Hideki was allowed to sleep for a few hours after their excursions the night before and he awoke to the sound of screaming in the streets outside the inn. "Poro-tan, it worked. Time to go to the docks."
He sat up and looked around. Great, I just aided her in toppling a local government. Hundreds, if not thousands are going to die from the fighting and bickering of those noble houses. They ran out the door and down the stairs. Out of the large window in the front of the inn he saw chaos. There were people with makeshift weapons smashing in windows of shops and looting and guards of various houses fighting in the streets. As he was watching a poor looking man in rags ran up to the window he was staring out of and smashed it with a rock before throwing in a lit torch.
The stuck up innkeeper yelled at him to put it out. When Hideki didn't move fast enough the innkeep ran over and tossed the torch outside again. That was when his body moved of its own volition again and he grabbed the man by the throat, slamming him to the ground. Come on, Megumi! He's a stuck up asshole, but does he really deserve this? I can't believe THIS is how I'm going to spend my eternity.
The man's face was that of indignation as he continued the futile struggle to get free from Hideki's death grip. Seconds passed and the man's face began turning colors before he was ultimately strangled to death. Megumi had been standing behind him the entire time shouting insults at the man as he died, but he had tuned them out.
Once his body was done with its grisly task, he and Megumi went out into the streets. She had taken out her staff and had him draw his sword. "Megu wants to have a little fun along the way," she said.
Most of the unarmed peasants of the city gave them a wide birth when they saw them, but the same couldn't be said for the clashing soldiers who attacked anyone armed that wasn't wearing their colors. When one of the guards came towards them, a dead body exploded near him and killed 8 random people, including the guard.
Megumi laughed maniacally and he watched as the evil bitch indiscriminately exploded corpses all around the square killing dozens of people. With the way cleared out a bit, they continued towards the docks. Oddly he felt himself growing numb to the killing of others, in an odd realization he knew that she was succeeding in breaking him. It was impossible to resist doing what she wanted, so why try? Isn't it easier to just do as she asked without backtalk? His life had in fact taken a turn for the better when he had entered her service in a way. He hadn't gotten to be a hero and get all the beautiful ladies he wanted, but he did have a kick-ass sword now and was leveling a lot faster than he had ever done as an adventurer.
All these thoughts continued to run through his head as the two of them slaughtered people on their way to the docks. Just as they were almost there two dozen soldiers marched towards them in formation with someone wearing fine robes and wielding a magic staff in the middle of them. This is going to be trouble. Fuck. Why can't I ever catch a break. I just know this is going to end with me catching shrapnel in my ass again! On the plus side, maybe they'll kill Megumi and I'll get to go back to the place with that beauty of an angel.
The tip of the enemy mage's staff glowed with a white light and she raised it high into the air. Suddenly, a man's voice boomed throughout the streets, "You will all cease and desist from this nonsense at once! Any further fighting will be met with lethal force from my elite squads of soldiers. This goes for everyone, nobles and commoners alike."
What the hell was that spell? I've never seen anyone do something like that before. That voice definitely doesn't match the woman with the staff. He watched as most of the rioters shied away from the large group of soldiers and they stopped looting for a moment. The street around them was completely quiet for a long moment and then the mage spoke loudly in her own voice. "Everybody needs to return to their homes immediately! This is your only warning."
People shuffled around and then to his shock and amazement they started to disperse. "You will not ruin all of Megu's hard work!" Megumi whispered under her breath in irritation. They were close to the docks and he could see ships were already leaving despite orders against that. If they intended to be on one of those boats, they needed to move, and fast.
Megumi just stay calm, and we can sneak around these assholes and get to the damned docks. He wished she could hear and would actually listen to his opinion if she could. But of course she couldn't do that and he promptly found himself placed squarely in front of her with over twenty enemies in front of him. Well... this is it. We're definitely going to die here.
He wondered what Megumi was waiting for, it was clear she was going to attack. That's when she surprised him again. The corpses that littered the street exploded in green light but not in the way that they typically did when she cast Corpse Explosion. He watched as skin and bones blackened and putrefied and then the eyes of the dead lit up green and they got onto their feet. There were about 30 of them in the street in an instant and they charged towards the group of surprised soldiers.
"Megu will NOT let you ruin her good time!" she yelled and fired two quick blasts of green energy towards the group of soldiers. A barrier appeared and the green fire smashed into it sending out webs of cracks. The mage in the center of the group dropped to one knee from the exertion of blocking Megumi's attack.
Holy shit, she's can summon this many undead that fast? Why the fuck have I been fighting alone all the time? He grumbled to himself.
"Poro-tan. Protect Megu." With the simple command he was given freedom to do as he wanted again, so long as he obeyed her command to protect her. At least I'm not as much of a marionette dangling from strings for a moment. The guards formed into a circle formation and battled the undead whenever they got close.
An arc of yellow lightning arced through the air from the enemy mage heading straight for Megumi, and he did the only thing he could think of to protect her from that, he jumped in front of the blast. White searing pain ran through his entire body and he dropped his sword to the ground with a clang. That one bolt of lightning had taken most of his health. He couldn't take another shot like that and continue to exist.
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"Get that necromancer!" the mage commanded.
A group of 6 soldiers broke off and charged them. They only had seconds to do something. Hideki was still stunned from the lightening bolt, and he saw Megumi take out a potion bottle and shove it into his mouth. Almost instantly he could move again and he grabbed the sword at his feet once more.
He used Turtle Style to defend against the multiple foes who darted in and out to slash at him. It worked well in a fight against superior forces and he kicked himself for not learning the useful fighting style a long time ago. Between fighting he could see that trouble was brewing ahead again as the air began to sizzle and he could feel the hair on his arms raising as electricity built in the air.
A roiling ball of yellow electricity sparked and formed in front of the mage. It was the size of a large watermelon and still growing. Fuck! Fuck! That thing is going to REALLY ruin my day.
He couldn't see what Megumi was doing behind him, but he hoped she had a good fucking plan. Wait? Did he hope that? Wouldn't it be better to die? The undead were swarming the group of soldiers trying to get to that mage, and that's when Megumi performed a brilliant feat of magic.
"Corpse Explosion!" she yelled aloud and instantly over 30 dead corpses exploded in unison.
The last look on the enemy mage's face was that of utter shock and horror as she and all of her remaining soldiers were enveloped in green flames. The soldiers he was fighting were visibly shaken by what Megumi had just done and without a leader a couple of them stumbled backward in fear.
Hideki used this momentary lapse to his advantage and switched to tiger style. Spinning around blades and moving nimbly he cut down four of the attackers in an instant. All it took was a good cut from that blade and its cursed properties would do the rest. The remaining two soldiers who were standing turned to run at the sight, but he didn't let them get away. He cut them down as they were running.
*Ding* *Ding* Holy shit! Two levels from one fight?! He immediately dismissed the notification and turned towards Megumi.
Commoners who had been watching the spectacle screamed and ran around in terror trying to get away from them now that they saw the necromancer had won the battle. Megumi collapsed and fell to her hands and knees. She must've expended all her MP at once to do that. "Carry Megu to the docks, Poro-tan. We need to be away from here."
He complied and scooped her up into his arms, running at full speed towards the docks. The scene they saw before them was pandemonium as crews scrambled to get their ships ready to sail. He glanced around and then he saw the ship he was looking for, The Green Swallow. Hideki saw that the crew was preparing to leave, just as all the other panicking sailors around the docks were and he ran up to the man who looked to be in charge.
"Vinhammer?"
"What do ye want, boy? I be getting ready to push off from this burnin' heap of a town before it be too late. I dinnae want to lose me boat to these riots."
The man's accent grated on his ears, but he soldiered on. They had to be on this boat! "Rylia told us to find you and that you could help us get across the sea to safety. Please! My sister is weak, we need help!"
The man looked them over approvingly. "That woman do be using up her one favor by doing this, but very well. I'll be putting ye to work, lad, the girl too. No free rides on me boat not even fer me aged grandmother!"
Hideki nodded his assent and climbed aboard the boat. "I'll help in whatever way I can."
"Good. Now go help them with the rigging. We be setting sail immediately. Damn the blockade order to hell. I'll not be watching me boat burn just cause some lord says so."
Hideki set Megu down on the deck and found that he was able to go do as Vinhammer ordered. Within minutes The Green Swallow was on its way out of the harbor and sailing toward the open seas.
Spoiler: Poro-kun's Stats
Name Hideki (Poro-kun) Level 015 (9137/9500 EXP to next Level) Class Warrior HP 170/675 MP 50/50 TP 2 Adventurer Rank C Attributes Vitality 27 Magic 2 Endurance 21 Magic Resistance 5 Strength 19 Luck 4 Agility 13 Dexterity 14 Passive Skills • Warrior's Essence - Level 3 (+30 HP regeneration/min)
• Sword Mastery - Level 4 (+40% proficiency with swords)
• Tiger Style - Level 1
• Turtle Style - Level 1
• Stalwart - Level 1 (+5% natural defense) Active Skills • Holy Blade - Level 1 (Envelope blade in holy aura for 15 seconds)
• Shockwave - Level 2 (Release shockwave from blade)
Spoiler: Megumi's Stats
Name Megumi Level 018 (14,929/15,860 EXP to next Level) Class Necromancer HP 375/375 MP 297/850 TP 1 Villain Rank C Attributes Vitality 15 Magic 57 Endurance 8 Magic Resistance 41 Strength 5 Luck 14 Agility 6 Dexterity 9 Passive Skills • Mage's Essence - Level 4 (+120 MP regeneration/min) Active Skills • None Necromancer Magic
• Sanguine Infusion (50 MP) - Level 7 (Absorb life essence of recently deceased, 7% chance to gain +1 TP from human victims)
• Corpse Explosion (30 MP) - Level 6 - (+60% damage from explosion)
• Corpse Absorption (10 MP) - Level 1 (Absorb a corpse's essence. Recover 80 MP)
• Raise Undead (20 MP) - Level 10 (Raise weak undead to fight for you. Max: 50)
• Soul Trap (350 MP) - Level 1 (Trap soul of a recently defeated foe. Max: 1)
• Eldritch Blast (75 MP) - Level 11 (Unleashes a roiling ball of Eldritch energy that burns its subject on contact for 5 seconds)