Chapter 14
In footsteps of Death [https://imageshack.com/i/pmcYHkYbp]
“Haha! Old weakling lied to us, men!” Ferris said to his childhood friends, “We can’t leave it like that, can we?”
Stone Delver – Lvl 34
“I still can pick up their path. Barely so, but we should be good. They ventured more south,” Giroso, their Pathfinder, spit under his feet.
Delver Pathfinder – Lvl 33
“Then we better start moving,” Ferris said, “Before some roaming riftkin makes their new shiny plates worse for wear.”
“What we do with nobles?” a thin sleazy man in light armor asked.
Dagger Delver – Lvl 33
“We kill them of course, Ziggs. No need to spread the word in Delver rows about our personal affairs.”
“Behind the helmet of Spearman is a woman,” Giroso said to his group with a smirk, “You still want to kill them all?”
The passing comment got excited yells and cheers from his group.
“What?” Ferris exclaimed, “And you tell us now?”
“Oh, I am sorry! Didn’t know it held a weight to you,” Giroso said to Ferris with irony lancing his words.
“Killing a maiden is unfitting for an honorable man like me,” Ferris said smiling a charmful smile, “Besides whores can satisfy a Delver’s heart only for so long.”
Men laughed in agreement and quickened their pace.
Sword Delver – Lvl 32
Armored Delver – Lvl 32
Armored Delver – Lvl 32
Delver Ranger – Lvl 32
Armored Delver – Lvl 32
A Group of eight Delvers with Ferris in the lead went in the direction their Pathfinder showed them. They traversed the barren Riftlands in a quick run as they tried to catch up to Jack Mors and his party. Men smiled awaiting an easy haul and entertainment awaiting after.
----------------------------------------
They traveled fast through the treacherous Riftlands expecting to reach Mad Dogs at any moment now. But, surprisingly, they had to run farther and farther away. On their way, they passed many corpses of different riftkin.
In beginning, there were only a few. A few Eldritch Crawlers from the rifts of Outer strata were killed and left to rot here and there in their path. Corpses told a rich story to the experienced Delvers. It was clearly the work of the beginners as chitin under their bellies was unharvested.
There was a small part of chitin under their hearts which smiths in Delver Citadel mixed with the metal to make armor more durable. This part of chitin was also exported to the rest of Empire in large quantities. It was every Delver’s bread and butter, and the largest source of income as these critters were so common.
Ferris’ party was no exception, so they stopped to collect it in their bags. Their prey could clearly take care of themselves so there was no rush. They will catch up to them eventually. Right now there was just free money laying here on the rocks and mud under their feet.
Men stopped at every Crawler and removed their loot with swift and experienced motions. They have done it countless times before. Harvesting didn't take a lot of time, but work still slowed them down.
After some time corpses of Crawlers became more numerous. They had to stop more and more, and then they saw corpses of different riftkin. There were rifkin of many sizes and many shapes. Some smaller and some larger. Some were monsters that should be above the capabilities of four level eight Delvers.
“I don’t feel good about this,” one of Delvers said.
“They punch above their level. Couldn’t expect less from a bunch of nobles. It doesn’t change anything,” Ferris reassured his men, “We spent fifteen devilish years in this shithole and we still are nobody to men of might and money. Low-level nobles can come here in their shiny metal while we barely can scrape enough to patch ours every time we return to Citadel. It is bloody injustice! We will take their power and make it ours.”
“They are no threat to us. There is no tier I uncommon class who can compete with tier II ones,“ Giroso supported their leader and continued to guide their group forward.
Suddenly Giroso stopped dead in his tracks. The men behind him didn’t react in time and they bumped into each other.
“What’s the matter?”
“What the fuck happened?”
“You pushed your sword into my hip, idiot!”
Before them path went downhill sharply, and a large cliff blocked their further passage. Clif split in two in front of them and their path was laid through the mountain ravine with a shallow creek flowing through it.
“Did they go through the ravine?” Ferris asked Giroso.
“Indeed.”
“Then we better start moving.”
“Following them through the ravine might not be in our best interests. There is only a single entrance and probably as many exits,” Giroso warned his leader.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
“We have nothing to worry about. You said it yourself,” Ferris passed Giroso and entered the ravine first, “Move out!”
His men followed him closely back-to-back. They walked through the ravine in a brisk walk, bags over their shoulders and weapons ready. They were ankles deep in the mountain spring and ice-cold water soaked through their worn-out leather boots.
“Path is fresh. They have been here just moments ago,” Giroso said and the voice in front of them rushed to confirm his observation.
“Welcome to my gorge, lads!” Jack's voice sounded from somewhere in front of them.
Jack stood there in the middle of the path with his hands crossed adorned in full armor with his mace and shield by his sides.
“I don’t see the rest,” Giroso whispered to his party and Ferris acknowledged it with a nod of his head.
“Hello, my sweet friend!” Ferris shouted to Jack slowly advancing towards him, “We came here to make sure you can keep yourself safe out here.”
“We are good!” Jack shouted back, “Now that you made sure, you can turn back!”
“Oh! But I insist!” Ferris glanced up to the sun in the sky, “It’s about lunchtime. Let’s dine together.”
“What a great offer, but you come too late. We already satiated our hunger,” Jack said and held a small pause before continuing, “But your hunger is not one for food, is it? What is it you crave?”
Delvers were closing the distance between them and Jack in a slow walk, but jack Mors didn’t run. Jack stood there in the middle of the ravine arms crossed confidently. His face was hidden behind his helmet and Delvers could only guess the expression on it. If they would guess right they might think twice before continuing their path toward him.
“We crave many things, Jack from Mors family,” Ferris said.
“We crave money,” Ferris stepped over the rock in front of him.
“We crave glory,” water splashed as Ferris dropped his bags from his shoulders.
“We crave power,” he drew a blade from his sheet.
“But right now, you rich bastard, we crave to see if nobles really have blue blood in their vanes,” Ferris said menacingly.
“Then blood you shall see!” Jack said with clear-cut happiness in his voice.
“Ferris! Up!” Giroso screamed from the back.
“What?” Ferris turned around and looked up.
A rock large as himself was flying straight at him from the cliff on the side of the ravine. Ferris started moving, but his muscles were too slow and the rock was too fast. He had no time or react or dodge. At that moment Ferris saw his death.
Just before the rock would land on him, he was pushed forward. He flew forward and looked back to see Giroso get smashed in the pulp by the rock which was intended for him. Blood and guts were splattered all around the ravine.
“No!” Ferris screamed as blood colored the creek red around the remains of Giroso.
Rock wasn’t alone as more rocks rained down on the party of Delvers. Ferris watched in a daze as his party was showered by the deadly projectiles.
Two of the Armored Delvers lost their lives instantly in the same manner as Giroso did. Ferris watched these men who have been with him all his life lose theirs right in front of him and he could do nothing. These were his comrades, his friends, and his brothers. They have been together for as long as he could remember.
Despite all these tough years out in Riftlands they managed to stay alive altogether. To this day. To this damned day.
Delvers watched the sky and tried to dodge rocks, but there were too many of them. Rocks fell in an unrelenting assault. Delver Ranger dodged the rock but slipped in the water and fell bruising his side. A smaller rock hit him in the helmet denting it. A larger one landed on his leg crushing it.
The rain of rocks stopped and from the spot, he lay Ferris watched three armored heads peek over the cliffside to survey their handiwork. Jack didn't wait for Delvers to recollect themselves, he turned around and started running away.
Ziggs, unscratched by the rocks, rushed past Ferris after him. A Dagger Delver threw himself forward in a burst of speed enhanced by mana. In movement, he drew a pair of black daggers with no crossguards.
'Pierce'
Ziggs activated his Pierce perk and mana seeped from his core as it entered the dagger in his right hand. He threw a dagger after Jack. Dagger swished through the air and landed on Jack’s back. Dagger bounced off without piercing armor guarding it even slightly.
But that didn’t matter as an invisible knife edge made of mana pierced Jack’s flesh under his armor just barely missing his heart.
“Argh!” Jack let out mumbled scream and turned around just in time to dodge another dagger throw aimed at his head.
Jack put his shield forward and readied his mace waiting for Ziggs to approach.
Ziggs pulled out another dagger in his left hand, stopped, and stretched out his right hand with a palm open. He closed his right palm in the fist with a sharp precise movement.
Jack watched the gesture of the Delver with caution, but nothing followed it. Delver just took a crouching posture and began to run closer once again.
Jack readied his mace for the strike, but something did bother him. His mind was unrestful, his instincts screamed something at him in a foreign language. He stepped right without really knowing why, and that saved his life. The dagger swished past his head from behind and landed right into Ziggs’ right hand in the reverse grip.
Cold sweat ran down his back over his first wound and a smile plastered on his face hidden by his helmet.
“Yes! More!” Jack murmured as Dagger Delver was already on him.
Both his daggers struck in quick swipes, but Jack’s tower shield was in their way. They both bounced off with a metal ding and the shield opened up leaving space for Jack’s mace to answer.
Ziggs dodged the mace swing by simply ducking under the strike. He used the opening to run in for the stab, but he was too slow. Shield blocked him just in time as he crashed into it with his shoulder.
Ziggs raw strength was overwhelming and Jack barely stopped his bash as he was pushed back a few steps. Ziggs stepped back from the blow. He changed his grip on his right dagger to a classical grip and closed in once again this time diving to the right and trying to get behind Jack’s shield from the side, but Jack kept walking backwards and keeping away from Delver with defensive strikes.
Ziggs struggled to find the opening. He circled Jack poking and prodding, diving in and retreating while dodging calculated mace strikes wishing to cave his head in. There were no openings.
They swirled and swirled trading blows. Ziggs had strength and speed on his side, but he couldn’t find a single opening in Jack's defensive style. Jack stood his ground as an experienced veteran. His shield arm held strong against the powerful dagger strikes and his legs didn’t fail to find a foothold on the slippery rocks under the water.
“Fucking old codger!” Ziggs said with a fit of anger and swung once more.
This time he didn’t try to reach around the shield and went straight for the umbo in the middle of the shield. Mana once again seeped from his core into his dagger activating Pierce. The strike bounced off the shield as expected, but the damage was already done.
The invisible force of the Pierce struck through Jack’s shield and his gauntlet holding the shield. One Pierce was enough for Jack to lose four of his fingers. They were still held in place by the metal gauntlet around them, but his grip lost its strength and the shield dropped down into the water under his legs with a splash.
“It's over,” Ziggs smirked and went in for the kill.
Mana once again seeped into his dagger, and he stepped forward. Mace swung for his head, but Ziggs evaded the strike easily sliding past it. Jack overextended and Delver thrust his dagger aiming for Jack’s heart. Ziggs was smiling already seeing his revenge as fulfilled.
But Jack wasn’t done yet. He barely shifted sideways once again escaping death. The dagger struck him in the chest missing his heart by the beat of it. The invisible blade of Pierce cut Jack in the right breast and was stopped by the rib bone before piercing his lung.
Jack received one more wound under his armor, but this time he didn’t flinch. He expected the pain and he pushed through it. Jack made himself move even as the blade of the dagger still touched his breastplate.
He pulled his mace back and struck Delver in a reverse swing. Mace landed on the back of Ziggs’ helmet and put him to sleep on the spot.
Unconscious Delver fell sideways stiff as a wooden figurine. Ziggs fell face-first into an ice-cold creek under their legs.
Cold water enveloped his head and he regained consciousness already underwater. As Ziggs opened his eyes he saw only water and rocks in front of his face. His mind was hazy at first, but then he remembered where he was.
His eyes shot wide in panic, and he reached for his core.
‘Reverse’
Ziggs disappeared and mace struck only water.