Chương 67: [1.67] Invasive (Part 1)

"Gelic, can you hear me? We could really use your help." Angelica rubbed her eyes as she sat upright in her bed, woken from her comatose like sleep.

"Ngh, who's this?" she mumbled into her head, too delirious to recognize the voice.

"This is Vystal, with the Zenmoon Sect. You helped us before on a hunt. Listen, we're heading into danger and could use as much backup as we can get. I can take on one more Demon. Are you willing to help us?" Danger… Angelica ruminated on the word for a moment. Just when everything was going so well, now there was apparently something perilous enough that it had to actually be labelled as danger. Their last hunt hadn't been "danger," more akin to busywork. So it definitely sounded more serious.

"Malignants again?"

"Yes. So many." By the tone of her voice, it really sounded like a scale that couldn't be compared to her last hunt. But… that could be good. Since the city was often short on Malignants, this could be a good time to grind. Really, she only needed three measly Essence for Auto-Color. More would never hurt, though. This could be one last shebang before she holed herself up and worked on nothing but commissions, covers, and Merlina's Boutique for, like, a week straight.

And hopefully, it could provide good progress to the next Skill on her lifeplan, which was currently Identity Fraud. Though a case could also be made for Seeking Projectile. She'd been flipflopping back and forth between the two of them. One would drastically improve her fighting capability, and the other would completely overhaul her life outside of Demon duties, able to at least pretend to be a human once more, maybe even finally get to experience what it meant to be Merlina the Summoner.

Either way, both were so expensive that they'd come after Evolution. Since it was drawing close, she couldn't help but get a little excited by the prospect. How much would she change by becoming a Hellion? Would she still be cute? Get new powers? Racial bonuses were a given, right? Hopefully, this big Malignant hunt would get her closer. Though it probably wouldn't happen that day, since improving her Demon Rank was getting so expensive with each passing level.

"Alright, I'm in." [Something about binding, being bound, bind resisting] Gelic had been expecting a DGS message along those lines, but one never came. Nor was there a Summoning Circle at her feet. Apparently, since she was trusted and had been called directly, such measures weren't needed. Vystal greeted her with a stern face. They were in a parking garage, assumedly on the Zenmoon estate, standing next to Rastille's truck. Though the big man was nowhere to be found.

"Okay, since we're in a rush, let's make the Contract a quick and simple one. Help us defeat these Malignants, and we'll see you paid well, both in money and Essence, as much as we can give you. Unfortunately, I can't give you an exact number right now, since I don't know what I'd be authorized to offer, but I can promise it will be an amount you're happy with, even if it needs to come out of my own expenses.

However, if things go well, this will be rather lucrative for the Sect, and their coffers should be bursting and generous."

"Err, sure, okay." Gelic was slightly confused, and had an inkling that she should hesitate. But they'd worked so well before that she should trust them, right? [Contract Accepted without resistance | Current Contract: Assist in defeating all Malignants in the designated area | Reward: To be negotiated] [Note: the Demon Growth System will not prevent this course of action. However, it will place it on the record that you are a fool. All Contracts with Summoners should be negotiated in their entirety before any action is taken] Great, that was reassuring…

"Hey, Impy, help me load this up." Sperado called her back to the rear of the truck and was requesting assistance hoisting a big metal box onto the bed.

"Guh, it's so heavy," she complained, struggling to hoist the hefty trunk above her head.

"What's in it, more weapons?"

"Heh, no." The man let out a little chuckle despite straining himself. As soon as they managed to crash it ungently onto the truck, he gave a proper answer.

"It's my Ghoul." Eh?! As if to back up the claim, or possibly to complain about their rough treatment, the box rattled for just a second before settling back down. Fortunately, Scrying Eye was able to pierce the box and give her more deets. [Demon | Alias: Eliah | Demon Rank: Ghoul | Status: Bound] Though Sperado couldn't stop himself from blathering them out a second later.

"Her name is Eliah, which I always thought was a bit feminine. And yes, I found out she's actually a girl, apparently, after our previous discussion about gender. One of the longest conversations we've ever had. Maybe that's why I was able to bind her. Always been a bit of a ladies' man." Gelic wanted to gag in his face, but she had a more pressing question.

"Couldn't you just use Return to call her to your side when we get there? Y'know, instead of stuffing her in a trunk and transporting her like cargo?"

"Oh, I did that a few hours ago, actually," he explained.

"Since she's above my level, even using that one simple spell is enough to drain me. So I got the jump on it to give myself time to recover. I have no idea where she goes when she's not here, or what she does during her free time, usually, and I don't really care. But she wasn't around, so I brought her back when we first got word of this mission.

"And don't get the wrong idea about the box. She loves it. Jumped into it immediately like a cat when I brought it out. And she's wrapped up in a blanket inside with plenty of water, a bag of Runestone flakes for a snack, and a tablet playing horror movies. Yes, I imagine she's quite content, aren't you, Eliah?" There was another shake of the box in response. Why did Eliah sound like so many of Angelica's friends in college?

Demons seemed to get more generally humanoid in shape as they evolved, but apparently, their personalities also followed a similar path, as well. Vystal approached the pair with Xinder now perched on her shoulder who appeared to be telepathically feeding her intel.

"Alright, we're good to head out. Got the approval from Pathos. This mission's a go, and she'll work on sending out everyone we can spare to converge on the location and help us out." Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The two Summoners and two Demons loaded up into the truck. Since there were only two proper seats, the humans obviously took those, and Gelic returned to her previous spot on the armrest.

Xinder wormed himself into the cramped cargo space behind the seats, not looking too thrilled by the prospect. She briefly wondered why he didn't just fly, but if they were going a ways out, it was probably best for him to conserve his energy.

"Okay, so what's special about this hunt?" Gelic still had a lot of questions about this. First, it was really odd that the Summoners were operating in broad daylight. Normally, they were fine leaving Malignants until the dead of night before hunting them down.

"Have you heard of a Malignant Geyser?" Vystal began to answer before Gelic could get to her second confusing thought on the list.

"Err, no."

"Hehe, you're in for a special treat, Impy," Sperado cooed from the passenger's seat.

"But I'll let Vystal explain. Gonna try to get a nap in before we get there."

"Fine." The woman appeared to have no issue with it, though it seemed she took her driving as seriously as everything else.

"We got reading of a potential Malignant Geyser earlier this morning, so Rastille and his new Bound went out to scout the area ahead of us and confirmed. It should detonate…" Vystal checked the clock on the dashboard and then bumped the cruise control up a bit.

"Soon."

"The name is apt. As I'm sure you can guess, it's a literal geyser of Malignants that pour out of the ground all at once, when the mana in the area has become so potent that the land can't contain it anymore. It's hard to say just how many that will be, but a few dozen, at the very least. And since that's a bunch of Malignants spawning all at once, they'll head to the nearest source of civilization as a massive horde. Which, in this case, is Vulgrest. I'm sure you can understand why that's a problem.

"For us, it's the main reason we need to take action in this case. As Disciples and Apprentices, it is one of our main duties to keep the city safe from Malignants. Though there are some in our Sect who have a different interest in this matter."

"A Runestone mine!" Sperado suddenly cut in all dramatically.

"Aren't you supposed to be napping?" Vystal chastised him.

"But, yes. When there's a Malignant Geyser, that also comes with the creation of a Runestone mine, directly proportionate in size. So in the end, more Malignants means more Runestone. It's an equal exchange. More work for more pay.

"And there's an unwritten but widely accepted rule amongst the Sects. How much they contribute to cleaning up the Geyser is directly proportional to the amount of mining rights that they can claim, so expect to see some competition out there, though they've genuinely been fairly friendly. If we all cooperate, we all get our slice. However, if we completely overshadow everyone then we can claim them all without hearing any complaints.

"Unfortunately, most of our fighting force is out of the country right now, dealing with the turmoil in the Middle West, and those who aren't have their own tasks, so a sweep is unlikely. Fortunately, that should be the case for most other Sects. Doubt we'll see many high-rankers, if any, but that also means more work for us. It could get dangerous depending on what comes out of that hole. And worst case scenario, a Rogue Summoner might come in and pick a fight while we're dealing with the chaos."

The conversation ended there, since Gelic's questions had been mostly answered. So Rastille had gotten a new Bound, good for him. It made sense why he hadn't been the one to Summon her, then. And the urgency of the situation wasn't lost on her. Buncha monsters plus money on the line. It honestly made her feel like an adventurer on some grand quest, like in the webcomics she read for research, especially if there would be combatants coming from all over for a unified goal.

Yes, that'd be even better source material, experiencing the real thing. Additionally, the comment about the turmoil in the Middle-West hadn't gone unnoticed. Angelica paid virtually no attention to the news, so she was completely out of the loop. She'd just been in Zidebar, which was in that area, and everything had seemed perfectly fine; well, minus the black market organ trade. So maybe she should ask to find out more, but also… yeah, she still didn't really care.

Plus, it would likely be the assumption that a Demon wouldn't give two frits about human world affairs and issues. It seemed they still had some time left on the drive. Once again, Gelic had the conundrum about whether or not it would be weird if she pulled out her phone and started scrolling. But if a Ghoul was watching movies on a tablet, it probably wasn't too silly of a concept. Before that, though, she turned to the last remaining passenger and tried to strike up a conversation.

If working with Xinder was going to be a regular occurrence, it'd make sense to be friendly with him.

"Why are you speaking to me, Imp?" The uncomfortable bird gave a squawk in return.

"Erm, y'know, just thought maybe we could be friends?" Gelic hadn't expected her approach to be met with such cold hostility.

"Hmph, come back when you're a Gremlin. Then you'll be worthy of speaking to me." Damn, she had no idea there was such speciesism in Demon culture. After her encounters with Diamen, she supposed it should have been obvious, but she had just judged that as him being a prick. Though there was one issue with the bird's pickiness.

"Okay, but aren't you just a Hellion, yourself?" That made her stone-feathered not-friend flinch.

"Not for much longer. You'll see."

"Get along, Xinder," Vystal called from the driver's seat like an annoyed parent who didn't have the patience for the kids' bickering.

"You know Gelic is a lot stronger than other Imps, and I have a feeling we'll need that today." The truck rolled up into a parking lot of a fairly remote national park. It felt like the kind of place that would be abandoned on a random weekday like this, but it was surprisingly popular, with several other cars pulling in like a caravan.

A scan of Scrying Eye revealed each and every one of them to be Summoners; well, except for a genuine hiker couple who looked a bit unnerved after returning from their trek and quickly got into their car and vamoosed. Vystal had been right. The bunch was mostly Disciples, a few more Apprentices, and she counted three at Summoner rank. There were also a small group of Novices, but they appeared to be playing more supportive roles, acting like squires for the big shots.

That left Gelic, aka Merlina, as the lone Initiate. Fortunately, no one knew that secret, or she'd feel very judged and out of place. Among them was Rastille, who had been leaning up against Vystal's moped. That put a pretty funny image into her mind, of the burly man riding it all the way out here to scout. Surely, with all the cars she saw at the garage, he could have taken something more to his size? But rank politics were likely prevalent everywhere.

He went straight for the back of the truck and hoisted the Ghoul trunk up on one shoulder before finally acknowledging the small Demon.

"Good to see you, Gelic. Glad we'll have you on our side for this. We're counting on you." That raised a few eyebrows from the other Sects who happened to overhear, clearly wondering why an Imp was being praised so highly. That led to a mass Summoning, countless Bounds appearing from out of nowhere through the various Return spells. Among them were mostly Hellions and Gremlins, a real colorful array that would take far too long to describe each of the mostly small monstrosities.

But there were no Imps and Ghouls, meaning only the Zenmoon sect had the ends of the spectrum with them.

"I spoke to Pathos," Rastille spoke up again, ignoring the looks and smug grins.

"We'll have about another dozen coming to join us. Most should be here within the hour. They'll have to play catch-up, though, because this thing is about to blow."