Ascension of the Dark Seraph - Chapter 77

Chapter 77: Leaving For the First Mission Chapter 77: Leaving For the First Mission Lucivar and the others geared up as they were a part of the earliest party to depart.

He was allowed to wear slightly better armor due to him being the leader of the party-and also choosing a weapon of his choice, which led him to end up, with dual-wielding.

One is a short sword while the other is a dagger.

Remembering his fight with Namira, he dreaded a direct confrontation.

Even his abilities weren’t fit for such a situation.

His Snare and Radiant Burst abilities were tailored for instant kill attacks-assassination.

One is to bind someone in place while the other is to knock someone back.

Of course-his immense ether empowered by Loki’s strands-was able to make the Radiant Burst a lethal offensive attack but innately, the ability was tailored to push someone back.

It wasn’t made to explode limbs.

Keeping that in mind, he chooses the dagger as his weapon of choice.

As for the short sword, he picked it up because he was going to take down a dungeon.

Daggers are short and faced against big opponents, it wouldn’t be able to cut deep enough.

So as a backup weapon for that situation, Lucivar brought the short sword.

It was half an arm’s length or two times longer than the dagger.

Lucivar changed his clothes from the regular outfit to the combat outfit, which was a blend of black and red skin-tight, plated one-piece suit, with the academy’s crest on the chest.

A suit that was tailored to resist slashing attacks.

He put a couple of vials inside a bag, ether potions for an emergency.

Albeit he tried asking Professor Aeldric-for more ether potions, he was told that he would not be sponsored again, and needed to use his own academy points.

He did use quite a lot during his training but he also did Professor Aeldric a favor.

But that only amounted to this much it seemed.

Fortunately, he was not completely broke.

From the ninja test, he got 250 points and an additional 1,000 bonus from Professor Aeldric.

One ether potion cost him 50 points and he bought ten of them to be sure.

He then used 200 points to buy two healing potions so that leaves him with 550 points.

“What happened to your wing?” A voice pulled his attention from behind.

It was Leandra, already fully geared.

“Reached the five-star Hybrid.

Be careful, I might beat you in our next bout” “Even if you are stronger, you’re still sluggish.

It would take a couple more years to beat me” “Sluggish?

I could fare well against Bakar already and you can’t say Bakar is sluggish” “You’ll see when the time comes…” Lucivar sneered before continuing what he was doing but the talk of power made his mind, wander somewhere else, ‘As Loki said, the doppelganger is blocking me, from reaching the Acolyte rank.

I need to take it out as soon as possible,’ He needed to achieve this fast as he needed to kill Caldaros.

Not only that but the hatred from the vision he received also rubbed onto him.

Despite not doing anything to him in particular, Lucivar felt burning hatred towards Caldaros.

A welcoming sensation as this feeling only motivated him to become stronger faster.

Moreover, there was also the approaching tournament.

If he failed to reach the top three, Professor Aeldric would expose him and that’s bad.

Darting his eyes left and right slowly, Lucivar was troubled.

‘I can feel someone is watching me, the doppelganger must be watching me through some methods.

I’m worried that it might cause a ruckus while I’m away, but I think it could not go far away from me,’ Lucivar pondered.

All of the acts the doppelganger did were done nearby.

First, it made a move on Andre-when Lucivar was still in the candidate dorm.

Second-now that Lucivar was in Bastion of Blades, the doppelganger attacked and killed Dylan.

It made it quite obvious that there was a limit to how far it could go away from Lucivar.

So Lucivar wasn’t that worried, the doppelganger would follow him in the shadows.

‘But even then, I’m still unsure.

I needed to confirm it,’ Lucivar firmed.

On top of that, there’s a possibility that the doppelganger could read his mind.

As both of them are one, it’s another possibility.

Just as he thought of that, someone entered the locker room for his party.

He glanced towards the door and saw that it was Bakar.

Bakar’s eyes flashed with mild excitement when he saw that Lucivar was in the room.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” Bakar asked.

Lucivar, confused, nodded in response and followed him to talk in the hallway.

Upon arriving there, Lucivar raised an eyebrow.

“What dungeon did you and your party get?

You’re the leader, right?” “Yes, I got Katam City.

You got Veloria City, I know.

We’re close with each other” “Hmm, that’s good, we could help each other.

So, what do you want to talk about?” Bakar looked around to make sure nobody was listening before he continued.

“I heard you healed Leandra before,” “Yes, I did.

Not completely though, Nerissa did the rest” “Right…

I need your help with something” “What?

Are you hurt somewhere?” Approaching closer, Bakar pulled up his shirt and showed a nasty wound on his chest.

On his solar plexus to be exact, right above his supposed Supernatural Ego.

“I was about to reach the five-star but I forced my body too much and this happened,” “Did your Supernatural Ego get hurt?” “Fortunately, no, but this wound has been killing me for a couple of days” But this made Lucivar frown in confusion.

“Nerissa is in your team, her healing abilities are exceptional, why not go to her?” He asked.

Bakar scratched the back of his head, “Ah…

I don’t want to bother her” Lucivar sighed, he could see exactly what was happening.

“Huh, you’re embarrassed, is that really what drives you to come to me?” “Nerissa would nag me non-stop.

I rather not train for a week straight than tell her” “Really?

You?

A fighting maniac not training for a week?” “Just…

are you going to help me or not?

I really need a hand here” Upon hearing this, Lucivar paused for a second in thought.

He could see that Bakar was clearly hurting from the wound and he would be in trouble if the wound worsened while he was tackling the dungeon.

However, Lucivar felt like helping Bakar would be him missing an opportunity.

Something was amiss if he helped Bakar instantly, he could feel it.

Just then, his eyes flickered with a realization.

“Fine, I’ll help you heal it.

But there would be two sessions-one would be done now, and the other would be done later, maybe tonight.

We’re going on the same bus, right?

You said your city and my city are close” “Yes, but can’t it be finished right now?” “Like I said, I’m not as good as a healer compared to Nerissa.

Stop asking for too much” “Okay, as long as you keep this hidden from the others” Lucivar nodded, before he started tending to Bakar using the versatile strands.

He now has a maximum strands of eight from his breakthrough to the five-star.

Of course-he wasn’t going to spend the versatile strands, without replenishing it, so he also asked Bakar for his ether.

It took only five minutes and Bakar could feel the pain and became way better than before.

But it still persists.

As Lucivar said, he needed two sessions to be healed completely.

“Maybe the second session would be when we got out of the bus,” “Agreed, I’ll see you then” “Okay, thanks for the help, I owe you one” Seeing Bakar walking through the hallway with a better posture than before, Lucivar nodded.

‘Now that the trap is set, I’ll see how this would go,’ He pondered before turning around.

Entering back the locker room, he continued packing his stuff.

Out of curiosity, Leandra asked from the side.

“What did Bakar say?

It was unlike him to come to look for you like this” “A favor to be saved from Nerissa’s nagging” “Favor?

What favor?” Not even answering, Lucivar went to the other room, the equipment room.

He closed the door behind him, spiking Leandra’s curiosity further.

Glancing to the side, she also met with Mirel’s gaze who was also curious the same.

Sneaking to the door, Leandra and Mirel exchanged a look before Mirel twisted the handle of the door and pushed it open silently.

Everyone was already in the locker room, and the other room was only for equipment storage.

So Lucivar shouldn’t have any business being there unless he forgot something.

But if that was the case, he wouldn’t close the door behind him.

As soon as the door was opened, Mirel and Leandra heard Lucivar’s voice.

He seemed to be talking to someone, even laughing in hubris, which was rare for him to do.

It was a genuine laugh, almost as if he was back to being a kid.

“Yeah, I know, right?

I guess everyone was afraid to make Nerissa cry,” “Oh, and also, today is going to be my first time riding a modern vehicle-a bus they called.

I was used to riding carriages but I heard that buses could carry dozens of people!

How big is this bus?

I don’t know-” Peeking from the door, Mirel and Leandra saw Lucivar was on the phone with someone.

“Since when did he have a phone?

Did he buy it recently?” “No, that’s not important.

Who is he talking to?

He talked about Nerissa,” “I don’t know, maybe Master Tobias?” “Lucivar never talked like that with Master Tobias, it’s definitely not him” “Then who could it be?” “I don’t know…” Leandra squinted her eyes, wandering the person on the other side of Lucivar’s phone.

…

Moments later, Lucivar and his party rode a big bug and rode out of the academy grounds.

He looked out the windows in excitement as this was a new experience for him.

All of the tall buildings of the city and cars passed like a blur as the bus headed to the gate.

Soon, the bus reached outside and sped up-eating up ground and passing the mesmerizing lake, right outside of Sunhold City.

Lucivar kept his eye open, and kept glancing back once in a while as if he was trying to find something.

Hours have gone by as the bus drove through the paved, smooth road.

Before Lucivar knew it, the day had turned darker.

But even though those hours, it was spent with him marveling at the view and sensation.

Not even one second was wasted by him.

Even Leandra fell asleep beside him due to the comfortable, moving vehicle.

Finally, they found the end of the road that leads to a thick forest.

As the driver told them before, once they reached the end of the road-they would have to resume the rest of the way by foot.

One hunter who realized that they had arrived woke up the others to prepare.

Leandra woke up, rubbed her face, and took her sword.

She was about to wake Lucivar up but saw him already up, looking out of the window.

A smile was plastered on his face as Lucivar caught something in the forests.

“Ahh…

I think I’m right,” He muttered silently.