Chapter 48: Contract-Bound

“What exactly is so special about those two…?”

The butler thought about it for a second, before answering. It appeared he was thinking of the best way to phrase this. After finally mulling over the thought, he finally settled on just starting from the very beginning. “A long time ago, Lord Ozun was tasked with a special mission- an experiment if you will.”

Lusha cocked an eyebrow. Not because her interests were peaked, but rather because the servant had thought that he would get an interested reaction out of her from his roundabout approach. This didn’t work as intended, as the old man clearly thought that she was interested.

“The mission? To successfully invoke a Divine Impartation through the use of inscription magic.”

“Hoh?” As it turned out, perhaps this was an interesting statement after-all. To try and create a special skill in others through the creation of inscription magic was not something she had thought of, nor heard in all of her tenure. Her eyes lit up with excitement upon hearing this information. “Explain.”

The man nodded. “A long while during the war, Lord Ozun was one of our top skilled practitioners of inscription magic– actually, it may be more accurate to say he was indeed the top practitioner. Along with performing acts of espionage, he could even instill dormant seals on others and control those who’ve perished.”

“Control those…. Who had perished..” This was a quick explanation to many things that had been occurring now. However, even the great Lord Ozun himself was dead. And the control went further beyond just simply controlling a body.

“Yes. Upon surmising that one can control a dead body, and even those who are considered brain dead or cretins.”

There was a tap of her fingers against her arm, signifying the man to hurry up and finish his explanation.

“Thus, the country had come to a conclusion that it be possible to alter the genetics of one before they are even born. Thus, giving them different properties at birth. When it was attempted, Oren was a failed byproduct of such a mission. It instead caused him to become weak and and frail of body.”

A somber silence fell over the man’s face. “It truly was saddening. His life was never going to last long as a result…”

Lusha quickly swept this aside and interrupted before he got off topic. “So tell me… what was the experiment on the second son?”

“In both of them… Lord Ozun had attempted to create the ability to stifle the signature of mana.”

“Huh…? Do you mean..-”

“Yes. He attempted to make individuals who’s aura could not be determined. Of course, he failed with Oren, but with Zari.”

Suddenly everything flashed through her mind as puzzles falling down all into the same piece. The young man, the inscription magic and the adventurer’s guild parchment. The thing that annoyed her most- more than anything, was that she had been duped by a young child.

Setting aside the matter of the demon, something else piqued her interest. “Demon aside, the most dangerous individual in this situation is then…”

If she were to be an individual, unable to be detected, with the possible ability to animate others with precise inscriptions down to their natural behaviour… that is something of concern. While there was the worry of this demon, something told Lusha that she could solve that problem at any point.

There was something else that was worrying her. This uneasiness overcame her just as she wondered what she could possibly be missing. Until….

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A knock suddenly at Grodd’s door. His ears twitched at the noise. He thought perhaps it was the two old humans again, knocking to give him food as they did before. He thought it odd for humans to partition their food in three different meals as they did. But nonetheless, he dorned his helmet again to avoid any of the problems.

It had been a boring stay thusfar. Yet he was already dressed in his tattered iron gear as he was before. He didn’t want to delay once the mission came to fruition. Speaking of which, he had not heard from Lusha since the beginning of this mission. Instead, he was left to his own fruition, sitting within his giant enclosure.

He lazily got himself up from the floor and the door burst open. At first, he saw nothing. But as he looked further down, he realized his mistake. The source of the knocking was much too short to be seen just by staring ahead of you.

A young boy stood before him. His hair partitioned in a neat bowl-like style slightly covering his eyes. There was this odd smile on the young creature, one that Grodd could not quite understand what it was trying to convey. It seemed humans smiled for a variety of reasons.

The young child nodded quickly, then curtsied with an extended hand. In order to get onto his level, Grodd crouched. For a moment, he could only stare at the odd gesture. The hand remained outstretched to him.

At the very least, the child did not seem like a threat. Grodd extended his hand out as well, clasping the entire child’s arm into his giant hands. A shock instantly traveled through his body upon first contact. Then everything went completely blank. He wasn’t sure what had just occurred. Was he dead? His thoughts would not even clearly formulate. It was as if wading through murky waters.

Zari sighed. “There we go….I’d be in deep trouble if this one was too strong for it.” Various seals appeared around the behemoth’s body. Emitting a bright light before sustaining itself and disappearing around the goblin’s body.

Now first thing… I must stop the other group… The last thing I need is the entirety of the adventurer’s guild appearing here.

Grodd picked the kid up and placed him on his shoulder, before immediately fleeing in the direction of the previous adventurer’s group. His quick speed saw to it that he was out of the castle within seconds, trailing through the same hole that was to be found.

The pursuit was quick. Within seconds they were already inbound to the target group. The other two adventurer’s of the behemoth’s group must have just been engaging lord Ozun. He could feel tremors from their activity and action. Perhaps this group was not as unskilled as initially thought.

If that was the case, he couldn’t wait to see what this leader had in power. He tapped on the giant’s shoulder, lightly patting the man. If anything, he may even decide to keep utilizing this man after-all.

The jump from the top of the building was a rough launch, but Grodd had landed on his feet, carrying the child and immediately dashing out towards the south. “Continue forward about 10 miles out. They’re a bit farther than we are, but we should be able to catch up. They’re not in the best shape.”

Grodd nodded and changed his direction, fleeing into the forests. The ground felt as if it was fleeting underneath his feet. The clanking of armor made a single noise that created a rhythm between that and the ground meshing underneath his feet.

“Hmm… is there a way you can speed up? We’ll need to comp quite a bit of distance.”

Grodd nodded. [Blessings of the One Being] The energy spike within him was insane. Zari quickly activated a suppression inscription, muffling the range of energy being exerted. It was a spell he had concocted a year back. Using the attribute for himself as the basis for it. Back then, he couldn’t have known how impressive such a feat was. He had even stunned his brother.

After the activation of the technique Grodd had set, his speed and strength multiplied 5…no 6?... 7… sevenfold. This was a concept that horrified Zari. This placed him in the ranks of elite adventurers. One that was much higher than the group that had just shown themselves. There was a slight shiver that came at the thought of what might have happened if he had botched this take-over.

This man could probably have decimated Lord Ozun’s corpse. By estimates, he was probably as effective as the entirety of the group earlier. Zari smiled. “With this…. He should be satisfied. We’ll be one step closer to finishing off this horrid endeavor.”

With his speed more than tripling, they were gaining ground faster than initially planned. The trees turned to blurs in the terrain around him. A wave of fear had just finished rushing over Zari before it finally turned to excitement. He was a child after-all.

There it was… he could feel themselves advancing towards them. Only a couple more miles before they would reach the destination. Then something changed. He could feel one of the entities changing paths and heading towards them. While the other two advanced on.

“So… they plan on stalling and buying time for an escape…” He smirked. “Alright, let’s show them.”

Grodd came to a slow pace as the man approached. Within perhaps 30 seconds, they would meet on the battlefield.