Wild Era, Ch 43: Enforcement

On the way over to Serai and the others, Kelin glanced at Yaris’s body on the ground.

He’d never liked talking much with people he planned to kill, since it solved nothing. Talking to Yaris would only have given away why he wanted to get rid of him, which would have revealed the kids’ existence to anyone listening, like Isla Crest and her father.

With him dead, the main threat to the kids was dealt with, but there were still a few other Wind Hunters around who might be a problem. 

He would check on it once he got back to town.

Isla might be a problem, but for now Gaius could keep her trapped. Kelin looked over at her, taking a moment to assess her soul and aura more deeply. 

Her efforts to free herself from the stone were getting her nowhere, since Gaius’s element nicely countered her lightning magic. Every time she tried to gather her mana, the elemental channeled it straight into the ground.

It was an effective trap and her arms were folded across her chest as she stared daggers at him. There was a touch of killing intent in the look, but it was mixed with other emotions, including arrogance and curiosity, as well as a sense of embarrassment. 

He expected the first, but the others said that perhaps she wasn’t irredeemable.

He didn’t know exactly who she was, but he had a good guess that she was Baron Verasun’s daughter and that she was here to do something with the dungeon.

What exactly was still in question.

“Did she attack you too or was it the others?” Kelin asked Serai and Galin as he walked up to their barrier.

Serai frowned as she looked over at the girl. She knew what Kelin was asking, and her anger warred with her sense of reason as she made a decision.

“She didn’t do much,” she said finally. “It was the others. She just tried to pretend it wasn’t happening.”

“Very well,” Kelin said with a nod.

That decided the matter as far as he was concerned. 

As with Yaris, he was well aware of who was worth killing and who would be a lot of trouble. 

If Isla had helped to attack them, or if she pushed the issue with him now, he would deal with her, but until she did, getting rid of her wasn’t worth it.

Since she’d tried to leave, he wasn’t averse to giving her a second chance. Sometimes, a swift kick and a change of perspective was the best solution to set someone on a better path.

He looked over at her.

“I don’t know your involvement with that group,” he said, “but I recommend taking a different approach in the future. The edicts of the Path exist for a reason. You would do well to follow them.”

“Who are you to lecture me?” she snapped at him instantly. “Do you have the first idea what you just interrupted and how important this was? Or who I am? Speaking of that, who are you? I’ve never heard of a guild inspector at your age, or even one at all in Celadon.”

“I do have a fair idea of who you are,” Kelin replied calmly. “That’s why you’re still alive. As for who I am, I’m the one who interrupted an illegal attempt to take control of a dungeon and saved a team of guild adventurers from a bandit attack. Would you like to be included in that bandit group?”

He pointed at the corpses on the ground.

Isla glanced at them and then she pressed her lips together until they turned white, clearly struggling to control herself as she looked away.

“That’s what I thought,” Kelin replied.

His analysis told him she was only 19, which was impressive for her level, and right now, she looked furious and defiant even though she was half buried in stone.

Her father was likely to be the biggest problem here and killing his daughter would only aggravate that. For now, it was unclear what the baron’s motivations were.

Kelin’s information on him was lacking. He’d have to correct that as soon as possible.

He turned his attention back to the team. The three of them had gained a few levels since he saw them last.

Maro was up to 64, while Galin was 62 and Serai was 61. 

“Kelin, what was that?” Serai’s question hung in the air as she started to remove the ice wall. Beside her, Galin did the same thing with the stone one he’d created. 

She looked worn out and pale, but she was in better shape than Maro or Galin.

“I didn’t expect you would come here, but thank you,” she added. “How did you jump twenty levels since the last time we saw you? And kill that berserker? He was Level 121! Do you really work for the guild?”

“That star can’t be faked,” Galin said gruffly as he glanced at the silver star on Kelin’s shoulder. “I haven’t seen one of those before, but I’ve heard about them. That’s a guild inspector’s star. They’re the ones who are supposed to check on dungeons that overflow or act strangely, as well as when people are causing trouble, but usually the Path takes care of it all, so they’re pretty rare.”

He finished removing the wall by grabbing a stone chunk and tossing it off to the side. He grumbled as the movement pained his broken arm.

“Didn’t expect to see it on you,” he told Kelin with approval, “but I saw the way you handled that last dungeon, and now this, so the star fits. Now let’s get on with what’s important. You have any healing potions or mana to heal Maro? You’re a mess yourself, so don’t force it if you can’t.”

The dwarf pointed at Kelin’s chest.

“I’ll be alright,” Kelin said as he glanced down at his chest where Orest’s axe had struck. “I got a bit more durable since the last time we met.”

It would have been a dangerous wound, but his physique and passive healing were already working on it. 

He pulled out an intermediate and a basic healing potion and pushed them into Galin’s hands. It should be enough for the dwarf’s arm and any other hidden injuries.

“You drink these and I’ll work on Maro,” Kelin said as he walked through the gap in the wall.

He handed a basic healing potion and two mana potions to Serai as well. 

He drew a ward circle around the four of them, just in case, since the dungeon was still a threat.

Everything nearby had been killed before he arrived, and for the moment the dungeon wasn’t sending any more, but the undead would probably show up before too long.

He pulled the Soulfire Sigil out of his shirt and hung it in the air before he knelt down next to Maro. With its increased duration, there was no reason to ever let the sigil expire, except maybe overnight.

The man had been badly ripped up by claws and teeth, with over twenty deep lacerations across his body, apparently from a wolf that Orest had thrown at him. He was also covered in blood and had a number of broken bones.

As Kelin studied him, he pulled out another intermediate healing potion and dumped it into the man’s mouth. It created an immediate flush of health that began to spread down his chest.

As the potion worked, Kelin took out a basic one and poured it across the worst wounds.

Then Touch of Soulfire blazed through his meridians as he channeled healing into the man, focusing on the deeper areas that the potions were slow to reach, like his organs and arteries. 

It was lucky that Maro had a decent Constitution. It was enough to keep him alive even with all of the damage. It would take a little while to fix him up, but he would recover.

Kelin’s mana was under half and his own passive healing was taking up most of his mana regeneration, so he drank a basic mana potion as he worked.

When the first healing potions finished their work, he poured another into Maro’s mouth and then a second one across the remaining wounds. 

That was enough to get the worst of the damage out of the way. 

His mana was down to 30%, so he stopped healing and sat down to meditate. His Soulfire Sigil and another potion or two would be enough to speed up Maro’s recovery.

Around him, Serai and Galin sat down as well, tending to their own wounds and drinking their potions. There was a conversation waiting about how Kelin had managed to kill Orest, but they all ignored it as they focused on recovering first.

It was never a good idea to drain your mana or to let down your guard in a dungeon.

Since he had a moment, he turned his attention to the notifications that were waiting for him. There were two types, one set related to the guild star and another set that was about experience gains. 

He looked at the normal ones first.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire.

You have gained 3 Levels.

Your Soul-Bonded Elemental has also gained 3 Levels.

You are now Level 85.

You gain 3 Wisdom, 9 Intelligence, and have 15 free attribute points to assign.

The points brought his Wisdom up to 197 and his Intelligence to 661, so he added the 15 free points to his Constitution, taking it to 179.

Getting injured so frequently was driving home the need for more.

The Mage’s Law was a fine one, but when your mana shield broke, it was good to have a backup. Otherwise, you’d die in a single hit. 

A wave of vitality flowed through his body and the wound on his chest became less threatening as the healing accelerated.

That was the advantage of adding Constitution right after a battle, something he hadn’t done much in this life.

If he’d had another 100 points in it, Orest’s axe wouldn’t have done much, since a lot of the damage had already been absorbed by his shields, but that level of commitment would have to wait until he was in the First Evolution.

His physique would be better then too, with a denser mana signature and the increased durability that came with it. 

The berserker hadn’t been very impressive for his level, just a little resistant to soul magic, but it was still a reminder that there was a difference between knowledge and power. Even pushing his abilities as much as possible, it was difficult to match the First Evolution.

There was no replacement for a solid foundation.

He turned his attention to the second set of notifications.

As a Guild Inspector, your actions have been evaluated.

You removed an obstruction blocking a dungeon entrance and dealt with attacks on guild members inside.

You have upheld the Edicts of the Path and the Law of the Sovereign.

You are granted a Mark of Favor. 

This mark can be spent during your next Evolution for increased assistance from the Path.

For your adherence to the Edicts, you are promoted from Corporal to Sergeant in the Army of Silver Stars. 

Normally, this rank is only gained at the First Evolution, but you have demonstrated sufficient strength that it is allowed.

As a Sergeant, your Alliance Rank is directly raised to the equivalent, from High Bronze to Low Steel.

You may now take missions up to Level 125 and your alliance discount has increased to 10%.

The star on Kelin’s shoulder flickered and then it flew toward the guild badge on his chest, where it sank into the material.

The bright bronze color of the badge swiftly changed to a bright steel. Swirling designs formed across the surface that looked like the waves left by pattern welding. Most of the patterns were darker than the body of the badge, with only a few bright.

That was what marked it as Low Steel. 

As he ascended to Middle Steel and then to High Steel, the patterns would all brighten, until the badge was covered in swirling silver lines, like a promise of what came next.

Steel-ranked adventurers were typically Level 100 to 200, followed by the Silver Rank, like Captain Sandren.

With that, the Path decided the matter was settled and the star disappeared in a shimmer of silver light.

The most valuable part of that notification wasn’t the rank, however, but the Mark of Favor from the Path. 

Those were most commonly gained in battle against enemies. The Chaos War was the main place, but dungeons sometimes gave them too.

Apparently, so did being a guild inspector.

Of course, if he’d done something the Path didn’t like, the punishment would have been even worse.

He went back to meditating and a few minutes later, Maro let out a cough as his eyes flickered. Flames appeared around his body as well, rising as his aura strengthened.

It was somewhat ironic that he was also a berserker, like Orest, but his element was flame, where the Wind Hunter had been focused on blood.

As Maro came to, he tried to leap to his feet, but Galin’s hand on his shoulder kept him from moving.

“It’s fine now. Knock that off,” the dwarf grumbled. “Kelin showed up and took care of things. That First Evolution berserker is dead. So’s the trash that was with him, except the girl. Better them than you.”

“Kelin?” Maro asked with confusion as he shook his head. He shook off Galin’s hand and stood up, but then he realized he was the only one standing. 

He looked around the area as he took in what had happened, and then he sat down again.

“He killed the berserker?” he asked. “How? The man was Level 121!”

“He got stronger, apparently, but he hasn’t explained it,” Galin said with a gruff laugh. “Feel free to ask him. Lad came in as a guild inspector of all things and killed almost everyone.”

“I would like to know more about that,” Serai agreed. She had recovered a bit as well and had more energy now. “And if I’m not mistaken, that girl over there was the one in charge of this group, at least in name. The berserker listened to her most of the time, even if he wasn’t happy about it. Who is she?”

“Baron Verasun’s daughter, I believe,” Kelin answered as he looked over at Isla. “The guild can deal with her and decide a punishment. You can give statements about her actions and they’ll settle it.”

“I suppose that works,” Serai said. “I’ve heard of Baron Verasun, but I don’t know much about him. He’s a big trader of some type in wines, fruit, mistwood...something like that..”

“Aye, and dungeon artifacts,” Galin added in. “That’s where the mistwood comes from. One of the bigger traders in Celadon, I think. We don’t hear as much about him over in Cerith, but I still know the name.”

“Probably best she’s still alive then,” Maro said as he looked over at her, shaking his head. “We don’t need that sort of attention. Let the guild handle it.”

He looked back at Kelin.

“But how did you find us?”

“I got Serai’s message,” Kelin said as he briefly explained how he’d come to the dungeon. “The rest was just breaking through the entrance and then finding you. That berserker and the others were part of the Wind Hunters, a mercenary group out of Highmist that I’ve run into before. The world is better off without them.”

“But how did you kill him?” Maro asked as he shook his head. “I tried to fight him at first and he knocked me flying with a single punch.”

“A mage has to keep some secrets,” Kelin said with a chuckle. “But I’ll explain it eventually if we fight together more.”

Maro gave a thoughtful hum at that, but then he glanced at Isla, who was clearly listening with interest, and he didn’t ask again.

“So what now?” he said instead. “We should probably head out of here and tell the guild...and take her with us, I suppose?”

“That’s the simplest option,” Kelin agreed. “The guild can question her and then ransom her back to her father. Perhaps you’ll get a bonus for it.”

“Wait!” Isla called out, her voice rising as she heard their plan. “I apologize for the misunderstanding and I’m sorry for all the trouble you went through. There’s no need for a ransom. Let me go now and I’ll make it worth your while. I’ll pay you a hundred gold and I’ll just disappear.” 

Isla’s expression was earnest as she looked at them hopefully. 

“A hundred each then!” she added, raising the amount when they didn’t respond.

The team hesitated as they looked at Kelin, but he shrugged as he left the decision up to them.

It was a decent amount of money. Not incredible, but probably more than they’d get from the guild.

“You could take it,” he said indifferently. “Maybe she’ll keep her word, maybe not. What she’ll do after that is unknown.”

“I am a noble!” Isla snapped. “I will make whatever promise you want to not bother you if you accept my offer and let me go. I’ll even try to deflect the blame for this from you. It’s going to fall on me anyway.”

The team looked at each other, and then it was Serai who shook her head.

“It’s a lot of gold, but it’s not worth it,” she said. “We shouldn’t let her buy her way out. She might not have helped them attack us, but that group still listened to her. She could have stepped in earlier. It was only after Kelin showed up that she changed her mind and tried to run away. 

“The guild’s punishment is what she deserves, including whatever embarrassment it brings to her family.”

Kelin didn’t add anything. He thought the guild was the best option since they would have more leverage and the connection might hinder her father’s plans, but if she wandered off like this, there was also a chance the attention could die down.

Galin let out a low harrumph of agreement, and then he looked over at Maro.

If they were making the decision, it was best to be unanimous.

At that moment, however, an intense wave of mana appeared in the area and interrupted what he was about to say. 

As soon as the mana touched Kelin’s ward, an immense pressure crashed into it. The ward blazed with soulfire as cracks appeared across the surface, and sections of it began to shatter under the force.

Kelin’s heart skipped a beat as the sensation hit him, making him feel ill for a moment. There was a dense aura of spatial energy with the energy that made it feel like the world was shifting out of place.

His spatial affinity balanced it out, stabilizing the effect, and his head snapped around as he looked toward the source. He recognized what it was.

That was the leading edge of an acceleration spell. 

True spatial folding wasn’t possible until the Fourth Evolution, so this type of spell was one of the options for speed. The spell extended for a long distance in front of a mage, creating a path where movement was faster.

It was as good as shouting that someone was coming.  

Kelin wasn’t sure who it was, but they were much stronger than Orest, and he doubted they had good intentions. 

He flooded his ward with mana as he leapt to his feet. Blaze ignited throughout his body and compressed mana roared through his meridians. 

He didn’t hesitate as he grabbed an intermediate mana potion and drank it, followed by another basic one. He hadn’t had much time to recover and Blaze took a lot to activate, so even with that, his mana was only up to 40%.

As the main part of the acceleration spell arrived, the figure of a lean man in formal clothes appeared on the road. The spell surrounded him in rippling blue light and dense First Evolution mana poured off of him like a wind.

It wasn’t quite a mana field, but it was building up to it, which meant that he was near the peak of the First Evolution.

Kelin analyzed him.

Haris Kolburn. Level 192. Wind Animator-Dimensional Mage.

The blue light faded away, leaving the man standing there. His expression was frigid and his clothes were a pressed black coat and slacks. They were too ornate for the setting, but they suited him.

He looked around the area, scanning the dead bodies, Kelin’s group, and then Isla trapped in the stone. 

He blinked out of sight and then he was standing beside her. His hand rose and a blade of wind mana reinforced with a spatial affinity sliced down, straight through Gaius’s grip.

The stone split in a clean line, and it was followed by another three wind blades that sprang into existence almost faster than Kelin could see.

Within an instant, Isla was free from the trap.

“Kolburn...” Isla said, seeming surprised. “What are you doing here?”

Kolburn set her on her feet and flicked his fingers. Streams of wind dusted her off, set her clothes straight, and even combed her hair. 

Within an instant, she was set to rights.

“Miss Crest,” he said politely as he held out his arm for her. “Please stay beside me for your safety, while I deal with this small matter.”

Before Isla could respond, he tucked her hand around his arm. He paid no attention to the bodies on the ground as he turned to look at Kelin and the others, studying them with an exacting gaze. 

His gaze lingered particularly on Kelin and the Low Steel badge on his chest.

“A group of bandits pretending to be guild adventurers,” he said finally, “And they’ve stolen a badge that doesn’t belong to them. It’s difficult to keep dungeons clean. That is a mistake that should be rectified.”

The badge was bright with mana, which meant that it obviously wasn’t stolen, but right now that didn’t matter.

Kolburn raised his hand and four wind blades appeared, each of them infused with a spatial affinity that made the leading edge sharp enough to split a diamond. 

Then they shot toward the team, one at each of them.

Each of the blades was three times more powerful than Orest’s best axe blow, and they closed in like deadly scythes.

If they hit, they would cut through them like they weren’t even there.

“Kolburn, stop!” Isla shouted, but her words came too late.

Kelin’s temper flared as he hardened his ward, pouring everything he had into it, but he already knew it wasn’t going to be enough.

Gaius leapt to help. 

There was no time to summon a stone wall, and the blades would probably have cut through it anyway, so the elemental poured pure Earth mana through their affinity and into the barrier, making golden runes burn across both Kelin and the ward.

As the wind blades closed in, Kelin did the only other thing he could. 

He leapt in front of the others and stood there like a wall as he yanked his cloak into a shield in front of him and braced it with his staff. Then he flooded both of the artifacts with dense mana, as well as his spell deflection bracer.

The impact as the blades hit felt like the world was turning over. He didn’t even have time to process how quickly his ward shattered. 

Four impacts hammered into him like mountains crashing down and then he was flying through the air. 

He slammed into a tree a hundred feet away. The trunk was three feet across, but half of it exploded under the force, turning into a storm of splinters and chunks of wood that flew away like a catapult stone had hit it.

He fell thirty feet to the ground and landed with a bone-cracking thud.

The world was spinning around him and he wasn’t sure which way was up, but that meant he was still alive. He could still feel Gaius and the earth, so he used that as a reference as he forced himself to his feet.

Or tried to.

His body barely responded, with only weak twitches as he slowly managed to move an arm and then a leg. 

It seemed like most of his bones were broken.

He could feel waves of blood running down his body and his vision was a haze of golden runes that were glowing across his skin, part of Gaius’s last minute efforts.

Despite that, he refused to stay down.

His vision was a blur, so he shifted to his soul sight and then he drew on the connection with Gaius. He took direct control of the runes, using Gaius’s remaining mana to force them to move one by one, and with that he made his limbs straighten out.

Stone flowed along his body as it hardened into splints. Then it formed around his joints, locking them into place as he stood up.

He was still holding onto his staff and cloak, but he could feel the damage they’d taken. Rare grade materials were extremely durable, but the spatial mana had sliced straight through his cloak and deep into the staff.

There were four cuts in the cloak, but only two of them had hit his staff, leaving cuts halfway through the dense wood. 

His deflection bracer had turned to slag. Not only had the core exploded, but the runes of the entire enchantment had warped and twisted. The mithril was scorched black.

The other two blades had cut through him, one straight through his left hip and stomach, and the other through his right collarbone and shoulder.

The only saving grace was that the cuts were thin. The bones and muscles had been completely severed, but each wound was only as wide as a sheet of paper.

The blades had been aiming for all four of them, so they’d been at different angles. Otherwise, they would have cut him in half.

His mana had bottomed out and Blaze had stopped automatically, so there was nothing to draw on for healing except his passive regeneration. His physique was doing what it could to pull the pieces back together and stop the bleeding, but it was slow.

He ignored it as he stood there. 

He looked at the team first, making sure they were still there. 

Galin’s shield was cut in half and he had a slash through part of his arm and one side of his chest that looked like it had cut straight through his lung, while Maro was missing the bottom of his leg, which had been cut off at the knee. 

Serai’s staff was in two pieces and she was holding her arm, which had been nearly cut through at the wrist. The only saving grace was that her arm was still attached, which meant the bone hadn’t been completely severed.

The blades had passed straight through Kelin and then through them, and the wounds could be deadly if they weren’t healed immediately.

A deep anger flared in Kelin’s heart as he turned his attention to Kolburn. He was out of mana, but he still had some soul energy left. 

He diverted his passive regeneration from healing to give him a flicker of mana, and rainbow flames began to burn around him as he walked forward. 

It was a slow walk, like a golem stomping across the earth, as Gaius moved his body for him.

At the same time, he pulled the rest of the shielding talismans he had on him and activated them all. There were only seven, but it would have to be enough.

“Not dead yet?” Kolburn said, showing a flicker of surprise for the first time as he studied Kelin. “Impressive, I suppose, but easily remedied.”

“Kolburn, I order you to stop! They are not bandits! They are guild adventurers!” Isla was yanking on the man’s arm as she shouted at him, but it barely moved his body.

“Miss, I understand you’re distraught, but please leave this to me,” Kolburn said as he wrapped her bands of air and set her off to the side. “You misunderstand the situation, but your father will explain it later. I’ll take care of it without any trouble.”

The man ignored the rest of the team like they weren’t even there, focusing all of his attention on Isla.

The exchange gave Kelin a moment to walk forward and the rainbow flames around him grew more intense. He poured them into a soul arrow in his hand, shaping it with all the mana he could spare.

Then he added more, layering soul energy on top of soul energy, so much that it was drawing from his true soul and not just his soul pool. 

His vision was already blurred, but the pain that ripped through his body from that was old and familiar, like he was unweaving his existence.

The flows of mana through his cloak and staff were broken by the damage they’d suffered, so he had to divert it around them as he poured the energy into the soul arrow.

As he came within thirty feet, Kolburn finished dealing with Isla and turned back to look at him. He had looked at her with something like gentleness, but now his eyes were filled with disdain and killing intent.

“Since you survived a blow, I suppose you deserve to know why I’m going to kill you,” he said as he shaped another wind blade on his hand. “First, for touching the young miss...death. And second, for interfering with the lord’s plans, also death.”

He glanced over at Orest’s body.

“I suppose I should thank you for getting rid of that one. I never did like him. He wasn’t worthy of entering the lord’s house. Lowborn trash is always lowborn trash.”

“Kolburn, stop!” Isla shouted again, but her words were silenced a moment later as Kolburn wove a sound barrier around her.

The man raised his hand and the wind blade intensified. It was only one this time, but it was even stronger than the previous ones.  

He threw it at Kelin and it expanded in the air, becoming six feet long. The leading edge whistled as it headed for him.

At the same time, Kelin hurled the unique soul arrow he’d been forming in his hand. Unlike a normal one, this one only had a tiny bit of mana. 

It was almost pure soul energy and faster than Kolburn’s wind blade.

It flared like a nearly invisible rainbow bolt as it shot across the distance and disappeared into Kolburn’s soul. A silver earring on the butler’s left ear flared with light as it tried to block the attack, but then it shattered and the arrow struck home.

The man’s soul was as dense as a steel plate, but the arrow buried itself there. The flames around it were bright, but low, and they didn’t immediately catch.

Kelin didn’t care as he felt a sense of satisfaction.

Without enough mana to fuel it, the arrow would take time to ignite, but he’d poured enough soul energy into it that he was confident it wouldn’t go out.

Then the wind blade struck.

Kelin had his cloak and staff in front of him again, as well as the talisman shields and a layer of stoneskin that Gaius was pouring all of his earth mana into. 

His staff rang like a tuning fork as the blade struck it, and then it snapped in half. The blade slowed down slightly, but it continued on and the talismans shields shattered in a single explosion of runes, merging together so quickly that it wasn’t possible to separate them.

The explosion and the nature of the layered dragon scales that formed the talismans created a chaotic field that slowed the blade down more, but not enough.

Gaius’s stoneskin split next.

At that moment, however, a massive wave of mana that dwarfed even Kolburn’s crashed down onto the area. It felt like it was filling the entire sky of the dungeon, from the clouds to the roots of the earth.

There was a bright silver feeling to it like metal and starlight.

The mana was so dense it was practically solid, and as it filled the area, every other spell in the place was crushed in front of it.

Including the wind blade that was just starting to tear through Kelin’s chest.

The blade tried to fight against the oppression, but it was made of mana and wind, and both had frozen. Most of its energy had been expended breaking through Kelin’s artifacts and shield, and now the remainder shattered into fragments that dissipated into the air.

“Halt!” A stern and familiar voice shouted as the mana field suppressed everything.

Then Captain Sandren was standing in the sky. Her armor glowed with power and spatial enchantments as she looked down on the area.

Her expression was more furious than Kelin had ever seen.