Gacha Leveling

Chapter 200 - 61 – The Harp of Dagda 9

Samil smiled, holding his chest that bled profusely. He looked around him, looked at the body resting on top of the altar. Looked at the undead forces that now advanced upon the clover field."It’s my loss." He laughed.

Matthew took a step forward and the warlock covered his body in demonic mana again.

"We will see each other again." Samil said, laughing through the pain.

Suddenly a small red gate opened behind him fueled by the souls of his followers.

"You’re not getting away." Matthew shouted rushing forward at full speed.

Samil raised a mana wall to stop his bullets, which Matthew shattered with a slash from Balial’s blade. In his next movement, he replaced his gun with Aym’s dagger and stabbed at the warlock.

However, before his blade connected with his target, an icy claw surged through the gate and protected Samil.

It was a large humanoid creature made of ice. It had very long arms and 4 fingered claws. Its feet were like talons from a dinosaur. Its face was human-like, with a very wide mouth and 4 red eyes. His head had 2 pointy horns and silver hair.

Matthew was forced to step back to dodge another one of those creatures that attacked him as soon as it left the gate.

Samil smiled at Matthew and disappeared in a flash of light, teleporting away.

Matthew knew of those creatures. He never saw one before, but he knew about them. Wechuges were demons that inhabited Cocytus, the frozen lake, the hell of traitors. They were as powerful as Balors and lived to torture the Damnata frozen in its waters.

Mathew traded blows with them, but, as another one crossed the gate, he was forced to step back.

At this moment, Ffyr flew in and shot a curtain of fire over the icy demons. That gave space for Matthew to recompose himself and draw his gun to shoot at them.

The ghost army stepped in, one by one, forming a shield wall in front of the gate, using their spears to try to keep the demons at bay.

However, the wechuges were too powerful for the ghost soldiers. With a sweep of their claws, they cleft through them easily.

Paula used her spells to boost the power of the soldiers, but, even so, the demons were too powerful for them.

Ffyr and Lumi tried their best to help, while Michael shot his arrows at the demons, causing minimal damage.

Vanessa threw her knives, finding the weak spots in the wechuges Vital Shield, but their icy skins just cracked a little.

Matthew was the only one strong enough to deal any significant damage to the demons, but fighting 3 of them, even with the help of the others, was too much for him.

When a fourth one came through the gate, things turned grim. The shield wall fell and the fighting evolved into chaos.

Even Cathbad was fighting the ice giants now.

Tylith kept her distance using a spell to give courage to the ones fighting. Not having any combat abilities, it was the best she could do.

A fifth wechuge crossed the gate at the same time Matthew decapitated one of the others.

At this point, the 200 undead were already reduced to only 50. But, for their luck, a chakran flew embedded with electricity, hitting one the wechuges, making it stumble backwards and flying back towards the person who threw it.

It was a red haired woman wearing a silver bikini top, a black cloak, a metal skirt and leather tights. She held several chakras in her hands. Behind her, other adventurers came running, each one armed and wearing different weapons and clothes.

They were powerful. With their help they drove away demons back into the gate that closed after about 15 minutes.

Matthew fell to the ground as soon as it was over breathing heavily.

"You were late." He protested to Claudio who was just now stepping on the clover field in the sky.

"Late? We’re early. I said 2 hours." Claudio replied. "Anyway, is this the harp?"

Matthew nodded.

Claudio examined the harp that was resting by the feet of Uaithne’s body.

"It’s just a fucking normal harp." He exclaimed, irritated. "It has some spell on it to preserve it from wear, but nothing more."

At this moment, the Dullahan dragged himself on the floor and struggled to get on his feet. He put himself between Claudio and the body of his father.

"It’s alright, Goltraige." Cathbad said to the undead. "You can rest now. I’ll make sure your father’s grave won’t be disturbed any further."

The Dullahan turned to the Cait Sith and seemed to nod. After that, it fell to the floor and disappeared in a cloud of miasma together with all the ghosts that survived the battle.

Claudio tried to approach the altar and examine the body, but Cathbad stopped him.

"Back down, Claudio. Have some respect, man." The red haired woman said while approaching all of them.

"This is the research department’s business, Catherine." Claudio protested.

"Then don’t call the adventurer department for help." She admonished him.

Claudio scoffed and gave Cathbad space, but remained silent.

"You must be Matthew." Catherine said, extending her hand to help him up. "I’m Catherine, head of the adventurers of the Tower."

"Matthew." He introduced himself.

"Tell us what happened." She asked him.

Matthew and the others told them everything that happened inside the gate after Claudio left. They left out the part that Samil was after Uaithne’s body, afraid that it would make Claudio curious about it.

"Are you done?" A female voice called to them after everything was said.

They looked up to see Valac quietly flying in the sky with a smile on her face.

"Valac!" Matthew exclaimed and drew his weapons.

"I’m not here to fight, handsome." She said, landing in the middle of all the adventurers who held their weapons close to them.

"What do you want?" Catherine said in a menacing tone.

"Why are you being so hostile, beautiful?" Valac asked with a mocking tone. "I waited patiently for you to finish your little talk."

"Valac. Just tell us what you want." Tylith said with a tired voice.

"Wait. Is that Vine’s songbird?" Valac smiled widely and hugged the succubus. "It’s been eons since I last saw you."

"Yeah. It’s me." Tylith nodded, hugging herself.

"You finally left his palace." Valac said with a praising tone. "Good for you."

"Yes." Tylith responded.

"Don’t worry, girl. I got your back. I won’t tell the rider anything." Valac said, patting her head.

"What do you want, demon?" Claudio asked, irritated. "We still have a lot to discuss."

"My! You’re so lovely when you get mad." The demoness teased Claudio. "But since you insist so much... I want to have a word with this handsome man." She pointed at Matthew. "Come with me."

"Where?" Vanessa asked defensively.

"Where no one else can hear us." She smiled suggestively.

Vanessa stared daggers at her.

Valac sighed and added, now seriously:

"It’s about your sword."

Matthew looked at Belial’s blade in his hand.

"Alright." He agreed, walking downstairs with the demoness while the others stayed on the floating island. Vanessa and Ffyr went with him.

"Ok. So what do we do now with this?" Catherine pointed at the body.

"Treat him with respect." Cathbad protested.

"I wouldn’t mess with him." Paula said. "He’s a hero who fought alongside Dagda in ancient times." She pointed to the menhir painted with both of them.

"The Foromians will be back for him." The Cait Sith said.

Claudio looked at the body and then at the cat. He then lit a cigarette and started to smoke.

"Can’t you take him to the elemental plane of air?" The man asked.

"He has to stay in the Prime." Cathbad shook his head.

"Why?" Claudio asked.

"I can’t say." The cat averted his eyes.

"We can bring him to the Tower." Catherine said. "Keep him there, under our protection."

"If you defile his body to your experiments, you’ll incur the wrath of Dagda." Paula warned them.

"I won’t." Claudio blew smoke in the air. "I’m not stupid enough to do it."

"I want to stay with him." Cathbad said.

"You’re summoned by Matt." Paula said. "If you want to stay you have to go through the planes in another way."

"Or you can just make a pact." Claudio said.

"My daughter wanted a cat." Catherine smiled. "I’m sure my husband will agree to make a pact with you." She added, calling a man from her party to her side. "You can make a pact with him and we’ll make sure Claudio doesn’t mess with the body."

Cathbad looked at Claudio and then agreed.

After that, the body was moved with the funeral procession of a hero to the headquarters of the Tower of Ryvylin in Southport. It was televised and the story was widely covered by the media.

The Tower put the body into heavy protection and the menhirs displaying Uaithine history were exposed in a museum controlled by the guild attracting thousands of tourists.

"Are you really not going to research the body?" Matthew asked Claudio after returning from his talk with Valac.

Claudio was still smoking and blew smoke in the air.

"I know it’s hard for you to understand. I’m not a monster. And I’m not stupid. You think I wouldn’t realize that the cult was after the body?"

"I hoped you wouldn’t." Matthew chuckled. "Then why wouldn’t you do research on the body?"

"If my theory is right. He’s one of Earth’s shields against the other realms. Why would I risk that?" Claudio smoked.