The Innkeeper -
Chapter 1843: Better dancer, better cook
This was not how the hunt was supposed to go. It was supposed to be serious, solemn and even nerve wracking. Giselle did not let her true emotions show, but for years she had endured through hell, both figurative and literal, to become what she was today. She had trained, researched, worked day and night, sacrificed sleep, sacrificed food, sacrificed having a real life… all for this. Her dance, though it came from the heart, was also just another tool she had honed. She had mastered techniques as a mortal that even immortals struggled to understand, using beauty, using movement, using the very universe as a filter to cleanse the corrupting nature of Profane energy so that she could learn to absorb it.
All of that, and more, she had done alone. She hadn’t done it for revenge – the heartbreak she felt was far greater than her anger. She hadn’t done it to seek solace either. Giselle had been through all of that because… actions needed to have consequences. Getting revenge might not bring back her past, but the crimes of yesterday also could not just be ignored. They just could not.
Through the years she had visualized what it would be like when she finally hunted her first Defiler. But reality… had a way of subverting expectations.
“Oh my heavens, stop already,” she said as she stifled a laugh. She could not let her facade of solemnity break. “I can’t watch this anymore. How did you actually win like this? I need to watch a proper video, your partner must have been amazing!”
Lex was showing her, by sharing his memory of the event via spirit sense, the Dance Off. He had thought that she would be impressed. Instead she only found it funny.
“Excuse me, I’ll have you know that my dancing skills earned me a whole lot of fans!” Lex defended himself, as he too made it look like he was struggling as they neared the center of the storm.
“It wasn’t your dance skills, it was your aura and presence,” Giselle said flat out, completely disregarding Lex’s claims to greatness. “You basically just brute forced a dancing competition using the sheer magnitude of your aura. Don’t be upset, that’s an accomplishment of its own.”
“Listen, between the both of us, I’m the one who has won an interstellar, interrealm dance competition so I think my opinion has more credibility than yours,” Lex continued to defend himself.
“Between the both of us, I’m the one who could use dance to change the fundamental nature of energy even before becoming an immortal by tapping into the laws of the universe so… I’m not the one saying my credibility is greater – the universe is.”
Damn, she got him there.
“Alright, fine, whatever. You might be a better dancer than me – for now. But I know one thing with absolute certainty. I’m definitely a better cook than you.”
This time, Giselle really did burst into laughter, though fortunately she kept it to their spirit sense instead of laughing out loud. Instead of loling.
“Is that how you got so strong? Delusion until it became reality?” she asked, amusement in her voice.
“What? You don’t believe me?” he asked defensively.
“Not a chance,” she responded.
“Well, I can prove it. How about, after the Defiler business, I cook for you and you can judge whether I’m better or not,” Lex said challengingly.
“You’re on!” she responded faster than she could think, but the moment the words left her mouth she froze. Did she just get asked out on a date? And she said yes?!?!?! That sneaky little…
She glanced at Lex from the corner of her eyes and saw his smug expression which only made her want to grind her teeth. For some reason, it irritated her that he felt like he had won.
“Can we be serious now? We’re approaching the center of the storm. I expect that if the storm really is very important to him, the Defiler will first try to interfere with us as we try to stop it. Only after his Profanites fail, and he does not feel too great a threat from us, will he reveal himself.”
Upon hearing as much, Lex stopped playing around. Even if he didn’t treat this as too dangerous, which he didn’t, Lex would never lower his guard. Overconfidence was not something that existed in his vocabulary. Even if his actions didn’t reflect as such, in reality he was entirely ready to face any challenge, expected or unexpected.
As soon as they reached the center of the storm, the situation became truly dangerous. The winds, the energy, everything in the center was more chaotic and deadly, for it was the core of a world ending catastrophe!
A quick scan with his spirit sense revealed no totem, temple or formation causing the storm to grow which was unfortunate, as destroying such a thing would have been the easiest way to end the storm.
Now, instead, they would have to create a phenomena of their own which could alter the conditions in the center, causing the storm to fade away naturally. Such a thing was genuinely very difficult. Lex’s idea of simply putting a barrier around the whole thing and depriving it of its energy until it vanishes naturally was a much more feasible plan – unfortunately, that is not what would attract a Defiler. If he witnessed such strength, he might never reveal himself!
Giselle got to work while Lex put on a display of enduring great difficulty to ensure not only their own safety, but of the formation she was constructing. No one watched, for they were alone in the center of the strom, yet it came as no surprise to either of them when the raging sands around them began to morph into monsters. It seems they had attracted the Defilers’ attention.
“You focus on keeping up the barriers, I’ll take care of these guys,” said Giselle out loud as she drew her sword.
Without holding back, she attacked, spending merely a few minutes to destroy all of them before quickly returning to continue making her formations. Yet in a few minutes more, the sand began to turn into monsters once more.
Like that, a vicious cycle began with Giselle attacking quickly, then returning to the formation, slowly and steadily exhausting herself. Or at least, that’s what it appeared like.
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