Chapter 234: Expensive Lady (2/2)
”I know, right? The System should have a Charm attribute. Mine would be through the roof,” Rakna jested with a flat tone and Astraea let out a chuckle over Natsu's misery. As this was happening, a system window made its appearance in the therian's vision.
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50th Plateau: Battle Trial Completed!
You have gained the right to leave the 50th Plateau.
Do you wish to exercise it now? You have 26 232 hours to make your decision.
Yes/No
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The party's strength has been evaluated. You have met the minimum requirements for several Plateaus. A skipping right has been granted. Party leader, Rakna Xiorra Blade, please select:
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- 51st Plateau
- 52nd Plateau
- 53rd Plateau
…
…
- 60th Plateau
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”Oh? That's curious…” Rakna said. 'Looks like my clone completed the Trial but I am the one who gets to do the selecting process, huh? It also probably evaluates my strength rather than the clone's or else, it wouldn't even be allowed to skip five Plateaus, much less ten of them now.'
”Is something wrong?”
”Nothing much. Just my clone going on adventures,” he lightly replied to the goddess' question and selected the 60th Plateau without much hesitation. ”You can go now, by the way. I'll call you again when I need to reinforce the furniture and the smithy I'll be adding. For now, I'm going to join back with my clone and then look into the details of the First Ascent and my Path Quest.”
Astraea nodded with a smile. ”All right. Be sure to think of me if you ever need a hand with other things as well,” she added and put Natsu on the ground. She waved at her summoner and started turning into star energy particles.
”Yeah, I'll think about it. Although you're expensive, you're useful.”
The angel made a long face as she disappeared. ”Don't call a lady 'expensive' and then proceed to evaluate her usefulness…” She groused and sighed. ”Jokes aside, it was truly an honor. Let us meet again, Lord Monarch,” she bid her goodbyes with a sincere smile and vanished.
Rakna glanced at where she was standing and snorted. ”She's a good person… I wonder if everyone in Egregore is like her though,” he muttered to himself and ate another heart. ”I'm starting to feel a negative strain. Together with the hearts I conjured from the Celestial Kindles, I'm a bit too full for comfort,” he groaned and licked his fingers.
”Thank you for reminding me of the gore display you made of my kin,” Natsu uttered blankly.
The therian let out a wry chuckle at that as they exited the house. He locked the door behind him and since he had turned the generator on, next time he wouldn't need to use his nanobots to force it open.
”Well then; [Call of Hounds,]” Rakna intoned and spent a decent amount of his mana to summon a dozen of Lv.100 Wolves and a hundred more at level 20. Fortunately, the reduction to his mana consumption was high enough to allow it and he also had a bit of mana left stored inside Andante.
Since the land they were summoned in was a simple field, most of them appeared as either Wood, Water, or Earth Wolves. But a few had emerged as Shadow Wolves because of the tree shades.
”All right. All Shadow and Water Wolves will hunt and patrol outside. Keep a safe perimeter within a three-kilometer radius. Stay as stealthy as possible in case of human intruders,” Rakna ordered his wolves and they seemed to understand as they nodded. Or rather, the only Lvl.100 Shadow Wolf appeared to fully comprehend his demand.
Now that he could leave his wolves summoned without spending extra mana and they could follow orders, it would be a waste to not use them as sentries to guard this place.
”The Wood Wolves will also be outside but they will stay around the entrance of the cave and fight off anything or anyone that tries to enter. The Earth Wolves will stay inside and will constitute the last line of defense. You can go to your posts now. The Lv.100 Wolves will be pack leaders; decide if you should engage in combat or not.”
Once he was done, the hundred or so wolves barked and a third of them directly ran to the outside of the cavern whilst the Earth Wolves scattered around the underground space.
”That is almost terrifying,” Natsu finally said as he saw the elemental wolves scramble off. ”I can't even imagine how fearsome an army of those could be…” He added, focusing especially on those level 100 wolves. He knew that even he wouldn't be able to deal with those if too many of them ganged up on him. But that was, of course, only considering if Water Wolves could counter him.
”{I have to agree with the Blaze,}” Fray remarked. ”{Being able to build this kind of force… and not even need anything to sustain them. You could just spend a few days in one spot, summoning one wolf after another and you can get yourself an army.}”
[That is why Kings and Emperors are so feared,] Ceres gave her input.
”Well, I'm not about to do that for every single Plateau,” Rakna shrugged. ”If I could transport them with me though, it would be a different story. But I don't have a workaround for that yet.”
Fray chortled. ”{Yet.}”
”Anyway, let's go. Ceres, bring us to the 60th Plateau. Where my clone is, preferably.”
[Right away.]