Summoned Again?

“I have his blessing!” Ksenya gasped thirty minutes later. “Oh, god! Thank you! Thank you!”

Anthony didn't say anything and just smiled. Unlike her, he was probably smart enough to not announce it to everyone... until it was useful to him, anyway.

Farrah sighed and stopped praying. “I'm not devoted enough to this task.”

“You are.” I said and she looked at me in surprise. “You just didn't decide to stay afterwards.”

Farrah closed her eyes for a few seconds and then sighed. “No, I can't. I have family and I can't leave them like I did.”

“He doesn't expect you to.” I said and she opened her eyes. “Remember that he said the circumstances of your demise wouldn't apply when you were sent back?”

Farrah went quiet at my words as she thought about it.

“I'm not going to ask what happened or offer how I ended up here.” I said and that surprised her.

“Why not?”

“Because it's...” I shook my head. “It's unbelievable.”

“Try me.” Farrah said.

“The car I was in was run over by a tank.”

All three of them stared at me like I was crazy.

“I told you it was unbelievable.” I said and motioned at the bench they sat on. “Strap in and we'll head to the next area.”

“I can fly now.” Anthony said and stood up. “I have the proper spell.”

“You need to save your mana for attacking, remember?” I asked and he looked doubtful. “If you want to try it, just remember how much time we had this time after we landed. Can you recover that quickly?”

“How are you doing it?” Ksenya asked.

“The spell let me unlock the skill. When I fly, I'm not using the spell.”

The three of them gave me disbelieving looks.

“I maxed the skill and that's why I can fly so quickly. The spell... well... you can fly faster if you pour more mana into it. Most spells can do that, actually. More mana, more powerful spells.”

Anthony sighed and sat down again, then he and the other two strapped in.

“It's all right. You'll be able to fly to other places, as long as you land far enough away to recover before fighting. You've seen how these things move.”

Anthony nodded and I strapped the harness on. We flew to the next area and I landed us at the same distance away, then we used the same tactics. There weren't as many this time, only about 600,000 of them, and they made it through on their own power. The three of them were quite happy with that outcome and then gave me sorrowful glances.

“Hey, I don't mind sitting out. I can save my energy for the big fight.” I said and waved at the bench again. “How are your magic main stats? Are you filling them up?”

“I don't know how we can keep gaining experience if we're already at the level cap.” Farrah said.

“That's probably because of me.” I said and she looked surprised. “It's one of my abilities to convert extra experience to stat and skill points. Since you're in my party, it's being shared with you.”

“Then I hope you're planning on letting us clear out a bunch more of these undead.” Anthony said. “They aren't giving us much experience with us at the top level, so we need to kill a whole lot more of them.”

Ksenya laughed. “Killing the undead! That's funny!”

“I say dispatching or cleansing them, just so it's not confusing.” I said with a smile. “Do you want to keep going or head to the cleric's temple and see about getting the things we might need for the final battle?”

“I'd say we should keep working.” Anthony said. “It's so damn easy, even if it's time and mana intensive. We need those extra points.”

“I vote for party time at the temple!” Ksenya exclaimed and held a hand up to Farrah for a high five.

Farrah hesitated for a second and then slapped her hand.

“YEAH!” Ksenya yelled. “Let's go, go, GO!”

“Farrah?” I asked.

“I can't decide.” Farrah said. “You chose.”

I looked down at my chest plate and had to know if they had enchanters around. “The temple.”

“YES!” Ksenya yelled and held a hand up for a high five from me.

I didn't hesitate and stored my gauntlet as I lightly slapped her hand. After that, I flew us all the way back to the cleric's temple. We would need a meeting with the head cleric as soon as possible. If my calculations were correct, considering I had cast the time spell on the main meeting room the first time. I hadn't realized I could cast it on myself and not the space I was in, until I chose to take the time dilation with me.

Once I knew I could localize it to my body, it made it so much easier for my mind to adapt to it. Of course, I had 200 extra points in my mental stats and they allowed me to achieve even more than a maxed stat gave me the ability for. Each point above the limit was like ten or more normal points in the power scale, so I was way above my normal capacity.

I didn't cast any more time spells on myself, though. Just like I had told Idhyl's mother, I could feel the mental strain from maintaining the time spells I had already cast. I was handling it, because I had to. I wasn't going to let too much time pass on Earth, now that I had the ability to pretty much halt it for everyone except for whoever was within a couple of hundred feet of me.

I slowed down and hovered over the large balcony and put the bench down and landed beside it. Ksenya was unstrapped and through the door before I could tell her where to go to get back to the main room.

“She'll figure it out.” Farrah said with a chuckle when she saw my face. I stored the bench and waved her and Anthony ahead of me, then I stored my armor and equipped dress pants and a blue shirt. We found her in a side room looking at a few tapestries. We brought her with us and I directed them back to the main hall.

I opened the door and all twelve of the clerics were there, with the five women almost in a huddle off to the side as they chatted and giggled like little school girls. I would know, since I saw it a lot with Crystal and her friends. I wasn't sure why I had the feeling that the clerics doing it was ominous when it was cute when Crystal did it.

“The Divine Chosen have returned!” One of the men exclaimed and everyone turned to look at us.

“Is there a problem?” Lady Matricia asked, concern in her voice. “Why have you returned so quickly?”

“We're here to party!” Ksenya said loudly and the clerics looked shocked.

“Not yet!” Farrah whispered to hush her. “They haven't heard about what we've done yet.”

“Oh, yeah.” Ksenya said. “Guess what? We just wiped out three million of the undead!”

The clerics stood there, completely stunned, except for one.

“Damon.” The woman I had slept with before said, almost pleadingly.

I walked over to her and she reached a hand out to me. I took it and bent over to kiss it. “My lady, you wouldn't happen to know if there are any powerful enchanters on this world, do you?”

She looked into my eyes and her heart beat faster, because I could hear it thumping in her chest.

“Ah, I see.” I said and looked at the women around her. “Please excuse us for a few seconds.”

“A few...” Lady Matricia started to say and I used the spells to disappear. “...dammit.”

I spent another 45 minutes with the cleric I had chosen and she appreciated my diligence to make her feel even better than the last time I had been with her. She told me all about the scattered remnants of the enchanting profession that fewer and fewer people were apprenticing for over the years. It was difficult work to master and most families were dwindling as they feared bringing a child into this desolate world of the undead.

“I hope you no longer have that fear.” I whispered to her and kissed her ear. “I won't let the scourge endanger our child.”

Tears came to her eyes and she turned her head to kiss me on the lips. “Thank you, Damon.”

“I should be thanking you for letting me be with you out of wedlock.” I said.

“I'd marry you in an instant if you were going to stay.” She responded. “We both know that will never happen, so we need to forget that there was ever a possibility.”

“I'm sorry.”

She laughed softly and kissed me again. “I've never felt more in tune with myself, so you don't have to be sorry.”

“But...”

“I don't regret it.” She said and sat up to loom over me. “If I did, I wouldn't have told the others all about it. In detail.”

I opened my mouth to respond, then had to laugh. “No wonder you were all giggling like that.”

She smiled at me and leaned down to give me several kisses. “I'm glad you're not angry.”

“I wonder if Lady Matricia would accept that dinner date now?” I asked, teasingly.

“She certainly would, especially if you're going to look for an enchanter.”

It only took me a second to understand what she meant. “She wants the secret of my armor.”

“I've never seen mithril in person before, let alone made into armor.” She said. “I don't want to know how much it cost.”

“Not much, just a kingdom or two.” I said, completely honestly, and her mouth dropped open in shock. “That was on another world, so I'm not sure how that would equate here.”

She didn't say anything in response, so I sat up and gave her a kiss on the lips.

“I'll come back after visiting the closest enchanter and I'll leave you some money...”

“You don't have to do that.” She said and put a hand on my chest. “I've accepted responsibility for this child and my family will gladly help me raise her.”

“Her?” I asked.

“Yes, I prayed for a little girl.” She said and put her hand on her belly. “She's going to be very powerful when she grows up and she will lead my family as she helps restore the world to its former glory.”

I put my hand on her hand. “Please, let her be a child for a while before you give her that goal.”

She laughed and her breasts jiggled enticingly. “I'll wait until she's eleven and give her the choice.”

“Eleven years as a kid? I guess that's fair.” I said with a smile and moved my hand up to cup her breast. “Do you feel up for a quick one before I have to go?”

“Always.” She said with a matching smile and laid down as she pulled me on top of her.

Twenty minutes later, we were cleaned with spells and dressed, and went back out to the main room.

“There's no way...” Farrah started to say and I held a hand up to stop her.

“I've asked about enchanters and I know where the closest one is. I'm going to visit them to see if they or anyone they know can repair my armor.” I said. “I'll be right back.”

“I'll come with you.” Lady Matricia said and walked over to me.

“It's pretty far, as you know.” I cautioned her.

“I have a strong magic shield.” Lady Matricia said, confidently.

I waved at the door to the hallway and we left the main room. Her strides were sure and powerful as her slightly heeled boots clacked on the floor. I was wearing shoes, so my soles were a lot quieter than hers. She went out the proper door to the balcony and I closed the door behind me.

“Forgive my impertinence.” I said and stepped close to her. She caught her breath as I slid my arms into her robes and put them around her body. Her face flushed red as she stared into my eyes.

“I... my shield...”

“I've got it.” I said and slowly floated up into the air. “You're close enough to be covered with mine.”

She nodded slowly, not realizing that I could cast it on other things and not just myself, and I turned us towards the closest city that was several hundred miles away and started to fly. I went slowly at first, to get her used to it, then poured on the speed. Her breath sped up as I did and she looked surprised as the land passed by us so quickly.

“My flight ability is maxed.” I whispered to her. She nodded again and didn't speak. At this speed, we would be at the city in only a few minutes and then I had to hope that whoever I met there, knew what they were doing. I had a feeling that I was going to need my armor for the final battle, and I always tried to listen to my feelings.