Chapter 61 The Evil That Lurks In The Dark
As soon as the village was formally founded and recognized by the Elsisn Stele, his village status was automatically updated.
[Elsisn Stele: Wood]
[Grade 1 Village: Last Saint Village]
[Lord: Ikaris (Commoner)]
[Title: none]
[People's Well-being: 60]
[Security: 1]
[Administration: 0]
[Culture: 0]
[Military: 1]
[Magic: 1]
[Technology: 1]
[Territory population: 4/200]
[Spawn rate of immigrants: 5-15 / day]
[Territory area: 4 square kilometers]
[Territorial characteristics: Territory Crop Output+1%]
[Treasury: 499 gold coins]
[Territory Resources: 500 food units, 500 wood units, 500 iron units]
[Territorial army: 1 Tartarus Enforcer]
[Territory Industry: None]
[Existing Buildings: None]
[List of basic construction buildings: The Lord's cottage]
The revisions were minimal, but demonstrated that he had indeed taken his first step as a Lord. What was intriguing was that 1 point in Security, Military and Territorial Army. The common denominator was the Tartarus Enforcer.
He didn't know the maximum value of the different indexes like Security and Administration, but he had the feeling that 100 should be the theoretical unattainable limit. To reach this value would be to admit that his kingdom had perfect security, an invincible army and so forth... A kingdom could only aspire to achieve this value.
The other amusing point that made him cringe was the People's Well-being and its value of 60. Being only 4 including the bison, which was surprisingly counted as an inhabitant, there was only one way to explain this score...
Ikaris gave Ellie a jaded look as she shivered like a frightened hare, staring up at the rapidly darkening twilight sky with gripping apprehension. In stark contrast, Horny and Malia were utterly relaxed.
As for the Tartarus Enforcer it stood as still as a gargoyle, its chest not even heaving for breath. It was impossible to tell what this thing was thinking. Was it even thinking?
The boy then relayed the above information to Magnus, who praised with open admiration,
"Your System is really handy. I can't believe the Elsisn Stele adapted so easily to your ability. It just proves that we still don't know much about these Artifacts and the Saints who created them."
"The Saints?" Ikaris raised a confused eyebrow. "There are other types of Steles besides those created by Elsisn."
Magnus chuckled.
"Elsisn invented the Steles to help in the fight against the Glenrings, but other Saints have been inspired by them. Some families and clans descending from these Saints have even managed to create something similar, but no one knows exactly how they do it. The Steles promised annually to the best students by the Academies of Tartarus Shade no doubt have their own acquiring methods and based on the Warring Lands history it should be Faulch Steles."
"You'll really have to tell me sometime who all these Saints are and what they've accomplished to earn their title instead of throwing their names at me whenever you feel like it." The teenager grunted with an annoyed look.
"Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to catch up once we're safe." The Vampire reminded him in all seriousness, no longer joking. "Time is running out!"
Ikaris snapped back to reality and immediately got to work. The sun was about to disappear and he resolved to spend the night on an empty stomach despite the hunger tormenting him. If he had to, he would eat one of the Heart Strawberries stored in the ruby ring, even if it made him want to vomit.
He reached out again to the Stele and accessed the list of basic construction buildings. He selected the only building available: the Lord's Cottage.
As soon as he selected the option, he felt he only had to mindfully decide on its location.
" Move over. I am going to place the Cottage." Ikaris shouted.
Ellie blinked in confusion, but Malia understood immediately and took the young woman's hand to move out of Ikaris' line of sight. Horny, who was happily grazing, ignored his order and it was only when the Tartarus Enforcer pressed its heavy cleaver against the beast's neck that the bison finally deigned to budge up.
'At least this Tartarus Enforcer is obedient.' Ikaris was delighted when he saw the humanoid monster's swift action. 'Too bad they are only loyal to House Morgunis...'
With his field of vision clear, the boy visualized the position of the Cottage and then lined it up in front of the Transportation Portal, door facing the latter. The Stele in his hands emitted a brief, invisible pulse and a Cottage identical to the one in which Malia and Grallu resided in Karragin popped out of nowhere in front of them.
Ellie went slackjawed and the bison mooed loudly to express his incomprehension. In contrast, Malia admired the hut with emotion, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Still no door..." Ikaris grumbled as he realized that this was not an architectural quirk of Grallu and Malia. "But it's still impressive."
"Creation Magic." Magnus explained. " At an insane level."
The sky darkened another notch and the group noticed that the sun had already half dropped over the horizon. They finally felt a sense of urgency.
"Quickly! Get all the supplies inside, I'll take care of the runes!" Ikaris ordered in an urgent tone.
He hurriedly opened his booklet and after memorizing the runes, he engraved them on each wall of the cottage with the sharp end of his sword. Thankfully it was poor quality wood. If it had been stone or steel it would have been much more cumbersome.
All the runes listed in the booklet had their own function, but their effects were similar. Their role was to prevent the Warring Lands' Evil from getting in.
Ikaris had chosen the first combination suggested, a strange superposition of V's oriented in different directions. A normal V and an inverted V overlapped, forming a kind of X with a lozenge in the middle. He added the other V's and soon the whole rune looked very different.
After engraving it once, his huge Soul Strength showed its worth, for he had no difficulty in duplicating the inscription, which was not very difficult in the first place. He finished inscribing the Runes on the thatched cottage at the same time as his comrades finished tidying the boxes inside.
This also coincided with the fading of the sun over the horizon. For a split second they were bathed in the soft light of the moon and stars, then suddenly all light disappeared as if a black cloud had just passed over them.
The temperature suddenly dropped several degrees and Ikaris' pupils narrowed. The others couldn't see, but with his keen eyesight he could see that the disappearance of the moon and stars was no accident. Something sinister was drawing closer to them at a rapid pace.
"Everyone in the cottage! Now!"
"MOO!"
The buffalo bellowed arrogantly, but strangely enough he was the first to run inside, even before Ellie the Coward. Ellie entered the cottage second, followed by Malia, Ikaris and the Tartarus Enforcer. They were immediately crammed like sardines inside.
At that moment, the boy realized that he had forgotten to engrave the inscription in a crucial place: The door!
Because there was no door, he had naturally forgotten to engrave the inscription at the entrance.
'Hurry up you idiot!' Magnus bellowed in his head. 'If we die here for a mistake like this, I promise to haunt you all the way into your next life!'
"Shut up!" Ikaris barked, startling the two women and the bison.
He rushed to the entrance and carved the inscription with the tip of his sword as fast as he could. Just as he finished carving the symbol, something unseen smashed against some invisible barrier in front of him.
Ikaris jerked and stumbled backwards, swinging his sword in fright. Transfixed with fear, he and his companions watched as a swirling mass of darkness drummed against the entrance to the cottage.
A blood-curdling shriek echoed outside, forcing them to cover their ears, and the wooden planks forming the thatched cottage began to creak ominously.
" Bloody Hell! They're Demon Wraiths! Demon Wraiths of Faulch!" Magnus cursed like a madman as he realized what they were dealing with. " Now I understand why so few Lords manage to thrive here. I can't believe Tartarus Shade has managed to keep this secret for so long!
"And Demon Wraiths means..."
Suddenly a scrawny skeletal hand shot out of the mass of darkness, easily crossing the invisible boundary defined by the runes.
"Undeads!"