Chapter 15 - The Second Rescue Operation Gets out of Hand

I was awoken 5 hours later by a sharp pain on both my shoulders. When I looked to see who the culprit was I saw two cats sinking their teeth into my skin.

Yu - Ouch!! If you girls were hungry I had extra food, you don't have to eat me!!

Both of them let go of me and tried to play it off as nothing happened but Shirone's stomach made an appearance which was pretty funny. Giving out a tired sigh I pulled out some bread, some eggs, and bacon as well as a pan.

Reheating the fire that died out not long ago I started making some more food but I happened to notice something that caught my attention.

*Ding* [Congradulation Host has completed the hidden quest [Prince Charming]]

[Prince Charming -

You have discovered two helpless cat girls who are in desperate need of a hero.

Task 1: Save Kuroka and Shirone(Koneko) from falling into despair

Rewards:

1) skill - Grand Lotus Protection

2) skill - Inscription]

While I was happy I got a quest completion I couldn't stop an imaginary tick mark from appearing on my head. First of all I ain't no prince charming, second I never once planned to be a hero, and third, they were never going to enter despair. Maybe they'd get depressed but not despair it doesn't say that in the book... (it think).

[Grand Lotus Protection] (Active) Lvl:1 [Max Lvl: 10]

[Inscription] (Active) Lvl:1 [Max Lvl: 10]

Active effect - With the use of mana the user can inscribe defense based spells or skills into equipment (Derived from blacksmithing)

Honestly, these skills were amazing, after 10 long years I finally have a pure defense skill, and the second skill lets me mimic the effect onto another piece of equipment.

Quickly giving Kuroka and Shirone their food I searched through my inventory for some equipment to inscribe Grand Lotus Protection on too. However, the only thing I could muster that meet the requirement was some necklaces.

They had the same design as the one I gave Irina but they were made after she left. 1 week after she left I didn't know what to do so I started making stuff, lost on autopilot mode I saw that I made multiple version of the same necklace.

Having nothing else to do I began to work and after half an hour I was able to make two necklaces.

[Protection Lotus Pendant -

A pendant inscribed with the protection of a lotus. Whenever the user is in danger the Protection Lotus Pendant will activate making a barrier shielding the user. (Once used the inscription will wear off and it will return to being a normal pendant)]

The usage may have been limited but it was still better than nothing.

I don't know why I was being overprotective but my instincts kept telling me to be prepared and my instincts were usually on point. But I didn't get why; Nekoshou were really strong, they were are even feared by devils I don't think they'll be beaten by a small group of devils... right.

Another chill went down my spine, I felt like I needed to hurry, eating my food as fast as I could I cleaned up the campsite and we left. We were all running to the same location but quickly I meet with a problem, these girls were too slow.

If it were before I came to the Underworld then we'd be even but now for me, they're slow. I kept feeling this raging emotion telling me to go faster so I switched our individual running, to them being in my arms while I run. [Ground Shrink] took a lot of energy so I only used [dash] and the trip which should have taken a day was only 4 hours.

----

When the village came into view I noticed that the surroundings were oddly quiet. There were no devils or Nekoshou in sight. Keeping the girls in my arms I made my way into the village, and the sight I saw made my mind stop for a minute.

Scattered on the floor were multiple Nekoshou woman statues, all of them had different appearances and were in different positions. Some were on the ground some were standing up. There was even a pair that was cradling each other in their arms.

The girls weren't any better, the broke free from me and ran to the nearest statue of their old clan members. Once they got up close they were shocked the same as I was but I had more surprise in expression rather than shocked.

Yu - [The Nekoshou were said to be strong when I heard about them in the book there's no way they could have fallen like this. There must be some clues I forgot to notice.]

Releasing my spirit sense I scanned the whole village and noticed that there was a lot of water spread throughout the city. Thinking that it was the only clue I could find I appraised the water and found something I didn't expect.

[Medusa's Curse -

A poison made from the blood of gorgons and other dangerous herbs. This poison can immediate the stare of Medusa and turn the consumer to stone. When diluted in water the effect is delayed by 6 hours, the more contaminated water that comes into contact with the skin hastens the injection rate. Immune to the purifying effects of life force energy, and can't be detected once consumed.

Created by a scientist of the Naberius branch family]

Damn! Turns out me being here affected more things than I thought, even people I didn't come in contact with were affected. Returning to the girls' side I appraised the Nekoshou woman and found out that they weren't dead yet!!

From what I could point out they were in a coma-like state considering the fact that [Medusa's Curse] was meant to be a neutralizing agent rather than a killing one. In the story, Kuroka told me on our way here they were here to capture the Nekoshou rather than killing them.

This means there's probably a cure back at Naberius Manor. The reason the Naberius army wasn't here was that they were at the source of the water poisoning it. They probably had a lot of people so they can have the manpower to transport the Nekoshou!

Elated with my discovery I told the girls what I found and revealed my appraisal skill saying it was an ability I had and they were happy too knowing they could save their people.

Shirone - But how are we going to bring all of them away, if we leave them here than those people will take them away.

Yu - Leave it to me! If they're not fully considered alive I might be able to find them in my storage space.

True to my words I walked up to one of the statues and tried to put it into my inventory. It went in without resistance, with my eyes wide open I looked at the girls who also had their eyes opened. Taking in a quick breath of air I spread my spirit sense once more and began to collect all the statues in the village and by the river stream.

Yu - F***!!!

Using [Ground Shrink] I quickly grabbed the girls but as I was about to use it again I suddenly felt excruciating pain spread through my whole body. I don't know why it's happening, it was different from normal pain I get from wounds it's mental pain.

Normal pain can be reduced with [pain resistance] but mental pain is a whole different thing, I don't have any skills to negate mental pain. And the worst part is whenever I try to use [Ground Shrink] or [Dash] my whole body gives me a big mental shock. From a quick analysis, it probably has something to do with my blood cause the pain is mostly coming from my heart and veins.

They continued to shoot more fireballs and other spells destroying everything in sight, it took my 100% as well as all my movement and support skills to just leave the village. Once we were out I realized karma wanted to be a real b**** cause what we saw was about 100 armed soldiers blocking our way.

Among their ranks most were mid-rank with some high-rankers among them, looking at these numbers my heart went cold. Making quick work of my options I ran towards the river bank, putting most of my strength into my legs I jumped the bank without getting wet and ran into the forest behind it.

Running with all my might I focused half of my effort into healing my wounds but I realized that it would take more time than I had. Focusing back my conscious to my surroundings I notice I had reached a dead end. At first, I thought I could scale the wall but soon realized that the wall was too high for me to both climb or jump.

The height was even higher than [Ground Shrink's] current distance limit so even if I could use it'd be useless. While I was trying to formulate a plan I started to hear the marching sound of the arm. Turning around I saw that our only exit was blocked and more spells were being thrown our way.

Yu - GRAND LOTUS PROTECTION!!!!!!!

Putting down the girls I turned round to face the army, extended my left hand, and shouted the name of my only defense based skill. This skills used my energy reserves to create a barrier and currently both my mana and life force were lower than 20% due to everything I've been doing today.

It was beautiful but I didn't have the time to admire the sight, the lotus was also transparent and I could see the spells and soldiers coming.

While the lotus did protect me from damage, but the impact from the spells caused my feet to sink into the ground. As the spells kept coming the soldiers continued their march and I had about 6 minutes before they'd get here.

Pushing my brain to the limit once more blood started to come out of my eyes (it seemed like I popped some blood vessels), but due to this I was able to come up with a plan but it was stupid and the chance of me dying was high but I could buy these girls a chance to get out of here.

Turning my head I saw the girls who looked frightened by the situation I returned my gaze back at the army so they wouldn't see my face. With a resolute tone I spoke:

Yu - Kuroka.

Kuroka - Y-yes what it?

She was startled and I could understand why.

Yu - Listen to me, I'm about to do something and it's going to be pretty big. When that happens but all your mana and life force that you can muster into the pendant I gave you, it'll protect you but only once. When this is all over I want you to take Shirone and get out of here. Find someone that you can trust to help protect you, and help make you stronger.

I couldn't reply immediately, I could tell that my silence scared her so I needed to say something.

Yu - ...If karma doesn't want to kill me I'll see you in a bit.

Kuroka - What do you mean?!?!

I didn't reply to her and only started to channel all my spatial essence into the air creating a transparent dome one mile in each direction.

*Ding*

Using my right arm to support my left arm teal colored lines began to appear on my arm. The lotus was beginning to break but I wouldn't let anything stop me. My eyes started to water, not by blood but tears and I had to close my eyes.

Yu - [Mom, Dad, Issei ... Irina, Kuroka, Shirone ... please forgive me]

Opening my eyes again, this time they were clear and a resolute look replaces my tears. The air within the dome started to spin out of control with me in the center of it. The image of the world outside the dome started to distort.

Sending out a plus of energy from my body I spoke and my voice was heard by everyone in the dome.

Yu - I am the bone of my sword.

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Time spent on Quest: 29 hours 30 minutes

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*Ding*

[Host's bloodline has been stimulated. 9 percent has been awoken.]