go. We still have our own matters to take care of.”

I was just about to summon the car from my inventory when Wisteria held out her hand to stop me. “Use the League’s gate. We’ll issue you a temporary pass to go back that way.”

Seeing my curious gaze, she explained calmly. “The elves did send a grandmaster, and she’s almost here. I’m sure you don’t want to meet her away from prying eyes.”

My eyes widened, and I quickly agreed. Without hesitation, I dissolved the barrier around the city, and then led Diane and Bella back towards the gate. Judging by Wisteria’s words, the elf coming should have been Jana. She would certainly recognize the three of us, and wouldn’t let us go if she spotted us. Not after we escaped her pursuit once before.

By the time we arrived at the gate to the League of Assassins, I noticed a small prompt in the corner of my vision, informing me that I had been granted temporary travel rights through the League’s base. Without this, anyone who exited the base would simply emerge from the same gate that they took when they entered.

The three of us passed through the gate, then turned around to head back, at which point we were prompted with a list of destinations. Most of these places were areas that I had never heard of, though there were a few that stuck out to me. Naturally, there was Burning Sun, Ella’s land. There was also Slitherhold, the city where Diane and I first joined the League.

Then, my eyes settled on Fallcry, selecting it without hesitation. When we emerged from the portal, the sky was pitch black, a stark contrast from the burning clouds that covered Pyrrhos. Dim streetlamps lit the roads of Fallcry, and I could see a few knights patrolling. However, the vast majority of the population had long since turned in for the night.

Diane’s shoulders slumped, seeming somewhat dispirited after the war. “That did not go as I expected,” she muttered to herself in disappointment. “A little more direct action in our plot would have been nice. Give us more of a chance to show off our growth and appeal to the audience. That would get you more sponsorship points too, right?” she asked, looking over at me.

I naturally nodded my head. If we did something that impressive, it would definitely give me more points than a mundane lifestyle. “We can’t just conjure up drama, though.”

“Can’t we?” Diane asked, her eyes glinting with what seemed to be mischief. “I can make a few calls later. I still have some old contacts that I can get in touch with.”

My brow twitched at that. “Diane, please don’t intentionally stir up drama just to make life a little more exciting. Especially not if it could lead to actual damages that we might not be able to recover from.”

Diane hesitated briefly, before her shoulders slumped again. “Alright, fine. But I’m still going to make some calls, see if anyone has anything interesting going on that we can join in on for high-level content. I’m sure they’d be happy to appear in your sponsored content if they do.”

I let out a small sigh, agreeing reluctantly to the idea. “As long as you aren’t going to do anything like set up some arbitrary betrayal plotline so you can roleplay a revenge arc.”

The little halfling flinched, making me think that I might have been a bit closer to her original goal than I would like to be. “Really, Diane. If you want exciting game time, there are better ways to go about it, and more natural ways. Let’s head to Oblivara tomorrow, and see what we can get up to.”

Diane perked up at that, nodding eagerly. “Sure. I’ll look up what kingdoms have been established there. I’m sure that we can find one where we can go to level up.”