Arthur picked through the battlefield. It had been a bloody thing, but his army was superior if not numerically then qualitatively. They’d lost fifteen percent of their forces but only a quarter of the Dracon’s had survived fleeing the field.
Men went through the battlefield searching for their wounded and mercy killing the enemy. They couldn’t afford to take prisoner with their reduced numbers and the force of guerilla fighters still active in the nearby wilderness. Princess Andromeda had disappeared with the retreating forces likely taken back to Dragon-Hold, the capital of Dracon.
Shoving Excalibur through the neck of a man dying of a ghastly gut wound. Arthur helped his men as best he could, being as much an example to them as an extra pair of hands. It took three hours, but the battlefield had been cleared and loot disturbed to the men. They were back on the march, if they marched for a day and night without rest, they would be at Dragon-Hold by the next dawn.
----
My feet slapped against the water of the river. This was the fastest way to get back to the fortress, there was no burning in my lungs despite the speed I was going, only burning in my spirit. I was taking the backlash from using my boots to double my speed for an hour. The cooldown was only five minutes now but the jump and then the sudden decrease in my speed attribute made me want to collapse and puke out my guts. It wasn’t helped by me teleporting over three-hundred-and-fifty feet every five seconds when my teleport came off cooldown.
Boots of Midnight Wind (Artifact: Rank V): Gives a +35 bonus to the wearer’s Speed Attribute and gains an additional +1 bonus for every ten ranks you have.
You can double your Speed Attribute for one hour with a cooldown of five minutes, (Max Duration and Cooldown reached)
Once every five seconds at the cost of fifteen mana you can teleport three-hundred-and-sixty-five feet to a place you can see; the range increased by 5ft every five ranks. (Max mana cost and Cooldown reached)
Created by the Goddess Kelesha for her champion Mordred these boots are made from the hide of a black dragon with a mithril alloy for the toe and heel guard and infused with the power of Kelesa’s will; these boots are indestructible except by another deity.
I’d stopped sensing my vassal’s deaths four hours ago. Hopefully, that would last until I arrived. Before I’d gone Remara informed me that another of Astrel’s sons, the youngest had stolen several artifacts from the Clan’s treasury and escaped right after his father’s death. He had nearly a twelve-hour lead on me and could have made it to his elder brother and army if he had a fast boat.
Remara wasn’t sure how the army of the Dragon Clan would react to their leader’s death. While I was officially the new leader of the Dragon Clan it wasn’t a given that they’d accept that. Much had been changed in their culture by Astrel and his father and grandfather.
After another two hours of running, I came to the site of Castle Dragonbreaker on the top of the cliff overlooking the river. I sped towards it seeing the dock at its base had been destroyed and the boats their missing or destroyed.
I teleported to the top of the cliff. A startled man on guard lunged at me with his spear, I blocked it with my hand pushing the tip to the side. It was one of my spears I’d upgraded, looking at it now I was displeased with my earlier inferior work.
“Warlord I’m so sorry I….” the man stammered.
“You attacked what you believed was an invader,” I said with a shrug. “I can’t blame you for a fight or flight response, just do a better job next time; that attack was way too easy to deflect.”
“Yes, my lord,” the man said rushed his head bobbing so rapidly I had to smile.
“Are Tobias and Jeriah in the castle?” I asked.
Not even waiting for his reply I moved on. People stopped and bowed as I passed. I could see signs of battle all around. Bloodstains, scorch marks, scratches on the stonework, and chunks of earth missing from the ground. I began smoothing out what damage I could, turning the whole ground into a gridded pattern of compressed stone and fixing damage to walls and roofs.
The guards on duty opened the castle doors for me and I strode into the throne room. I kept my expression completely blank; it was the best I could do with the pain I was in. I needed a way to get some relief.
You need to kill things, Karnen said to me.
“I know you enjoy violence for its own sake but I’m looking for something to help me not you,” I said.
No, Karnen growled. Your mutation allows us to drain energy from your kills to reinforce your soul. Doing so will help to take some of the pain off.
Also, it’s tasty, Voidra added.
Not helping, Karnen snapped at her.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I told them.
“Mordred,” Jeriah said standing as I approached them. “We didn’t think you could get here soon.”
“I had to burn some mana but I’m very fuel efficient,” I said.
“I see,” Jeriah said hesitantly, showing he didn’t understand what I’d just said.
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I plopped down on my empty throne. “What are our losses?”
“We lost nearly half the men here, Juruk and his goblins managed to reinforce us but they lost most of their hoard outside the walls.”
“They were not gifted and did not have the blessing of the Warlord upon them,” Juruk said from his position at a side table. He was scarfing down plates of meat placed in front of him. “Their loss is of no importance.”
Juruk’s transformation was astonishing, he was only two feet shorter than me now instead of only coming up past my waist by five inches. He had long dreadlocks decorated with pieces of sharp metal and bone that rattled as he moved his head. Sharp teeth tore into the roasted meat as he chewed and swallowed with no regard for manners or breathing.
“We managed to kill maybe a quarter of their army, but they still vastly outnumber us and will likely attack sometime today or tomorrow,” Tobias said.
There was silence as I sat on my throne in thought. “What of the dungeon is it still secure or did they discover it?”
“We dug a tunnel to it,” Jeriah said. “We’ve been farming it in secret while you’ve been gone. Your spiders have killed any enemy scouts that discovered it.”
Those spiders had been an idea of farming rank points I’d had early on, I didn’t need more rank points now I had more than I could spend. What I desperately needed were new abilities to push me into Hero rank.
“What is your plan?” Jeriah asked me hesitantly.
“First take me to the dungeon,” I said. “I want to investigate it for myself.”
Jeriah led me down into the castle’s dungeon. Behind a stack of barrels was a crude tunnel, well crude to me. It looked structurally sound enough but I compressed the walls of the tunnel with my ability turning them an onyx black as we passed through. It was impressive just how long the tunnel was we went for five miles before it finally opened up in the forest. We were inside the cave that hid the entrance to the dungeon.
Jeriah and Tobias returned to the fortress to stand guard in case we were attacked while I was investigating the changes to the dungeon and my spiders. Stepping into the dungeon I was greeted by a message.
You have entered the dungeon, Cavern of Death’s Vengeance (Veteran Rank). This dungeon is on cooldown for the next three days and no monsters or loot can be earned from it until then. Max party size for this dungeon is six.
Dismissing the notification, I continued, I wasn’t here to run the dungeon. I looked up into the dark recesses of the cavern’s ceiling. Thousands of glinting eyes stared back at me from the network of webbing that spanned across the ceiling. Two massive spiders could be seen in the center of the web.
I’ve come for my share of your gifted offspring; I said sending the mental message to Tigris.
Dozens of spiders descended on from thread from the ceiling. Examining one, I read its description.
Etter-hybrid Hatchling, Gifted- beast/etter-hybrid, Mortal, Rank: 8
The rest of the hatchlings all read the same none higher than the eight ranks a creature could be born with. Since their destiny was to be farmed for rank points it hadn’t made sense to invest anything into their rank.
I began methodically slaughtering the hatchlings. I only got two rank points per kill since they were a lower tier of rank than I was. It took about halfway through my butchering before I finally got a new ability. The spiders trembled in fear but the controlling ability of their mother kept them from fleeing.
Ability gained, Tremor Soles: (Rank 1); The soles of your feet can sense the slightest of changes movement, and impact within 30ft of you.
Passive: 1 mana per second.
Upgrade this ability to increase the range of vibration you can sense. Each upgrade to this ability increases your Perception Attribute by 1.
There was the slightest sensation of relief as I gained the ability but most of my pain relief came from Voidra and Karnen as they siphoned off the life force using it to patch the holes in my soul. I kept up the butchering and was rewarded with one more ability.
Ability gained, Setules Palms: (Rank 1): You have gained tiny hairs all over your palms and the soles of your feet enabling you to grip surfaces by mere touch allowing faster climb and a firmer grip. Your palms can hold onto something even while flat each hand can support 100 lbs. of weight plus an additional 10 lbs. of weight for each point in Might above ten.
This is a passive ability costing 1 Stamina/per sec while being used.
Upgrade this ability to increase the weight you can support with each hand. Each upgrade increases your Might Attribute by 1.
Blood and Souls (Repeatable): Kill 10,240 monsters or humanoids. Current Progress 432 out of 10,240. When you complete this quest, you will gain 2,048 Rank Points, and the next quest will require double the amount to be completed but will award double the rank points.
The remaining ten hatchlings didn’t give me an ability when I killed them. I’d been lucky to get the two I’d gained. My work was done here, I’d leave the spiders to their work. I’d probably let another of my vassals do the butchering next time, I’d hopefully be in the Hero ranks soon and would get nothing from killing Mortal-ranked creatures.
Returning through the tunnel to the castle, it was time to sit on my throne and do some proper work as the Warlord.
---
Guinevere bent down beside Helen who was regrowing one of Chiron’s arms.
“How bad is it?” she asked surveying all the wounded around them.
“It’s not good,” Helen said. “I know you said you wanted to attack today but it’s going to take me and the other healers at least that long to fix everyone.”
Guinevere nodded and stood. “Then we have to wait.”
A scout entered the infirmary tent and looked about. Spotting Helen and Guinevere he made his way towards them.
“Princess Helen, Lady Guinevere!” he said snapping a sharp salute.
“What is it, soldier?” Guinevere asked.
“We spotted something on the river, it moved too fast for us to identify it but it disappeared when it got close to the fortress,” he said.
“Something?” Helen questioned raising an eyebrow.
“Yes ma’am,” the scout reported. “Best we could say is that it appeared humanoid, but it was moving too fast for us to get a proper look at.”
“It was swimming from downstream?” Guinevere asked. “It could be someone from the Dragon Clan.”
“No ma’am,” the scout said.
“They aren’t from the Dragon Clan?” Guinevere asked. “I thought you couldn’t identify them.”
“No, they weren’t swimming,” the scout said. “Whatever it was they were running across the surface of the water. They disappeared every few seconds and reappeared more than three hundred feet away. We only saw it for about forty seconds before it disappeared.”
Guinevere frowned. “I don’t like added surprises. Do your best to see if you can find out what that was.”
“Yes ma’am,” the scout saluted and left.
Guinevere left the infirmary tent and looked out across the battlefield still stained with blood and a pile of goblin corpses. The Warlord was full of tricks and the report unnerved her. What was he planning now?