DxD: The Plunder System Chapter 69

Chapter 69: The Trial of the Tennō (1/2)

"Marcellus Hanley..."


That was a name he hadn't heard before.


"It's a Western name."


But even so, he had never heard of anyone by that name in any mythology, especially not from those in Japan.


"Is it a random item?"


He was curious. Getting rankless rewards was not common, and so far, it was only the sexual skills that were without a rank.


"Who is Marcellus?"


He wondered, but there was no answer.


"It says I need a lock..." Kento wondered if it would be possible to find the lock in the next trial, but there was only one way to find out.


And that was through the red portal flickering in front of his eyes.


With a calm breath, he walked towards the portal.


'I'll have my answer once I enter the portal.'


And with that, he walked inside.


...

...


<<Quest Alert!>>


<<Quest: Complete the Trial of the Tennō while obtaining the trust of the survivors.


The user is prohibited from using the {Inspect} skill.>>


<<Rewards: Points ×600, [Lock ×1]>>


'So the lock is indeed the reward.'


Kento was happy to see that the reward was indeed a lock. However, there was something else he noticed as well.


'Survivors?'


The word surprised him because the moment he walked inside the portal, he was greeted by a certain few things.


An ominous feeling, a warm yet nasty wind, and a dark eerie labyrinth.


This labyrinth had to be the most unappealing place he had been to in a very long time.


{Light Manipulation}


The nasty stench, the moss-covered walls, skeletal remains, decaying flesh, and old traps were a few of the many things that were unappealing about the labyrinth.


The air within the labyrinth was heavy with an oppressive silence, broken only by the occasional drip of unseen water.


But there was something else, another form of sound that strongly resonated with the 'survivor' part of the quest.


"Footsteps..."


There were echoes within the labyrinth that seemingly came from everywhere given there were countless paths present.


But he had his ways to find the source.


{Size Scouter}


Using the skill, he looked at all the pathways. His plan was to look for a lifeforce within the labyrinth, possibly humanoid considering that the footsteps he heard felt like ones made by shoes.


And with a dedicated and thorough search of three seconds, he was able to find a few humanoid figures.


<<Size Scouted: Location from host: 740 meters>>


Equipping the [Self-Adjusting Coat] to negate the coldness and to protect his clothes from being stained by the dripping fluids, Kento made his way through the pathway that showed life signals.


He found not one, but three signals, and all of them came from the same direction.


With his hands in his pockets, he slowly made his way towards those people. He kept his {Size Scouter} on to not get lost while also being able to stay on guard in case of danger.


And after around five minutes of walking, he finally spotted them.


"I-Is that a Youkai!"


One of them gasped as she saw Kento approaching.


Kenro didn't like being called a Youkai, and it made him raise an eyebrow.


"I am pretty certain I am what people consider a human," he said as he walked towards them, "I must say that I am offended."


This had them on their toes. "Who are you?"


Taking his hands out of his pockets, he smiled. "Name's Kento. I am just trying to get out of this labyrinth."


They all analyzed him, worried and suspicious of him for not having any weapon on him.


"I am Jay," said the one with the golden locks, "I am the leader of this three-men party."


While it was a three-men party, the only man there was Jay as the other two were women with hair that reached their knees.


"Anita," the brown-haired one said as she placed her hand over her sword's hilt.


"Riley..." The third one seemed to be the meekest of them all as she hid behind Jay.


'None of them look Japanese,' Kento was amused, 'Why are there foreigners in a Japanese test?'


And another thing that he noticed was that they didn't use Japanese, they were using English. But it didn't matter to him as English was just as easy as Japanese for him.


Before the three could ask anything, he decided to ask.


"How did you three end up here?" He was curious, "Don't tell me that you walked into the portal like I did."


This confused them, "Portal?"


Jay asked as he plunged his sword into the ground, "We entered this dungeon to complete the quest given to us by our guild leader," he answered, "But it turns out that it is way more mysterious than we were informed."


'Guild? Dungeon?' Kento was honestly amused, 'What in the Dungeons and Dragons is this?'


"But we never encountered any portal," Anita frowned, "Were you affected by an AOE spell?"


'Kagetsuchi...' Kento was baffled, 'You truly are a monster...'


What Kagetsuchi had created was not simply a test but an intricate and marvelous dimensional setup.


And Kento knew that he had to adapt as fast as possible to this scenario to be able to complete the test.


And that he did.


"It is likely the case," Kento lied, "There was possibly a magic user casting a teleportation spell that engulfed me as well."


He had seen Riley girl holding a staff behind her, which assured him that magic existed, and for Anita to talk about AOE spells, he was assured.


"It is quite bad that you were teleported without a weapon," Jay said as he saw no weapon on Kento, "Are you a melee warrior or a caster?"


Kento wondered what would be a safe answer, "Err… I am the only one without a weapon. So, isn't it better if you give me your information first?" He said, "Since you have the number as well as weapon advantage."


Kento was certain that the goal was to have these three follow him, but to do that, he needed information on them.


Especially before answering questions that might get him in trouble.


"You... are not wrong," Jay mumbled, looking at himself and the two women as they all had weapons.


Seeing this, Anita sighed, "I am Anita Harper, a swordswoman and also the scout."


This gave Jay confidence to answer as well, "I am Jay Austin, an elemental swordsman and the leader."


Finally, it was the magician's turn.


"I am Riley... a mage," she was a little embarrassed as Kento looked at her staff, "I-I am still not proficient at using wandless magic, that's w-why I am using this staff."


"Oh..." Kento smiled.


"That doesn't mean she is weak," Jay assured, "She is extremely talented. But the staff lets her channel her mana better."


This thankfully allowed Kento to know a lot of things.


Firstly, there was magic that could be cast with or without wands.


Secondly, there were melee warriors that could use magic, which allowed them to use elemental abilities like Jay.


And finally, even people without magic could be on the same level as magic users.


He wasn't certain of this, but he still assumed that Riley was on par with them even without magic.


'They seem to be at the peak of the low class to barely middle class, judging by the amount of energy and aura they are emitting.'


He could take them on, but the thing was, he was not supposed to fight them. Instead, he was to make them follow him.


'I can't earn their trust by beating them.'


"I am Kento Yanazaki. I was a traveler from the far mountains who ended up getting caught up in a spell... or so I believe," he said with a frown, trying to sell his story, "That is probably why I ended up here. As for what I am, I am also a mage like Riley."


This surprised the girl. "Y-You too?"


Kento nodded, and Jay asked.


"Are you at the level of wandless casting?"


"Err..." Kento hesitated, having another doubt, "I recently reached that level."


"That's amazing..." Riley said, "You don't seem much older than us. T-To reach that level at such a young age, you are amazing."


But Anita was a little suspicious, "Can you prove that you are a wandless caster?"


This is where he knew he had to turn the question around.


"Shouldn't you show your magic before asking another? Mages are protective of their skills, after all."


"That... is true," Anita bit her lip, "While mages do like to show off, they never reveal their actual skills."


"I-I can show you mine," Riley said as she walked forward.


"Are you sure?" Ray asked, making the girl nod.


Riley lifted her staff upwards and said, "Lumos!"


And with that, an orb of light appeared before them, illuminating the entire place brighter than the torch they carried.


"Impressive," Kento smiled, enjoying the party trick.


"I-It is a basic spell, but that's how I cast my spells."


Kento kept his smile as he acknowledged her, "Even though you are using the staff, your casting time is low, which means you are quite skilled."


He had no idea what he was saying, but he tried to appear knowledgeable about the magic they used.


"And once you are able to channel your magic better, you will be able to cast such spells even without using the staff," he raised his palm, "Something like this–"


"Lumos!"


And with that, two orbs way bigger and brighter than Riley's appeared in front of them, lighting every corner within the place.

But no one other than Kento knew that it was just him using {Light Manipulation}.


"Wow..." Jay was impressed, as were the other two, especially Riley.


"They are so big..." She was baffled by the sheer size of the orbs.


"With practice, you will be able to handle them," Kento assured.


Riley was happy to hear this, so she nodded meekly, "T-Thank you."


And this assured Jay that Kento wouldn't be a burden for them.


"With your skill, I believe we won't be stuck here for long."


Kento shrugged, "I hope."

…

…


"Freed Sellzen?" Issei jumped in fury at the mention of that name, "He is responsible for this?"


"He is a part of it," Rias frowned, "We do not know the mastermind behind it, but we are aware that Freed is part of that group."


"We believe Raynare and the crew were responsible for a part of it, and their actual goal was the Excaliburs." Akeno mumbled, "Or they were used as distractions by the actual mastermind."


Issei bit his lips, "Wish Kento was here…"


"Issei," Rias sighed and smiled, "Kento has done a lot for us, we cannot depend on him all the time."


"Rias is right," Kiba said, "Otherwise it will be only taking and no giving, a one way transaction. Which is not friendship."


Issei felt a little embarrassed hearing this, but in truth he just wanted to have Kento around him. As Kento gave him a morale boost as well as taught him a lot of things.


'He promised to spar with me after all this is over,' He made up his mind, 'With his guidance, I will be stronger than before.'


`*I do not feel the same, brat. I feel if you fight him… You will lose more than you can handle.*`


'What do you mean?' Issei asked Ddraig, but the dragon wasn't able to answer properly.


`*I do not know… It is just an intuition that I have. Don't worry too much about it*`


'If you say so.'


But the dragon still had the feeling with him.


`*I hope I am just overthinking.*`

__________________________________________________________________________


[[A/N: Sorry if it feels like this part is being dragged, the trial will be over next chapter. But this is a very important part for the system part of the story. As we will be able to learn about the system origins in about 2-3 chapters and Kento's future.]]