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CHAPTER START---
"Doesn't look like much," Oberon says while standing on the ship railing. Using Telescopic Lens he observes the small island in the distance. Noting a few large hills and forests blocking his sightline beyond the beach and a single mountain closer to the middle of the island. "Seems like a regular tropical island."
Beside him, Captain Carit casts him a concerned look. "Can't you feel that?"
"Feel what?"
"The air is all…tingly."
"That's probably just excess Magic Energy from the Wizards that failed this Job before. I can't sense Magic Energy so that stuff doesn't bother me."
"What do you mean you can't sense Magic Energy?"
"That's not important right now," Oberon dispels his spell and turns to her. "The Gruumsh has some Magic Creatures in the water, we shouldn't take the boat too close to the shore."
"What is a Gruumsh? Have you fought one before?"
"No," Oberon says while withdrawing his Gate Keys from a Storage Card. "They're a Magic Creature that can be summoned. Someone summoned this one and left it to rampage in the village. It also summons other smaller monsters to serve it and bring it food."
"Food?"
"Meat, animals, people, anything with flesh and blood." Oberon holds Dorado's Gate Key and flows Magic Energy into it. "Dorado, I need your help."
The water around and below the yacht glows bright silver for a moment, and Captain Carit leans over the railing to peer through it. Beneath them, she sees a large shadow and instinctively steps back from the railing, and moments later a 30m -90ft- long giant armored swordfish rises to the surface.
"There are monsters in the ocean here, I need you to keep this ship safe while I go fight their boss. When I destroy the Gruumsh they'll go away."
Dorado nods and submerges, disappearing beneath the dark blue water.
Carit snaps out of her stupor, turning to Oberon. "I thought Celestial Spirits were supposed to be cute and charming. That was more terrifying than any sea creature I've ever seen."
"He's just a giant armored swordfish. I think he's cool. But yeah the more Magic Energy the user has the stronger they are, the summoners personality also affects their form."
"Hmm, I always assumed they were all powerful inherently. So why does everyone want a Celestial Spirit Mage on their side?"
"The properties of the Magic Energy itself is powerful, even if you don't have any Gate Keys," Oberon sees some splashing ahead of them before clouds of red and chunks of green flesh float to the surface. "Dorado is enough for this, we should get to the island. I want to find the Gruumsh before lunch."
She turns back to her crew. "Guns up, we're going ashore!"
Minutes later, Oberon descends from the sky, flanked by Captain Carit and two of the men from her crew. Both men were holding rifles with a pistol on each hip and a backpack on, while she carries a rifle, two pistols, and a belt of Lacrima Bombs on her waist.
From above, they see a destroyed dock leading to a road through the forests.
"We'll go to the docks and start from there. I don't want us to get attacked in the air," Oberon says as he sets them down on the wrecked docks.
Oberon sees destroyed buildings and bloodstains across the wooden planks, a trail of blood leading into the forest. Clear signs of a body being dragged away. A moment later the scent of rotten flesh and blood hits him, causing him to reach up and pinch his nose shut.
"Ugh, Laxus would hate this place." He says while walking through the small town or wreckage and ash. "The main town is deeper in the forest. This is just where they'd trade."
"Yeah, I've been here before. These were good people." Captain Carit draws holds her rifle close, walking around and gazing at the buildings. "Why here? I don't get it. You said a Gruumsh is a ritually summoned monster, right?"
"This island exports raw Lacrima Crystals. That means the environment here is rich in raw Ethernano, rituals are easier in places like that. So is restoring Magic Energy as a Mage. This particular ritual requires a lot of Ethernano, and a Gruumsh can only sustain itself in a Ethernano rich environment."
The smugglers fall into step behind Oberon, following the trail of blood along the dirt road leading through the forest.
"When we go in there, expect to be outnumbered. Gruumsh can summon different variations of itself. Each smaller, but…still dangerous," Oberon flows Magic Energy into both his Zodiac Keys.
"Sir Oberon," Virgo greets him as she and Aries appear in a golden flash.
Aries, appearing as a shy young woman in a pink ball gown, matching her fluffy pink wool hair, which has two curved sheep horns poking out of it, along with a coat complete with similar pink wool accents, doesn't bother to greet him.
She looks away shyly, feeling both the men's gazes alternating between her and Virgo from the back of the group.
"Aries, Virgo, stay with our friends here and protect them while I play with the Gruumsh. I'll summon Caelum when we get closer so he can get into position."
"As you wish, Sir Oberon," Virgo says, twirling her clipboard.
"I'll do my best," Aries mutters. "Sorry I can't do more."
"You'll be enough…"
As they walk deeper into the forest, Captain Carit can't help but give in to her curiosity. "So what can these two do?"
"I use Earth Magic," Virgo says. "We're also physically quite powerful because of Sir Oberon's Magic Energy capacity."
"My wool is soft," Aries says. "I hope you find it comfortable. I can make a bed for you to have a nap. And I can trap enemies inside it."
Captain Carit nods and glances back to her crewmates. "Let's keep them as a last resort. Don't be shy about pulling the trigger."
After nearly an hour of walking, they arrive at the top of a massive hill, leading down into a valley of grassland with Lacrima Crystals protruding from the ground. The houses and buildings are all rubble or cinders, forcing their focus to the creature in the middle of the valley.
They hide in the treeline and carefully observe the situation.
A 22ft -7m- tall hulking humanoid creature. Leathery blue skin and four arms, along with two large tusks from its lower jaw reaching just above its top lip. Oberon sees the glowing red runes branded into its body and the staff in its hand.
A mangled mess of permanently rotting wood with the top shaped like an open hand, meant to hold something. Around the monster, smaller versions of it, along with some that have wings or fins and gills, march toward it, offering what little wildlife is still left in the forest and surrounding ocean to the greedy Gruumsh.
It takes the offerings and swallows them whole, excreting clones of its genderless form from its back, commanding them to continue the cycle as they fall to the ground and instinctively seek offerings of meat and blood.
Each of the clones is a hair short of 7ft -2m-, with four arms, but no runes on their body. Making it impossible for them to feed or multiply.
Oberon uses Telescopic Lens to observe the small army of monsters, nearly one hundred in this area alone.
"Alright, this is just about what I expected," Oberon says. "A Gruumsh is supposed to have a gem at the top of the staff. This one is missing its, so the people who summoned it likely wanted that and just left it here.
It gets a lot stronger when it's removed, so they likely couldn't kill it. Without the gem, the energy stays inside its body instead of going to the gem and forming a second Gruumsh. This way it can't create another body that can make clones, only make more of those little clones."
"Are you seriously going down there?" Captain Carit asks. "That thing is dangerous."
"This is the Job. Besides, if I don't stop it today, the area they hunt will only get larger. Eventually it'll spread to the islands in this region and more people will die. If I kill the main body all the clones die as well."
"Sir Oberon can handle this," Virgo says, with absolute confidence. "We will protect all of you on the sidelines."
"The Gruumsh can't survive in a place with regular amounts of Ethernano, I could probably use Gravity Magic and fly it away from the island," Oberon says.
"Good plan," Carit says.
"Eh, but I wouldn't learn anything from that. And since there isn't anyone in immediate danger here, I want to find its real limits."
"What about us?"
Oberon shrugs, stepping out onto the open road. "You knew the risks," he flows Magic Energy into his second Silver Gate Key, and in a flash of silver behind him, Caelum appears.
A 30ft -10m- long floating chisel with a rounded handle and metal halo-like accessory hovering behind its dull grey body.
Oberon turns around, ignoring the monsters that are now well aware of their presence. "Sorry Caelum, I'm not using your Chisel Form for this."
Caelum beeps twice and its metal parts shift, transforming into a sphere with a green spherical gem at the front of it, hovering above the ground.
"Yeah, I want you to stay back here and wait for my signal."
Caelum rapidly beeps, shaking in excitement before transforming into a 30ft -10m- long floating Magic Energy turret with two legs that can act as a bipod if needed.
"Why is it a Jupiter Cannon?!" Carit asks as the monsters begins lumbering across the hundreds of meters toward them.
"Not sure what that is, but it sounds cool," Oberon turns and begins walking toward the monsters. "Stay far away from the fight, I can't go all out with you guys in the way."
Rolling his shoulders, he stretches while walking down the road, marching toward the horde of monsters. A glowing golden Magic Circle appears in front of him as he aims both palms forward.
"Radiance Formula 20: Blinding Barrage!"
CHAPTER END---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
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