BXBX NOVEL Chapter 72: Your Will Is My Command
Chapter 72: Your Will Is My Command
Now her spirit was renewed. She had new toys to play with. She couldn’t stop from using her cube maker skill.
She pointed at a spot and drained material rapidly into the skill item’s mouth. Just like that, she formed a square ditch that was six feet deep, nine feet wide, and twelve feet long.
Upon her whim, the Cube Maker reversed its suction mode to unload and create. Quickly and surely, Hannah started to form a bridge over the ditch.
She watched as little stone cubes spat out from the skill item’s mouth. The little cubes assembled into steps going up, and then into a stone plane, and finally into steps going down again on the other side of the ditch she’d created.
The cube maker could work from a distance, but not too far. It was faster when she moved with it in hand.
The only part that bothered her was how she couldn’t mess with the cube maker directly using her runic abilities. The System wouldn’t allow the adventurer or ‘player’ of its Star System to mess around with the actual system runes.
One day, I’ll dig into you, Star System.
Hannah knew these aspirations of grandeur were borderline crazy. But months of being around Zarian and the other Floridians had left their mark on her. She’d also spent a lot of time on the research grind before she led a slaughter of a rare dungeon.Looking up from her fun, Hannah saw a group of spectral spiders flickering in and out of view. The spectral spiders were quick and efficient explorers and all connected to each other. They led their parade of oddities through the cavern system with expert ease.
The only light sources came from Glowy and Flamer. They illuminated the dark corners and revealed lifeless stone and nothing more.
Hannah imagined that centuries with the dungeon dominating this space eliminated any natural cavern ecosystems that would’ve existed. With the dungeon gone, more natural magical life could exist here.
They stopped at a wall. A group of spectral spiders appeared in front of Hannah’s face. They pointed their legs up.
With little thought, Hannah raised her foot and walked vertically up the wall. While her Strength was the lowest in the party, she had enough for basic superhuman maneuvers, and she had the Level 0 Willful Might skill.
She could keep herself stabilized during the vertical walk up the wall. The Surface Walker enchantments she’d copied from Zarian’s old boots served them well.
“Oh, you think I’m carrying you all?” Zarian asked.
Hannah looked back.
Zarian looked more like an eldritch spellcaster than ever, having menacing fangs and wicked spines growing out of the wizard hat’s brim. The conical top had a mouth with a tongue-like tendril licking at the air. Para the Parasite Cloak wavered behind him like a tattered flag while keeping her ragged material out of reach of the skeletons.
“Climb, you lazies,” Zarian told the skeletons. “You’re going to be the best of the best. The special forces. The ones who go behind enemy lines and do what no other necromantic creature can do but you. Now get up here before I unleash my inner Drill Instructor all the way!”
The skeletons shook their heads like they were getting overworked and underpaid.
Loner lunged into the wall. He stabbed his hands and feet into the rock and scaled up. The other skeletons followed his example, some better than others.
Blender had it the easiest. His blending ability merged his body with surfaces, which camouflaged him and made him good at maneuvering around. Other skeletons who struggled, such as Warper, had arcane webbing sent down by the spectral spiders to help them up.
Together, Hannah’s oddities reached the corner of the cavern ceiling. The spectral spiders pointed at a crack in the wall. Zarian explained the way back to the mansion was through this section of stone blocking their way.
Hannah smiled as she aimed and activated her cube maker. It was set on material gathering and nothing more.
She silently sucked up stone, grit, and sediment into her brown and gray skill item. She created a square tunnel while directing the cube maker’s suction with a thought as well as waving her hand around in circle motions to ensure the tunnel kept its perfect shape.
The process was pleasing to her, and she hadn’t even tried enchanting any cubes or formations yet.
They broke through the wall after a solid minute of tunnel digging.
Hannah looked around at a lavishly furnished hallway. There were glass cases containing treasured items such as ancient books of bygone eras.
It was dark now based on what Hannah could see through the nearest glass-covered window. The library would be closed except for a select few guests or members of the Hemlock Family who occupied the meeting rooms.
Hannah felt a sharp rise of runic power behind her. It was alert. Aggressive. She didn’t even have to use her Rune Scan +1 to know the enchanted creature was going to attack.
She didn’t run. She didn’t bother dodging. Because why should she? The attacker couldn’t compare to the runic power of the advancing skeletons.
She turned to see Hasty slash his dark sword through a stone gremlin.
The human skeleton was a Level 42 Runic Runner and had ten levels over the stone gremlin.
Four more stone gremlins barreled down the hallway. They were small, ugly, and quick things while also packing a lot of weight. Having one of them run into a person could break ribs.
Hannah wasn’t so squishy anymore at her level, not after the first advancement.
Besides, Hasty was much faster than the gremlins. He stepped through them with blurring movement, swinging his enchanted dark sword even faster. The Runic Runner left the four stone gremlins falling into sliced pieces.
Hasty flourished his sword around. He gestured slowly to slide his sword into an invisible sheath while posing with his back to the others.
The other skeletons shook their heads, unimpressed.
“What was that noise?” A man stepped out of the nearby meeting room. Hannah didn’t recognize him, but he seemed to recognize her. “What are you doing here? Lady Rhea has cast you down into the bowels of the dungeon! You shouldn’t be here!”
“The dungeon didn’t survive us,” Hannah said.
“I must tell the lady!” The man made a move to run.
He was slow. His power was unimpressive. Hannah felt like she was looking at a gangly child even though he looked older than her.
She walked over while he was trying to run. She cut him off easily. Then she grabbed his defenseless neck and threw him into the wall.
When he slammed into it, another man came out of the meeting room. He shouted in alarm. Hannah called for the spectral spiders.
They flickered into view from all over the walls, ceiling, and hall displays, with spinnerets at the ready. They shot out their arcane webbing and wrapped up the second man.
Then the spectral spiders swept into the meeting room where Hannah heard others shouting and screaming. She took a quick look inside. None of them were Lady Rhea.
“Who are you looking for? What do you want? We’ll give you anything,” a desperate noble woman asked, wrapped in glowing blue webs.
“Lady Rhea,” Hannah said.
The hostages fell silent.
Hannah looked over them coldly. They all seemed small and weak to her even if she was shorter than most of them. None of them had reached their first class advancement even though she spotted two elderly nobles.
Hannah wondered if it was fear or complacency that stopped them from pushing to advance their first class.
They have the resources. Why stay weak?
Hannah found them pathetic.
Maybe that was harsh of her to think. But she couldn’t excuse them when they could become greater and stronger and chose not to.
“Boop.” Zarian poked her in the cheek.
Hannah pulled out of her train of thoughts and looked at him in bewilderment.
“You got some scary thoughts running through your head. I can tell. While I don’t mind, I felt like I should temper it just a teensy bit.”
“They’re pathetic,” Hannah said, holding nothing back.
“Yes, that may be true, but would you have gotten so far as you are now without me?” Zarian asked. “Even they, despite their riches, don’t have me.”
Hannah was annoyed. That wasn’t sound logic. They might not have an incredible demigod like Zarian, but surely they could’ve pushed themselves to at least reach Level 40.
For this occasion, she didn’t see his point.
“Oh, wow, you can be a little cold. I’ll have to monitor that. Right now, it’s not a problem. Screw these guys, right? But you’re neutral, not evil. Don’t lose sight of being even keel.”
Hannah sighed. “I suppose you’re right. However, I can do this at least.”
She walked over and grabbed one man. He shouted and begged for mercy as Hannah placed her hand on his head and concentrated.
She didn’t have Zarian’s aura manipulation. But she could still feel her puzzling, ticking, structural aura through her Runic Affinity.
She connected with the epic Lore Eater trait and dug into the man’s mind with a fiendish hunger that wanted knowledge. It wasn’t a pleasant experience for her victim, but it wasn’t a long one. She found what she was looking for plus more and tore it away from the man.
“That … can be abused in so many ways.” Hannah looked down at her hand.
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The new knowledge was affixing to her mind. She could feel its ragged edges after she consumed it from the man’s mind.
She looked over at Zarian. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should be more conscious.”
He laughed. “That dude just shit himself. Now we get the pleasure of smelling that. So, yeah, maybe give them the option to tell you before you eat the information from their heads. I mean, I can chew through all of their heads without even touching them, honestly. Imagine how shitty and pissy this room would get?”
The hostages screamed and struggled with their arcane webbing bonds. Hannah watched them for a few seconds and nodded.
Zarian’s right. I must … practice restraint.
It didn’t seem fair that he was doing this to her after what the Hemlock Family and Lady Rhea had done. But Hannah figured Zarian was nipping in the bud a problem that could grow out of control later.
Power was addicting and easy to abuse.
I’m glad I didn’t choose to be evil aligned. I don’t think I can handle it as well as Zarian.
Zarian was a way better evil-doer than most people gave him credit for. He was much kinder than he ought to be.
That kindness was a source of power more than it was a weakness. Or he would ensure to put down those who thought of it as a weakness.
“Thank you. For that.” Hannah nodded, ignoring the screaming and begging nobles. “How embarrassing. I’m thirty, and I’m already drunk off power.”
“It’s because you didn’t go through an edgy goth phase. Once you know how to wield the darkness, you’ll come to understand yourself better.” Zarian turned away. “However, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be petty for you.”
Hannah shivered as Zarian’s dark aura swept around the entire room. All the nobles screamed and shouted in horror. They thrashed about, held down by arcane webbing, as their eyes rolled into their skulls.
They all urinated and defecated on themselves as Zarian stripped away some of their memories and knowledge. He took whatever he wanted, before leaving them alive to deal with the consequences.
Hannah was stunned. Then she slowly shook her head. Ah, yes, Zarian could be cruel, too. However, the punishment was more than justified.
Zarian chuckled. “Come on. Lady Rhea sent her golem strike force. It’s time to watch a badass montage of skeletons versus golems.”
Leaving behind the soiled nobles, Hannah followed Zarian out of the conference room and back into the hallway. Spectral spiders blinked in and out of view before going completely ghost around them.
Ten skeletons stood in the hallway as a stampede of golems charged them. The odds were in the favor of Hannah’s side. But that wasn’t satisfying enough.
So Hannah moved to a spot between the gnoll skeleton Icicle and the human skeleton Warper. The Level 41 Runic Freezer and Level 41 Runic Spacer glanced at Hannah in question.
Hannah faced a menagerie of golem creatures, from the monstrous golems that guarded the front doors to the golems that watched from on top of chandeliers and ledges set near the ceiling. More and more of them rushed at Hannah’s side of the hallway.
Hannah reached out with one hand. She felt for all the runes with her Runic Affinity and scanned them with her own eyes. She felt her new runic traits buff her epically.
Then she targeted the biggest of the golems from a distance and forcefully altered their enchantments. She couldn’t shut them down. But she could discombobulate their carefully made, runic nature and send them tumbling and falling into each other.
The golems’ charge crashed into a messy heap. A few broke their limbs and suffered fissuring cracks as they smashed down on each other. Now they were stuck, at least for the seconds that counted.
“Go.” Hannah stepped back, and the skeletons rushed forward.
After a while, all the skeletons ensured not a golem survived. They massacred every one of the enemy constructs.
“Damn, Hannah. Nice.” Zarian clapped from behind. Para was holding the dungeon core. She formed extra hands to clap as well.
They entered the lobby area. Hannah pointed at the shut bar area. “Zarian, eat. Skeletons, go stand or sit down. I’ll handle things from here.”
“Oh hell yeah, finally!”
Zarian ran over to the bar. He crashed through the wall like a truck. In no time, Hannah could hear him feasting, sounding more akin to a beast than a man. He must’ve been hungry for quite some time.
The skeletons took seats at the dining tables or stood about. They watched Hannah as she walked up a wall. Then she walked along the ceiling.
After a minute of fiddling around with some defensive enchantments, she shut them off before she used the cube maker to remove the ceiling and the floor above.
A large chair, desk, and woman fell through the hole.
Impressively, Lady Rhea Hemlock didn’t scream. But she did crash down hard, which sent her tumbling as her desk exploded into splinters.
Hannah dropped from the ceiling and landed perfectly in a crouch. She put away the cube maker, returning it to her soul. She unstrapped her Runic Gauntlet, removed it off her hand, and strapped it to her belt next to the pouch that held her shrunken Roller Golem.
She walked over to Lady Rhea as the woman stumbled to her feet while shaking off her daze. Even now, Lady Rhea assumed a position of power, lording her tall height while looking down with an angled nose.
Just when Hannah reached her, Lady Rhea regathered her wits and recognized who was in front of her. The Hemlock Receptionist and chief representative of her family had something stinging to say on the tip of her tongue. She was activating all the runic devices on her person, too.
Hannah short circuited all of Rhea’s runic devices for a second. Then she buried her fist into Rhea’s gut and knocked the woman to the floor.
Rhea gasped and sputtered while she tried to stagger back to her feet.
Hannah let her get up before kicking Rhea’s legs from under her and sending the noble woman down to the floor again. Then Hannah swung her foot and dug the toe of her boot into Rhea’s ribs and sent the woman’s entire body flying before falling into a roll across the lobby area.
Fortunately and unfortunately, Rhea was in the Level 40s. Unlike the others, the Hemlock Rep had pushed herself to advance her class.
Hannah could feel it like how she could feel who was weaker and who was stronger. Maybe that was a consequence of the Wonder stat, which helped perceive the supernatural.
Thus, Hannah knew she could hit Rhea decently without breaking the woman too early. Hannah also knew they weren’t of the same caliber.
Hannah was more powerful. More capable. More monstrous.
Hannah was legendary, and Rhea was of a lower quality.
Rhea scrambled to her feet. She lifted her hand and fired a simple magic bolt. It was quick, but her movements were telegraphed, and Hannah was faster.
Hannah easily stepped out of the way, reached Rhea’s side, and buried another fist to the noble woman’s ribs. The Hemlock Receptionist bent low enough for Hannah to cock back her arm and swing a big slap to Rhea’s face.
The clap from Hannah’s palm to Rhea’s cheek resounded across the library as the Hemlock woman crashed down.
Hannah waited.
Lady Rhea Hemlock gasped and sputtered. Her hair was everywhere, with strands matted to her sweaty and bloody face.
By all means, she should stay down and curl up into the fetal position and accept her fate. Instead, Lady Rhea pushed off the ground and stood wobbly to her full height.
She looked down at Hannah defiantly, as if ready to face her end proudly.
“Give me a reason not to kill you,” Hannah demanded.
Rhea swayed from side to side. She couldn’t think straight. She took too long.
Hannah grabbed the woman by her hair and yanked her down. Lady Rhea fell to her knees. She tried to get up, but Hannah pressed her boot onto the Hemlock woman’s thigh and forced her back to kneeling.
Hannah stepped back and waited.
Lady Rhea didn’t try to get up again.
The proud and arrogant noble heaved a breath before saying, “Our resources are yours.”
“To what extent?” Hannah asked.
“We devote ourselves to the pursuit of forgotten knowledge, especially that of the fabled Forgotten Kingdom. That has always been our mission. That is the burden I carry passed down to me by my ancestors. I will not excuse our practices, but it is wholly our sole mission, to have access and to save the records that are most treasured and forgotten.”
Lady Rhea lifted her head and looked up into Hannah’s eyes.
“You’ve defeated the dungeon and taken its core, haven’t you?” Lady Rhea said. “You may find this surprising, but we do have a protocol for that. Especially for someone like you.”
“You’ve aimed to kill us. I’m still not convinced of why I shouldn’t kill you and put an end to the rest of the Hemlock Family.”
Lady Rhea gave Hannah a bloody smile. “Do you really think anyone else would have the gal to face you like this? After you’ve beaten them bloody and dragged them about? I may not be a good woman, but I’m not a weak one. Do you want someone weak to provide the resources we have?”
Hannah thought over it.
“No. You’ll do.”
Hannah kicked Lady Rhea in the chest, cracking a few ribs, and sent the woman flying and skidding across the floor. Before she could get up, Hannah walked over and placed the sole of her boot on the noble woman’s chest.
“In the World of Swamps and Princesses, we have a saying. ‘Fuck around and find out.’ I’m letting you learn this now so you’ll know what will happen the next time you cross me.”
“Yes, Lady Hannah Townhouse. Your will … is my command.” Rhea wheezed under Hannah’s boot.
Finally, the Runic Engineer backed off fully.
Lady Rhea stayed down. The woman was defeated in the mental and spiritual sense. No matter how strong she’d claimed to be, she was a proud woman, and Hannah had sufficiently broken Rhea’s pride.
“You have what you need to find it, correct? The Forgotten Kingdom?” Rhea asked, her voice breaking.
“That’s for us to know, and for you to wait to hear.”
“Yes … milady.”
Hannah turned and saw the skeletons, spectral spiders, and even Zarian watching her weirdly. She swept a strand of brown locks from her face and looked toward the exit.
Once they went outside, they found it was raining.
Zarian pulled out a rectangular case. He opened it and extracted a cigar. Once he cut off one end, he had Flamer light it for him.
He puffed on it a few times to ensure it was burning correctly before letting out a draft. Then he passed the cigar to Hannah who took it with a shaky hand.
Hannah blinked in confusion at her hand as it trembled. Then she suckled on the cigar and enjoyed its effects.
After a few drafts, she asked, “Did I do the correct thing?”
“Interesting phrase. Not right. But correct, you say?” Zarian chuckled as he took his turn to puff on the cigar. He looked up at the rain. The droplets patted on the wide brim of his parasitic wizard hat. “Pragmatically speaking, yes. You did the correct thing. I can already imagine what to use them for.”
“Oh?”
“They can help us remove some undesirables. The types that our lovely and passionate benefactor wants removed.” Zarian chuckled.
Hannah understood what he was saying. Through the Hemlocks, they could order for the assassination of key figures. Thus, a civil war would spark and lead to the results the Good Goddess Lovewar wanted.
Hannah hadn’t thought of that.
Honestly, she simply didn’t want to kill Rhea in the end. Hannah had wanted vengeance, no doubt, but she couldn’t get over how Rhea stood her ground and was clearly devoted to her family’s vocation and pursuit of knowledge.
It felt like it would be a shame to snuff that out. Hannah was even glad that Rhea had stood her ground a little, which made the beating more satisfying before Hannah spared the woman.
Of course, Hannah would have to stand by her words if Rhea and the Hemlock Family tried to pull another fast one. There would be no forgiveness. Only subjugation or destruction.
“I’ve never done something like that,” Hannah said. “I’ve never done anything like this. I’m not who I was before the portal, before you and the Star System.”
Hannah dragged more smoke from the cigar. She glanced around at the self-sufficient skeletons and the spectral spiders hanging about in view. She looked out into a dark, stone city, its tall towers barely visible as they scraped at the belly of the rain clouds.
She saw magic sconces keeping alight the more public and well-to-do streets and districts. She saw the darkness shrouding the undesirable areas.
It all looked whimsical to her. She could see herself walking out in the lit areas and in the dark areas. She didn’t feel threatened by much anymore, at least not here.
“I’m done, Zarian,” Hannah said. “I need a shower and lots and lots of sleep. And maybe some pampering. Maybe if the acolytes haven’t completely packed it all up, I’ll spend half a day in the spa. Can you take over again?”
She looked up at Zarian’s darkened face under his wide eldritch hat. She saw his white and sharp smile, like she was in the presence of a monster from the void.
Most people would’ve found that scary.
Hannah, however, found it comforting. She leaned into him as he swung his arms around and hugged her tight.
It was nice. Wonderful. And very much needed. She melted on the spot. She let herself soften up.
She even allowed herself to complain. “Would it kill you to quit the suspense and tell me what you selected for your first class advancement?”
“Let’s catch up with the others first. We can share together.”
“What is there to share other than our growth?”
Hannah pushed against him lightly, letting herself act bratty. She hadn’t done this in a long time. She would die in embarrassment if the other girls saw her whining like this.
She doubted Zarian would tell. This side of her would be their secret, for now at least.
“Come on, Zarian. Tell me, please. Pretty please?”
He patted her leather helmet, which was easy for him based on how short Hannah was.
“Just wait a little longer, okay? I reconnected with the spectral spiders I left out here. Apparently, Naomi, Gilbert, and Bianca had gone on their own ill-advised adventure. And Bianca has her first class advancement.”
Hannah rushed them back to the mansion. Anyone else out in the rainy night wasn’t wrong to feel scared or alarmed when they came across Hannah and her parade of oddities.
There was her, all dirty and dressed like a medieval mechanic. There was Zarian’s horrifying appearance while being followed by ten uniquely powerful skeletons. And there was Para, with part of her cloak wavering dramatically while holding the most valuable dungeon core in all the Walled Continent and beyond.
Yeah, it was better if Zarian stayed on top of this. Hannah wasn’t insane enough. Nonstop craziness was his specialty.