Just a short look at a scene before Robert’s eyes had given goosebumps all over the body. The reason was obvious – they were late. The simplicity of the plan, which had to decrease the chances of failure, crumbled on the very first step. The knights under the command of the Duke attacked one day earlier before their group managed to get into the starting position. Maybe it was a downpour. Or the remote route took longer than they anticipated. It didn’t matter as they were already late.
And I wanted to join others and not to be alone during an occurring apocalypse. How lucky I was to stay in that village for a few more days and not end here…
The smell of fresh air after the thunderstorm was mixed with the aftermath of burning bodies and buildings, adding another layer of immersion in a horrible sight. The knight’s side didn’t seem to be big in numbers and from the look, easily managed to penetrate the wooden walls of Douger. However, Robert was quite sure that it was precisely the moment when the mages struck. The middle-sized town had a few guard towers from which mages could cast their magic. And they did as similar consequences of meteor shower devastated soldier's ranks, simultaneously crushing a few buildings near the gates and setting everything on fire.
However, the Duke seemed to predict such a move as Robert couldn’t see many bodies of knights in that place, where literally a hell emerged. Of course, from a distance, it was hard to discern parts of bodies in armor after the work of flaming fallen rocks and other spells. Still, most of the knights managed to break through from the side using the main direction of attack as a distraction, penetrating the wooden fence and entering the town. Melee range left no chances for their opponents to stop this alternative version of magic tanks. The mages clearly had tried as a lot of marks from fireballs, stone spikes, and other unnatural projectiles were left on the nearest surroundings. There was no carefulness in their magic attacks in the slightest as they were fighting for their life with all available strength. The knights were the same, forcefully cutting all obstacles to kill the revolting mages. Obstacles, that often happened to be ordinary city dwellers, who by their own stupidity were caught in the middle of battle.
Robert didn’t know the reason why they decided to stay there. Maybe it was fear of a change. Maybe it was the opposite - sincere hope on it as new ruling power in the form of mages could indeed make their life better. Or worse. Maybe they thought any danger would avoid them, while mages were fighting against knights. Not having any ability to influence on world’s order, they just followed the flow. Maybe it was a completely different reason. The result was the same – they stayed.
That led to even more chaotic fighting when mages tried to retreat to their tower. The chase seemed to be bloodier as by that moment all actions from abundant usage of mana finally resulted in a chain effect of triggering infection. Robert couldn’t see more from the roof of the mill, from where he willingly tried to observe the town, but he didn’t need to as he saw the outcome of such a rabies outburst with his own eyes. Still, the mage’s tower was there, easily visible from his place and it didn’t lose its purpose of the end goal of their “grand” mission. Therefore, Rob glanced once more time before climbing down to the rest of the group, who already were showing nervous anticipation. They had seen only remnants of the camping site left by Duke’s forces and clear signs of battle in front of the main gates, but nothing more.
“Well, we are partly fucked,” Robert exclaimed when he finally reached the ground and was surrounded by others. Even knights couldn’t hide their worry under closed helmets.
“Elaborate. Now!” one of the knights, Sir Antony, commanded. In an attempt not to miss anything, he even opened his visor, showing his gloomy face with freckles.
“What has happened to Duke’s campsite? Have you seen anyone there? Any signs of Marquise’s Blueriver banner?” another knight asked with ebony skin and plump lips, Sir Kane, almost hovering over Rob. Taking into account his short height in comparison to almost 240 centimeters (8 feet) of the man before him, it wasn’t that difficult.
“Sirs, calm down, please. First and foremost, we need to know about the situation in the town. We have an important mission…,” Garret, the mage, tried to speak, but was interrupted.
“Don’t misjudge the situation, mage. We are here by the Marquise’s decree, not by our own will. Therefore, our priority will be always Marquise's safety and not the help to possible traitors and Duke’s unconfirmed bastard,” Sir Antony retorted, not hiding his anger.
“How dare you…,” Garret tried to shout but was dragged back by his own companion from the tower.
“Oh, so your honor to follow a given order from your sovereign is worth nothing. I will be happy to see the reaction of Marquise to such an arrogant attitude. Maybe he will even believe that you were not scared in the first place and indeed just were worried about his wellbeing… And one more thing – if Marquise has sent you here, how many chances that my dear friend William isn’t an illegal son of Duke? Be honest with yourself - not many. So, refusing to help with the addition of direct insults to him right now will not do you any good in the future. I believe the result will be quite the opposite. But, hey, the consequences of such a decision will all be yours,” by the moment when Robert finished, Sir Antony was heavily breathing, trying to restrain himself. He failed as in the next moment he loudly yelled.
“You… Despicable worm!”
The knight simultaneously gripped the handle on the sword, which was lying on his shoulder. His armor and the blade were already glowing from imbued energy. However, the attempt to strike failed as Rob wasn’t going to stay motionless. Moving as fast as he could, he blocked Antony’s hand with his elbow, while taking out his knife. The knight tried to free his weapon, but surprisingly for him, Robert managed to hold it firmly. Moreover, the defense or all-cutting properties from mana appeared worthless as Rob wasn’t hitting directly. Almost. Because the tip of the knife was already near the eye of the knight. Still, that didn’t stop the latter as he shouted again.
“I will kill you, peasant!”
Turning his head to the side, Sir Antony attempted to strike Robert with his shoulder pad. Rob’s mind was already working on full, calculating a possible counter. His experience, his training, and his hyper-focus by one point in time had merged into a single eternity, giving him real combat skills. He wasn’t the best in the slightest, but he had enough abilities not to pale even against enemies, who were stronger than him on paper.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Therefore, leaving a bloodied mark on the knight’s cheek, he quickly ducked down, aiming for the leg. His fast motion ended in Sir Antony being thrown on the ground with his sword under him. Robert followed with a jump on the back, clearly knowing that it wouldn’t affect him at all as the armor dispersed all force from the strike. Still, added weight didn’t give the knight the ability to stand up, and the knife again reappeared near his eye.
“Don’t move!” Rob’s shout stopped Sir Kane from attacking, “And you, respected sir, listen carefully. You are not immortal, so be reasonable in your actions. I must remind you that the exact same worm, as you have named me, will eat your cold body in the end. However, I don’t need you to treat me well or as an equal. Nope, nothing like that. Never needed, never will. Instead, you better place your honor on the first spot of your priorities, treating it with a corresponding attitude. You have a direct order, so, please, follow it without any additional requests, conditions, or hidden resistance.”
“Don’t you dare…,” red-faced from anger, Sir Antony tried to oppose, but was interrupted by his own partner.
“Despite his origin as a peasant, he is right. We indeed have an order, which we must fulfill to keep our honor. Calm down, Sir Antony. I don’t think Marquise will appreciate such lowly manners. We will follow you to help with the mission. We both will. That is decided! Do you agree, Sir Antony?”
After seeing the nod from the lying knight, Robert stood up and made a few steps back to distance himself from the angered man. His ear caught barely audible mockery comments from mages, which he ignored. William stepped beside him, trying to show their unity on this. However, his might-to-be girlfriend stood in her place as if she was above this situation or didn’t want to be involved. Fortunately, the main character, Sir Antony, managed to hold back and recover his arrogant attitude, without retorting to real action. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from adding.
“This isn’t over, but I will postpone my actions for now.”
“You may be dramatically wrong on this… or too optimistic as…,” a strong cough with familiar glowing patterns interrupted Robert’s words, but simultaneously it worked as an answer itself.
“How are you? When has it started, Stick?” sincere worry, coming from William, was ignored, as Rob widely grinned, before opening his mouth.
“I am good as always. Maybe slightly less – glowing skin makes me cringe internally. Bad memories from one very old movie, which I dumbly thought was action-paced and about bloodthirsty vampires. It appeared it was a bad joke from others with a remade trailer… However, what options do I have? Bare minimum, I will last until the tower. Will see about the later part of our journey. That’s why, respected sirs, I expect you to honor your word because my friend needs some help in that town. Let’s start from what I saw. So…,” Robert's description of what he had seen managed to switch everyone’s attention from his infection to actual planning.
The information was taken differently. Both knights just steeled their resolve to end their mission quickly to focus on the search for Marquise. The idea that their sovereign might be inside an infected town led to their attempt to immediate movement. The mages openly panicked as they were expecting a less dangerous task. Angela focused on encouraging her companions while hiding her own opinion on the subject. William was ready to act, clearly feeling the pressure of the potential outcome of their mission and not wanting to waste time, which would only lead to more casualties between both parties, not counting civilians. Therefore, they decided to go straight to the tower, using the fastest possible route to lessen the amount of infected that they could meet in the process.
Robert used the final checkup of equipment before heading out to do the same thing with his status. He didn’t know what he wanted to see, as there was literally nothing drastically different. Yes, he had gotten a noticeable increase as his shortened time of restoration-adaption cycle together with insane exercise stress for a whole week with almost no pauses gave an obviously crazy result. Still, the main problem wasn’t in him being weak, which he could resolve by working out, but was quite the opposite. Moreover, he had no idea how to fix his mana issues, especially now, after appearing more symptoms of rabies. At least for now, his nails kept the same length and form, not turning into its clawed version.
On the other hand, it may help me with the problem of cutting them – I really hate the absence of nail clippers!
Envoy of Wepwakor (candidate) – Tier 0
Strength 18 (556 pt.) – 62% of max potential
Agility 13 (345 pt.) – 51% of max potential
Endurance 22 (814 pt.) – 82% of max potential
Toughness 10 (259 pt.) – 62% of max potential
Vitality 8 (214 pt.) – 62% of max potential
Perception 10 (259 pt.) – 75% of max potential
Mind 40 (4’526 pt.) – 38% of max potential
Core 0 (0 pt.) – no potential
Mana regeneration (7): 2+1*=3 pts. per second
Abilities: Adaptive Growth
Traits: Remolded Brain, God’s Envoy, Spiritual Body, Soul Anchor, External Mana Imbuing, Soul Core Poisoning* (temporary)
That doesn’t look good… Moreover, what the fuck with my Vitality? Is that the damage from not having soul protection? My body seemed to be tightly tied to the soul. Whatever. Doesn’t change anything. I will still flounder until the end. So fuck it! I managed to grow by a lot during this… year? Damn, I don’t even remember how long I have been here. A few weeks in the forest, before traveling to training camp and spending months there. More months in marching and fighting… Crap, I have never seen anything here. That brothel could be the brightest memory from such a messed world. For God’s sake, I’ve got only one payment after the first month! Calm down, Robert, calm down. You need to focus on positive points… Well, where the fuck is, that positive point? Stop! This is a straight way to deep depression. Despite my struggles and hardships, I am alive. I just need to continue to act and maybe there will be a way out of this in the future. I need to do what I can. To focus on action. While I move, I live! So, move, damn it!
“What are we waiting for? Some kind of a special signal? Or motivational speech to boost our morale before heading out? Are you only all talks about the need to hurry?”
Robert’s loud questions finally pushed everyone to start walking towards the gate. Both knights and William were in the front, armed with their longswords. Angela was in the center, carrying two staff. One of them looked like the one with lighting runes, while the other wasn’t familiar. Two mages used fireball versions. After a few persistent attempts, Rob managed to get that it was the fastest and the cheapest spell in the current mage’s arsenal. Therefore, it was an obvious pick against multiple potential targets. Robert, himself, was at the back, covering from possible attacks from the rear. Additionally, after seeing his potentially unstable state, nobody aside from Aspen wanted to rely on him in their breakthrough to the tower. That was reasonable, despite being rude.
However, knowing the stakes, Rob silently agreed and just followed the flow. Or in his case, their odd mixed group. The burned gates were already clearly visible, so he readied his mace for the incoming fight. The weight of the shield on the left arm also added some confidence and courage, which would be needed soon according to his inner feelings. There was literally no chance for a peaceful walk. Just the first ten meters inside the devastated town showed the trustfulness of his prediction.