“Follow us. And keep those on at all times.” Rik had a very concerned look. As if he was hunted by something.
“Is everything ok?” Me and Gaëlle had woken up when I had heard him enter the house. It wasn’t yet dawn, but I did spot the arrival of the crystals through the little window of the bedroom. Some of them had peered through the horizon and were starting to push away the darkness.
“Yes. What about you?” He answered me hurriedly.
“Give me a second. [Speech] off. Bonnie? Where is the crow?”
“Specify ‘Row’.”
“Crow, with a c.” I repeated, already annoyed with the computer.
“Crow is back in its nest.”
“What about the bombs?”
“One package is unresponsive.”
“Out of the fifty we made?” Gaëlle asked.
“Affirmative.”
“[Speech] on. We’re fine.” I told Rik.
He eyed me for a moment.
“Who were you talking to right now?”
“The System.” Gaëlle answered for me.
I bit my inner cheek. Obviously, it would seem weird to just start talking to no one in my native language in front of him. My sister’s save was a good one, because Rik didn’t seem more suspicious than that.
“I see. Now put those on.” I finally realized he was handing us another set of grey robes.
“Try to keep these this time, they are expensive.”
“Where did you get them?” Gaëlle asked with curiosity as she threw the robes on her back.
“One of the widows in the whorehouse sells clothes.”
“Whorehouse?” Elle asked.
I winced in annoyance.
“Since when are you interested about that, L?” I questioned.
“Am I? Isn’t a whorehouse here just…strange?” She didn’t seem sure of her excuse herself.
Rik misunderstood her completely.
“Yeah. I suppose it’s a bit weird considering the small size of our village, but a few of the widows were pushed a few years ago by Henry to…The fucking bastard!” He shouted in anger.
I almost jumped at the sudden outburst.
“Whoa boy, what was that for?” My sister had a hand over her heart.
“Sorry. It’s just…The [Dark Crow] left a lot of widows behind. Young, beautiful widows. With no way to pay for food for them or their children. But then Henry proposed an idea for them to…subsist.”
Every interest my sister had vanished from her eyes. “That’s…That’s repugnant.”
“His time is ending soon.” Rik trembled with rage. “Follow me, we don’t have much time. Keep your heads down and don’t talk.”
We did as he asked and got out from the back of the house.
We quickly passed a few villagers on our way to the centre, it was a middle-aged couple, discussing in hushed tones with uncertainty in their eyes.
“Margret. Jho.” Rik nodded at them. I quickly focused on the gesture, that one was just like ours.
“Rik. Have you…of course you have. It can’t be, right?” The man named Jho immediately asked.
“Come to the plaza if you want to see. But don’t bring Margret. You know how Henry is. What he could do.”
“Of course.” Jho shook his head to the side.
“Darling, you can’t. Those are stories and…who are those two?” She asked as she finally recognized our presence.
“People who helped uncover the truth.” Rik added.
“And who can’t show themselves or say anything?” The middle-aged woman prodded.
Rik didn’t budge. “No. On the plaza the truth will burst through. You will hear the news. Good day. Jho, remember what I said.” He made a weird sign with his hand, that I couldn’t see well because his back was to me, and he continued his walk.
As we moved further inwards, more and more people emerged from their homes or walked slowly in the same direction we were going to.
“What…” Gaëlle began.
“Shh.” Rik immediately hushed her.
A few people gave us a look, and Rik gave a quick hello to everyone we passed, but he didn’t stop anymore.
As we finally emerged in the main plaza, I spotted a few dozen people in a crowd in front of the tower's main entrance.
I hadn’t seen it yet, it was an elevated platform, like a small podium, stuck to the tower. You could reach it with multiple sets of stairs all over its sides, at the back of the podium was another set of stairs that went directly to the tower’s second floor. It had to have been one of the closed doors we had skipped during our nocturnal promenade. Everyone was waiting a few meters away from the large wooden platform, often looking up and constantly whispering between each other.
With my enhanced hearing I could hear what they were saying, despite the bad acoustic and brouhaha, but not well. My translation skill didn’t entirely take effect, I only caught parts of words. Enough to understand that they had been told of Henry’s betrayal and were there to ask questions. Most didn’t seem to believe it.
Rik’s dad was waiting on the first range of wooden stairs leading to the middle platform. Sitting, and checking his large circular shield and his sword.
There was another person wearing soldier armour like him, but he was amongst the crowd, looking as puzzled as everyone else.
Rik brought us away from the mud of the plaza on top of an elevated plank floor that, considering the smell, had to sell fish during market hours.
Clearly, this was the village’s heart. All around the tower were merchant stalls, closed at this hour, and the ground was stomped down everywhere.
“Those people are too close to the tower.” I told Rik as I made sure we were alone. “They’ll get hit by debris.”
“They won’t. My father will use his [Shield] skill. It is over level ten. Now, stop asking questions. Are you sure the [Dark Crow] is up there?”
I nodded sideways.
“Perfect. Try to stay hidden behind the crates here. Don’t get out. Don’t use you skill to blow it up until Henry arrives, he…”
“What is happening here!?” A booming voice echoed in the plaza, and Ascensus Henry, in all his glorious fatness, emerged from one of the roads and walked straight towards the crowd.
“Shit.” Rik turned back to look at us. “Shout at my father when it’ll blow, so he can be ready and…”
More people entered the plaza, some women behind Henry but most coming from everywhere at once. I spotted some children following their mothers and winced. This wasn’t going to be pretty. I hoped no children would be traumatized.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“By the Blue. What are they doing? Don’t they realize…” Rik began.
“There is something you’re not telling us.” Gaëlle guessed, and probably guessed right when I noticed Rik’s reaction.
He looked at us, then away. “No. In any case, this has to happen now.” He picked his bow, dropped on the ground, and walked away from us.
“Ascensus Henry!” The scarred soldier rose to his feet. “You are to be judged for your crimes!”
“What are you saying now, Kan?” The old pervert rose to the stairs. “What crimes? I take care of this village, as is my role. You are all indebted to me, not the opposite.”
“No. There is only one debt, and it is one of blood.” Kan responded. “You have brought the [Dark Crow] upon us.”
At that sentence, I heard a big “OOOH!” coming from the rabble below, it was almost funny how close it sounded to a parody of a crowd in shock.
“What silliness is this? I brought the [Dark Crow]? Why?”
Gaëlle grunted. “Shit, do we really need to listen to this? Do we need to wait for Kan to say something like: because of this, and then blow everything up? I can’t suffer through that pig’s poisoned speech.”
“I’m worried about the people. What exactly is Rik expecting to happen? Does he think that Henry…” I wasn’t really listening to her, trying to piece the puzzle in my mind.
The Ascensus was continuing his speech. “Did your grief cloud your mind, Kan? Did you tell everyone to come here to witness you crumble? So close to your [Soldier] reaching fifty? When you will finally be able to share it with others? How disappointing. I have helped this village again and again. Linked it with the Upperseas, brought protection, saved the poor souls who had been stripped of their loved ones, gave them a roof, food…”
Gaëlle scoffed in a mixture of anger and disdain. “That’s it. KAN!” She screamed.
I looked up, saw the switch in my sister’s hand. Something was wrong. Why did Rik and Kan act as if there was going to be a fight? Would people still try to defend him? Henry couldn’t fight the fifty and more people here.
My face blanched.
Or could he?
BBBBOOOOOM.
The top of the tower exploded. People began to scream, Henry ducked as he looked up.
Only Kan stood straight, raising his shield and screaming: “[SHIELD]” His shield expanded in a blue light, as if almost invisible water enveloped the air around it. It grew instantly all over the crowd, catching debris and large rocks. People pulled away from the avalanche of stone.
But among the debris, there were dark plumes.
“What is that?” I heard a middle-aged farmer ask, raising his pitchfork to the pieces of the crow.
The murmurs grew into shouts.
“Get away from the debris, I will release them!” Kan shouted.
The confusion of the crowd quickly gave way to slight panic, as people scurried away.
Kan lowered his shield, looking exhausted, but keeping his sword ready to strike the Ascensus, who was still looking around and up in utter confusion.
The rocks and parts of the Dark Crow fell to the ground. Some people shouted in pain as smaller rocks they hadn’t spotted fell on them, but no one seemed to be wounded
Then, a big shadow fell from the sky and a giant thud echoed through the plaza, rendering everyone silent.
In the middle of the platform, only a few feet away from the Ascensus, stood the [Dark Crow]’s head.
For killing a living being four times over your level, you gain extra experience
Experience is shared with others
10 000 000 Experience awarded.
You have levelled up
You have levelled up
…
You have levelled up
Your [Berserker] class has levelled up
You received a Class Skill
You received a Class Skill
Your [Ascensus] class has levelled up
You received a Class Skill
You received a Class Skill
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Elle shouted in joy. “Nielle, did you see that? Low levelled? Fuck that, I’m 110! Haha! The System knows its timing!”
“It’s not over.” I removed the pop ups, my eyes fixed on what was happening on the scene.
“What?” Her joy fizzled out, breaking my heart a bit.
“Look.”
Ascensus Henry was looking at the head next to him with disgust. He waved his fingers and blood that had spurted on his clothes bubbled away before popping to nothingness.
“What did he just do?” My sister didn’t have my vision.
“I…he cleaned himself?”
But my worries were quickly met when he gazed back at Kan.
“You fool! It is true, I used this giant crow, it was mine. But don’t you see? How many monsters attack have happened in the last five years? How easy is your job when compared to your days living in the trees like [Potti Monkis]? You just doomed the village with this ploy of yours, Kan! You will…”
But his thunderous speech was stopped when someone in the crowd shouted. “You killed my son!”
This led to the crowd transforming into a mob, quickly resonating together in the same, loud, and terrifying growl. “KILL HIM! KILL HIM!”
“You idiots! Without me you cannot reach the Upperseas! You cannot…”
Kan pointed his sword at the Ascensus. “For your crimes, for my tribe, accept your judgment and face death.”
The mob cheered.
But Henry only scoffed. “You peasants! How much I sacrificed to be here! And you dare!? You DARE!? [Cascade]!”
A rumble echoed above, in the tower, and I saw the wall of the third-floor crack and burst, a large mass of water and stone plummeting down on the crowd.
Kan threw his hand towards someone in the stunned rabble. “Louis! Shield!”
The other soldier reacted instantly, raising his shield, and screaming at the top of his lungs: [SHIELD]! Things happened like with Kan, but the protection seemed more flimsy, even less visible. Rocks stopped at the weird prolongment of the man’s buckler, but the water passed undeterred, and washed everyone away. The soldier named Louis tried to hold on, but he too was soon overtaken by the mad rumble of the torrential deluge, and at the moment his shield moved, the protection fell.
People screamed in pain and suffering.
It was utter chaos.
“No…Why? Why is he doing that?” Gaëlle spoke next to me, in disbelief.
“You monster!” Kan howled, moving to strike the fat man. But despite his size, Henry wasn’t without strength and speed.
“[Move][Frost]” Said the Ascensus. Some of the water moved around him, freezing instantly, and caught the sword dead in its tracks before it could decapitate him. “[Move]!” He repeated while pointing to Rik’s dad. A thin spear of ice flew straight for the [Soldier]’s eyes, but the scarred elf dodged just in time. He backed off a few steps and began singing. I didn’t understand the words, not sounding like Overworld Common, but it felt like some war song, filled with hatred and violence.
The Ascensus tried to back off, I saw his lips move, and the water that had pummelled the villagers started to gather around him, swirling faster and faster.
“[Armor][Strength]…[Justice]” Were the only words I understood out of Kan’s song. It felt like the whirlpool became weaker all of a sudden.
“[Justice]!?” Screamed Ascensus Henry in utter fury. “Very well! [Deluge]!”
The whirlpool around him exploded everywhere, partly freezing icicles, partly superfast droplets of water.
The people that had been washed off to the bottom of the platform were hit by the wave of frenzied water, like a buckshot of lethal pellets. The platform itself got shredded to pieces.
Some people cried in pain, others stopped moving entirely.
In the close vicinity, only Kan and Henry were standing, but the soldier hadn’t gotten out unharmed. Parts of his armour were missing, and he was bleeding all over.
“He’s killing us!?” Screamed someone in horror.
A movement of flight began in the crowd, but another, one who wanted to fight, followed as well.
“Get away!” Rik shouted. The men that walked over their brethren to reach up the barely still standing podium didn’t listen.
“Stop. Leave him to us.” Louis, the second soldier intervened.
While the mob hesitated, Kan dodged another spear despite his wounds. He barely tried retaliating, which stood to reason as every single one of his sword slashes was caught by the rings of ice orbiting the old man. The mob was pulling back, letting Louis help Kan. The armoured man tried to strike Henry from behind, but that too, was intercepted by the ice rings.
“Oh my god all those people.” Gaëlle pulled me out of my focus on the fight. There had to be dozens of people lying still on the ground, and double that squirming, screaming, or crying in pain. Blood was transforming the ground into morbid mud.
“We have to do something.” I decided.
“We’re useless? Maybe in our new Class Skills…” Gaëlle’s voice was shaking.
“No time for that, we need some of the healing bacteria. Bonnie, can you get us an emergency door here? I pointed behind a big pile of boxes, well out of sight.”
“Affirmative.”
“For how long can you keep it open?”
“Emergency door has a five-minute lifespan with a fifteen second error margin.”
But my sister shook her head. “We can’t, Nielle. Daniel we can’t get close, there is deadly water and ice spikes flying everywhere!”
I checked how the fight was going. The two soldiers were barely holding on, dodging every lethal strike without being able to punish the murderous mage in return. I couldn’t see Rik anywhere though.
“Ok. Ok. Could you start production of at least thirty healing bacteria syringes, Bonnie?”
“Nano-serum production will take seventy-five seconds.”
We had a plan to heal the wounded.
I bit my lips to the point of drawing blood.
What was the point if Henry won?
We could not help, we only had daggers, no experience. Despite my whole being wanting to, I knew we would be absolutely useless and even worse, a liability.
Rik knew what was going to happen. I felt anger rise. He knew. Was his vengeance more important than justice?
Gaëlle grasped my hand, squeezed it just like Lila.
“Bonnie, be ready to…be ready to create an emergency door.” She spoke.
It wouldn’t be long now, I could see the fatigue on the two soldier’s faces, could almost smell the moment where they would fall.
The mob saw it too, they screamed, anger but also despair.
“Don’t give up!”
“Kill him!”
“For your clan, Kan! For your wife.”
“For mom.”
That last one hadn’t come from the crowd. It had come from above the fight, over the second-floor entrance.
Rik, his bow drawn, aiming directly down. Directly at Henry’s head, through the hole in the middle of the protective rings of ice.
I heard the bowstring whip, an arrow fuse down in a flash too fast to see.
Things stopped moving.
The rings went immobile, the water droplets stood still. Kan and Louis breathed hard but didn’t try to dodge anymore.
Then, the rings fell, cracking down as they touched the ground.
Ascensus Henry, an arrow sticking out of the top of his bald head, dropped to his knees, his arms flopping down, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
A job has been completed
10 000 Experience gained
The pop up woke me up, and I started to talk, but Gaëlle was quicker.
“Bonnie, emergency door where we asked!”
A door popped into existence, a whoosh of wind making some boxes fall over. It was still acceptably well hidden.
“Five minutes remaining.” Bonnie said out loud.
Me and my sister ran to the door, and we disappeared as I grabbed the rope to another dimension.