The game’s welcome window greeted me as I popped into the world. I closed the damned thing without bothering to even read it. I focused instead on figuring out where I was. While the place was dim, there was enough light to at least make out my surroundings. It wasn’t my room or anywhere else I recognized. The ceilings were fairly high and bare. In fact, the more I looked at them, the more I realized the ceiling was nothing more than the joists used to hold up the roof.
As I sat up I found myself in a small room. Or at least it was a space that looked like it was a room. The walls were made up of stacked crates and there was a gap between them and the roof high above.
As I tried to take a deep breath through my nose, I practically gagged at the rancid smell. The place reeked of mold and rot. If anything, the smell alone told me I had never seen this place before. I needed to get my bearings and make a run for it.
With shallow, light breaths through my mouth, I slowly made my way across to the one opening in my little room. A gruff and deep voice made its way to my ears as I got close. “…longer should we wait for the kid? My son isn’t going to last much longer under that bastard’s thumb.”
“Let’s give him another hour,” Barti’s voice was calm. While I didn’t was going on, the fact that he was there was enough of a reason for me to creep close to see who he was meeting with. After all, if he was meeting with someone dangerous, it was best to know now.
“Dats easy fo you tah say. You don ‘ave anyon’ in those damn pens.” Another voice sneered. Without warning, something sounded like it exploded into pieces. The sudden escalation caused my fast-beating heart to practically hum as I worked to get closer, faster. When I saw a much shorter stack of boxes, I made my way toward it.
“You don’t think I have something to lose?” Barti’s voice was cold. Colder than I had ever heard it and it only grew colder the longer he spoke. “I already lost my wife, my family, my home, my village to these monsters. I am here, not for you, not for your families, but for them. To seek retribution for what these things did to them. To prevent them from being able to repeat that atrocity from happening yet again.”
As I started to climb, the pile shifted and began to teeter. I tried to shift my weight to counteract the motion but the motion had already grown past the point that I could stop it. As the top box tipped past the point of return it slid and slipped off the top of the stack. Its corner missed me as it slammed into the ground behind me. Without the additional leverage, my attempts to counteract the motion caused the stack to veer off in the other direction.
I should have expected the change but for some reason I didn’t. Within moments of the box hitting the ground, I found myself joining it. Splinters of wood poked and stabbed at me as I hit the ground.
Other than a few bruises, I found myself unhurt thanks to my dress. That fact alone made me thankful that I had decided to openly wear the thing, especially when training. That thought of course had me asking the question; just how much in-game time has passed since my fight with Barti?
I wasn’t given much of a chance to think about it or run as I was suddenly surrounded. A few of them even went so far as to jump over the wall of boxes to get to me a few moments faster. Each and every single one of them had some sort of non-human trait visible. Fur along arms, long ears, tails, or claws to name a few of those that I could make out.
Unexpectedly, none of them moved to grab me. Instead, they each watched me as they collectively blocked off my escape route. It was as if they were waiting for something or someone. Finally, a pair of people, including Barti, walked up to our group. “You think this little thing will be able to do what we need?” A woman with tusks scoffed.
“He was able to take me out,” Tindi spoke from behind me. I hadn't even realized she was in the group until she spoke.
“I could take you out,” the tusked woman shot back.
“And you and I are on the same level.” Tindi gestured to me. “He was able to do so when he was half my level.”
“Preposssterosss,” a male with a long forked tongue and slit eyes spoke. His face was close enough that the ends of his tongue tickled the back of my ear causing me to shiver. “The ssstat differenssse would make that impossible given your low level and high skills.”
“Normally you would be correct. But that is assuming normal growth and training.” Barti answered for Tindi. “Unfortunately for him, I have been the one training him. Pushing his stats up faster than typical as well as training him how to use them to their fullest. Though, it helps that he was mostly a clean sheet.”
Multiple voices whispered to each other. Some were loud enough for me to make out. “The devil has been training him?”
“He survived training with the demon?”
“Is this kid even sane?”
Barti ignored all of them. Instead, he reached his hand out to help me up. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” I responded as I took his hand. “Though I am a bit confused as to what is going on and how I got here.”
“What is the last thing you remember?” He asked as he slowly pulled me to the side. While a few people watched us go, the rest argued back and forth about this, that, or the other thing.
“Just you telling me that I was leaving myself vulnerable, then nothing but pain.”
“The pain was probably because I grabbed near the base of your tail.” He looked a bit hesitant as he spoke but I couldn't tell if it had to do with the fact he caused me so much pain or something else.
While I vaguely recalled having a tail, it had been made of mana, hadn’t it? It should have been as solid as the mana that floated in the air around us. “Tail? But that was a mana construct…wasn’t it?”
“Yes and no.” He seemed hesitant to say something.
Thankfully Ginny walked up to take care of the explanation for him. “Your mana settled into the shape it felt was natural for you. Condensing and moving as if it were your body. It did something similar when you beat…” She snapped her fingers for a second as she tried to recall someone's name. “Trenton.”
“I still don’t remember beating him.”
“That happens as one's emotions takes over and you lose yourself to the mana.” Ginny waved her hand. “But that isn’t what matters. What matters is that the natural shape for your mana to take has the tail and ears of a…I think it was a fox?” She looked over to Barti who simply nodded.
“And?” I asked, not quite understanding what she was getting at.
While Ginny started to say something, someone came up behind her and spoke over her. “It don’ ma’er. Ta only ting tha ma’ers at tis momen’ is your choice. Ta help us or no’.”
I wanted to hear what Ginny had just been about to say but the tinker elf looking creature was right, we had more important things to talk about. With a sigh, I said the words that would decide my fate, “I am going to help you guys.” I only hoped that I didn’t have to deal with the demon on my own. Everyone looked relieved. More so than they probably should have been given how useless I was compared to them. Which had me mumbling the question I still had no answer for. “Is anyone ever going to tell me why me?”
“Not now, we gots to go over the plan.” Someone said as they smacked my back. As one, the group pulled me around a corner not five boxes down. I found myself in a relatively large open space lit by a series of lamps. The flickering flames caused shadows to dance as we all made our way inside. As I get closer to the middle of the space, a large map of the city with multiple places marked grabbed my attention.
“The plansssimple.” The forked tongued man spoke. “Allsss you got to do isss drag Lucasss here to the guard houssse, get into the pit, free the prisssonersss, and essscort them to the sssouth gate.”
Yeah, that sounded simple but he didn’t have to do it, I did. “First off, isn’t the guard house crawling with, oh I don’t know, guards?”
“Typically,” a soft and raspy voice came from the shadows to my left. “But they will be stretched a bit thin for a few hours.”
“And the demon?”
“Let Ginny and I worry about the demon,” Barti spoke with confidence. I barely heard his words as he muttered, “I need to pay that bastard and his kind back for what they did to my family.” The way he said it, the darkness in his voice, the anger, almost caused me to stop the next speaker and demand to help him. Ginny must have seen something in my eyes because she shook her head the moment my eyes moved over her as they worked their way to where Barti stood.
I took the hint and focused on the speaker as I asked. “Ok, assuming all of the distractions work and the majority of the guards are out of my way, what do I do about the rest?”
“All of the guards have either seen you or heard of you meeting with their boss. Just act as if you are following orders and you won't have any issues.” A girl no larger than me said as she started to clean her claws with a knife. “And if anyone questions you, kill them.”
I sputtered for a moment before finally managing to say, “But they are the city guards.”
She shrugged. “They’re only human.”
“I’m human!” My voice cracked as I suddenly realized that not all non-humans were as nice as those I had met so far. Some were just as bloodthirsty as humans.
“Meh, I doubt that.” She said as her eyes met mine.
I shivered but someone else spoke up. “Stop pestering the boy.” An older man used his cane to push his way through the crowd. Everyone stopped talking and simply watched him with what looked like respect and awe. When he finally stopped, his eyes looked into mine as he continued speaking. “Just do what Lucas tells you when he tells you. He knows the plan and what to do if something goes wrong.”
With a gesture, a small fluffy creature appeared out of the crowd as it waddled its way over. Its fur was a mix of white and black. The combination reminded me of something I had once seen in a movie, but I couldn’t put my thumb on what it was called. All I knew was that I suddenly felt the need to hug the creature. When it came to a stop, the creature bowed to the old man, then me, before speaking with such a deep voice that I practically felt in my chest. “I am ready to do what must be done.”
While I knew that this was important, why did that sound so ominous? “How am I supposed to get Lucas to the guard house without getting caught?”
The old man passed something that looked like a vial to the creature. “You are going to drag me,” Lucas said before shotgunning whatever was in the bottle.
“Surely you are kidding.” I scoffed, not quite believing what I had heard him say.
“Nope.” He said as someone started to tie a rope around each of his arms while another went to work on his legs.
“I will do no such thing!” I practically yelled.
“You will because you must.” The old man’s soft voice was just loud enough to make out over the sounds of people preparing to go into battle.
“No, but…”
“No buts!” Lucas’s growl was even more terrifying than his normal voice. “You already agreed to help us. Or are you backing out?” His question came out more like a sneer than anything else as a quest window popped up in front of me.
Quest:
Drag in the Goods
Quest Type:
Personal - Unranked
Description:
You and Lucas have been tasked with infiltrating the city prison pits. Too bad he cannot just walk in a free man.
Requirements:
Convince the town and guards that he is a prisoner and make it into the pits without your duplicity being discovered.
Reward:
1000 XP, +1 Charisma, Lucas’s trust
Failure:
Unknown
I hesitated. Not because of the quest or the challenge that it presented. No. I hesitated because I didn’t want to hurt someone. Especially if there was no reason behind it. It felt wrong. Even if it was the only way to complete the quest. It was bad enough that I had to pull him along as a prisoner but everything everyone was saying that I would have to hurt him.
It would only take a single hit, a single beating to generate the wounds we needed to sell the act. Still, I found myself hesitating.
He took my hesitation as an answer in and of itself and turned to face one of the few creatures that had stayed behind to help. The thing was covered in tiny scales. It held a small knife and didn’t hesitate to use it to cut Lucas.
Lucas simply hissed at the pain and nothing else as the creature continued to add wound after wound. To my shock and horror, the cuts didn’t show any signs of healing as they continued. I watched as the number of cuts spread from his arms to his back, and finally to his chest. The blood that dribbled out of each slowly colored his white fur a dark crimson color.
Finally, thankfully, the creature stopped and backed up. Which was a good thing as I was about to kill just to get it to stop. Lucas, however, didn’t seem phased by the number of cuts as he turned to look at me. “Prisoner’s Poison. It stops a person’s healing for a set amount of time. It is used when torturing prisoners.” He passed me a small vial. Our eyes met as he made sure I understood his next words. “Keep that with you. It is the antidote.”
His entire body shook as he slipped on a small bracelet. I gestured to it and asked, “What is that?”
“Something to suppress my mana.” Lucas then tossed me a small ring. “Put that on.” The thing felt like it was made of ice. It hurt to even touch. Worried it was doing damage, I looked up at my health bar only to find it was not the one dropping. My mana bar was slowly, steadily, sliding downward. Only the look in Lucas’s eyes prevented me from simply tossing the ring across the room.
Name:
Shackle Key
Type:
Ring
Rank:
Rare
Material:
VoidGlass
Physical Defense:
0
Magical Defense:
0
Primary Effect:
Allows one to remove the linked shackle.
Secondary Effect:
Passively absorbs a constant amount of mana at a rate of 1 mana per minute. Stops absorbing mana when the wearer drops below 50%
Tertiary Effect:
Cannot be stored in a spatial inventory.
Durability:
200/200
The ring represented freedom for Lucas but that didn’t mean I wanted to wear it. Not that I was given much of a choice. I mean it wasn’t like I could put it in my inventory and apparently dresses didn’t have pockets. Who thought that was a good idea? Everyone needed somewhere to store small items like their wallet or phone.
With an irked growl, I slipped the ring on as I looked at Lucas. He stood there with a length of rope in his hand. One end of which he held out to me. The far end was tied to his loosely wrapped legs. If he was tied with chains instead of rope he would have looked like one of the prisoners being walked off the bus in a movie. I sighed in resignation but accepted the rope. I took a moment to loosely loop it around my left hand before giving him a nod.
He didn’t say anything as he turned and took the lead. Not knowing where anything was or what to do, I followed behind him like I would a dog. If we were in the real world and he wasn’t covered in wounds, it might even have looked like I was walking a dog.
He opened a door set into the wall. It let in a stream of light that blinded me with the brilliance of the sun. Either he didn’t notice or care because he stepped through. The rope in my hands jerked me along behind him. “Remember to wait until you hear the signal,” Barti said from somewhere behind me.
“What signal?” Did we ever agree on a signal? Instead of answering, the door behind me closed.
“We need to get going.” Lucas tugged on the rope. I let him lead us while I let my eyes finish adjusting to the amount of light. We were in a small alley just off the main road that led from the wall to the guild. A wall that I could see as we got closer to the alleys mouth.
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Without warning, he stopped and dropped to the ground. His voice came out in a hushed tone as he spoke. “You need to drag me from here. Oh and do not turn your head around. Keep your eyes forward no matter what you hear.” His eyes held mine for a second before lying back.
“Where am I going?” I asked while wishing I had paid better attention to the path the guards had taken me down.
He grumbled about being stuck with an incompetent idiot before he said. “Left, straight for two blocks, right, straight for three, left, left, right, right, straight, right, and left. The guard building will be the only one with guards at the door.” He took a second to get settled before adding, “Also, try and avoid potholes.”
I nodded and tried to school my before slowly walking forward. After a few steps, the rope in my hand went taught. The scraping sounds and pained grunts that came from behind me nearly caused me to turn and check on him. Only the echoes of his words kept my eyes forward.
Like most other days, people swarmed the place. Most of whom were human, but non-humans were scattered here and there. They walked with their heads down and their shoulders pulled in tight. It didn’t even take a moment before the chatter that filled the street died down. Likely as a result of people catching sight of me and my baggage.
I expected a group of people to come over and beat me up for how Lucas was being treated. Hell, I hoped that someone, anyone, would come over and demand that I release him. To prove to me that what everyone had been saying was wrong. That I was being lied to. But nothing happened. If anything, the crowd parted for us.
As I walked, the crowd grew. Well, the number of humans increased while the number of non-humans decreased. The few non-humans that did linger stayed in the background where they simply watched. Behind me, I heard people shuffle around and some soft thumps. Each of these seemed to be followed by a grunt or a soft pained gasp.
The sounds were such that I didn’t even have to look to know what was going on. Especially when a mother encouraged her kids. “Go on, hit the creature. It did bad things and needs to be punished.” How would she even know what Lucas had done? Did she just assume that any non-human being dragged through the streets did something wrong?
My nails ground into my palm as I forced myself to keep walking. To not turn around and beat that woman and everyone else who was participating in this macabre practice. Thankfully, the turn for the alley was just up ahead. As I turned, I took the chance to glance back at Lucas. Either he knew I would do this or he had never let his eyes leave me because our gazes locked for that fraction of a second. His eyes were hard and unforgiving. While I was sure that most of the anger was pointed at those around him, something about the look told me that he would kill me if I attempted to help him in any way.
Unfortunately, we didn’t make it into the alley before someone did something worse than beat Lucas. As I rounded the corner I heard a loud splash behind me followed by Lucas’s screams. Given the sizzling and popping noises as well as the smell of cooking meat, I refused to even think about what that liquid might have been. I locked my eyes forward and tried to pick up my pace if only to get him out of the street and away from the crowds.
Thankfully, while the alley was dirty, no one followed us inside. I picked up the pace a bit more. While it meant that he was in more pain as the ground and dirt scraped and dug into his wounds, it would mean we would get to our destination faster. As soon as we got there I could give him the antidote and he could heal all this shit.
I followed his earlier directions through small streets and even smaller alleys until we eventually popped through what amounted to a crack between two buildings. On the other side we found ourselves practically at our destination.
Like before, people stopped and gawked at Lucas. Fortunately for him, those crowding the sidewalk were different from those we had walked by earlier in the fact that they only hurled insults at him. I didn’t know if this was because they didn’t want to get their clothes dirty or because of some misguided pride. Still, I was thankful that I didn’t have to listen to his pained cries.
The crowd was large enough to cause traffic to stop while those inside tried to see just what was going on. While this meant more eyes watched us, it also meant I didn’t have to stop to wait for the traffic to stop before crossing to the far side.
As before, a pair of guards stood on either side of a door. Their eyes tracked us as we approached. To my surprise, they didn’t stop me or question me as I walked through the door. The only people they stopped were those who tried to follow us inside.
The sight of the over-the-top interior plastered a malicious grin on my face as I thought about just how much work it would be to clean up the muck and grime we were dragging inside. I almost wondered how hard it would be for them to clean up the blood trail. Then again, this probably wasn’t the first time someone had done this. Hell, this treatment would explain the marks left in the floor on the other side of the door.
As I opened the door and walked in, the room of guards went silent save for the shuffling of cloth and clinking of metal as they shifted to see my prisoner. Some sneered at Lucas while others shot me a grin. It wasn’t lost on me when a pair near the back of the room glared at me while they passed another guard some money.
I stopped in the middle of the room and spoke with a voice that was as monotonous sounding as I could muster. “Where do you want me to take him?”
A guard that was leaning against a nearby desk spoke up. “I can take him off your hands for you.” I heard some chuckles and saw a few roll their eyes but I ignored them as I focused on the speaker.
“The Captain told me to get him information.” I channeled my disgust at the situation and my scorn of this situation into my tone as I continued. “I did him one better. I got him a high enough source to question.” My eyes met the guards as I injected a bit of anger into my voice. “Now, do you think I would be stupid enough to hand over such a prize to you? To let you damage him so much that he is useless, or worse, he dies? Get out of my way if you are not going to show me where to go.”
It took everything in me to keep from throwing up from the nerves and from my implications. Thankfully, the guard gave one short, sharp nod. His tone was respectful as he gestured toward a door set into the side of the room. “Then feel free to take him to the pits yourself. Just don’t blame me when you get sick from what you see down there.” I muttered a thanks as I moved to the door. The guard near it opened it for me. He held it just long enough for me to get my prisoner through before slamming it and plunging me into darkness.
I stood still to let my eyes adjust. Too bad I didn’t need to see anything to hear the screams that echoed up from below while laughter filtered through the door behind me.
Finally able to see what was in front of me, I found myself on the landing of a very long staircase. I almost turned around to free Lucas so that he could walk down the stairs. His hissed voice stopped me. “Get on with it.”
I took a moment to close my eyes and take a quick deep breath. The cold, wet air that filled my lungs smelled of mold with a hint of rusted metal. That smell brought forth two possibilities of the conditions far below, one of which I had to block out lest I throw up and make this situation worse. Instead, I focused on the idea that the cages below were just unmaintained. That they were falling apart.
With that image in mind, I moved one foot forward and one step down, then another. Step after step, I made my way into the darkness. The lack of a visible end caused me to slowly increase my pace. By the time we reached the bottom, I was practically running. While this didn’t bother me, I am sure that Lucas didn’t appreciate it. He went from sliding down the steps to bouncing off the floor and walls. At one point I could have sworn I had heard something crack. Here's to hoping it was the stone and not one of his bones.
As we exited the stairs, my feet slipped and skidded as I worked to bring us to a stop. Once we were stopped, I found myself inside a giant cavern. The distraction was probably why I didn’t notice the sound of something barreling down the stairs toward me. A second later, something close to the ground and traveling at a decent clip, took my feet out from under me.
My head slammed into the ground hard enough to cause my ears to ring. I groaned in pain as I tried to figure out what had hit me. Lucas’s groaning reminded me that I was not alone. Hell, this little bump was nothing compared to what he had to endure.
A guard laughing caught my attention. She sat at a desk no more than a dozen feet away. I scowled at her as I moved to get up. She wiped a tear as he spoke. “I haven’t seen someone come running down those stairs quite like that in too long. Let alone after dropping their prisoner’s lead.”
Through the pain, I managed to grit out my question. “And how do the guards typically transport prisoners into this place?”
“Most just throw them down the stairs.” Her grin, though missing a few teeth, was malicious. As if she enjoyed watching people get tossed down that long ass staircase. “Most survive.” She didn’t say the other part. She didn’t have to. I was fairly sure that none of these people cared if their prisoners survived their treatment. Hell, some of them might even got off on it.
Before I could curse the fuckers out or say another word, a stinging sensation along my cheek caused me to wince. I stood there frozen as I tried to figure out what had just happened. A soft thud of something hitting the wooden desk brought my attention back to the guard.
She was face down, not moving. “Get this damn shackle off of me!” Lucas’s harsh voice whisper yelled into my ear. I spun away from him. He had to be one hell of a tough son of a bitch to be able to stand there, glaring holes into me, even after taking all that damage.
I blame the shock over the events that it took me a minute to realize that he had been the one to kill the guard. So much for being helpless. This guy was a fucking fighter. One whose bad side was not someplace I wanted to be. I quickly stuttered out the question “How d-do I remove th-them?”
“While wearing the ring, simply pull the shackle off my wrist.” He spoke slowly as if he thought I was a simpleton…or just stupid. As he lifted his arm for me to grab onto the bracelet, I did as he bade. Whereas the ring felt like ice, the bracelet felt like a black hole. At first, it was cold but, as my mana rushed out of me in a torrent and into its unfilling depths, the metal heated.
The moment I had the thing off his arm, I didn’t hesitate to drop it to the ground. He simply rolled his eyes before demanding, “And the antidote?” As soon as I passed the small vial over, he ripped the stopper off and downed the thing.
We stood there as if waiting for something to happen. One minute turned into two. After five minutes of waiting, I wanted to just ask him if we could move on. To my surprise, and confusion, the light around us started to act weirdly. The flickering firelight cast across the floor by the torches stopped moving.
Then the light twisted around him. Some of it vanished while others simply changed endpoints. My shadow no longer cast itself against the floor but against the wall behind the desk. The moving light, while a weird effect, did grant me a decent overview of the pit.
Though, even with the light I could barely make out the other side of the cavern. A cavern whose ceiling had to be well over a hundred feet up, and that was the part directly above us. The center of the place had to rise half again as high. No wonder the stairs were as long as they were. Hell, given that there were no switchbacks, were we even inside the city anymore?
“No wonder we could never find this place.” Lucas finally muttered as he finished doing whatever he had been doing with the light. While his fur and clothes were filthy and covered in blood, all of his wounds were gone. There was even a layer of new fur where his burns had been.
In a bit of awe, and looking for another way to heal myself that didn’t waste so much mana, I asked, “So, what spell was that?”
“Something of my own creation, and before you ask, no, I cannot teach it to you.”
“Why not?” I wanted to whine but that would more than likely backfire spectacularly.
“Not only do you not have the right affinity for it, I doubt you have the patience to learn to gain half the experience needed to cast the spell.”
“What…” I started but he interrupted me. “I can only use the Light element, nothing else. The system won't even let me buy another element, so I have had to push it to its limits. Now, can we get a move on?”
“Is that why the light twisted around us?” I wanted to know, curious if I could at least learn such a skill.
“That was me absorbing the light and refilling my mana.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “That unique skill is one of the reasons I was picked to be the prisoner. Those damn manacles could suck all the mana they wanted, I would just refill my pool the moment they were taken off.” He turned and started down a well-worn path without checking to make sure that I followed him.
I practically jogged to catch up and keep up with him as we came to a metal grate-covered hole. As I looked at it, I felt a lump of grief lodge itself into my throat. The metal looked well-maintained and cared for.
The things it kept caged below, on the other hand, looked like death would come for them at any moment. Lucas didn’t waste a second before he reached down and ripped the grate out of the stone. With a flex of his arm, he tossed the entire thing at the nearest wall.
Metal screeched and stone exploded as the top came to rest, edge first, inside the wall. Gold and red eyes looked up at the sudden noise. Being the tallest between us, their eyes found me first. The fear and grief I saw caused me to nearly jump down to do something, anything, to help them. Lucky for them, and me, Lucas jumped in first.
As soon as they saw him, most of their bodies visibly relaxed. The one that didn’t was the largest of the group and they kept their eyes trained on me. Watched me. Prepared to do anything to protect those around them from whatever I might do.
Seeing as I was not willing to do anything to provoke the creature, I once again looked around the cavern. This time focusing on the ground rather than the walls or ceiling.
It looked like the place had been planned. The holes were equally sized and regularly spaced. They were each dark and quiet. Only one was different in any way. About a dozen holes over and a few closer to the center stood one with its lid up and soft light pouring out. As if it had been waiting for the right moment, a sudden, ear-splitting scream filled the room.
I would be the first to admit that the scream could have come from anywhere, but something told me that the open and lit cell was the most likely. I jogged up to the edge and peeked inside. I nearly fell backward in shock at what I found.
A metal ring hung down from the hinged side of the lid. A rope looped its way through the ring as it held a suspended moaning Lance up by his wrists.
I watched as Michael stepped back from Lance. He moved far enough to expose the wolfkin's chest. It was tattered. Long slices crisscrossed over the flesh. Some of which went deep enough to pour a steady stream of blood while others looked almost as if they were meant to peel just the flesh off. I nearly threw up at the sight.
My gagging must have been loud enough to carry as Patric slid out of the shadows right next to me. “Who is up there?” Michael called up.
“Kyren.” He replied. The way he said it and his ability to use his skills had me wondering if they were here to rescue their friend.
“I knew my dad was going to talk to him but it is too soon for him to be down here,” Linda groaned as she turned to face me. “What are you doing here?”
While I trusted these guys, finding them here had me wondering. So I tried to answer as vaguely as I could. “Same as you I suspect.”
Victor and Jeremiah were both launched up to the other side of the hole from me by Michael as he asked. “So you are not here to release the non-humans?” As soon as the two landed, they turned to face me. Michael joined them a second later.
“No.” I lied.
Linda sighed as she joined the three of them. “You just lied.”
Out of reflex, I answered with the tried and true: “No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did.” She held up her hand to stop me from speaking. “I can feel your lies.”
I had to stop myself from going over everything I had ever said to her. “And how does that work? Some skill?” I asked with obvious skepticism.
“No,” She rolled her eyes. “Through the blood you have been ingesting.”
“What blood” My eyes widened as I tried to figure out what she was referring to.
A small bottle of sauce appeared in her hand. “This blood.”
“That is the family sauce…” I started.
“It’s a mix of my blood and some spices.” Her words caused me to stop talking. “The blood is what gives it that extra kick.”
I nearly gagged at that. She was talking as if her blood was used often by the group to add spice to their meals. “Then why give it to me?”
“Why not?” Her mouth lifted enough to expose her canines. They were longer than they should have been and seemed to be growing. Almost long enough to reach her bottom lips as she continued. “Plus, my dad keeps telling me I need to get a few more minions of my own.”
“Just who is your dad and what are you?”
“Oh, did he not tell you?” Her pout lasted a moment before returning to her predatory smile. “The guard captain is my father.”
“You mean the demon?” My voice nearly came out as a squeak.
“Yeah?” She sounded as if it didn’t matter. Given the lack of reaction by the rest of the group, it didn’t seem to phase them either.
I squeezed my eyes shut as I tried to push the information that she was a demon to the back of my mind. It wouldn’t help me right now. I could freak out about it later. For now, I needed to focus on getting answers. “But why feed me your blood?”
“As I said, it was because my dad told me I needed more minions.”
“You said that, but that explains nothing.”
“How do you think demons lock others under them? Contracts can only go so far. Feeding one our blood will make them a part of our family. Of course, at this point there would be no going back. Not that most want to. Given time, it can even give them demonic traits. Some of those lucky enough to get a ton of blood can find their race changed to a demonic one.” She set a hand on Michael’s shoulder.
He looked down at her with obvious lust as he spoke. “Thanks to Linda and her father, I went from a weak, plain human to a demon. Her father even went so far as to arrange a demon patron for me.”
“Wait, I thought your patron was angelic? Or is your class not sanctified?”
He shot a look at me as he smiled. “Whoever said that an angel sanctified the class?” Now that I thought about it, the class never specified what it needed to be sanctified by. A glint entered his eyes as he asked his next question. “I am curious if her blood gave you a demonic class option.”
I looked away as I tried to recall if there was a second demonic class option because I was not going to tell them about the Succubus option unless I had no other choice. Thankfully, I did recall the one other option. “Emberblood.”
He frowned and looked down at Linda. “I don’t know that one.”
“Because it isn’t worth much. It relies on burning anything and everything that comes close. It’s a one-trick pony if anything. A bucket of water can beat them.” She turned her head and looked at me with narrowed eyes. “But I am fairly sure he got at least one decently powerful demonic class.”
I looked anywhere except at her as I quickly said. “Nope. I don’t recall getting any other demon-related class.”
Linda’s laugh was filled with mirth but to me it sounded close to a witch's cackle. “You did. What was it?”
I was not going to get away with not telling her. She would know if I lied and wouldn’t let me out of there without telling her to truth. So, not seeing another way out, I spoke quickly. “Succubus.”
The group, as a whole, froze as their brains tried to process what I had said. “Surely you meant Incubus?” Jeremiah called from where he stood, his face twisted up in confusion.
I shook my head. “It said Succubus.” Linda burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that she nearly fell back into the pit. A pit that still held a Lance to the wall. The reminder of his current state was enough to remind me why I was here and what the demons and humans were trying to do. I hardened my heart against these people I had grown close to while I looked for an opening to exploit.
While I prepared to attack, Patric asked the question the rest of the group was probably thinking. “But there is no such thing as a male Succubus…is there?”
“There isn’t.” Linda managed to get out through her laughter.
As one, all of the men widened their eyes and looked me up and down. While Michael managed to stay standing, the other two didn’t. I watched Jeremiah and Victor fall on their asses as they joined Linda on the ground. When I saw them do this I realized I would never be presented with such an opportunity a second time.
Mana gushed out of my core and into my body as I pushed everything I had into Body Enhancement. The world around me slowed down. Shizukana Arashi appeared in my hands as I spun in place. I managed to slice Patric’s head off before anyone could react.
My muscles started to scream for mercy as I moved. While it was a risk, I took the chance and jumped over the pit. As my feet slammed onto the edge of the hole on the other side, I threw my weight forward. I barreled my way through Michael and Linda.
While I could feel their mana starting to make its way out, I had successfully managed to catch them both off guard. Even better was the fact that the two people behind them were still down. Victor’s bow appeared in his hand just in time to meet my attack. My sword cut through the wooden bow before scoring a deep cut across his chest.
Blood exploded up as the small nick to his heart explosively expanded. While it didn’t cause the air to fill with a mist of blood as it did in some movies, it did send drops out in every direction. Some of which landed on my face and covered my arms. The sticky liquid caused me to flinch but I managed to push through and slice into Jeremiah’s neck.
A heavy body slammed into my back and ripped me away from the two bodies. The edge of the metal lid on the next pit brought me to a rough and sudden halt. I landed face down and flinched as my eyes met the occupants. The two girls inside looked no older than fifteen. Both of them looked at me in fear as they huddled together.
The sight stoked the flames inside of me. I turned my head to get a look at where my opponents were. To my shock, neither of them charged at me. Michael was stock still as he stood between me and Linda. She looked to be working her magic on Jeremiah, but even I could see that he was gone. Half of his face had been sliced open when Michael slammed into me. Michael kept his eyes on me as I stood up. The change in positioning gave me enough of a view to see that it wasn’t just the guy's flesh that had been cut. Some of the facial bones were sliced as well.
“So,” I spoke without any inflection. “How do you want to do this?”
Michael’s anger seemed to have locked his jaw. Still, he managed to grit out his answer. “I think I will just kill you a few times before letting Linda here get her chance.”
“You’re assuming you will win.” While I knew I was not likely to win, that didn’t mean I wouldn’t try with everything I had.
He grunted as his sword and shield appeared while his body glowed. The ground quickly followed. I recognized everything he was casting from his battle with Barti. I stood no chance against him as I was. I needed to go all out if I wanted to take him on.
Without hesitation, I cut my Body Enhancement spell and released my mana. My mana formed into a tail and a pair of ears. Micheal’s eyebrows lifted as he saw this. He spoke as if he realized something. “Ah, I see.”
I ignored him as I charged. Sheathed in mana, my Chisa Katana sliced through the air. His shield caught the strike and deflected it to the side. The force of the strike was enough to cause his shield to slide to the side. I brought my sword back around as I activated my Crescent Moon Strike skill. The skill finished its activations just as the blade moved into position. As the blade sliced upward, the tip skittered across his skin. While it did no damage, it did cause him to step backward.
As he took a step, I used my shoulder to shove him backward. His feet shifted beneath him as he tried to regain his balance. While I managed to surprise him, I didn’t manage to get him to fall into the hole.
With his balance regained, he shoved me back. It was only luck that I managed to avoid absorbing the full shove. The moment my feet slid to a stop, I found myself presented with yet another opportunity.
I changed targets as I activated two sword skills. An exact copy of my sword slid out of the original. It hovered just a few inches over the first as the second skill finished activating. As I swung my blade, the copy mimicked it. The only difference between the two was that they were a few inches apart and the copy lagged a second behind.
Both swords struck out. They both hit their target with a speed I could never copy. One strike, two, three, five, ten, twenty times. Within five seconds the person in front of me reminded me of a person's hand after getting pulled into one of the machines at work.
Michael didn’t take the change in target lying down. He sliced across my back. The weapon cut through my dress and into my back. I half staggered, half lept away as a scream ripped its way out of me. He didn’t let me get far before slamming me to the ground with his shield. The metal felt like ice against my skin. Spikes of cold sliced into me as he pressed enough of his weight down on me to keep me on the ground.
Even if my back wasn’t sliced open like a can opener, I had no escape. I was officially at his mercy. I just had to hope that he got it over fast. That, when I did respawn, I would be able to get out of the city before the group found me again.
While I knew it was bad form to jump out of a game while you were mid-combat, that didn’t stop me from trying it. Mentally I commanded the system to log me out. Nothing happened. Which was understandable. The part that irked me was that not a single notification popped up telling me why. Unable to speak due to the weight holding me to the ground, I mentally pulled open my in-game menu. While it took me a second to find, I found the log-out button greyed out. Only when I pressed it did the notification pop up.
Unable to log out due to being in active combat. If you feel this is in error, please contact your local Administrator.
Yeah, I was screwed.