Chapter 19.2 - You Have Failed

Multiple culn were dead, along with two of the drakes. It only left one drake left, the one who had retreated from before.

And that drake had now returned.

The large beast was was still missing an eye and was even bigger than its counterparts. It… was understandably pissed off, and it roared loudly in anger before storming forward to breath fire.

Trey summoned his ethereal demon mask in an instant and opened his mouth. Brilliant crimson flames counteracted the drake’s attack with little difficulty, the hellfire pouring from Trey’s chest like a fountain.

Thank the gods he didn’t need mana to use this ability, otherwise he’d have been charred alive.

The beast roared in confusion and doubled back, not expecting a humanoid to use such an ability, but Trey’d recovered enough mana by then to use one more spell.

He took one shadowstep, closing the gap between him and the creature multiple times his size instantaneously - and thought “Obliterate” to activate the empowered strike.

The weapon roared to life and he slammed his greatsword into the unfortunate monster with devastating results. Power unleashed from the blade in a torrent of chaos, though not nearly as impressive as it had been in the past due to his complete lack of mana. Nevertheless, the drake’s neck was absolutely eradicated. The head tore off completely, and the body it had been severed from began to flop around in convulsions.

“You have gained XP. You have gained 1 overall level.” The mechanical voice stated again.

These stupid prompts were beginning to irritate Trey and he really hoped to god he didn’t have to listen to it every time he got into a fight.

He looked around, covered in blood and viscera. His health bar was still ticking down from the deep bleeding wound in his hip and he didn’t know how he was even standing. Many of the prisoners he’d helped escape were now scattered or grieving over their wounded, and he had an especially hard time watching when he caught a father cradling his dying child.

Then… out from behind him… A deep boom echoed across the mountain pass. Then another, and yet another.

They were the drums of war.

From far down the path Trey had traversed with the escapees earlier that day, Trey saw nearly 50 culn warriors marching towards him. Some of them rode upon large black hellhounds, some bore heavy shields with spears or swords, while others were archers and marched in the back. They were all dressed in steel plate armor save for one at the front of the small army.

This officer rode atop one of the larger hellhounds, the same type of hound that had attacked Napoleon and the other imps back at the cave. The giant black beast had a yellow stripe from its nose down to its mid back and snarled as it approached - making it obvious that it wanted nothing other than to make Trey its dinner. The culn officer was completely decked out in ebony plate armor to match the color of his mount, and he bore a huge two handed sword about the same size as Trey’s own.

The immediate recognition of his current situation dawned on him. There was no way Trey would win against that many, he had problems facing off against the four guys and their drakes as it was. He was surprised he’d even managed to survive that many.

Trey looked around, not sure what to do and began to fear that the men and women around him would surely die if he didn’t act fast. His eyes suddenly stopped, growing wide and locking onto Farthom’s body laying on the ground near the edge of the water behind him. He sprinted over as the drums still sounded out with deep BOOM sounds. As he got closer, a knot in his throat appeared.

Farthom... was definitely dead. The old man’s eyes were glossed over with a bleeding hole in his chest, and in Farthom’s arms was the small... broken body... of his sweet, innocent granddaughter... Inis.

“You have failed the quest: Escape from Oblivion - Farthom and Inis have died.”

The sound of the drums closed in. The remaining people who hadn’t been killed were fleeing into different directions in a desperate attempt to get away. The mountains above seemed to be shouting at Trey to run, but all he could do is stare. Farthom and Inis had been the first friends he had made in this awful place, and to see them dead was one too many for Trey. Not after the video message letting him know that his friends and family back on Earth were dead too. It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

Especially not for that innocent little girl.

Napoleon rapidly tugged at his master’s boot, the tiny imp was becoming frantic. “WE MUST LEAVE LEAVE!”

Trey’s grip around Talsh’Noc’Un tightened and he gritted his teeth. After pausing to look one last time at the corpses of his now-dead friends, he picked up Napoleon and began to run.

[Ancient Demon Dialect] “YOU WOULD RUN FROM ME, HUMAN? AFTER ALL YOU HAVE DONE?” a deep voice reverberated across the lake and mountain pass, causing Trey to turn.

The drums had stopped, and the small army along with it.

The officer, alone, slowly urged his beast forward until he was a good distance away from the others. “I KNOW YOU SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE, THE MAN WE CAPTURED TOLD US THAT MUCH! TELL ME MORTAL, HOW DID YOU ACQUIRE THE ESSENCE? I WISH TO SPEAK WITH YOU!”

Trey’s memory flashed back to the man who had run away from Negaizer, leaving the others behind. Trey’s jaw tightened in disgust, that man’s stupidity had cost all of these other escapees so much in such a short time.

Trey glared back. “YOU WISH TO SPEAK WITH ME AFTER ATTACKING US?”

The heavily armored officer tilted his head and dismounted, and the warrior then began walking for a good while until he was only 20 paces away from where Trey stood.

Name: Culn Officer

Race: Culn, Lesser Demon

Class: ???

Level: 16

HP: 190/190

MP: ???

SP: ???

DP: ???

“By the gods…” muttered the officer as he removed his ebony helmet to reveal many scars running across his facial features. He was missing one of his horns as well. “I never thought I’d see the day that the essence would choose someone. MUCH LESS A HUMAN! Do you realize what you have done? Do you realize how rare those artifacts are? YOU HAVE RUINED IT WITH THE TAINT OF YOUR RACE!”

The officer spit angrily. He seemed both impressed and disgusted at the same time. Certainly more disgusted than impressed though... as he briefly went on a rant that Trey couldn’t quite make out; taking his time to curse Trey for merely existing. He tossed his helmet to the ground afterwards and threw up his hands questioningly. “How?”

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

Trey was hesitant to answer and wasn’t even quite sure what this demon meant, but was glad for the time all of this talk was giving him. His mana was slowly recharging and he could use all that he could get. Napoleon held on to Trey’s shoulder tightly, and the grip only became more firm when the commanding culn took another step forward.

“I know that Dreadlord Vorshok laid claim to Drahst Pillar, he has been guarding it for nearly three centuries now along with his kin. Did he let you have it? Have you gained his favor?” The culn man seemed genuinely curious as he asked the question. “And what about you makes you special enough that the void essence would choose a human? Of all the beings in Oblivion, A HUMAN WAS CHOSEN!?”

The culn spit again in disgust, this time making the act more exaggerated. “Those features you bear, the horns, eyes, tail, they do not belong to you! You MORTAL! As a captain of my lord’s army, I cannot let it stand! I will rip the essence from your corpse!”

‘Quiet yourself, insect.’ hissed Sithis as he summoned the infernal mask to speak. ‘You will meet death soon enough. I do not know why my master chooses to listen to your foolishness.’

The culn stiffened and then sneered. “The Predator symbiote… I have seen your kind before. To think that one like you would grovel to such a lowly species as a master is unheard of before this moment. How… sad.”

A gust of wind blew by and Trey noticed his HP bar had stabilized, even if it was still only at a third of his normal health. He was also in slightly less pain concerning the big wound in his hip. Thinking back to his auto regenerative ability he thanked his lucky stars and couldn’t help but slightly grin.

“My lord…” the ghostly voice of Talsh’Noc’Un thundered out from the greatsword, “Feed me his soul… It is ours to take…”

It was the first time that the greatsword had spoken, with the exception of the time Trey had first acquired it. A surge of hunger lashed out from Sithis as his symbiote eagerly agreed with the weapon, and an intense want to kill sparked within the depths of Trey’s mind. Trey began to snicker, and then began to chuckle. Insanity kicked in as malicious intent came to life at Sithis’ call.

All fear that Trey had felt was now completely gone as the magic began to engulf his mind, his very thoughts were tainted with the NEED for bloodshed. The imp was fully aware that Trey’s face held the same look he’d had when Trey’d originally acquired Talsh’Noc’Un from the ‘Fat One’. So Napoleon jumped off and scurried off after seeing that look, not wanting to get in the way.

“Berserk.”

Trey’s already building lust to kill quadrupled instantaneously as the ability fully activated and he burst forward in conjunction with an ability he’d never used yet: “Roar of the Banshee.” His scream silenced his enemy and he feigned an attack from the front, only to shadow step behind the captain and swing up into the underside of the demon from behind. The officer’s platemail along the back of his torso crunched under the force of the strike but it held, sending the captain head over heels before getting back up to his feet in a roll with his own greatsword to block Trey’s next attack.

The clash of metal on metal sent sparks and mana flying. The culn army sat watching in silence as the two engaged one another, and soon it became an all out fight for his life as Trey found this culn to be far superior to any foe Trey had fought before.

The culn captain grunted with exertion and blocked another strike before headbutting Trey hard in the nose. Trey’s face gushed blood and he backpedaled before dropping to the ground and undercutting the warrior’s legs with a kick while simultaneously dodging a sideswipe from the culn. The officer hit the ground hard and landed on his back, wide eyed and enraged.

“INSOLENT WORM!” screamed the captain as he tried to summon magic to aid him while laying supine, but was left with no results as he was still silenced from the roar Trey’d let out not long ago. Cursing and quickly rolling to dodge another slash from Trey, he didn’t see the next attack coming as Sithis used Trey’s long slender tail to whip around. The attack tore across his face, splitting the captain’s cheek open in a long deep gash as Sithis internally grinned.

But in reality, Trey’s berserk ability was the only thing that kept him going. Red haze filled his peripheral vision as blow after blow was exchanged with the culn officer. Sithis was also putting in a lot of work in guiding Trey’s movements, adjusting attacks, dodges and blocks as much as he could to compensate for the obvious lack of experience Trey had in swordplay.

In a moment of fate, Trey parried a block with his huge sword and whirled the blade in an upward arc - aiming at the captain’s exposed arm.

The officer grinned, knowing full well Trey’d taken the bait, and came across with the butt of his weapon to ram it directly into Trey’s nose. For the second time during that fight, Trey heard bones crunch across his face and he became dazed even with the sword’s power rushing through him, keeping him in a state of crazed aggression. Even in his bloodlusting stupor he could tell that this was a bad situation to be in.

Another strike from the captain sent Trey’s weapon flying out of his hands and to the left. Trey was absolutely unable to grip his weapon tight enough to hold on in his current condition, with his Stamina Points (SP) nearly at zero. The culn officer sneered triumphantly and lifted his sword for the final strike to cut Trey down, only to have a firebolt meet him squarely inbetween the eyes.

The captain screamed profanities, briefly batting the flames from his face and whirled to see Napoleon not far off and preparing another firebolt. The officer’s left eye was a smoldering wreckage, having taken the firebolt dead on, but his right eye was still able to see clearly.

“KILL THE IMP!” screeched the enraged officer as he blocked another blast of flames with an arcane barrier that materialized from his outstretched free hand. Immediately upon his order, archers began prepping their bows and taking aim.

Trey’d gotten back to the sword and clutched at it, suddenly becoming aware that Napoleon was in serious trouble as shafts flew out from the archers and clipped the tiny creature. Napoleon took refuge behind the corpse of one of the fallen drakes, sprinting as fast as his tiny legs would carry him with arrows raining all around him. Napoleon was terrified, and it pulled on Trey’s heartstrings to hear the imp’s desperate cries for help.

“Motherfucker.” Trey let out between clenched teeth, turning back to his opponent who was quickly descending on his position.

The officer resumed a battle stance just before lunging forward to clear the distance between him and his prey.

Trey was still losing ground, even despite Napoleon’s best efforts to help. In fact, Napoleon had probably made the situation that much worse because of the involvement of the other culn soldiers who’d just been watching on the sidelines prior to the firebolt.

Then again, Trey’d likely be dead without that shot.

The captain was definitely more skilled with a weapon than he was, and Trey didn’t know how he’d even lasted this long.

Well, it was probably Sithis that’d kept him alive… but Trey wanted to take at least a little bit of the credit.

However, It was only a matter of time before he lost… so he did the one thing that the culn officer didn’t expect. Trey arched his back, putting all his strength into the motion and flung the sword in a spinning arc. The huge weapon flew through the air far faster than Trey’d expected it to go, no doubt having to do with the sword’s innate abilities, and brutally clipped the officer’s thigh through a weak spot in his armor.

As the captain fell in a surprised wail of agony, with a deep gash across the lateral side of his leg, Trey unleashed his claws and went for the kill.

He felt a thud, and an arrow pierced Trey’s chest. It quickly stopped his charge, and a wave of nausea and pain overcame him. The sword’s ‘Berserk’ ability was cancelled out as Sithis deemed it too dangerous to continue fighting, mentally prodding Trey to flee after the critical hit. Trey’s vision was fading in and out, and a sea of enemies were beginning to rush him.

Then he heard a loud, blood curdling scream to his left even amidst the haze of his mind.

“Your minion Napoleon has been killed.” the mechanical voice said, causing Trey to whirl his head around.

He saw Napoleon’s tiny body being savagely pulled apart by a rider’s hellhound and cursed himself for being so negligent. He did his best to raise his hand to cast another chaos ball, but felt another wave of excruciating pain as a sword sliced through his arm at the shoulder. Blood sprayed everywhere, causing him to reel backwards in surprise.

“OH MY GOD!!!!” Trey screamed in agony and panic. He tripped over his own feet, trying to scramble away in what could be described as a pitiful display at best. Another arrow slammed into his ribcage and sent him backwards, gasping for air and landing on his back before he began coughing up blood.

The next few seconds were aggravatingly painful... and a red mist clouded his vision. He was struggling to hold on to life with notifications sounding off in his ear that he couldn’t make out. This… this was far worse than when he’d been eaten by that fucking gargoyle. This was drawn out. A cycle of pain that felt like it lasted many hours beyond the true frame of time. At least being used as a chew-toy for that winged asshole, Dreadlord Vorshok, had been quick.

Then Trey finally saw him: the culn officer adorned in broken ebony came into focus, wearing a shit-eating grin and holding a long curved dagger out over his face to taunt him.

The culn warrior said a few distant words that Trey couldn’t make out through the fading of his conscious mind, but he knew it was an insult of some variety as the officer's fellows laughed heartily at the comment. Hate… hate filled up inside of Trey like an endless well. This scenario reminded him of back when he was a kid, back in grade school when he was jumped by a bully and three of his friends on the playground. They’d stood over him like these men were standing over him now, and it absolutely infuriated him.

He tried to spit up at the officer in defiance one final time, but only managed to gurgle up blood that dripped down his face before he felt the knife ram into his throat.

A minute later and he was dead.

Again.