Duke ended his CLAIRVOYANCE view of the court as the remaining courtiers broke down into arguments just as had been predicted. That warlord just might be a problem. He looked up to see Aurelia fuming. Oh shit.
“You have some things to answer for. Right now.”
“Go ahead, love. Tell me that I had no right to make that choice. Tell me that I needed to talk to everyone else before I made any decisions and that we all should have decided it together.”
She stared at him, stunned. “You can’t just make decisions that affect the entire kingdom on your own like that.”
“That’s what being a king is about. It’s about making the hard decisions and taking the heat for it. Remember, I never wanted to be king. It just happened but I’m going to do the best I fucking can while I still have the job. They attacked me. I returned the favor. If they come for me again, I’m going to tear them to pieces, but I can tell you right now, most of them are running scared. There’s one that I might have to deal with, but it’s better than trying some diplomatic bullshit and letting them have another go at it!”
Tears welled in her eyes as she rushed out of the room. He considered chasing after her but decided that he was in no mood to make anything better. Anger boiled in his veins and he knew he didn’t have a hold on it. She’ll process it and then we will talk. Or we won’t and I just ended things. Fuck, I don’t know. Goddammit! I didn’t understand women back in my own world. Here? Who the fuck knows?
Duke felt his frustration and anger boiling over. His hands clenched, knuckles turning white as their cracking echoed through the halls like gunshots. With a flex of his will, he vanished, appearing several thousand kilometers away. Nowhere in particular, just away from everyone.
Not the most responsible or adult decision, but I need to fight something right now and destroying my own kingdom or a potential ally’s would be even stupider.
Looking around himself, Duke saw he was in an area unlike any other he had seen in this world so far. He stood within a stone circle atop a broad plateau. The stones of the circle were all at least six meters in diameter but appeared to have been even taller but had worn down over countless ages. If there had been any carvings upon the stones, they were long gone. Beyond the plateau, jagged spires of shattered mountains clawed upwards towards the sky. A sky that filled with dark, roiling clouds stretching to the horizon all around Duke. Lightning flashed within the clouds and occasionally a bolt lanced down to strike a spire, shattering stone and sending it tumbling downwards.
Duke could feel the power of this place and grinned. He was sure there would be something around here to fight. Of course, he had no idea where he was but that didn’t matter to him right now. He grinned aggressively as he rose into the air, surrounding himself in an aura of his own LIGHTNING, hoping it would attract attention. It did.
In a matter of seconds, he was struck by a bolt of lightning at least as strong as his normal bolts. It overcharged his aura so significantly, that he was scorched by the overflow. A feral grin stretched across his features as he activated an Ability he had not used very often since acquiring itbut felt was appropriate in this case. MANA DRAIN washed over him, slowly draining the overflow of Mana and replenishing his own pool. To his surprise, it did not absorb all the excess energy from the lightning bolt that had struck him, leading him to believe it was not all Mana. Intrigued, he flew upwards into the clouds seeking something to fight in the elemental storm above.
Breaking through the low cloud layer, Duke paused in his flight at seeing an alabaster city floating in the air far above him. The clouds had completely parted into a wide sphere around the city. There was also a bubble of energy surrounding the enormous city. This bubble was nearly constantly being assaulted by bolts of lightning and other forms of energy. As he watched, he was able to discern tiny dots flying outside the bubble that were the source of the attacks. He continued his rise.
The enormity of the city became even more apparent as he rose. It filled the entirety of his vision with spires descending from its base as well as towering into the distance above. Guess they don’t land very often. As he rose, getting within a few kilometers of the city, a group of attackers broke off from their assault on the city and headed his way.
As they approached, Duke could see that they were enormous birds of some sort. Their outstretched wings showed off their blue and golden plumage which seemed to carry an electric charge as arcs of lightning travelled up and down their wings in mesmerizing patterns. He was still admiring them as the first bolt of lightning flashed his way accompanied by an awful screech.
Duke tried to dodge the bolt but was surprised by how fast it travelled. He was sure that his LIGHTNING did not travel nearly as fast. The bolt washed over him, blending into his aura and overwhelming it to the tune of nearly 40,000 damage. Duke rocketed upwards to throw the aim of the other birds off and slammed fist-first into the lead descending bird, striking it in the lower part of its beak. The bird’s beak slammed shut with an audible crack, sending it reeling away dazed.
Wanna play? Oh, let’s play birdie.
The rest of the small flock of birds closed in around Duke. Lightning flashed between them faster and faster. Duke could see that they were building up some sort of group attack, so he decided to not be there when it landed. He TELEPORTED a few hundred meters above them. The flash of lightning the dozen birds produced was brilliant and powerful. It flashed through the area Duke had occupied in a bolt as large as his torso.
OK, don’t let them gang up on you. That looks like it would have hurt!
Duke continued to fly some distance away from the group of birds who had started to lazily circle around the spot Duke had been, not noticing that he had moved out of the way. He considered engaging them again. They seem to be rather tough – might be worth good experience. Maybe I should blitz them with something other than LIGHTNING. Yeah…ICE. That should work out nicely.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Duke turned to orient himself on a strafing run and planned his attack. As he OVERCHANNELED his ICE, he felt it start to build up on his arms, the air temperature around him plunging into frigidity. With a burst of speed, he launched himself downwards towards the circling birds. He planned to strafe as many of them as he could as he flashed by. When he reached them, he unleashed the power of his ICE in a series of dozens of smooth and sharp spears of blue ice.
The first spears struck, shattering against the birds’ electrified feathers and not penetrating through. Frost did burst outwards and coat their wings and bodies causing their electrical charges to discharge in balls of electricity that slowly wafted away from them. As Duke pulled up from his dive several hundred meters below, he had to quickly dodge to the side as the iced-over birds succumbed to gravity and plunged past him. Well, shit. That worked even better than I had expected.
The squawks of rage that followed from the remaining birds in this small flock reverberated through Duke’s body. They dove for him, spewing lightning as they charged. Duke was tempted to meet them head-on but decided that was probably not the wisest move. Once again, he TELEPORTED above the descending flock and pelted them with ICE.
Feathers coated with ICE, the birds struggled to stay airborne. Duke continued to pour on the ICE until they all plummeted towards the ground, wings frozen in place and unable to sustain flight.
Grinning at his victory, he followed the birds as they passed through the base of the cloud and ultimately when they slammed into the ground. The ICE shattered upon impact along with the birds’ wings, crippling them entirely. Duke quickly moved to finish them off, crushing skulls and ending their misery.
*** You have slain 11 Tier Two Thunderbeaks of varying levels between 52 and 94. You receive 1,100 experience. ***
Duke shrugged. The experience was not spectacular as he still needed over 50,000 before he could level, but the fight wasn’t exactly difficult either. His REGENERATION had long since healed the damage he had taken, and his Mana was nearly topped off again. For something that cost me almost no resources, I think I could do that another fifty times even if their combined attack looked a bit nasty. But do I want to grind my way along? Nah. Let’s see if there is a stronger challenge closer to the city. At least I don’t have a full mad-on anymore.
His mind made up; he flew back through the cloud layer towards the city. There were still countless flashes of energy striking the bubble around the city, but it seemed completely unaffected. Duke angled his flight away from the city so he could get higher before encountering any other creatures. He quickly passed the level the birds had come from. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands more of the birds flocking around the city and attacking. They ignored him this time as he rose past them.
Next, he came upon a swarm of human-sized insects firing their own lightning strikes at the city. He shuddered in revulsion and kept his distance from the insects as he continued his ascent. The next layer of creatures, and layer seemed the most apt description to him, consisted of demonic-appearing, winged beings that stood around less than one meter tall. They, too, were attacking the city with lightning. Out of curiosity, he IDENTIFIED one of the creatures.
*** You have encountered a Lightning Imp. This is a demonic creature.
Tier: 3
Level: 124
Health: 316,250
Mana: 449,625
Special Abilities: Lightning Attack, Immunity to Lightning
Weaknesses: None detected
***
Duke paused as he read the information on the creature. It was a Tier 3 creature, and he was sure he could take it minimal effort, but there were thousands of them swarming and he was certain that he couldn’t take that many at once. But it might be fun to try. To get started, he TELEPORTED one of the imps to himself.
It screeched in surprise and looked him dead in the eye and asked, “You have a death-wish, mortal?”
“No, but this was unexpected.”
“Just because you killed a couple of mindless birds doesn’t make you an all-time badass that can take on an imp. Go home. You’re not worth my time.”
Duke stared at the imp for a moment of incredulity before responding. “All I was looking for was to grind some experience but just killing intelligent foes for no other reason doesn’t seem right. Damn.”
“You want to fight something, go mess with the dragon at the top. She’ll melt your bones before you can think twice.”
“Sounds like a bad idea. Why are you all attacking this city?”
The imp looked at Duke, its black, pupilless eyes focusing on him. “It’s a flying city. Duh. Now go away, or I’ll call my brothers over to give you a lesson.”
“Oh, please do. Call them.” Duke offered his most feral grin. The imp looked at Duke quizzically.
“You really want me to call them over, don’t you?”
“I came here looking for a fight. Something that would challenge me. The birds were not enough.” Duke shook his head. “But killing intelligent beings like yourself isn’t something I just go around doing without a reason. Even if they are a bit full of themselves.”
“Who you calling full of themselves?”
“If the shoe fits…”
“What the hells does that mean?”
“Fucking idioms. Never mind.”
“Um, yeah. If you want to go fight mindless things, go back down to the mesa and enter the lair down there.”
“Perhaps I will.”
“Good call, mortal. Now, I have to get back to my job. We are going to break through that shield eventually but if I slack too long, the dragon is gonna eat me for a snack.” The imp flew back towards the city and joined his brethren in attacking.
Duke stared back at the city and the constant pointless barrage. He shook his head, his mood broken. He TELEPORTED back to the castle, noting the city’s location in his mind as it seemed like someplace worth investigating when he had more time.
Time…that is what I never seem to have enough of. I still have nine dungeon seeds to plant and I’m sitting here dealing with kingdom shit, my girl is pissed off at me, I have no clue what half my people are up to, and my progression has slowed right down to a crawl. I haven’t even looked at most of my notifications. Hell, I didn’t even notice when my Diplomacy ranked up to Practiced. Time to sit down and put together a real plan. But for that, I need some more information.
Duke TELEPORTED to his room at the Inn and decided to make a few alterations. He expanded the area, adding several rooms including a living room, office, and a large exercise area. When he was done, he sat behind his new desk in his ridiculously comfortable chair and just relaxed for a moment, looking around at pictures of his past life that he had placed on the walls. From the side, a picture of Coltrane saluted him, and he smiled. A taste of home was refreshing and lent him the energy to build out a plan.
Hours later, he had run through all the possibilities he could think of without knowing more about what was coming. And that was the piece that was constantly churning in the back of his mind. He only had hints and intimations on what it would actually be so he couldn’t truly act on it. When he looked up again, the seat opposite him was occupied with the Overmind’s avatar again.
“You seem to be troubled, Duke. Let’s talk.”