Quest 78- Source Of The Infection
Quest 78- Source Of The Infection
Two more hours later.
‘We made it in. How are things on your end?’
"Shitty. There is a labyrinth amount of passages. It’s like the Dungeon, but way more boring. I’ve been making markers to keep track, but progress is slow- wait a minute?"
Clack-clack! Clack-clack!
Cirrus could hear someone coming down.
"Seems I’m going to the heart of the mountain soon."
Hiding in the darkness, Cirrus waited and when 2 people riding in a cart came, Cirrus quickly jumped into the cart.
"Hey there boys, mind showing me to your goddess?"
"!!!!!"
Their horrified screams filled the veins of the mountain tunnels as Cirrus held them down and yanked out their poisoned tooth.
Riding into where the Familia was on top of one of the Familia members, watching the other take him to the Familia.
"So, while you were waiting, tell me, how far along is the seal?"
"U-um w-w-w just got to work u-uncovering it!"
"Ah… is that so? I hope you’re not fucking lying to me," Cirrus said with his hand on his blade.
After some minutes, they leave the tunnels and arrive at a town underneath the mountain with a massive pillar of stone holding up the ceiling. The ceiling had holes to let natural light into the town, which gave it an almost lost city kind of vibe.
In the far-off distance, Cirrus could hear the sounds of mining and whips. From what he had gathered so far, he could only assume it was a similar situation to Solingen's.
"Thanks for the ride." Cirrus then gets off the cart and looks at the two Familia members. "Now then." Cirrus then kicked the cart over.
The two Familia members fall out and look up at Cirrus with fear as their faces are filled with his feet.
Thud! Thud!
The two Familia members were knocked out and thrown to the side for later.
"Hey Nox… I’m in. "
‘Anyway, for you to show us?’
"There are cart tracks. Do you see any nearby?"
‘We do. What are you going to do?’
Cirrus kneels and places his hands on the metal track.
"I’m going to make you a path."
His magic circle appeared under him.
"(Sword of Damocles.)."
Dense electricity covered and travels the tracks.
Bzt! Bzt! Bzt!
Bzt! Bzt! Bzt!
Bzt! Bzt! Bzt!
He sent so much that the metal started to heat up and melt around his hand. Eventually, the metal magnetized so strongly that the metal bars on the track came together.
‘Ah… thank! We’ll catch up with you as soon as we can! You can deal with the Familia! We will handle any stragglers we come across! ’
"And once again, I’m doing the job."
Cirrus, still wearing his Lernaean armor, moves swiftly through the well-built stone homes and buildings, following the sound of construction.
When he finally reached it, he found hundreds of dwarves working like madmen, clearing out the rocks. Several Familia members patrolled around the area with arrows and swords until he saw one that stuck out. He had a better appearance and a staff.
‘Guess that’s the captain. His gear looks far better than the rest and…’
Next to him was a goddess, with dark green hair and skin so pale one would think she’d been sick for ages.
"Nox, I found the captain and their goddess, Loviatar."
‘And the seal?’
"Hmm… it looks to be still intact; I think? How are you? Are you close?"
‘Hard to tell... Oh, Artemis told me to tell you to go on ahead and deal with the Familia. According to her, she could hear small sounds?’
"That’s the miners, I see them all mining like crazy… well, time to get to work, disengage."
Watching the dwarves working, Loviatar felt a chill run down her back.
"… Something is amiss." She said, looking around.
"Is something wrong, my goddess?" said Lowya.
"I don’t know why, but… I could feel the chill of death looming over this place?"
"Do you want me to check in on the patrol?" he asked.
"Yes, and tighten up secure—!" in the corner of her eye, she saw something fade away.
She turned to see a white and gold magic circle appear with a young child in black and brown armor with a deer mask adorned with golden antlers.
As each of the white wrappings went around his limbs, Loviatar could feel death tighten its grip.
"THE WHITE BEAST IS HERE!!!" she shouted, pointing at Cirrus as he jumped down from the buildings and rushed towards her direction.
The moment she shouted, all of her Familia looked around to find something golden rushing past their eyes.
Lowya, who was next to Loviatar, was stunned to see the White Beast move so quickly.
"L-lady Loviatar! What should we do!!"
"Get me down to the seal! I’ll have to break it with force!"
He picks her up and jumps down to the quarry-like hole filled with tired and confused dwarves. As he runs past the dwarves, Loviatar looks back to see several of her children being crushed with a single strike, and finally, the White Beast jumps down and walks towards them.
"Why are you running!! This is the end of the Loviatar Familia! Lady Artemis is nearly here! Dwarves!! Get as far away as you can!!" He shouted.
"!!"
Every dwarf took this chance to quickly run away from the area.
"You!" she patted Lowya, and he let her down. "You are the White Beast, right? You have the nerve to hunt me like some animal! And to even threaten me!"
"… So you are that out of the loop, huh? You know your fellow god Kakia has been sent to heaven?"
"Eh? N-no way!! She has a stranglehold on the Entertainment District!"
"She should have been far nicer. The other gods found an opportunity and capitalized on it. This also tells me that your other fellow god, Alecto, has left Orario with some of her stronger children who aren’t coming here."
"Ka… KAKAKAKA!!!!" The goddesses laughed out loud. "Seems she’s going for another seal! Well, no matter! Let’s see if you are strong enough to face this titan! Lowya go!"
As her divinity rose, Lowya rushed towards Cirrus with his staff in hand. Lowya swings down the staff, but Cirrus easily catches it.
"… How good is your Immunity ability?"
"E-eh?"
Cirrus drew Brilliant Nightmare with his other hand, and his magic circle appeared over the green gem.
"(Swords of Damocles)."
As the lightning went into the gem, the weapon itself pulsated, and the spine of the blade grew and glow with a green light reminiscent of the monster he had slain. The green glow gave the blade an appearance like that of a leaf as the green found its way to the edges.
"W-what is that!!" Lowya shouted in fear that even Loviatar was interested.
"It’s the monster you released."
Cirrus then stabbed Lowya on the foot.
"!!"
Lowya let go of his staff, as he could feel something burning in the spot where he was stabbed. He quickly ripped his pants to see he was poisoned. His veins were becoming black and all feeling in his foot was now gone. He removed his shoes to find necrosis took his foot.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! W-WHAT IS THIS!!! THIS POISON!!!!"
"Like it? It’s a man-made Nature Weapon using the eyes of the Nuckelavee, the magic stone, and blade of the Udaeus, and the fang of a Basilisk. So it’s a nice jar of poisons for one such as you who helped spread death."
Cirrus then sheathes his blade and walks towards Loviatar as Lowya tries desperately to get rid of his leg, but the poison quickly reaches his thighs.
"You can’t harm me! I’m a god!!" Loviatar said as her Arcanum started to fill the area with corrosive fumes. "You may have destroyed my Familia! But I’ll be sure as hell to free this monster to kill your child!!"
The godly corrosive fumes started to even affect Cirrus with his Immunity ability at E Rank.
"So you plan on being sent back to heaven by force!!!" Cirrus shouted.
"Why not!! I can at least take the child who brought ruin to my Familia up there myself!!"
The massive wall behind her, which was the seal, began to crack and glow. The whole mountain shook as if a high-magnitude earthquake hit it.
Guragura! Guragura! Guragura! Guragura!
Guragura! Guragura! Guragura! Guragura!
Guragura! Guragura! Guragura! Guragura!
Some of the ceilings began to cave in, causing falling rocks to come down.
Cirrus looked up to see the massive wall begin to move away from him, revealing the open sky, which was darkening.
As the wall moved, it was revealed to be a hand. The hand then bashed the area around it and even more, hands sprang up.
"KAKAKAKAKA!!!!!" Loviatar laughed as a pillar of light crashed down, covering her. The snap of her fingers could barely be heard from Cirrus. "I MAY BE LEAVING GEKAI!! BUT I CAN AT LEAST SHOW THE WORLD YOUR DEATH!!!"
"??"
Cirrus looks around to see a window in the air in front of him with himself in it.
‘Cirrus! She used her Arcanum to use the Divine Mirror! She’s being forcibly sent back to heaven!’
"Then is every god watching me!?"
‘Artemis said yes, we are actually seeing you now.’
"Fuck…" Cirrus looks up as the pillar of light dissipates and Loviatar is gone, leaving only the rise of the Hecatonchires breaking itself free from the seal.
The surrounding mountains break, revealing its massive multi-limbed form, grasping the heavens themselves from its arm’s length alone.
Many gods were curious why a divine mirror was opened until they looked around and found Zephyr and a massive hand in the background. Several of the gods asked to continue using it, to which god Ouranos gave permission.
Several gods on the continent were now watching what would happen as they saw Cirrus looking up as a mountain was thrown back and a gargantuan titan with hundreds of hands, heads, and legs filled the mirror.
After so long, the monster looked up at the sky and let out a heaven-shaking roar.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Causing the earth and sky to shake from their yell of freedom.