Arcanum - Chapter 178

“Emilia are you okay?.. I received word from Anna that the Demon has been neutralized and that you’re all okay.” Paul asked still sounding a little worried.

“Just a little hurt and bruised nothing life threatening, Daisy got the worst of it… she broke bother her arms.” I answered.

“Make sure she stays in the infirmaries till she fully recovers… I can’t help her regenerate.” Paul answered sounding extremely worried.

“Okay will do, thanks for sending Anna.” I answered. “Wait ohh no we forgot about the student we detained.” I said in complete shock.

“Don’t worry Professor Caldor met up with Anna they’re gonna detain and check on the students. If you need anything else let me know.” I can tell from the way he spoke that he was relieved to hear we were all okay.

“Ahhhh” Yuna yelled waking up.

“Ohh you’re awake.” Daisy smiled her arms now bandaged in a brace.

“Is it dead?” Yuna asked looking extremely concerned.

“Yes.. Anna came and finished it off.” I answered.

“Seriously? I beat it to a pulp and it still survived?” She questioned in shock but began to relax into the bed.

“Yeah Paul and Anna said Demons are hard to kill, they have several hearts that need killing or need to banished.” I answered.

“Are you all okay?” She questioned looking at all of us.

“Yeah we all came out relatively unscathed thanks to you.” We answered.

“Sorry for being so useless.” Jay confessed.

“It’s not your fault Jay.” Daisy smiled trying to comfort him.

“I mean I was pretty useless also.” Grace added.

“What could we do next time? To you know be more effective?” I questioned.

“Well for one, if I got some holy arrows that would help.” Grace nodded.

“Next time we visit a church of Serra we can request some.” Daisy smiled.

“What can we do then?” I asked Jay being absolutely clueless.

“No idea.. By the way, who is Professor Caldor?” Jay questioned Yuna.

“He’s the resident Professor specialising in Demons and Devils.” Yuna answered.

“When do we get to study in his class?” I questioned.

“You don’t till third year, unless you want to specialise on Demon and Devil slaying.” Yuna answered.

“Ohh I wonder if Alice” Is here.” I questioned looking around.

“Sadly Nurse Alice is off today.” A nurse replied overhearing me.

“Do you think Daisy’s hands will recover in time for dinner?” I asked the nurse.

“I can’t be certain how long the recovery process will take but I’m sure she will fully recover if she stays here. We will delivering dinner in roughly two or three hours.” The nurse smiled.

“Yup although painful I have regained use of my arms a little.” Daisy nodded.

“So we can’t just use healing magic on her?” I questioned making sure they gave it a thought.

“So Healing magic only work on wounds like cuts and bruises, anything like severed limbs, broken bones or body parts like the heart, eyes or lungs can only be healed naturally.” Daisy answered.

“Or a high level Druid spell called Regenerate which works by accelerating the natural healing process.” Helen added.

“And I guess you can’t do it yet?” I questioned Morgana and Helen.

“Nope not yet… I’ve got a long time before I’d be able to use it.” They both answered.

“So you’re also a Druid?” I asked Morgana remembering what Helen said.

“Umm yes I am..” She answered giving Helen a quick glance.

“Helen is there something wrong?” I noticed her distain towards Morgana.

“Her type of Druid is a disgrace to the Druid Circles.” Helen answered clearly angry or offended at Morgana.

“What type of Druid is she?” I questioned.

“I’m a Spore Druid..” Morgana answered.

“Her kind is a disgrace to Druids!” Helen replied insulted by Morganas answer.

“Helen..” I looked at her confused for the first time ever seeing her have so much hatred for something.

“Her kind goes against everything all Druid Circles stands for!” Helen replied in anger.

“I’m not going to pretend that I understand anything about your Druid Circles, or why you hate Spore Druids.. But my mother taught me how to do this and that’s all.” Morgana answered.

“Helen.. Let it go..” I’m sure she’s not related to Maribelle, she’s completely human.” Grace said to her clearly knowing more than we do.

“Who’s Maribelle?” Jay questioned curiously.

“It’s a long story.. There are several Druid Circles that focus on different aspects of Life and Nature, Maribelle the betrayer against our God’s wishes studied the forbidden aspect of Death and Decay. Maribelle awakened a terrible curse that desolated at least 90% of the Druid population.” Helen answered.

“I honestly don’t know anything about this Maribelle you talk about or any sort of curse that killed your people.” Morgana replied to her defensively.

“Yes but you’re still following her ways!” Helen argued.

“..Okay oaky.. Let’s all just calm down okay?” I suggested trying to calm Helen down.

“Yes Helen.. She’s not related to Maribelle at all she has zero Elven features.” Grace agreed with me.

“I can’t believe you’re siding with her as well!” Helen yelled in anger and stormed out.

“Helen wait!!” Grace quickly tried to ask Helen before she left the room.

“I’ll go make sure they are okay.” Jay said stopping Grace and chased after Helen.

“Wow that got intense…” Jun said finally breaking his silence finding a time to speak.

“I wonder how Scarlet is doing.” I wondering slightly worried.

“I’m sure she’s doing fine.” Daisy answered with a giant smile.

“So Grace about the Spore druid thing is it really that bad?” Yuna asked.

“It’s pretty bad, the disease Maribelle unleashed on the Druid was devastating.. It was slow acting taking years slowly sapping away their life. It spread viciously just being near an infected Druid would result in catching the disease.” She explained.

“That’s so horrible!” I said in shock.

“Yes! It also rendered All the Druid ancient groves uninhabitable changing them into deadly swamps.” Grace answered.

“So how did you learn to become a spore Druid?” I asked Morgana.

“I dunno my mother had a book that she used to teach me.” Morgana answered.

“And you have no idea about this death disease?” I asked.

“Nothign at all.. Like I said earlier I don’t even know who Maribelle is.” She answered.

“At a young age Helen loved her Uncle and Aunt but she had to watch them die as the disease slowly sapped their life away.” Helen answered.

“How long ago was the disease?” I questioned.

“It was a very long time ago, but her Uncle and Aunt wanted to heal their ancient grove, but despite their best efforts they somehow caught the disease, they say it’s because of the spores from the fungus and plants that grow there.” Grace explained.

“Weird.. Humans always believed that Elves have an easy life since you all are so attuned with magic we could never imagine.” Yuna said in shock.

“We all may be attuned to magic but magic can’t solve everything.. Maribelle’s disease actually accelerated when healing magic or any form of magic was used to try and cure it. It’s so potent that you can’t even reincarnate or revive the person who died as a result of the Disease.” Grace answered.

“Reincarnate?” I questioned.

“Yes very few Arch Druids who spent their entire lives studying Druid Craft could bring back the dead via reincarnation I’m not sure how it works exactly but it normally results in the individual becoming a different race.” Grace answered.

“Wow and Maribelle’s disease even stopped that? I questioned.

“Yes somehow it blocks the reincarnation process as well, it literally a death sentence.” Grace answered making me reflect on my visions

“By the way are you feeling okay Yuna?” I asked changing the subject.

“Yup a little tired but overall I’m okay.. I kinda get what Paul’s going through now.” She answered.

“What was it you did back there?” I asked.

“It a technique I explained to you yesterday, I can temporarily accelerate my rate of Arcanum absorption and consumption but it’s only temporary and after that I get extremely fatigued.” She answered.

“Could I learn that?” Daisy questioned.

“You can.. But I wouldn’t recommend it, it is very risky to the user as you saw it rendered me unconscious.” She answered.

“Why would you risk yourself like that?” I disagreed with her decision.

“Because Gregor was a Rank A student recently relegated to Rank B.. So he was already a strong opponent as it is.. I was barely able to defeat him last time we duelled, so if he took the Demon potion I surmised I needed to use my technique to even stand a chance to hurt him.” Yuna answered.

“I agree with his simple back hand was enough to wind me. Even hitting him with my maul was enough to break my bones from the sheer force of the impact.” Daisy answered.

“All this life threatening events, I’d be nice to have a few days of rest.” I sighed lying on a bed.

“I dunno I found today quite exciting!” Jun smiled leaning back on his seat. “Fleet combat is less exciting, its normally just open fire and the target is destroyed. Kind of boring to be honest.” Jay commented.

“Yeah I know what you mean….Yesterday was intense and today felt ridiculous.” Yuna answered.

“Is every day in Atlantis like this?” I asked.

“Most days should be quite peaceful.. I don’t know what it is exactly but there has been a lot of incidents lately for some reason.” Yuna answered.

“I know, there’s the Goblin invading from the mountains.. Dark Elves from underground.. And now Demons in the school.. Why is all this happening?” I sighed.

“About that, has Paul said anything about them?” Yun asked.

“Hmm nothing yet.. But Jun did say that Aspa was attacked by Dark Elves as well, apparently there was this weird grotesque baby monster thing that has a life sapping aura around it, driving the Dark Elves to the surface.” I answered.

“Seriously?..” Yuna asked back in disbelief.

“Yup, that’s what we got form interrogating the Dark Elf prisoners.” Jun answered.

“Well that’s even more disconcerting so if we want to stop any more Dark Elf attacks we need to remove this weird grotesque baby monster.” Yuna answered.

“Yup, the baby’s life sapping aura seemed pretty dangerous as well.” Jun added.

“Not to mention it’s dangerous enough to force an entire Dark Elf city to attack a surface city rather than dealing with that baby monster thing itself.” Grace agreed.

“Is there any chance you can tell Paul of this information? I think it will be very useful.” I asked curiously.

“Sure..” Jun smiled.

“Hey Paul can you come and see us in the infirmary.. Officer Jun from Aspa has some very important information you might need to know.” I notified him.

“Information?” He asked curiously.

“Yeah, apparently the Dark Elves were fleeing from some giant grotesque baby thing with a life sapping aura.” I explained to him.

“Hmmm that does sound interesting. Does he have any information on what it might be?” He questioned.

“Hey Jun, Paul asked if you or Aspa has any idea what the baby monster might be?” I asked Jun.

“No, no idea as at all.” Jun answered.

“No he has no Idea.” I relayed Jun’s answer to Paul.

“Well thanks for the information, I’ll have to do some research to see what it is and how to handle the situation. Tell officer Jun he has my thanks and if he needs help on anything feel free to ask.” Paul replied.

“He said thanks and that if you need anything to let him know.” I relayed his message to Jun.

“Do you think Paul is going to go down there and kill it?.” Jun asked curiously.

“Well, I don’t know him very well but I believe so.” Yuna answered.

“Wait no! It’s too dangerous!” I replied.

“It is dangerous, but believe me Paul and his team are probably the most well equip and experienced when it comes to going down there.” Jun answered.

“And he will be saving lives on both sides.” Yuna agreed.

“I can’t let him do that! It’s practically suicide, I’ve heard how you guys describe it down there.. Every corner filled with deadly creatures, darkness all around and untold evils!” I argued.