Darius walked over to greet his soldiers as they pulled up in Carlos’s van. Hiroshi, the infantry Corporal saluted with a fist to his chest and a short bow, which was followed by Carlos, Javier, Carmen and Michael M.
“Infantry reporting for duty, sir,” Hiroshi said. His voice held a sharper snap than it had before, and Darius could only assume it was because the man took his responsibility as an officer seriously.
Appreciating the professionalism, Darius saluted back. “I’m glad you are here. We have a large group of people that needs to be escorted back to Zuri. These are new citizens. Many have missing limbs and will need to ride in the van. The rest and all, but one of you, will need to march alongside us. There is a kind of lizard kin hostile called Kresh’ack. They’re mobile and don’t hesitate to retreat rather than engage in pitched battle. Please, have your men help carry the lame to the van. Everyone inside should be finished packing by now.”
“Hai, Darius-sama,” Hiroshi then turned to the four with him and repeated Darius’s orders. It had only been a couple of days since they’d joined the Guard, but they already were showing signs of working and moving as a team.
Darius stood to the side with the soon to be former headman, Peter Hanson. The shorter man did his best to keep everyone organized and moving smoothly. “How many credits and Essence do you have in the bank?” Darius asked.
“Not much,” Peter replied. “We spent the starting credits and almost everything else we’d gotten on walls and water.”
“That’s fine. Once everyone is out, I will claim the Settlement Core and then we can get back to Zuri.” Darius paused to look at the sky. “We should be able to get back with plenty of time before sunset, but only if we can maintain a decent pace.”
“Well, I suppose there’s no point in waiting for the last minute,” Peter said. His eyes took on the thousand-yard stare. A moment later, a prompt filled Darius’s vision.
Congratulations, Baron Darius Williams, the Conqueror!
The conquest of Arroyo Verde has been successfully completed. Headman Peter Hansen has formally surrendered the hamlet of Arroyo Verde to Baron Darius Williams.
From this moment, Baron Darius Williams is recognized as the sole authority over Arroyo Verde. All rights, governance, and control are now transferred to Baron Williams in accordance with system protocols.
May his rule bring strength and prosperity to the region.
Congratulations Darius the Conqueror
You have conquered your second Settlement. Your Title Conqueror 1 has been upgraded to Conqueror 2. +20% System Credits from fallen foes once the Settlement Core has been claimed or Surrender given.
+c552 from slain foes.
+500 Xp for upgrading your Title.
Darius nodded his thanks to Peter. Then, as the last person walked out, Darius made his way to the Settlement Core and quickly navigated down to the option to remove it. As soon as he did, he placed it in the last free inventory slot and walked out to join everyone else. He watched as his men bound all the people’s belongings to the top of the van; they didn’t have much, and then he joined the soldiers in a ring around his newest citizens and the van as it moved away at a crawl.
* * *
They had been walking for three hours in the punishing sun. Darius was glad Chad had thought to send along their canteens of water that were enchanted to refill themselves. They were all sucking it down like crazy. His Soldiers without power armor were struggling just as much as the civilians, since Ethan hadn’t gotten around to enchanting the armor yet. Last he heard, he was still working his way through the weapons, though the spears were pretty high quality, almost all of them having been enchanted with Masterwork enchantments.
Darius’s own upgrades on his power armor made the trip much easier, if not completely pleasant. He was only a hundred fifty experience points away from his next level, and he fully intended to get the internal air conditioning upgrade as soon as possible. At least the people riding in the van were comfortable, with its AC running at maximum output.
While thinking of a cool breeze, Darius ran another sweep with his Energy sensors, specifically looking for more traces of the Earth Mana. He’d caught a few flickers at the edge of his range, but every time he tried to check it out, they disappeared, and there hadn’t been a single ping in over an hour. Rather than reassuring him, it was ramping up his anxiety.
“Darius-sama, you need to see this,”’ Hiroshi announced as he jogged over.
“What is it?” Darius asked.
“There appears to be a bleeding animal staked out ahead.”
“Wait, what? why would… Shit, pull everyone in close. Those reptiles must be trying to draw in something-“
Darius was cut off as a loud roar shattered the silence. Looking up, Darius saw a two-legged dragon swooping down just ahead of them. It was absolutely massive, its body was easily twice as large as a horse, and the wingspan had to be well over thirty feet wide.
Adolescent Wyvern
Body Rank 7
HP: 188/188
SP: 360/360
Ki: 225/225
Defense: 38
As Darius stood there, stunned for a moment as the massive draconic creature bit down on the goat-like animal, he saw something fly through the air and pierce into the wyvern’s side. The beast roared and Darius was just able to make out what it was, a bone atlatl dart, but one without the faint glow of Earth Mana.
“Shit! Everyone fall back!” Darius shouted.
“Foster! Earthen wall between the civilians and the monster,” Hiroshi commanded. “Martinez, Barrier over that, angled back.”
As Darius’s people scrambled around, the Wyvern snapped at the two feet of shaft sticking out of its side, snapping it off at the point and then it let out a menacing growl. It lumbered around and faced Darius and his people directly. A flicker of fire could be seen as it bellowed an outraged roar at them.
Darius looked over his shoulder and saw that Hiroshi had grouped Carlos, Carmen and Javier at the back of the group, with their shields raised. They looked like they were prepared to defend against an attack from their rear while the ten-foot by ten-foot earthen wall stood to protect the mostly helpless people from the monster ahead of them.
“Quick reaction force, we need to distract-“ Darius was cut off by another bellow from the beast and it surged into the air with mighty beats from its massive wings. It sent gusts of wind filled with sand and grit into their faces and in just a couple of seconds, it had covered the nearly hundred yards and a blossom of fire bloomed from its mouth and billowed forth. Darius launched himself into the air, flying to the side of the monster while he launched blast after blast from Doombringer, just hoping it would turn the beast’s attention away from the helpless people.
He could hear the screams of pain and terror from the people below, but all Darius could do was to keep firing. The Sunfire gryphon Jackson summoned made its appearance and slashed at the draconic creature's face. It finally caused it to turn its attention away from the helpless people.
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The steady crack of gunfire accompanied the golden color of Ki filled slugs as Sophia shot at the monster, only pausing long enough to infuse her next shot with more energy. Each round exploded on impact, blowing off scales with each hit.
Darius eventually had to give up on his plasma cannon. It wasn’t nearly as effective as Sophia’s rifle. So he decided to do what he was good at, hitting things hard!
The Wyvern had already passed over his huddled people, and was banking around to come at them again, so Darius kicked his thrusters into high gear and launched himself at the beast's back, fists first.
The monster screeched in pain as the six-inch-long spikes punched right through its hardened scales and the reinforced gauntlets followed. Darius’s speed was suddenly brought to a halt as his fists hit bone that was harder than steel. A sharp pain exploded from his arms, but Darius didn’t stop. He ripped his fists out of the densely muscled back and repeatedly smashed his fists into the torn wound, over and over.
The wyvern tried to throw Darius, executing a barrel roll, but the man held fast, fingers digging in and gripping bone, holding on with every ounce of his thirty points of enhanced strength.
“I need some backup up here!” Darius bellowed into his comms. “Where the fuck are the rest of you?”
The wyvern gave up on its roll and instead flew damn near straight up before looping over and diving towards the ground.
“We’re, ugh, busy down here!” Liam responded. “Our good friends, the lizard fucks, wanted to join the dance!”
Just as Liam finished speaking, the beast flipped, pulled out of its dive, while at the same time flipping over and flew upside down. It held its wings straight out and let its altitude drop until it was skimming just a few feet over the ground, just high enough that every boulder, cactus, and other obstacle smashed into Darius’s back. Darius was swearing internally as he was getting battered left and right, then something hit the Wyvern and he and the draconic chicken both smashed fully into the ground, tumbling over one another until Darius hit a particularly solid rock and he was sent careening off to the side, separating him from the dinosaur reject.
Several sections of Darius’s Power armor flashed red, but then settled to a yellow glow on his screen as he slid to a stop. He’d just taken a massive amount of damage, but no single area seemed to have suffered catastrophic damage. Not hesitating, Darius triggered his emergency repair module and let the nano repair bots do their thing as he staggered to his feet. Once he stood; he realized what had slammed into the best to make it hit the ground so hard. Jackson had conjured his stone golem at just the right spot in the air that, as soon as it manifested, it dropped all dozen or so tons onto the monster. Darius just wished he’d gotten a heads up in time to get his own ass out of the way.
The wyvern managed to lurch itself to its feet, though it swayed drunkenly. Darius saw a massive indentation on its underbelly, where thick red blood poured out between its scales. It tried to roar, but it didn’t seem to be able to get any air out of its lungs. One of its wings looked to have snapped from the tumble as part of it hung limply as it tried to hop backwards and flap its wings. The massive golem thundered up, each heavy stride sending tremors through the ground.
The Wyvern managed to cough out another gout of fire, but the Golem didn’t give a damn as it let the flames wash over it. As soon as it was close enough, it swung a massive haymaker and even from several hundred feet away, Darius could hear the snapping of ribs. The golem wasn’t tall enough to reach the creature's head, but it had no problem tenderizing its body.
Deciding the Wyvern wasn’t going to be an issue, for a while at least, Darius turned back to where his people were. In the distance, he could see them bunched up around the van. The Kresh’ack had them surrounded. The lizard men stayed in constant motion, randomly flinging their bone darts in and darting around. Tired of all the shit going on that day, Darius launched himself into the air. With Pax’s help, he managed to find the biggest motherfucker on the field of battle.
Kresh’ack Raider
Level 15
HP: 180/180
SP: 360/360
MP: 180/180
Defense: 39
Darius proceeded to fire Doombringer and Rain of Fire as fast as the weapons allowed. A blast of plasma every second and a missile launched every five. Most of the reptiles scattered like they had back at the settlement, but he kept the leader and his group pinned down, not letting them escape this time. With the pressure on the defenders relieved, the rest of the quick response force, except for Avery, managed to converge on Darius’s target. This time the Kresh’ack were surrounded, and Darius didn’t plan on showing them any mercy.
“Kill them all!” he ordered in the momentary stillness, then he fired another missile. All the others unloaded their ranged arsenal into the group. They tried to raise more walls, but Billy knocked them down with a stomp of his armored boot. They didn’t stop until all of their ammunition, Mana and Divine charges ran dry.
Darius was furious with those creatures. Even though he did his best to not look too closely at the wounded on his side, he had seen several who were still… too still. He’d lost some people that day and it was all the lizard’s fault.
When the dust settled, only one creature remained. The biggest raider, the one Darius singled out as the leader of this force. The stump of its burned off tail twitched, and it struggled to raise its head. Darius saw that it had used a defense spell similar to Billy’s. It had turned its scales to stone and had managed to resist much of the damage that had been thrown at it. It was still heavily injured, but it clung to life by the tips of its claws.
A fire burned in Darius’s belly. That thing had not only attacked his people, it had lured a monster in to distract them. A monster that had burned his people alive. Before he knew it, Darius was running through the carnage and smashed his Titan’s fist into its face. Over and over, he slammed his fists into the creature responsible for so much pain and suffering. Distantly, he heard screaming, shouting, wails of pain and suffering. Still, he punched the monster in front of him. It wasn’t until he was dragged off of the limp corpse that he realized he had pulverized its head, leaving nothing but pulped pink flesh. It was also in that moment that he realized all the screaming and yelling was coming from within his own helmet. His throat was raw and he could taste blood on his tongue.
The world spun around him and it was all Darius could do to open his helmet before he emptied the contents of his stomach into the charred rocky soil. As his stomach heaved, tears flowed from his eyes and he slammed his fists into the uncaring earth. Distantly, he could hear his people talking, but he didn’t have the capacity to pay them any attention.
“Is everyone okay?”
“How is Darius-sama?”
“Give him a minute, just heal who you can. We’ll sort out this mess in a bit.”
They continued talking, and eventually Darius came back to his senses. His rampaging emotions managed to calm, and he managed to patch together a semblance of self-control. After reassuring everyone he was okay, Darius helped his people gather their dead and take stock. Once they had a final count, Darius gave the people the space they needed to grieve.
Thirteen. Thirteen more people dead. Darius was internally furious over the further loss of life. He’d been lucky so far since the System Initialization. He knew other people had died, a lot of people, but he hadn’t lost anyone who’d actually joined Zuri, or even wanted to join. But lying there in neat little rows were thirteen people who left their homes to come live where it was supposed to be safer. Thirteen bodies that were either burned beyond recognition, had Bone darts piercing through them, or both. Thirteen people who’d trusted him when he offered to take them in.
Darius really wanted to punch something, the impotent fury trying to rise up and consume him had no outlet. Nothing he could do would change anything. Life wasn’t a video game and no one would come back from the dead. He kept his helmet up so people wouldn’t see the twisted grimace on his face as he moved from one lizard man to another, collecting all of their belongings and looting the corpses of anything they could provide. He’d had to coordinate with the others, shuffling the contents of their storage rings and power armor to make enough room for all the new loot and to store the bodies of the fallen. He couldn’t just leave them out there for the monsters to eat, and looting them like those same monsters just seemed wrong. So he waited, looting what he could while the grieving friends and family wailed over the bodies of their lost loved ones. He’d left the wyvern for last and touched it.
You have gained:
Wyvern Spirit Beast Core B7 x1
Wyvern Meat x500
Wyvern Scale x100
Wyvern Bones x20
Wyvern skull x1
Wyvern Hide x20
Wyvern talons x 6
Wyvern Poison Sac x1
Wyvern Fire Gland x1
Wyvern Heart x1
Wyvern Eye x1
Wyvern Blood vials x30
Wyvern Fang x2
Crystalized Blood x5
c420
As Darius watched the Wyvern’s body break down into glowing mores of light that scattered into the air, he contemplated his role as leader once again. He knew that rehashing his fitness to lead was a pointless exercise, but like a sore tooth, he couldn’t help poking at it over and over again. If he had left them where they were, those people would still be alive. He could have focused on driving the Kresh’ack off, then tracked them to where ever they holed themselves up. If he had eliminated the threat, then they wouldn’t have been ambushed like that, and no one would have died. Instead, he only thought about building up Zuri’s population. Getting more hands to help run everything and produce what they needed, recruiting more people to join the Guard, and bolstering his own defense.
You know that ain't the whole story. Those people wouldn’t have lasted a week without more help. Everyone who could fight had died already. He forcefully reminded himself. You only had two options: station Guards there, away from the training benefits of the base, and without any backup, or bring them all home with you. They knew how dangerous it was crossing the desert; they all still chose to come along rather than stay to fend for themselves. You know damn well that you wouldn’t have taken that city core if any of them wanted to stay. So stop whining and get shit done!
Darius just shook his head and looked over the survivors. He knew they needed to get going again, if they wanted to get back to Zuri before nightfall, and especially before the lizardmen survivors come back, if they choose to risk it, anyway. He felt like an asshole for making the people move on after losing so many, but he prepared himself to be the asshole they needed.
”We need to get moving,” Darius announced. “We will take the bodies with us, and you can have a proper funeral after we get back. But it’s not safe to wait here any longer.”
The people not as stricken with grief helped those who were still weeping to their feet and guided them away from the bodies. Darius stepped up and touched each one and willed them into his dimensional storage, ignoring the prompt asking if he wanted to loot the bodies that popped up with each corpse. Once each one was stored away, Darius activated his Skyblade and took to the air. This time, he was going to keep a sharper eye out from above. They wouldn’t be ambushed again on his watch.