My Servant System-Chapter 1338 - 1337: Group Onslaught (1)
Kat PoV
"Huh. This is... about as expected. I don't know whether to appreciate that or be on guard because of it..."
Mom flicked the blood from her blade and stared out at the vast waves of slow shuffling Ghouls that were making their way towards us, this initial wave numbering in the hundreds, if not in the single thousand mark.
"Quantity over quality to start, which is what happened in the personal rounds, right? This is just round one, so if it's only these Ghouls... it is to be expected, but we should still be on guard. The difficulty might ramp up far earlier now than it did when we were alone."
The Demoness nodded, though she was still relaxed as she watched the wave of flames wash over a large portion of the horde, Leone's magic being brought to bear in a way that was definitely overwhelming, if not bordering completely unnecessary for the monsters we were currently facing.
On the other side, Draka practiced her own area of effect spells as she summoned shards of ice to snipe various Ghouls, blowing their heads open and opting for a more precise, controlled method of killing as she made use of their slow speeds.
The occasional higher level Ghoul was immediately targeted when it reared its head, standing up a foot or so above its brethren and drawing attention to itself, which allowed Draka to pepper it with numerous shards to guarantee its demise.
Therefore Mom and I had little to do besides kill whatever somehow managed to sneak on by Leone's ocean of flames and the barrage of shards from Draka, the agreement we had come to leaving us to do little now as we preserved our energy for the next wave.
"So the eleventh wave had some... weird reward then, right? Was it a changing of your mana or a straight up gifting of these cerulean flames? Would I have been given fire or would it have just amplified my ice?"
"Amplification. That seemed to be the theme for the later rewards; amplifying you in ways that are just not possible for pretty much everyone. It is theoretically possible to grow a new set of pathways, to purify your bloodline, hell, you can even technically alter your magic."
"But that is primarily a theory that only like one or two people have ever managed to complete throughout all of history, and those people were favored by the Gods and blessed with supernatural talents blah blah blah?"
She let out a snort and nodded, patting my head and saying "Something like that, yeah. Pretty much how I'd put it to. You doing okay? Usually you'd be more... smart sounding.", which made me raise a brow as I stared up at her, catching the mirth in her eyes as we just waited for our time to come.
"Just a bit homesick is all. The conundrum of our life, I suppose. I always want to be doing something to improve, but now that I am in a veritable treasure trove to do just that I want nothing more than to be back home, doing nothing."
"That's what makes you a person, so don't worry. All the stress and mental fatigue accumulates pretty fast, and even with the breaks we take it won't take long before we reach our breaking points. That's why we have to make the most of it while we can. Besides, if we can go back with some crazy upgrades and other goodies... imagine the look on everyone's faces~!"
Another wave of pure, unadulterated heat washed over us, signifying the immediate demise of dozens upon dozens of Ghouls in a certain direction, and the bright glow of flames forced us to turn away as we looked towards Draka's side instead, watching the Dragonkin get some practice in.
"Do you think the Empress is going to want to send others here too? I mean, this would be the easiest way to take a bunch of the Knights and get them to be even stronger than they currently are, right? Widen the gap between the Empire and every other nation on our continent as much as we can?"
"She might, or she might keep this completely silent. Sending that many people into the Labyrinthian and having them emerge so much stronger than normal wouldn't go unnoticed, and then the concerns of their loyalty would be called into question.
Just because they are loyal now doesn't mean they'll continue to be loyal if they get a significant boost in strength. We've had Knights defect before to become Warlords or other heads of state. Of course, it is possible that our wonderful leader might want to come here herself... which makes me shudder a little."
Imagining the already stupidly powerful Empress getting even stronger was definitely a 'scary' thought, be it from a small upgrade like some extra pathways or mana purity or from something far more significant like a bloodline upgrade.
Things that I barely understood past the very noticeable buffs they gave me would likely be terrifying on her, but at the same time having our leader be even stronger would definitely make the future all the more peaceful since she could protect us far easier than she could now.
"All of that is to say I doubt we'll make a return here, and if we do it won't be anytime soon. I also am wondering if we can even make a return... well, I guess Lilith did, but still... nothing about this place is certain."
Her musings fueled my own as I lost myself to various thoughts as I waited, filling my mind with things that were really productive and beneficial instead of some... other thoughts, which lingered at the fringes of my mind, lurking and waiting for the right time to pounce.
By the time the Ghouls were completely dealt with I was in a far more stable state than I had been before, my 'defenses' against the heat trapped in my tattoo bolstered quite a bit by the normalcy while my mana had replenished enough for me to confidently take over for Draka, taking on the onslaught of Ghouls and Golems with ease as we began the second wave.
