Unlimited Power 02 - The Ranger's Domain

historical

After everyone picked their classes, Haruna left some of her friends behind. They would guard the dungeon until a proper team could take their places.

"Let's get going," Ryan declared.

 In just a few minutes, the sun would set, so there was no real reason for Ryan to be in a hurry. Fighting at night against flying enemies alone was possible for Ryan, but today he will have to give up on that he won't have the chance to clear the dungeon solo.

 It was already dark when they arrived in Tokyo, and the guards frowned since no one looked particularly injured, and those who came back seemed in a bad mood.

"It looks like you succeeded and much sooner than I predicted," Yahiko said via Telepathy. "You should come to my base; we have room for guests and food ready."

"I am going to pass," Ryan said. "If you don't mind, I want to pass my time here alone on the roof of the building."

"Well… you free to do that as long as you don't damage anything," Yahiko said, and he sounded slightly surprised.

 Ryan flew to the roof of that building, and he took with him Furball while the steel 

eagle went alone. His pet ate a lot of monsters while Haruna and the others were gathering the loot, so only Ryan had to hurry about food. Fortunately, he stored a lot of the vermillion birds' meat to cook later.

"You don't need to eat, Femradiel?" Ryan asked. 

"Dragons only need to eat to devour the mana that resides in the corpses of the defeated foes," Femradiel replied. "All this mana that I am getting while I exist inside of you serves like a pretty continuous banquette."

"If that is the case, your next body should be fatter, since you clearly don't exercise enough," Ryan said.

 Ryan cooked some of the meat he got and was more than satisfied with the taste. As expected, the tougher the enemy, the tastier they will be.

 While Ryan was eating, Yahiko suddenly appeared and decided to join. It was only thanks to him that Ryan noticed that the small Tokyo that had been rebuilt looked really pretty at night. Some houses had electricity, while others used fire-base tools to keep things illuminated, but even so, all those lights made Ryan feel a sense of comfort in his chest. Despite everything, the human race still was trying to keep moving…

"The team that I sent to clear the azure dragons returned," Yahiko said with a serious expression. "All of them returned alive, but… their situation wasn't good and they only killed a few bosses."

 That was very good for Ryan, more dragon hearts for him, but he couldn't actually celebrate that since Yahiko's soldiers probably almost died trying to do their job. Ryan thought they wouldn't go as far as Yahiko kept them safe in the magic barrier, but Ryan's presence and accomplishments probably made them try harder. He was a foreigner that did in a few days what they failed at doing in months, after all.

"So, no clue about the creature who is controlling them, huh," Ryan said.

"Yes, although I don't think it is safe to assume that all of the four beasts were being controlled," Yahiko said. "As I told you, the ghost that tried to take over my body was summoned by the will of the planet, we can't confirm that they are on our soldiers, but they certainly are trying to prevent the destruction of the world."

"Meaning?" Ryan asked.

"What I mean is, in our culture, those four creatures were supposed to bring good luck," Yahiko said. "So, while some monsters tried to control them, there is a small chance that the azure dragons aren't being controlled as well. They are aiming for my head because I absorbed the power of many ghosts that could have become guardians."

 That was a pretty interesting and confusing theory, but Ryan decided to keep his own hypothesis about the problem. Yahiko was powerful, but he somehow still could think that some external factors beyond human control were trying to keep the world safe. Ryan couldn't do that; he couldn't trust in what he couldn't see when the world was in the situation, and humans have been losing the war for the past six months. Even Ryan was already working while assuming that they would keep losing the first battles until the dungeon masters come to Earth, but then that arrival would be the sign that they could win the war. If the true body of the dungeon masters is killed, then they will disappear for good.

"I am thinking about going tomorrow to the dungeon with you," Yahiko said. "I think I found someone that can shoulder the weight of the power of a dungeon master."

"Haruna…" Ryan said.

"So, you noticed it," Yahiko said.

"It is the most obvious choice given her accomplishments and her personality," Ryan said. 

"Besides, you probably can read minds, so you are one hundred percent sure that she isn't thinking of her own gains."

"That is correct," Yahiko nodded.

"I can't say that I like that idea, I want the dragon hearts for myself," Ryan said.

"You are refreshingly honest, Ryan," Yahiko laughed. "Unfortunately, I can't let get all of them. I want to give the chance to those who stayed behind in this race for power to recover the time lost. The dragon hearts will give me that chance."

"That is all good and everything, but you are making a mistake," Ryan said. "Give too much power for the people to do what they want and they will begin to follow their own rules, I saw something like that happening a while ago. As far as I can tell, you have done a good job not getting ahead of yourself with all that power, so why not focus on strengthening yourself even further?"

"Because that I am already carrying too much weight on my shoulders," Yahiko replied. "Whether I like it or not, I am the leader and the hope of my people and if I fall, the people here will probably lose all the hope and go down without a fight… I can't let that happen."