“You too?” Clive asked wearily, still draped over Onslow’s neck. He watched the light shine out of Jason.
“I’m not sure it actually helps, right now,” Jason said.
Clive’s spell claiming the monster’s second head had marked the turning of the tide. Necrosis was turning the hydra’s flesh to rot as its blood, black with venom, spilled into the water. Humphrey’s sword claimed a third head and the hydra moved to flee, heading for the submerged tunnel.
As the monster was about to plunge into the water, a huge shab rose up from the depths, gaping shark mouth biting savagely into the hydra’s flesh. The shab then turned into a colourful parrot, flying over to land on Onslow.
“Nasty, nasty,” it said, spitting out black fluid.
The injured hydra was confused long enough for Humphrey to come up behind it and bury his sword in a rear leg. Jason followed, digging into the other rear leg with his dagger. The wound wasn’t deep compared to the size of the creature, and his special attack, punish, only dealt a small amount of necrotic damage. However, every instance of the sin curse amplified that damage and the hydra had been accumulating them for a while. The flesh blackened and withered, shrinking away from Jason’s slicing blade. Side-by-side, Jason and Humphrey laid into the crippled monster until it fell still.
Quest: [Contract: Fallen Comrade]
Objective complete: Eliminate the monster that killed your fellow adventurer 1/1.
Reward: [Awakening Stone of Absolution] (Jason Asano).
Reward: [Awakening Stone of the Champion] (Humphrey Geller).
Reward: [Ring of the Hydra] (Clive Standish).
Quest complete. All party members receive:
100 [Bronze Spirit Coins]
1000 [Iron Spirit Coins]
Humphrey went over to Stash the parrot, who was hopping up and down excitedly on Onslow’s shell.
“Stash chase worm! Stash chase worm!”
The parrot flew towards Humphrey, transforming into a puppy mid-air and landing in Humphrey’s arms. Humphrey was covered in hydra blood, but Stash didn’t seem to mind the mess as much as Humphrey’s armour. Humphrey dismissed the hard scale armour and Stash snuggled into his chest as Humphrey scratched him behind the ears.
The three adventurers stood exhausted, looking at each other and the dead hydra.
“Clear eyes, full hearts,” Jason said.
“What?” Clive asked.
Jason waved a dismissive hand.
“Ah, we’ll deal with that later,” Jason said.
88
The Nature of Absolution
Rufus was at the Geller Estate, discussing property development for the Geller family/Remore Academy joint training facility. In a conference room, he sat alone across a table from three members of the Geller family.
“There is plenty of unclaimed, undeveloped territory adjacent to the Geller Estate,” Rufus said. “Just give us a location that works best for the changes you want to incorporate, and we can go from there.”
“I know you have a good relationship with Danielle,” the man across the table said. “That doesn’t mean we’ll just acquiesce to your every need.”
Rufus ran a hand over his face.
“What exactly is it you think I want you to acquiesce to?” Rufus asked. “This joint venture has already been agreed to, and as for the details, I literally just said that we will adapt to your needs.”
Rufus got to his feet, placed both hands on the table and leaned towards the man on the opposite side.
“Clearly you are part of whatever internal faction within the Geller family was against this agreement from the outset, and you ended up negotiating the details as part of accepting the proposal at all. I don’t care about that; I have no interest in playing these games and I’m not going to be a pawn in your family’s internal politics.”
Rufus stood up straight and adjusted his light jacket.
“I know you want to drag this on as long as possible, so let me be explicit. When I come here tomorrow, I want to talk to someone who will actually work on this project instead of stalling it out. If that doesn't happen, then the Remore Academy will undertake the venture without Geller family involvement.”
The man in the middle of the Geller family representatives gave Rufus a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
“Are you sure you have the authority to make that decision, Young Master Remore?”
“I’m not an aristocrat,” Rufus said, “so that’s Mr Remore to you. If you think I have anything less than full authority over this undertaking, then keep pushing and see what happens.”
Rufus took his unopened document satchel from the table and headed for the door.
“Mr Remore…”
“I’ll listen to what you have to say when you have something worth listening to,” Rufus said without turning around and walked out the door.
Rufus was unhappy as he left the building but calmed down walking through the Geller Estate. The fresh air and smell of verdant plant life improved his mood with every breath. He stopped short as something strange appeared in the air in front of him.
You have received a voice chat request from [Jason Asano]
Accept Y/N?
“What?”
The whole way back through the delta, Clive had been pulling items from his inventory to look at them through Jason’s interface ability. After he almost crashed the airboat into the side of an embankment road, Jason kicked him from the party so he would concentrate on driving.
“Can I see that new ability of yours?” Jason asked Humphrey. They had learned that they could give party members permission to see each other’s abilities, which had Clive setting up plans to use Jason as a cataloguing tool.
“Sure,” Humphrey said.
Ability: [Hero’s Drive]
Transfigured from [Human] ability [Human Ambition].
Essence abilities advance at an accelerated rate.
Enemies do not gain additional resistance and damage reduction against your abilities for being higher rank.
When fighting higher-ranked enemies or when significantly outnumbered by enemies of the same rank or higher, time before abilities can be used again is reduced.
Gain [Mana] and [Stamina] over time while this ability is active.
When this ability is triggered, gain an immediate burst of stamina and mana. This can exceed normal mana and stamina limits so long as the ability remains active.
“That’s not bad,” Jason said. “I wouldn’t start running around looking for bronze-rank monsters to fight, though.”
“No fear on that front,” Humphrey said.
“You say that,” Jason said, “but I can’t help but think you’ll go diving in every time someone needs help.”
“That does seem like exactly what you’d do,” Clive agreed.
“There is one more thing I'd like to try out,” Jason said. He opened up his new contacts list. Most of the names were listed as out of area, his eyes lingering on the names of his family.
“Very out of area,” he muttered to himself.
Moving through the delta on an airboat, they weren't too far from the Geller family estate. That placed several names on the list within range, including Rick, Phoebe and Danielle Geller. Rufus was also in range, which meant he was probably at the Geller Estate himself. Jason tapped on his name.
You have sent a voice chat request to [Rufus Remore].
Voice chat with [Rufus Remore] has been initiated.
Party member [Humphrey Geller] has joined voice chat.
“Jason?”
Rufus’s voice had a slight distortion, like he was using a low-quality microphone.