We spent the next week tracing the Renalis-Thaysil border on dragonback. I reached B-Rank in Marksmanship and chose to add advanced optics to Select Fire, granting me a whole plethora of detection options like nightvision and thermal imaging. I also finally gained D-Rank in Survival, but refrained from making any changes to my Movement and Tracking System until I assessed the size and scale of the military force I would command in the Rift. We scoured close to the ground, killing monsters, demons, and brigands. The latter increased in number as we neared where I first met Lydia and Anna. In order to escape from Cedric Hasting, they fled in the direction of a lost kingdom, Altanova. It was overrun by demonic cultists and occupied by criminals from the bordering countries.
The fallen land wasn’t particularly large in comparison to Renalis or Thaysil, but it was enough to give both governments cause for concern. The elves in particular disliked the lawless region, because slave trafficking was rampant and elven children and women were among the most popular slaves. Renalis had issues with the cultists sending demonic incursions across the border. The protection from the Sacred Tree of Virlana prevented weaker demons from entering elven land, and even stronger ones would be easily tracked and eliminated by the elven border patrols, so that left Renalis as the only target for the demons to easily siege. Altanova was established on a peninsula that bordered the Curad Ocean, which increased its monetary value because Renalis was landlocked by Thaysil, the Arcadian Empire, and Altanova.
Lydia’s mother, Queen Evelyn, intended to conquer the fallen kingdom after returning from the Rift, but after she was slain during her deployment, King Folad lost all interest in territorial expansion, and the elves of Thaysil could not expand the Sacred Tree’s influence beyond their forests and had no desire to rule over Altanova’s human population, so the region became a seedbed for craven activity. After her crowning, Lydia wanted to complete her mother’s ambition and expand Renalis toward the ocean in order to further solidify her control and right to rulership. Access to the sea’s bounty would also elevate the kingdom’s socioeconomic state and greatly enhance its prestige.
Unfortunately, the Beur Cultists were the greatest obstacle to Lydia’s imperialism.
They occupied Altanova’s capital, Calais, and turned the entire city into a demon’s den. Though I disliked the rationale behind Lydia’s land grab, on a fundamental level, I acknowledged leaving Calais in its current state was unacceptable. And it was refreshing to target something so obviously evil. I was growing more and more depressed at how gray a majority of my decisions were since I arrived in Valeria. Bending my world view for Lydia felt like I kept compromising on my own ideals, so I happily agreed to eliminate every single demon and cultist in the city. They were my enemies in my Quest, and I had no issues using them to grind levels.
Lydia would march her army into Altanova about one month after Idyia and I arrived. That gave us a few weeks to wreck as much havoc within the city as we could in order to soften it up for a siege. Idyia was apathetic to the entire plan, but being able to act as an Assassin lit a small twinkle of excitement in her eyes. Renala just relished the idea of slaughtering as many demons as she possibly could. I was fine with that; the more levels she gained the stronger she would be when we finally did enter the Rift. My personal goal was to get her to 5th Level before we joined the Alliance. She was currently 3rd, so I was gambling on the wholesale slaughter of Calais’ demonic occupation to push her through the next two levels.
Unfortunately, we needed to deal with all the towns and outposts up until Altanova. Any building bearing Beur’s symbol of a goat skull with rotting flesh was burnt to ash by Renala’s dragonfire. Her golden flames lit up the nights. Sightings and rumors of a golden dragon purging the cultists' dens throughout the country spread faster than we flew. The three of us went town-by-town, door-by-door routing out any demonic presence we could find; my Map proved to be invaluable. The Skill must have been collecting data on all my enemies after each battle, because at some point, the names of my targets began appearing over the red dots so long as I focused on them. Positive target acquisition was never easier.
We spent about three weeks torching towns and outposts; any unrelated survivors fled for Renalis. I warned Lydia ahead of time about a refugee crisis and she ordered General Belmond to reinforce the border and prepare a proper vetting and integration process. Despite her draconian nature, Lydia knew these refugees would soon become her citizens, so it was important to make a good first impression. She assured me that they would be taken care of, but it would delay the advance of the Renalian army by another week or more.
“Hmm, so that’s about a week before General Belmond arrives in Calais,” I pointed to the Renalis-Thaysil-Altanova border using a regional map we took from Lydia’s treasury. “They are stationed here for now. We’ve dealt with all the towns and outposts along the main road, so now we just need to weaken Calais’ defenses.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see Idyia standing alongside several Dark Elves, the leaders of the various tribes who sought out asylum in this lawless country. At least here they were free from the systemic persecution they suffered from at the hands of the Primaries and their clergy. Winning over their hearts and minds was one of our main objectives and Idyia became a living symbol for these people over the last two weeks. She acted as my liaison, taking my orders and giving them to the tribes.
“You’ve all done well,” I stepped forward. The Dark Elf leaders eyed me with apprehension and mistrust, but they swallowed it because Idyia promised I was worth following and had no prejudice against their kind. “As the future King of Renalis, I will provide your people with succor and safety within my lands, alongside Tribe Tethys. But the Queen demands one final test of your loyalty: assist Idyia and I in our assault on Calais.”
“Ranger Levin,” said one leader, Darmus of tribe Argith. “Not all of our people are well suited to such clandestine activity.”
“That’s fine. Each tribe only needs to send as many people as they believe necessary to win over the Queen's favor. I would prefer quality over quantity. As an example, Idyia represented nearly all of the tribe Tethys.”
There were murmurs of discontent, but in the end all of the leaders volunteered at least one person to represent them. That left me with about seven Dark Elves who specialized in subterfuge of some kind. Idyia was far more familiar with the abilities of her kin, so I let her assign specific tasks. My one condition was they were to operate in pairs in order to watch each other’s back. While I trusted Idyia as a solo agent, she was the only 6th Level Assassin in the group and the only one with enough experience in the field to warrant that much autonomy. She mainly set them up with simple hit-and-run assassination missions against middle-ranked members of the guards, which I was fine with. I didn’t expect them to topple the entire city; I needed them to distract the defenders long enough for Idyia and I to do the real damage. Idyia and I were going to slay as many Greater Demons as possible. This would prevent them from teleporting unexpectedly.
We set off to infiltrate the city, which wasn’t difficult. I used my Cloak of Invisibility. Idyia relied on her transcendent Dexterity and Stealth Skill. The other Dark Elves simply walked through the gates. They were a common enough sight within the demon-controlled capital, however stigmatized they were, at least they weren’t openly hunted down as they would be within any normal Valerian society. We gathered in an abandoned house that Idyia personally cleared for any traps or normal methods of observation. She couldn’t do anything about magical scrying, but she told me if there were a mage capable of scrying us, they would be above 9th Level anyway. And she doubted anyone that strong would bother ruling over Calais. In her own words, such powerful individuals, especially mages, would be pursuing goals beyond this backwater, coastal country.
“So how powerful is Telepathy?” I wondered while we bided our time in the house.
“Master Levin, your Map and Telepathy (Group) Skill are absurdly powerful for such low ranks and levels,” Idyia explained after she debriefed me on the Dark Elves mission readiness. We were all waiting for night to fall before making our first strike. “I’ve never had much contact with the arcane mysteries, but as far as I know, no such Spell or Skill exists below 10th Level.”
I cautiously looked out the second-story window while I mulled over the potential advantages my two Skills could grant me if I chose to upgrade them further; I still had that free upgrade from reaching D-Rank Survival.
The streets were sparsely populated. Any normal humans fled the chaos and mayhem or stayed hidden in their homes as much as possible, leaving only the cultists and demons wandering about. Beur’s particular brand of demons were a cross between minotaurs and satyrs. A strange mix of bull, goat, and human physiques. Beur was the Demon God of Chameric Beasts, so it made sense. I supposed the more exotic, grotesque combinations were hidden out of sight or simply not present. This entire city seemed governed by the laws of the jungle, albeit twisted to an obscene degree. Any crime from common theft to rape and murder were allowed so long as you could beat your victim into submission and either escape or beat up any who would try to stop you.
I forced myself to watch as a large beastly demon broke into a house several doors down the street where we holed up. Screams filled the streets but no one batted an eye. On a personal level, I wanted to swoop in and save whoever was in that home. But I knew on a practical level, I couldn’t expose our positions before we even started our raids. It was times like this I realized I wasn’t a hero. I wasn’t even that good of a person.
“Staying hidden isn’t a sin.” Idyia said as she also watched and heard the carnage. “The Queen will liberate this city and bring order to Altanova. Going out there now will just jeopardize her goal and our mission. We need to focus on the greater good.”
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Maybe the lie will stick,” I replied with no small measure of self-derision. Idyia said nothing else and I wasn’t in the mood to converse either. Instead we listened and waited until the screams died. The demon came out, covered in blood and nonchalantly walked away.
“Master!” Idyia tightly grabbed my wrist. I didn’t even notice, but my rifle was already aimed at the demon’s head. She glared at my loss of self-control. I cringed at my own unprofessionalism and slipped my rifle back into the Bottomless Dufflebag then stepped away from the window. I pinched the bridge of my nose hard enough to reduce my HP by 5.
“I lost my edge. I’m good now.”
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Idyia merely nodded. “This is the first time you’ve ever witnessed a demon’s primal cruelty. You’ll grow numb to it when we go into the Rift. Honestly, this is a good opportunity to harden your heart.”
“I’m already an emotionless rock with no soul. My ex-wife told me so,” I chuckled darkly.
“You are more accustomed to human cruelty. Demonic cruelty is a bit different in taste and texture even if the results are often the same.”
“How are they different?”
“Demons sustain themselves on pain and misery. They grow stronger because of it and even gain Experience. In a sense, it’s like a meal to them. It’s difficult to describe: for a demon, inflicting horrors on each other or someone else is as breathing is to a human. They even target their own kind or their followers, as you can plainly see.”
“Yeah, I can’t wrap my head around that one.”
Idyia smiled sadly and grazed my cheeks with her fingertips.
“I envy you, then.”
“Idyia, you aren’t a demon.”
“Keep telling yourself that. Maybe the lie will stick,” Idyia threw my words right back into my face then passionately kissed me, her lips filled with the familiar taste of desperation. She left me alone on the second floor to meet with the other Dark Elves and confirm their missions. Her words left me perplexed and then my eyes went wide when I assumed the worst.
“I-Idyia… do you enjoy killing people?” I asked no one.
I had to bury any doubts. I spared one last look at the streets down below and steeled myself. I coalesced all of my combat experience to create a firm shield of ice around my psyche. I had a mission to accomplish; lives would be lost and I would have to shoulder the weight of each death and make it worth the cost. That was one of my roles as leader of this squad. It was my role as a soldier.
I marched down the staircase with my lips pulled into grim lines. I surveyed each of the Dark Elves who volunteered themselves to my cause. The dark glint in their eyes reflected my own. It was one I saw many times on the battlefield back on Earth. This was the calm before the storm of war.
They looked up at me, expectant. Idyia and I had gone over the plans several times over the last few hours. There was only one thing left to say:
“Good hunting.”
The squad slithered away like shadows before the light, leaving Idyia and I alone. We stared at each other for a few moments.
“Go.” I coldly said. Idyia cracked a grin and vanished before my eyes.
I draped my Cloak of Invisibility over my shoulder and pulled up the hood. A small burst of magical energy activated the cloak and then I was off, darting through the streets toward the highest building in the area: a cathedral with tall bell towers near the center of the city. My Map was a critical key component once again. I used it to carefully evade detection even with my Cloak of Invisibility, I took no unnecessary risks. I free climbed up the tower using my transcendent Strength and Dexterity combined with my Survival Skill to guide me. If I were visible, I would have probably looked like a spider scurrying over the walls.
When I finally arrived, there was a winged demon sleeping next to the bell. It stirred slightly at the noise I made, but I quickly dispatched it with a fierce heel-kick to the skull, crushing its head like a grape. I drew my bow and arrow, magnified my vision in my shooting eye, augmented it with nightvision, and searched for as many lookouts as I could. Their vitals were all lightly armored, which made my job much easier. I activated Select Fire, three-round burst with hollow-point rounds, then systematically eliminated them just in case they could spot me through the cloak. Now that I had a true warbow and not a cheap bandit knock off, my arrows flew straighter, further, and contained even more kinetic energy then when I assaulted the Renalian capital city walls with Lydia and Anna.
I pulled out three quivers of arrows from the Bottomless Dufflebag and took aim at my first target. At this distance and from this position, I could easily cover over 65% of the entire city from circumference to center. The only real issue was the city castle nearby. I had a plan for that too, but first we had to focus on weakening the outer defenses.
I maintained three-round burst but selected incendiary rounds and fired at the cursed oil containers lining the walls. Black flames, felfire, exploded, killing anyone nearby and painting the walls with black, lightless fire. The felfire spread over the walls, the unnatural flames consuming everything, including solid rock. Even the demons who primarily used it were unable to properly control it without using magical tools, which meant dousing it took far more work and was much more dangerous.
Alarms began to blare across the walls and the operation started in earnest.
After blowing up every single felfire oil container I could see, I identified hostile anti-air weapon systems and switched to explosive rounds. I mainly targeted ballista, catapults, trebuchets, and arrow carts. I was more machine than man; I fired faster and more accurately than any Olympic shooter could ever dream to match. My follow-up shots were flying through the air even before my initial shots hit their mark. Soon the walls were alight with flames, both normal and fel.
The defender's response was sluggish at best. Not only were they surprised, but they were also naturally disorganized, which made mustering a proper defense difficult even at the best of times. Most importantly, Idyia and her Dark Elven brethren were assassinating any leaders as they tried to rally their troops amidst the chaos, further blunting their ability to react.
After destroying all the siege weapons, I pulled out a Magic Crystal, siphoned Mana from it, and reassessed my own situation. The lookouts that I slew were now replaced and the new ones were searching for me, but I remained invisible. As far as I could tell, they could not spot me, so I eliminated them all in short order.
“Master Levin, the Greater Demons are teleporting into the city,” Idyia said and I licked my lips and pulled out three new quivers. I switched to thermal imaging and grinned in morbid satisfaction. The lightless felfire still produced heat, which meant I could detect them. And just like the first one I fought, most of these Greater Demons wielded magical weapons and armor wreathed in those same black flames.
To my eyes, they were moving bonfires.
I switched to armor piercing rounds and began to slaughter them with three round burst. This time, I was far more thorough. Even as my first trio of arrows left my bowstring, I launched another, then opted to use hollow-points and finally explosive rounds.
Six armor piercing arrows shredded their armor, destroying their structural integrity and draining their HP. Three hollow point arrows tore through what was left of their armor and HP then ripped into their bodies. Finally, three explosive arrows nailed into their chests and blew them apart.
I watched my Experience bar fill up in real time. Half of it was devoured by Renala, but that was fine. There was something grotesquely therapeutic about killing enemies so blatantly evil. I didn’t have to think about the moral ambiguities of my actions. All I had to do was identify a target, aim, and squeeze the trigger. When I ran out of Greater Demons, I started killing all the demons I could. Soon the streets were littered with arrow-filled corpses.
My Reflex Dagger activated and I ducked low just as an arrow flew a few inches over my head. I traced the flight path and noticed a demon holding a longbow. It looked confused, as if it didn’t expect to actually hit anything. I was still invisible and I guess the demon had enough Wisdom, Intelligence, and Dexterity to calculate my rough location based on the trajectory of my own arrows.
Good instincts, I complimented then sleeved the demon with twelve arrows in reply. Now that my post was exposed, I repacked all of my arrows and abandoned it.
“Idyia, the demons spotted me. I’m moving onto the next phase. Get your men out of there.” I ordered.
“Yes, Master,” she replied. I climbed down the bell tower and made for the inner castle wall. Once I was there, I found the next highest perch, a watchtower, and snuck through. The guards were easily dealt with. Once again, I destroyed the oil canisters and siege weapons, although I wasn’t confident in overstaying my welcome. The defenders within the castle walls were far more competent than those on the city walls. I managed to eliminate three Greater Demons before one of them slung a black fireball at the watchtower. I leapt out as the tower exploded and fell down to the city streets.
My feet cracked the pavement when I landed and my HP dropped by over 50. It felt like all the bones in my body had snapped in half, but I ignored the horrific pain and scrambled away. Getting out of the city was surprisingly easy. Many demons and cultists were fleeing out the gates.
I sent a message to Renala, who was impatiently waiting her turn above the cloudline. She swooped down to bathe the crowded streets in dragonfire. It was like watching an A-10’s strafing runs. Dust, fire, and death kicked up into the sky whenever she passed overhead.
I climbed onto the nearest rooftop and bounded over and across them toward the flames. When I was close enough, I deactivated my Cloak of Invisibility. With my telepathic command, Renala flew close to the roof and I used my transcendent Strength to leap up just as she passed above me. She caught me with her front claws and after one last strafing run, we flew off into the darkness, leaving Calais burning behind us.
Air Superiority: Established.