CHAPTER 75 - ID II
Taking a fighting stance, I prepare to face the mercenary in front of me.
He wields a practice greatsword with both hands while looking at me, ready to retaliate but with seemingly no intentions to make the first move. He’s got good metal armor all around his body, letting no vital spots uncovered.
I adapt the personality of my mad persona, taking a serious approach and looking at my foe dead in the eye to make it seem as a focused individual when fighting.
‘They need to see that I mean business when the situation calls for it.’
Using only my improved body, I boost my strength with some qi to have enough strength to show them, keeping the qi input at half the amount that I normally use.
Propelling myself forward, I feint an attack with one of the swords, making him raise his one to parry or block it. He must have expected me to use both swords to clash against his greatsword, as both my strength and my second attack with the other sword comes at a surprise for him, jolting him awake and making him react in the nick of time to avoid my second slash directed at his thigh.
Pouncing at him again like a maniac, I feint a head on collision again but change direction at the last second, doing a sidestep to the right at the same time that I throw one of the two swords at his head.
He parries my throw with his weapon, but in doing so he leaves his side wide open for me to slash once more, this time managing to hit him and throwing him some steps back even with his armor.
‘He has to be in the lower levels, there's no way he is that weak otherwise.’ They guy must have recently risen to the rank as he is quite lacking in his experience. I have only been a couple of months in this dog eat world fighting for my life and I am already a lot better than him in regards to fighting sense.
Well, maybe I am not the best example to compare him with… whatever, he is weak. I am able to overpower him even while handicapped.
The guy is still standing and there has been no attempt to stop the sparring, so I prepare to launch another attack at the guy.
With my last sword on hand, I rush at him again. I slash directly at his sword, forcing him to parry my attack and maintain his position. Taking him by surprise, I shout at him at the top of my lungs to distract him.
“Bonkers!” I even spit on his face.
He flinches for a second, enough time for me to get things to the floor by crouching down and doing a 360º, using one leg to make him trip and fall. Just like that I win, pointing my second sword at his neck through the small crack between the helmet and the chestplate.
*Clap* *clap* *clap*...
A round of applause confirms the end of the fight and I give a hand to my rival, helping him stand back again. He gives me the look of “was that really needed” as he uses his sleeves to remove the spits from his face.
I smile.
“ .̵̢̱͈͙̗̤͓͓͚̅̂̒́̾ ̵̧̛ ̷̢̧̛̭̮̠̲̣̳͑͂̈́̓͘͜ ̴͙͓͉̼͎̞̱̥̑́̒͝ͅ ̸̢͔̹̤͇̼̉͠ ̴̼̱̜̗̠͍̪̫̆̇ ̶͊̄̉͛̈́͋̐̚ͅ,̵̘̻̳͇̪̓ ̴̻͍͓͂̓̎̿͆̐̀͋͠ ̶̘́̀̽͊ ̷̛̱̜͖̭̯̦͔̄̿̄̈͋̉͝ ̵̩̖̘̑͊̑̐̊ ̶̨̀͒̌̈́̔̒͠ ̷̻̤͉͎͈͍͛̋̓ ̴̰̹̞͔̳̜͚̮̹͗́̒̓͐̆̚ ̶̡̖̭̩̠̻̱̂̃̊̚ ̵̡̯̦̰̦͕̯̼͔͒̾̾̍̚ ̸̘̜̗͖̫̩͉͈̿̄͊͒́̑͠͠ ̴̛͎̿̃̔̂̇̂̄͠ ̷͕̫̈͆̿̊̾̾̽H̸̡̨̥͎͚̦̺̹̦̤́̍ ̴̣̬̟̈̈̿̃̊̀̎ͅ ̵̪̭̰̓ ̷̜͔̗̙̜̰͋͆̈͝ͅ ̷̧̧̨̘̝͔͓͜͝ͅ ̵̡̰͉̯̘͆̔̓̅͠ ̶͔͈͚͊̄ ̵̢̤̟̪̼̖̋͐̊̋ ̷̛̛̬͇̲̰͉͋̿̾̂͒ ̸̠̙̋̐́͂̀ ̷̥̘̳̬̥͂̐̑͗͌̊͛k̶̡̳͎̫̗̤͇͚͙̳̎̋͐̂̒͗͠ “ He tells me something with a smile.
‘It’s good that he didn’t take it to heart, it’s just a sparring match.’ I can’t help but think, most of my plan has already been completed, all that is left is seeing if that was enough to get my license to work as a mercenary.
Seeing all the types of people that were sitting inside the guild when I entered I guess it will be fine, but I still can’t help but feel nervous. This guild is one of my only choices to get the closest thing to an ID without rising up too much suspicion.
The man who brought us here ponders for a bit with a serious face and then tells us all to get back in,to where the group of the guy I just defeated were discussing something, there, he tells the woman to go for something while he invites me to a beverage I have never seen. It doesn’t take a genius though to predict that it is an alcoholic one.
I think over it. I hate the idea of not being sober in the situation that I am in, I need to be at my 101% at all times. Moreover, I have never been an alcoholic, so I don’t know if it will be fine for me to drink a couple of sips of the new beverage presented to me.
Not knowing how to act to escape my situation, I take a small sip, tasting the thing that’s been served as I try to break it down with the energy inside of me. The taste only lingers for a couple of seconds before I forget his savior and it all goes down. The thing doesn’t even get a reaction from me, even after swallowing the whole serving down in one gulp.
‘Guess my body is really inhuman already.’
Minutes pass as the guy starts rambling about something that I can’t decipher. In the meanwhile I sneak a few looks at the map they've got on top of the table. They are taking a break from the discussion they were having before. They are all laughing at the guy who just faced me and by the looks of it, happy to see his ass handed to him due to his confidence, but the map from before is still there.
The map represents the surroundings of the city; there are forests all around, a small pond, a couple of hills… nothing crazy. The only thing that catches my attention is the thick forest on one side, filled with small tiny wooden houses carved from wood.
I am sure all those small houses represent villages, similar ones to the ones I went through when traversing through it. In a similar fashion to the tiny houses, there is a big circle in the middle of the forest filled with decipherings of totems the likes of the ones I saw too. They circle around the center of the circle, where a huge and scary skull is drawn.
From the skull, a wave of those carved wood figures flood the area, this time deciphering simple skeletons. A lot of them are swarming the forest, there are so many that there’s nearly no space left in some areas to fit in more of the carvings.
‘I thought the skeletons were a normal occurrence? Maybe it’s a group of necromancers that moved here lately.’ I try to come up with an answer, looking at the description of the place that intrigues me the most, the circle with the totems and the skull, but it’s too far away to read, so I stand up and go offer my drink to the guys and get a closer look.
“Möchtet des drogas дети?”
//Want some drugs kids?
They laugh at my proposal, but one of them takes the drink nonetheless. The guy who offered the drink to me looks funny at me, thinking that I won’t be able to afford it, so I take out some of the money that I stol- *cough* have earned, suggesting another round of drinks for everyone.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
They take up my offer and in the meanwhile I memorize the map and the places plagued with skeletons. The place where they all come from is named Gallard’s Tomb.
‘Hmmm. I will remember that name.’
We all have some fun while drinking, even though I am theoretically not doing any of those two things as I get rid of the alcohol the second it enters my system and I refrain from speaking too, instead trying to get used to the language.
In the end, they all end up drunk as hell. By the time the woman that first greeted me comes back with what I assume is my badge, all of the people in the room are messing around with one another. Seeing that, she hands me the thing.
The bridge comes with a thin metal chain to hold on to your neck. I cannot identify the metal used for the part where the letters are displayed, but maybe displayed is not the right expression. The acronym SW is carved on the unknown material and then glazed with some other thing that I can’t identify either which makes it reflect light perfectly, giving it a more noble air to simple design.
She goes on and explains something to me about it, to which I only answer with the best smile I can put, not understanding a single word that comes out of her mouth.
‘Oh man, it would make things so much easier to use my link with these guys…’ I think about it, but refrain from doing so anyways, I want to keep my head attached to my shoulders.
Anyways, the woman is probably telling me how the mercenary badge works, which I already make sure to know to the detail after my long talk with the bandit leader. I already know that it can be used as a trusted ID to enter and exit most cities at will and that I can take up on different jobs thanks to it giving me credibility.
Nodding to the woman for her to leave, I say my goodbyes before slipping away from their drunk talk before I am hijacked in their little games.
I leave the building in high spirits, not only to keep the appearances of my persona, but because I am happy too, it all went down better than expected. I am sure I could blackmail most guards to get nearly the same benefits of the ID I just got, but having the credibility to take on missions and get not only money but information too from a big organization will come in handy in the long run.
I will need some time for them to trust me before using the link on any of them, if I ever have the chance to, but I will get there soon enough. For now, I only need somewhere to start, and getting information over this matter involving the skeletons' appearance may be just the right call. I can feel it.
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Night comes, and with it, the shadows change shapes as they twist and twirl before reforming themselves in the form of a man in front of an altar. The altar starts pumping in mana the second the shadows creep in the area.
An immense power surges all throughout the forest as the totems light up all at the same time, working at maximum capacity, their connection amplifying the surge of mana before sending it to the center of the encirclement for the second time in years.
Waves of mana crash against the altar, where every single bit of it gets absorbed and stored. The man in front of it moves, touching the altar with both his hands as if he were grasping something precious to him.
The same appearance that he had carried that day while doing the necessary to include his current hope into the ranks of the mercenaries started melting away. His clothes were the first thing to disappear, disintegrating almost instantly after coming in contact with such a humongous amount of untamed mana all at once.
The skin, flesh and bones of the mortal body that he had possessed that same morning soon started melting away too, not able to withstand those amounts of pressure. His flesh evaporated into the air once infused with too much mana, leaving the bones exposed as they too started crumbling apart.
By the second minute mark, his whole body had been consumed by the untamed mana, but it stayed in place, swirling around a small, blue mist. The soul of the entity still remained there, it was controlling the mana to swing around his soul as it sucked more and more mana from the altar.
What started as a small current soon became a huge mana storm that intensified by the second. The sheer scale and intensity of the phenomenon was now uprooting the nearby trees and making the orbit around the altar in unison, only for them to explode in splinters seconds before after the untamed mana entered their structure and ate them from the inside out.
The entity was starting to lose control of the storm too, now too focused on controlling it to stop the absorption rate. The storm snowballed out of control till the altar broke, unable to resist any more mana cursing through it. Its explosion rocked the ground and sent chunks of rock and different conductive ores all around the place. However, none of them traveled far before evaporating too amidst the storm which was still raging.
With the absorption of mana now stopped, the entity started to tame the mana, slowly getting the storm under his will and leash. Soon, all the mana was under his command, and just as he planned, he would start by creating a brand new body for his own. Even if it was merely temporary, it was still better for him to have one.
For hours, he laid the foundations of his new body, using the raging storm as a fuel to craft the best skeleton that he could make at the moment.
He went for a small frame, the likes of the humans to get a similar structure to the one he coveted. For hours, he stayed still, condensing the mana time and time again till he was satisfied with the density of it, all the while without losing hold of the storm.
He started slowly, aiming for perfection when it came to its shape and density. The bones of his feet and legs were the first to appear out of thin air, created by mana in its purest forms and condensed to the limit of the entity's capacities. It all took the shape of his desired creation to the smallest of details.
Once the skeleton was done, he stopped, inspecting the amount of mana in the storm. He was weighing his options.
Making his decision, he used a tiny bit of the mana to create a simple disguise around his body.
He didn’t need no flesh to be complete, but he needed a way to disguise himself. Wasting no time, he created what for his standards could be called a ugly and hastily made cover around his skeletal body.
A poor and sloppy layer of bones and muscles would do to reach up the height required to keep poising as his current disguise in the mercenary guild, and a thin layer of skin on top of it would be enough to fool the people of Turia. It was a small city with no capable people in his opinion.
The only interested pawn there was the now missing ace of the city, an old veteran rank mercenary that chose the city as his retirement place. No, forget it, a measly veteran rank would easily be crushed under him if he ever wanted to, he just didn’t want to make himself known to the public yet.
Adopting the appearance of the same guy that gave Leo his ID in the morning, he started with his plans moving forward, using all the remaining mana flying around to wake up one of his best soldiers.
Sending all the mana into the ground, he soon pinpointed the exact location of his old companion and focussed all the mana on him. The ground rumbled as the skeleton of one of his knights was infused with the awe striking amount of manna.
It only took a few seconds for the old warrior to start moving again, crawling out from the earth on his own. It scraped with its bony fingers along the dirt as so many of his master’s soldiers had done the day before to free themselves when the first sight of his master’s will had been felt in years.
Being as strong as he had ever been, it only took but a few breaths for him to reach the surface and break through, ready to be freed onto the world that once feared him.
The undead knight bent his knee in front of his master just as he used to do in their old days with unrelenting strength, causing the floor to rumble for dozens of meters. The old days were long gone, merely a memory of the past, but he had been woken up again, and that could only mean one thing.
The old days of conquest would come again, days of glory, of ravaging, of plundering… of bringers of death.
Gallard looked at the first of his knights to wake up with a smile on his face, a show of emotion that he had long forgotten and thought to have lost. This was his last chance, he had even gone as far as to break the seal on his army.
He knew this was his last chance at reaching the pinnacle, and that human had what he desperately needed. He was once again going to bet everything that made him what he was for a chance to achieve greater power, just as when he started this path of necromancy.
Gallard
“For the first time in years, I feel alive.”