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Chapter 1004: Finishing What Was Started
Chapter 1004: Finishing What Was Started
Chapter 1004: Finishing What Was Started
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With the monster tide finally over, it went without saying that a great portion of the defenders went back to town, deciding to celebrate the town's safety with others as they took the time to relax.
Of course, there were also those who stayed put, wanting to help dispose of the various monster corpses that had accumulated thanks to the monster tide.
Though it wasn't necessary for them to dispose of the corpses as they would eventually disappear on their own, having already gone through multiple monster tides in the past, the town decided to take the initiative to clean it up, not wanting to attract unnecessary attention because of it.
Surprisingly, even though the town had shifted their thoughts to focus on dealing with the aftermath of the monster tide, Tristan, Myst, and Valyr stayed where they were, standing near the Greater Tidemother that had fallen thanks to the latter's attacks.
Watching the defenders that decided to clean up the monster corpses, Valyr noticed that many of them were looking at him with admiration, prompting him to nod and smile back at them as he soon shifted his gaze towards the two.
"So, now that the monster tide is over, what do you two plan on doing next?"
As this question left Valyr's mouth, Myst went silent for a bit as she pondered over it.
Then, after some time, she began to head in the direction of the defenders disposing the corpses, making her answer immediately known to both Valyr and Tristan.
"You could say that the town is temporarily free from monsters now that the monster tide is over," said Myst as she temporarily bade farewell. "I'll help the others clean the town's surroundings for the meantime."
Bidding Myst farewell back, Valyr watched as her silhouette became smaller in his vision before returning his gaze to Tristan. "How about you? What do you plan on doing?"
In response, the man pointed at the Tidemother corpse beside them before letting out a hearty chuckle. "Although I'm the head of this town's Blacksmith Guild, there are some things that don't change that easily."
Having already participated in two monster tides in the past alongside Tristan, it did not take long for Valyr to understood what the man meant by his words.
"I'm guessing you're gonna take the equipment and its blood, then?" Valyr looked at him with a knowing smile, to which Tristan grinned in response.
"Well, if it was any other time, I would've probably grabbed the entire corpse for myself," Tristan told Valyr. "However, since you're here, I presume you'd want the entire thing?"
At those words, the young man could only offer a slightly apologetic smile in response, recalling the voice that resounded in his mind the moment the Greater Tidemother was gone for good.
'Master... would it be possible for me to absorb their blood?'
Hearing Sana's voice echo in his mind at that moment, Valyr immediately understood that he might be put into a similar situation he'd already experienced in the past.
From a simple wooden spear he'd picked up as a starting weapon from Astarto's barracks, Valyr weathered through thick and thin alongside the weapon, enhancing it with the blacksmithing abilities he'd gained in order for it to keep up with him.
After that, Tristan introduced Valyr to the vials he'd been collecting, all of which were filled with the blood of a Lesser Tidemother. Because of those vials, the spear had sublimated into a form that showed greater power.
Then, due to Sana's nascent soul urging him to continue fighting spiders within one of his sessions in an Experience Pit, Sana had finally been awakened, allowing the spear to take another step to become a weapon that would be with Valyr till the end.
Yet, that all changed when he'd allowed Sana to absorb to the blood of a Prodigious Lesser Tidemother.
Taking in a deep breath to compose himself, Valyr went over Sana's words in his mind for a bit more before giving Tristan a nod. "Yeah. I might need it to upgrade my spear here."
After that, he pointed at the blood-red spear behind his back that glistened a faint gold under the sun's rays, prompting Tristan to stare at it for a bit before letting out a faint sigh.
Slightly shaking his head as he brought out a box of empty vials from who knows where, Tristan looked at Valyr with a slight smile. "At the very least, could you concede to having me grab 30 vials of blood this time?"
Briefly surprised to see the box of vials appear out of nowhere, Valyr took a while to respond to the man's request as he realized that Tristan had gotten his hands on a spatial bracelet.
"Didn't you grab like 20 vials of blood the last time we did something like this?" Valyr looked at Tristan as the two decided to head to the top of the Greater Tidemother's body. "Since that's the case, wouldn't 20 vials be enough this time as well?"
"I had a feeling you'd say that," said Tristan in response with a wry smile, watching as Valyr stored all of his items into who knows where before moving forward.
"With that being said, how about you allow me to grab 30 vials from the Tidemother and I give you the equipment it drops?"
As these words left Tristan's mouth, the two smoothly made their way up the Greater Tidemother's body thanks to their significantly higher stats.
"How about you keep the equipment the Greater Tidemother drops, grab 20 vials, and let me have the body for myself just like before?" said Valyr to Tristan after they arrived at the top. "After all, the tide wouldn't have been cleared so easily if not for me."
"...At times like these, I wonder why I've postponed getting stronger." Feeling as if the conversation would head down a direction he did not want to delve deep into, Tristan eventually let out a loud sigh of exasperation as he acceded to the young man's words.
Then, with the experience he'd built up carving Tidemothers out over the many monster tides he'd participated in the past, the man deftly carved an opening on the Greater Tidemother's body that gave him easy access to its blood.
Bringing the box of vials closer to him, Tristan went ahead and grabbed a total of 20 vials of blood, only for Valyr to change his mind at the end and have him grab 10 more vials of blood. Glad that he'd finally gotten what he wanted, Tristan swiftly scooped up enough blood to fill 10 more vials before taking out the equipment that had appeared after the Greater Tidemother's death.
"Huh. Pauldrons." Wiping off the blood that covered the equipment, Tristan looked at it with a hint of fascination as it had motifs referencing the Greater Tidemother's appearance. "Rare grade with a minimum requirement of peak Rank 3 to wear it."
"You sure you don't want this?" asked Tristan as he moved the pauldrons closer to the young
man.
Taking a quick look at the pauldrons with his identification skill, Valyr's eyes glistened for a bit after seeing its effects, only to shake his head at the end. "It's fine. It'll probably end up
becoming useless to me."
"After all, I don't have the other pieces of armor that would activate its set effects," continued the young man with a slight shrug. "Plus, I'm sure that piece of armor would
benefit the town more than me."
"...Thank you." Though he knew that Valyr said those words due to his skills as a blacksmith, Tristan also knew that the young man was also taking the town into consideration.
With the two promising to meet up alongside Alfaera and the others after he was done with what he needed to do, Valyr watched as Tristan moved down the Tidemother's body with all
the items he brought.
Continuing to watch the man for a bit longer, it was only after Tristan entered the town's walls did Valyr return his attention back to the opening Tristan had made on the Tidemother's
body.
Retrieving the blood-red spear behind his back, Valyr immediately heard Sana's voice echo in
his mind again.
'Master, are you sure you want me to absorb this blood?'
"Oh? What made you change your mind?" Responding to Sana's question, Valyr thought back to the time he'd had his spear absorb the Prodigious Lesser Tidemother's blood. Though his spear had indeed increased in strength yet again, it seemed that the spear went beyond than just absorbing the Tidemother's blood, eliciting the anger of the Alltide that caused both him and his spear to be cursed.
Of course, if he knew that dropping his spear into a Tidemother's body just when it was recently killed would cause things like that happen, Valyr would've probably went with just pouring the blood over Sana instead.
However, as he had already gotten this far, Valyr thought that there was no point shrinking in front of what seemed to be inevitable.
'... It's just that... the last time Master did something like this, a curse was applied to both of
us.' As Valyr continued to dwell in his thoughts, Sana's voice soon responded to his question. 'Wouldn't the same thing happen again?'
"It probably will." Valyr didn't hide the truth from his spear. "You'll definitely grow stronger, but the curse that's been put on us will probably become stronger as well."
'Then, if that's the case...'
"But so what?" Just as Sana was about to tell Valyr to not continue with the idea, the latter instead gave his spear a reassuring smile as he began to drop Sana into the opening. "It's not like we haven't found ways to work around it."
As these words left his mouth, Valyr briefly thought about the solution Vaughn was currently
working on.
With the thought in mind, Valyr let out a slight chuckle as he fully immersed the spear in the Greater Tidemother's blood. "We'll get through this, Sana."
"We'll both become grow stronger and eventually make this curse meaningless."
"Now... let's finish what we've started."
'...Yes.'