Jamis, Helen, Atrel, Mira, Felrick, and Torvin all panted after they had stopped having fled deep into the woods. Jamis closed his eyes and emitted a low deep growl that sent a pulse through the woods summoning the bears under his control. The roars of the dragon could only be distantly heard in the distance.
“What was that?” Helen asked. “I’ve heard of the dragon, but that thing was stronger than any of the reports lead us to believe.
“Exar’kun is the true king of this forest,” Atrel said looking back from where they’d come with a haunted expression. “We placed wards around our city to keep him from approaching but he’s mostly kept to himself in the past.”
Helen was about to say something when a notification popped into her view.
Quest Gained; Dragon Slayer: You have been tasked by your goddess to kill the Hell Dragon of the Ancient Forest to prevent it from growing more powerful and leaving this region. Progress: 0-1.
Reward: One III Artifact of your choice or creation.
Helen blinked the message away looking around to see the rest of her companions besides Atrel doing the same.
“We need to slay a dragon,” Jamis said looking back.
“We’re not anywhere close to being ready to take that thing on,” Felrick said.
Helen nodded in agreement. “it’s time we return home,” she looked Atrel over. “I have to explain my new husband to my mother.”
---
I looked over the six people, recognizing them as the group I’d fought above. They looked battered now having taken a beating like I had on the plunge down. Their leader, the woman named Guinevere was stained with dirt and blood. She was missing her helmet and part of her silver blond hair stained a dark red. I met her piercing blue eyes and flinched as for a moment I saw a different woman’s face. The memory vanished as quickly as it appeared as I stuffed it back into the corner of my mind. I could see my spear strapped to her back, the weapon rising four feet above her back and hanging down to her knees.
“Who are you?” the silver-blonde woman asked. “And why are you here?”
“Call me Ishmael,” I said extending a hand. “Some time ago, never mind how long precisely having little money and not much of interest back home I thought I’d come to the Ancient Forest and the wild to seek my fortune.”
I did not see that coming, Voidra said sounding somewhat impressed. How do they not know who you are?
Well that black mist around him would have kept them from seeing his face, Karnen mused. But how many people do they think could have survived that fall?
“You’re a mercenary then?” she asked, taking my hand in the unconscious way everyone does when offered a hand to shake.
“Something like that,” I said with a shrug ignoring the running commentary in the back of my head.
“So, you don’t serve anyone,” one of her companions, a big man with a shield scoffed at me with disdain.
“Not true at all,” I corrected him. “I serve myself.”
“But you don’t have a country of your own?” the man pressed.
“I don’t see the need to tie myself down to one place,” I admitted.
“How did you survive the fall?” Guinevere asked, looking at the cave-in nearby.
Now that I looked, I could see an arm poking out from underneath where someone had been crushed by the rocks.
“Just had some abilities that let me pull through,” I said with a shrug.
“Whose side were you on during the battle?” one of the other men this one carrying a staff and wearing mages robes asked. “You don’t look like a Lunaren and you’re not from Camelot. Do you work for the Dragon Clan, or did you serve the Warlord?”
Did, Karnen said. Do they think they killed you?
Apparently, I responded mentally.
“I’m with the Dragon Clan,” I said aloud. It was technically true too; I was the leader of the Dragon Clan now.
Guinevere looked me over. “What was that sound we heard before?” she asked.
“Some sort of shadow cat,” I said.
There is another one incoming, Voidra said. Actually, now there are more than a dozen incoming.
“I think we’re about to be attacked,” I said casually to Guinevere.
She stepped back from me, and her sword raised up as she scanned the tunnel around us. The rest of her party responded the same, looking about nervously.
“I don’t see anything,” the other woman, the group’s healer said.
A scream tore through the air as a black shadowy beast phased through the stone and launched itself at her. She stepped back raising her staff and the man with the shield stepped into the block. Another beast emerged from the ground.
Voidra, can you disable Magma Heart(s), I asked.
Easily, why? Voidra asked.
Do it I don’t want to reveal myself to this group yet, I said.
Done, Voidra said.
There was a slight twitch in my spirit but other than that I felt nothing. More and more beasts were pouring down the tunnel and out of the walls, ceiling, and floor. With a roar, I flung myself into battle diving into the thick of the monsters drawing all their attention onto me.
--
Guinevere watched as Ishmael charged past them into the thick of the swarming monsters. The move was so suicidal and idiotic that she momentarily stopped attacking just to watch. Claws slashed across his chest, surprisingly they didn’t immediately rip out his heart. To her surprise the warrior was doing actually well; blocking with his shield and legs the fangs and claws deflected off the metal or leather.
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She supposed she shouldn’t be too surprised by his reckless behavior; scars were rare on the gifted and that man was covered with them. He lashed out with a club, a crude and savage weapon that he used with bloody efficiency. He used his shield as much as a weapon as for defense she saw him ram its edge into the mouth of a wolf-like creature.
A giant shadow viper lunged toward her, and she yanked her focus back to the fight. Her sword struck out and cut off the creature’s head. She Slashed, stabbed, blocked, and deflected as the onrush of creatures came on. She stood and the front of her party taking on the bulk of the monsters. The hoard of monsters was being held off mostly by just her and Ishmael.
The man was clearly a fighter, but he also seemed to severely lack combat training. He didn’t use them for support to watch his back and mostly ignored defense in the favor of a reckless assault. Whenever she caught a glimpse of him when he burst out of the pile of shadow creatures, she saw his body drenched in crimson. Without armor covering his vital organs she was amazed he was still alive.
Her party’s backs were pressed up against the wall. Regald was keeping the monsters off the rest of the team but was struggling without his active abilities and Kira was almost completely useless without her ability to heal others. Edrick was using his daggers and was better off with his ability to stealth and meld into the darkness passive rather than active abilities. Haldros was in a similar situation to Kira without access to the system, but his staff was enchanted, and he blasted off shots of fire from it every second, blasting into the ranks of shadow monsters.
Guinevere held the line against the shadow monsters. Despite her perfection, even she was taking hits on her greeves and bracers as she was forced to allow some hits through to deflect off her armor. Looking at Ishmael she couldn’t help but feel jealous, he burst from the hoard of monsters a savage grin on his bloody face and mad laughter coming out of his as he reveled in the slaughter unrestricted by the need to protect anyone.
She’d seen this sort of behavior before her father had some of the best mercenaries and bounty hunters in the land train her as a young child. While her sword masters had given her perfection with the blade those other tutors had shown her how to fight and the necessary bloody savagery. Guinevere had never totally grasped what the ability to delve into a fight and find the joy in it and be as brutal as was required; here was someone who had gone beyond anything those teachers had shown her.
Ishmael reveled in the battle creatures hanging off his body their fangs and claws ripping into him, but he just kept up the slaughter even as he took wounds that would have incapacitated anyone else with the horror, pain, and blood loss.
A bearlike creature reared up on two back legs and slashed at Guinevere with its front claws. She dived forward plunging her sword up to the hilt in its chest. The bear fell back and wrenched her sword from her hand. Guinevere dived forward panic flooding her as she lost hold of her weapon. The monsters swarmed her, and she rolled but felt fangs clamp onto the pieces of her armor and began to gnaw and rip at them yanking her around like a rag doll.
Black ichor rained across her and she looked up to see the bloody visage of Ishmael above her. The man was massive, all gifted grew a bit during their mortal ranks, but this man was almost as big as the Dragonbreakers. He was only foot-and-a-half taller than her but as a tall woman, she wasn’t used to being dwarfed so much.
“No time for lying about Princess,” Ishmael said grabbing her arm and yanking her up.
Her sword flew out of the mass of shadow creatures and slapped into his hand, and he handed it to her.
“I’m not a Princess,” Guinevere snapped as she slashed out at a shadow lion.
The two were fighting back-to-back now. Guinevere could feel the energy radiating off of him and she felt it infecting her. She wanted to dive into the fray and just start cutting until there wasn’t anything left. The feeling of wrath disrupted her usual emotionless battle meditation. Glancing over to her party she saw they were being pushed back in a fighting retreat down the tunnel.
“We need to help them,” Guinevere said.
“Why?” Ishmael asked.
“What do you mean why?” Guinevere asked, anger filling her voice.
--
“I mean why should I help them?” I asked. “Look at them, they’re just dead weight.”
“Why did you help me?” Guinevere asked.
“Because I wanted to,” I said with a shrug ducking the swiped of the monster’s claws and ripping open its underbelly with the claws of my club. “And you are actually competent.”
“What do you want then?” Guinevere asked. “I can get you money, land, and titles when we get out of here.” She cut around us in a wide swathe.
“Useless made-up titles or system titles?” I asked.
“Very well,” Guinevere said. “By my power as a Duchess and the future Queen of Camelot, I swear that if you help me and all my party members that you can to safety you will be granted a system title as a knight of Camelot.”
“What’s that do?” I asked ramming my shield into face of shadow cat and bashing its head in while it was stunned.
“It gives knowledge of weapons and using armor effectively and can be added to your description to give you recognized the power and legal protection while in the Kingdom of Camelot,” Guinevere said. “Now are you in?”
I thought about it for a second then shrugged. “Why not, I accept your deal. Is this even binding without the system here?”
“The system will recognize it as soon as we get back into its influence,” Guinevere assured me as she pushed towards her party.
Spinning about me in a cyclone of violence, I tore through the monsters and pulled the pressure off the useless adventurers. I had to use one of my abilities and turned about to release a roar activating Voice of the Chasm. The ability was activated based on intent, not a command word. A wave of sound hit the shadow creatures and some of the already damaged ones at the front rank were liquified by it. The rest staggered back, giving us some breathing room.
Looking over the group I saw the tank was badly damaged as were a few other members in their group. I guessed without access to the system their healer was useless. Reaching into my storage pouch I pulled out some health potions and tossed them to them.
“How many of those do you have?” Guinevere asked.
“More than enough,” I said.
Guinevere and I held the tunnel against the tide of monsters. Eventually, the wave of shadow creatures was reduced to only a few dozen, then five, then two, and then none. I looked over the party behind me. Their wounds had closed but their gear and armor were still battered. Without access to the system, I couldn’t repair anything but even if I could using that ability would have revealed myself.
I’m still not sure why you’re even bothering with this deception, Voidra said.
I want to learn more about this world from a different perspective, I responded. What better perspective than these people?
Why is their insight valuable? Karnen asked.
You cannot defeat your enemy until you know your enemy. I said.
But what happens when they get to know you? Voidra asked.
I didn’t have an answer to that.
---
Arthur slammed his fist on the table.
“How can you find no trace of her trail?” he asked.
“Probably the same way they were able to poison all our food,” Kay said tiredly. “There is nothing we can do about it now, she’s gone.”
“This is why I said we should have killed her,” Lancelot said.
“I don’t regret my choice to show mercy,” Arthur said. “What I regret is not having anyone get a single look at our enemy.”
They were gathered in the great hall of the palace. It was empty apart from the three champions and their highest-ranking officers. Arthur gestured to the doors of the great hall where the graffitied chalk sigil still remained.
“That is a threat to all of us,” Arthur said. “The Order of the Magi is anathema to our entire civilization.”
“I’ve heard the name, but I’ve not spent as much time studying history as you,” Kay said. “Aren’t they just a group of heretics?”
“No,” Arthur said. “These people aren’t just opposed to our gods; they are opposed to all gods and to the concept of the system itself. They seek to raise a god of their own who is not a champion in any of the pantheons.”
“But that’s not possible,” Lancelot said.
“Well,” Kay said. “It is theoretically if you could somehow without being a champion get to five hundred in all attributes without being a champion you could ascend.”
“Would that be so bad?” asked one of the officers.
“Yes,” Arthur said. “At least the Chaos Spawn act within the confines of the game, they seek to become a god, not to kill the other gods. The game was created to keep the gods from warring with each other, what happens when a god with no ties to the system is born? The wars between the gods literally destroyed entire continents, it was a war no civilization could survive.”