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“THEY’RE RUNNING AWAY!”
“Why are they running?!”
Cries of incomprehension flew in from all directions. Although the foxfolk were happy, they didn’t understand why our foe was beating a hasty retreat. After all, according to our scouts’ reports, the horde was supposed to be very large.
“I have to see what’s going on,” I said to Murk as I got up on the parapet.
Strange as it may have been, the albino didn’t try to change my mind. He just nodded in silence, supporting my idea.
Before I started down, I said quietly:
“Start sending all wounded to Newtown.”
“You sure?” Murk asked, not raising his voice either.
“You already know the answer to that question,” I said. “We’re alone now. The gnomes aren’t coming.”
“But you saw that the Heart of the Forest was sharing mana with our supply,” my deputy tried to object.
“I’m afraid that is the only help we will get,” I objected. “Pinebogey has to conserve his strength right now. When Foreston falls, the showdown will move to Narrow Lake.”
“You meant to say ‘if,’“ the albino answered gloomily.
“No, my friend,” I shook my head. “I’m afraid that was just a small fraction of the overall horde. Think of it as an advance party. They were just testing our mettle. Soon they will strike full force. Our mission now is to do as much damage to the necromancer’s army as we can.”
“What about after that?”
“We retreat. We join forces with Pinebogey and defend the Forest. The enemy will get bogged down fighting in the forest. And that will keep some of the enemy forces tied down and give Gallia time.”
Murk breathed a heavy sigh and looked around. He looked at his home city with new eyes, now knowing he would have to abandon it to an enemy. It was hard for me, too, deep down. We’d accomplished so much. And yet, it was not enough.
“What do you think, how much time do we have?” Murk asked. A second of weakness and he’s ready to attack again.
“I’m sure we can hold out another two days,” I answered. “The supply is almost full. And if the craftsmen restore even half of the first circle traps, we will earn ourselves a little bit more time.”
“Got it,” he said. “I’ll start transferring the wounded now. I’ll see off the halflings and those too weak to fight, as well. They must go to Newtown before it’s too late. Our teams have no need for craftsmen now, either.”
The albino smirked and nodded at the wall.
I turned around. As we were speaking, the trap masters had already moved out onto the no-man’s-land very professionally trying to restore the damaged traps.
“It’s time for me to go, too,” I said and went down with a smile.
Gorgie and the snakes started after me, but I shook my head in silence to let them know I was going alone. What I need now are stealth and silence.
“Be careful!” Murk shouted when I hopped down to the ground.
Waving goodbye, I activated King Nidas’ Footstep of the Light. Now, if the description could be trusted, not a single dark beast would be able to detect me. Heh... I just have to hope those I’m planning to track have lower-level senses than my spell.
The forest greeted me with silence. Only sometimes far off ahead of me did I hear a muddled crackling and rustling. I was running in the tracks left by the wraiths, gracefully curving around and jumping over felled trees, roots poking up out of the ground and intertwined branches. Meanwhile, I never stopped turning my head from side to side for even a minute, studying the location with magic vision.
The forest had changed a great deal. Its energy system was gaping with huge black bare patches. Like giant tumors, they sapped the surrounding plants of all their lifeforce. I also noticed just in time that the dark blots were intertwined with barely visible energy lines. Whoever was commanding the undead army was smart and quick enough to weave an alarm network in such a short timeframe. This creep works quick!
I had no trouble making it to the forest’s edge. However, the farther I went, the denser the dark alarm system became. On the way, I managed to catch up to a few wounded wraiths. Based on their injuries, they were hurt in the acid worm attack. They walked with limps, clumsily dragging their appendages. At first, I kept my distance but I gradually started closing the gap. They had no clue I was there. In that way, the three of us made it to the forest’s edge almost side by side before dawn.
The wraiths kept going, but I decided to stop and take a look around. Plus, the alarm web had gotten denser. As an aside, this spell looked similar to the one used by the Dark Spirit. But it was several times more complicated. The spirit keeper of the dark portal was much less proficient. Compared to whoever had created this network, the spirit might as well have been a first grader.
The scouts were not lying. The valley was indeed teeming with dark beasts. They brought all kinds with them. Spiders, acid worms, wraiths, necromorphs looking like the ones I saw in the Labyrinth of Fright. There were also more basic risen corpses: orcs, halflings, trolls, goblins ― all the inhabitants of the valley that didn’t manage to escape the horde.
Seeing the huge pack of draks and poisonteeth came as a nasty surprise. Not far behind them, I saw familiar silhouettes of snakefolk and werewolves. Gallia’s spies were right. Nure-onna had joined forces with Darkness. She must have also been somewhere nearby.
The whole time I was watching the valley, wraiths, spiders and necromorphs kept coming out of the forest. Another worm even crawled out and slowly slithered into the valley. Something is pulling them back. I have to find out what, or rather who it is.
I could sense something strange happening up ahead. The intensity of the bitter flavor in my mouth was making my tongue numb. My body was also shivering hard, and I just couldn’t make it stop. An ancient and powerful sorcery was at work down in the valley.
I walked about four hundred paces and found myself on a small hill. The strange magic originated from a wide hollow at its foot.
The source was a huge semitransparent dark sphere approximately the size of a five-story mansion with a human silhouette vaguely visible in the middle. I took a closer look. The figure was wearing a dark robe and floating several yards above the ground. Long arms splayed to the sides. Wide sleeves made them look like wings. Head and face covered by a deep hood.
I think I know who I’m looking at. Alrak the Heartless.
There was a ball of magic pulsating in the necromancer’s chest that was as black as the Abyss itself. And that ball was the very center of the giant sphere. My heart aflutter, I looked on as it swallowed up the injured undead by the dozens like a humongous monster. Their bodies instantly disappeared into the dark substance, leaving their energy behind for consumption. They didn’t all disappear though. The necromorphs with less severe injuries reemerged from the sphere looking unharmed. Ready to hit the ground running once again.
Right above the sphere hundreds of flying necromorphs were spinning circles and forming a giant cyclone. The sight of it was both frightening and captivating. I had a hard time looking away from the sphere. Shaking my head and closing my eyes for a second, I took a few deep breaths in and out. Getting myself together and starting to breathe normally again, I opened my eyes again and looked around.
Next to the sphere, I spotted another three figures. They are clearly not undead. I don’t even need to guess. It’s obvious: the two giants overgrown with long gray fur that make trolls look like little goblins must be the two daeva of corruption ― the brothers Im and Om. They’re both armed with big, huge poleaxes.
Five steps away from the giants stood a beanpole-thin old woman. She was swaying from side to side as if in a trance. The black scraps of fabric sticking to her bony body made her look like a garden scarecrow. Her long gray hair was all matted. I couldn’t see her blue face or long claws, but I would dare to suggest she was none other than Black Annis.
I gulped with my parched throat, pushing down a lump. I was wrong! We didn’t have two days like I told Murk! As a matter of fact, as soon as this whole horde gets on the move, Foreston will have a matter of hours left! I have to hurry and warn the others!
I was about to run back when suddenly I felt a strong upwelling of power. The dark sphere got a firm grip on my gaze once again. A series of waves ran over its ghostly surface one after the next, expelling vile nauseating miasma.
I winced. I had a hard time not bringing up the contents of my stomach.
Meanwhile, the sphere rocked and lurched forward. Gradually gaining speed, it slid gently right on top of me. The primordials watching the necromancer’s movements all howled out in unison and raised their hands into the air. The undead warband responded with a multitudinous roar and got moving.
It has begun!
I quickly turned around and dashed toward the forest. While jumping over a small gully, I heard a fleeting, familiar sound. With all the other noise behind me, the short clap seemed insignificant and not particularly out of place, but my intuition was practically wailing.
I pumped the brakes and took a long somersault to the right, not forgetting to activate armor of light as I did. And right where I had just been, I cast Stone Spikes. I didn’t even think that I was most likely wasting both the mana and spell for nothing. My intuition had never misled me before.
A loud shriek of pain sliced into my hearing. I turned while running and gave a predatory smile. A huge, winged beast the size of a wagon threaded itself full force onto the sharp stone spikes that erupted up from the ground. I don’t even want to imagine what might have happened if I hadn’t reacted quickly enough.
I stopped. The monster intrigued me. It was three times bigger than the largest necromorph. Despite its animal appearance, long fangs, claws and the two horns on its head, it was clearly intelligent. There was another thing, too as it turned out. It could somehow sense my presence and that was at the fact the monster was Dark. I even checked if my spell had run out. Nope. All good.
Meanwhile the monster wasn’t even thinking about dying. Writhing itself off the spikes, it gave an enraged growl and cast a hateful look in my direction. It couldn’t see my eyes, but it knew perfectly well what direction to look.
With a quick glance at the attack notification, I shuddered. Now I see who you are. Crook. A beast from scary bedtime stories that kidnaps children.
Thinking it over briefly, I cast a few ice arrows at the beast followed up by an ice spear reinforced with chaos magic. To my deep disappointment, Crook swatted the attacks away like bothersome little flies. Lightning and Ram were also a complete waste. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The primordial was deflecting all my attacks with such ease and seemingly even playfulness. Meanwhile, he gradually managed to free his body from the stone prison and go on the counterattack. My Will had already deflected several attempts at mind control.
After finally realizing he would not be able to take me, Crook cast a ball of darkness my direction. It happened so fast I didn’t even have time to properly react. In the end, my defenses dipped by a few thousand points. And that was the highly lauded armor of light!
The spell’s description claimed damage from dark magic was reduced by thirty percent. But what is this?! So, light magic is weak against dark magic? And as if that wasn’t enough, the primordial was somehow able to see me, and also took a few dozen percent defense from my shield in one blow! And after all, I wasn’t even up against the most powerful of the Steel King’s servants.
I felt an unpleasant aching coldness in my chest. This isn’t magic. It’s all much simpler. I am the problem. Or rather, the levels of my spells. I am now up against a supreme primordial. I cannot even see his level, much less the descriptions of his characteristics. I am like some idiot newbie trying to attack an armor-bound guard with a training sword. There’s no disputing the fact that my training sword has been honed to perfection, but it isn’t enough to get through such an experienced enemy’s armor.
While the thoughts scrambled around in my head like rabbits cornered by a predator, my hands continued attacking. Handfuls of blots and mites went flying at him. Not particularly expecting a positive outcome, I was trying to remove all positive effects from the dark creature.
― Attention! The spell “Undoing” has been deflected!
And after that, as if mocking me, the system said all my spheres had met the same fate.
Crook finally freed himself. He gave a mocking roar and shot up into the sky. I saw how fast all his wounds healed over. A shroud of darkness covered his clawed hands.
Spreading his leathery wings wide, he soared high over the ground and laughed loudly. His rasping, croaking laughter made me wince. For the first time this year, the feeling of impotence that had been following me all my life came back.
But I was not afraid... I was outraged!
For an instant, I looked away from the flying cursed freak and looked ahead. The wave of necromorphs had already “swallowed up” the hill where I was standing just a minute earlier watching the huge sphere. The vile creation of a dark sorcerer was also quickly drawing near. And the other primordials were barely a step behind. The gang’s all here. I had yet to see Nure-onna, but that was no longer important.
I deactivated invisibility and looked up. for some reason, I wanted Crook to see my face. Or rather, my ominous smile. And he, for the record, did not much appreciate it. With a powerful flap of his gigantic wings, he tried to go up higher and the darkness around his hands thickened.
While the demon prepared for an attack, I started activating all my spells one after the next.
― Attention! You have activated the legendary spell Fracture!
― Attention! You have activated the legendary spell Chaos Whirlwind!
— Warning! The element you are summoning knows no mercy! Either take care to provide acceptable defense or try to stay away from the epicenter of the storm.
— Warning! Spell damage radius: 165 feet.
While I activated the next spell, a giant whirlwind was growing at breakneck pace a few dozen yards away. A wave of dry air rolled over me. The wafting heat knocked the wind out of me, making all the hair on my head stand on end. I covered my mouth with the bend of my arm and kept watching the winged demon. Forgetting about his attack, he started trying fitfully to run away from the fledgling elemental and nearly succeeded. But unfortunately for him, the whirlwind suddenly split into ten wide twisters flickering with lilac lightning.
I smiled malevolently. Crook’s luck had run out. Like a dirty gray rag falling into a rock crusher, he disappeared into the interwoven fabric of lightning and taught airstreams.
The system kept telling me the monster was taking damage, but still Crook was taking his sweet time to die.
“No problem,” I hissed, “pushing” the whirlwind forward to meet the wave of necromorphs. “I’m just getting started!”
― Attention! You have activated the legendary spell Ravisher of Darkness!
The Great Light swallowed up the dark army just as the Chaos Whirlwind reached the first few rows of necromorphs. I even had to close my eyes for a little bit. The bright light and sheer number of messages was making my head spin.
The beasts were dying by the hundreds. The roar of the elements, shrieks of pain, predeath rasps, deafening thunder blasts ― it all mixed together into one cacophonous churn.
Before a minute had passed, the jumble of letters and numbers before my eyes was on a sharp downswing. The solid din then also started falling apart into separate components.
I opened my eyes and froze. The dark sphere containing the necromancer was growing rapidly, acquiring a giant defensive dome and eventually covering the army of necromorphs. I looked on thunderstruck as the lilac twisters and vaunted beam of light did no damage to the dome, lost power after making contact with its surface and collapsed into thousands of little glowing particles.
Memories of the assault on the king’s palace in Solenholm suddenly sprang to mind from the Labyrinth of Fright, when I was hiding safely behind a boulder.
After all, Alrak the Heartless and the other primordials were there, too. They were the ones who took down King Nidas and all his mages! I’m such a self-confident fool! What made me think I could stand up against power like that?!
I gulped loudly and took an unconfident step back. Tripping over a root and losing my balance, I awkwardly flailed my arms and plopped down on my butt. Exactly like I did once as a child after getting spooked by a group of troublemakers.
Strange as it may have been, the shameful fall brought me to my senses. Quickly springing to my feet and no longer paying any attention to the alarm threads, I ran toward Foreston and didn’t look back.
* * *
WHEN THE CITY WALLS started peeking through between the trees, I noticed a few dozen figures puttering around outside.
I winced. It was the trap masters. I had already forgotten about them.
Jumping out onto the forest’s edge, I shouted with all my might:
“Everyone back inside the walls! The enemy is at the gates!”
The foxfolk all shuddered and raised their heads. They’re so slow! One of them, the quickest thinking, grabbed the horn hanging on a comrade’s belt, breathed in deeply and trumpeted out the command to assemble.
Troops on the walls started moving. Trap masters darted out of the woods.
“Pick it up!” I shouted. “Get a move on!”
I was met at the gates by Murk. I don’t know what he saw on my face, but he seemed to grasp the whole situation at once.
“How much time do we have?” he asked quickly.
“None!” I responded. “Sound the retreat! Get everyone back to the lake! Move fast, don’t waste time!”
After my command, a chorus of alarm horns sounded out over the city.
Murk wanted to leave a contingent of troops on the wall, but I stopped him. I had to tell him quickly what happened in the valley.
“They’ll be useless,” I nodded at the swordfighters. “The necromancer is too powerful. We’d just be burying troops for nothing. Go!”
After saying that, I went over to the stairs to get up on the wall.
“What about you?” Murk asked with surprise. “What scheme have you cooked up now?”
“I’ll try to hold them back as long as I can,” I responded on the move. “I still have a few spells up my sleeve.”
“But...” the albino tried to object.
“Go!” I cut him off and, adding firmness to my voice, said: “This is an order from your supreme magister!”
“Rick...” Murk made one final attempt.
“Go, my friend,” I begged him. “You have to save the others. And don’t you worry about me. I’ve gotten out of worse scrapes than this! Plus, I won’t be alone.”
After saying that, I nodded at my pets.
“We’re staying, too!”
I turned around. Onyx and Amber were standing with their shoulders splayed, staring at me point blank. Everything in their appearance was saying that no one would convince them to leave my side.
Adding a bit of Will, I barked:
“Come on, get out of here! Wait for me in the forest! That is an order!”
The foxmaidens both shuddered and stepped back. I had clearly overdone it with the Will. Oh well, it’s for the best. Good that they know this is no time to act fickle.
Murk gave a loud click of the tongue to draw attention, then nodded at the western gates.
“Run!”
The foxmaidens hissed furiously and, turning around despite themselves, headed off where he pointed.
A few moments later, I was standing on the wall and staring into the darkness of the forest.
“The wounded are already in Newtown,” I heard Murk say.
“You’re still here?” I frowned.
“Only to wish you luck!”
I nodded.
“Thank you, my friend.”
“We will leave you all the golems.”
“It’s practically impossible for them to help.”
“Without a supply, those hunks of metal won’t make it far,” Murk objected. “At least this way...”
“You’ve gotta go, my friend,” I interrupted. “I’ll see you on the other side of the lake soon!”
The albino breathed a heavy sigh. He wanted to say something else but changed his mind. We exchanged handshakes.
“Promise me you’ll survive!” Murk shouted when he was on the ground.
I wanted to shout that I promised, but the horns of the sentries, who were still in place, announced the enemy’s arrival.
Abyss! They’re already here! I’m too late!
The sentries’ horns were followed by those of the headmen. The foxfolk ran hurriedly out of their home city. I saw their faces. They clearly didn’t like what they were doing. After all, they’d been doing nothing but taking down dark creatures all that time. And then suddenly, from out of nowhere, the supreme magister orders them to leave the walls of their home city. But I must give the hunters their due for discipline. No one argued with the command. Though it was in spite of themselves, the foxfolk obeyed.
I looked from side to side. Bronze giants were standing to my left and right along the parapet. Gorgie was crouching on the third floor of a support sequoia. The whipsnakes, their heads poking out ahead, were peering out over the walls curiously. Their huge split-tipped tongues kept sampling the air.
“We’ll hold out as long as we can,” I turned to my pets. “Then, we’ll go.”
Heh... This was after all just the beginning of the war, and we were already losing hopelessly. I just sat there trying to think of anyone who could defeat Alrak. The necromancer is just too powerful. It’s hard to admit, but I think even Gallia’s chances would be low against that monster. And after him, there’s still the Steel King to think about...
The frequent claps and shrieks in the sky signaled hundreds of flying necromorphs throwing themselves on Foreston’s defensive dome. There were no archers anymore ― the living city was left to face our foe alone.
I heard the first beasts give predeath cries as branches cracked. The guard vines had begun their final battle.
The forest opposite the wall seemed to have come to life. The tops of the trees were rocking from side to side. The smaller trees, unable to withstand the onslaught, loudly snapped and fell to the ground.
Finally, the first wraiths started filtering out onto the no-man’s-land.
“Don’t even think about it!” I shouted at Coal. He was about to activate his wave of fire. ”It’s too early! Wait for them to come closer!”
Hearing a noise behind me, I turned sharply. And at once, my teeth clenched, and I winced. I was premature in praising the foxfolk for their discipline. Approximately a hundred archers were taking shelter behind a barricade made of carts, boxes and beams, preparing to turn back the attack. Whistle was on command.
We met eyes.
“Sorry, Great One!” the troop commander shouted. “But this was our decision!”
The warriors supported their commander with a unified roar.
I shook my head. Fools! You’ll die before you can even fire ten arrows. I looked around at the city laid out before me. On the streets, dozens of small parties were scampering around, hurriedly constructing barricades like the ones Whistle’s troop was taking cover behind. Here and there, I saw the silhouettes of archers in the treehouses. Looks like they didn’t all leave the city.
I breathed a heavy sigh. Oh well, their choice. I don’t have the right to keep them from defending their own homes.
Upon closer inspection though, I didn’t see Murk. That’s good. At least not all the foxfolk will die. If there’s one nice thing about the living city’s demise, it will take a lot of beasts down with it. After the craftsmen’s hard work, the supply still had around forty percent of its mana left. Surprisingly, they were able to restore a respectable number of traps, too.
However, this time the necromorphs were in no rush to attack. The creatures froze stiff as soon as they reached the forest’s edge. I knew who they were waiting for.
The necromancer and his retinue appeared a few minutes later. The giant sphere, gliding through obstacles like a red-hot piece of iron through butter, slid toward the city, leaving a wide swath of barren land in its wake.
The dark ball in the necromancer’s chest was somewhat smaller. I really hope I had a hand in that.
Meanwhile, the sphere squished the last few trees before emerging onto the no-man’s-land.
The first fire trap flickered and went straight out. The sphere swelled and started slowly expanding. The magic traps started going off one after the next. I saw the city’s supply rapidly dropping. At this rate, we’d lose all our energy soon enough. I was getting the impression the necromancer was sucking all the vital juices out of the city with his powerful spell. But that was only on first glance. Bit by bit, the ball of darkness in the sorcerer’s chest was shrinking.
I didn’t have time to celebrate though ― Alrak went on the attack.
Dozens of giant ghostly tentacles reached out from the dark dome toward the gates and walls at breakneck pace. I didn’t even have time to blink an eye before the walls shook from a battering-ram blow of such force that a few of the golems fell to the ground with a loud clang.
Clinging to a thick vine I was using as a handhold, I craned my neck to look around. Through the thick cloud of dust, I could see that the front gates of the city had ceased to exist. The pillars were now lying on the grown, torn up roots and all.
Part of the wall was drooping and leaning to one side. Among the fragments of wood, chunks of dirt and stone, the bronze figures of the golems were floundering.
The foxfolk were still behind their flimsy barricades with their mouths open wide, staring at the gaping hole in the wall. For hundreds of years, these gates had kept them safe from external threats. And now their trusty defense was gone in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, the necromorphs sped off toward the missing section with a loud triumphant roar. In a matter of seconds, a dark wave of hundreds of undead covered the no-man’s-land.
“Now you can go!” I shouted to Sparky and Coal.
A wave of fire covered the entrance to the city then moved out to meet the dark horde. From the left flank, Sparky’s thunderstorm came crashing down on the necromorphs as well.
The necromancer was seemingly not expecting so much pushback. Before his dark dome covered the rushing beasts, the whipsnakes’ spells thinned their ranks quite a lot.
But alas, Alrak’s magic won the day again. From the second the necromorphs got under the defensive sphere, the snakes’ spells no longer did any damage. For the first time ever, the dark wizard found me worthy of a glance. He must have just noticed me.
His mental attack against me came to naught. Then, the system told me the whipsnakes had also suffered an attack. Well, as long as I’m around, that’s not gonna fly! You can’t take control of the foxfolk either. Thankfully, I had spent up a whole bunch of mana to place the Arbiter mark on every hunter. Over my dead body, ugly!
As if able to hear my thoughts, the necromancer raised his right hand, barked something out and pointed at me. Three of the primordials, obeying his order, dashed forward. And Crook is theoretically still out there somewhere. I never got a notification about his demise.
Shrieking loudly with joy and a few dozen steps ahead of the hairy giants, Black Annis tore out in front. She sized me up with a hungry gaze of her lone eye, and on her blue, almost corpse-black face there danced a maleficent smile that looked more like an animal baring its teeth.
Bounding nimbly over ditches, piles of dirt and large rocks, the primordial reached the walls in a matter of moments. I greeted her by activating all my shields and brandishing my blades that burned with the flame of chaos while constantly barraging the brute with ice arrows.
My attacks only made the batty old woman sprightlier though. She quickly scaled the wall and somehow gracefully dodged my arrows as well as the guard vines. The vines she just batted away. Her clawed hands cut through their thick stems in one blow.
After leaping over the parapet, she froze opposite me for an instant. Then, with the grace of a prizefighter, she ducked under a hand and tried to land a blow on the first golem swordfighter. Once behind him, with a powerful right-leg kick, she knocked the bronze giant down to the ground.
She dealt with the second golem even more crudely. In one blow, she blasted its head off. It didn’t even manage to twitch. A few seconds later, the nimble old woman polished off another three of the gnomish wonder-machines, turning them into piles of scrap metal. And she did all that with my ice arrows raining down on her and nerfed by Ice Golem’s Breath.
By the time she finished off the bronze swordfighters, we were just a few steps apart. Despite the fact the old woman’s movements were slightly slowed, I realized it would be unwise to try and compete with her in speed.
With a broad smile, the brute revealed a row of sharp curved teeth and stepped forward as gracefully as a cat.
At that very moment, Gorgie appeared behind her and dealt his crowning blow. I had seen the harn poke through victims with his bone spike a few times but, alas, this time we were up against a totally different class of opponent.
Annis clearly had extremely high-level senses. How else could I explain the fact that she was able to dodge Gorgie’s bone spear even while slowed by a spell.
Instantly losing interest in me, the old woman ran at the harn. A broad swipe of her clawed hand plunged into empty space. Gorgie darted behind the old woman and dealt another blow. But the cursed primordial was again able to dodge. This time though, she managed to hit the cat on his scaled tail.
Crimson blood sprayed the walkway. Gorgie gave a loud bellow of pain. I went mad with rage and brought lightning, ram and ten ice arrows crashing down on the flighty brute.
The first two spells missed, but a few of the arrows hit their mark. They didn’t do any damage to Annis, though. Her ghostly shield gave a few flickers and absorbed everything.
Just then, I felt a powerful shock beneath my feet followed by another and another. The giants had reached the walls and were hammering them full force with their poleaxes. Every blow came with a brief upwelling of magic. The freaks must not be using regular weapons.
After a fifth blow, the wall beneath me gave out and blew apart into dozens of sharp fragments with a loud crack.
Reacting just in the nick of time, I pushed off from the walkway and leapt away from the destruction at a slight angle.
The landing was not exactly pleasant, but my shield absorbed all the damage.
Annis, to my dismay, followed in my footsteps. And a few moments later, she was joined by both daeva walking through the gap in the wall.
A squall of fire balls and ball lightning immediately came crashing down on the giants. The whipsnakes had been afraid to hurt Gorgie and me all that time, but now they let loose on the daeva.
From the windows of the treehouses, foxfolk and golems rained down fury-scroll-reinforced arrows onto the heads of the primordials. At a certain point, I even started to think the three of them were faltering in face of our stiff resistance, but I was wrong. The creeps were just waiting for backup.
With a deafening crack, the remainder of the wall was crushed by the necromancer’s dark sphere and came crashing to the ground. Before the resulting dust cloud blocked my view, I saw necromorphs flooding into the city through the wide breech.
The horrible thundering sound left me deaf for a few seconds. After activating magic vision, I could see all my enemies and pets perfectly well.
Sparky and Coal were grappling with the daeva with support from the golem swordfighters while Gorgie kept up his war dance with Annis. The old woman’s energy structure meanwhile had doubled in size. Either she had activated another shield, or my eyes were playing tricks on me.
The harn and primordial now looked like two lightning-fast balls weaving themselves into one another. Based on the worrying messages the system kept sending me, my pets were losing their fights.
Coal was getting it particularly bad. After smashing the golems to dust like porcelain figurines, utterly ignoring Sparky’s attacks, the daeva were methodically pulping the body of the anthracite whipsnake with their dreadful poleaxes.
While dodging the clumsy necromorphs’ attacks, I recalled first Coal then the others. Or rather, I tried to recall them. It felt like the System was mocking me when it said an unknown magic was blocking the summoning amulets.
“Abyss!” I howled in despair.
The daeva had already broken through Coal’s defenses and gotten to his life supply. The snake looked to be losing consciousness. Gorgie was still holding out, but it clearly would not be for long. Meanwhile Sparky was trying to no avail to break through the giants’ defenses, but her lightning couldn’t do enough damage.
The feeling of impotence and despair swamped me from head to toe. I ran over to help Coal but, at the same time, realized I had nothing strong enough to stand up to the supreme primordials. Our forces are just too mismatched.
Beyond Incineration and Oblivion, I had one powerful spell left ― Decay of the Abyss from the Darkness school. But the last time I used a dark spell, my reputation with the order of hunters dropped to zero and I was practically declared a Renegade.
To the Abyss with it! Call me a bald Bug if you like!
Taking out a handful of orbs of darkness as I ran, I activated the spell.
― Attention! Would you like to power up the spell Glitterspark Eel’s Chain Lightning?
― Considering the level of your spell, the maximum number of Orbs of Darkness you may use is: 12.
― Attention! Using the maximum possible number of dark elements will cause a significant reduction in your reputation with the Order of Monster Hunters!
Waving off the warning and selecting all three primordials, I gave the system my permission. An instant later, twenty coal black shoots tore out of my hand. The rapacious tentacles lashed out suddenly at the beasts. I didn’t break through their defenses, but I did accomplish my main goal. All three, clearly not having expected such an attack from a Hunter, got distracted from beating my pets to death. They clearly did not appreciate my new magic.
And I took advantage of that brief lull.
“Run! Sparky, carry your brother away!”
I didn’t have to tell them twice.
Gorgie gave a resentful bark and dashed toward the whipsnakes. Sparky meanwhile, grabbing his brother’s neck in her teeth and covering herself with a lightning shield, dragged him nimbly through the ranks of necromorphs toward the western gates.
While preparing to deflect an attack by the primordials, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sparky’s shield sending the undead flying away as if they were made of paper. Despite the wound, Gorgie was dashing from side to side, knocking down particularly persistent wraiths trying to nimbly latch onto Coal’s body.
I have to cover their escape.
Another handful of orbs and my body was enshrouded in a semitransparent film of darkness. A taut spectral bow appeared in my left hand in the blink of an eye just like in the battle with the Blackblood Patriarch. Waves of darkness went running down the taut limbs of the magic weapon. The arrow that appeared in my right hand looked like a long spindle pulsating with dark energy.
― You have activated the enhanced spell Dark Arrow!
― You have activated the physical skill Arrow of Wrath!
― You have attacked Black Annis (level hidden)!
― Critical hit. You have dealt 38,380 damage!
― Damage absorbed by magic shield!
“Not so fast, brute!” I barked. “That was just the beginning!”
The old woman was clearly in no mood for jokes. For the first time thus far, I saw unconcealed animal fear in her eyes. While sending dark arrows one after the next at the nimble primordial, I smiled happily. I didn’t care one bit about the barrage of system notifications saying I was losing reputation points with the order. Now I was simply taking revenge for the fear and feelings of impotence these bastards had made me feel yet again.
Annis, shrieking in horror, jumped from side to side dodging my attacks but all the while, for some reason, she couldn’t find the courage to come any closer. I must have scared her very badly. And it finally occurred to me how we could defeat the darksiders...
But I wasn’t able to think it through. A powerful blow knocked me off my feet. I skipped a few yards across the ground like a flat stone thrown by a skilled hand over smooth water. My shields took a good dip every time my back made contact with the cobblestones.
My flight ended at the steps of a young treehouse. Hissing and wincing in pain, I raised my head. What’s doing that to me? Ah, I see... I got too distracted shooting the old woman and didn’t see one of the daeva throw his poleaxe at me.
My armor of light turned to vapor. But the shield of chaos still had eighty percent left. I get the sense it won’t last long against enemies like this though. Just in case, I summoned the ghostly Ysh and activated Muckwalker’s Defensive Aura. A drop in the ocean, but at least it’s a hair more defense.
While the primordials came racing toward me, I had time to take a quick look around. Whistle and his archers were gone, along with the barricades they were sheltering behind. The solid wave of necromorphs had wiped away the city’s flimsy defenders as I thought it would. I heard shrieks, roars and shouts of pain from every direction. The undead were getting to the still living foxfolk. I saw a few of the treehouses collapse under the necromancer’s magic. Leaves and branches came careening down from the sky mixed with dust and pieces of wood oozing out a sticky green liquid. The flying creatures made it through our defensive dome after all.
I checked Foreston’s supply. Less than ten percent. I looked at the map. Not a single living foxman or maiden remained in a two-hundred-yard radius. The harn and snakes, if the map was to be trusted, were now at the western gates. So, they made it! I smiled. Great job!
But I was seemingly trapped. They had me surrounded. There were several dozen wraiths and spiders behind me. Annis was sneaking up cautiously from the right. And to the left were the daeva brothers. Meanwhile, hovering over the earth right in front of me, Alrak the Heartless was hovering my direction.
I had been encircled like a wild animal.
I spat out a sticky wad of saliva and got up off the ground. I took out another handful of orbs, around a hundred.
“Just a bit closer, you brutes!” I rasped out, looking straight at the necromancer.
When there were just eighteen paces between us, I gave a sidelong smile and activated the spell.
― Attention! You have activated the legendary spell Decay of the Abyss!
— Warning! The element you are summoning knows no mercy! Either take care to provide acceptable defense or try to stay away from the epicenter of the storm.
— Warning! Spell damage radius: 260 feet.
Waving off the messages about again losing reputation with the order of hunters, I watched with heart aflutter as a dense dark cloud of Decay of the Abyss started forming around me. Like a huge living organism smelling prey, it started sprawling out, swallowing up the bodies of the necromorphs.
I saw Annis and the daeva brothers fade into the darkness. The Great System sent me a few nice messages saying I had dealt damage to them.
But the necromancer was a total bust. The dark cloud tried to break through the walls of his sphere, but it just wasn’t working. Furthermore, the dome started to swallow up the dark fog with glee. The ball in Alrak’s chest started slowly growing larger.
Growling in frustration, I raised my ghostly bow and, feeding darkness to the ice arrow, pulled back the bowstring. But alas, that was the last thing I managed to do. The giant dark growths shooting out of the sphere hit my shield and, a second later, darkness came over me.
I woke up to a horrible pain. My insides were burning as if a huge ball of fire was sitting in my stomach. I wasn’t able to move. I just gave a slight twitch, and another all-consuming wave of pain went shooting through my body. It felt like every bone and joint in my body had been crushed. A haze of blood before my eyes. A coppery, salty flavor in my mouth.
Where am I? Hm... Based on the wooden ceilings peeking through the red haze, I must be lying in one of the treehouses...
Balling up my willpower into a fist, I took a slow, shallow breath in through my teeth and started looking myself over.
All my magical defenses are gone. My mana supply is practically empty, much like my other supplies. Looks like I’m only alive thanks to Magister Pyrus’ signet. And this is the second time that artifact has saved my life.
Many strange messages had been looming before my eyes all that time. One of them said I had used too much dark energy, had been declared a Renegade and every monster hunter had received a mission to kill me.
I’m reminded that the last time I was given twenty-four hours to rectify the situation. So, had I been lying unconscious for more than a whole day?
In the next line, the Great System told me that, in a strange turn of events, the True Armor of the Founder had ceased to exist. Thanks to my high Will score, it had been transformed into the Armor of the Dark Hunter. And of course the higher powers played a part...
I took a quick look at my will score and breathed a sigh of relief. I did not want to die a slave to some Dark creature. I am still breathing free air...
An unwitting breath caused a new flash of pain.
I toughed it out and again opened the notification list.
Apparently, becoming a renegade had caused all my friendship amulets to be destroyed. The Great System was giving me a clear indication that I was no longer a grand magister, or even a monster hunter at all. If the messages are to be trusted, all my friends have turned their backs on me.
I closed my eyes. Abyss! The thing bothering me most of all was that all my efforts were in vain. All the primordials were still alive. Not a single death message. The only reassurance was the fact that Gorgie and the whipsnakes had managed to escape. Speaking of that, despite my new status, the System had not taken my summoning amulets.
I was distracted from reading by loud voices coming from somewhere off to the right. A moment later, I realized they were slowly coming over.
I focused my eyes with all my might on that direction.
I recognized the dark figure of the necromancer right away. Another two people were walking next to him. Their voices seemed familiar.
Ah, of course! His Majesty the Steel King in the flesh along with his trusty cur Magister Sato!
I perked up my ears, hanging on their every word.
“Alrak, you did a pretty good job,” Egbert delighted. “I saw reports saying the kid was able to dig in pretty well here given the short timeframe. Even Sato wasn’t brave enough to tangle with him.”
“Your Majesty...” the magister burbled out in embarrassment.
“I hope you will correct that error.” the king added a metallic edge to his voice.
“You can count on me, your Majesty!”
“We’ll see about that,” the king snorted and added: “Bring the prisoners here. I need my crown as quickly as possible!”
I shuddered and gave another wince of pain. Who is he talking about?
When Sato scurried off to carry out the order, I heard the king’s voice:
“What need do you have for the boy?”
“He is mine!” the necromancer rasped back. “You gave your word!”
“And I intend to keep it!” Egbert chuckled. “But still.”
“Do you really not want another almighty lich at your service?” Alrak answered with a question.
That knocked the wind out of me. It was much worse than I thought! So that’s what the brute was planning!
The king snickered.
“Looks like the subject of your experiment doesn’t much like that idea!”
There was no longer any sense in hiding. I gathered up all my strength and, overpowering the pain, turned my head. Seemingly, my regeneration was slowly doing its thing. The only reply I could get out was to pitifully spit blood on the floor.
“Cocky!” Egbert chuckled and, bending down over me, added pensively: “He probably has lots of interesting stuff in his pockets...”
“He is my trophy!” the necromancer rasped out again.
“Yes, yes,” the king waved it off. “I remember. Don’t you worry. The Ironskins always keep their word!”
The sound of footsteps made them turn around.
“Sato!” Egbert said in a dismayed voice. “What took you so long?! I didn’t ask you to fetch death itself!”
Despite the king’s petulant tone, I detected an unmistakable mocking edge to the last phrase. Was that a reference to Alrak?
“Mister Weber!” Egbert exclaimed with apparently cordiality. “How glad I am that you finally deigned to drop by this world! You must be tired after so long wandering through other worlds! You simply must tell me about your adventures. But first, business!”
Weber... Weber... Something was bubbling up in my memory. That’s right! Zoe and Kayla Weber! Was this really their father, the man who taught my brother?! But why is he here?
As if reading my thoughts, the king said mockingly:
“Mister Weber, you’re losing your touch! Hehe, you fell into our trap like a beardless lad!”
I tried to catch a glimpse of the renowned Wanderer, but nothing was working.
“Alright,” Egbert cut himself off. “Now is not the time for that... Tell me what I need to do to reach Gunnar’s tomb.”
“Only those that bear ancient blood who have attained the rank of magister in the Order of Monster Hunters and possess an amulet of the wanderer may pass through the portal.”
The Wanderer’s voice was colorless and monotone. Even a fool could tell Weber was under mind control.
“In other words, if you become a magister of the order of hunters, you would be allowed access?”
“Yes,” Weber’s dry emotionless voice came again.
“Excellent!” the king exclaimed. “We just so happen to have a couple magisters here!”
I wanted to howl and roar. Through the blood haze, I saw two silhouettes standing obediently opposite Egbert. I couldn’t quite make out which of the foxfolk they had taken prisoner. Without my Arbiter markers, it no longer mattered. I know what’s coming. Without me, now any magister can hand out ranks in the order...
I tried to move but just couldn’t... All I managed to do was bring about another attack of pain, which plunged me back into darkness’ warm embrace...
I was pulled back from oblivion a second time by the loud roar of several throats. I peeled back my crusty eyelids and couldn’t tell what I was seeing at first. There was something unimaginable going on around me. At first, I thought it was a nightmare, but the unbearable pain in my whole body convinced me otherwise.
The king, necromancer and others were no longer nearby. But I was not alone, either. There was a battle raging around me. A huge spider-like beast was darting from side to side and crushing high-level necromorphs with its razor-sharp appendages. The floor was covered in blood, entrails and disembodied undead limbs. The stench of rotten flesh struck my nose.
The fight didn’t last long. The spider won. It spent a little while standing still as if scanning for new enemies. But there weren’t any, so the peculiar beast quickly clacked its legs and hurried my way.
Here it is. The end of me. I swallowed a lump in my throat.
Father... Mother... I’m coming to see you.
Closing my eyes, I got ready to die. But at the last moment, I felt my body being picked up gently and flying forward.
I opened my eyes. No, I was not flying. The strange spider, holding me tenderly in its front limbs, was carrying me outside. So, it would rather eat me up later in its lair.
“Hold on!”
The surprise made me shudder. Then it hit me ― this creature was not planning to eat me. The peculiar spider was the keeper spirit, which I had forgotten about entirely in the heat of battle! So, all this time, it had been in the armory plodding away transforming this golem...
I looked up at the cloudy sky through the tree branches flitting by quickly in front of it and gave a stupid smile. I don’t know where the keeper spirit is taking me, but it doesn’t matter. What matters now is that I’m alive! The mysterious Higher Powers had for some reason decided to give me another chance...
Surprisingly, I now knew what needed to be done. Still smiling, I closed my eyes and squeezed a temporary growth sphere in my fist.
End of Book Seven
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