Lumen Knight Gryff sat down on a crate on the bloodied deck, flexing his stiff fingers as his men dragged the orc bodies off the ship. The orcs were ugly creatures, their skin sickly shades of green and their features disfigured from possible inbreeding. Their sheer existence alone disgusted Gryff, as he wanted nothing more than to wipe them from the face of Azura.
‘What sheer disdain for Delphine’s light.’
Gryff looked at his longtime companion, who was currently wiping his gauntlet on one of the dead bodies, clearly trying to get the oily blood off. Lumen Knight Hugo had no trouble with the pirates. He even killed the last orc with ease when he crushed its skull under his boot.
Still, Gryff knew that his friend was dissatisfied and wanted a more challenging fight against the brutes. Hugo had even told the men not to use arrows and Fireballs, calling it a waste of resources on worthless creatures. It was less than an understatement. The orcs had been fodder, proving much too easy for the knights.
‘Nothing more than practice...’
Gryff reached into his spellcaster robes, which were tucked neatly under his armor, before pulling out a roll of parchment. It was singed on the edges, clearly sent from a high-standing Wizard from the king’s council. Gryff unrolled it and read through the details again.
The elderly man had sent them rough coordinates of where to go, but only named one settlement. A dinky little town called Yorktown. It was going to be a pain collecting the specimens Gryff needed. He knew damn well that it would take days to find the samples and to kill anyone who had come into contact. He would probably have to burn Yorktown.
‘Alas, do I even have a choice?’
He didn’t care about burning down the town; he had done worse before. Gryff was only disinterested and bored at the idea. The knight desired knowledge and the interesting, but his superiors only gave him dull tasks. Boring politics and fetch quests were the extent of his duties, and it was deteriorating his sanity bit by bit.
At this rate, the Lumen Knight would be nothing more than a mundane adventurer, doomed for the monotony of killing and fetching. Nothing to fascinate his brain nor give him any sort of challenge.
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Gryff sighed and rolled up the parchment before tucking it back into his robes. He decided to just bear with the current quest and hope something interesting would show soon. The knight gestured for his men to hurry, as he wanted to get to the small town in the next couple of days. If he was quick enough, he’ll be back home in time for the New Year Transition.
“Let’s get moving. I want to get done with this,” he voiced, his breath coming out in a puff of vapor. Just as he was about to head into his quarters, he noticed a strange movement among the many greenish bodies. An orc was still alive. The half-dead creature was attempting to crawl back to the boarding bridge that led to its ship.
Gryff had to hold back his laughter at the pathetic attempt. He grinned as made his way to the orc, his fingers practicing runes. He would soon notice Hugo’s red eyes following him, the behemoth seemingly curious about what Gryff had spotted.
The cryomancer held out his hand, stopping his fellow knight from coming any closer.
‘This one’s mine…’
It wouldn’t take long before the dumb creature noticed Gryff, its eyes widening as it frantically tried to get up to run.
“Ice Lance,” Gryff muttered as he aimed his right hand. Glowing blue runes appeared in front of his fingers, materializing slowly into the needle of ice he was casting.
Normally, the spell ‘Ice Lance’ would be around a meter long, its intended purpose being for bigger targets. However, Gryff had shaped and modified this spell, making it thinner and shorter, until it was akin to a rapier’s blade.
It was perfect for armored targets, distracted Wizards, and close quarter combat. Despite this, Gryff exclusively used it whenever he got into a fight. He wasn’t sure why, but there was a certain enjoyment in making his targets suffer as they pleaded for mercy.
Gryff’s small lance of ice shot forward. It precisely hit the green idiot’s knee and forced it into a stumble.
“Ice Lance,” Gryff cast, the lance hitting the orc’s shoulder this time.
“Ice Lance,” he called out again, the next one pinning the orc’s arm to the ship’s deck.
Gryff reached the fallen creature, who whimpered in pain. The knight pressed a boot to its back, forcing it down as it tried to crawl again. His fingers glowed a soft blue as they aimed at the orc’s neck.
“I could let you live. Have you send a message to your disgusting tribe, but we both know that it won’t happen. Your kind will never stop. Not until you are all wiped from the surface,” the Lumen Knight muttered, his disgust clear in his voice. The orc frantically tried to move, opening its mouth to beg before Gryff’s words spoke out before him.
“Ice Lance.”