Chương 12: Gathering Storm

The swamp was full of palm-sized bugs, mostly blood-seeking creatures ranging from leeches to mosquitoes and everything in between. Thankfully, Bastion's ice aura managed to keep most of the cold-blooded pests away, but the team still had to fight their way through several clouds of the things, often finding themselves swatting away dozens at a time alongside the main threats such as more crocodiles and trolls. For Gaix, this was the first time he had ever seen a swamp troll.

They were not as tall as their hillside cousins, but they were at least ten times smellier and, according to Rook, considerably smarter. The first one they encountered had ripped a small tree out of the ground and was using it as a club. Instead of charging at them like most trolls would, however, it suddenly leapt into the air. Rook barely had time to raise his shield before the troll came crashing down. The impact nearly forced his arms to give out.

The creature had put its entire body weight behind the attack, and Gaix could hear something crack as Rook staggered backward. The swamp troll was confused as the "tin donkey" remained standing after its immense attack. Mira immediately took advantage of its confusion. She spread her wings and flew over the creature, her short sword slicing cleanly across its neck. Troll regeneration was already infamous, but this was on another level. The wound was closing almost as quickly as Mira could create it.

Fortunately, Gaix knew exactly what to do.

"Fire Spear!" A blazing projectile struck the wound, cauterizing the exposed flesh before it could fully regenerate. Mira grinned, and turned mid air. She dove again, cutting into the same spot, and Gaix followed with another Fire Spear. Again and again, they repeated the attack. Slash – burn – slash – burn. The rest of the team could do little more than watch as what should have been a troublesome monster was slowly turned into a rather embarrassing joke.

"Okay, that is so unfair," Dalius muttered, leaning against his staff.

"Less talking and more healing," Rook snorted.

"I think my arm bones cracked." After six coordinated attacks, the troll's neck finally stopped regenerating. The repeated damage and burns had destroyed enough of the surrounding tissue that its brain was no longer receiving sufficient blood. The massive creature finally collapsed.

"Now thats a clean kill," Aborna chuckled as he pulled one of the troll's teeth free. He held it up proudly.

"Score." The others cheered as well, and soon the troll's hide, teeth, and other valuable parts were carefully stored away in their spatial items. The next two trolls ended much the same way. Once Gaix and Mira had figured out the combination, the creatures barely had a chance. The boss of the floor, however, was an entirely different matter. An immense alligator emerged from the deepest part of the marsh, its body easily several times larger than the crocodiles they had encountered earlier.

Rubeon finally stepped forward. His eyes glowed faintly green as black ichor erupted from his spell, forming thick, writhing tentacles that wrapped themselves around the enormous beast. The creature thrashed violently, tearing apart several nearby trees as it struggled, but the dark tendrils only tightened. The spell strangled the life out of the boss. It was an incredibly powerful technique, but Gaix quickly learned why Rubeon had been saving it.

He could only use the spell once before needing to rest, making it something reserved for particularly dangerous opponents. With the boss defeated, the team began dismantling the enormous corpse. Gaix only knew a little about properly harvesting monsters, as he had never really focused on that particular branch of adventuring studies. Still, he watched carefully and learned what he could, helping wherever his limited knowledge allowed.

For someone who had entered the dungeon expecting to spend most of his time casting spells, he was beginning to realize that there was a lot more to dungeon delving than simply killing whatever stood in front of him. Once the party had gathered everything they needed from the swamp, they made their way through the second mist gate and entered the next level of the dungeon. This time, everyone was considerably more relaxed. The moment they emerged, Gaix found himself staring at a small beach.

Endless blue water stretched toward the horizon, while the party stood on a small island surrounded by white sand. The warm breeze was a welcome change after the suffocating humidity and rancid smell of the swamp.

"Not the sea again," Bastion whined.

"Don't worry, pup." Aborna reached over and patted him on the head.

"We're not going in."

"Huh?" Gaix raised an eyebrow and looked around.

"Then what are we doing?" The answer became obvious when the rest of the party began unpacking long fishing poles and a frankly ridiculous amount of bait.

"We need to fish for the boss here," Rook explained as he prepared his own line.

"Just keep your lightning spell at the ready. That's the best one to use against it."

"Fish out the boss?" Gaix looked around at the others. Since no one laughed he figured this was not an elaborate joke.

"How do people move forward after killing the boss?" he asked.

"The boss is a massive turtle with the mist gate on its back," Dalius explained as he attached his bait and tossed the line into the water.

"Once we kill it, the gate becomes accessible." Gaix stared at the ocean, then slowly shrugged. The gentle breeze felt wonderful after the rancid swamp, and there was something oddly peaceful about sitting on a beach in the middle of a dungeon. He settled down in the sand, leaned his quarterstaff against his shoulder, and reached over to pet Bastion behind the ear. - - - - - - - - - - Joshua was deep in thought as he was getting a bad feeling. Like there was a dark cloud gathering on the horizon.

He was sorting through all the items he had gathered through Gaix, and it was a mess. He had seven small bags filled with uncut gemstones, a frankly annoying issue which he decided to solve by simply calling his Vatican contact and selling them through the secret agency. As for monster cores, he wanted to test out a few things, and his order from China had just arrived. Seven massive boxes were filled with plastic toys, figures, and more.

When he fished out a collectible box with a cat maid, he couldn't stop himself from giggling. Which gamer wouldn't want a maid? Especially a calico cat maid. He unpacked the figurine, which honestly had crazy good details, and then took out a sabertooth tiger monster core. One of the boss monster cores Gaix had managed to get his hands on... and instantly sent to him. He also took out a demon butler with silver hair and purple eyes. The rest of the figurines were put aside into a corner, unopened.

As for the butler, he needed something even more powerful, but he was lacking the right core. An idea formed in his head.

"Why not fuse some of the cores... can I?" He looked at the pile and collected all the black or dark purple-coloured ones. Then, in his palms, he used his divinity to fuse them together. The resulting core was the size of an apple and had a menacing aura surrounding it.

"Nice." He grinned. He started with the maid. He gently pushed the core towards the figurine and watched as his Divine Points plummeted. Almost six hundred went down the drain from his seven thousand. Josh grinned as light enveloped the figurine, and he carefully placed it down.

"Worth it." He nodded as the catfolk maid looked around in a bit of a daze.

"Welcome to your current home, Kate. I am your creator and master, Joshua Steel…" He smiled, but he could not finish his sentence before the catfolk jumped forward and hugged him, purring happily.

"I may have added too much cat and not enough maid."

"Sorry, master." Kate took a step back with an awkward look.

"I am just so grateful you gave me life and all…" She fluttered her eyelashes and gave him big, wide eyes while nervously playing with her furry fingers.

"No worries. You are exactly how I made you," Josh said, a slight redness appearing on his cheeks.

"Now to get you a colleague. As all proper houses need a maid and a butler."

"Ohhh!" Kate wagged her tail but stood aside, eager to see. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The butler had harsh features, steel-grey hair, and eyes that could cut a man. He bowed sharply. His creation took way more out of Josh. Almost two thousand Divine Points. Josh did not remember just how much Luna's egg had cost, since at the time he had not even been sure about how the system worked.

"My lord. I am here to serve."

"Indeed," nodded Josh.

"From now on, you are Felix. As you may feel it, I put quite the core inside you. While I am aware that my powers will grow, I would like to know that my home is well protected. Also, Princess, my dog, is very important to me. So make sure she is well taken care of if I go away."

"It will be my pleasure to fulfil any duties you place on me." The demon butler smiled. It was quite the scary one, to be fair, even without any teeth. - - - - - - - - - - - Deep beneath the Arizona desert, several hundred feet below the surface, a bunker hummed quietly in the darkness. There was no sign above ground, no satellite designation, and no official record that the facility even existed. Even the President of the United States had never been briefed about the organization operating inside it.

The main briefing room was filled with monitors displaying photographs, satellite images, fragments of surveillance footage, and reports gathered from sources scattered across Europe. At the center of the largest screen was a single file marked TARGET: JOSHUA STEEL.

"Previously normal human," Agent Sarah Miller said as she stood before the screen.

"Ordinary background, no military history, no known connection to occult organizations before the incident. Then, at some point, something changed." She switched through several images. There was Joshua's house, then a photograph of the damage surrounding it, followed by a blurry image of what appeared to be a dragon and several heavily censored reports.

"The Vatican sent a special forces unit after him," Sarah continued.

"The operation failed."

"Casualties?" asked one of the men around the table.

"None confirmed." The man frowned.

"None?"

"They survived. In fact, according to the reports, they were later seen repairing his property." A few people exchanged glances.

"We don't know what he is," Sarah replied. The screen changed again, this time displaying a heavily censored report.

"Our information is extremely limited. We have fragments indicating enhanced physical strength, supernatural durability, possible regeneration, and some form of dimensional interaction."

"And the dragon?" another agent asked.

"Apparently its his daughter" Sarah hesitated before adding, "We have confirmed street camera footage of her, but thats all." On the massive screen overlooking the briefing room stood a faceless figure with his hands folded behind his back. He had listened to the entire briefing without saying a word, and nobody in the room knew exactly how long he had been there. Finally, his voice came through the speaker.

"We have an opportunity." The screen changed to a satellite image of Scotland.

"Send a team." Sarah looked toward the glass.

"For observation?"

"No. I want them to establish contact with Joshua Steel." The director continued, "We have spent decades developing weapons capable of dealing with things humanity was never supposed to encounter. Now we have found something that may be a weapon itself." His attention remained fixed on Joshua's photograph.

"Find out what he can do. Find out what he wants. And if possible…" The room remained silent.

"Make him ours." Sarah slowly closed the file.

"Which team?" she asked though already knowing the answer.

"Team Wendigo." The director said then ended the call. The room fell silent as everyone knew just how problematic that team could be. It was a mismatched ace team of monsters. Then again, they were about to meet a monster most likely too. - - - - - - - - - - Luna's first proper college day started with something she had not expected quite so quickly, someone trying to become her friend. She had barely stepped into the classroom when a girl with dark brown hair and a bright smile approached her.

Luna immediately noticed that she seemed around her age and carried herself with the kind of confidence that made it obvious she had no trouble talking to strangers.

"I'm Sophie. I don't think we've talked yet." Luna smiled.

"Nice to meet you. I am Luna" Sophie looked her over for a moment, her eyes lingering on Luna's platinum-white hair and unusual purple eyes.

"Okay, I have to ask how you got your hair to look so bright white." Luna laughed softly.

"I have a friend from italy who got it for me. I don't think it could be bought here. I also got my contact lenses from there."

"Was just about to ask." Sophie nodded.

"Too bad. Well, my parents would likely be mad if I tried anyway. Still you rock it." she grinned.

"Wanna be friends?"

"Of course!" Luna beamed. The conversation continued easily from there, with Sophie asking where Luna was from, what subjects she liked, and whether she had already looked around the college properly. Luna answered carefully, making sure not to reveal anything too strange about herself. Meanwhile, Matteo sat in one of the back seats with his arms crossed, looking almost unnaturally relaxed.

He had apparently decided that if he had to spend an entire year pretending to be a teenager, he might as well at least be comfortable. One by one, the students were called to the front of the classroom to introduce themselves. There were seventeen students in total, meaning the class was considerably smaller than Luna had expected. The first few students introduced themselves, followed by another girl and two boys who seemed to already know each other. Matteo's turn came somewhere in the middle.

He stood, walked to the whiteboard, and gave the room a completely emotionless stare.

"Matteo Drake." He paused.

"I'm here to study." Then he returned to his seat. There was a brief silence, a few students chuckled. Luna covered her mouth to hide her laughter. Sophie leaned toward her.

"Is he always like that?"

"I think so." nodded Luna.

"He looks like he hates being here."

"He kind of does, yes." At the front of the room, another student began introducing himself, but Luna was already deep into another conversation with Sophie.

"So you're actually into games?" Sophie asked with her eyes landing on Luna's shirt proudly showing off Monster Hunter.

"Yeah. Quite a lot. Pretty much anything fun. RPGs, fighting games, strategy games…" Sophie grinned.

"Okay, we're definitely going to get along." Luna smiled, she hadn't even been here for a full day yet, and somehow she had already found someone she genuinely liked talking to. This was all going like the anime she watched. She was curious when the big meanie will come to try and mess her up. - - - - - - - - - - - The Eternal Council finally opened the newest folder concerning recently formed divine entities.

Their council hall existed somewhere beyond the boundaries of ordinary worlds, in a place where even gods would struggle to understand what they were seeing. It resembled a vast, starry wound torn into reality itself. There was no sun, no moon, and no true sky above them. Instead, countless distant stars burned within the darkness, some so far away that their light seemed frozen in place. The walls were made from dark matter, if they could truly be called walls at all.

They curved around the enormous chamber in impossible directions, absorbing nearly all light that touched them. Entire galaxies had been placed along their surfaces as decorations. Spiralling arms of billions of stars slowly rotated beside enormous nebulae, while clusters of newborn suns glittered like gemstones. Some galaxies were so close that individual stars could be distinguished, yet their heat and gravity had no effect upon the chamber.

Between them were windows that did not look out into space, but into other universes. One showed a world where three suns hung above an endless ocean. Another revealed a universe where stars had never formed and enormous creatures drifted through primordial darkness. A third changed every few moments, displaying civilizations rising and falling across millions of years as casually as someone might watch rain running down a window.

At the center of it all stood a colossal circular table made from something even darker than the surrounding walls. There were no visible legs supporting it, and beneath its transparent-black surface, countless points of light slowly moved like trapped stars. Around that table sat the Eternals. They were not gods. Gods were the subject of today's meeting. The Eternals appeared as enormous cloaked figures, each wrapped from head to toe in heavy robes that seemed to merge with the darkness around them.

Their hoods revealed nothing of what existed underneath. No faces, no eyes, not even the suggestion of skin could be seen within those openings. Looking too deeply into one of their hoods gave the uncomfortable impression that there was simply no end to the darkness inside. Only their hands occasionally emerged. Nineteen new god seeds had been counted across the worlds, each having survived for at least one year. Perhaps one or two would survive the incoming tests.

New gods were constantly being made here and there across existence, but most were greedy, aggressive, arrogant, or simply too foolish to understand what they had become. As such, they tended to fail the first tests. Those who failed would end up as food for the older gods.

"There has been an issue with one," Thairum the Golden Finger pointed out. A folder made of starlight separated itself from the others and floated across the enormous table until it stopped beneath his golden finger.

"A lesser dragon god in a world barely worth talking about. He has already been visited by two of the greater forces."

"You mean that Joshua Steel?" Gavanniur the Silver Finger pulled the file toward himself. Pages turned without him touching them as he examined what little information had been gathered.

"I give him fifteen percent to survive. Seems too mellow. The other lesser gods will feel his power and try to consume him."

"I am willing to take that bet." Akarunaka the Ebony Finger leaned slightly forward beneath his enormous cloak.

"How about six decillion Soul Coins?" Several of the other Eternals turned their attention toward him.

"I think he has more than a fifty percent chance to survive."

"Your loss…" Gavanniur grinned, or at least somehow gave the unmistakable impression that he was grinning despite no face being visible beneath his hood. From beneath his cloak came a card containing the same amount of Soul Coins, each coin representing the soul of someone he owned. He placed it upon the table. Six decillion souls wagered over the survival of one lesser god. To an Eternal, it was little more than a friendly bet. Akarunaka placed his own card beside it.

"Accepted." The file bearing the name Joshua Steel remained open between them. Around the table, the other Eternals returned their attention to the remaining eighteen folders. Some received barely a glance. Others inspired small wagers or brief discussions about which gods would attempt to devour them first. The coming tests would decide which of the nineteen were worthy of continuing their existence. For the young gods, it would be a struggle for survival.

- - - - - - - - - - - What none of the Eternals expected was that the two previously mentioned greater forces were indeed smiling in their own realms. Oberon had already grown an entire meadow of corn just so he would have popcorn for the show. He sat cross-legged on a branch wide enough to serve as a small platform while checking the timer hanging in the air before him. Still two months. No issue for him.

He could easily sit there and wait that long, but Titania would probably hurt his ear if he remained there before the tests had even started. With a sigh, Oberon returned to his throne to perform his duties. Still, his mind kept wandering back to the upcoming tests for the newborn god. He was looking forward to them. - - - - - - - - - - - Cthulhu, meanwhile, was not worried at all. He could tell that Joshua was ready. Joshua was not like the other god seeds.

He was perhaps a little too soft for Cthulhu's liking, but that only made him more interesting. Most new gods became greedy or aggressive almost immediately after gaining power. Joshua had somehow managed to remain remarkably normal despite everything that had happened to him. Cthulhu could not grant him any more divine power. Even the amount he had given him previously had already been bending the rules. Not that Cthulhu gave a flying tentacle about the rules. The problem was the Eternals.

Messing with them directly would be bothersome, and Cthulhu had no desire to spend the next few million years dealing with the consequences. So he would simply watch. And he was certain Joshua would survive. Once the tests were over, Cthulhu intended to visit this strange little world called Earth himself. He had already decided what he wanted to do. Have a drink with the dragon. The thought alone caused several of his eyes to narrow in amusement.

Cthulhu settled back into his realm and continued watching through one of his countless eyes. Wait was irrevelant when time flew as he wished.