Chapter 56: Problem gone
"I've made a few checks and found a hidden door in the basement. Inside, I discovered a technique of probably legendary grade…." The vampiress shared her story from the start, making Louise feel bad.
Celes explored and ensured everyone's safety inside the abandoned fortress. Before coming here, she'd spread her consciousness into hundreds of bats, finding the spot relatively fast. She made sure that Leon would be able to the first one to proceed with his plans first and reach his goals.
On the other hand, Louise had been fighting and merrily talking with him — nothing else.
And it wasn't like the vampiress was weak. She could fight well, too.
Louise… couldn't even get jealous!
It didn't matter that Louise had been doing her best to be helpful on adventures. She felt the least useful, and it spread within her like poison. Thus, while Leon and Celes talked about the finding inside the basement, Louise recalled every detail of her intact memories.
"I suspect it's a water-type skill. Because of it, you can't seize control over the fortress." Celes finished her assessment of what was inside.
Leon could only take a look at it. "Let's see it."
It was true that he'd expected a system prompt to take over the fortress' ownership. He even anticipated the quest to pop out and enable him a path of developing the building. Of course, Leon wanted to do it even without system quests — the system would make things easier. That's all.
"Louise?" Leon asked his fox friend, promptly awakening her from her thoughts.
Louise weakly smiled. "Yes, I'm going. I just spaced out!"
"Don't think too much of those centipedes." Leon jested to brighten her mood.
"I know, Master!"
And with those words, the party headed down to the basement.
The hidden door had already been opened, so Leon couldn't tell how well someone had hidden it. He went through it, appearing in a round and stony room.
It contained nothing except the technique drawn on the cold floor.
Louise and Leon didn't even know what it meant.
"It's our biggest flaw…" Leon couldn't learn about the skill from his book of monsters because he didn't have any monsters to interact with.
His fire friend couldn't just wish for her memories to return to scrutinize the skill.
Celes did and conveyed more than enough already.
But from the sheer colors and appearance, even Leon and Louise could infer that it was a water-type technique. The drawn skill appeared like throbbing blue veins, seemingly small rivers flowing down to something akin to a river's embouchure.
Leon imagined a few scenarios. "We can't leave it like that."
"Master, I've received a quest to deal with it!" Louise's sudden burst of excitement drew Leon and Celes' attention.
Having their eyes on her, Louise clicked on her system, then passed the quest's description to her companions.
The quest feature really popped out like a blessing, giving Louise a chance to try the technique head-on.
It simply wanted Louise to use her fire element to destroy the skill. In Louise's case, she'd stomp on it with her kindled feet!
The reward wasn't worth the risk, too. She'd just receive a few stats points!
"I've been suspecting it for a while, but the system feature really wants us to aim high and face dangers. I'll leave the decision to you, Louise." Leon curtly shared his thoughts about the system feature, then put his trust in his friend.
Feeling needed and useful, Louise clenched her hands and trained her eyes on her master. "I'll do it. Because I've received a quest, I have enough means to destroy this technique! Believe in me, Master, Celes!"
The duo could only warmly smile at this fox girl.
After Louise got a whole stage for herself, she turned around and gazed at the middle of the technique. She recalled her life, which mainly revolved around training.
It was sad, but Louise couldn't deny that she'd been mostly learning how to fight and kill for the majority of her life.
Although she'd chosen to learn more about herself after meeting Leon, it was undeniable that Louise could, at most, provide fighting support. On a battlefield, everyone could just eat supplies, right? Instead, she'd cook on their adventure, but that wasn't enough to mend Louise's feelings.
BANG!
Louise's tails flared up, turning into a raw fire. Her ears sparkled and swayed in the same element. And while the rest of her body remained the same, Louise's flesh became hotter and hotter, with mana sparks oozing out of her legs.
She took slow and steady steps to the middle of the formation, then raised her leg!
"Begone evil!"
And she stomped with everything she got!
BOOM!
A natural reaction spread after water and fire collided. Thick and impossible-to-see-through steam filled the room, threatening to ooze outside to notify others. Inside the room, Louise suffered a few health points losses as the reaction and water droplets scratched and peeled off her skin.
Blood slipped outside her legs, dropping onto the foreign water and triggering more of the formation's offensive power.
Louise stood amidst spurting water element cutting her over, her eyes narrowed and cold, seemingly wanting to freeze it over. She kept pressing her leg on the water source, slowly breaking inside the source of that water technique.
At last, something cracked, and Louise's feet sank inside. From within, her fire element heated the water so much it started evaporating in the blink of an eye.
But as the formation sensed its imminent loss, its waters became even fiercer.
That didn't stop Louise, who seemed like she couldn't feel any pain.
She ignored all, even a sharp water bullet scratching her cheek!
At last, the water utterly disappeared, becoming a mere memory.
Louise dropped onto her knee, her eyes melting and her lips spreading into a lovely smile.
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A victory and defeat were sides of the same coin.
While the scarlet fox felt victorious and valuable for her friends, standing atop the split spirit realm in her humanoid form, a dragon opened her eyes.
Her violet slits rippled with defeat.
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