Spiteful Healer

Chapter 198: Careful Consideration

“So, how much do you wanna bet?” Hae-won asked Shinji as the two sat in the cafeteria room of the Fanta-see network building. An intern was scurrying about using the machines on the counters to make them coffee and lunch.

“Bet on what?” Shinji asked with a lack of interest as he looked down at his bowl of ramen, slurping some up noodles with his chopsticks carefully so as to not splash the soup onto his dress shirt.

“Bet that Aegis turns his stream back on, and he’s found Mithral?”

“I’m not betting on that.” Shinji grumbled back.

“Why not? Too scared?” Hae-win grinned mischeviously as an intern placed a coffee down in front of her.

“Here you are, Hae-won.”

“Thank you.” She smiled while Shinji eyed the intern, who remained standing beside their table a few moments, staring at Hae-won expectantly. “That’ll be all for now.” She waved him away and he bowed before quickly scurrying off.

“Stop abusing the interns. You can get a coffee yourself.”

“I’m not abusing them, he wants to help me.” Hae-won shrugged as she sipped her coffee.

“Didn’t you promise him you’d be able to introduce him to Aegis? Aegis is never going to go along with that.”

“Yeah, but, y’know. He doesn’t know that.” Hae-won smirked. “So, c’mon, take the bet! I’m betting he’ll find it. What do you thi-” Hae-won was interrupted.

“What the hell are you two doing? He’s live again!” Tommy suddenly poked his head in through the doorway of the cafeteria.

“Seriously, already?” Hae-won shouted as she shot up out of the chair, nearly spilling her coffee. “No way he found it that fast.”

“You’re already backpedaling?” Shinji sighed at her.

“Get your asses in gear, there’s something serious going down. He’s being attacked by Emerill and Cheryl!” Tommy shouted, and hearing this, the two abandoned their meals and began sprinting across the studio towards their private offices just off of the main room.

Passing by the main studio room, they saw several screens displaying Aegis’ stream, with the guards lined up, Anazia, Snowflake, and Lina standing up against Cheryl, her wolves, and Emerill.

“The fuck did I miss?” Hae-won blurted out as she saw it in passing.

Aegis threw a party invite to Lina, who accepted immediately and got a bless buff from him. She didn’t ask any questions, she immediately shot smokebombs at Cheryl, then teleported behind her and struck at her from behind.

“She’s using an illusion to hide her real body, but its hiding within the illusion.” Aegis announced.

“Kay.” Lina replied. “Shadow dance.” She began warping around Cheryl rapidly, slashing out at her from all sides. Cheryl desperately swung her shield around and activated guard to try and cut off Lina, but she was too fast, forcing Cheryl to attempt to just plainly heal through the damage.

This kept her pre-occupied to the point that she was unable to heal her wolves or Emerill, and the guards and Snowflake went heavily into them, dealing massive damage.

“Get this psycho off of me!” Cheryl shouted out at Emerill, who moved to cut off Lina and finally stopped her assault on Cheryl by predicting one of her jumps and tackling her to the ground. Once tackled, he grabbed her wrist to prevent Lina from teleporting away, but Lina glared up at him as if she had no intention to do so and immediately began striking at him with the dagger in her free hand.

“If you keep holding back, we’re dead. We gotta escape.” Emerill shouted as he worked to parry Lina’s strikes and get his own hits in, but she was dodging them despite being grappled by him.

“Same goes for you.” Cheryl roared at him as she quickly turned to start healing her wolves, but before she could, she watched as Aegis dashed forward to stand between her wolves and her.

“Back up.” Aegis ordered Anazia and Snowflake, who complied along with the guards. “Varibhadra.” Aegis spoke coldly. Cheryl reacted quickly enough to jump backwards and avoid the expanding white dome of holy energy, watching as Aegis’ red arms grew out from his body momentarily. The ferrawolves were not so fortunate, and all three were destroyed by the holy damage.

Once the dome light faded, both Cheryl and Emerill glanced between one another, and the disintegrating bodies of the three wolves.

“My babies…” Cheryl looked wide eyed in horror at them.

“Tch. She’s gonna lose it.” Emerill groaned, releasing Lina’s wrist after parrying a strike from her, then kicking her back in the stomach with one foot while using the other to leap up into the air.

“DANCE OF DAGGERS!” Emerill shouted, waving his hands out in the direction of the door where Aegis was standing. 10 daggers shot out from each of his fingers with wires attached to to them at Aegis, but they were all blocked by a single transparent shell that formed in front of him, compliments of Yorgi. The shell shattered immediately from the damage, but it stopped the momentum of the daggers, and as they fell to the ground Anazia and Snowflake dashed beyond Aegis.

“Ragnarok!” Cheryl screeched in a rage, suddenly causing her real body to become visible while her illusionary form disappeared. Simultaneously, her diamond shaped mithral shield began glowing red, and a second later a blast of red magic shot out of it towards Aegis.

Aegis began lifting his shield to brace it, but seeing this, both Anazia and Lina shouted at him.

“Don’t try to block that!” Lina warned him.

“That’s gonna one shot you, idiot!” Anazia shouted. Hearing this, Snowflake immediately rerouted his forward charge to jump in front of the blast, but Anazia instead body checked Snowflake out of the way to take the hit instead. A red damage number of 99,999 appeared above Anazia as her body disintegrated, killed and forced to log out.

“Assassin's Playground!” Emerill shouted, utilizing the few moments the others were distracted by Cheryl. He once again fanned his arms out and shot daggers from his fingertips, but this time they were not aimed at anyone in particular, but instead penetrated random points in the walls, floor, and roof all around the main foyer of the Night Hunter’s guild hall.

“Aegis, another big cooldown. Dodge their cooldowns!” Lina warned him, and Aegis nodded as he jumped back out of the room.

“Snowflake!” Aegis called out to the gryphon, prompting him to dash outside while Lina shadowstepped. Simultaneously, Emerill began spinning his arms, and rather than the daggers being pulled out of the walls, random sections of the walls, floor, and roof began to crack apart and were pulled along with the daggers, creating holes in the walls and roof as Emerill continued spinning his body and pulling them along in a tornado like motion.

Shortly after, Cheryl took advantage of a hole in the roof to jump up through it, landing on the roof of the Night Hunter’s guildhall’s main foyer. Once she had, Emerill jumped up through as well, bringing the 10 daggers with stone junks on them along with him, to Aegis’ surprise.

“Assassins are really deadly with that skill active, stay back. Lina warned Aegis cautiously as they watched Cheryl and Emerill standing on the roof, staring down at them from above as Aegis, Lina, Snowflake, Yorgi and the guards backed up to get a better view.

Cheryl glared down at Aegis, looking as if she was preparing to continue her assault, while Emerill had his eyes looking down the streets of Kordas in the distance.

“We’re dead if we don’t run now.” Emerill said as he spotted Darkshot, Pyri and Rakkan running towards them.

“He’s got mithral.” Cheryl growled back.

“It won’t matter. It’s too late for them to stop us. Come on.” Emerill replied, causing Cheryl to suck her teeth. From there, Emeril began jumping away across the rooftops of the city, heading towards the nearest city walls. The 10 daggers with chunks of stone stuck onto their ends continued to float and rotate around him and Cheryl as she followed him closely.

“Why is Cheryl with Emerill?” Yorgi asked with a confused look of horror, glancing between the fleeing pair, the destruction around the guild hall, and Aegis.

“We shouldn’t let them escape.” Aegis replied, directing his words to Lina.

“Even I can’t avoid taking multiple hits when that skill is active, and he’s got mithral. We’ll only die.” Lina explained, causing Aegis to clench his fists while watching them disappear from his sight.

“Can someone answer me?” Yorgi yelled out in frustration as Rakkan, Pyri and Darkshot all arrived.

“Yo, you alright?” Darkshot asked first.

“Yeah. Cheryl was one of them, working from inside this entire time. She killed Tullan and everyone else inside the guild hall, including the NPCs. I noticed it too late.” Aegis explained, much to the relief of Hae-won and Aegis’ audience of now 750,00 viewers.

“What do we do, then? What’s our move?” Rakkan asked, causing Aegis to go into his interface and check his friends list. To his disappointment, Artaphernes was now listed as dead and forced to log out for 24 hours. In addition to this, he had a message from Leonard waiting for him.

“Hey there darling, Tullan asked me to check out the mist on the edge of the island, but he’s been slain. I figured you might want to know - it’s just like it was in Arallia when we arrived there. Should I be worried?” Leonard’s message said.

“Damn.” Aegis closed it out without replying, staring blankly at the faces of Yorgi, Lina, Pyri, Rakkan and Darkshot as they all looked at him worriedly. Meanwhile, the guards began dispersing and Snowflake remained alert, glancing around at every sound and movement nearby.

“It’s happening right now. Kalmoore is being invaded.” Aegis explained to the others, and their were a multitude of reactions from the group. “They took out Artaphernes’ guild, using the same method they did to take out Christoph at the portal altar. Silence. Probably Simon and Joltblade… You gotta pull back Quinn and Chirstoph.” Aegis turned to Yorgi.

“I can’t. They’re still stuck fighting the boss. It won’t let them open portals and it won’t die. They think the boss is somehow bugged, or something.” Yorgi explained frantically as he began fidgeting with his interface.

“No, it’s not bugged…” Aegis began scratching his chin. “It’s not a coincidence, this timing. They were lured there to fight that boss on purpose.” Aegis thought out loud. “These guys have been listening to our every move, one step ahead of us the entire time. Quinn wasn’t joking, they’re just messing with us.”

“So?” Pyri crossed her arms. “It’s still just an exam. You’ve got the variables. Can you solve it?” She asked, causing Aegis to stare back at her blankly for a moment. Looking at the others, Pyri was the only one of the group that was still completely calm under the circumstances.

“Even if I could, it doesn’t matter. They can freely scry on me. There’s nothing I can do that they won’t see coming.” Aegis replied.

“Don’t tell me you’re giving up?” Yorgi asked in disbelief. “You guys are the only high level players still free to do something! Come on! You gotta do something! You’re Aegis, the shattered healer!” Yorgi shouted hysterically.

“Hey, buddy, relax.” Darkshot held his hand up towards Yorgi, trying to calm him down while Darkwing cooed along with him.

“I need time to think. There’s too many things I’ve missed. Knowing they have players in your guilds pulling strings, it changes the dynamic…” Aegis mumbled to himself as he headed back into the building. “Stand guard, I think good while working. Protect me while I forge our mithral weapons.” Aegis said to his party, who excitedly followed after him.

“You got mithral?” Darkshot giggled.

“Hell yeah.” Rakkan grinned.

“Yeah, and this, here.” Aegis nonchalantly pulled out their new armor sets, made by himself, Tullan, and Yuki.

“There’s no way you made this yourself, it’s way too stylish.” Pyri commented as she received her new red and white robes and began checking them out before equipping it.

“Dang, these are strong.” Darkshot said as well, the group walking and talking through the halls with Yorgi behind them.

“What about me? What should I do? Should I stay with you?” Yorgi asked flustered.

“For now, yeah.” Aegis replied as he walked more quickly towards the crafting hall. Within a few moments, they were in the chamber, and Aegis approached the forge with the refined mithral in his hands, retrieved from his inventory.

Without realizing it, his viewership shot up to 1 million as he started forging the weapons using the molds and bases that Tullan had prepared. Any attempt Yorgi made at talking, the others silenced him in order to allow Aegis to work in peace. The only sound in the chamber became that of Aegis hammering away at the crafts, trying to raise their quality as high as possible as he utilized the methods learned from Kur’aktos’ journal.

The first weapon’s he’d completed were Lina’s. A pair of mithral daggers that he enchanted using the greater enchanted orbs Tullan had given him, so that they granted bonus holy damage.

Following that, he worked on forging Rakkan’s weapon set, crafting all but his spear. He then went on to create a set of 20 mithral headed arrows for Darkshot, before finally focusing his efforts on his shield.

“We need to somehow save the Night Hunters and the Blades of Kalmoore, while securing the island stones and the major settlements. In addition, they’ll likely go after the King of Kordas somehow, to get the location of the final island stone. Quinn’s foresight is the only advantage we still have - they shouldn’t know where the 5th stone is. But that won’t last for long, they have no qualms about marching into a capital city and causing chaos, and it’ll be even easier once the invasion goes into full swing and all the guards are pre-occupied fending off abysslings.” Aegis spoke out loud, to no one in particular as the others listened.

He got lost in thought trying to consider all possible variables, and the intention behind all of the actions that Joltblade, Emerill and Cheryl had taken thus far. He was so focused on it, that before he knew it, he’d finished crafting his shield, including engraving it with artistry with the star of Eirene on the front.

It was made with a rounded front in the shape of a kite shield, but evenly extended at the bottom so that it came to a more rounded point. In addition, it had a pointed curve at the top of the shield, giving it a pentagonal shape. Without missing a beat, he continued on to fuse a greater enchanting orb into the shield as a finishing touch, before equipping it and strapping it to his left arm to inspect it.

Name: Royal Mithral Shield of the Voidreaver

Slot: Off-hand

Type: Shield

Armor: 7319

Quality:48%

Durability: 1200/1200

Requirements: Level 110, 90+ Strength

Option 1: Increases Favor with Eirene while equipped by 250

Option 2: Increases Casting speed by 2.5% [Source: Voidsilk]

Option 3: Increases Damage and Healing from Spells by 153 [Source: Mosmir Voidreaver Pincer]

Enchant: Restores 843 health every 3 seconds.

Description: A shield made of Mithral, Ironwood, Voidsilk, Royal Mosmir Pincers, and Mosmir Voidreaver Pincers. Detailed with the star of Eirene. Crafted by Aegis.

It took Aegis an hour of working, and in that time Yorgi continued to pace anxiously around the room, repeatedly checking his guild interface to confirm that the others were still stuck fighting the boss of the high level dungeon. His viewership had grown to a staggering 1.2 million viewers, putting him in the top 15 streamers list.

“I guess it’s too much to hope for a Mithral staff?” Pyri smirked.

“The metal is lightweight, but, no, I’ve only got a bit of mithral left over. I can craft maybe one more utility item to help us out, but…”

“Still not sure how to handle this?” Darkshot asked, and Aegis nodded back.

“If I had more time to plan… but, every second counts right now.” Aegis sighed.

“It’s okay, just tell us what to do, and we’ll handle it. With these weapons, we can kick their asses.” Lina gave Aegis a thumbs up and a big smile, encouraging him while Rakkan began playfully spinning his new mithral longsword around in his hand.

“Okay. I’ve got one plan. But, it’s pretty far-fetched.” Aegins swallowed his saliva anxiously.

“What is it?” Yorgi asked with hopeful eyes as they all stared at him expectantly, including Snowflake.

“Yorgi, open a portal to Rene. It’s closest to the high level dungeon that they’re stuck in, to my understanding. We’ll group up there, then head out to save them.” Aegis explained.

“Okay, good. Good. I like that plan. Once we save Quinn, everything will be under control.” Yorgi nodded.

“Sherry is in Rene, right?” Aegis asked, to which both Yorgi and Darkshot nodded. “Kay, good.”

“Why’re you asking about Sherry?” Darkshot asked him curiously.

“Not important.” Aegis quickly waved it off. “Just, go through the portal. I’ll meet you there.” Aegis motioned them towards the portal once Yorgi had it opened, the blue doorway leading to Rene’s portal altar glowing brightly in the center of the crafting chamber.

“You’re not coming with us?” Lina asked him worriedly.

“I’ll come in a bit. Just, trust me.” Aegis nodded to her.

“Don’t worry. Aegis is gettin’ serious. We’ll be fine.” Darkshot nudged Lina through the portal.

“Don’t forget to have fun.” Pyri winked playfully at him as she went through as well, followed by Rakkan and Yorgi.

“You too, lil buddy. I’ll be there in a sec.” Aegis instructed Snowflake who looked to have no intentions on passing through the portal. He let out an annoyed squawk before going through.

“Close it.” Aegis called through, and Yorgi did as instructed, leaving Aegis alone in the crafting hall. He took a deep breath, then went into his interface and logged out of the simulation.

From there, Eli got up out of his Simbox and began pacing around his living room while fidgeting with his wrist implant, opening up his call menu to find his recent calls list. Once he’d located Shinji on the list, he hit the call button.

“Eli? What’s up? You logged out?” Shinji asked him curiously as he worked frantically to edit the footage of the stream.

“Yeah. Can you connect me to Hae-won?” Eli asked Shinji.

“Uh, yep. Sure. One sec…” Shinji paused his editing to press a few buttons on a floating transparent keyboard within his office simulation, adding Hae-won to the call.

“Yo, what is it Shinji?” Hae-won asked him curiously.

“It’s Eli, he wants to talk to you.”

“Hey, Hae-won,-”

“Eli! Why’d you shut off the stream to call me?! Do you realize how close we were to breaking top 10? You know you can just press the interview button on your interface and we can talk live, right?” Hae-won began scolding him.

“I can’t, they’re ahead of our every move. Either watching the stream, or scrying, they’re watching. This is the only way to talk without them listening.” Eli quickly replied. “You are still logged out in Rene, right? From when we did the interview?”

“Yeaaaaah, why?” Hae-won asked curiously.

“I need you to do me a favor…” Eli asked.

“Hooo really, now?” She replied with a mischievous tone. “You know, Eli, I’m a broadcaster, I’m not supposed to interfere with the gameplay. It’s bad journalism.” Hae-won added.

“Yeah, but, you’re also a player, right? Besides, it’d be pretty bad for viewership if the island goes down, wouldn’t it?” Eli asked.

“Nah, I think that’d make for good content. The people love you, they’ll still watch. Especially now that you’ve found mithral.” Hae-won replied playfully. Aegis recognized her tone of voice though, as it was not unlike how she behaved when she wanted into Yumily’s concert.

“What’ve I gotta do to get you to do this favor?” Eli spoke reluctantly.

“Yumily. I want to meet her. In person.” Hae-won replied, and as she did, Eli overheard Shinji let out a huff of air as he continued to listen in on their conversation.

“What? How? I don’t even know her, what makes you think I can arrange something like that?”

“You can’t, but you’re good pals with Yuki, and she can.”

“How am I gonna convince Yuki to set something like that up?” Eli groaned.

“Don’t care how you do it. That’s the deal. I do you this favor, you set up the meeting.” Hae-won replied defiantly. Eli pondered it for a moment, but his situation didn’t leave him with very many options.

“Fine, I’ll do what I can once all of this is over.” Eli replied.

“YES!” Hae-won squealed with joy before recollecting herself. “Okay, Eli, what do you need me to do?”

“It’s really simple. I need you to log into the gameworld and give specific instructions to my party and the council members of Rene. You have to make sure no one is able to hear it but the people you are giving instructions to, okay?” Eli replied.

“Got it, real secretive, so no one knows what we’re planning. I’m with you so far…”

“Good. As for the instructions you need to relay, you might need to write some of this down…” Eli said, before taking a deep breath and beginning his explanation.