Chapter 73: Defeat This Demon! (Part 1!)

The match of this decade has arrived, and the fate of a city lies in the hands of two individuals of suspect mental function! Dare I say, everyone is fucked.

In the Iozian corner, weighing in at a heavy twenty whole pounds and standing a sky scraping four feet ten inches, is Vega the Scarecrow! With a heart as big as a whale and with a brain that is… both literally and metaphorically non-existent, Vega isn’t going to let this city fall without a fight!

Also this hay girl has a kill count of two people. WOOOOOOOOOO!

Now, in the Tripolian corner, weighing in at a pitiful hundred eighty pounds and five feet and eleven inches, is the warlord Runtaii. Deciding to invade Uvi Jantok with no backup, no game plan, and a remarkable lack of maidens, Runtaii is all or nothing in this battle to raid Uvi Jantok!

And…uhhh… He only has a kill count of forty thousand people. Like a fucking pleb!

Who will win this battle between the two peoples?

Will Runtaii scare off this scarecrow into the afterlife? Or will Vega proceed to waste him and leave him to the crows?

You’re gonna love this, trust me!

“Holy shit I hate this!” Skaldi cried out from under a pillar, trying to find where the rest of the party had gone. He had been fighting the Tripolians for the past four hours, with the endless army never tiring and never stopping. The only breaks he had gotten was when he had passed out, right by the pillar he was now under.

Flying above the rooftops and just above his head were flaming arrows, a special Tripolian creation. Even when launched fast and high into the air, they never ceased burning, which had torched and were in the process of torching sections of the entire city. The part Skaldi was in by no means excluded.

Crawling out from the pillar, Skaldi ducked behind whatever cover he could get. As he searched, squads of soldiers randomly raced the alleyways, desperate to get to the battle lines not too far away.

Every now and again, Skaldi saw a random Snake Skin running around in maniac rage, running to the nearest soldier. Not even the arrows piercing their face could stop them, taking dozens to take down a single one. One such Snake Skin fell right in front of him, collapsed and dead.

Skaldi hadn’t the luxury of knowing this and proceeded to curbstomp the body like it was a cockroach. Now noticing that it had already passed, he backed up and continued to sneak his way out.

“Fuckie, fuckie, fuckie. Gods, just let me keep my other eye!” Skaldi muttered to himself, hoping that he could at least save what was left.

Luckily, the only saving grace for the Iozians were the watchmen, their heavy armor and specialized training allowed them to face the Tripolians with better ease, managing their larger numbers well. Skaldi had seen for himself a single watchmen fighting ten Tripolians and the watchmen was winning.

But without some major backup, be it from Tibato or someone else, the watchmen would tire and be cut down. There had to be support, or there wasn't going to be a chance to make it.

Slowly dragging himself away from the battlelines, Skaldi managed to find a hideout in an abandoned restaurant. Hiding behind a counter, the redhead took this as a chance to recover and think.

“Fuck… we’re not going to last long without something…” Pulling out his bag of handing, he scrounged around for anything that could help. Finding the smoke bomb, some extra knives, and the Soul Gem Sorbet entrusted him with. She wanted him to have since she wasn’t much of a fighter.

Plus, if he ever ran into Vega, then perhaps she could use it to her advantage. Maybe it could turn the tide.

“...damn it… where are you Vega?”

“WOOOOOOOOOOOO! This is awesome!” Vega said, while dropping down in the abyss of the tower. Bricks the size of wagons and shattered wood fragments fell alongside her. Along with a familiar face…

“Vega, once… if we get out of here, I think I got an idea of how to beat Runtaii… I think!” Krimm held tight onto her new friend, dodging the ruins and the debris with significant ease.

“I’ll take requests at-at this point! Yippee!” Vega bounced off the many stairs, wanting to travel faster down to get to the battle quicker.

A gigantic boulder was below them, and they were heading straight for it. They were falling too fast to avoid, Krimm braced for impact. Instead of doing the logical thing, Vega pulled out her pickaxe.

“Fuck ya boulder!” She yelled, swinging her pickaxe overhead and into the rock, cracking just enough so that they could fall through the middle.

“Holy… anyway, this idea involves me and a shit ton of blackpowder!” Krimm yelled, the crashing of the debris making it hard to hear.

“To blow them up?”

“Nope, to blow up their supplies!” Krimm used her tactical mind to deduce the best course of action. “The Tripolains are good at raiding and archery, and with those fire arrows they’re using, this place is gonna burn. But if I manage to destroy most of their equipment, that will really screw them over!”

“Sexually?”

“Wha-no! Didn’t you say you’re a minor?”

“I am, I’m just one that has some very vulgar friends.” Vega chuckled, with her friend's safety still on her mind. Krimm’s idea was definitely solid, but there had to be more to put a proper end to this battle. “That’s good, but we’re going to need a lot more to defeat an army with what we have.”

“What’s your idea?” Krimm asked, navigating their way down, passing by much of the tower’s destruction.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Something doing with-with a Soul Gem. And, a guitar!”

Screeching through the sky like eagles, the flame arrows flew. The Tripolians were making much of the wooden parts of Uvi Jantok into infernos. While the soldiers denied the Tripolians their advance, the civilians suddenly became firefighters, pulling up water from wells and aqueducts to slow the flames that would burn down their homes and their lives.

Men and women, adult and child, the accepted and the Ghosts, all of them joined together to defend what they loved.

Being the only leaders capable of organizing the Iozians, the three Oligarchs commanded and led what little forces they had into battle. Composed of heavily armored fighters and whatever bandits that choose to join them, they amounted to a force of one thousand.

The Tripolians outnumbered them three to one. And so, the three Oligarchs fought three to one.

Glatrix, though an absolute prick, was the bravest of the three, riding with calvary and met the enemy head on. Of course it was for the sake of pride and personal glory, but one could not admit he was a coward in that situation.

Being the clever tactician, it was Oligarch Ruto’s quick thinking and unconventional strategies that had allowed the fight to go on into the night. By deliberately destroying aqueducts and piping, they could flood whole streets, preventing both fires and the Tripolians from moving forward. But even he knew it wouldn’t be enough to defeat them, only merely slowing them down.

And Roka surprisingly, and daringly, led a team of forty underground and behind enemy lines, flanking them and distracting them. Whenever they were discovered, they would head back were they came and find another place to strike.

Even with all the bravery, all the cleverness, and all the daring hardly meant anything besides buying time. Buying time for someone to come save them. Who, they did not know.

Finally far away enough from where the fires had been raging, Skaldi decided to stop crawling and to start running. Racing around the sprawling city, he searched for a recognizable face. Frantic and anxious, Skaldi could not stand being alone. He could not stand the idea that all of them were fighting while he was not there.

“Skaldi!” A voice called out. He swung his head behind him but no one was there. It wasn’t next to him or in front or from above. It sounded familiar… “Skaldi you fuck! Right under you!”

“Who’s there!?” Pulling out some throwing daggers, he looked down, seeing a sewer grate and eyes hidden in shadows.

“It’s me, God. Who the fuck do you think it is, it’s Lai! Get in here!” Her hand reached to the grate and pulled to open. Skaldi looked side to side in case there was anyone there. Seeing no one else, he climbed down into the sewer.

Dank and freezing, Skaldi chartered his teeth and the moment he stepped on solid ground he started shivering. He could sense there were a few people in there, of which he hoped it would be his friends. But holy shit was it fucking cold.

“This is probably the second worst sewer I’ve been in. And the other one I lost my eye in.”

“Shush for a moment. Chakrit, you got a candle?” Lai asked, walking over to the man in shadow.

“Yeah yeah, I got it.” Lighting it, now Skaldi could see everyone that was in there. And it wasn’t his friends. However, he was really happy to see them.

Clad in both steel plate and iron chainmail, adorned with robes and armed with pole arms, these weren’t ordinary bandits or outlaws. Their very body language was relaxed and calm, even as their lives were at stack. And much to Skaldi’s liking, the smell of vanilla, contrasting the sewer’s stench nicely.

“Uhhh… who are they?” Skaldi pointed to them, now thinking that Lai would suddenly order them to kill him.

“Oh! Yeah, those guys… Right. Well, they’re ALSO Falconneers.” Chakrit rubbed his forehead, acting all nonchalant about it.

“Wait…” Skaldi finally had an idea of what reason they were here. “What happened to all your guy’s money?”

Everyone kept silent, as Lady Lai blushed embarrassed. Kicking the side of the sewer wall, she built up the courage to admit what had happened.

“…we-”

“You.” Chakrit corrected.

“I spent it all.”

“On?” Skaldi asked.

“…a small army?” Lai said all ashamed like, as if this wasn’t the exact thing they needed at this point.

“What?!” Grabbing both of his ears, Skaldi screamed out all excited.

“Yeah, Amber said it was a bad investment-”

“It IS a bad investment.” Chakrit stated like it was a fact.

“Shut up, this is like, a really fucking good investment! Why did you do it?” Skaldi abruptly went up and hugged Lai, making her much shyer. Letting her go, her gestured her to continue. “Is this what happened?

“Let me explain. He said it wouldn’t lead anywhere, just hiring a bunch of mercenaries to hang out with us. I felt being bandits was a bit too illegitimate, so why not be mercenaries instead?”

“Because that would mean you’d have to go back home and tell your parents you’re doing something with your life?”

“Please shut up dude.” Skaldi flipped Chakrit off. “What kind of name is Amber Chakrit anyway?”

“Both of you! Look I wanted to, I don’t know, take a mission from Oligarch Tibato. I thought I could make my parents proud or something…”

For a moment, Skaldi felt a relative understanding with Lai. To want to be something that people could be proud of. And to live a live that’s your own.

“Instead of being some random noble bandit, be an actual hero? Turns out he is a complete dick and doesn’t want to protect Jantok Rock, and we got stuck here and you probably know the rest…” Lowering her head down, Lai’s self esteem and hope was low. She had no clue what to do now.

Luckily, Skaldi had the right words to put her in the right mood.

“Huh. You know, I was expecting you to have gambled, drank, or pissed all of your cash away. But mercenaries is an uncharacteristically smart idea coming from you. Nice job Lai.” Skaldi held out his fist, to which Lai smiled and fist bumped him. It was pretty cool.

“Thanks…”

“...alright. I think I got an idea of how to fix this. Also, let’s get out of this sewer. Why were you guys here in the first place?”

“Because we didn’t want to burn to death?”

“Hmm. Makes sense.”

As they all exitted, the troops assembled into columns, awaiting their orders from Lai and Chakrit. The wind blew hard and cold, and the fires’ light were not too far from where they were.

However, another light was in the sky. Not a star, not a fire. But a strange new building Skaldi noticed. A tower, not too dissimilar to the first one.

“So redhead. What’s your idea?”

“...uh… shit! Okay! We’re outnumbered, but there should be only one guy leading them. His name is Runtaii, and if you manage to get him, they should have no other leaders.”

“Well, how the fuck are we supposed to get to him? We don’t even know where he could be.” Chakrit questioned, not sure of how, if at all, they could pull that off.

“We could go underground, it will be safe there.” Lai proposed.

“No, we’d have no way of knowing where we’d be going.”

“The rooftops!” Skaldi pointed up, showing much of the scaffolding and pipes that connected many of the buildings together. “Go on the roof tops with a small team, the rest can help out the main army. If there’s any fires there, just use the pipes and uh…”

Skaldi stopped speaking, still looking out to the tower high in the sky. He saw much of the tower breaking apart and papers falling out from it. And now that he thought about it, the tower was in the direction Vega had headed in.

“Skaldi? Are you okay?” Lai poked his cheek. Which one, I’ll let you decide.

“Holy shit. That’s where Vega is.”

“What?”

“That’s where Vega is! Sorry, I have to go!” Barely able to finish his sentence, Skaldi went into a sprint towards the tower. Rushing with all of his available might, the redhead understood that Vega could be their last hope. If Lai and Chakrit couldn’t finish it, maybe Vega could.

No. Not just Vega. They ALL could do it. Together.

As Vega and Skaldi continued to race to their goals, a faint hope blossomed. That their future might be saved. That they could defeat this demon.