Part 2: The Djinn

Chapter Thirty-Three: Market Place Chase

~Rod, Run 5, Entrance, Floor 2, The Fallen Merchant City of Aerlyn~

From the second I entered the floor, I was struck by how large the "room" was. Unlike the previous floor, this place was practically an entire city. The marketplace was a tapestry of colors, with stalls draped in vibrant cloths, beneath which giant hills of spices displayed a painter's palette—burnt sienna cinnamon, vibrant yellow turmeric, and deep red paprika, all sending up heady, pungent aromas that mingled into a perfume that seemed to color the air itself. Unlike anything I had ever witnessed, merchants clad in colorful garments stood before their stalls, peddling foodstuffs to eager throngs of customers and deftly slicing spices from towering heaps, which they then packed into satchels to exchange for gold.

There are real people! Actual people here on this floor, I had known a lot of people ended up in Penance, but this was crazy. Literally, dozens, if not hundreds, of humans lined the street, busy going about their day like we weren't all dead.

Further away on the other side of a building, I could just make out merchants selling what looked like clothing and other fabric-based wares. I was in awe. If this was just the second floor, what would future floors hold?

I hadn't taken the time to explore what the city looked like earlier because I had been too busy getting my arm chopped off, and I definitely didn't have time now because as soon as I entered the level, time slowed down as the gate lowered. I already felt the pull of dread that meant the guard had noticed me.

I had no idea what had happened, but I moved anyway, hearing rather than seeing the dagger clatter to the ground as I dove away. I dashed toward a narrow gap between towering stacks of turmeric and cardamom. The sharp, earthy scents were heaven compared to the sewers, but I didn’t have time to enjoy the new scents as I squeezed between them, hoping to use their bulk to shield me from the guard’s view.

I gripped the torch I had equipped before entering, heat blazing away above my right hand. I had read somewhere that most bazaars closed their doors at night because they couldn't afford magical lighting, and torches were too dangerous to keep near the spices. It was probably a made-up factoid to make the author seem more intelligent, but there had to be some truth to it, right?

I kicked the table of Cinnamon in front of me into the guard and started coughing as some of the powder got into my lungs. An overwhelmingly thick cloud of reddish-brown dust exploded into the air. I pulled my arm back, the torch's flame flickering wildly. With a sharp thrust, I hurled it into the air. It arced gracefully before landing in the heart of the cinnamon dustcloud.

A bright red flame exploded outward, engulfing the nearby spice towers. The force of the explosion knocked me off my feet, and I scrambled backward as flames consumed the guard and the spice towers around him.

A burnt and sooty smell filled the air as the towers of spices around us raged. Flames licked at my clothes, catching them on fire. Panicking, I stumbled backward and fell into a mound of thick spices, which smoothed the flames. The giant mound of pink salt I had landed on was much thicker and managed to put out the flames.

I patted my head with my hand and turned to run. And then, of course, I immediately tripped and fell into another tower of spices. Thankfully, the burning towers didn't reach the new cloud I had landed in. For something so easy to move and soft to the touch, it felt like landing in a pile of bricks. I picked myself off the ground, dusting off the little black rocks I had landed in.

[Critical hit! 50 damage!]

I didn't hesitate and yelled, “Scan! Weak point only!”

[Bazaar Guard: Weak point: Eyes]

I was happy I didn't have to repeatedly remind Crystal to condense the notification. That was just part one of my plan, I sighed, gearing myself up for the chase that was about to ensue. The guard wasn’t even stunned; he jumped to his feet in a second.

Stolen novel; please report.

But I was faster; I took a sewage-coated arrow from my grossly wet quiver and aimed at the guard. The weak point was a tiny slit in his visor through which he could see, but my spell was supernaturally better than his helm.

[ Critical hit! You have dealt 1 damage. Sewage inflicts Aerlynian Sepsis. The enemy takes 1 point of damage per 10 seconds.]

His previously clunky red and blue armor was now charred a reddish black. The cinnamon fire had stained the plates a new shade. His mail clanked loudly now as he moved forward.

I scrambled to my feet and started running, slipping between stacks of spices as a proprietor started yelling at me—real, actual humans, I think. I would've paused to see, but I knew I needed to keep running. “Crystal, What’s his HP at now?”

[Bazaar Guard: 148/200]

He had more health than I had hoped, but I had done a significant chunk of damage. It was time to enact part 2 of the plan. Oh, who am I kidding? I was making it up as I went along, although I did have part of an actual plan for the running away bit.

I wasn't joking when I said this entire first room was like a city, and I slipped into an alleyway just past the end of the rows and rows of spices. There was an archway between the two buildings, almost creating a tunnel. I walked in and ran blindly through the darkened tunnel. Unfortunately, the guard saw me and gave chase, and I came out on the other end of the alleyway into another marketplace full of colorful displays of clothing and armor.

I stared in awe, stunned at the variety of wares on display, before immediately running again, only to slip and fall in shock as I stared at a second guard, almost a twin to the one chasing me, except he was wearing a different style of helm and had some sort of blue plume, probably denoting rank. Gasping for breath, I pushed myself to my feet. I glanced at the new guard, noting his distracted gaze.

Seizing the moment, I sprinted past him, ducking low to avoid his attention. He turned to look at me, but I kept running. I looked back, and my guard was hot on my heels, but the plumed guard just turned around and kept walking.

Shoppers pushed past, seemingly oblivious to my chase, a swirling current of bodies. A woman in a shimmering blue scarf laughed as she haggled with a stern-faced vendor, her hands animatedly gesturing to a pile of plush, embroidered rugs. A small child tugged on the hem of her skirt, his eyes wide at the towering stacks of exotic fruits next to a blacksmith vendor.

Scenes like this played out all around me as the guard made a beeline straight for me. My eyes flickered back to the blacksmith where a burly man in pitch-black clothing, gloves, and goggles lifted a red-hot iron sword above his head. I moved closer, planning my next move.

A breath escaped me, one I hadn’t realized I’d been holding, heavy with the sharp tang of fear and adrenaline. I halted abruptly, resting my hand against the adobe of the blacksmith’s workhouse. My heart pounded fiercely against my ribs. It would take the guard less than ten seconds to catch up, so I turned to face my attacker, jumping and kicking him before he could bring his sword down.

Aim was a magical ability. I just had to think about my weapon and mentally look or "aim" for whatever I wanted. I usually used weak spots, but a well-timed aim-kick knocked the guard back and almost sent him careening headfirst into the blacksmith's lit forge. The horrified merchant/blacksmith jumped up from his grindstone before taking one look at both of us and running for his life.

In my head, it was quite comical: A half-naked crazy man charred to a crisp and coated in a fine layer of different colored spices with a bow around his back attacking an also charred but fully armored guard who had almost fallen face first into a fire. I would have been freaked out, too.

I tried to kick him again to faceplant him into the forge fire, but he instantly moved around and swung with his sword. Time didn't freeze, so I did everything I could think of and grabbed a shield off a nearby counter. The blow shattered the shield into two, but it deflected the attack away from me.

Unsure of how much damage the poison had inflicted, I was tempted to cast a scan or just shoot more arrows, but Crystal had told me the plan would only work if no other guards or 'NPCs,' whatever those were, saw me breaking the law. I ran, worried that the blacksmith would report me breaking his shield, but the man never took his gaze off the guard's sword.

Seeing a perfect moment ahead, I jumped up on a table where a multi-colored rug with a golden lion emblazoned hung from an open window sill. I grabbed onto the carpet and climbed up into the window.

The room was mostly empty except for a straw bed, a cupboard, and a few chairs. I turned around and glanced at the guard, who stared up at me with malevolence. His hatred rose in the form of little black, ink-like tendrils above his head. I pulled my bow off from around my shoulders and finally took Aim. My arrow flew through the air and pierced the guard through the tiny hole in his visor. So overpowered.

I grinned as the dice rolled and Crystal spoke [Critical hit! You have dealt 12 damage. 120 HP remaining.] Well. This was going to take a while…

Ultimately, it took 12 more arrows to bring him down. I was down to about 5 and had no way to get more If I couldn’t get to my corpse.

[You have killed Bazaar Guard.] I sighed in relief as the guard collapsed to the ground. I jumped down from the strange room and went to loot the guard.