I'd never teleported before, which was something I could theoretically do at will now since I'd unlocked the fast travel system at Level 5. What did teleportation feel like? It was an experience of feeling like you were on a roller coaster running down a line of lightning as it travelled from one spot to another. It was also over in an instant, taking only a few seconds for your body to move from one place to another.
For once, I wasn't the one made queasy by the experience of rapid movement and I saw I wasn’t alone in this. Bloodstorm was puking his guts out over the side. The Rose sisters looked like they were suffering vertigo. Even Sparky developed scales as well as a tail, showing he was losing control over his human form. Jon, at least, took a moment to steady himself on a nearby overturned wagon.
The first thing that struck me about our new surroundings was the smell. It was a rancid, putrid one that I'd come to recognize all too well: death. It came in a variety of flavors here ranging from old decay to recent rotting meat. It was a smell I'd rapidly become accustomed to in the Southern Kingdoms.
The village of Bloodmoon was a once-grand city with stone buildings reminiscent of the Roman Empire that had since collapsed into ruins. Jagged mountain peaks jutted out of the ground through half the village as well as a large chasm, the rise of the Death Mountains having destroyed this place.
The locals had rebuilt as best they could, creating wooden shacks and straw hovels inside the remains. Their attempts to restore what had been lost had been doomed from the start, though, because Veles forces had poured from the ground and overwhelmed everyone who had been foolish enough to remain. They'd either been enslaved, forced to swear allegiance to Veles, transformed into the undead, or some combination thereof. All of this had been detailed in the item descriptions of the Bloodmoon game, by the way.
In the distance from the village, there was the sight of Castle Bloodmoon. It was the only part of the city that had been untouched by the death of Perun and creation of the Death Mountains. It was less a castle than a second city with massive towers and walls that dominated the skyline to the North. To its East, the newly risen Death Mountains ended just barely before the castle's edge with a waterfall pouring down into a chasm beside it. The waterfall was polluted with algae and up against crimson rocks that gave it the hue of blood in the sunlight.
We were presently in the town square, and it was noticeably blocked off with all exits around the portal, alleyway or street, covered in wooden walls decorated with spears or spikes. Plenty of these spears and spikes had been decorated with human remains. Some of them looked quite fresh. There was a single exit from the town square in a large well-paved road that led from our present position toward Castle Bloodmoon.
There were no people to be seen.
"Huh," Jon said, flying to the top of the inert doughnut shaped portal we'd just walked through. "You know, for once, I don't have any quips to make."
"Really?" I asked. "I mean, I've got Dracula, Ravenloft, Castlevania, and Resident Evil 4 jokes all ready."
"Yeah, but they all seem a bit obvious," Jon said. "Pointing out the creepy Eastern European village ruled by vampires looks like a creepy Eastern European village ruled by vampires doesn't really have the kind of zing I require from my reference-based humor."
"Radu is a disgrace to vampire nobles," Bloodstorm said. "A properly run territory is full of happy free-range food. This is just a shithole."
Ania gave him a sideways look.
"What?" Bloodstorm said. "It's true."
"This used to be full of people," Agata said, her voice uncomfortable. "Radu maintained a stable population of humans not only for his own food and amusement but because he tried to maintain the pretense, he was a living lord with living people. The locals tried to help me when I made my escape. Now they're--"
"Gone," Ania finished for her. "With Veles forces on the move, there's no need to maintain the illusion."
"This is a place Blade, D, Buffy, and Alucard would make a killing at," I replied.
"Which Alucard?" Jon asked. "Hellsing or Symphony of the Night?"
"Yes," I replied.
Agata sighed. "Aaron, I know you use the jokes only you get to hold back your fear, but could you be more circumspect when I'm surveying the graveyard of what is very likely many friends?"
I paused. "Sure."
"A moment of silence," Jon said, lowering his head. "Okay, that's done. Let's go rescue the loli pope."
"We don't know she's loli," I said, surveying the roads for a route to the castle.
"She's an adolescent girl in a Japanese game world setting adapting Western horror sensibilities," Jon said. "She's absolutely going to be loli."
"I see that promise lasted a while," Agata muttered.
"I didn't promise shit," Jon said, looking down at Agata. "You cope your way, I'll cope mine."
"I don't know what a loli is and I don't want to," Ania said. "There's movement around us."
Temple bells began ringing in the distance. They had a menacing quality to them as I felt the hairs on the back of my neck start to stand up with every peal. As if a shadow was spreading throughout our surroundings, I saw the movement Ania had detected before me. Shuffling, shambling, and stumbling movements of bodies that were arising from all the buildings around us.
"See, now this is a George Romero moment," Jon said, looking around. "Think how much would be lost if we weren't able to bring him up."
Out of the sides of the ruins around us moved the remains of Bloodmoon's peasantry. Their faces were bloated gray masses of rotting tissue with white eyes that leaked a kind of horrific green pus. The books described the disease of Deathrot as one of the great scourges of the world, first brought by the Twisted Gods during the Black Death in the 13th century and coming back in the 1940s. Those killed by deathrot rose as undead carriers that existed to spread it as it grew in their rotting bodies. More The Last of Us than Dungeons and Dragons zombies. Deathrot could only be healed by magic and was capable of reanimating even those not killed by the plague if spread by Veles' cultists. The deathrot wights, as they were called in-game, weren't just zombies, though. Zombies were something that just attacked mindlessly and could be put down easily enough. Deathrot wights, disturbingly, maintained enough low cunning to be able to use weapons as well as rudimentary tactics. It meant we might well have a bunch of traps laid out here for us.
Sparky transformed fully into a dragon. "Let's get em!"
"They're not our goal," I said, taking charge and pointing toward the wide-open path leading to the castle. "That way!"
"This is a bad idea," Ania muttered.
"Then you lead!" I snapped.
Ania grunted something that sounded like approval for my attitude. Unfortunately, I almost immediately cursed myself for not thinking things through. I'd just reminded myself the Deathrot wights were not mindless and they wouldn't have been stupid enough to leave a massive escape route directly leading to the castle (or at least their master wouldn't have been).
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Along the rooftops of the buildings beside us were Deathrot wights taking position with bows and arrows. I'd forfeited any right to call myself the group's leader by leading us into a killing field. Ironically, the only reason we hadn't been cut down in a hail of arrows already was because they needed to get into place.
You should abandon them, my swords whispered. You have boots of speed. You can escape. Leave them behind.
You would sound a lot more convincing, Audrey, Audrey Junior, I said, giving them names, if not for the fact I already killed the god you were possessions of.
That shut them up.
I lifted my shield over my head, trying to defend the others as much as I could while running while shouting for an ARMOR spell. It was not good to multitask this much, but the shield absorbed a couple of arrows that would have struck me if no one else. Bloodstorm had several more arrows bounce off of his plate mail, showing to efficiency of wearing armor manufactured for Veles' late champion. Even Sparky took an arrow into his tail, though his thick dragon hide meant he only responded with an ouch. Those were good signs but we had a lot of road left to cover.
Ania, surprisingly, came to the rescue. "Wait, is everyone staying behind for everyone else?"
"What?" I asked, confused.
"Yes, kinda!" Agata shouted.
"Don't!" Ania shouted back.
My confusion evaporated when Ania disappeared into a shadow that appeared before her, and she appeared thirty yards down the road ahead of us before doing the same. I'd forgotten that she was significantly better trained than me and had access to magic of the dark moon elves.
Seeing her sister was safe, Agata lifted her staff and shouted, "DIMENSION DOOR!"
Instantly, Agata appeared to be beside her sister, far away from the rest us. That triggered Sparky to spread out his wings and take to the air. The pony-sized dragon flew up to the side of the building closest to us and blast them with a torrent of golden white flame, incinerating six or seven deathrot wights right there. Jon, who was a bird, moved a lot faster than me and moved to catch up with the women in our group.
"Can you move there?" Bloodstorm asked, jogging behind me.
"Yes," I admitted, blocking another pair of arrows.
"Then do it!" Bloodstorm said. "I'll be fine!"
I believed my friend and activated my boots of speed, moving twice as fast as I normally could. With the enhancement of the ring of ogre strength, each step was stronger than it normally would have been. I couldn't maintain my pace for long, but I was able to move out of the killing field to join the Rose sisters, especially as Sparky's attacks hadn't so much defeated them but forced the dozens of deathrot wights to regroup. They'd still overwhelm us with sheer numbers, but we had overcome our first trial.
At least, that was what I thought until I saw what had caused the Rose sisters to stop in their current position. The road ended in a makeshift arena, the road sealed off by another makeshift wall covered in spears. This had previously been a marketplace but had been converted into, of all things, an open air laboratory. There were electrical pylons, scalpels the size of swords on a huge wooden table, a sewing needle spool the size of an oil barrel, fluid-filled glass jars with sparking wires sticking out of them, and bubbling vats full of greenish fluid. I questioned why it would be located here instead of indoors until I saw the centerpiece of the place.
In the center of the former marketplace was a thirty-foot-tall iron cage where a patchwork creature of flesh, steel, and other things was imprisoned. It was twenty-five feet tall with the body made from pieces taken from trolls, dragons, and creatures I didn't recognize. Its face reminded me of, and don't hate me for this, Sloth from the Goonies crossed with Frankenstein.
Enormous scars and stitches were everywhere across its body with the classical metal bolts in its neck. Lightning crackled around its body, and I could see a smaller person-sized cage on its back inhabited by one of the deathrot wights. There were a bunch of levers in the cage, and he was dressed in blood-splattered apron with a pair of goggles on his face.
"Yeah, that's a giant flesh golem alright," Jon said, taking rest on one of my pauldrons. "Complete with mad alchemist pilot. Haven't seen one of those in a while. Who runs Bartertown? Master Blaster runs Bartertown!"
Bloodstorm jogged up behind me, breathing heavily. He had a few more arrows in him but not serious injury. "What did I miss? Oh, hell yes. That's worth beserking form."
Sparky set down beside me. "Awesome!"
"No, not awesome," Ania muttered.
The flesh golem kicked open the door of its cage, walked out, and lifted a bus sized club into the air. It let out a deafening roar and I felt sick to my stomach. Hundreds of deathrot wights had gathered along the rooftops surrounding the marketplace to cheer on our deaths. Some of them even jumped into the arena to join the fight.
"Dammit," I muttered. I was supposed to be the leader here and I'd stupidly rushed right into danger. There was only one thing to do now: rush even further into danger. I had an insane plan that I never would have considered had I been thinking in my right mind. However, I was still feeling heady from my time with Zorya and the blades at my side were thirsty for blood. The rush from being in danger obliterated my common sense but that had never been my strong suit anyway. "Leave this to me."
"Leave what to you?" Ania asked if I'd gone insane.
Which I possibly had.
I pulled at the Blades of Chernabog and charged at the flesh golem, shouting a war cry that I was pretty sure was from Skyrim. I tried to remember every lesson Zorya taught me and that my magical enhancements meant nothing if I didn't know how to use them.
The flesh golem swung its enormous club down at me and I rolled forward rather than away, moving under its tip as it buried itself in the dirt.
I rolled under it, harnessing my boots of speed before shouting jump as I leapt into the air and landed on top of the club next to the flesh golem's wrists. The flesh golem had lowered its head and I saw its malformed gray face that was a network of patched together flesh. Steel bolts and copper wire fused it all together as I saw electricity passing through them.
One of its eyes was yellow and serpentine while the other was a human shade of blue. Both of them stared at me with agonized fury. The flesh golem's existence was probably agonizing and another time, I would have been filled with pity. Instead, I stabbed down with both of the scimitars, impaling one eye each.
"Feed!" I shouted to my swords, feeling genuine blood thirst for perhaps the first time in my life.
Gladly, Audrey and Audrey Junior said in stereo. Their blood to your blood.
"Arghhhh!" The flesh golem shouted as it reared back, screaming and flailing its arms.
I held onto my swords as they sunk deeper into the creature's eyes.
The Mad Alchemist on the back of the flesh golem shouted and screamed, trying to regain control over his construct. I released my grip on the Blades of Chernabog, dropping onto its shoulder and almost falling off.
On one knee, I aimed at the Mad Alchemist and shouted, "DIVINE BOW!"
A glowing bow, completely made of light instead of just conjuring arrows of it like Ania's, appeared in my hands. I pulled back while taking aim at the Mad Alchemist. He was undead and I felt an intense hatred make my strike more precise. Me and my friends used to joke that the preferred enemy of Rangers meant that they had hate crimes as as a special ability. Right now that didn't seem so funny as all I could think about was how much I wanted to destroy the undead creature.
I released the arrow a second before falling off the side of the flesh golem's shoulder, tumbling toward the ground. I didn't see if I'd hit it or not but aimed my palm at the ground before using a trick I'd learned from Zorya.
"PUSH!" I shouted.
The air forced its way up and instead of hitting the ground directly, I bounced with only the mildest of pain. It wasn't as good as a gentle fall spell and required precise timing, but it was an exploit that I'd managed to pull off. I almost didn't get to enjoy it as I had to roll out of the way of the flesh golem almost smashing me as it screamed in its blindness. The Mad Alchemist's cage was on fire and it was screaming inside, having lost control over its construct.
The flesh golem, my swords still sticking out of its eyes, pulled out its club and began smashing everything around it. This included the barrier between us and the road leading on to the castle. Villagers who had previously been cheering it on were knocked away and kicked in the air like footballs. The vats of greenish fluid were overturned, pouring out poison and acid that made the arena an even more dangerous obstacle course. Deathrot wights wielding bows started firing again but this time at the flesh golem that they'd been cheering just a few seconds earlier. That just let the blinded creature know where to swing next.
My unearned sense of self-confidence passed, and I noticed I had two arrows buried in the back of my armor. Checking my bracelet, I saw I'd only lost 2 HP due to the fact that my armor had absorbed the majority of it. Even better, my swords dissolved in the flesh golem's eyes and reappeared in my hand. We had a helluva distraction now and the sun was still in the sky but wouldn't be for long if we didn't get a move on.
"Huh," Ania said, staring at what I'd done.
"Okay, was that a cutscene or did Aaron suddenly become Rambo?" Jon asked, confused.
"The absorbtion of divine energy must have affected him more than we thought," Agata said, staring.
"I'm willing to check for doppelgangers," Bloodstorm replied.
"Yay, Aaron!" Sparky said, jumping up and down.
"Run!" I shouted, waving for them to follow.
We were intercepted by a Vukodolak in giant wolf form almost immediately, followed by a group of car-sized spiders, and then had deal with a banshee singing forth the ghosts of the dead from the village cemetery.
It was going to be a long fucking night.
And yes, I used the f-word.