Chapter Twenty: PvP
“Master!” Talon cried in my mind, quickly I let my vision shift until I was looking out his eyes and saw what had called my attention. Pulling my consciousness back into my body I stopped running. My immediate stop alerted my friends and they too slowed to a stop beside me.
“What’s up?” Shialk asked, his gruff voice breathless. With his short legs, he had the hardest time of all keeping up. It didn’t help that agility was not his highest stat.
“There’s a group of seven just over the next ridge. They were disguised at first so at least one of them has some sort of group obfuscation skill or spell.” I answered. Between my agility and my fel-human stamina, the pace we had been running for the last three hours didn’t tax me at all. My stamina was still at 88%, and the brief pause we were currently taking ticked it up a point. If my strength was higher I would probably be almost full.
“Any way we can avoid them?” Jeloqa asked, her voice calm and steady. Her strength and Agility were even higher than mine and by far seemed to be faring the best out of the group over the long run.
I held up my hand and raised a finger as I viewed the world as Talon. The seven just over the ridge were trying to remain still, and they blended in well with the gritty landscape, but because of his undead nature, Talon was able to detect life from inside of them. If even just barely.
One of the ones shifted as Talon circled around overhead to get a clearer view. Commanding my eagle to descend slightly, the detail of the land sharpened, and the indistinct clusters of light grew brighter. All seven of them moved at once. Not quickly, but in unison. They are getting into battle formations. I noticed and had Talon do a quick sweep around us just to verify they were the only threats nearby.
“We can avoid them, but they know we are here. They just took positions to ambush us. It’s up to you. Should we run or fight?”
Grenthar took a sidelong glance at Shialk before answering, not looking directly at the imp. “There’s no way we can outrun them if they decide to attack. I want to say fight, but we don’t know their strength.” At his words, Velixen flitted into view. Quickly she began signing.
“I will scout them and report back.” I thought about telling her I could send in a minion. While I had dismissed Nuts, Bandit, and Wuzzy for our run I could have them back in an instant. Or any other type of minion we needed, but she was right.
That was why I had Talon flying so high overhead. It would make him very difficult to notice. It also limited his ability to detect threats, which is why it had taken him so long to notice this group to begin with. If anyone could scout the group undetected it would be Veli. Grenthar came to the same conclusion and nodded at her. A moment later she was gone.
“I don’t like this,” Faerwyn complained softly. None of us seemed inclined to disagree.
“Leo, why do you think this is happening?” Shialk inquired. There was a slight desperation in his voice that made me feel guilty. While murder and fighting between adventurers were generally frowned upon, there was one clear exception. Dungeon Events.
For two months a year, adventurers would go on a dungeon crawl sanctioned by the system. When they entered the dungeons during this time they had a set amount of time to explore and loot the realms of darkness. At that time there was a leaderboard and there were no rules. By turning the entire valley of The Wound into a dungeon event the system had painted targets on everyone. The Wound devolved into a battle royale. Even worse was the fact that our group was actively being hunted.
Not specifically, as nobody knew the true identity of the dark lord’s legion. Yet that didn’t stop everyone from trying to find us and kill us. So far nobody we had run into wanted to ally with us. This would be the fourth group we would have come across, All we had done up to this point was flee, but I could tell the constant running was beginning to wear on the group.
“I have a pretty good idea, Shialk,” I said, finally answering my friend. “Threigar told me that the system encourages change. The world requires chaos to live. If things in the world get too stable, or too imbalanced, it intervenes. Unfortunately, that means it really enjoys fucking with me.”
“Hey, Gren, is it too late to take back the whole swearing allegiance to the dark lord thing?” Faerwyn asked jokingly. t least I hoped she meant it jokingly. Grenthar chuckled at the question, so I decided to take it as a joke.
“Yes, Fae. It is. Don’t worry though, we have a secret weapon.” He answered.
“We do?”
“Yes, we do,” Jeloqa said, snorting. The demoness turned her gaze on me which was quickly matched by Grenthar’s own intense stare. Faerwyn looked at them and then at me.
“Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that you are actually, really super powerful despite your level. It doesn’t help I still see ‘physicker’ when I look at you.” Faerwyn giggled.
“I intentionally keep trying to forget. Suddenly being surrounded by giant undead monsters without so much of an explanation is going to haunt my dreams for years,” Shialk scoffed. At least this time I could tell he was joking. Mostly.
Velixen reappeared a moment later and quickly relayed her findings.
“2 healers. Levels 21, and 25. One support, level 23. One ranged spell damage class, level 27. One melee damage class level 21. Two vanguard defense classes. Both level 28.” Veli kept the message short and to the point before disappearing from view.
“So do you think you can handle it?” Grenthar asked me, hopefully.
“Question. How much of you pawning this off on me is simply so you can sit back and take a break?”
“All of it.” He told me, breaking out into a laugh. “But if we are being honest, isn’t this your fault anyway?” I dropped my jaw and raised my hands to my heart, gasping.
“What? I’m wounded.” I said indignantly before breaking out into a grin of my own. Besides the brief scuffle, I had with Tanaka. And the other battle against t monsters that was barely worth mentioning, this would be my first real solo battle in a while.
I had very real anxieties pass through my thoughts for a moment. This would be my first battle in this world against fully trained adventurers. The priests barely counted as combatants, and my sparring matches with Railnia were just that, sparring. The adventurers would be actively trying to kill me.
Then there were the level gaps. The differences in our levels were pretty severe, and many of them would have Rank D attributes giving me a real disadvantage. Or not. I thought as an evil idea crossed my mind. I felt my fangs sharpen in my mouth as I let out a wide smile and began to chuckle to myself.
“Is it just me, or did he scare the rest of you too when he did that?” Fae asked the group. Jeloqa smacked the back of her head in response. “Ouch, and I didn’t mean anything bad by it. Seriously though, Leo, be careful.” When she finished speaking she rushed up to me and kissed me lightly on my cheek. I could tell by her complete lack of innuendo she was nervous, but I smiled at her as she stepped away from me.
“Don’t worry Fae, I have this. By the way, I would really appreciate none of you coming over that ridge until I return.”
I didn’t give them a chance to say anything in return. I activated Spectral Phase and vanished from their view.
***
As I crossed over the top of the ridge I double-checked my stats and skills. With my latest level up my attributes were solid across the board. While none of them had crossed into the D rank yet, my average was phenomenal.
Attributes
Strength: 72
Vitality: 73
Agility: 90
Perception: 75
Intelligence: 90
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Charisma: 90
Wisdom: 95
Luck: 90
I had decided to keep putting most of my spare points into Charisma until it reached the next rank. While it wouldn’t prevent people like Threigar from affecting me, it would save me a lot of trouble as a whole. It also means you will be able to sway the masses. I thought, and couldn’t refute it. If the system was painting a target on my back to force me to do its bidding then I had to comply for now. More allies meant more chances at survival for myself and those I was learning to love.
My skills as a whole were a lot less exciting. I had skipped on investing in any new skills in favor of enhancing my more supportive skills. I had put a few points into Cataclysm Awakening to boost the attributes my deathsworn and tamed minions would receive from me.
Adaptive Army took some points to boost the experience gained between my deathsworn and me. Following that I enhanced the glamor skill my minions had making it even harder for others to perceive their true nature. Lastly, I filled out my newest Dominance of the Alpha skill some more to allow us an easier time avoiding Monsters as we fled south through The Wound.
While I had been foregoing investing in combat skills that didn’t mean I didn’t have a few new fun ones. The benefit of taming all those monsters had granted me a couple of new toys in my arsenal to play with. The two most relevant to this battle had given me all sorts of ideas.
Skill: Shrapnel
Skill Rank: F (upgradable)
Skill Description: Infuse Mana into the target filling it with combustible energy. Can detonate on command dealing resonating explosive damage. Infusing items offers a limited form of telekinesis. Infusing weapons increases the damage dealt and can transfer the mana infusion to the target. Damage dealt is 5% per 1% mana infused. Damage dealt increases by 5% per rank.
Skill: Discorporate
Skill Rank: F (upgradable)
Skill Description: Break your body apart, and control it through tethers of energy and mental manipulation. The distance the tethers can extend is 30 feet per rank. The Maximum distance a body part can extend from the core is 60 feet per rank.
Remy LeBeau meet Buggy the Clown. I wanted to feel bad for what I was about to do. I really did. I knew for a fact that on earth I probably would have been disgusted by what I was about to do. No, don’t do that to yourself. You are what the system is making you become. I tried to console myself. Too late to think about that now. Morals are a luxury and one I can ill afford. I reminded myself.
The next moment I let go of all doubts and thoughts as I simply accepted the darkness within me and acted. I let the rage wash through me. If anyone was to blame for what was about to happen, it would be those who had the audacity to stand against me.
Crossing over the top of the peak, my body split into a million pieces. I felt nothing as I had gone from being a body to a spirit. Which was even more unsettling because I still had spectral phase active. So what? I am a double ghost? Boo-Boo?
Ignoring the details my ghostly body parts slid across the ground approaching my seven foes. I could see them clearly now, as I had long since gained Talon’s skill to see the life force of others. As my various parts circled my targets I marked them all for death. I didn’t bother trying to automatically blight them. I didn’t want to give away the surprise.
“Something doesn’t feel right.” I heard one of them say as I approached.
“They’re just taking a break. There’s no way they know we are over here. Once they start running again we will ambush them.” Another replied in a hushed tone.
“No, that’s not it. Something doesn’t feel right.” the first one whispered annoyed. That drew a glance from a different target.
“Your luck?” They asked, causing the first one to nod in agreement. “Hey boss, maybe we should just let these ones go. After all, the likelihood of them being the demon lord is pretty low, right? They are running away from the core, not toward it.”
“No. Doesn’t matter who they are. It just means more loot and resources for us. If destiny wanted them to live it wouldn’t have led them to us.” A harsh and cruel voice answered. I chuckled as I spoke aloud at that. Coincidentally enough my head had rolled right next to the boss’ feet.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself.” My voice came out raspy and haunted. From my vantage point, I could see the leader’s eyes go wide in alarm. It was too late. I activated Shrapnel. My Mana had been depleted to nearly zero, and I would definitely have a splitting headache for a moment, but the effect was devastating. All around the scene, dark magic erupted, charring and blasting the enemy adventurers. As the waves of force tore through them, I tugged at my body through the tethers, and seconds later I was whole once more.
Of course, none of my targets had died. That would have been too convenient. I had expected as much with our level gaps though, and as my body became corporeal I already had Abyssal Ruination in my hand, swinging its crimson and black blade so fast it howled.
The scythe felt alive in my hands as it wanted the exact same thing at that moment as I did. To feed. The level 25 healer was unprepared. Before a single heartbeat had passed the man no longer had one. The swing didn’t stop, as I kicked forward, leaping through the air. My body twisted like a tornado as my blade continued its evil whine until it had claimed another victim. The level 21 healer Was now missing their head and an arm.
Intestines spilled out onto the ground as a diagonal rend separated their body from shoulder to hip. Darkness was erupting around me by this point and horrifying screams filled the air. In an instant, the temperature dropped from the arid warmth The Wound seemed to propagate to an arctic chill. I smiled with dark pleasure as I was able to taste the fear of my targets.
My mouth salivated at their terror, the cold chill invigorating me to keep my momentum. Someone was rising, trying to bolster his allies.
Oh, ho ho ho. No, you don’t. I thought as I sent out all of my tendrils at him. In a moment he was completely under my sway. My heightened charisma increasing the potency of their effects. While I could have forestalled that effect if I chose, as I had when using it to tug Shialk out of the way with the Radilgor, I didn’t bother this time.
“Attack your allies!” I commanded, and before his ally knew what was happening, my new puppet was stabbing the chest of their former friend repeatedly with a dagger.
“Delwir! What are you doing?” Someone cried. They were casting their eyes through the darkness, wide and filled with panic. I lunged at them, Abyssal Ruination turning them into an abstract piece of artwork. I stared down at their clumps in curiosity. Looks like Jackson Pollock met Picasso. As the scent of blood took over the field I let out a snarl of hunger, and my vision turned red.
Two more men were left. One sent something flying in my direction. It hit me squarely in the chest, and pain erupted through my body. I began laughing. The pain was invigorating. With only Talon the only Deathsworn nearby my precious friend cried in agony from the air, and through our bond, I felt his anguish. That turned my laughter into a howl of anger.
The one who had attacked me was on the ground crying as he suffered the retribution damage from his attack. I didn’t take mercy on him. You fucking hurt my bird. Dinner Time. Abyssal Ruination was forgotten as my fingernails extended, and my fangs grew in my mouth, extending past my teeth. I lept on the down man, clawing open his chest until his still-beating heart was visible, and ripped it out with my teeth. The hunger consumed me.
“Mo- Mo- you FUCKING MONSTER!” The last one cried, pulling me away from my meal. Slowly, lazily, I turned my eyes to the last one. I almost wanted to tell my puppet to handle the man so I could continue to feed, but no. Something lit in my mind as the voice echoed through the bloodlust.
Standing to my feet, I smiled at him and could feel my vocal cords restructuring themselves inside my throat.
“If destiny wanted them to live it wouldn’t have led them to us.” The man froze in his steps as I perfectly recreated his voice, using his own words. “Isn’t that what you said? You were willing to kill my friends for the sake of your own ambition. Yet you stand there and call me a monster.
You dare to call me a fucking monster? No. This isn't my fault. This is your fault. This was your decision. If you had retreated, if you had let us go. If you would have listened to your friends they would still be alive. You are the monster, not I. Don’t worry though. I won’t kill you.” I told him as I smiled. As I stared at this pathetic excuse for a life form I realized that death would be too good for him. No, his folly needed to be properly punished. Slowly I took a step closer to him. As a wave of shadows washed over him he let out one last scream. The last scream he would ever utter. Unless I commanded it.
***
“I hope you all enjoyed your break time,” I called happily as I stepped over the ridge and began descending to where my friends waited for me. I came alone. I had commanded my new puppets to make their way to Shangrior through the nearest exit in The Wound. I might release their minds one day. For now, though, they would be trapped in their own bodies watching out through a mental cage.
“Excuse me? You were only gone for a minute. You can’t even call that a break.” Shialk grumbled. Despite the joke, I could hear his voice tremble. He is terrified. Did they watch what I had done? Are they going to leave me? It makes sense they would be scared.
I took a long sad breath. Shialk’s eyes went wide at my expression. He might not have been as emotionally perceptive as Jeloqa but he still had better perception.
“No, Leo. You saved us. I am truly grateful. I am not scared because of you. Just.. this situation. When we saw a newbie being brought in by Threigar we had thought we had hit the jackpot at having a chance to get some semblance of our lives back. I just never expected all of this.”
“That’s an understatement.” Grenthar agreed. I relaxed. I could understand. I hadn’t really been planning on this becoming my life either.
“So, really, what about the other party? You’ve barely been gone long enough for us to catch our breath. There was a lot of noise but…” Faerwyn asked. I resisted the urge to wipe my mouth. I could still taste the flesh on my tongue. I hadn’t bothered going for memories that time. Just bonus experience points and skills.
“Don’t ask,” Jeloqa spoke up, her tone harsh and final. “Unless you really want to know. Do you see that he has just jumped up another 2 levels? Did you see how much experience we got?” I gave her an inquisitive look. Had she seen? She caught my eye and shook my head before mouthing one word. Velixen.
Of course. She would watch. My shoulders slumped, but a brief brush of contact touched my back and a whisper grazed my ear as my elusive friend spoke.
“Don’t worry. I heard what you said. I appreciate how far you are willing to go for us.” That was all she said, and then her presence went missing once again.
“How about we get out of here? We still have a long way to go before we can leave The Wound.” Grenthar announced.
“Not more running!” Shialk whined audibly, and everyone began laughing at our smallest member's expense. This is what I am willing to defend. The system might paint me as a monster. But this feeling, this home. This is what I want to protect. A new sense of purpose washed over me. No. Not just these allies, but all of Shangrior. I might have my issues, but it has given me a home, and I WILL protect it. No matter the cost.