Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 3

Thankfully, he awoke from his slumber completely undisturbed.

Dante sat up and looked around the dark alley, finding it empty, he gathered his two new daggers and prepared to set off. He glanced up to check the time, and judging by the rays of light just coming in from the top of the alley it was still early morning.

Just as he was going to set out into the bright street, Dante stopped and frowned, then looked down at his two daggers. Making them last night had seemed like a good idea, but stepping out into the streets with those who despised him while he was armed didn’t seem like the smartest decision.

After a moment’s hesitation, he broke up the daggers in his hands, causing them to fade into nothingness. Although 100 mana seemed like a lot, given his maximum mana was 140, thanks to his relatively high Wisdom attribute recovering his mana at a rate of 1.4 mana per second, it wasn’t that big of a deal.

After breaking the two daggers up, Dante stepped out into the crowded street. He began walking down the right side of the road, towards the gate while trying to keep attention off of himself and the glove he was shielding from view.

The road wasn’t nearly as crowded as it was before the festival the day before, but there was still enough traffic flow from the morning rush to keep a decent level of anonymity. He had found that there were fewer problems for him when people weren’t loitering around.

It was a surprisingly uneventful walk. Usually, he would get hassled, at the very least, if he walked through Alazel in the open. He assumed that the indifference was due to the jovial atmosphere that carried over from the prior day’s festivities.

Finally making it down to the gate leading out of Alazel, Dante, who was looking at guards to see who was on duty, froze mid step. Standing by the gates, with four other guards, was Greggory.

He couldn’t help but groan internally at the prospect of dealing with Greggory. Even though Greggory would often go out of the way to cause problems for him, there was no hatred between them… until yesterday.

The day before, when Alazel’s High Priest admonished Greggory for nearly inciting a riot to kill him, it was clear that Greggory had somehow blamed him for the entire event.

Dante didn’t take another step, and was unsure of whether or not to proceed. Alazel only had one gate out of the city, so he would either have to wait until Greggory left, or he would have to just go through despite the problems that it could cause.

He even thought of scaling the wall but dismissed the idea almost immediately. The walls were roughly thirty feet tall, and even though he could climb it, he would definitely be seen and caught attempting it.

After mulling his options over, and deciding it was best to leave the city as soon as possible, Dante headed towards the gate.

Alazel wasn’t a heavily guarded town, none of the towns in the Outer Edge region were, the guards were only there to stop any hostile creatures from entering the city. They didn’t even check anyone, leaving or entering. They just stood there, watching people pass with a bored expression on their faces.

Despite the fact that they didn’t actually stop anyone, he was unsure of how they would treat him. He hadn’t even attempted to leave Alazel since arriving several years prior. And even though there was a possibility that they would cause problems for him if he were noticed, he didn’t attempt to sneak past the attention of the guards. Getting caught trying to sneak past would only result in larger problems.

As Dante walked through the gate, two of the guards noticed him but made no move to stop him, the other two were chatting near Greggory, and Greggory seemed preoccupied with… nothing.

Greggory was just staring at a patch of dirt with a bored, vacant look on his face as the two guards next to him were chatting about some barmaid at the Black House inn.

When he got outside of the gate and thought he was in the clear, Dante glanced back to make sure Greggory hadn’t seen him. Just as he glanced back, one of the guards talking near Greggory looked up, staring directly at him. He nudged Gregory to get his attention.

Dante cursed internally.

After being nudged, Greggory looked up, expression still bored. Well, bored for a split second. As soon as he saw Dante, his face twisted in rage.

“You! My father is mad at me because of you! I shouldn’t be here watching the gate all damn day!” His turned crimson. “You dare show yourself in my presence?”

He had expected Greggory to be upset about the prior day’s events, but the way Greggory exploded was definitely unexpected.

Had he known that Greggory was on guard duty as a result of their interaction the day before, he definitely wouldn’t have walked through the gate so brazenly.

At this point, he thought it would be best to diffuse the situation as much as possible. He had all but given up on the thought that his four Charisma was at all useful, but couldn’t help but give it another shot. Dante put on a docile air, then tried to act as humble as possible to appeal to Greggory’s ego. “I’m sorry that I inconvenienced you, my lord. I truly hope you can forgive me.”

Greggory, who was still fuming, opened his mouth to speak, but Dante cut him off quickly. “Don’t worry, my lord. I know that I have angered you, and wouldn’t dare stay in Alazel for another day.”

Greggory paused. Surprisingly, he visibly calmed and even smiled.

“Oh, if that’s the case then I hope you have a safe journey.”

Dante froze.

There is no way my four Charisma did… that.

“Thank you, my lord, I’ll be on my way.”

Dante turned and made his way down the rough dirt road, quickly disappearing out of sight.

Greggory Tibbott

Greggory turned to the two idiots who were making sure he didn’t shirk his duties. “Roderick, Isaac I have a job for you.”

The two turned to look at him. Both of them were only a few years older than he was and still in their late teens.

Roderick was an ideal Warrior with his enormous bulk, even in his teens he looked like he was chiseled from stone. He was easily the best Warrior out of the youths in Alazel, and would have been in line to be one of his father’s personal guards had he not been so incredibly stupid. His dopey face and mop of brown hair completely destroyed any intimidation his bulk might have brought him.

Unsurprisingly, it was Roderick who jumped to speak first. “Greggory, we were told to stay here and make sure you didn’t leave the gate. If we leave we’ll get in trouble with the guard captain.”

Greggory didn’t bat an eyelash, he disregarded Roderick and turned to Isaac. Isaac was the one he had really been speaking to from the beginning anyways.

Isaac stood attentive, waiting for orders. He had a relatively standard appearance, slightly tall with brown hair and a plain face that wouldn’t be remembered in a crowd. Isaac was anything but normal though.

Not only did Isaac have a somewhat uncommon Classification, the Ranger Classification, but Isaac was the most reliable person he knew. Isaac had helped him in every plan he had thought up since they were children, despite the relatively large age gap between them. Always the loyal helping hand when he needed it.

“What do you need of me, my lord?”

Greggory smiled. Isaac knew he would be the future lord of Alazel, and didn’t dare question his orders. It also helped that he didn’t mind getting his hands dirty, the only reason Isaac was sitting out here watching him all day was because he forced himself on some barmaid. “I want you to go hunt that bastard down and burn him alive.”

There was no change in expression on Isaac’s face after hearing Greggory’s request. “I can hunt him down and deal with him. But burning him alive would be somewhat challenging.”

Greggory smiled at Isaacs words and rummaged around in his pockets briefly. After a moment he pulled out an ordinary-looking stone with a single rune carved into it.

Isaac’s eyebrows rose seeing the stone that Greggory pulled out.

“Use this, just be sure to bring it back.” His words carried a clear threat, he couldn’t afford to lose the enchanted fire stone that his father had given him.

Isaac nodded, then grabbed the stone. “Come, Roderick. We have a job to do.”

“But the guard cap-”

Roderick was stopped mid-sentence as Isaac cuffed him in the head and began walking through the gate. Roderick paused for a moment looking between the glare that Greggory was giving him and Isaacs back, which was getting further away.

Roderick released a sigh, then chased after Isaac.

Dante trekked through woods, a created sword swinging in his hand as he cleared the underbrush in his path.

The Blade Dancer passive was already showing its value, the increased ability with bladed weapons allowed him to move forward completely unhindered while his eyes were scanning side to side for movement. The only time he stopped was when he occasionally scanned the forest behind him.

During the entire journey his ears were straining trying to pick up the slightest sound. He wasn’t sure what he was even looking for, but the memory of Greggory smiling at him was enough to keep him moving on high alert.

As soon as he was out of the gate’s view, he immediately left the rough dirt road and headed straight into the forest. He was almost certain he was in some form of danger, and even if he wasn’t, going into the depths of the forest wasn’t too big of a setback since he had no set destination.

The forest had its own dangers though. Not only did several types of pack animals and lone predators fill the forest, but the area around Alazel was also riddled with mountains, cliffs, and ravines. All of those dangers were aided by the thick foliage that obscured his vision

Although he planned to head towards the center of Aleria eventually, there was no way he could survive if he did. He first needed to work on leveling up his Classifications and getting combat experience.

Even the difference between Outer Edge region, which he was currently in, and the Outer region which was the next region in, was massive. Greggory’s father, for example, was a ruler of a whole town in the Outer Edge region, but things were completely different in the Outer region. In the Outer region he was just one more combatant.

Even worse was the gap in power between the Chaos region and Outer region. Just thinking about the Chaos region gave Dante an involuntary shudder.

Dante came back to himself, something felt… off. His hair was standing on end, and he could feel goosebumps spreading all over his body.

It was not an unfamiliar sensation; his senses had become quite acute after being hunted by guards and anyone else looking to cause problems with him. Dante stopped and focused on his surroundings.

After a few minutes, a mirthful laugh came from behind a large tree directly in front of him. A man stepped out only a few feet in front of him.

“How did you know we were waiting for you?”

His heart sank, he recognized the person in front of him. It was Isaac, the one who had nudged Greggory earlier that morning. Not only that, but Isaac said we.

Dante quickly spun, checking behind him. His caution elicited another laugh from Isaac.

“Not to worry he is over here.” Isaac gestured to a tree behind him. “Just doesn’t like to get his hands dirty.” Isaac turned to look back at the tree “Get out here Roderick.”

After shouting to Roderick, Isaac turned back to Dante. “We had planned to surprise you… Not to worry though, it's not as though we actually need an ambush to deal with you.” He glanced down at Dante’s combatant glove.

As soon as Roderick stepped out from behind the tree, Isaac motioned him forward. “What are you standing there for? Hurry up and grab him, we need to get this over with before the gates close.”

Roderick only hesitated for a brief moment, but then seemed to steel his resolve. He pulled a sword from its sheath at his side and charged Dante point first.

“Grab him, don’t kill him yet you moron.”

It was too late, Roderick’s sword was already in full swing, coming down towards his neck.

As soon as Dante saw the sword swinging toward his unprotected neck he acted on impulse, Blinking behind Isaac.

At first, he had just meant to evade the attack while also removing himself from Isaac’s line of sight. Something that would have been helpful if Isaac unslung the bow from his shoulder. But as soon as he appeared behind Isaac with the sword that he had been clearing the underbrush in his hand, he realized the opportunity that he had opened up for himself.

There was a moment of hesitation. He had never killed before, and he didn’t want to. But at the same time, he needed to kill in order to survive. There was no way he would make it in Aleria as a lone combatant if he didn’t, and if he faltered, it was likely that either Isaac or Roderick would kill him.

Gritting his teeth, Dante lifted his sword and slit Isaac’s throat.

The feeling was sickening. He had put all of his strength into the cut, causing the sword to cut deeply.

The sound of the blade scraping against the bone inside of Isaac’s neck reached his ears first, taking him completely off-guard.

Then the hot blood sprayed out from the gaping hole in his neck, coating his entire arm. It made him want to throw up.

Dante completely froze up, unable to process anything but what he had just done.

While he stood there, unmoving, Roderick, turned around in confusion. Only to see Isaac’s corpse slumped on the ground, a pool of blood draining from it.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, both of their eyes were wide, each of them having a difficult time coping with the scene in front of them.

Then Roderick roared as he charged at Dante with sword extended.

Dante hesitated for a split second, but then he broke out of his absentmindedness and Blinked away, escaping to the forest.

He wouldn’t fool himself into thinking he could take Roderick on just because he surprised Isaac. Roderick’s increased Constitution and resiliency from his Warrior Classification wouldn’t allow him to cut his throat as easily as he had with Isaac.

Occasionally during the chase, Roderick would come close enough to put himself in sword range, and every time Dante would Blink ahead to keep his lead. Thankfully the chase in between the Blinks lasted more than long enough for his Mana to recharge.

He had a clear lead in Agility, but the underbrush hindered his movements while Roderick just trampled over any obstacle in his path.

The chase had seemed to have no end in sight. Or at least it didn’t until Dante, pushing through the foliage, rushed out onto a clearing that ended in a cliff. He was barely able to stop his momentum by the time he came to the edge of the cliff. Dante looked down to judge the fall, the drop was massive. If he fell, his body would be completely flattened.

As he glanced over the edge, Roderick crashed into the clearing. Completely cornering him on the cliff.

Dante muttered a curse, his options seemed rather limited.

Wait…

The situation was nowhere near as dangerous as he had initially thought. Dante threw his long-bladed weapon directly at Roderick, allowing the Warrior to easily bat it away. After that, he backed up to the edge of the cliff, doing his best to look terrified, which wasn’t difficult in the slightest. He repeatedly looked at the drop, then back up to Roderick, as if questioning if he should die from the fall or die to Roderick’s blade.

Roderick saw Dante’s expression and smiled as he charged sword first.

Waiting until the last second, Dante blinked behind Roderick and kicked him off the cliff’s edge.

A terrified scream that didn’t seem to match Roderick’s massive frame echoed out for a few brief seconds until it was abruptly cut off with a thud.

Looking over the edge of the cliff Dante winced. Roderick was dead, without a doubt. After staring at Roderick’s disfigured corpse for a moment, he began to contemplate what he should do next. Thinking it over, he decided to go back to where he killed Isaac, it was a possibility that he would have a few useful items on his person.

He also thought of looting Roderick’s body but decided that traversing the cliff wouldn’t be worth what he would get.

It took Dante over an hour to get back to where Isaacs corpse was located. Thankfully it wasn’t hard to find, the trampled path that Roderick created led him directly to it.

Seeing Isaacs body on the ground, Dante couldn’t help but grimace. He didn’t regret killing the two guards in the slightest, after all, they would have killed him if they had the opportunity. But the act of killing itself didn’t sit well with him.

Moving to Isaac’s corpse, Dante began to search through his clothes. The first thing he found was a small coin purse with seventeen copper coins. It drastically improved his mood, he had lost all of his money when the hag had cheated him.

The second thing he found was far more valuable. It was a medium-sized stone that fit comfortably in the palm of his hand, and on the face of the stone was a small rune. He had seen similar items in the past, and could tell from a glance that the stone was enchanted.

An item could only be enchanted by someone with the Enchanter Classification, in the Outer Edge region of Aleria, such items were almost nonexistent and worth at least double their weight in gold. His unexpected harvest was enormous.

He didn’t know what the stone actually did though, so he placed it on the ground and fed world essence into it, similarly to how he would activate his Status. The stone glowed for a second, then the ground around it was instantly set ablaze.

Dante ceased feeding world essence into it, then stamped out the fire. After waiting for the rock to cool he picked it up gently.

Not only was it an invaluable object, but it also solved the issue of him building a fire. Something he hadn’t really considered.

After taking the stone, Dante looked over Isaacs clothing. He and Isaac were roughly the same height. The only problem was that he had a gaunt frame while Isaac’s was far closer to what would be considered average. After some thought, he decided to take the clothes. They were in decent condition and far better than anything that he had on. Even though they were completely soaked in Isaac’s blood, the stains could easily be washed out when he found a stream.

After stripping Isaac of all of his belongings, Dante sat back and examined himself. He was practically covered in blood, even his arms were soaked with it…

Dante did a double take. Only his left hand was covered in blood. The glove on his right hand was completely dry, while the rest of his arm was coated.

That wasn’t the only thing that was strange about his glove though, there was a new scarlet symbol under the dragon, so tiny he could barely make it out. It was the symbol of the Ranger Classification.