“What?!” The Crusader roared with absolute disdain riddled throughout his voice, “What do you mean, you surrender?”

“I’m not sure how there is any other way to explain what I’m doing.” The man with a raised eyebrow, “I’m choosing to not fight you at all. Rather, I will allow you to bypass the quarantine and go into Core’s Landing to do what you wish.”

“Surely this is a jest? Do you have so little loyalty to your so-called lord that you would so willingly–”

“I’m not seeing the problem here. Did you not want me to step aside?” The man shrugged, before locking on to the Crusader with a harsh look. “Or was that all an excuse to simply try to kill me?”

“That doesn’t matter! What matters is–”

“Enough.” The Spartan’s words cut down any further discussion between the two. They kept glaring at each other, but no other actions were done.

He sighed and massaged his forehead as he looked between the two. He didn’t get the Crusader’s hostility and why this man in front of him chose to give up, but that wasn’t important. The necessary point was that they were able to move onwards without much conflict, and thus that was something he was more than glad to do.

“We got what we wanted: permission to move onwards. So, let’s stop with the arguments and get going..”

“What?” His associate gasped as he turned towards him in shock, “We’re going to let this man be?”

“Why not?” The Spartan shot back, which made the Crusader step back in surprise, “He doesn’t want to fight, and he’s letting us go through. What reason is there to continue right here and now? There’s no reason at all.”

“But he’s a subordinate of the enemy! He’s a part of the Usurper’s forces, we shouldn’t let him go like this! He’ll just stab us in the back if we try to go forward, I know it!”

“How exactly do you think I’ll succeed in that?” The man asked bluntly with a sigh, “I don’t think you noticed, but there’s two of you and one of me. You can keep an eye on me while you move on and there’d be nothing I could do.”

“Still doesn’t change the fact that–”

He already had enough of this whole asinine conversation. He didn’t need to suffer anymore. With a huff, he stowed away his spear and his shield and started marching forward.

“Come. We’re getting out of here.”

“Huh? Wait, we need to– Hold on!” The Crusader followed right behind him, the other man snickering as he went back to his post. “Don’t you find this all really odd? Like, why is he letting us go through without a fight? That has to be weird, no?”

“It isn’t.” He shot back, keeping his eye out for anything that would come at them while they went down the path towards the town proper, “If you recalled his previous warnings, he mentioned that there was nothing but misery and death up ahead. They had to quarantine this place for the people, despite how incredulous such a claim is. Last but not least, there are no other soldiers to help maintain the quarantine.”

The Crusader seemed to take this all in for a while as they kept going on their path. He seemed pensive, before lifting his head.

“So, what does this all mean?”

“It’s simple.” The Spartan stated, “He doesn’t need to stop us from going in because there’s no point anymore. If his goal is to stop us from reaching the Usurper, then whatever infested this town would do the job for him. In essence, he is still doing his job without lifting a single finger.”

“So he’s just a slothful bastard, then.” His associate spat, “What a useless worm.”

“Perhaps.”

But he wasn’t convinced. Not at all.

The best outcome for all of this would be if he is nothing more than a lazy moron that would gladly let the monsters do his job for him. Though, life isn’t always that simple.

If my hunch is correct, then that man is going to be tracking us from here on out. He’ll probably ambush us here and there in the town to take us down for his lord. Not only that, but I have a feeling his goal is to weaken the both of us down before swooping in to deliver the final blow.

I’ll have to be far more vigilant in this town.

He couldn’t help but sigh. He didn’t regret his decision to not strike that man down right then and there, but he could see the Crusader constantly bickering and jabbing at him for not committing to such a thing. The fact was, his associate was going to get really annoying with this whole thing, and he hoped his instincts would be wrong.

He really didn’t want to deal with being told over and over that what he had done was wrong.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

In any case, the dirt path was starting to lead way to the stone streets of Core’s Landing. They found themselves facing a giant fog cloud that limited their view, though they were able to see the outline of a guardhouse in front of them.

The two got their weapons and defenses up, before proceeding onwards cautiously. They entered the fog, the thick cloud slowing their movement down slightly from the sheer volume.

This wasn’t good. Now more than ever, he understood that he was at a disadvantage here now. Whatever came and attacked them would have the upper hand in every fight, should they know how to use this fog to their advantage. At this point, all he could hope was that the enemies within were as stupid as the ones they had encountered before.

They moved forward. They reached the guardhouse within seconds. The whole structure had been completely run down and damaged. The rooftop had caved in completely, leaving behind a mess of stones and bones inside. The gate itself had been torn to nothing more than shreds, their texture and shape more similar to that of hay than the wood they were made from.

The Spartan looked over the mess, before looking onwards and taking a few steps forward. The Crusader followed right behind, his long sword ready to cut anyone that came close to them down.

Step. They went past the gatehouse and found themselves in the thick of the town. Incoherent whispers began to sprout from all directions, as shadows seemed to sprout up from the edge of his view.

Step. The whispers went silent and the fog seemed to get even thicker, making it nearly impossible to see a few steps ahead. The Spartan kept his eye out while his associate seemed to shake just a bit.

Step. A bell rang. The fog seemed to lessen up. Something moved amidst the clouds at a rapid pace. The fog moved to that being's will, warping and splashing from the sheer speed. His associate began to shiver slightly, but he still kept his wits about him.

Step. Something came rushing towards the duo. The keen instinct to ambush and strike while one's guard was down was a smart one. The sheer act of trying to bring down the mental state of others with the atmosphere and the terrifying noises would have worked on lesser men. Those who were not disciplined enough to see through the show being displayed and succumb to fear.

Unfortunately for this one, it would find that he and his associate were not so weak.

The two acted in unison and as fast as they could. The Crusader swiped with his sword horizontally in the direction of the incoming opponent, while he re-orientated himself to avoid such an attack.

The loud noise of stones grinding erupted from the general area before a hiss could be heard. The sword came back with a hefty amount of blood lathering the tip, signifying a successful hit.

With that, the Spartan launched his attack. He could feel the enemy trying to back off, possibly to lick its wounds and come back once it had healed. Perhaps that would have worked with another warrior, with one that did not have his capabilities. That was, if he did not have his divinity.

He activated his powers and his mind opened up to everything. The shape of the buildings all around him that were in some sort of rounded cubic shapes, the chiseled and cracked stones that made up the form of the streets, and the distance between him and the enemy that was running away.

He had the direction his opponent was going. He got a grasp of their speed. With all that information, he was able to calculate the path necessary for his spear to lash out and land the final blow.

Then he stabbed into the air. His spear thrust into the fog and seemed to do nothing, at least for that second. Then his weapon curved. It warped, moving through the space and going beyond its possible actions as it guided itself to the destination he had woven.

The enemy took another step. It would be its last.

The end of his spear stabbed right into the side of the enemy’s head and pierced right through the other end. Once that impact was made, his spear snapped back immediately to where it should be. He could feel the opponent stagger before dissolving into dust and shattered bones, the blood on the Crusader’s sword turning to dust.

With that, he deactivated his divinity. He had to reserve all the energy he could, just in case something else came their way. With that done, they went back into their defensive positions and kept traversing through the fog and down these stone streets to keep an eye out for any danger once more. No other such problems came for quite a while, as they were allowed to walk unmolested.

However, the fact that they were not ambushed did not calm them down or give them the chance to loosen their guard. No, the duo kept their eye out in all circumstances, though the Crusader’s shivers seemed to have intensified.

The Spartan on the other hand kept his cool. He analyzed around and waited to see or hear any kind of movement that would tip the duo off to any incoming attacks. Though, there was something that did intrigue him a bit.

The fog. This had to come from some kind of monster. This was far too unnatural and form to be made from nature’s call. Either way, they would have to find the source of this annoying deterrent if they were to make any more ground in this town.

Time that they’d have to waste combing through the town just to find the source.

That was when he heard loud marching. Movement that belonged to multiple individuals that were moving in an unordered fashion. Too chaotic to belong to trained soldiers, but could belong to the undisciplined masses or beasts of some type.

He couldn’t tell if these were potential allies or more obstacles in their path. Whatever the case, the Spartan didn’t want to deal with this at this time. Once again, the two were not in such an advantageous position and a fight would force him to activate his divinity once more.

He’d have to reposition. Thankfully, there were several buildings that could be used as cover or even shelters to hide from the incoming crowd. He went ahead and tapped the Crusader on the shoulder to alert him of his plans.

Of all the things he expected, he did not anticipate his associate to give off a small yelp from being surprised. He certainly did not plan for the noise to echo slightly throughout the foggy streets and for the sounds of marching to halt instantly.

He activated his divinity immediately to get a good idea of what was going on with those figures. There were a good number of them, a total of eighteen freakishly tall monstrosities that had arms long enough to reach down to the ground and big enough to appear similar to that of small boulders. Those limbs had giant spikes scattered across, with no surprise to what their usage would be. Then there was the fact that each and every single one of them were looking in their direction.

How annoying.