ELOKOS
Back within the comfort of my lair, I began to gather the things I did not want to lose—the fat coin purse of gold puries, a crate of sapphire puries, potions, my best swords, and most of the books I have yet to read.
I took everything into my room and then hurried into the Arachnid's Lair. I began summoning a horde of undead—several blindinus, several canines, all forms of my arachnids save the white one, and dozens of hawks.
With no idea when Cain would journey south, I took a gamble and trained for the rest of the night and the following day. Because I sought to perfect Stone as much as possible before fleeing further south, I took no rest except to eat, catch fish for my familiars, and relieve myself. My training took me into the Arachnid's Lair that night, and I noticed how clean it was compared to when I first came here.
A few strands of dried webbing remained, along with the blightshrooms I refused to remove because of their natural light.
The remaining ruby puries stuck out from within the lair's wall, too high for my Miners to reach. I took a deep breath and continued my training—bringing forth protective walls of stone from out of the ground.
My casting time was disgustingly slow, and I realized that employing this in combat would not be ideal unless I used mana stored in my staff for burst-casting. After countless hours of training, I plopped onto my back and rested on the cold ground.
I racked my brain in an attempt to make a decision. My first thought was the Silver Blades hideout, but the camp before the cave was too much of a giveaway. The cave was also a dead end and filled with stones that I would not be able to transmute. I also had no faith in my shabby coverup of the Silver Blade's cave entrance—the dirt walls did not blend in with the stone compared to the coverup of my current lair.
I sighed and forced myself back to my feet. My familiars gathered at the exit while I dragged my feet toward my belongings in my room. One by one, I Stashed them into my Petty Inventory while occasionally looking ahead out the River Door and at the sealed door on the other side of the ravine.
What a pain...
*****
The wind was unsettling, and the night air felt chilly. I stood firmly at the mouth of my lair's exit as the wind whipped at my cloak. My nerves had the best of me, and my head was on a swivel as my familiars marched out of the liar. Once they were all out, I hurriedly sealed the entrance and led the way south.
A tingling sensation at the back of my head caught my attention, followed by the faint musk of a kinan. My hawks took to the sky, and just a few meters north of me and down the slope of the hill were three gents upon armored horses galloping my way.
I froze—my mind probing for what action I should take. Should I fight them or flee? How strong are they? But the gents quickly took notice of my hawks flying above and hastened their speed.
On impulse, I positioned my arachnids towards the northern parts of the hilltops to ambush them. But they were quicker and arrived at the top of the hill, and as if destined—I made eye contact with the leading gent Coro, Kinan, Mage/Warrior, twenty-nine, his green eyes glowing from a magical effect.
Their horses reared at the sight of my arachnids skittering towards them, and the three gents spun around and bolted back down the hill—dammit! I did not expect that! My hawks kept eyes on them—they were galloping, and at this distance, only I and my arachnids were able to catch up, but the distance would dismiss the rest of my hoard. So, to hell with it, I called back my familiars, and we turned south—I had to get far away from here and fast.
I traveled south on a west-leaning path through the sparsely populated forests, where I encountered a few blindinus and slain deer. After slaying the blindinus, I sought to save their meat and deer meat within my Petty Inventory. But as I watched their bloody flesh dampen the grass blades, I figured they would paint everything within my inventory with blood.
Color caught my eye further west, and I raised my brows at the sight of azudorn deer—a massive deer fiend packed with muscles and purple antlers upon its head. They were a distance from me, but they skitter away at any slight movement they saw. Hmph, I should take their advice and stop dithering.
We maintained our march south, descending low overhangs and navigating through abruptly uneven terrain. The smell of smoke, rot, burnt wood, and dirty water reached my nose. A dirt road began to form, and we followed the route down a slope toward the remains of a burnt village—the village I saw from atop the tower. So, this must be the Raycon Village Dihn was talking about.
There were no defensive walls, just a curving path up the hills toward the homes. My hawks noticed nothing moving or alive. Onward, I took in dozens of collapsed homes—homes made of stone stayed upright, so I scavenged through a few of the stone houses.
Each house was simple: a small living space, one resting space, a cooking area, and a room to shit and shower. The layout of each house was similar, allowing me to enter and scout efficiently. After exploring a few houses, I discovered that everything of value had been looted, yet there were no bodies or undead to be found—actually, there were no corpses in sight.
After turning around and returning to the road, it ascended a little slope, revealing what I believed to be a small market or gathering spot. Then, the road became more expansive, leading to a destroyed well at the center of a spacious clearing. Lining the clearing were cindered stone and wood buildings that resembled the shops and stores I vaguely remember from the Fire Kingdom.
The stench of burnt meat directed me, and I followed it towards the east of the hill where the cindered remains of a manor sat—the mansion looked out of place with its aura of wealth steaming from its stone, marble pillars, and lingering details of polished wood. But, hmm... approaching the entrance, it looked pretty familiar—mainly the style and fashion.
I moved along the side and around the manor, noticing the smell was coming from the back. I covered my nose in disgust as the smell and the sight churned my stomach—similar to the ladies left to rot in the Blades cave, a pile of gents and boys had been slain and set ablaze within the back courtyard of the manor. Tiny hues of lingering embers glimmered up and down the pile.
The courtyard was a spacious circular stone platform blending into the dirt. Scorched stone pillars rose from the platform and held up an arching roof, and its underside was darkened with soot. Enclosed around the courtyard was a partially burnt wall of hedge bushes.
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It was easy to put the pieces together and realize this was the work of the Iron Kingdom Legends—or Silver Blades. They ransacked the village, kidnapped the ladies and girls, and killed the rest. I suddenly felt a signal from my familiars and rushed back to the front. They were in combat, and by the time I returned, they had already killed it.
The night was filled with laughter, sending a shiver down my spine. I maneuvered myself into the center of my familiars and jerked my head around. The creatures were fast, Quickstepping from store top to store top. I summoned the dead creature my familiars had killed using Summon Undead Ritual and prepared for battle.
One finally stood still above the manor and howled in laughter. It was a small monkey-like creature about three feet tall, covered head to toe in long brownish hair.
I used Petty Scan, No Name, Eloko, No Class. Elokos... Yes, now I remember—elokos. One touched ground from atop a home behind me and Quickstepped at me. It easily maneuvered through my wall of familiars and closed the gap between us.
My reflexes forced me to try and kick it—It sidestepped!? With insane speed, it stabbed into my calf with a Willpowered sharp bone protruding from its upper wrist. I grunted in pain as it scurried off, bolting left and right as it retreated using what looked like Quickstepped, but faster.
My Great Strong Body ultimately failed as I saw a gaping hole in my calf through my grieves. Then, they all started howling in laughter before leaping from home to home around me in a hypnotic blur. They were either using skills I was unaware of or an advanced version of Quickstep to move at such speeds.
I remembered elokos were fast and deadly fiends, primarily to travelers at night. They sought out more prominent victims to stab and run. It was said to be a game for them, and their childish laughter further proved that point.
Another one leaped off the top of a house and bolted for me. I also remembered why none were ever found in the Fire Kingdom as I detonated fire from my hands and restrained the flames around my familiars and me—elokos dreaded being around flames.
The charging eloko stumbled after becoming shocked with fear. My Slasher took the opportunity to stab it in the head, killing it. I gathered the flames around me and aimed Lesser Sun to my right at one of the homes they were leaping to and from, exploding it into flames. The elokos dashed off the rooftops, laughing in terror as they fled into the night.
I knelt and took time to nurture my wound, burning it to stop the bleeding. I stared at my eloko familiar—nothing but hair, kinan-like hands, and hands for feet. Then, on my command, it showed me how its spike retracted and extracted from its upper wrist. I looked closer and realized it was just a sharp, dense bone... fascinating.
I desummoned it—
Active Acquired:
Summon: Undead Eloko Ritual
—and resummoned it using Summon Undead Eloko.
PAIN
Oh, gods!
I scurried away from the terrifying beast. In its first stage, it had no hair revealing its horrifying white, large, unblinking eyes and tiny beady pupils. With the face of a monkey, it had no lips revealing rows of sharp tiny teeth in a fixed, haunting smile.
PAIN
Damn, you are one ugly creature.
It resembled a younger version of its lively counterpart and looked skinny and fragile without thick hair covering its body. I had it walk around a bit. It was remarkably silent, moving without making a noise. It was pretty speedy but not as fast as the real things because the undead could not use any form of skills.
I created a ball of fire, wondering what signals it would send me. It sent me an alarming signal that I translated as fear and a lack of sight. With those eyes, that was not surprising. It did not even blink. Hmm... I barely thought about it, but my caballus and hawk blinked once every few seconds.
PAIN
The undead are weird.
I muttered as I pressed on my calf muscle—
PAIN
Ah—ouch, how bad is this?
I ordered my cave arachnid to eat the corpses of the elokos I desummoned, and it grew nicely to its final stage. I climbed up onto it and had it carry me around. Then, I sought a place where I could hide for a few months or until Cain arrived down south. I smiled softly—it was a good thing I let those two scouts flee alive. They will go on to warn Cain, and he will make his way down here sooner than later.
After walking around the abandoned village, I made a full circle back towards the manor—deciding that the manor would be a decent enough place to hide. My familiars and I crept through the entrance and halfway through the hall. A collapsed ceiling barricaded the end of the hall. Doorways led to rooms on the left and the right. The room on the left was completely impassable by the amount of debris and cindered rooftop that had fallen in. The room on the right had a room-size hole in the floor... giving me an idea.
*****
By morning, my familiars and I were within a spacious underground dwelling a dozen feet underneath the manor's basement. I dug down as deep as I could with Earth until I reached impassable stone veins. Protected by the sun rays within the covered gable of the manor, my hawk perched unmoving, its eyes scanning the northeastern wilderness for any signs of danger.
Throughout the day, I continued to form the underground hideout to my liking, surfacing periodically to bask in the sunlight. I floated upon my sword inches above the manor's rooftop, staring distantly at the northern plains, and I slowly began to wonder... Did I flee prematurely?