Chapter 109
The Immortal Warlord
To say that Erin and her companions were shocked by seeing the warlord they had thought was dead would be a massive understatement. Considering the power behind Durge’s blows, anyone’s head would have turned into mush no matter what type of a helmet they were wearing.
Not only that, but Erin’s slashed were no joke either. Back when she had still been training to become an assassin in the first place, she had been taught to make sure that her strike hit the right areas on armored opponents. This meant that she would target either weaker spots or places that were unprotected. Even when the redhead had put the finishing touches on their attack on Gotzmeyer, she had taken into account their hypothesis of the warlord being actually someone much smaller than the armor made him seem. Each stab had been aimed at places where the actual body should have been.
By all accounts, Gotzmeyer should have been dead, yet he was standing like nothing had happened. He even had all the markings of their attacks on his body, from the dents left by Durge’s hammer or the cuts from Erin’s sword. He now looked like some undead warrior that had risen from the grave to lay vengeance upon his killers, which wasn’t too far from the truth.
“Alright, we clearly didn’t think this whole thing through as much as we should have,” Lexton said as he watched the approaching warlord in warlord in fear. “May I suggest that we take a moment to talk this through? I think if we simply calm down and take a seat, we could-”
Gotzmeyer came to a sudden stop, which confused Erin and the others. For a moment, Lexton felt relief, as he began to think that he might have been able to get the warlord to actually agree to a peaceful talk, which he honestly hadn’t believed was going to be possible.
However, that hope was quickly destroyed, when Gotzmeyer held out his arm with his palm facing the floor. Suddenly, what seemed like a dark red portal appeared on the floor, from which a large sword rose up. Erin and Lexton immediately recognized it as the same weapon they had seen on the video back at the Black Market. The warlord grasped the handle of the blade and readied it for battle, taking the same stance that they had seen before.
“...Okay, I’m going to make the assumption that you are NOT keen on the idea of talking this through, right?” Lexton said as the scales on his face turned pale.
“Lex, seriously, shut the hell up,” Erin said while keeping her attention on Gotzmeyer. “I’m pretty sure that you’re only making things worse.”
“I’m just trying to be hopeful here, okay?” the kobold replied.
“Well, the surprise attack was a complete bust and I doubt he wants to talk,” Durge said as he took a stance while his hands trembled. “Any good ideas?”
“How about we run?” Zeldana suggested. “Not only have we now pissed him off, but I’m not exactly thrilled about the idea of having a confrontation like this with him. I do have history with this guy and I don’t think he’s the type to talk about the good old days, you know?”
Truth be told, Erin herself wanted to do nothing more than to run. She had seen just how dangerous the threat before the could be on the battlefield and they were far from being on the same level as him. The redhead had no doubt that this fight would only end up in a one-sided massacre.
However, while she knew that their fight was not one they had a good chance of winning, Erin also knew that the whole reason they had come here was to kill Gotzmeyer. If they ran away now, would they lose their chance? The warlord could easily increase the level of security at his base, making another attempt impossible. Not only that, but they were planning to take on the Five Overlords themselves. If they couldn’t face one of their warlords, how could they ever hope to fight the ones in charge?
Steeling her resolve, Erin gripped her sword and readied herself for battle. It was time to either sink or swim now.
“We’re not running,” the redhead said, surprising her companions. “We came here to take him down and we’re going to go through with that.”
“WHAT!? Are you insane!?” Lexton asked out of shock. “Our only way of beating this guy was to use a surprise attack to our advantage! There’s no way we can beat him head on!”
“WE ARE ALREADY PLANNING TO TAKE ON THE OVERLORDS! HOW CAN WE RUN AWAY FROM THIS!?” Erin yelled. “The way I see it, we take on this challenge now or else we will never be able to move forward again! We knew the risks when we came here anyways!”
The kobold was going to keep arguing, but he noticed Durge and Zeldana stepping up. Both had their weapons at the ready, prepared for the fight in front of them.
“She’s got a point,” Durge said a bit calmer than before. “We came for to do a job, so we might as well get it done, right?”
“True enough,” Zeldana said with a small smirk. “Besides, I’m really curious to find out what his deal is. Think you could let me open up his body, after we’ve beaten him?”
Lexton was left baffled and speechless over the fact that everybody else was ready and willing to face against the seemingly immortal monster before them. He had been certain that they would all agree with him on the idea of running away, yet that didn’t happen. None of them had even hesitated on their decisions.
The kobold noticed Erin looking at him with a small smile on her face. She still had her sword at the ready, but was able to pay him some attention.
“If you want to run, it’s completely fine, Lex,” the redhead said. “The choice is yours.”
“...Goddammit, you people are so freaking unreasonable!” Lexton yelled angrily as he pulled out a few vials and got ready to fight. “Who the hell is running away!? I’m going to show you all just how much of threat I can truly be! So just prepare to be awed!”
Erin smiled, knowing that she had the backing of all of her companions. With all of them willing and ready to fight, she turned her attention back to the enemy before them and prepared herself.
“May I assume that this means you’re all now ready to meet your ends?” Gotzmeyer suddenly asked, surprising the group of assassins. “I’ve grown tired of waiting for you to make up your minds.”
“You can actually talk?” Erin said out of surprise. “With how silent you were all this, I thought you were mute or something.”
“I simply speak when I need to. It’s the same manner I get myself into combat as well,” the warlord said. “Normally, I wouldn’t bother staining myself by killing insignificant pests like you, but seeing as how you’ve not only made it to my personal room and you’ve also damaged my favorite armor, I am going to see to it personally that you all die today.”
“Big talk,” Durge said as he circled to Gotzmeyer’d left side, while Erin moved to the right. “Let’s see if you can live up to it.”
With perfect timing, both Durge and Erin charged towards the warlord with their weapons held high. However, just as soon as they got within range of Gotzmeyer’s sword, he reacted with blinding speed, striking at both of them. Durge brought up his hammer to block the blow just in time, but the power behind the attack was great enough to send him flying back and crash into a wall. Erin, on the other hand, was able to move out of the way of the blade, but was sent tumbling down on the floor from a kick that followed the first attack.
“Impressive. I don’t often see those who can protect themselves from my attacks,” Gotzmeyer said as he took up his stance yet again. “Usually they just perish from the first attack. I suppose I might have underestimated you all a bit.”
“That’s not the only thing that we are capable of doing!” Lexton yelled as he threw down one of his vials. Upon shattering, a golem made out of purple sludge soon rose up from the floor. “I prepared this guy and a lot more just for you! Hope you enjoy the gifts I’ve got for you!”
“I see… This might actually require a bit more than simple swings from my sword,” the warlord said as he held up his sword and a dark red energy began to gather around the blade. “It has been a while since I last used one of these techniques.”
As the golem charged at Gotzmeyer, he swung his sword down. The red energy gathered around his sword caused a large shockwave to blast from the weapon. This not only destroyed the golem, but also sent Erin, her companions and even the furniture of the room flying.
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“W-What…?” Lexton asked with his eyes wide from shock as he laid on the floor. “What the hell just happened?”
“Nothing much. Just something I learned to blow away difficult and large amounts of pests. It also helps in clearing out other rubbish,” Gotzmeyer explained as he took his stance again. “Now, do you still wish to continue?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. We’re only getting started over here,” Erin said as she glared at the warlord. “You shouldn’t just assume that you’ve won, until you’ve actually done so.”
“Brave words, but only words in the end. I’ve heard such things said far too many times for me to count by much more threatening groups,” Gotzmeyer said. “I’m sure your elf friend over there can agree on that.”
All eyes turned to Zeldana. The elf was glaring at the warlord in return.
“Well, glad to see you still remember me, Gotzy,” Zeldana said in a mocking tone. “I was thinking that you might have forgotten about me after all this time. Did you perhaps miss me much?”
“Not really. I would have been more than happy to let you rot in whatever hole you’ve been living in all this time. It’s only the Overlords who want to see you dead after whatever you did to piss them off,” Gotzmeyer said. “But since you’re here, I suppose I might as well collect the bounty on your head and send you to that little friend of yours I killed.”
Hearing that last part caused something to snap in Zeldana. While it went unnoticed by everybody else, Erin was able to see her right eye twitch a bit. Whatever the warlord was referring to had really gotten to the elf. The redhead could only wonder what had happened in the past between these two.
“Thanks for reminding me of that. I was wondering why I hated you so much,” Zeldana said as she held back her anger. “Now I know that I’m going to enjoy killing you.”
“Please believe me that the pleasure is all mine. I’ve had to waste plenty of time looking for you,” Gotzmeyer said. “It’s good to see that I’ll finally see a reward to all that work. Now, how about we get back to our fight and finally finish this? We have wasted enough time speaking.”
“Be careful making wishes,” Erin said as she held up her sword and charged it up with a magical stone. “You might end up regretting them!”
Activating the stone she had placed in her sword, bright flames erupted from the blade. However, she didn’t simply charge blindly towards her opponent, but instead she held it up and started to use magic to prepare her next attack. This came in the form of the flames of her sword gathering up at the tip into a large fireball, which she then flung at Gotzmeyer.
Despite being a bit surprised at the abilities shown by the redhead, the warlord was still able to easily handle the magical attack sent his way. By simply swinging his sword, he was able to deflect the fiery projectile, sending it to a wall where it exploded. But while most thought that Erin’s attack had failed, the truth was that the fireball had been a distraction. Gotzmeyer was soon struck by another attack, this time by a small stream of flames that flew at him and set his coat on fire. This allowed the redhead to move around her opponent and attack him from a blind spot. She aimed her blade in such a way that she would decapitate the warlord, thus ending the battle in one move.
Just as her blade was about to connect with Gotzmeyer’s neck, the warlord brought up his sword to block the attack. Before Erin could break out of her shock, she was grabbed by the front of her shirt and slammed into the floor painfully.
“What a primitive and simple trick. Did you really think that was going to work?” Gotzmeyer mocked his downed opponent. “It’s unfortunate that Golorath wants you alive. Otherwise I would have simply cut you in half.”
“She’s not the only one you should be worried about!” Durge yelled as he swung his hammer at the warlord’s back.
The orc’s heavy blow connected on Gotzmeyer’s back, yet it had barely any effect. Outside from a very slight stagger, you wouldn’t have even known that the attack had landed. The warlord slowly turned around to glare at the one who had attacked him.
“Trust me. I am not worried. Just incredibly annoyed,” Gotzmeyer said before grabbing Durge by his throat and lifting him up. “But I’m sure that will all get much better, once I start killing you all!”
Despite his large frame, Durge was like a small child when compared to the warlord, who was able to easily lift him up in the air with just one hand. The orc desperately struggled in order to free himself, yet Gotzmeyer didn’t even flinch no matter what. The warlord prepared his sword to cut the orc in half and to get rid of his first opponent.
Just as he was about to do that, Erin jumped up and latched on to the arm holding Durge, effectively putting herself between Gotzmeyer’s sword and her companion. Thanks to the warlord not being allowed to kill her, she was able to shield Durge from harm in this manner.
“What the-!? Move, you fool!” Gotzmeyer yelled angrily. “Unless you want me to cut you in half along with your friend!”
“That’s exactly why I’m doing this!” Erin yelled back. “I know your boss has told you and all of your goons to take me to him alive! As long as it threatens to kill me, you can’t act, can you!? So you better put down your sword now! Otherwise you might have to explain your failure to your boss and you don’t want that!”
“...Don’t get so full of yourself, little girl,” the warlord said as he tightened his grip on his sword. “As long as I’m able to hide the evidence, I’m sure no one will ever learn about what happened to you.”
Gotzmeyer was debating whether he should take his chances and just get rid of both of his enemies at the same time. He was broken out of his thoughts once he felt something holding back his arm holding the sword, keeping it in place. He turned to see what it was and saw what looked like a large pile of slime attached to it.
“You shouldn’t just worry about her!” Lexton yelled with an empty vial in his hand. “I’m the real threat here, pal!”
“Dammit!” Gotzmeyer cursed, letting go of Durge. This freed his other hand to help get rid of the slimy golem hanging onto him, yet despite his efforts he was unable to remove. “What the hell is this disgusting thing!?”
“Glad you asked! It’s my special golem that was designed to get inside narrow places!” the kobold answered with a grin. “Normally, I would use it to break inside heavily guarded places, but I think getting inside an armor isn’t off the table either!”
As soon as Lex said this, the golem began to make its way inside the warlord’s armor through any openings it could find. Thanks to its liquid body, it could get through even the tiniest of holes there were. Even an armor as strong as Gotzmeyer’s wasn’t without its holes, giving the slimy monster plenty of places to enter from. Once the golem began to make its way inside the warlord’s armor, it was over for him. Gotzmeyer couldn’t even struggle, as the inside of his suit was now filled with the substance the golem was made out of. Bright green liquid began to drip out of different spots, such as the holes for the eyes, creating a nightmarish sight to behold.
image [https://i.ibb.co/qJkyPty/Ch-109-Pic-1.jpg]
Erin and Durge could only stare in awe at what was happening right before their eyes. The monster that had been mere moments ago simply beating them down like nothing was now drowning in his imposing suit. It was almost impossible to believe.
“Erin, what the hell are you spacing out for!?” Lexton suddenly yelled, breaking the redhead out of her trance. “Take your sword and light up that bastard! We can put an end to this right now!”
Quickly looking for her sword, Erin saw that the magical stone still had some energy left in it, as the blade still had flames surrounding it. Grabbing her magically charged weapon, she sent out a stream of fire at Gotzmeyer, causing the golem within his armor to ignite. This caused an explosion that sent pieces of armor everywhere.
Once the dust had settled down, all that remained of the warlord was nothing more than smoking pieces of scrap metal.
Erin and her companions all walked slowly towards Gotzmeyer’s remains, like they were afraid he would come back to life if they caused too much noise. Yet as unbelievable as it was, the truth was that the warlord was no more.
“...HA! In your face, loser!” Zeldana said mockingly as she picked up Gotzmeyer’s helmet and stared at it’s face, like she was speaking to the warlord himself. “Who’s all high and mighty now, huh!? You were acting all tough and everything, yet here you are! Nothing but a pile of crap! Guess the almighty Gotzmeyer isn’t worth a damn in the end!”
The others stared at the elf with blank expressions, not amused by her antics in the least.
“She literally did nothing through the whole fight and she’s actually trying to take credit from it?” Durge asked. “How lowly can a person truly be?”
“At this point, I doubt anything she does will ever truly shock or surprise me,” Lexton said with a sigh. “Sadly, this is nowhere near her worst quality.”
While the others were busy with their antics, Erin was focused on Gotzmeyer’s remains. As much as it was obvious that they had won, something still felt odd about it. Like they were missing something very obvious.
“Erin, what’s wrong?” Durge asked, noticing the concerned look on the redhead. “You look worried over something.”
“I’m not sure how to say this, but… I feel like we’re missing something,” Erin answered. “It feels like we are overlooking something very important and that something is right before my eyes. This just doesn’t feel right.”
“Hey, I get that we won against a very dangerous foe with far more ease than we expected, but wasn’t this essentially the plan? Take him by surprise and eliminate him quickly?” the orc asked. “Besides, no matter how you look at it, it won’t change the fact that he’s in pieces. Nobody’s going to survive that.”
Upon hearing the pieces being mentioned, it all clicked inside Erin’s head. The redhead looked over all that was left by the explosion and realized what had been bothering her this whole time.
“That’s it! The pieces!” Erin shouted, surprising her companions who were now looking at her. “Where are all the pieces!?”
“Uhhh… Are you blind?” Lexton asked. “They’re scattered all over the floor in front of you!”
“Not the pieces of the armor! I meant pieces of Gotzmeyer himself!” the redhead said. “If he was within that armor, he should have been blown along with his armor! So there should be pieces of his actual body scattered around! Where are they!?”
Realizing what Erin was talking about, the others looked around for the pieces she was talking about. Like she had pointed out, there were only bits of the armor and nothing more.
“There’s nothing but the armor… Could he have been a robot or a cyborg?” Durge suggested. “I’ve heard of people that replace almost every part of their bodies with mechanical parts.”
“No. If he was a cyborg, then there should still be some organic pieces somewhere. If nothing else, there should be a brain left behind at the very least,” Lexton explained as he started to feel worry over this discovery. “And if he was a robot, there should be mechanical parts, such as wires, blown around. All I see are the armor pieces and nothing more, meaning that the suit was hollow.”
“I think I’ve got it!” Zeldana suddenly exclaimed, causing all eyes to turn towards her. “Maybe… He was never real to begin with and there was only the armor?”
“...Just shut up, Zeldana,” Erin said, not amused by her attempt at humor.
“Strangely enough, she’s the one closest to the truth,” a very familiar voice echoed throughout the room. Everybody immediately recognized it as the voice of Gotzmeyer. “I have to say that I’ve been away from the battlefield far too much. I’ve clearly gotten rusty, if someone can slip such an attack on me. Still, it was very clever and I commend you all in your success.”
“WHAT THE HELL!?” Lexton shouted as he looked around in panic. “How is he still alive!? I blew him up! There was no way for him to survive!”
“He could be a ghost,” Zeldana said. “Maybe he was-”
“IF YOU SAY HE WAS A GHOST ALL ALONG, I’LL MAKE YOU INTO A GHOST MYSELF!” the kobold yelled angrily at the elf.
“...It’s just a theory,” Zeldana mumbled.
“To clear any doubts still hanging in the air, I am not a ghost. I am still very much alive,” Gotzmeyer continued. “The same cannot be said about you lot soon, though.”
“Enough with the big talk! Where are you!?” Erin yelled as she looked around, trying to find the warlord. “You might have taken us by surprise by not dying and all, but do we really have a reason to fear you anymore!? Doesn’t seem like you have any means to kill us!”
“Believe me. I have plenty,” Gotzmeyer replied.
Suddenly, a dark red aura surrounded the warlord’s sword, causing it to lift up and fly away from Erin’s group. The blade flew to what looked like a large red portal, similar to what Gotzmeyer had used to summon his weapon. Much to the shock of everyone, it was the warlord himself who stepped out of the portal, taking hold of his weapon as he arrived.
“And when I said plenty, I meant it very literally,” Gotzmeyer added.
Before anyone could ask what he meant, Multiple portals appeared behind the warlord, allowing more people to arrive through them. Much to the horror of Erin and the others, Gotzmeyer wasn’t joined by regular soldiers or anything similar. Instead he was followed by what appeared to be clones or copies of himself. Not only that, but these Gotzmeyers simply kept walking out of the portals, until there were dozens of them.
image [https://i.ibb.co/0r1gsBR/Ch-109-Pic-2.jpg]
Erin looked at the numerous Gotzmeyers, trying to figure out if there was some sort of a trick or an illusion being used, yet found nothing. All of them looked exactly the same, had similar body language and even had similar weaponry. They were facing a small army made up of the same warlord.
“I get it now! You’re all identical siblings, right!?” Zeldana suddenly yelled while pointing at the helmet of the first Gotzmeyer they had faced.
“...I am going to enjoy killing YOU far more than I should,” Gotzmeyer said in an irritated voice.