“The new dog running the Central Authority finally has the nerve to show himself! It’s about time I got the respect I deserved. Now, listen to my demands as I…”
Garth sighed as he zoned out. Why do they always do this? This was the third warlord he’d come out to deal with personally, this one set up outside of Cathwick. The ambient mana in this region was much more severe than in Nierburg, and the unawakened he’d taken prisoner were in rough condition. His thoughts drifted to Kyle – the young man having travelled weeks to even get to this point.
The warlord, who had taken to calling himself the All-Devouring Serpent, was still yammering on, and with a sigh Garth channeled mana into his new sword, launching AIR BLADE with practiced precision. To his credit, the swift movement caused the man to jump to the side with an undignified yelp. The attack only managed to score a thin line across his shoulder, when moments before it would have taken his head.
“KILL THEM! KILL THEM! KILL THEM!”
Unfortunately for the All-Devouring Serpent, his squad of unawakened simply wasn’t up to the task. Garth hadn’t seen any with firearms among his group, and those with weapons held them in shaky hands. No, they wouldn’t put up much of a fight.
Flames began to flicker around Joseph’s hands as he prepared to cast, but he was interrupted as the newest member of their squad stepped forward. Arianna Santos had only recently awakened, and though it was far later than normal she was a force to be reckoned with.
Ordinarily Garth wouldn’t have considered bringing somebody her age along, however her daily trainings with her grandfather meant she was a great deal more skilled than virtually any of the other conscripts they’d brought together. Besides, the Santos family was friendly with Kyle, and that meant something to Garth. They were people he felt he could trust.
Arianna blurred forward towards the sluggish unawakened, a jet-black stick in each hand. Strikes lashed out with precision; striking wrists, hands, and elbows with unerring accuracy. In moments, half a dozen men had their weapons knocked out of their hands. Just a moment later, a jolt of electricity seemed to surge through them, knocking them to the ground. Arianna had already moved on towards another squad, Mary Ellen following behind for support. Garth tossed a look at Joseph, who nodded. The young man had grown reliable in their time working together, and Garth knew he’d keep an eye on the women.
Satisfied things were in hand, he turned his full attention back to the tall, greasy man. The All-Devouring-Serpent looked pale as Garth took his stance and slowly approached, one step at a time.
“Wait, this doesn’t have to turn to violence. You could use a powerful Awakened like me. I can keep them in line! You can see that!”
Garth didn’t respond, continuing his advance.
“I swear, I can be useful! What do you want? I can give you anything!”
His eyes were beginning to grow frantic as Garth closed the distance, and they widened further as his back bumped into the corner of a ruined building. There was no escape now.
“Please, anything! Is it the slaves? You can have them! We have women, I’ll give you the who-“
He didn’t have a chance to finish the sentence as he once again barely ducked out of the way of an AIR BLADE. Garth was barely suppressing a growl in his chest. DeRosa had kept a clear inventory of the raider camps all around Nierburg, and this was no exception. They’d offered for many of them to surrender peacefully and bring their people to Nierburg, and many had taken them up on it. This was one who hadn’t.
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Garth’s scouts reported the conditions of the slaves that were kept in the camp, and it made his blood boil. Like the others with these circumstances, Garth went to see to them personally. There was no saving this man or his lieutenants, but the fact that he’d been so depraved to try to bribe Garth with that reinforced his decision.
The All-Devouring-Serpent seemed to realize his error when he saw the look on Garth’s face, and unleashed his attack. He used an urumi, a steel whip sword from the old world. The man had clearly practiced with the weapon, and it hissed through the air as it struck at him. Furthermore, it was being controlled and enhanced with mana, one of the All-Devouring-Serpent’s skills. Each strike moved at odd angles, twisting and retracting as though Garth was fighting a serpent itself.
In moments, it was clear to him how the man before him had seized control of the group. He was talented, seemed to have achieved a decent level, and had good gear. Those were advantages even weaker awakened wouldn’t be able to overcome easily. To Garth, it was barely an inconvenience.
As the blade made its way towards him, he activated UNSHAKEN RESOLVE. He felt the mana course through his skin, and with barely an effort he caught the whip-like blade in his left hand. The steel tried to find purchase in his skin, but couldn’t. With a violent twist, Garth ripped the weapon out of the man’s hand. The All-Devouring-Serpent turned and ran. Too slow. FLEET FOOT brought him directly in front of the man, and he used the momentum to bring his beautiful new sword to bear.
It was crafted by some of the best smiths Nierburg had, using ores naturally infused with mana. The blade had a single edge with a gentle curve, resembling a massive cutlass nearly a meter and a half long. The longer edge allowed for him to do some limited manipulation of his AIR BLADE, and the mana flowed through it far easier than with his old standard-issue weapon. In this case, the raw sharpness and weight, coupled with Garth’s technique, was plenty.
The would-be warlord fell to the ground in two pieces, the cut angling cleanly from his right shoulder to left hip. The surprised look never left his face as Garth turned away. Arianna and Mary Ellen had the unawakened conspirators tied up and ready for interrogation already, and he gestured for Joseph and Johannes to follow him into the ruined building that made up their headquarters. He steeled himself as he saw the condition of the slaves, and Johannes got to work treating those with the worst injuries.
Joseph made a gesture, and the Guard Array they’d stationed back at the entrance to the city came to towards the building, blanketing the area in a barrier to ward off the ambient mana. Garth gathered the rest of the team, minus the Healer.
“Get the injured ready to move. As far as I’m concerned these animals can rot.”
“Shouldn’t we bring them with us? Don’t we need to question them?” Arianna said, confusion in her voice.
“Not after what they’ve done. We’ll take the supplies, take their labor, and let them live out the rest of their miserable lives in the wasteland. With any luck, they’ll –“
A scream in the air interrupted Garth, and he exited the building along with his team. There, attacking the bound raiders, was a large, black ant. Slightly larger than a wolf, it was biting and tearing at one of the captives. Garth was about to go kill it when he saw another, and then another. It’s a whole damn colony.
“Get them out of here, now. Joseph, I’ll need you with me on rear guard. We’ll need to buy time.”
His team got into motion, and less than a minute later two dozen women were being led out of the building, sheltered in the comforting light of the Guard Array. Arianna’s face went pale as she heard the screams coming from the other side of the camp, but a stern look from Garth convinced her to keep moving. Soon, the screams stopped. The ants didn’t.
Garth’s face hardened as he saw the first creature scuttling towards them, and he quickly bisected it with an AIR BLADE. Another was struck with a quick series of FIREBALL attacks from Joseph, though it didn’t dent the morale of the ant ranks as the flames licked at them. That’s when Garth saw it. As they got closer, Garth could see lingering flames burning small stalks sticking up behind their heads, between the segments of their bodies, and his blood ran cold. He was no expert on these topics, but one thing he was certain of was that this hive would be dangerous, fungus infested or not.
Fortunately, the ants were thorough in their exploration of the city, and before long Garth’s team and the freed slaves were out of sight of the methodically moving ants. One thing was for certain – this was a threat they’d need to watch.