"Truly I can not thank you enough for your generosity. It is long past time we return to the wilds however." Artemis said to Hestia.
"Umu, visit more often." my goddess said brightly.
With that the huntress deity led her familia away from the manor and towards the nearest gate out of Orario.
"I hope she'll stay safe, there have been some disturbing rumors being whispered in the market recently." Hestia said with a sigh.
"The ones about whole towns being wiped off the map and the toxic trail being left behind right?" I asked and she nodded.
"Something about it is giving me a bad feeling." she said with a frown.
As if given form by her concerns shortly after Artemis had left a message came from Ouranos summoning us urgently. Neither of us needed to say a word to each other to know the others thoughts on the matter, something serious must have happened. We wasted no time getting our asses in gear and booking it to the adventurers guild. The city was still operating like normal as we moved through it which I noted and assumed that whatever the problem is it hadn't been in the city.-
An attendant was waiting for us when we arrived and led us to Mardeel's office without delay. The fat elf paled at the sight of me slightly but also seemed almost relieved as well oddly enough.
"Lord Ouranos is waiting so I advise haste, the situation is dire." he said seriously as he opened the passage to Ouranos's chamber.
"You know what the problem is then?" I asked curiously.
He nodded "I do. It's best if you speak to Lord Ouranos however as it's better if he explains." the fat elf said seriously.
Hestia and I walked down the torch lit stone staircase for a good while before we stepped out into Ouranos's chamber. The first thing I noticed was that Hermes was there standing before the raised throne Ouranos sat on. The second was that Ouranos himself had a much more dour look on his face than the last time I saw him. Hermes face darkened when he saw me however and he turned towards Ouranos clearly disgruntled.
"My lord surely you don't mean to have HIM deal with the beast!? He has no respect for the gods and is a lawless individual!?" Hermes exclaimed angrily.
Ouranos looked at Hermes coldly "His lack of piety and carefree behavior have no bearing on this matter. I suggest you put your personal grievances to the side in the face of the greater good. Alex is the best option we have to end this matter without many more casualties. Ottar cannot leave Orario and the Loki familia lacks the strength needed." he said firmly and Hermes paled and bowed deeply.
"Of course you are right, I overstepped. My apologies." he said with a hint of panic.
Ouranos turned to us at this point "I apologize for the summons but the situation is critical. When the rumors of towns being destroyed and trails of poison being left behind reached me I had Hermes investigate and the truth is dire. The ancient disaster Knuckelavee has been released from it's seal. The reason for this development is not yet known but the entire matter reeks of Evilus. I summoned you both here to ask Alex to slay the beast." he spoke gravely.
"I couldn't help but notice you said the Loki familia lacked the strength to handle the matter previously, why?" I asked confused.
"If the Knuckelavee were a normal monster rex their usual tactics would allow them to kill it without great cost but the ancient disaster is no normal monster. It radiates a miasma of toxic mist with no antidote over a wide area and holds the approximate strength of a peak level six or low level seven monster rex. Numbers mean nothing to such a beast and all the Loki familia might accomplish is getting wiped out if they faced it. If it were before your clash with Ottar I wouldn't have any much confidence that we could put the beast down without drastically weakening ourselves in the process. Now however you are here, a perfect counter to the beast as you are immune to poison and can operate on the level of Ottar in combat." he said seriously.
"I see but there is a small problem, I can not use my first two cursed techniques without great personal cost due to backlash." I said honestly.
"What!?" Hermes exclaimed in shock.
"Yes yes I know it makes no sense after seeing my status but the fact is a certain bit of carelessness did leave me partially fucking crippled temporarily." I said helplessly.
"This is grave timing indeed. You said you could do it at great personal cost, elaborate please." Ouranos commanded with a firm look.
"There are two options available to me here. The first is forcing the techniques to operate further damaging them and potentially permanently crippling them. The second method is much more gentle but one I would only choose in desperation, heavenly oaths. I can swear oaths trading away my ability to do certain things permanently in exchange for the rapid recovery of my techniques and even a potential boost in my power. The greater the significance of the thing sacrificed the greater the pay off." I explained gravely.
"Sounds similar to the oaths on ones arcaenum we gods use but more vicious on ones self. We lose nothing so long as we keep our oath but you lose something just to make such an oath. Normally I would not ask such a thing of you but the situation is truly grave. I swear upon my arcaenum to give you my full support until this debt is paid if you would do me this thing." Ouranos said firmly and there was a brief pulse of power as the oath took hold on him and the very air seemed to press down as my own agreement was waited on.
I looked at Hestia who merely smiled at me reassuringly and nodded "i'll agree with whatever you decide." she said softly.
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