Helen looked down at the map of the area they had made. They’d made it on the back of an animal skin, and though somewhat crude, it was to scale, showing the fort, the meadows around It, the cliff and river to the side, and the surrounding forest.
“We could try another infiltrating force,” Chritor suggested.
“We lost seven men trying that,” Guinevere said. “Never try the same tactic in war again. Especially if it has already failed.”
“Repetition is the recipe of defeat,” Felrick agreed.
“I have a suggestion,” Felecia said timidly raising her hand. “I’ve been talking it over with Jamis and it might help us.”
“What is it?” Helen asked.
“One of my abilities is to massively speed up the growth and lifecycle of a creature,” Felecia said. “Jamis has the ability to control bears. We thought if we found some gifted bears, I could ramp up their breeding and lifecycle. In three weeks, with just two bears, we could jump to sixty. Most of us don’t have mounts, and we can’t risk a frontal assault if we fulfill both roles.”
“An army of bears?” Guinevere asked skeptically.
“Yes,” Jamis said. “With my ability, they will obey me like trained soldiers. A few Gifted beasts and I can smash their gate, then we rush in and push them back to the castle.”
“It’s certainly the most creative idea we’ve heard yet,” Ishtor said.
“I’m open to trying anything at this point,” Helen said. “Jamis and Felecia, do what you have to. Let’s get this underway.”
--
I woke up in my tent. I sat up and looked down at my gore-covered skin, my shirt had been completely shredded during the fight, so I only had on my few pieces of armor, boots, and tattered pants. I pulled out the cleaning cloth from my storage pouch and injected it with mana wiping all the dirt and dried blood off my body. I felt a little sore, but that was all, and even that feeling was fading as my regeneration took care of it.
Stepping out of the tent, I saw little time had passed since the conclusion of our battle. People were still looting corpses and stacking enemy bodies while carefully tending to their own dead. I left them to it; I barely knew any of these people, and helping them with their dead might be taken badly. I walked through the Clan’s village, seeing charred tents and bodies everywhere. The dead mostly seemed to belong to the other side; the death of the enemy hero and their inability to kill Korsis had turned the tide in our favor.
I looked about it, but I didn’t feel angry about what had happened. I had fought on the Wolf Clan’s side, but they weren’t my people yet. Still, the devastation and mindless destruction disgusted me. I could see the bodies of children and women, meaning the Dragon Clan hadn’t gone after only warriors. Killing a man or woman who was actually a challenge I had no problem with, but kids and women with no or only their base abilities? That was too far; it was weak… The Dragon Clan had killed them because they feared what they might become and feared the consequences of their actions.
“Well, I think I might show them the consequences myself,” I mused.
Korsis had told me to win some battles. I intended to do just that.
I pulled up the notifications I had gotten at the end of the last battle and looked them over again.
Ability Gained, Hell’s Talons: (Rank 1); As a spoken command your nails lengthen to 0.5 inches and thicken proportionally for 1 second and deal an additional minor amount of Curse damage.
Cost: 30 stamina each activation.
Upgrade this ability to increase the length and curse damage of your talons. Each upgrade increases your Might Attribute by 1.
This ability would prevent using weapons in whatever hand or hands I used them on, but at the same time, I couldn’t truly be disarmed. I wondered if it was the same ability Asmodrin had used at the end there. Likely not, but just similar. I pulled up the last notification I’d seen before blacking out.
Warning, you have taken an Extreme amount of Curse damage to your Spirit worsening the existing Soul Damage you have been suffering. Your Soul with be vulnerable to Soul damage and attacks until you repair the damage to your spiritual self.
Not good at all, I thought as I read it over. I had no idea how to repair the damage to my spiritual self, and it seemed to be getting worse and worse.
I saw there was a third notification I hadn’t seen before and pulled it up.
You have completed a hidden objective and earned a title. Objective; stop a vision of the future from becoming reality.
Reward: Title: The Fate Breaker.
*Fate Breaker: First, you defied Death now you defy Fate. You can equip this title to appear at the end of your name. It will reduce all lethal and mortal injuries by one damage stage, but you will take increased damage in any battle where you have seen yourself die.
Well, I keep seeing myself die all the time, so I’m not equipping that, I thought, dismissing the notification.
Whatcha thinking about? The voidling asked.
Another thing about the soul damage was it kept letting in squatters to my head.
“I’m reading over the notifications I got from the end of that battle,” I said.
Oh, the voidling said, disinterested. I already read those over last night.
I froze. “You can read my notifications?”
Of course, the voidling said. I’m in your head; I can see, smell, hear everything you do, and hear your thoughts as well.
“Karnen, can you my thoughts too?” I asked.
Not easily, the Spirit of Vengeance said. But I can see your notifications and ability screens.
There was nothing I could do about this. “Fine,” I said with a sigh. “Then how about making yourself useful, how does one repair spiritual damage?”
You need to change, resolve your internal turmoil, Karnen said.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
There is something inside you the Soul Damage attacked. Something you kept buried, and you most pull it out and deal with it, Karnen said.
“Sounds like crystal healing bullshit,” I said.
That is all I know on the topic, Karnen said.
“Ok, void spirit, do you have anything to add?” I asked.
“I don’t think you should resolve the conflict at all,” the voidling said. “It makes your emotions so tasty.
“Great, thank you for being useless,” I sighed. “Since neither of you can offer anything useful, shut up. I need to do some quick upgrades.”
“System increase Hell’s Talons to rank twenty,” I said. I had more than enough rank points after the last battle, and more Might would be useful in my fights, even if the ability itself seemed strange. I skipped the next three notifications until the pop-up for my next additional effect came up.
Congratulations, you have raised an ability to rank five, please pick from one of the three additional effects for your ability from the list below.
· Your attacks ignore 2.5 hardness from any substance.
· You gain a set of horns with the same effects as your claws when you activate this ability.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
· Inflicts a stun condition for 0.2 seconds on a major hit.
Of the three effects, I liked the first the most. I didn’t need a set of horns, and headbutting people seemed like getting my most important body part way too close to the enemy. The third could be really powerful, but it would depend on how much it went up with each rank, and I didn’t even know for sure what a major hit was.
Picking the first option.
Hell’s Talons: (Rank 5); As a spoken command your nails lengthen to 2.5 inches and thicken proportionally for 5 seconds and deal an additional moderate amount of Curse damage.
The talons ignore 2.5 of hardness from any substance.
Cost: 35 stamina each activation.
Upgrade this ability to increase the length and curse damage of your talons. Each upgrade increases your Might Attribute by 1.
I skipped past the next four notifications again.
Congratulations, you have raised an ability to rank ten, please pick from one of the three additional effects for your ability from the list below.
· You can touch and grapple with incorporeal creatures.
· Your talons are now poisonous, dealing a deadly necrotic paralyzing poison with each attack.
· You inflict the Desecrated condition with each hit from your talons.
The first effect was useless to me since I could do almost the same thing with my title Keytaro’s Guardian. The second one was tempting, but I was extremely resistant to poison, and getting those titles hadn’t been that hard, so many enemies might have them as well. Ultimately, I went with the third option. I didn’t know what the Desecration condition was, but something about the name spoke to me.
Hell’s Talons: (Rank 10); As a spoken command your nails lengthen to 5 inches and thicken proportionally for 10 seconds and deal an additional Major amount of Curse damage.
The talons ignore 5 of hardness from any substance.
Your attacks with the talons inflict the Desecrated condition for 5 seconds.
*Desecrated: Target cannot receive any type of healing while afflicted with this condition.
Cost: 40 stamina each activation.
Upgrade this ability to increase the length and curse damage of your talons. Each upgrade increases your Might Attribute by 1.
The gamble had definitely been worth it; with this, I could rip through someone, and any healers they had on their side wouldn’t be able to save them. Skipping the next four notifications, I got to the pop-up.
Congratulations, you have raised an ability to rank fifteen, please pick from one of the three additional effects for your ability from the list below.
· The nails on your feet also extend, giving you a kick attack with this ability.
· Your talons can bypass 0.5 inches of material.
· Your talons inflict the Damnation condition.
I really wanted to add another condition to this ability, but I had to pass on the third option. I wasn’t sure what it would do, and the second option was a must-have. An effect like that must have been on whatever ability the Pack Mother had when she bit into my shoulder through my pauldrons. The first option wasn’t even a real choice, I couldn’t use it and my boots, so it was just a trash option.
Hell’s Talons: (Rank 15); As a spoken command your nails lengthen to 7.5 inches in length and thicken proportionally for 15 seconds and deal an additional Severe amount of Curse damage.
The talons ignore 7.5 of hardness from any substance.
Your attacks with the talons inflict the Desecrated condition for 8.5 seconds.
*Desecrated: Target cannot receive any type of healing while afflicted with this condition.
Your talons can bypass 0.5 inches of material.
Cost: 45 stamina each activation.
Upgrade this ability to increase the length and curse damage of your talons. Each upgrade increases your Might Attribute by 1.
I skipped the next four notifications again.
Congratulations, you have raised an ability to rank twenty, please pick from one of the three additional effects for your ability from the list below.
· Your talons inflict the Laceration condition on a hit.
· Your Curse damage is increased by one stage for this ability.
· Your talons inflict Mana Rot on a hit if the target fails a Power check.
I looked over my three options. I liked them all; I knew what Laceration did from my nemean claws, but with the Desecration condition, wounds that were resistant to healing weren’t a priority. Extra damage was always good, bumping up the second option, in my estimation. The third option had a caveat, but honestly, that made me even more tempted. The system would only limit the effect if it was really good.
I went with my gut and picked the third option.
Hell’s Talons: (Rank 20, Max Rank); As a spoken command your nails lengthen to 10 inches and thicken proportionally for 20 seconds and deal an additional Extreme amount of Curse damage.
The talons ignore 10 of hardness from any substance.
Your attacks with the talons inflict the Desecrated condition for 8.5 seconds.
*Desecrated: Target cannot receive any type of healing while afflicted with this condition.
Your talons can bypass 1 inch of material.
Your attacks with the talons inflict the Mana Rot condition for 5 seconds.
* Mana Rot: Targets lose 15 mana per second they are inflicted with this ability.
Final Rank Bonus: All damage inflicted by Hell’s Talons is resistant to healing.
Cost: 50 stamina each activation.
Upgrade this ability to increase the length and curse damage of your talons. Each upgrade increases your Might Attribute by 1.
Mana Rot was fantastic; it would bleed a full seventy-five mana from the target over five seconds. That was almost a third of my maximum mana.
I looked around at the village. I had learned a lot here, but my break was done; it was time to head back into the forest and work on my quests. I found Korsis in the cave I had first met him.
“I’m heading to Sky-scarred Peak,” I told him.
“I thought you would be headed after the Dragon Clan,” he said, and I detected some displeasure from him.
“I will when I am ready,” I snapped back, feeling a bit of heat rising up in me. “I am on a quest from my goddess. The concerns of your Clan do not take precedence in my actions.”
Korsis bowed his head, surprising me. “Of course, Warlord, forgive me for questioning the will of the goddess.”
“It’s fine,” I said, relaxing a bit. “I will deal with the Dragon Clan; as soon I’ve handled them, I will expect your full support.”
“If you can do as you say, then you will have proven yourself as the Warlord,” Korsis agreed.
I turned and left the camp. I looked to the north; I couldn’t see the mountain with the trees in the way, but I knew it was that way. I started off moving at powerwalk, which had me moving as fast as most track runners. I started teleporting ahead to any space I could see to switch between using stamina and mana as I sped through the forest.
I crested a hill and teleported to the top of an oak, landing on a wide limb. I looked out over the forest sprawling behind me. The foothills continued to climb in front of me, and behind them, the mountains loomed, casting a shadow over the land in the setting sun. One mountain stood higher than all its brethren, its jagged tip jutting up like a sword thrust out of the earth. Clouds swirled around it like the eye of a hurricane, lightning flashing, and I could faintly hear the rumble of thunder.
Teleporting back down to the ground, I kept running. I was moving three times as fast as I had before; without my vassals beside me, I was unhindered and could go all out with no one pulling me back. I felt the rush of wind rushing past me and laughed with the sheer joy of my speed and the power I felt as the world blurred past me. I had no idea how many miles per hour I was going, but I felt as fast as a luxury car with the grace of a jaguar as I jumped fallen trees in a single bound and teleported over gorges and rivers.
Feet pounding down muddy narrow deer trails or along rock ridges. I kept running, my stamina and mana refilling as fast as I was emptying it. The air grew wet and colder, and I finally stopped when I came to a massive wall of stone. I looked up at the wall of stone. It was a sheer cliff extending hundreds of feet up.
“Well, that’s going to be tough,” I said to myself. “There must be an easier way to the top than trying to climb this thing.”
I began moving along the side of the cliff, searching for a pass, slope, or even just a cliff with more handholds. It wasn’t until nightfall that I finally found something; it wasn’t a slope but a narrow crack that ran deep and went up the cliff. A foul-smelling icy cold draft wafted from the cave.
I took a step back, my face twisted in disgust. The downside of raising my Perception was that I could smell everything with complete clarity. The smell of shit and rot from the cave was overpowering. I stepped back and wandered away from the cleft, and sat down. I leaned back and closed my eyes. I wanted to be fully rested before climbing this mountain or exploring any of its caverns.
--
Arthur raised a drinking horn, and the warriors in camp cheered as he chugged it back. Lancelot stood across from him, and Kay and another of their knights were on the sides of the table, chugging back the thick dark mead. Arthur slurped down the mead dropping the drinking horn and taking another his squire handed him. Lancelot finished his and dropped it, and Kay did so a moment later. The fourth contestant fell over retching, and the crowd booed and laughed. The soldiers bit into thick pieces of meat and bowls of stew and raised drinking horns. The spoils of the lord’s castle provided the food for the feat and would supply them for another week.
Arthur dropped the drinking horn again and snatched it up the next. Lancelot bowed out, shaking his head as he stepped back from the table. Kay stayed in, moving across from Arthur. The two began chugging back drink after drink. Finally, Kay fell over, retching the contents of his stomach spewing across the ground. The army cheered, and Arthur smiled. He helped Kay up and staggered to his tent alone. Collapsing onto his bed, he felt soft small hands help him out of his clothes. Arthur pulled Lionor close, their bare skin hot against each other as she wrapped her legs around him.