Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 29 — An Unexpected Ally

Noah tore through the food in front of him greedily, feeling the magic in it filling both his hunger and mana, a sensation that felt hard to describe accurately outside of simply amazing. Despite being the Lord’s guest, the amount of time he met or interacted with the lord was fairly low. A man of his stature tended to be busy, and Noah himself had been jumping between too many things to have time to sit down or just stroll around.

“It’s good to see that you are enjoying the food,” Krios said, walking into the chamber.

“Best thing I’ve had,” Noah said, as he continued to eat and the lord laughed.

“I hear you’ve been training quite a lot. I hope you’ve had the time to explore the city as well.”

Noah bit through the last of his food, drinking from his cup before he replied. “It’s been nice, quite a lot to see and learn about the place. Had some interesting encounters as well.”

“Good, that is very great to hear. Then do you think that your party can come to a decision regarding my request then?” Krios asked.

Noah frowned for a second, before he rose from his seat. “I don’t think I can speak on that by myself.”

“I understand, but I would appreciate it if you could let me know by now,” Krios said, patting Noah’s shoulder.

“Will do,” Noah replied, as he walked out of the chamber. Tony formed around Noah’s shoulder, perching on his shoulder.

“What do you think?” Noah asked the Abyssal Symbiote.

Tony shivered, flapping his wings.

“Yeah, I’m not sure either. Now that I know what’s in the rift, I don’t know what he would use it for,” Noah said out loud, and Tony flapped his wings, circling above Noah’s head.

“Guess we’ll find out,” he said, and Tony swirled, before flowing back into Noah’s body.

He met Aurelia on his way back to his chamber, the woman stood with a concerned expression on her face. Noticing Noah’s arrival, she walked closer. “Erwest is back. We need to talk in private.”

Noah looked on curiously at her, but did not ask questions for now. Following behind her, he went to Erwest’s chamber, finding the paladin standing inside with a frown on his face, which only got worse when he noticed the two of them. “Can you bring us to your-“

“Yup, got it,” Noah said, reaching out to touch Erwest and Aurelia’s shoulders, before he teleported them into his Dimensional Pocket.

A moment later, he remembered what was inside, as lightning sparked and Bun Bun rushed towards him. Noah picked up the murder bunny who was looking at Aurelia and Erwest with a hungry gaze.

“Will it be a problem?” Erwest asked.

“I doubt it,” Noah said, offering his finger to the rabbit who bit it lightly, before licking off the blood happily like a suckling child.

Erwest seemed satisfied with that, and continued. “The cult lead was a false one, I was met by a woman- at least I think a woman. She knew who you were.”

Noah raised an eyebrow. “What did she say?”

“To tell you to bring us to the Pit, and that you’ll know how to reach her,” Erwest replied.

Noah cursed.

“Who is this woman, Noah? And how does she know you?” Aurelia asked.

“She’s Vix, the one who runs a fighting pit in Old Heartilia. I was fighting there to get ability tomes. The enslaved girl I’d talked about is with her, and she was the one who told me about the Shard of the dead god. She wanted me to go into the rift to get the Shard for her.”

The faces around him darkened at his words.

“She intercepted you then? How? Did you not see her coming?” Aurelia asked.

“I don’t know. The waitress in the tavern was who came to me. But I don’t think that girl is Vix herself. She can likely possess others or a similar ability of some sort. She knew what I was there to do and who all of us were,” Erwest replied.

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The two of them looked at Noah.

“I didn’t tell her anything,” Noah replied.

“You didn’t have to. Just catching her eye could be enough to lead her to us,” Aurelia said.

“Doesn’t matter,” Erwest interjected. “We need to decide what to do.”

“We don't have much choice,” Aurelia said. “We’ll have to see what she has to say. If she knows who we are and what we’re up to, she knows too much to simply ignore.”

Noah’s brows furrowed, as he reached out to the darkness. Space rippled as a box-like device appeared in his hand. “She’d told me to use this if I ever changed my mind.”

Erwest and Aurelia looked at Noah, before giving him a nod.

Noah sent a pulse of mana, as the runes on the device lit up in front of him. A projection appeared in the air, flickering briefly before he saw Vix looking back at him, a grin on her face.

“I knew you’d come back,” Vix said, raising her finger as she snapped her finger.

A light flared from the box, spreading out to all of them. Noah felt his Dimensional Pocket collapse, as his body was dragged out into reality.

With a flash, the three of them stood in front of the woman, standing in her office. Noah looked at Vix, a pleased grin on the woman’s fox-like face.

“Welcome, my three suicidal guests,” Vix said, spreading her arms wide open.

Erwest drew his blade, and fire swirled around Aurelia.

“Calm down,” the woman said, mana laced into her words. Noah felt himself relaxing, almost against his wishes. “The suicidal part would’ve been if you’d barged into the cult without meeting with me. I’m glad you had enough sense to not do that.”

“What do you want?” Erwest spat.

“So agressive,” Vix said. “Why don’t we take our seats first? I’ll start,” the woman said. “Also, while we’re at it, I’d appreciate it if we could put aside all the weapons for now. It’s a bit rude after all.”

Erwest glared at the woman, but after a moment, he put his sword on the table in the chamber, before taking a seat at the sofa. Aurelia and Noah followed him, sitting down as well.

“Great, now, let’s talk. I’m here to offer an alliance. You three and me. It may be a bit hard to believe perhaps but both of us want the same thing. You want to stop the abyssal cult? Well, so do I!”

“Bullshit,” Noah spat. “You don’t care about the cult or people’s lives.”

“Sure, if you want to think that. But I do care about my business here, and an Abyssal rift opening in this city is not exactly going to benefit me,” Vix said, leaning back in her chair.

“How did you find out all this? The information has been kept tightly in check,” Aurelia asked.

“My naive dear, the information has been kept in check from you guys. My ears are in places the guild can only dream of reaching. And the cults have been abuzz since your stunt, it didn’t take much to find out what was going on,” Vix replied.

“Why do you say that we were suicidal?” Erwest asked.

“Let me paint you a picture. You three just head into an abyssal cult, killing the cultists there and grabbing the leaders, before uncovering their big plan. You think they won't know who you are?” Vix said, before pointing at Noah. “This guy at least had enough of a brain to change his appearance. It threw me off for a bit, but once I knew who you two were, it did not take long to put the pieces into their place after finding out Lord Krios had three adventurer guests.”

“But Hayver—“

“Is a cultist. You’re really choosing to believe a cultist chief now? Maybe if he had been a low ranking member, perhaps he would’ve chosen to speak up, but he’s a chief with his own hideout,” Vix said, shaking her head. “Bring him out if you want, I can prove it to you.”

Aurelia glanced at Erwest. The paladin gave her a slow nod. “We’ll kill you if you try to pull anything on us.” Aurelia said.

“Yes, yes, feel free,” Vix said, waving her words away.

Aurelia activated the item where she’d kept Hayver, and a moment later, the cultist came out. He sucked in a long breath, but froze as his eyes went to Vix.

“You-“

Vix moved rapidly, clutching Hayver’s throat with her hands. Erwest grabbed his blade, putting it against Vix’s throat but the woman did not move an inch. “Hey Hayver, long time to see.”

“Why… are you…” the cultist choked.

“Step back paladin, I’m not going to kill him. He’d much rather I did, but for once he’s more useful to me alive,” Vix said.

Erwest did not move an inch, keeping his blade poised.

Vix continued, her tail now swaying behind her, as her vertical slit of eyes lit up. Hayver struggled in her hands, but Vix kept her grip firm and slowly the cultist stopped struggling. Vix let go of the man, as he dropped onto the ground.

“Get up,” she commanded.

Hayver silently rose to his feet.

“What did you do to him?” Erwest asked.

“Just a little command spell. He’ll listen to everything anyone tells him to do for a while,” she said, before looking towards Hayver. “Get on your knees and bark.”

The cultist moved without a word, getting on his knees as he barked.

“Stop that,” Erwest said, pressing his blade.

“Jeez, you’re no fun,” she said, as Hayver stopped.

“Get back up, and then tell them everything about the cult you haven't told them yet,” Vix commanded.

Hayver stood back on his feet, before looking at the three of them.

“The spell cannot be fully completed without a catalyst. The Shard is needed to start the rift, and the cult plans to ambush whoever obtains the Shard on their way out to take it from them,” Hayver said, and then paused, as if struggling to say the next words.

“Speak,” Vix said.

“A fitting offering to the void is needed. An offer was made by the immense and unending incarnation of the void itself. A trade of power in exchange for the shard. We had been ordered by—“ Hayver stopped in his tracks, clutching his throat. A scream burst from his mouth as he clawed at his face, falling onto the floor.

“What’s happening?” Erwest demanded, but Vix simply frowned as the man continued to twist, before his body burst into dark flames, crumbling into ash.

“He broke an Oath. That’s why he hadn’t said anything,” she said, kicking the pile of ashes that had moments before been Hayver.

“And now you know,” she said, looking up at the three of them. “The rift is a trap. But if you work with me, I can make sure you can get out. All I need in return is that you bring the Shard to me.”

Vix turned to face Noah. “As a show of my goodwill, I’ll keep the former offer for Snow open. And I’ll also let you keep the Shard, so long as I get a fair price for it. Agree to this and I’ll show you how to safely get into the rift, and get out,” she said, before glancing at Noah. “I’ll also throw this in,”

A tome appeared in her hand that she threw towards him. Noah caught the tome, looking down at it suspicious as he used Identify.

[Tome of the Hunter (Epic)]

Erwest watched the woman with a silent glare, before he pulled back his blade.

“Why should we work with you?” he asked. “The Lord has asked us of the same thing, we could simply tell him what we know.”

“You could do that. And I probably won’t be able to stop you. But if you choose to not work with me, working with the cult will be my only option,” Vix said, looking into Erwest’s eyes. “You don’t want to be my enemy.”

Erwest looked back at the woman, hand still on his sword. “I don’t appreciate being threatened.”

“Same, my friend. But you’d be losing out if you walk away from this,” Vix said, as a glowing scroll appeared in her hands. “Let’s shake on it, why don’t we?”

Vix has offered a magical contract:

The Quest for the Shard:

In return for information, security, the ownership of Snow and a Tome, Vix asks you to bring the Shard to her from the Astral Rift.

Do you agree to this?

Yes/No?

Erwest looked back at Noah and Aurelia. Noah simply looked back, neither agreeing or disagreeing as he let Erwest make the choice. Turning back around, Erwest down at Vix, before he grasped her hand.

Noah saw words flash in front of his eyes.

Quest updated!