CHAPTER 20: FAREWELL TO FRIENDS (PART 1)
The day after obtaining Luo-Khai, Malakhay did as Korpus suggested to him as he was trying to get used to his new weapon. Thanks to the scythe being a part of him it wasn’t as hard as he anticipated and in a few hours he could already swing it more-or-less the way he wanted. At first it was an awkward feeling when he tried to slash something with it, but then he understood that he shouldn’t just use it mindlessly. He finally understood what Korpus ment the previous day when he said that the weapon has its own will and they needed to be on the same page to be efficient. When Malakhay was finally able to do it, he could compare it to a situation where you started the sentence, but somebody else finished it for you. After he revealed where or how he wanted to attack, the scythe itself guided him and his strikes became more precise. He didn’t know if it counted as the weapon wielding him, but for now that was the only method he could come up with that helped him with controlling Luo-Khai.
The skull, which was used as a focus for magic instead of a magic staff, also came in handy. Thanks to it, it became easier for him to concentrate and gather mana when he wanted to cast something and his casting speed became higher.
It was when the sun started to set, when he stopped what he was doing and went to find Korpus in one of his laboratories. After knocking on the door, he entered without waiting for a response and found Korpus sitting behind a large working table.
Korpus knowing that Malakhay was coming to see him welcomed him in good mood.
“So? Are you ready? After all, this is what you have so eagerly awaited.” He teased him, knowing what the answer will be.
“Yes teacher, I can’t wait to butcher those bastards.”
“Good.” With that word, he stood up and together with Malakhay left the room.
As they went deeper into the catacombs, the long hallways changed as they slowly started to acquire a more cavern-like look. Before he noticed they slowly approached a steel door and after Korpus opened them, the sewers appeared.
“Teacher, this is…”
“As I told you, the catacombs are the oldest part of the castle. They also served as an emergency exit in the past, but now only a few people are aware of this. The sewers are a large complex of pathways that crosses the whole city. This way, we can get anywhere without being spotted.”
“But teacher, couldn’t they be used this way for infiltrating the castle?”
“In a normal city, yes, but Grimthorn is special. Each exit is magically sealed and if somebody tries to get through it will immediately alarm us; that is if they are able to break the seal which was created by the cooperation of the queen herself and us lich-lords.”
As Malakhay was listening to the explanation, he noticed that they have slowly started ascending the stairs. It wasn’t long before they have finally reached a door. Korpus signalled him to stop as he approached them and placed his hand on them. While Korpus quietly chanted something, Malakhay could feel that quite a lot of mana was being poured into the locks. One after the other they loudly clicked as they were being unlocked. With the seal undone, Korpus opened the door and went through them with Malakhay in his tow. Right after that, Korpus put the seal back.
Malakhay stared as the door before him changed into a brick wall and blended with its surroundings. With everything put back to its place, they continued walking down the dark alley. With the sun already set only the dark night surrounded them. It didn’t take them even 10 minutes and they reached a large plaza which was used as a slave market during daytime. Trying to stay out of the sight of other people, they circled around it, staying in the shadows and finally stopped not too far from the main road, before a two story small villa. From Malakhay’s view, it was similar to the other villas in the area. The only difference was the two orcs who acted as guards before the entrance.
“Everybody should be inside that mansion or in the stables behind it, probably preparing for departure.” As Korpus said this, he started chanting and it took him quite some time until he finished.
“With this everything is prepared. Nobody will be able to escape and nobody from the outside would be able to hear any noise coming from inside. If something unexpected happens you needn’t worry as I will come to your aid. With that said I hope you will enjoy yourself.” Korpus spoke as he presented the path to the mansion to Malakhay like some actor on the prepared stage.
As the scythe slowly materialised in Malakhay’s hand, he stated to approach the mansion before him.
“Thank you, teacher.” Were the last words Korpus could hear from him as he went to savour his reward.
As Korpus stood hidden, he thought about how this night will end. Normally the queen wouldn’t allow this to happen inside the city, but she was willing to do an exception for Malakhay, as she was interested in him. Korpus could also feel it, the weird feeling which told him that the little creature is somehow different. He was smart, cunning and his progress was too quick to be called just luck. The only other being he encountered which was similar to Malakhay was the queen when she was still young.
“Master Korpus, the area is secured, as the queen requested. There won’t be any interruptions.” Hataya said, as she appeared behind him out of nowhere.
“Good work.” Korpus nodded still observing the quiet villa. “Now, show me Malakhay, are you the prey or the hunter?”
***
After leaving the teacher’s side, I quickly approached the stony wall which was protecting the mansion. With the sharp talons on my new hands and feet, which were formed by that mist before, I was able to easily climb over it in no time. After reaching the ground on the other side, I held Luo-Khay prepared in case somebody spotted me, but there was nobody in the near vicinity.
“First, I should kill all the nuisances and leave the best part for the end.” Malakhay murmured to himself as he started to get close to the stables which were located in the back side. Reaching the corner, he peeked out to see the very well-known carriages equipped with cages. They didn’t finish their loading yet as three of them were still empty. In the remaining two I could see some slaves. While looking around I could see only 3 guards, one of them being the mage. He was probably checking the condition of the cages; the second one was tending to horses and the third was standing at the entrance. I’m probably lucky with the mage being here. If I’m able to kill him before they notice that something has happened only one will remain and the chance of being found by spotting my magical energy will lessen.
After preparing myself mentally again I crouched behind the corner with Luo-Khai ready in my hand. Checking if I’m out of their range of vision I silently approached the carriages and quickly hid under one of them. Waiting for the right moment, after a few minutes I was able to slip under the one which was being checked by the orc mage. He was on the back side of the carriage, where the door to the cage was. Trying to get his attention I knocked once on the opposite side of the carriage with the scythe. I needed to repeat this two more times after he finally noticed something strange and decided to come and have a look. Just as he was walking alongside the carriage I waited until he was no longer in the sight of the orc who stood before the entrance of the mansion. Waiting for the right moment I slipped out from under the carriage and now I was right behind the mage. I didn’t wait for any further invitation as I lifted Luo-Khai over my head and while jumping I made a quick sweeping motion with it. The orc before me never knew what hit him as his severed head touched the ground and his body followed with a large puddle of greenish blood forming above the neck. The blade of Luo-Khai cut through him like through butter. Only now I truly realised how great the weapon in my hands really was. Satisfied with my first kill a pleasant smile appeared on my lips as I quickly checked if the remaining guards noticed anything, but they resumed their duties without suspicion.
While looking around I noticed that the slaves inside the cage of the carriage that stood next to the one where I was hiding were staring at me, their eyes full of surprise and shock. I quickly showed them to stay quiet for now. Quickly nodding to my request they kept observing me. I took the knife which the mage had and approached the orc near the entrance as quietly as I could while staying out of his sight. Not knowing if somebody will come out from the mansion to check how things here progressed, I needed to get inside as quickly as I could. While still unnoticed I threw the knife, with the orc’s head as the target.
*CLANG*
Of course not having the proper training the knife struck the wall near the orc and noisily ended on the ground. The orc, surprised from the sudden noise, looked for its source and spotted the knife lying nearby. It took him a moment before he realised what really happened and just as he touched his weapon and looked around I was already launched in a high jump, swinging my scythe. The moment the knife hit the wall I sprinted with full power straight at the guard. As he was distracted, he was unable to notice me until it was too late for him to do something. Similarly as before, I cut off his head, this time receiving all the blood splatter. Not losing any time I immediately went and killed the orc near the horses easily as he still didn’t notice anything.
I must say, it was such a nice feeling when I killed them. While calming down I was trying to savour it and I could tell that a large smile appeared on my face.
Noticing that the slaves still stared at me I slowly approached them.
“Let us out of here.” The man locked in the cage demanded louder than I would like.
Looking at them there were 6 of them, 2 men and 4 women. If I’m not mistaken this was a cage where the worker slaves were kept. The other one which held slaves was the one where children were and there were only 3 of them, all of them girls, probably under the age of ten. By now they have also noticed me and looked at me with pleading eyes.
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Ignoring the man, I first went to the cage with the children. The lock didn’t pose any problem for Luo-Khay and I was able to get them out of there in no time.
“Wait here.” I ordered them, while I started to work on the second lock, where the adults were kept. As the cage opened, the man who previously spoke to me pushed the door open and jumped out of the cage while the rest of the slaves followed him with more fear in their movements.
“Thanks bro.” He said as he patted my shoulder like I was some kind of friend.
“No problem.” I responded, while the blade of my scythe moved quickly and beheaded him. Most of them didn’t even have time to react as I reaped their lives one after another and the large fountains of red blood decorated my surroundings. Only the other man was able to make a run for it, but with the chains around his feet he couldn’t make it very far before I was able to catch up to him. Before he had any chance to plead with me I sliced his neck and looked how the blood gushed out from it.
As I returned only the 3 little girls were left alive. Sitting in the blood of their fellow humans they trembled while hugging each other.
“Please…” The snot ran down their faces as they started their weeping.
“Nope, letting you live would be a bother.” I informed them with a cheerful voice and in one clean sweep killed them all. Nobody helped me when I pleaded, so I didn’t see any reason to make an exception for them and teacher previously instructed me that I should take care of all the witnesses. If a word would get out that queen was involved my head would roll and I’m not willing to treasure other lives before my own, especially without any benefits included for me.
With the work outside of the mansion done I casted the two spells I learned in the last two weeks and finally entered the mansion.
***
“Interesting, I know that he is a demon, but to kill even children so easily, with a smile nevertheless.” Korpus spoke to himself amusedly as he watched Malakhay’s progress from outside. Truthfully speaking he thought that by now Malakhay would need his help, but it seems that their enemy is more incompetent than he had anticipated.
Right after killing everybody outside he could see how Malakhay secretly snuck inside the mansion and slowly started executing everybody he met. The mansion had two floors and a basement. Right now Malakhay was going around the first floor while killing the patrols. Most of the orcs were beheaded for the sake of staying hidden, while others had their hearts pierced with the spear-like part of the scythe. Once everybody on the first floor was killed Malakhay approached the stairs to the second.
“Looks like he will need my help soon.” Korpus thought as he observed the stairs leading to a large dining room which was filled with orcs. There were 11 of them together with the remaining mage. Korpus was left amused at the image of Malakhay who charged inside like some rabid dog. More or less ignoring everything else he ran straight at the mage and using the moment of surprise he was able to gut him like a fish. With his intestines pouring out of him the mage orc howled and fell to the ground. After that Malakhay tried to run back to the dark corridor he came from, but two orcs who were not as stupid as the rest that still stared at the mage, stood in his path. One of them attacked him with a large sword swinging it overhead. Malakhay knowing he will be overpowered didn’t try to block the strike and instead slid between his legs. While being right beneath the orc he chopped off one of his legs beneath the knee. Not being able to stand anymore, the orc fell down while shouting and holding what was left of his leg.
After this little stunt Malakhay quickly stood up and attacked the second orc nearby, but that one was already prepared for it and blocked the strike with his sword. Malakhay remembered what Hataya beat into him with that little time she had and moved from one side to the other, not stopping his movements. Being so small in comparison with orcs was an advantage this time for him, because the orc couldn’t land a hit on him. Using this, Malakhay stabbed the blade on the handle of the scythe through the orc’s foot. Being distracted by the pain, the orc let Malakhay slip to his unguarded side. He swung down the scythe with a large arc, cutting the orc from his shoulder, through the ribs, down to his leg.
“Well, I guess it’s time to go.”
***
Just as I killed the second orc who stood in my way, I was suddenly kicked from behind. Not being prepared for it I flew a few meters while landing back in the middle of the room.
“Fuck.” While cursing, I stood up and turned to the one who kicked me, but I was already surrounded by the 8 orcs. As they prepared to chop me to little pieces, one of them started to cry in a terrified voice.
Surprised at what happened this time, everybody, including me, looked at him, just to see green flames engulf his body. Not being able to understand where it came from the orcs hesitated at what to do and totally forgot about me. The flame soon appeared on each one of them and the room looked like a picture of hell, where 8 bodies on fire ran around as they tried to put it out.
“Are you hurt Malakhay?” Came the question from my teacher as he entered the room.
“No, thank you for your help.” I looked at him, thankful for his help. Without him I would be probably dead now.
He must have noticed my curious look when I studied the screaming orcs as he started explaining.
“Those flames are just an illusion and won’t harm the body physically. With that said, you can kill them without hesitation.”
“They look like they have been tossed into real flames.”
“Yes, when this spell is used on somebody, he will think that the flames are real and he will even feel the pain, but there won’t be any damage caused by them.”
“Is it possible to leave them on fire? It looks like they are enjoying it and we can kill them before we will leave.” I pleaded, satisfied with their cries. I wanted them to suffer as much as possible.
“I don’t mind if that’s what you want.” Korpus accepted my request and we headed for the rest of the second floor.
From now onwards Korpus will stay with me and help me. He planned to do this from the start, but I wanted to try how far I could get with my abilities and this was the perfect opportunity. There were only a few guards on the second floor. As we approached them, Korpus chanted a spell and their skin started to melt like it was dipped in acid. After the skin was gone, the same thing happened to the muscles, until only bones remained. The slavers still didn’t have a single clue of what was happening, because teacher isolated each closed room. They couldn’t hear a single thing from outside neither open the door to leave.
We found 4 of the slave traders while they had a party with some female slaves. Not being aware of what happened outside they still enjoyed themselves as we entered the room. When they finally spotted us they started shouting:
“What are you doing here?”
“Who are you?”
And so on, and so on.
Being annoyed by them, I approached the closest one and used my sharp talons to plunge my arm into his stomach. Ripping through the flesh, I pierced his stomach with one of my talons, letting the stomach acid in it pour out inside of him. Not being able to withstand the pain he ducked down in loud screams.
As the morning was quickly approaching and I still had some unfinished business, I killed the rest of the slavers in the room quite quickly by dissecting them with Luo-Khai. For a few seconds the female slaves looked relieved, but that was only until I started to behead them. Korpus just silently watched me from near the entrance whole time. When I was finally finished, whole room bathed in freshly spilled blood.
Leaving the room, only one was left on this floor which was still unchecked. As I anticipated, when I opened the door I immediately spotted Larkus naked on the bed, while he was pinning down the restrained dark elf.
Noticing the opened door he shouted: “What do you want? Didn’t I tell you not to enter unless it’s important?” He clearly didn’t recognize me, because of me evolving into a high imp. As he stared daggers at me, Korpus entered the room right after me. The stupid look which showed on his face was priceless.
“So this is that Larkus that took such good care of you Malakhay.” As Korpus said this, Larkus changed colour almost instantly and now he was white as a ghost. I pulled down the hood which was still covering my face as I spoke:
“Yes, I’m really indebted to him and I plan to return it with interest.” I smiled while looking at Larkus.
“No, no, no, please, spare me.” He didn’t lose any time and immediately started to beg.
“So this is how I looked when I begged you. I must say it’s quite a pitiful sight.” I commented, still smiling.
Knowing I won’t show any mercy he jumped down from the bed and ran to the window, but as he tried to open it, it didn’t even budge. This was thanks to Korpus’s spell which made sure that nobody was able to leave the mansion. Seeing the window won’t open Larkus grabbed the dagger on the nearby table and tried to make a run for it. Just as he approached me I swung Luo-Khai in a large arc and cut off both his feet. Not being able to stand, he fell down and kissed the floor with his mouth.
“Gyaaaa!” He screamed, while looking at his bloodied legs.
“Teacher, could you get him to the basement, if I remember correctly there should be better equipment for what I have in store for him.” I asked Korpus in a sweet voice, making my intentions obvious to Larkus.
“It shouldn’t be a problem.” Teacher said as he summoned five death knights. Two of them grabbed Larkus by his ankles tight enough to stop the bleeding and dragged him away, leaving only the bloody smear behind him. The rest of the death knights were supposed to clear the basement and kill everybody who was still alive except for Zuran. I originally wanted to kill everybody myself, but as I mentioned, morning was quickly approaching and my main targets were Larkus and Zuran.
As I prepared to kill the dark elf before me she stopped me.
“Wait, don’t do it! I could be useful to you.” She said, while looking at me, strangely not showing any signs of fear. While looking into her eyes, there was something different from the other slaves. If I’m not mistaken it was rage.
“And why should I bother?” I asked still prepared to end her life.
“Didn’t that troll tell you that I helped you before? Without me you would have died back in the goblin village.”
I remembered how Ruon’ga mentioned that she gave him the herbs which he used while treating me. Small hesitation probably showed on my face as she repeated herself.
“Let me live and I will gladly serve you.”
“Sure and when I’m not looking I will end up with a knife in my back, no thank you.”
“I’m willing to sell my soul to you in a demon contract.” She said as if she made a big decision.
I just blankly stared at her, not knowing what she was talking about. I looked at my teacher for explanation and he was almost laughing.
“The demon contract is an ancient ritual which can be performed by pure-blooded demons. One offers himself into the demon’s servitude for the rest of his life in exchange for a favour. Once done, the contract cannot be breached and the servant is at the mercy of the demon.” As he finished a quick explanation, he added: “To my knowledge this deal was established only a couple of times when the contractor was really desperate in reaching his goal.”
I stared at the elf before asking: “And? What do you want in return?”
“Two things.” She declared with a voice which wouldn’t allow anything less. “First, I want to kill Larkus myself. Before you speak, let me tell you that I was at his mercy longer than you and I can reassure you that I will make hell look like paradise for him before finishing him off. The second thing is revenge on my clan who tricked me and sold me into slavery. Promise to grant me these two things and I will serve you for the rest of my life.”
Having a servant dedicated only to me while the queen is watching me could prove useful. If what Korpus said about the contract is true, then she won’t be able to betray me. As I thought about it I must say it wasn’t a bad deal for me and for a second I glanced at my teacher.
“It’s your decision and I’m sure the queen would also accept it. Sooner or later you will need some subordinates to do your duties more efficiently.” Teacher calmly explained to me, still amused by the elf’s proposition.
After considering it one more time, I decided that it will benefit me greatly and decided to accept it.
“Ok, what am I supposed to do?” I asked as this is the first time I heard about the contract.
“It’s actually quite simple. You just need to draw this empty magic circle on her body where her heart is with your blood.” He drew it for me on the ground nearby by swinging his hand and using magic. “After that she needs to pledge herself to your service while piercing the middle of the circle with a knife. Once that is done the contract is established and her soul will no longer belong to her.”
With looking at her one more time, she only came closer, shamelessly exposing her chest to me. I must say, while looking at her from this distance she has an exotic beauty which was probably hard to find elsewhere. Not wanting to be distracted by the fact that she was still naked I bit my finger and concentrated on drawing the symbol I saw on the ground. After finishing it Korpus checked it for me and nodded satisfied with my work. All that was left was for her to pledge herself to my service.
“I, Nlaea of the Darkmoon clan, pledge myself to the servitude of my master and offer my soul in exchange for the wishes he acknowledged.” With those words she pierced the symbol on her chest with a knife. As the wound started to bleed, it looked weird because the blood which was spilled didn’t leave the boundaries of the magic circle. Finally, when the whole circle was covered by it, the bleeding suddenly stopped and she took out the knife. But the steel blade wasn’t the only thing that came out as a transparent, white, misty cloud also left her body. It mixed with her blood inside the magic circle and formed a symbol in the process. After checking it out, it looked like a letter M around which was coiling a dragon’s body.
While the symbol was created, I could feel another mind in my head. Realizing that it belonged to the dark elf before me I could tell she was feeling satisfaction right now.
“I’m yours to command, master.” She said while bowing to me.
“It looks like it went well.” Korpus stated, still curiously observing us.
“Probably yes,” I said, staring at the elf while feeling her emotions. “We have lost enough time, so get some clothes so we can leave. After all, we have a guest waiting for us downstairs and I want to present him with as much of our time as possible.”
“I will gladly obey.” Saying this, a cruel smile formed on her beautiful lips.