Chapter 34

Cult of Blood [https://i.imgur.com/TNlTbPN.png]

“Get ready!” Jack Mors screamed as cultists attacked.

Both sides were unarmed but cultists had their large deadly sharp antlers on their heads. They charged at the humans, still getting their bearings, with heads low and antlers pushed forward.

Between humans, only Jack Mors was armed with his trusted mace. The rest of them had only their fists and their will to fight.

When elk people crashed into a group of caravan men, their will was put to the test. Blood gushed as the first rows of humans were cut down as cultists crashed into them like an ocean wave. Violence erupted in the feast hall like a volcano with smoke and magma. Screams were heard and blood flew freely not constrained anymore by the boundaries of warm bodies.

The charge of cultists was devastating. The first rows of humans were cut down like a lowly weed, but that was where elk people's advantage started and ended.

“Kill them!” the deep voice of Giogio was heard as the fat caravan master was first to lunge at their attackers.

And the rest of his men followed in his suit. Humans grabbed the cultists by the heads and antlers and pulled them closer. Punches and kicks rained on them like a heavy storm.

The fight quickly became a disorganized brawl with both sides trading heavy punches.

No weapons were used, and no magic was cast.

Only arms and legs flew from both sides as fighters pummeled each other with heavy blows.

Jack was an exception. He was armed and his mace worked a double shift.

The first cultist to charge him didn’t see what hit him. Cultist’s furry head was lowered when mace landed square on it. Bone popped, brain and blood splattered as cultist fell over dead on the spot. Momentum from his charge brought him forward even after his death and his antlers brushed against Jack Piercing his leather attire but not even scratching his skin. Constitution stat made Jack’s body too sturdy to get hurt by a weak strike like that.

The first cultist didn’t hit the floor when the second one was already on him. Jack dodged to the side and with a spin planted his mace right on the side of the cultist's head. Elk men behind the downed cultists stopped in fear, and Jack pushed forward. He swung and downed one more elk man not ready for the heavy resistance.

Using the opening another cultist crashed into Jack and sharp antlers pierced his side. Jack stumbled from the strike but kept himself standing while being pushed back to his previous position. He smashed his mace on his opponent’s side, but the angle was way too awkward to gain any force behind his attack.

Suddenly, his mace was snatched right out of his hand. Jack’s eyes went wide from the unexpected steal, but when he saw who was the thief he just smiled and now empty hand grabbed the antlers still stuck in his flesh. The cultist tried to free his head but Jack didn’t let him go. Elk man started panicking and landing chaotic hooks with his fists in Jack's core, but Jack didn’t even flinch as he held cultist in the place. Red color seeped into his clothes, but Jack only smiled and did not let the cultist go.

Linus stepped past him and swung a mace with a large predictable arc. But the cultist had no way to dodge as mace landed on his bent back. Mace landed with great momentum and the cultist screamed in pain as his spine snapped in half from the strike. Cultist shook in pain and agony, but alas he was still held steadfast by the steely hands of an old human.

After the first strike, Linus swung mace again, but he was forced to stop as one more opponent jumped on him swinging his antlers. Linus dodged backward with his back stopping at the men standing behind him.

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Jack pushed antlers from his flesh and released them. He bent down closer to the cultist snaking his hand around the broken man’s neck. With a sharp movement, he twisted the elk man's neck and pulled upwards picking the cultist off the ground.

Elk men resisted a few more moments before going limp for the good.

Jack let him go and just in time the next opponent was on him. Linus was on his left side and Orla with Zaun on his right. They stood shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the men of the caravan and all hell broke loose.

They fought in simple rows. Men and elk men grappled and punched in close combat. Elk men's antlers were no use after the initial charge and in the fistfight, they had to rely on their superior levels and stats, but caravan men were no wimps. They had numbers on their side and every cultist had to deal with at least two of the humans at the same time. Cultists had a hard time using their advantage if they had to deal with a constant barrage of attacks from numerous opponents.

The first charge took out some of the humans, but after that cultists were made to understand the folly of their ways. These men were not farmers or manual workers. These men were caravanners and caravan guards. Men living their lives on the road in constant danger of nature and anger of man of lover moral caliber. They lived in the harsh weather and struggle not in the comfort of their homes. This was not the first time all these men had been put to the test and it will not be the last as they fought with fury and determination.

Humans, who just now sat in the corner as sheep for the slaughter, got their bearings and pushed against the cultists thinking of them as no more than sacrificial lambs. Fists rained on the elk men and slowly but surely, they started to fall under the strikes of the men.

One after another some clean right hook or leg sweep brought one or another cultist down, and when they were on the ground they were crowded and kicked to death by the furious men.

Giogio was in the front lines with his fat arms glowing from some mysterious perk. Every hit of his landed like a hammer. Fat caravan master slapped the cultist facing with an open palm and the cultist’s knees went weak from the strike. The kneeling elk man looked up at the towering chubster and shivered from the pressure emanating from the man. Giogio slapped once more with his open palm and his strike put the cultist out cold.

Orla and Zaun together grappled the opponent of their own. They brought him down with themselves, and Jack and Linus were right on top of them raining heavy blows on the downed cultist. They kicked and punched targeted weak spots of the cultist, like his liver or the back of his head.

In a similar fashion, cultists were brought down all around them. Some tried to run, but it was too late. After they got the upper hand, humans overwhelmed them in a matter of seconds. Men all around were finishing off the still-resisting cultists with their bare fists in a messy ruthless massacre. Elk men on the ground tried to guard themselves on the ground but it was hopeless for them. Men around them just kept kicking them stopping only after there was no question about elk men on the ground being completely dead.

Some tried to feign their deaths, but it was a failing endeavor as humans made sure to put every one of the m down. Even corpses got their own extra treatment of violence just to make sure that there were no survivors.

In just a minute fight was over. It was a short and ruthless brawl in which humans emerged victorious with only some deaths between them. Of all caravan, only four men died gutted by the antlers with no hope of surviving. Most who went down were still breathing only heavily hurt from the punches or wounds in non-lethal parts.

Hall slowly calmed down as the fighting stopped.

“No!” Jack said, “Stop it!”

He rushed over to the group of men kicking the lying Warren. Jack pulled the closest men back and pushed himself between the men and their personal Juda Iscariot.

“I believe he was under the same spell we were put under,” Jack said to the angry men,” He is not with them.”

The men didn’t care and pushed Jack away to continue their judgment, but the voice of Giogio stopped them.

“Leave him be! We will listen to what he has to say once he wakes up!” Giogio said while cleaning his hands from the blood on them.

“Giogio, this is not the end. There is still Archdruid somewhere. She went through that door.”

“Arch? You sure about that?”

“Yes! Not sure why she didn’t come here to check all the commotion, but she definitely went through that door.”

“What is her level?”

“Seventy-nine.”

“You sure? I have never heard of arch class before tier VI, which comes at level one hundred.”

“I saw her level as seventy-nine.”

“Then it must be a rare class,” Giogio said, “Listen up men! Find the carts and arm yourselves! We must be polite guests and say high-level bitch our hellos!”

Men voiced their agreement and went outside to get their weapons.

Giogio turned to Jack and smiled having his own guess of how they got free from mind control, “Good job, my friend. I have always thought Guardian class perk to be a useless one, but today it probably saved our lives.”

“Today is not over,” Jack smiled back.

“Indeed it isn’t,” Giogio said and looked at doors that should hide an Archdruid, “Indeed it isn’t.”