WolfWrites

The Calling of Wrath - Chapter 9 - Decisions

Added 2022-07-23 22:45:53 +0000 UTC

I made a couple of tiny changes to the images in a couple of the past chapters.

Mostly just to adjust the color of the Random Item Draw to be a lighter green, and to fix the mistake in how much MP the class gives per level.

It was supposed to be 2 MP per level and not 0.2.

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                                                                    Cassandra
                                                     Year 819 | Month 1 | Day 4
                                                     The morning after Leo left

I pace back and forth across the cave for several minutes as I consider how the hell I’m going to get out of this forest.

The Dark Forest works in a strange manner, with the center of the forest being like the eye of a storm. It’s the safest place, but it’s also surrounded by a solid ring of monsters, where one of the World Tree’s golden veins runs in a strange circle, causing monsters to gather and even spawn around it.

And it’s also one of the reasons this place is a blacklist area for the common folk.

“Damn it!” I shout out loud while pulling on my hair in agitation.

After that I take a deep breath to calm down before looking at the letter again, only to notice an additional note that I had missed before.

PS: I don’t know if you’re in the Dark Forest on purpose or not, and if you aren’t then I would have probably offered to take you out.
Unfortunately, however, my strength is restricted on Midgard, and I wouldn’t survive moving through the vein right now.
And my teleportation is also limited to only a single person. Myself.
So, sorry, but I hope that spatial bag will be of assistance!

I lower the paper after finishing reading it. Then I look around the cave, at the bed, the spatial bag, and the barrier.

Well, shit.

Several seconds pass in silence.

Looks like this cave’ll be my home for the time being.

I just hope everyone is safe back home.

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Back at the capital of the Liathtria Continent

“The King has entered the chamber,” a loud voice echoes throughout the large hall right as King Archibald de Luna enters while wearing a pure black set of armor, with half a cape running down his back and blowing in the air as he walks. He has pure black eyes and hair, just like the rest of his family, and despite his age, still looks like he’s only in his early to mid thirties.

The man confidently walks straight through the hall without so much as glancing at the various nobles spread throughout the room before he reaches the throne at the end and takes his seat. He then finally surveys everyone in the room, starting with the two princes seated in their own thrones near him.

The Royal Hall is filled with every noble of the rank Viscount and above from the north-eastern part of the continent. Each one of the dozens of nobles having a dark expression on their face after having had to deal with the various changes and invaders brought about by the System before being required to rush to the capital.

After looking at every last noble gathered, Archibald’s eyes linger slightly on the empty throne that is meant for his daughter, Cassandra de Luna, before his face gains a slightly darker look to it and he looks at the gathered nobles again.

“Do we have any news on my daughter?” he asks, his voice echoing through the silent hall.

One of the gathered nobles steps forwards and bows before raising his head and answering, “I apologize, your majesty, but beyond the fact that she was abducted by the invaders, we have not found anything else about her.”

Both of the princes clench their fists in withheld anger at this, but the king just narrows his eyes slightly and asks, “Not even from the captured invaders themselves?”

Another noble steps forward with a quick bow and says, “No, your majesty. None of them seemed to know anything about an abduction. However, some of them did mention that it might be classified information beyond their reach.”

Archibald stares at the man who had spoken for a few seconds before looking at a different man, one wearing black armor, and calling out, “Vincent.”

The captain of the guards steps forwards with a salute and says, “Yes sir!”

“Please catch all of the gathered nobles up on our situation,” the king says with a frown.

Vincent bows once before turning to the gathered nobles and raising his voice, “On the night of the new year, a mysterious bit of text appeared in everyone’s vision calling itself the System. This phenomenon not only changed how the world works but was followed immediately after by the appearance of attackers – called by the System as ‘invaders’ – all over the world. Including the ones who were seen abducting Princess Cassandra from the palace soon after the System first appeared.”

The man pauses for a second while scanning his gaze across the gathered nobles only to continue again, “These ‘invaders’ all immediately began to group up into the less inhabited areas of the kingdom before taking control of the various smaller baronies and eliminating or imprisoning the governing Barons. Unfortunately, due to the chaos caused by everything, we were only able to counterattack after nearly two days had passed, and in that time, we have been able to capture back several of the baronies closer to the capital. However, from what the Royal Messengers have been able to hear, dozens of baronies, and even a few viscounties have already been claimed by the invaders in the other three regions of the continent.”

“Back onto the topic of recapture,” Vincent backtracks a little, his gaze still roaming through the hall, “thanks to our capture of many of the invaders, we have been able to learn various things about them. Such as their surprise at the strength of our knights who have been able to consume the World Tree’s Sap, along with a few details about their power structure and plane.”

A dense silence permeates the room after he finishes speaking.

Several seconds pass before Archibald says, “We have four priorities right now,” causing everyone to look directly at him, “one, we need to level up and close the gap between our people and theirs before their restrictions are released.”

Murmurs of agreement run through the room, cutting off immediately once the king continues, “Two, we need to recapture all of our land from the invaders. Three, we need to keep the World Tree Roots protected at all costs.”

“And lastly,” the king says while leaning forwards slightly in his throne, “we need to find and rescue my daughter. No matter what.”

He then leans back again and glances towards Prince Charles before saying, “My son, Prince Charles, will be leading the counterattack towards the invaders.”

The man then turns to his other side after seeing the determined look on his son’s face and says, “And Prince Rodrick will take command of training the soldiers’ levels, alongside Captain Vincent.”

Rodrick nods his head with a very-uncommonly-seen serious expression on his face.

Archibald nods before looking back at the gathered nobles and saying, “All of you will search through your lands in case Cassandra has managed to escape while you defend your people and lands from the enemy.”

The king then gets a dark look in his eyes as he declares, “The invaders have declared war on Midgard, so it’s time we declared war back!”

The dozens of nobles – many of which are usually at odds with each other – synchronously let out a roar that echoes throughout the halls of the castle.

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Cassandra

I cross my arms in thought before shaking my head.

It’s best to focus on my own problems before focusing on theirs. It’ll lead to less distractions during battle.

And if I’m going to break my way through the vein… then I’m going to need as much strength as I can get.

Almost immediately after that thought goes through my head, a mission note appears in my vision, startling me slightly.

My mouth parts slightly at the rewards before closing again.

The EXP to level up at level 11 – the beginning of Tier 2 – should be about 1210, so that much EXP is a few levels-worth for the second reward. But the random item draws of the first and third rewards should be of Tier 2, assuming that what the old man said before about the color indicating the Tier for stuff like that was true. Meanwhile, the second reward should have a Tier 3 random item draw.

Speaking of, I glance down at my equipment before focusing on it for two seconds, causing a note to appear in my vision.

If I remember correctly, this shade of light blue should be Tier 4. Which is pretty damn good, considering that I’m only Tier 1.

Not that it really helps me much without the rest of the armor set, aside from keeping me clothed and clean.

But being clothed and clean is much better than walking around in rags, or worse, naked, so I’ll definitely take it.

Anyways, if the vein is surrounded by Tier 2 and Tier 3 monsters, I’m not sure if I should try going through until I’m Tier 3. But at the same time, who knows how long it’ll take to get to Tier 3, much less how much would have happened outside of this forest by then.

I purse my lips before looking between the bed, the barrier, and the spatial bag, only to let out a sigh.

Best to worry about that after I get to Tier 2.

In the meantime…

Status.

…I can finally deal with this EXP. And maybe level a skill while I’m at it, considering that the old man told me to keep the EXP from the 8 direwolves we – or rather I – slayed earlier.

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Table of Contents

For those of you who can't read the images:

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Mission Acquired!

Title: Dark Forest Escape!

The World Tree’s Vein in the Dark Forest is surrounded by powerful Tier 2 and Tier 3 monsters both spawned and gathered there by the World Tree’s Ichor.

Reach Tier 2 and make your way out of the Dark Forest!

Rewards

Reward for reaching Tier 2 and escaping the Dark Forest:

3000 EXP and 1 [Random Item Draw]

Reward for escaping the Dark Forest through the World Tree vein without reaching Tier 2:

3000 EXP and 1 [Random Item Draw]

Reward for escaping the Dark Forest through some way aside from the World Tree vein without reaching Tier 2:

1500 EXP and 1 [Random Item Draw]

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This next one is in a light blue text.

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Nanotech Under Armor F