Chương 115: Side Story: What if Katie went home?

Katie respawned in the ruins of the chapel, at the edge of the pile of rubble that was the only indication that a vast structure once stood there. Human corpses littered the debris, or were buried under it. No fox-kin, though. Whatever that spell had been, not so much as a bloodstain remained of those it deemed 'enemies'. Even Katie's previous body hadn't survived the holy light. Well, that was her quest rather thoroughly failed.

The real one, of saving the humans from the demon lord, not just the fetch quest they'd tried to saddle her with. Now what? Yes, Kevin had survived, assuming he had the sense to teleport somewhere outdoors, but he was hardly going to want to send her home after that, and threatening him wouldn't work. Katie had no way of telling if he was teleporting her back to Earth or to the depths of an ocean somewhere, so letting him spell-cast at her would be foolhardy. What next, then?

Katie didn't have any inclination to join the demons' side. Rather, she just wanted to go home. Picking fixed instead of pathfinder had been a mistake, but only in retrospect. Abandoning this world without giving it a chance would have been wrong. Abandoning it after giving it a chance was perfectly acceptable. She needed another level, which in turn required raising her cap. Thus far, levels had only been obtained from side quests, most of which involved repairing shrines.

After fighting so many of the scorpion demons in the arena, high-value mana crystals were in plentiful supply, which left only the second half of that equation; damaged shrines. This chapel functioned as a respawn point, but had no statue. Did that imply there were no statues in the world? Her original respawn point in the dungeon didn't have a statue either, and the knowledge from her latest class and fixed skill implied that side quests remained a real possibility. It was too soon to rule them out.

Then where would be the best place to look for them? If statues here produced barriers like in the dungeon, and settlements were built around them, then the war-front would be the best place to look. Kevin had talked about fox-kin burning down tens of villages. If each one had a statue, Katie could max out her level. Which just left the question of where the battlefront was. Katie jumped into the air, her wings carrying her clear of the ruins and granting a view of the surrounding city.

If she could see the city, the occupants could presumably see her, but she found it hard to care. If anyone attacked her, she'd strike back. The previous spell that had killed her had been slow enough that dodging would be trivial, and the smaller attacks had done little to wound her. A wall surrounded the collapsed structure she'd been summoned in, but it had extensive gardens between, and within them was a small grouping of tents.

If the location of her summoning was at the centre of a large city, with thick walls and so many strong knights, had it been a palace or castle of some sort? Yes, Kevin had referred to it as a castle. If the city was ruled from here, and those tents contained who and what could be salvaged from her rampage, then they'd be the best place to investigate for information. A bell sounded from a tower, set next to a gate in the wall. Katie ignored it. She ignored the following lances of fire and ice, too.

A burst of holy magic she half-dodged, letting it clip her arm for the level boost. Holy magic tolerance advanced to level 3 Not wanting to take too much damage before getting started, she struck back, strafing the tower and battlements with her flame breath before diving to the tents. A spattering of soldiers drew swords, but none responded to perceive presence, so she ignored them, homing in on the biggest tent and dropping in through the ceiling. Or trying to, anyway.

Setting the tent on fire would have been a poor idea—not because the fire was dangerous to her, but because it would have burnt up anything inside the tent that might have held useful information—so she'd refrained from burning a hole through its canvas, expecting her momentum to tear one instead. It hadn't, the tent being made of far sturdier material than she'd expected, so she just ended up in a big tangle. At least she was on top, unlike at least three others, judging from the struggling noises.

Actually, one of those voices seemed to be Kevin. Apparently, he hadn't run very far. Katie drew a dagger from her item box and started slicing through the canvas, freeing up a table on which was a large map. A few seconds was sufficient to work out where the battlefront was, which just left the question of where she was. Storing the map in her item box, she took back to the air, hoping to find some landmarks that matched with the map.

Surprisingly, aside from the weak magical attacks, she hadn't faced any retaliation. What happened to that squad of mages that had vaporised her the first time? Did that magic have a lengthy cool-down? Hovering in the air for a few minutes, Katie decided she was in a large city in the very centre of the eastern lobe of the two-lobed continent, and that she needed to head directly west. With the humans ignoring her, she was more than happy to ignore them, and shot off towards her destination.

The humans turned out not to be ignoring her. Whatever had happened to the mages, they had more conventional weapons too. They just happened to be pointing outside the city. The moment Katie passed the city's outer wall, massive ballista bolts came at her, launched from the multitude of towers that stood guard over the city. Discern danger advanced to level 28 Rolling from one side to the other, Katie followed the advice of discern danger, dodging the bolts with ease.

They seemed better suited to taking out larger, less manoeuvrable targets. Still, it took an impressively large amount of distance before the attacks stopped, the bolts glowing with mana that presumably increased their range. Partial negation of air resistance and gravity, perhaps? It was a journey of several hours, over green forests and meadows, dry scrubland, farming villages and the occasional ballista-happy town before the scenery started to change. Villages were spread further apart.

Greens became less common, replaced by browns and greys. There were no more large towns. And, eventually, the patches of black. Scorched earth and burned fields. Katie dropped into the ruins of a village, no more than a ring of ash and half-burnt huts. How any of the wooden structures had survived was a mystery Katie didn't care about. Perhaps it had been raining? More important was the lack of any statue or shrine. No message indicated the unlock of a new respawn point. No side quest called for her aid.

Katie explored the ruins, searching the burnt-out shell for anything of use. The damage appeared recent, with no new plant growth and very little rot. Mouldy bread survived in a few huts. A few weeks, perhaps? Small coins left in plain view indicated the place hadn't been looted. Perhaps it simply hadn't been worthwhile; Katie didn't know the currency of this world, and appraisal described the coins as the smallest denomination. But if the village hadn't been looted, where were the corpses?

A faint odour of smoke clung to the place, but there was no putrid stench of rotting flesh. No charred bodies or even bones. Had the villagers been captured? Or had they fled? Wishing for a tracking skill, Katie investigated the surrounding grounds. A disturbed path through the ash led away from the village. A large number of heavy boots, passing that way after the fire. Katie followed, soon losing the trail as it reached sturdier ground, but flying low and looking for any points of interest.

She found the missing corpses. They were hard to miss. New side quest: Make an offering to the defiled shrine You have encountered a defiled shrine, burnt in the flames of war. Make an offering to restore its full glory and restore the barriers that protect this land. Clear conditions: Sacrifice mana crystals worth a minimum of 100 mana to the defiled shrine.

Reward: Gain one class level Now the stench of rotting flesh assaulted Katie's nose, blinding her olfactory perception and leaving her dependent on her squishy eyeballs for the first time in a while. Forming a ring around the statue were larger corpses, some of them gripping pitchforks and scythes even in death. Within were smaller corpses. One held a dead baby in one arm while the other grasped at the statue, as if pleading for protection. Alas, the shrine's barrier had failed to hold back their attackers.

The villagers must have fled here for refuge, and the invaders followed them after torching their homes and fields. Side quest complete: Make an offering to the defiled shrine Level cap reached For making an offering worth more than 500 mana, additional reward granted: A strengthened barrier provides healing and restoration to all within its domain. For making an offering worth more than 1000 mana, additional reward granted: An enlarged barrier protects a greater area.

For making an offering worth more than 5000 mana, additional reward granted: Level cap increased by one. The corpses disintegrated as Katie watched, the putrid stink purged from the air as a bubble expanded from the shrine. Grass sprouted, an island of green in the sea of destruction, washing away the evidence of the atrocity committed there. Katie couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. Not all the corpses had been human. A few, on the outside of the ring, had very distinctive tails and ears. Fox-kin.

Kevin had told her they had attacked villages, but there was a difference between hearing it and seeing it first-hand. Still, that didn't absolve the humans for their attack on the dungeon's fox-kin, and despite feeling pity towards the situation, Katie had no desire to take sides. Instead, she took back to the skies, looking for more shrines. A search that was swiftly met with success.

The sun was starting to set in the sky when Katie located her second defiled shrine, earning a new skill slot, and with it, new skills. One that would let her hide her newfound inhumanity at home, and another that maybe, just maybe, would let her raise the dead. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. She wasn't going to risk her path home on a maybe.

She was outside the time dilation now, and with the time spent searching for shrines, even if she'd been taken early in the night, by now it would be morning. Her disappearance would be noticed. Perhaps her housemates would think she slipped out early, and wouldn't be overly concerned yet, but all it would take was a text or a phone call to reveal her phone was still in her room.

Had she been taken when it was already close to morning, there was a good chance she'd have been reported as a missing person by now, her parents panicking and the police searching. Katie took a step in a direction not found on any map and went home. Meanwhile, Bell was indeed in a bit of a panic. She stood in Katie's bedroom, staring at the phone on her bedside table. Next to it was an open purse, no cash or cards removed. A keyring of keys was visible in an open drawer.

If she was intending to go for a quick run in the early morning, perhaps she would have left behind her phone and purse, but she'd still need to bring a door key. Not that Katie was known for running, but there was a first time for everything, and Bell could imagine her wanting to keep it secret to avoid Daisy mocking her for a poor performance.

"No good. Her parents haven't heard from her either, and I think I worried them a bit by asking," came the voice of Daisy from outside.

"I can't believe someone got in here and kidnapped her without waking any of us up. She must have walked out on her own," opined the fourth house-mate, Sophie.

"Nothing whatsoever is missing, though," said Bell.

"Not her phone, money, keys. Not even any clothes, as far as I can tell. I'll admit I probably can't remember everything she owns, but the only thing that's definitely gone is a nightie."

"Maybe she went sleep-walking?" suggested Daisy.

"She's never mentioned sleep-walking before, and her door was locked. I know they're easy enough to lock and unlock from the outside, but why would she relock it in her sleep? I can't think of any better explanation, though. Should we call the police?" asked Bell, turning from the bedside table and coming face to scaly face with Katie.

"Ahhhhh-mmmpf!" screamed Bell before being silenced by a hastily placed hand.

"Bell?! What's wrong?!" shouted Daisy, the sound of hurried footsteps coming from outside as she and Sophie both converged on Katie's bedroom.

"Don't come in!" shouted Katie, which, of course, did nothing to stop them both rushing in.

"Ahhhhh-mmmpf!" went Sophie, as Katie employed her second hand.

"Oh. Very funny," muttered Daisy, thankfully saving Katie from needing to grow a third hand.

"Get us all worked up into a panic worrying about you, and then jump out in a stupid dragon costume. You've, what, been hiding in your cupboard all this time, listening to us making fools of ourselves?"

"Actually, I got isekaied," Katie said, removing her hands from her staring house-mates.

"Oh, for goodness' sake! We were about to call the police, you know! Or is that why you picked that moment to jump out? That was evil!"

"No, evil was... pretty much every sapient individual I've met over the past few months."

"Where were you hiding? I checked your cupboard. I even checked under your bed!"

"That's a cool costume, but that was still very mean," added Sophie. Katie sighed, then stepped back to the burned shrine, slowly counted to ten, then stepped back.

"Ahhhhh-mmmpf!" went Sophie, who was definitely the least shock-proof of the three.

"So you aren't really here, and you're projecting some sort of hologram?" said Daisy, trying to wave a hand through Katie and failing spectacularly.

"Huh? But I can touch you? How did you do that?" Katie pondered as a bunch of her worries fell apart. Far from needing to concern herself about people trying to autopsy her, her biggest issue would be convincing people she wasn't cosplaying. That raised the question of whether she should play along with their assumption, apologise for scaring them, then return to the other world until she could get another level and take formless.

The issues caused by her disappearance would be minimised, and she could go back to living a normal life. But what was the point of having cool powers if she had no-one to share them with? It was a pity she couldn't take the three of them back to the other world with her; their reactions would have been hilarious. She could do something almost as good, though.

"Fine, I'll show you how it was done. You'll have to come outside, though. And I'll give you all a dozen free flight tokens by way of apology."

"Free flight tokens? What the heck are you on about now?" asked Daisy, who was still grumpy but nevertheless obediently followed the shiny dragon.

"Just what they sound like. Don't worry, it'll all make sense soon." The group of four girls headed outside, Katie now completely unbothered by her appearance.

"Well?" demanded Daisy, when Katie stopped walking. Katie responded by wrapping her arms under Daisy's armpits and flapping her wings.

"Ahhhhh!" screamed Daisy, finally emitting her first of the day.

"Believe me now that this isn't a costume?" asked Katie, before waiting a minute for the screaming to die down and repeating herself.

"We're... We're flying!"

"Yup. Cool, isn't it?"

"How?! Is this some sort of virtual reality you stuck me in while I was sleeping?"" Seriously? If that sort of technology existed, do you honestly think the first you'd find out about it was me using it to prank you? Is that really more plausible than just believing me when I said I got isakeied and gained cool superpowers?"

"But that's not possible!"

"And this being virtual reality is? Anyway, I'm taking you back down. I need to give the others a turn before the masses build up too much video evidence of the flying dragon lady." There was, in fact, already a considerable amount of video evidence, given the location in the middle of a student campus combined with the way every single student carried smartphones with them at all times. Luckily, Katie's hypothesis was completely correct.

Not a single one of those doing recording thought they were doing anything other than catching a TV show being filmed, or some other sort of fake special effect. Sophie declined her turn, but Bell was more than willing to forgive and forget in exchange for a high-thrill lap around the campus.

"So, you got summoned to another world to fight a demon lord? And somehow ended up turned half into a dragon? Did you win?"

"Nah. It turned out pretty much everyone I met was a jerk, so I left them to their war."

"That's a bit... mean, isn't it?"

"Why don't you spend a few months being eaten, tortured, raped, zombiefied and generally abused, and see if you want to stick around to help people who really don't want to be helped? Which reminds me, I have a zombie to resurrect. But I need to head back to that other world for a bit first and level up at least once more, to get a skill that will let me look human."

"Can I come?"

"Alas not. I can't teleport other people."

"I guess I'll try to calm down Daisy, then. She'll stop blaming you at some point."

"She'd better, but if she doesn't, point out to her that I don't just have the wings and scales of a dragon. I have their breath, too."

"You what?" Katie didn't answer, but directed a burst of flame straight upwards, blasting a hole through the grey cloud cover and giving a glimpse of the blue sky beyond. A dozen people, having caught the incident on video, immediately jumped onto social media to brag about having seen the display, or to ask if anyone knew who was filming, or in one incredibly incorrect case, to complain about how physically inaccurate the display was and how fire wouldn't really do that to a cloud.

Leaving her three housemates—thankfully reassured of her safety before they'd spread news of her disappearance—Katie returned to the other world, where the entire sky seemed to be shimmering. In her absence, Muigal Pass had fallen to the demon armies, lacking sufficient mana to sustain their defences. Now the demons were beating on the grand barrier, and it was only a matter of time before it failed.

"Best I hurry, then," muttered Katie to herself before taking to the air and looking for more shrines. She managed to find two before the skies shattered, dissolving fragments of the barrier drifting through the air, like fluffy sheets of glass. Of the four new skills, two were interesting. One that apparently permitted time travel, and one that would let her ferry others safely through the Void. She really could bring her friends here, if she wanted, but why would she?

A world at war, which the humans would soon lose. Not a great place to play tourist. A better use case would be bringing dupliKatie with her; given the soul link, the two couldn't exist in separate worlds. But even then, she could always stash dupliKatie back in the prison-ring for travel purposes. What of time travel? What about the past would she change? Save the fox-kin? Perhaps, but the trickle of information fed in by her class suggested that time travel was not a side-effect free process.

Travelling to the past would destroy the present. Travelling to the future was safer, but could she face returning to an earlier time knowing it would destroy that future? It had the potential to improve the world, but the price would be replacing everyone in that world. The morality issues were non-trivial, and this Katie preferred to ignore any non-trivial issues. She took formless and left her fourth slot open. As expected, the skill came along with understanding and comprehension.

Katie knew how the blessing of the Goddess had settled on her, and how to adjust it. To bring back the original human Katie, and to switch between them. Switching was important; she didn't want to accidentally give up her powers and have no way to revert it. It was no mere illusion; it was a real change in Form. Alas, her introspection on her new ability was ruined by a lance of flame from above, the equal of her own.

"Oi!" yelled a suddenly naked Katie at the red dragon above, once the flame stopped, leaving her floating in a pool of lava.

"I liked that nightie! It was lucky! I'm fairly sure it was the longest lived copy of it I've ever had!" Then she paused, realising her new skill could take care of that, too. She tweaked her Form into one that was properly dressed.

"Actually, never mind. You know, I used to hate bras, but try walking around without one for a few months, and you soon realise just how vital they are. Now, what was that for? Or do you make a habit of flaming everyone you meet?" The red dragon responded with more fire, and Katie picked up another two presences approaching rapidly, one of equal power and one even greater.

Giving the red dragon a lance of ice to the wing—because she wasn't the sort of person to let attempted murder, however unsuccessful, go completely unanswered—she stepped back home, dressing herself in human skin on the way.

"Welcome back," said Bell, on her return.

"I called your parents and the university, and said you were laid up in bed with the flu. Your parents are suspicious, given that Daisy called them asking if they'd heard from you, but I think you've got away with it. Oh, and security want to talk to you about the fire trick. Apparently, you're supposed to get prior approval if you're going to be using pyrotechnics on campus."

"They have rules for dragon breath? Given the other dragons I've met, I don't see that going down very well."

"To be fair, the word 'dragon' was never mentioned." Katie shrugged and made a mental note to remember to file the appropriate paperwork the next time she wanted to show off her flame breath, then returned to university life, eager to put the prior months behind her.

Of course, with her friend of fear, pain immunity and immortality, getting herself back into a correct human mindset was far harder than getting back into a human body, particularly since regular humans rarely spent so much time in graveyards digging up recently deceased corpses.

"So... You're a copy of Katie, made accidentally by some sort of magical disease?" asked Daisy, circling a young girl in the best condition Katie had been able to find in her limited selection. Entering the church the graveyard was attached to had actually unlocked a respawn point, so Katie could have used trigger respawn to produce a corpse, but the place had CCTV and she had no idea what her respawn would look like.

Since she could change her appearance with formless, she was planning to bring dupliKatie back in this body, then offer to switch her out into a custom-made version after finding a more private place to respawn. It shouldn't be hard to find an abandoned church or temple, and if she was lucky, it might even get her that last level.

"Yup. That pretty much sums it up."

"And that... doesn't hurt?" Daisy continued, looking at the stab wound in dupliKatie's back that had been the reason for the body's original owner's internment.

"I'm a zombie. I don't feel pain. Or need kidneys."

"But this body isn't infected with the magical zombie disease."

"Stop trying to apply common sense to magic. You're going to have a bad time." Daisy sprouted the smile of someone who was not at all having a bad time.

"I don't suppose you'll let me study you for my PhD?"