Chapter 30.2 - The Battle for Vork
Still dazed, and picking Rivia up while trying not to interrupt her line of sight, Trey dashed forward until they reached the end of the towering flames. A small stone wall had been constructed around a partially destroyed house, likely to keep small animals in. The mud was thick and there was either pig or dog shit everywhere, but that didn’t stop Trey from turning the corner and slamming his back against the wall as another bolt of lightning clipped the stone to send a couple small fragments airborne.
Rivia was still channeling her healing miracle on Atharost, her eyes never leaving the ifrit except to blink, and she continued to chant the prayer of the miracle in low undecipherable mutters.
“Keep it going and don’t stop, be sure to use your other miracle whenever you deem it best. Don’t fuck this up.”
She nodded understanding without looking at him.
Trey took a chance to glance over the stone wall as clashing of steel was overheard and was beyond surprised to see a new group of soldiers in close combat with the culn and cultists.
It wasn’t just soldiers though. Archers from the far treeline were firing off arrows between ducking for cover, and there were even a dozen or so robed mages with wizard’s hats throwing up purple arcane barriers or blasting the cultists with colored bolts of mana. They were trying to do the best they could while not hitting the prisoners, who in turn were trying to flatten themselves against the ground or cover up their loved ones amidst the chaos of battle.
Occasionally there would be some collateral damage as one of the chained villagers was killed though. The tusked boars had been focused down first by this new group, killing every single one of the animals outright so they couldn’t run with the slaves dragging behind.
An explosion of flames off to his right again and one of the larger buildings in the village was torn to shreds. Screams followed and then more explosions of flame lit up the trees nearby, with cultists who’d been set aflame flailing or running about on the ground while Atharost laughed maniacally. He continued torching everything that moved and wore a turquoise outfit while easily dodging the attacks the mages on the ground were trying to throw at him.
“Your minion Atharost has gained 1 overall level.”
“Jesus Christ, I’m glad he’s on my side!” Trey laughed, but then nearly caught a stray arrow to the face.
That’d been close. He hoped that the newly arrived party wasn’t actively trying to hit him and that the arrow had just been an accident. He gained some encouragement from the fact that they were completely avoiding attacking Atharost and even helping the ifrit with buffs appearing underneath the his HP, MP, SP and DP bars.
That being said, Trey didn’t have time to stop and see what those buffs were, though he was content enough to see the ifrit’s mana pool regenerated at a rapid pace and assumed that must have been at least one of the enchantments.
Summoning four chains of chaos, Trey flanked his enemies who’d all but forgotten him in their struggle with this new adversary. The tides had turned and now the numbers were even. With a sadistic grin he let out a scream and flung them into the fray, shredding through the soft bodies of two mages and impaling them. The fact that they didn’t have armor meant the chains did a lot more damage and could cut through the bodies like butter.
“I’LL SEE YOU IN THE AFTERLIFE!”
Trey whirled at the sound of the charging Culn officer just in time to avoid the thrust. Whipping around his greatsword he tried to counterstrike and connected with an upraised shield, sending the piece of metal flying off to one side and surprising the culn immensely with the force of the sideswipe.
Trey’s infernal mask blackened his features and his jaws opened up with a laugh as Sithis commanded Trey’s chains to whip around in an arch. They came whistling through the air, cleaving the impaled writhing cultists amidst the screams and clashing of battle at a 180 degree turn - all slamming into the culn officer who was still scrambling to get his shield back.
“You have gained XP.”
The staggered officer rolled with the impact and in a surprise acrobatic maneuver whirled into the air and let out a black mist from an outstretched hand. The mist hit Trey full force and he immediately began to choke and sputter. His eyes watered and quickly became inflamed, and every second he stayed there his HP began to drop by a couple points.
He was blinded.
He heard the soldier coming for him before he saw him and pushed off the ground to fling himself backward just as he heard the culn cursing him. To his further dismay Trey still couldn’t see and he began to run, slamming into a building and then tripping over a piece of rubble with the officer howling on his tracks.
“OH GOD DAMN IT!” Trey screeched just as he felt a sword slice through his left shoulder and into his clavicle. Trying not to cry like a little bitch he activated the berserker ability with Talsh’Noc’Un.
The sword hissed in pleasure and the effect was immediate.
His debuff cleared, the dark haze surrounding him vanishing instantly as insanity took over. He felt adrenaline pumping through his blood and a murderous desire to destroy overcome him like a tidal wave. Icons for increased strength, speed, dexterity, intelligence and faith all popped up along with his aggression... and he felt… powerful.
The culn officer was only a foot away and drove the weapon deeper into Trey’s left lung, sneering with spit dripping down his face and using both hands to push for the final kill. He felt the lung collapse just as he turned and smiled at the officer who was unaware that Trey could see again. The only clue indicating the culn’s upcoming demise was the widening grin along Trey’s jaws.
Brilliant crimson hellfire erupted from Trey’s mouth in a roar that bathed the man inbetween the crevices of his armor, baking him alive and letting him writhe with high pitched screeches for mercy.
“Your skill Aspect of the Devil: Mask has gained 1 level.”
Trey yanked the blade remaining in his left chest out, laboring to breathe even with berserk clearing his senses. He felt blood pooling in his chest and he was becoming light headed with his HP bar at 42% and quickly dropping. The bastard must have severed a large artery or even many of them, and the bleeding debuff icon was flashing vigorously.
Trey spat on the writhing culn soldier beneath him and with his tail wrapped it around the demon’s throat. The culn began to gasp and claw at the tail as the crimson flames continued to consume his flesh with wicked crackling sounds. Trey thought his victim was trying to say something, but couldn’t understand what and didn’t want to waste further time... so with a violent yank he felt the culn’s neck abruptly snap underneath the tightened grip.
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“You have gained XP. Your skill Aspect of the Devil: Tail has gained 1 level.”
“RIVIA!” Trey screamed, still under the influence of berserk and battling the urge to go kill versus knowing he needed some help. “RIVIA I NEED SOME HEALING!”
He looked around and made eye contact with her the next second. Then he realized she’d been watching… he wasn’t sure for how long, but she’d definitely been watching that fight and hadn’t done anything to help him.
He scowled angrily and clenched his fist, deactivating the berserk ability that was fueling his anger lest he kill the bitch right then and there. It seriously made him wonder just how much the minion contract could force her to do when he was or wasn’t looking and how it all worked… he’d have to find out so things like this didn’t happen again. He would be sure to punish that bitch later, and by god he would take his time.
“NOW!” he screamed at the culn woman who reluctantly did as she was told.
He didn’t understand why she would help him get up and out of the fray in the first place if she was going to try and let him die here… but the more he thought about it the more it made sense. She hadn’t acted just now because she didn’t think he’d notice what she’d done. When he’d been with her next to the Oblivion gate, it would have been obvious that she’d been neglecting him if she hadn’t acted.
He tossed the thoughts aside as he felt the healing miracle start to mend his wounds. He continued to cough up blood for another half-minute, which seemed like an eternity during the battle even if he was only on the fringes. Then when he’d hit 60% health, he bolted forward ten yards to stop an incoming scimitar from cutting into the arm of a sword-wielding, well-armored battlemage locked in combat and being overpowered by three enemy cultists.
As Trey poorly parried the blow that had been intended for the battlemage’s elbow joint, the cultist’s eyes went wide and Trey’s horns connected with the man’s face after a headbutt. The convex side of the horns didn’t pierce or wound the man, but they did some serious bludgeoning damage and Trey heard the man’s orbit crack around the left eye.
“Oof!” Trey chuckled just as he undercut the dazed man’s legs and tripped him with his own, finishing the suddenly-panicking cultist off with a downwards thrust of Talsh’Noc’Un as the greatsword hissed gleefully.
“You have gained XP.”
“More…” hissed the huge weapon with phantasmal glee in its voice, giving the other cultists and even the battlemage pause to warily glance at the weapon before resuming their fight.
The battlemage was an old but muscular man and the armor he wore was splattered in red. He had two gashes along his right cheek, one on his forehead, and a bleeding deep cut along the back of his left thigh where the armor had been pierced.
Without moving his body himself, Trey’s hand snapped up and blocked an incoming shard of ice with a summoned claw - the ice shattering against the armored skin of his hand and forearm but leaving a deep bruise nonetheless.
“Thanks Sithis-” Trey managed to say between labored breaths, turning back to the 2v2 as Sithis acknowledged the praise with a low internal whistle.
“Your minion Atharost has gained 1 overall level. Your minion Atharost’s Firebolt spell has increased to level 24.”
He sloppily blocked another strike of a scimitar as he fought the guy on the right while the battlemage next to him fought the cultist on the left. The cultist in front of Trey was rather fat, but somehow very quick as he tried to get inbetween Trey’s long reach with his faster jabs. Trey slashed and slashed again, both times missing by a mile as the cultist openly laughed at him only to have a chaos ball slam into a barrier he erected just in time. He snarled and was just about to counter attack when a flaming dagger buried itself in the cultist’s chest and exploded, tearing the fat man’s body open and dropping him to the ground with scattered chunks of abdomen.
The battlemage gave a haughty laugh and gave Trey a nod, almost losing his eye because of it but still was able to dodge a scimitar strike before being shocked with an electric bolt.
The armored battlemage staggered, fell back, and lost his balance. His bearded face looked up to see a sneering enemy cultist lunge in for the final strike. The old battlemage went pale, and a look of resignation came over him.
‘Obliterate.’
*BOOM*
Trey’s sword flared to life with chaos mana and upon impact discharged. The cultist was literally sent flying across the battlefield and split into two halves as chaos mana trashed his internal organs.
“You have gained XP. Your skill Blades has gained 1 level.”
[Ancient Demon Dialect] “HAHAAAAAA GET IT SON!” Trey yelled over the clashing of weapons and he held a hand down to the old battlemage.
The older man took it without hesitation and let out a hardy laugh.
[Ancient Demon Dialect] “By the gods boy, that was a good hit!”
Trey was surprised that the old man could speak the demonic tongue and he did a double-take because of it. The next thing he knew Trey felt a searing hot pain along his right flank and was sent sprawling. He flipped once, hit the ground and then bounced to slide over a chained woman cowering on the ground - narrowly missing her with the sword he gripped. He shook his head to clear it and saw the battlemage lying prone in the dirt not far off, his neck was bent at a weird angle and he wasn’t moving.
“Shit.” Trey muttered while trying to get up, but he failed. He soon found out he couldn’t use his right leg and looking down saw that there was an open, simmering wound the size of a basketball down to bone where fragments were sticking out.
He nearly passed out and began to feel woozy, and looking up he just in time caught a glimpse of an incoming blast of purple energy from the cultist leader Adorek.
The impact hit true and would have killed him if not for the help of his minion. Trey felt the purple mana surge across his skin just as an orange light enveloped him. To his surprise he felt nothing, took no damage and in that moment he felt... invincible.
“Your minion Rivia’s miracle Immortal’s Infernal Blessing has increased to level 2. Your minion Rivia has gained 1 overall level.”
Nice.
The look of stunned bafflement across Adorek’s face was enough to make Trey giggle, and Trey was glad he’d ordered Rivia to use the miracle to the best of her ability before he’d left. If not, she likely would have let him die. With 1 second left in the miracle and feeling amazing he got to his feet and hoisted the greatsword over his head.
Then he threw it.
The giant sword spun in an arc, sparking with chaos energy and slammed into the cultist leader’s chest - piercing through his back and toppling him to the ground to convulse as the magic sword shocked him relentlessly.
“You have gained XP. You have gained 1 overall level.”
He giggled once more and the miracle wore off, causing him to collapse back on his right leg and scream as the pain suddenly swelled up inside him.
“Oh, oh, oooohhhh my goddd……” Trey’s eyes rolled back and he vomited all over one of the chained villagers, bleeding on them as he went and beginning to drag himself across the dirt while trying to get to safety. He was dying, he felt it though he couldn’t see just how much of his HP bar was left because his vision was blurry. Whatever the hell that fucking Adorek had thrown at him was no joke.
Another blast of light and a searing heat shot overhead just as he looked up to see his ifrit landing in front of him with a large smile of approval.
“Want some help?” Atharost asked, laughing to himself. The ifrit’s flames died down and he irreverently hoisted Trey up on his shoulders to ignore the screams of pain from his master. Talsh’Noc’Un soon joined them, flying over of its own accord and hovering nearby.
“Oh shut up Trey, you’re fine! You big pussy. And we still have a few more enemies to go!” Atharost just laughed louder as Trey began to curse him when the ifrit launched himself skywards, over the battlefield, and towards Rivia who was still cowering behind the stone wall where Trey’d left her.
Trey was dropped like a heavy sack next to Rivia with a thud.
“Heal him.” Atharost commanded, and the culn woman gave a small nod.
“I… I only have 2/15 divinity points left. So after I heal him I’ll only have a single miracle of rejuvenation left for you…”
Atharost ignored the young woman and she slowly began to chant again, meanwhile Trey was just trying not to cry.
“Your minion Rivia’s miracle Rejuvenation has increased to level 2.”
Unfortunately for Trey, he wasn’t able to witness the end of the battle. Darkness was encompassing his peripheral vision and he closed his eyes while trying to focus on the alleviating touch of Rivia’s miracle. Before long he’d passed out, and Atharost had soared off to finish the last of the cultists with the newcomers who’d come to help them.