"C-Captain, you're back," stuttered Clavin as Andre's figure took form in place of『The Ressurection Cube』. Sophia stood a few feet away, tears still streaming down her face.
"We los-"
[Citizens of New Vautis, the gods greet you.] interrupted an autonomous voice.
"It's them again," murmured a few people in the crowd outside the tower, looking to the sky to see where the voice was coming from.
[Congratulations on completing a tower, this is proof of your competence and will to survive.] continued the autonomous voice.
"T-Then Captain must have completed the tower before dying," commented one of the Riot Guild members within the crowd.
"As expected of the Captain,"
'I-Impossible,' thought Andre, his eyes wide in disbelief.
[However, this is also proof that you no longer require system protections.]
[By completing the tower, you have also completed your tutorial. As such, all tutorial restrictions shall now be removed.]
[The gods have shown benevolence and protected you from outside threats, however, now you shall be left to fend for yourselves.]
[Continue to survive, continue to climb the towers. There are divine rewards to be won and titles above mortal imagination to be had.]
[The protective barrier will now be removed, venture out, seek glory and entertain the supreme ones,] with this the autonomous voice went quiet.
A moment later, the light that had been illuminating from the top of the tower changed from blue to yellow. A translucent shell that seemed to cover the sky came undone, leaving the sky a brighter hue of blue.
"Barrier?"
"You didn't know? Why do you think we stayed in this dump?" murmured a few people in the crowd once they realized that the barrier truly had been lifted.
"Andre, w-what now?" asked Sophia, sniffling as she tried to suppress her sadness.
***
'Two more seconds. Her rifle should be up in two more seconds,' thought Gray, his breathing now erratic as he used sheer willpower to stay conscious.
"Eleanour perhap-"
"Now!" interrupted Gray.
As if capable of reading minds, Tesse fired her gun at Armin, prompting him to block them with his glowing chains.
At the same time, Gray threw his dagger, aiming at the now defenseless Armin.
*stab*
"It seems I've underestimated you," laughed Armin, as blood dripped to the floor.
In order to prevent a fatal injury, Armin blocked the incoming dagger with his right hand, allowing it to puncture through.
'If this goes on, we'll fall before they do. It seems I'll have to go with plan B, how troublesome,'
"Eleanour, we'll be leaving,"
"B-Bu-" before Eleanour could refute, Armin started walking towards the open portal, pulling out the dagger from his hands before licking it.
"I hope to see you soon," he said, smiling at Gray with drops of blood dripping down his mouth.
"That was clos-," Gray fainted before he could finish his sentence.
"Master," exclaimed Tesse as she ran towards Gray, the cub running clumsily behind her.
Gray's face looked pale, and the wound on his leg seemed to have some sort of earth-like substance preventing the suit from healing itself.
Tesse hovered her hands above his body, a luminescence engulfing her body as she healed Gray.
"Well done," commented Gray once he had gained consciousness. Tesse on the other hand fell to the ground, the surge of weakness that overcame her caused her body to give out on her.
"Hmm, it seems my injuries were too much for you to handle,"
"Right now we need to collect the loot and get out of here. Perhaps a healing potion will hel-" as Gray looked through the item shop he noticed a few new items that weren't there before.
'Item shop level 2 huh,' thought Gray inwardly as he eyed a 10 000 Arcanian point item.
'New Vautis Visual System, why would a single item cost so many points?' wondered Gray before looking at his balance.
'As a top contributor, it seems I've gained 15 000 Arcanian points. Killing the noble was well worth it,' thought Gray as he pondered on whether or not to buy the item.
"First things first, the health potion," a bottle containing a red liquid appeared in his hands, its crimson red color exciting him slightly.
"T-Thank you master," blushed Tesse as Gray poured the liquid into her mouth, putting her head onto his lap.
"Crush all their skulls and collect the gemstones. We might need them later," ordered Gray, standing up before walking towards the Orc noble's corpse.
"Yes master," replied Tesse, her face still flustered from lying on Gray's lap.
"Use this," said Gray as he formed a crimson red Warhammer in his left hand before tossing it to Tesse.
"Understood,"
"Now, time to reap the fruits of my struggle," smiled Gray as he picked up the greatsword the Orc noble was carrying, carefully studying the runes etched along its length.
"A brown gemstone, huh. Must be earth related," murmured Gray as he recalled the black gem embedded in the silver sword he got from the Goblin noble.
Since he had grown accustomed to the structure of runes, he was able to memorize them after only a few minutes, saving them in his brain for later use.
"I can't be walking around with such a huge sword," decided Gray, before carving the brown gemstone out with a dagger and pocketing it.
'I should probably leave the silver sword as is. There might come a time when my powers will be unresponsive, and it would be a shame to be left without a weapon because of that,' thought Gray as he retrieved his silver sword from the『 T-1 anti-tank rifle』.
"Master, I've collected all the gemstones," smiled Tesse, drops of blood covering her hair and face as she held a pile of green gemstones in her arms.
"Very well," replied Gray, staring at the Orc noble's black suit with eyes full of greed.
***
"Look. What's that?" shouted one of the Riot Guild members pointing to something in the sky.
A single human-looking figure hovered in the air, its white robe flapping in the wind.
"Hear my words, humans," announced the figure, its voice seemed amplified, like it was coming out of some high-end speakerphone.
"You shall no longer intrude on Elven land. Submit now, or face our wrath" continued the figure, before a giant fireball the size of a football field appeared behind it, its heat causing ripples in the air.
Finale
================================================================
[System Information.]
『The Ressurection Cube』
An item created by Sophia's ability. It has the power to create a savepoint for any individuals saved in its data crystal, allowing them to respawn after death.
However, all experience, gain in stats, and rewards will be forfeited. All stats and levels will revert back to that saved at the time of its creation.
The material it is made of is currently unknown, however, experiments done by Sophia show that they can be broken and possibly tampered with. Making them very dangerous if not held and protected by friendly forces.
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