Chapter 77 The Battle for Red Cedar City.
My lovely dear children, you are so precious.
Keep squashing each other for joy!
Bring everyone to their knees for pride!
Squeeze the name of every being for knowledge!
Let existence burn in hell, and drown in the abyss.
There’s nothing your mother wouldn’t do for you…
Rakisha, Mother of all Demons.
“Kill these fools!” the king orders.
“NO!!!” Kolag’s echoing cry thunders across the open field. “You monsters! You evil beings! By Noxi I’ll kill you all! I will bring Noxi’s justice into you! I will…”
YoU Are a dead man! Enough with the pointless rage! Apathy… Focus! A rain of crossbow bolts flies toward us, I don’t have the luxury of screaming death threats or crying right now. “Myrsha samir!”
Kolag forgets everything I told him earlier. Instead of standing behind me and my magical defense, he jumps in front of me to protect me from the incoming rain. Arrows cling on his armor like a rain on a rock. Despite his efforts, many of the bolts make it through. The mass of crossbow bolts slows down when they hit my barrier enough for me to react with: “Felul!”
What now? I can barely keep myself alive. How are we supposed to help the others?! Doesn’t matter. Focus on staying alive! The man in blue stands over Lezere’s body with a mocking grin on his face. He steps on my friend’s corpse, spits on her, flips me a middle finger, and gestures at us to come at him. The blond woman behind him is laughing, her shrill voice loud enough to be sound over the field.
“Loose!” the King yells in his magical voice, and another hail of arrows makes its way toward us.
“Myrsha samir!”
“Loose! Fill them with your arrows!”
The king shouts excitedly and another hail rains down upon us.
“Myrsha samir! Felul!”
“let’s retreat!” I say to Kolag.
"""""Charge!"""""
A chorus of voices bellows from within the city, a chaotic and violent cacophony breaks the sky. Metal hits metal with clings and screeches, screams resound, shouts split the air, and loud curses punctuate the fighting. The King turns back and bolts toward the city, his soldiers make way in a hurry, still trying to reload their crossbows.
The city’s wooden gates close from within, right in the face of the dumbfounded king. His soldiers get thrown off the wall. I hear their terrified screams before they hit the hard ground below.
The new army on the wall cheers and waves a flag, a black horse on a red field.
House Vodit’s flag, that’s my father’s crest, how on Lukam did… Of course… Salik… he already gathered his mercenaries… no, my mercenaries. But how did he get that flag? I’ll have to ask him later…
My mercenaries fire their arrows from the walls right into the army below them, and absolute chaos ensues. The morale of the king’s army topples over like goblins without a queen; their homes are behind them, behind these thick wooden walls. The hag was right by calling Salik a general… one move and the tides of this battle had turned…
An icy shield forms and blocks an arrow from hitting the king. I spot—who I assume to be Berthold—on the wall, far to the left, out of sight from Luard's vision. How did Luard block that?! Great... now he'll blast the gates open with his magic. I need to apply some pressure on him and distract him. And attack a whole army?! One crossbow bolt hits me, and I'm done.
“Charge!”
This magically amplified order comes from the king. He points at Kolag and me. I gasp. I expected him to bypass the walls or gates with his magic, but he and his men reach the obvious conclusion: There are only two of us, spell caster or not, I cannot stop a few hundred men by myself, and they have two spell casters with them to counter me and my spells. And if he kills me he can take care of the others later.
The battered army charges right at us, fleeing from the biting arrows at their backs. They lift their shields to cover their heads to protect themselves from the rain of arrows and crossbow bolts.
Kolag puts his hand in front of me. “Step back. Go back. Run! I’ll handle this!”
“Don’t die!”
“I won’t die. I promise! Not to this!” He steps forward and stabs his claymore into the ground. “Make my sword touch me if I don’t recover by myself!” he shouts and removes his helmet.
I know what he’s about to do and get my distance. As I run away, I glance back behind my shoulder. For a brief moment, I see Kolag's short black hair. And then…
His neck thins and elongates upward, it turns thinner than any possible human neck. His head splits into multiple tentacles that grow out of his collar, squirming and wriggling in the air. There are multiple eyes on these tentacles but none of them look at me.
I can see the panic on the faces of the charging men, but they keep on charging. It’s too late to hold their charge when they’re only a few meters from Kolag.
“̵̧̛̰̖͔̥͓̮̖̗͌̏̉̏̋̕G̴̩̹͓̞̹͎̀̾̑̏̂̆͗͐́͂̕ǎ̴̦̮͚̙̪̟̜’̷̧̥̼̝̣̙͚̲͕̌͒̎̚͜Â̵̮̓͐͐͜͠u̴̗̞̩̫̫͈̳̎͛̅͐́ͅȘ̸̡̞̬̜̘̗̤̒̆͜ḥ̸̛̈́̈́́͌̍̈́K̴̨͔̙̲̠̳̬͎̬̙̝̖͈̃̏͋̀̊ͅå̷̮̥ ̴̡̨͚̠̤̳͔̟̥̩̺̘̬̅̀̿̓̀͑͛̏͜Ḳ̶̞͎̼͛̔͐̃͆̔͊̌͒̏̕̚ä̷̙̱̀̅̈̈́̈́̚Ş̷̛̱̗̭̻̰̗̳̗̼͆̿̏͐͜h̶̭̳͔̹̱̪͌̓̇͝͝A̶̯̭͙̿̋̐͋͊̀̌͛̅̓͌̈́̇͠͠ͅḻ̷̳͓̰̀̏̏͜Ą̴̧̪̠̱̭͎̙̳̘͓̥͖͔͍̂͛̿̇̋́̅͝s̶̨͔̹͙̣̳̤̱̬̻̝̼̤̐̉͗̾͜͜͠F̸̛͚͐̔̓̄͘̕͜ȋ̴͇̣͗̓̏͂̑̈́̃̇̕ ̶̛̱̰̼͍̝̩̾͊̒́̒̅̑̀͒̃̈̚̕m̵͔̮̘̄͘Ä̴̺̘͎̱̘̬̗̦̱̙́̎̄̐ṛ̵̨̟̫̥̼͖̜̺̱͙͇̺́̄̓́͗͒̒̑̚ͅ ̵̤̜̘̃̑̑̀̓̚̚͘ͅM̵̛̗̈͒́̿́͆͊̍̈̎̈́̽̄͠a̵͚͚̙͖̘̗͕̰̼̯̞̖̎̾̐̔͗̀͑̎̉̀͘͝Ṛ̸̨̝͔͔̝͖̍̍͂́́̇̔̚͠͠!̷̣̭̲̠̹̰̝͈̬̝̥͙̫̄͒̈́̓́̾̈̈́̀̚͘͜͠”̶̢̝̖̲͓̰̪͙͘
The high pitched inhuman voice that comes out of the creature makes me gasp in fear. I run taking as much distance as I possibly can from the creature Kolag had turned into.
“̷̺͎̤̻̭̱̗͇̘͙̏̂̽̾̈̓͆̉̂͌̐͘ͅͅK̵̢̮̫̯͖̙̞̬̝̿̈́̋͑A̸̢̧̜̭͙̐Ȑ̸͓̞͛͆̑̇̊͜Ì̸̧̢̻̟̙̙̬̬̠̻̘̣͊̌̒̌̈́̔̚͝ͅḞ̸̳͚͔̟͙̐̉̍̀̊͗̇͌̉̂̎͠F̴̮͚̘̙̣͎̭̻͑!̶͙̪̘̼̻̘̤͍̓̿̃̓̌͒̅͠!̶̼͔̼̖̘̺̩̎̏̄̒̕ͅ!̶̡̡̨̝͔̠̹̭̗̪̾̌̍́̎͌͂͘̚͠”̷̨̺̹͙͎̃̓͆͆̈̎̌
Kolag’s demon declares with a much deeper pitch to its voice.
The sounds that follow make me turn back and gape in horror at the sight.
The forefront of the charging men—at least fifty men—drop to their knees, kneeling on all fours. While the men behind them stumble on their brethren, creating an even bigger chaos.
Why the snake are they all kneeling?!
The creature enters the kneeling masses, letting out excited screams and moans.
“̶̧̧̛͖̜͚̽͂̽͐͊̔͂̈́̊̓̑̚͝͠ͅK̴̪̬̫͇̹̠̦̣̣̥͈̞͕̏̅̈́́̃̋̍ą̵̛͇̹̠͍̠̓́̉̔͑͌̀̈̔̿̒̚͝Ş̸̞̠̲͈̪̺̝̱̺̬͔̂̊͌̾̔̓̂͑̋̽̀͘͝͝͠h̸̢̠̜̭̥͕̩̦̘̜͉̰̪́̈̽̄̈́̈́͐͋͜ͅĄ̴̡̧̧̲̬̝̻͋́̈́̒͋̊̅̓̐̐̔͆ͅl̵̡̦̣̭̺̞̳̖̼̰̭̉̈́͑̅̂̈́̊̕͘Ả̸̛̠̿͊͆̂̍̑̃̌s̷͉̯̅̅́̽̆̐̈͆͗̆̀̀̊̇̕F̵̧̝͈̲͔̜͌͗̍̀͒̃̌̊͗̄̆͘͜͜i̴̧̫̻̞̱̹̘̹̠̥̟͗̏̐́̍̉̔̑ͅ!̷̣̰̖͗͗̃̎̂̑͐̕͠ ̷̳̠̲̘̋̎̓̓̂k̵̡̺̗͖̺̘̟̙̘̟͚͓͇̬̯͑̋̄̇̐́̍͌Å̴̡̧̗͈̘̻̻͎̭͕̗̂͆̈́́͌͜͝͝ͅs̷͈̭̥̅H̸̠͈̘͉̰͎͖̖̯̠͈͍͈̲͐̒̊ͅą̷̼͕͜͝ͅL̷̡̧͈͕͔̪̜̜̜̖͙̥̲͉̈́͘a̸̼͒̐̾̀̔̀̋͌́̈́͘S̸̮͉̫̩̩͇͓͓̼̩̅̓̿̀̊́̏͐̈́̈͘ͅf̶̗̘͎̮̑̓̈́̂̇̊̿͝Ǐ̴̛̗̽̆̒̒̔̉̅͌̈́̏̆̃!̴̢̛̞̞̺̖̰͚̠͓̼̖̓̀̀̈́̉͊͑̂̄̐ ̸͎̞̪̯͇͚̠̝͆M̴̨̧̠̳̥̼̫̬͙̭̯̖͚͔̈́̐̓̽͗͗̅̔̇͐͐̽͠ͅa̶̢̭̰̠̫͇͙͙͋͐̄̿̿͛͒́̏̔̆’̶̱̹̬̮͔̳̝̇̓̚A̶͍͔͊̓̓̈́̊̐̃͌̄̂͑͘͘a̸̧̗͖̦͕͆̔̉̇́̐̾͜Ȁ̸̧̛̍̈̿̑͊̽̉̂̓́͘̕a̴̟͍̖͈͔̫͕̺̓͘À̵̘̰̻̝͖͚͓͎̱͙̝r̴͉͊̈!̴̦̽̐̔̽̈́̃̈̋̂̏̏͛͜͝!̶̛̲̗͉̺͖͕͉̤͊̀́̎̓́̇̂̌͗̚͝!̸͈̺͕͔͖̔̇̑̄̿̓̽̉̄̎̇͋̓̒̂!̷̧̨̰͕̳̲̱̪̺̙̬̊̑̈̿͊̄͜͠”̵̧̬͕̭͉̋̐̊̑͗̊̽̔
With this unclear reverberating scream, the eyed tentacles wrap themselves around the men the demon passes by. The tentacles stretch the men and tear them apart by their limbs as if they’re nothing but wet rags, followed by splashing gore and horrified cries.
I spot the king shoving forward the soldiers in front of him as he backs off in fear. Another hail of arrows rains down on his army from behind, causing even more deaths.
The demon doesn’t seem to care about those that escape, it moves between the paralyzed kneeling men slowly, ripping them to shreds one by one. This eldritch abyssal creature takes its time tormenting and toying with each kneeling man, savoring each act of death, all while letting out weird reverberating screams in its strange language.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The king circles around his battered kneeling army, running west toward the woods. A small group of his remaining men follow suit.
Oh no you don’t! I’m not letting you get away with this you bastard! I’m killing you here and now! For Lezere!
I intercept them, circling the demon from my side.
I am thirty meters away from the king’s group when Drusilla notices me and warns them. The king turns and a spear of ice flies toward me, followed by a hail of thick bronze needles from Drusilla’s hand.
“Myrsha samir!”
The needles and the spears slow down, passing through my barrier. The icy spear grows spikes inside my barrier, all launching themselves toward me.
“Ritsa!”
“Fotyr folo!”
A wall of ice at the height of a human appears in front of the king, and my spell leaves three small melting spots on it. I keep running forward. I’m not letting you get away with this you venomous snake! YOU ARE DEAD!
Apathy… focus!
“Nimuwal nimgafir!” the king calls out, and the icy wall turns into a watery wave. The wave rushes toward me at a rapid pace.
“Ritsa!”
“Rial aluwe ri!”
The king could probably freeze me solid in the same manner if I had let the water reach me. I also want to intimidate him with this move, and make him think I have more water mana than I do. That I can control water just as well as he can, aside from other elements.
“Ri riss shanim.”
“Felul!”
I don’t try to wrestle control over the icy wall. I know that even if I draw mana from my necklace, I would never be able to compete with someone who has a true high affinity to water by using water alone. But I can use other elements, I don’t know why these two stayed with a single element while being capable of first level spells… but I don’t care, I have to use every advantage I can get.
“Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Lu myrsha nik kull lah! Nik wuan nalahi myrsha!”
This chant comes in a feminine voice behind the icy wall. I recognize Drusilla’s spell with a grin, ‘Alino’s Weightless Body’, my makeshift flying spell. Except Drusilla is using the targeted version of that spell. A purple speck of light circles me, and my weight shifts to zero. This spell cannot be blocked. If the caster is in range, there’s nothing that can stop it, nothing but iron or glass carried by the target that is.
Thanks for the help lady! Felul!
Luard gets from behind his defenses, middle finger pointed at me. "Nim. Aloki nimue, ri rinim ni numuwal!"
A white beam shoots out from his middle finger, but he obviously did not anticipate the speed of my flying.
I figure the two of them meant to catch me off guard with Drusilla’s spell, and once I float helplessly in the air, Luard would hit me with his white ray spell.
Instead, I use the wind at my back to propel me forward. In less than a single second, I fly above the white ray and right above the icy wall they both use as a cover. “Folo fotyr!”
Luard manages to react in the last second. “Rinim rumnum!”
“Myrsha samir!”
She lights up like a human torch, the shrill voice that laughed at Lezere's demise, now used for screaming. She drops to the ground and rolls in the mud, desperately trying to put the fire out of her dress and hair. “Please! I will follow you!” she cries between shrieks.
The weightless spell is cut off, and I stumble as I land on the ground near her. Please?! Where was please when you kilLed Lezere?! YoU wEre laugHing! LaugH noW! “Kushjak!”
The fire intensifies, cracking blue flashy flames for a brief moment before turning orange again. The burning woman yelps and rolls around violently, she tries rolling toward me but I simply walk back and keep spraying her with oil. Her wails pierce my ears, then her voice becomes unclear and dies out when she loses her life or lungs. I don’t care which.
The familiar odor of burnt flesh brings unpleasant memories about my time back at the Tower. I let the oil spell patterns fizzle and look around in alarm, still looking for the King. But even now, a whole minute later, there is no sign of king Luard. His soldiers kneel before me, their weapons are thrown on the ground. They do not plan to give me any trouble.
“Please spare us, Your Grace!” One of the soldiers kneels in front of me. “We have families. Children. We’ll obey you. We’ll do anything for you, Your Grace! Just spare us!”
I ignore him and keep looking around for the king. He couldn’t have gotten far, even if it’s a swift first-level spell using a larger offering for a shorter incantation, there is no way he could’ve moved too far. Where is he?! I have to be on my guard! He can be anywhere! I eye the group of kneeling soldiers maybe he’s hiding between them. The ground, the sky, and all sides.
After three long minutes of hearing the demon within Kolag massacring the army behind me in a series of inhuman moans that mixes with the terrorized soldiers’ screams, I figure that king Luard simply doesn’t plan to show himself, he is probably too cautious or scared.
Or waits for me to drop my guard…
I turn to the kneeling men. “I accept your surrender. From now on you’re my men, and you follow my orders!”
“Yes, Your Holy Grace!”
“Rise!”
I pretend to drop my guard, maybe the king will attack once he sees I’m relaxing. But even after two minutes of pretending to speak with the guards and accepting their surrender, Luard doesn’t make a move. While the demon-Kolag goes on a rampage, toying and torturing soldiers before ripping them to shreds. Even my mercenaries on the wall stop firing into the king’s army and simply watch in horror from atop the relative safety of the walls.
I need to stop this! These men could be serving me. I don’t need them dead. How do I stop that thing?!
Kolag with the elongated head is nearly three meters tall, the head itself has six yellow eyes with slit pupils, a large eye is placed in the middle and the other five are orderly fixed around it. The creature doesn’t have a mouth or a nose. I wonder how it makes these noises or speaks, but I’ll probably never figure that out. The eyed tentacles keep ripping people apart, while the creature makes loud remarks in an inhuman voice. By the tone alone, it sounds as if the creature itself is afraid for its life. Its voice raises up to a high, panicked, feminine pitch, and goes down to a deep, somber masculine bellow.
I can’t approach this thing, it’ll rip me to shreds… Kolag loves me, he won’t hurt me… Yes but that’s not Kolag over there… that’s something else, Kolag would never forgive himself if he accidentally killed me… Oh! Kolag said to make sure his sword touches him…
“Which one of you men is best at throwing spears or javelins?”
“That’ll be me, Your Grace!” A tanned young man steps forward.
“Please, come with me… the rest of you wait here until this is over.” They seem to relax after receiving my orders, as if they expected me to order them to fight that monstrosity. “What’s your name?” I ask the brown-eyed man who follows me toward Kolag’s claymore.
“Lepp, Lepp Strongarm, Your Grace,” he answers, eyeing the demon who massacres his brethren with a grimace.
“Good. See that demon, Lepp? That’s my friend.” The black-haired soldier shudders at my words; I notice a wet patch on his crotch. “Focus, Lepp! I need my friend to come back to his senses and stop killing people! See this sword?” I tap the hilt of the claymore. Not a weapon I’d even try to lift, even if it wasn’t made out of iron or some sort of steel alloy.
We’re about twenty meters away from the spot where the demon massacres an entire army one by one as if they are nothing more than sheep in a pen. These men don’t even move or try to run, they’re all just kneeling.
The young man nods repeatedly. “I need you to throw this at the demon. It must hit it. If this sword doesn’t hit the demon, we’re all going to die… I can’t stop him once he lost his senses, only his sword can do that. Do you think you can hit him?”
He nods again, faster this time.
It’s time to offer him the carrot. “Good! Get this done, and I’ll reward you with two sorcerer’s stones.”
Lepp swallows his saliva, his throat bulging. He lifts Kolag’s great sword like an odd javelin, aims with a shaking thumb, and throws the sword at the three meters tall creature.
The weapon makes a wide arc in the air and hit the back of Kolag’s armor with a loud clang.
The creature turns sharply.
“̶̭̻̻́̓̽Ḵ̴̜̟̲̗̖̝̜̲̙̘̇̀̀̈̎̃̐̃̔́͑̓͘ä̵̻͊̇̈́̓͆̓̽̈́̀̃̆̆̕͜͝S̸̡̢͍̱̮̩̘̳͇͈͓͎̳̳̍̇͊̐̀̓͝͝ͅȟ̵̢͙̠͚̼̪̞͙̺̰̈́͗́̅̒̏̌͋̏̉͘͝͠ͅͅÂ̸̛̖̽̑l̶̡͕͉͂Ã̶̢̛͇̳̤͖͈̔͗̉͝s̷̮̘̼̈́̉̇͆̆̾̇͘̕͜͠F̷̮̱̞̟̣̦̿̋̈́͂͑̋͝͠͠ỉ̵̜̫̼̭̟̘̦̻̉͌̃͑́̄͝!̸̢̧̱̮͛”̴̢̨̗͂̄̇̾̈́̃̌͗̎͠
It charges toward us, nine eyed tentacles swinging wildly in the air.
*~*~*
Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: formed: 1 gem replenished per five minutes.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 66
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 6 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 18 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 14 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 27 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 4 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 40/41 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray.
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s lesser shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body.
Spells known:
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.
Focus capability: 13 patterns
Social status: Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.
Wealth: 1498 Magic Gems. 1421 Golden Peas, 17 Silver Scales, 12 Copper Bits.
Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh.
Fresh rose petals, 22g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 10/100
Companions:
Kolag of house Befar
Jerro
Languages:
Toml’a
Sinteo
Myrsha
Felul
Injuries and scars: