“You want me to kill random people?” Ray asked.
Perhaps Ray was being a little uncooperative. Cory had already explained they were far from random. These were supposedly thugs and gangsters who caused massive disruptions in the day-to-day life of the proper parts of the city.
Cory even had proof. He had produced official-looking documents that included portraits and testimonials of thugs committing crimes from a wide variety of people. One account told a story of how they had robbed a bank and left nearly a dozen people dead. Another showed a portrait of them hanging some unfortunate townsfolk.
Nevertheless, Ray wasn’t one to take blind orders to kill others.
“The evidence we have provided is not enough?” Cory asked.
Ray didn’t hide his glare. “You’re asking me to take your evidence at face value.”
“This is, ultimately, the bargain we have struck. You refuse to perform tasks that you deem menial. You refuse to take care of greater troubles that we suffer because you are too suspicious. If you continue to remain so unaccommodating, then perhaps we should call it all off.”
They really had Ray in a bit of a bind. On purpose, no doubt. Cory, the bastard, wanted to impress his superiority upon Ray even after he had been so kind as to inform them about what was really going on with the Floor Lord.
Of course, most of what Ray had said was still mostly treachery, but Cory had no way of determining that yet.
“Fine, then.” Ray had trouble not spitting out the words. “I’ll do one of your older tasks. The one where you had me delivering some nonsense or other. I’ll do that. Happy?”
“Oh?” Cory’s haughtiness only sharpened. “You think that mere task is enough for me to divulge something as immense as the location of our Mana shard source?”
Ray really wanted to gut the guy then and there. “You know, things could be a lot worse for you, now. We could have chosen not to cooperate when Caleb first met us. We could have decided the fact that everything we were supposed to expect had been upended was a terribly suspicious thing and decided to get to the bottom of it all then and there. But we didn’t.”
“A good thing you didn’t. You would have suffered a grave consequence, otherwise.”
“Oh, would we have? I get the feeling you don’t want us working together. We kicked the asses of your guards not long ago. You don’t want a repeat of that. That’s why you’ve separated us all, to make sure we don’t become a collective thorn at your side.”
“Really? Is that what you think? And yet you still decided to work for us on the Cliff Three?”
Ray would have lashed out with his next reply, but the door to the lord’s meeting room burst open. An attendant from outside charged in, looking dreadfully harried.
Cory turned with a frown, but that quickly melted away to a look of concern upon seeing his attendant’s expression. Concern that deepened when the man didn’t even wait to be beckoned before rushing at his lord to whisper harshly into Cory’s ear.
Ray wished he could hear what was being said. But he had a pretty good guess already.
Ray: Kredevel… not to distract you, but did you start?
Kredevel: Not yet. But soon. Why?
Ray: The lord here is quite agitated. Be careful.
Kredevel: Fear not. As you are wont to say—they won’t know what hit them.
Ray wished him luck before closing the chat. Sounded like Kredevel had things well in hand.
Cory dismissed his attendant roughly, then faced Ray. “Fine. You can have your task. I will tell you the location of the Mana shard forger once you have completed your delivery. The guard I assigned you will give you the details. Now, if you will excuse me…”
Despite his final proclamation, Cory didn’t wait to see if Ray protested his abrupt departure. In just a few seconds, the man was gone. Ray had a fun time holding back his grin.
“Any clue what’s going on?” he asked the guard.
The man looked a little worried too, though he marshalled his expression. At least this one wasn’t as emotionless as Ray’s last liaison had been. “I cannot say. We must wait till my lord returns if we wish to know more.”
Ray, having no intention of waiting for Cory of all people, began exiting. “I’m going to need the details Cory mentioned. But for now, I’m heading to bed. See you in the morning.”
----------------------------------------
With the conversation done, Ray had forced himself to sleep, even though the excitement of the events about to go down were definitely affecting him.
A part of him wanted to be a part of whatever showdown was about to occur with Kredevel, the other Sylvans, and the Everstead kingdom. Another part of him wanted to be present when and where Mary was about to confront the Floor Lord. There was just a different kind of pull, because finding the Floor Lord would close the circle of this Floor’s mystery.
But Ray tried not to concern himself with any of that. He was here to grow stronger. He was here to gather Essence and become more powerful.
He was here to climb the Tower.
Almost everything else was entirely secondary to those goals. As such, Ray would first complete his personal goals and then see what sort of fallout awaited him.
Of course, his intentions could very easily be derailed. Kredevel could get in serious trouble and Ray was not about to abandon his friend, no matter how much Essence he could have gathered while he was helping Kredevel out. That was just out of the question.
For now, though, Ray focused primarily on completing this weird delivery he had been granted. He had to drop off a package to a location not too far from the lord’s manor.
A location that, funnily enough, coincided with these gangsters that Cory had directed him to take out first. News ran that they had been active here not long ago.
The lord of Cliff Two hadn’t been successful in eradicating them. The gang members had entrenched themselves too deeply with the communities they sheltered in. If Cory or the administration of the city tried arresting them, they would incur the ire of the local residents.
Apparently, it didn’t matter if Ray incurred their wrath.
He tutted as he walked through the city. Really, they could have just pointed to how the mobsters were causing trouble in a different, more affluent section of Cliff Two, and then taken them out. Cowards.
Ray ignored the matter. His goal was to get this package to the tall, churchlike building he could see in the distance. Also interesting was the fact that the guard had actually described Ray’s target as churchlike. It was the first time Ray had seen evidence that these people had a certain faith they adhered to. The guard hadn’t elaborated on what exactly that faith was.
Ray paused before he reached his target location. Some kind of commotion let loose loud shouts, crashes, and what sounded like people fighting.
He hurried ahead. Ray arrived just in time to see a group of masked and hooded people running out of a hole in the side of the tall building. No, wait, that wasn’t just any hole. A door had been blown off its hinges so hard, a chunk of the wall had crumbled around it too.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Stop them!” an older man hurtled out of the same hole, huffing and puffing. He looked like he was about to fall over. “They’ve taken my treasure. Stop them!”
“What treasure?” Ray asked, even as he summoned his flying Greater Windbane Maw to give chase.
“Hurry,” the old man gasped out. “They mustn’t escape.”
Grumbling to himself, Ray rushed after they thieves. Maybe he should have dropped the package he had been entrusted on the man, but he didn’t even know if that was the right recipient.
The robbers were a little too fast. What in the world had they taken that had this man almost keeling over in exhaustion trying to get it back?
Ray’s flying maw had reached them and was trying to burn the culprits with its chaotic flames. It wasn’t having much luck. The men were not only fast, they also displayed strong abilities. A strange blue aura arose every time the fiery breath got close to immolating them, an aura that suppressed the flames before they could catch on their targets.
Ray called up his Soaring Wing and shot after them. Soullife Cloak further boosted his speed. He was getting used to the sizzling, separating sensation of a chunk of his spirit remaining rooted to his starting spot.
He had also called up several Mottling Spiritguard orbs. Soon as he got close enough, they’d strike out.
It was wild, weaving through the streets, rushing past buildings and other people who flung themselves out of the way. No one jumped in to assist Ray. Surely the old man had to have called up the guards. Though, if he had also told them about Ray rushing after the culprits, they might never show up.
Essentially, Ray had to deal with the thugs himself.
But just as Ray started nearing his targets, they split up.
“Hey!” Ray shouted. “Stick together, damn it.”
Fuckers. Ray created another construct using Lifeblood Soulform, this time calling up his personal Imitator to give chase as himself to the ones Ray wouldn’t be following.
At least it was clear which of them carried the large package they had robbed from the poor old guy. Ray was pretty certain they hadn’t switched it up or tried to pull the wool over his head some other way. That was the real thing. So, ignoring the other two, Ray flew straight for the man carrying away the theft.
“Not so fast!” Ray shouted as he finally reached his target in a small intersection where the street joined another road.
Ray had gotten close enough for Mottling Spiritguard to shoot at his target. They turned to spears as they flew in. Ray didn’t want to kill the man outright, so he tried to control where exactly the Spiritguard not-orbs landed.
Unsurprisingly, the thief was agile enough to dodge a few of the spears and even used a strange ability to deflect the other chaotic energy spears.
It was as though a web of glowing blue strings had suddenly appeared behind the man’s back. They strangled the chaotic spears before the former orbs could stab in.
But Ray hadn’t thrown all the chaos spheres at his enemy. He had also shot one ahead of the man, immediately using Spectral Step to appear just a few feet ahead of the robber. Despite the way the world shifted disorienting him, he still managed to carve up a Soulstrike into a grasping point.
The thief was fast, both in his movement and his thoughts. Ray had appeared before with no warning. There shouldn’t have been time for the man to dodge. But he dashed just past the grasping Soulstrike arm.
Only to run straight into Ray’s outstretched wings.
“Ha,” Ray shouted as the thief lost his footing and tumbled hard to the ground.
Ray rounded, bringing his arm around to bear on the man as well. All he was about to do was threaten the fellow and force him to relinquish whatever it was he had had stolen.
But Ray was interrupted from doing so when his companions arrived.
Of course, they weren’t able to do anything to Ray. Not only had he sensed them using Primordial Guage, but he had also kept that flying draconic maw in reserve. As soon as the other two reappeared, which he had considered wasn’t an impossibility, he had bidden his Greater Windbane Maw to take the fight to them.
Like the first man, though, they were strong and skilled. One of them wrapped a whip around the jaws of the flying maw, his Strength great enough to send the beast flying off to one side. The other, a woman, flashed at Ray with two thin knives aimed straight for his face.
He stopped her with a cast of Lifeblood Soulform. An Impervious Shell materialized beside Ray, stopping the woman in her tracks. She crashed into the hard shell, shouting in pain and frustration.
The woman might have been foiled, but even that momentary distraction had been enough. Ray’s first target had already risen and ran off.
Only to come face to face with Ray himself, as an Imitator this time.
Unlike Ray himself, the Imitator could change forms with perfect ease. The thief overcame his surprise once more and started another mad dash away from them all, but Ray sent a quick command to his construct. One of the fake Ray’s arms lengthened into a version of the tendrils he had faced in the Flesh Dungeon.
Damn thief was fast, but not faster than the fleshy tentacle lashing out. Fake Ray got a hold of the package and robbed it out of the thief’s hands.
Ray grinned. Now, it was his turn to skedaddle.
Another quick command had the Imitator dash straight to him. The woman had rounded the Impervious Shell, but after depositing the rather heavy package in Ray’s hands, the construct immediately began fighting off the woman with no regard for its own safety. What a brave soldier.
Ray summoned more Spiritguard orbs around him. “Come and get it back, if you want.”
The thief dared to do just that. More of the glowing blue threads looped all around him. But it turned out his rush at Ray was a mere distraction.
Because, as Ray leaned forward to engage his opponent, a whip shot in. Just as the tendril from the Imitator had done, the whip latched onto the package Ray held. Not the stolen one he had recovered, but the original one given to him by Cory. He was too surprised to react in time.
In the blink of an eye, the package was out of Ray’s hands and in the grip of the third thief.
He cackled at Ray before immediately running away. Ray made to rush after the guy, but he was blocked by the woman. His Imitator construct had fallen too, just as the Greater Windbane Maw had been defeated.
“Hey!” Ray shouted after the running thief. “You’re forgetting your real package.”
“Are we now?” the woman’s words were laced with her hard grin.
The first thief that Ray had retrieved the old man’s goods from approached too. Ray hadn’t taken the measure of the people he had pursued. Everything had been moving too fast. There had been no time to use Primordial Gauge actively.
Now, he checked very quickly just to confirm that they were indeed weaker than him. It would have been nice to look through their skills, but they were about to attack. No time. Again.
“Keep it,” the first thief said.
Ray paused. “What?”
“You heard me. You can keep that monk’s shit. The valuables you had came straight from the lord, didn’t it? Well, we’ve got our jackpot then.”
Maybe Ray should have taken the time to look through the skills of his thieves. A second later, the first thief called up a sphere of pure darkness in his hands. One that exploded and doused everything in complete, lightless gloom.
“Hey!” Ray shouted. “Are you running away?”
They didn’t confirm by replying of course, but the answer came in the sound of their footsteps. In the way they receded rapidly in multiple directions. Ray cursed. He had nothing to create enough light to see with. The Scouring Eyeball didn’t help either.
When Ray tried blindly rushing through it anyway, he ended up crashing into a nearby wall. He cursed again, his voice coming out odd since his nose felt crushed. He had to send in a bit of Recovery to heal it.
With no other options available, Ray rose straight up. His wings took him over the cloud of darkness.
It didn’t help. Emerging from the gloom didn’t help. The thieves were long gone. Ray looked everywhere but saw no signs of them. They were no signs of them anywhere. He had—
With a wild yell, one of them launched at him from a nearby building. Ray yelled out, lashing out with a hard kick, but failed to land it properly. The last thief wasn’t gone. Bastard had hidden away, somehow suppressing his presence to evade even Primordial Gauge, and was now attacking Ray directly.
The whip cracked against Ray’s leg, wrapping around his ankle. Immediately, his whole body went stiff. He plummeted.
Electricity. Fucker had some sort of electric ability that was shocking the life out of Ray.
Heavy sparks of electricity waved off the last thief and cut across the reminder of the Spiritguard orbs. Every single one of the protective spheres of chaos disintegrated. Ray was left defenceless.
“Time for you to die, fool!” the thief yelled as he leaped.
Ray couldn’t move. He tried using his spells, but this thief was the one who possessed that strange blue aura, the one that debuffed other abilities. No surprise that even the True Mana arm from Soulstrike was suppressed by the strange aura.
The man was a few instants from crashing right on top of Ray. But there was still one option left. He had to bless the fact that his Intellect had crossed into Tier 3.
Ray cast Project Presence. All the spells he had tried using had a tangible, physical presence. It was why the thief had been able to counteract them with his electricity and his aura. But not Project Presence. The man had no counters to Ray throwing his incorporeal spirit at the guy.
In the next instant, he passed through Ray’s spirit.
Spectral Step. Ray’s teleporting emergence made the man explode. Blood and guts went flying everywhere, his body covered in flesh and innards. Fragments of bones rained alongside the blood on the street below.
Thankfully, Ray recovered fast. He had used his Recovery to take care of the debilitating effect of the electricity, regaining enough motor control to land on his feet.
[Enemy Defeated—Human]
Thunderwhip Bandit [Tier 3] Human: [Level 27] x1
Essence: +4,050
Knowledge: +3
True Mana Restored: +270
Essence to Level 30: 54,910/59,200
Knowledge to next Threshold: 1,124/1,250
Ray looked around at the remains of the thief. His mood grew sourer and sourer. It wasn’t just because he was covered in gore and body parts. It was because he had a good idea of just who he had been attacked by.
It was starting to look like Cory had been right. Ray would need to deal with that damn gang.