"Demons! These are wares designated for the City of Life! How dare you attack us?!"
"Hahaha! Why wouldn't we dare? Haven't chaos and order always been fighting?!"
The soldier's attempt to intimidate the demons clearly failed. He gritted his teeth, swinging his halberd in a wide arc. But his enemy only grinned, blocking with a swing of a huge club. The weapons collided and a powerful force threatened to rip the soldier's weapon from his hands.
"Quick! We need to help them!"
"Yes!"
Cyclone sounded anxious, looking for a signal from Liam, who quickly nodded. Instantly the friends went into action. Silver Blade and Radiant Shield rushed towards the demons, allowing their basilisks to crash into them.
"Careful!"
"New enemies!"
"Haha, adventurers! It's great to see you!"
The soldiers and the demons obviously reacted differently. While one group changed from despair to hope, the other changed from mocking their enemies to solemn expressions.
However, the demons didn't run away. With the addition of the players the numbers were only even. The demons were confident that they still stood a chance.
This confidence was completely unfounded, though. The demons were a mix of normal and elite enemies. They stood no chance against Liam and his friends. It didn't take long until the last of them died to a lightning strike from Cyclone.
"Adventurers, thank you so much! You saved our lives."
"Ah, don't mention it…"
The soldier who talked to the players seemed to be the team's captain. After saying a quick thank you he turned towards the other soldiers, shouting:
"If you can move, go back and search for Tellen! When we left him, he still had a glimmer of life in him! I hope we can still save him…"
"Yes, Sir!"
Immediately a few of the soldiers dragged their injured bodies up, ready to search the forest for their comrade. But just then a weak voice reached their ears and Tellen walked out from behind a tree.
Everyone welcomed him joyfully, proving their comradery. When they asked him how he managed to recover, Tellen mentioned that the adventurers gave him a potent health potion. Immediately the captain turned to the players again, thanking them profusely.
"I don't know what else I can say. Thank you a thousand times for saving me and my brothers."
"No need, no need. Archbishop Devres sent us to look for you. She was worried about your delay."
"Ahh, the archbishop! Bless her! She must be waiting for those herbs. We should bring them back quickly!"
As he said this the captain turned around and looked at the cart. His expression turned awkward realizing that their horses had died. He glanced at his soldiers, noticing that all of them were more or less injured. Thus, he carefully moved his eyes towards the players.
Cyclone instantly understood what was going on, complaining:
"Don't look at us like that. I'm not a horse, ok?"
"Well… if you are not in a hurry, you could return to the city and bring some horses from the stable. Otherwise…"
Sighs spread among the players. Some felt their eyes twitch. A moment later Radiant Shield stepped forward.
"My friends, it is never humiliating to help other people! Let us pull this cart back to the city. Working together, every one of us can do their part. Here, I will make the first step!"
Radiant Shield walked forwards with a proud chest, grabbing one of the cart's handles, setting an example. He was quickly followed by Liam. The two men lifted the cart and began pulling. Thanks to their mounts it wasn't actually that laborious.
The others were somewhat reluctant, but they could only agree. Thus, the party pulled the cart through the forest, returning to the City of Life. The soldiers followed behind them, some needing the support of their comrades just to walk.
On the way the friends switched a few times. Soon, the players in the City of Life were surprised to watch the scene of Fortune and Bloody Edge pulling a heavy cart into the city. The scene quickly sparked hundreds of new memes in some forums.
Fortune sighed and signalled Bloody Edge to speed up. Finally, they got rid of the cart as they placed it close to some warehouse belonging to the city guards. They took one crate of herbs with them and returned to Archbishop Devres.
"Adventurers, I have already heard of your success. Thank you for saving our valiant soldiers! I see you brought the herbs?"
"Yes. Here, archbishop."
Devres nodded with a smile, opening the crate. A few bright red herbs came into view. She took out one stalk, inspecting it for a bit. After putting it back she turned towards the players.
"Great! Now we have everything to brew a void-quelling potion. I will get to work immediately. You can do something else or wait here in the cathedral. Perhaps I can convince you to say a little prayer? Our goddess will surely hear you!"
"Eh… we will see…"
Silver Blade smiled wryly as the archbishop looked at her with her gentle smile. In the federation only about half of the people were religious. People in more isolated planets like Falva Star tended to be more religious than others. But Silver Blade grew up with the teachings of the Colville Family and had no connection with any religion. Thus, she found the thought of praying to a goddess in the game absurd.
However, as the friends went back to the main hall of the great cathedral Liam told them that it was not a bad idea to follow the archbishop's advice.
"You want us to pray here?", asked Silver Blade sceptically.
"Yes. You will get a blessing if you do so. It's not bad."
"Well… is you say so. What should we say?"
"Don't worry, you don't need to say some actual prayers. It's enough to sit on one of the benches for five minutes."
"Oh."
Having to wait for the potions, the friends couldn't do much else anyways. Thus, they sat down on two benches, falling silent. They looked around the cathedral, studying the beautiful building. While some, like Quickstep, actually enjoyed the meditative atmosphere, others quickly became bored. Cyclone and Balm began to snicker, earning them some stern glares from the priests.
Luckily five minutes passed quickly. Suddenly a notification appeared in front of everyone's eyes.
[You have been blessed by Hevriolae, the goddess of life]
[Received: Blessing of void resistance]
[Effect: Whenever you receive void damage there is a chance of 5% to recover 20% of the HP lost over the next 10 second. (non-stackable)]
[Duration: 2 hours]
[The gentle goddess of life acknowledges your piousness and bravery. She supports your heroic efforts in fighting against the void which threatens to destroy Crunaboul.]
"Wow, it actually worked!"
"SHHH!"
Cyclone flinched. As soon as she exclaimed in surprise multiple priests turned towards her, shushing her. The friends could barely hold back their laughter.
After taking a second to calm down, the friends began discussing the blessing in the chat, asking if there were other opportunities to get blessings. Thus, another five minutes quickly passed.
Archbishop Devres appeared from the side corridor, waving the players over. She thanked the party, saying that the potions have been successfully brewed. She handed a small bottle with a red liquid to Liam, explaining that it was enough to pour the potion on the Deer of Life's fur. There was no need for the celestial beast to drink the potion.
Finally, the quest was completed. As reward the friends received another two potions per person for personal use. Having obtained the salvaging potion, Liam and his friends bade Devres farewell and departed from the cathedral.
Once outside, Cyclone stretched her arms, speaking with a relived voice:
"Ahh! Finally out. Feels like I'm wearing shackles in there."
"I have to say, I greatly enjoy the atmosphere.", responded Quickstep.
"Nah. As soon as you speak a little, you are directly stared at by those priests. I didn't even dare to check out the potion."
"Right. Now that you say it, what does the void-quelling potion actually do?"
Silver Blade was quite curious, quickly checking the item's information.
"Straight up 40% resistance against void damage? That's quite powerful!"
"And with a duration of five minutes!"
"But we only got two potions… we need to use them when it matters!"
The friends discussed a bit when Radiant Shield had a suggestion:
"My friends. I think it would be most efficient to leave these potions in my and Silver's hands. We will be at the forefront resisting void attacks."
The friends looked at each other, realizing that the suggestion made sense. Although they were somewhat reluctant to give away their rewards immediately after receiving them, they handed the potions over to Silver Blade and Radiant Shield. Now each of the tanks had ten potions, enough to last them for multiple fights.
Finally, the players were done in the City of Life. They teleported back to the Southern Light Kingdom and rode their basilisks into the mountains, ready to save the Deer of Life.