by Eric Ugland
“Beautiful. I have a plan…”
Chapter 163
After waiting for Fritz to do his dirty work (literally), I put my hand on his tough skin.
“Absorb,” I said.
Fritz’s eyes closed, and I swear he was as close to smiling as he could have gotten.
There was a bit of magical swirling, some flashing lights, and a few fun noises. Then he was gone, and I had a little notification.
Ability Gained: Armored Hide
That was nice. My armor rating basically doubled, and my skin thickened measurably. It also had a slight grey tinge to it, so I looked a bit like the love child between a bodybuilder and a rhino. But hey, it certainly helped combat survivability. And as I thought about the members of my hirð, I realized I couldn’t wait for things, I couldn’t leave things just sitting when I could give my hirð a better chance at making it through the corruption. So, quick as I could, I spent the hirð points, buying two levels of Hit Harder. The first for two hundred hirð points and the second for four hundred hirð points. Now, for each member of the hirð in combat, we’d do an extra 10% damage. That was huge. And it was time to throw down for one more fight.
I walked, nonchalantly, through the woods, and stepped into the clearing.
Immediately, the posture of the ursus changed. Shields and weapons went up, and snarls echoed around me.
“Good evening,” I said.
I don’t know why I thought there’d be some sort of conversation with the big bear. The main guy. Maybe because that’s the way things always happened in movies. There’d be some discussion. Some sort of trading of one-liners and insults. Or that rare grudging respect wherein the bad guy says you’ve done well, or some bullshit along those lines.
None of this happened.
They just charged at me.
The big dude came first, holding a wicked blade up high and giving a tremendous roar. But the rest of his soldiers followed quickly behind him. Suddenly I had a veritable horde coming down on me.
Shield up.
Sword to the side.
Low to the ground, feet planted, ready to receive the charge.
Which was a bit of a show, because midway through the charge, the ground fell out, and the corrupted ursus dropped out of sight.
There were a few screams of surprise, followed by more than a few of agony.
I wasn’t sure how deep Fritz had dug the ditch, but it seemed like it was enough for some serious damage.
It didn’t kill them all, though, because it was only about ten seconds before the first one crawled out of the ditch. And as soon as his feet were on the ground, he was charging again.
This time, I did it for real, shield up, sword out to the side, low to the ground, feet planted, ready to receive the charge.
As soon as the impact came, I pushed forward at full strength, holding nothing back.
The big motherfucker came to a stunning stop, getting crushed against his own soldiers by my push.
I stepped back and reset immediately. The fight was on.
The training with Carpophorus paid off. I felt how to parry the ursus’ hits into their comrades, how to position my shield not just to block their blows, but set them up to be eviscerated.
Bodies were falling.
I left my sword stuck through a bear’s skull into his spine, and took his war hammer. Then I spun it through the air and hit a big dude, just in time for the grey furry dude to throw his spear right into his buddy’s back. I kept grabbing weapons from dead hands, and plunged them into living bodies as deep as I could. Somehow I kept moving faster and faster. My heart was thudding in time with the smashes on my shield, a shield I was using just as often as a weapon. Pushing bodies back, catching snouts and breaking teeth, slamming down on feet and severing more than a fair share of toes.
Despite everything, my preternatural prowess, all the boons, abilities, and skills, I was so outnumbered that I took wounds as well. Nothing horrible at first, but they began to add up. The bleeding debuff activated, and my health steadily dropped. Then I got hit upside the helmet, and my head bounced back and forth off the steel. My vision blurred, and I saw bears everywhere. Which, to be fair, wasn’t that different than before the smack.
I slipped on entrails, and dropped to my knee.
A great huge fucking bear swung a spiked club my way. I raised my shield with just enough time to send it bouncing off, but it forced me further into the ground.
Then there was a bright flash and a loud boom, and that bear was gone, his boots still in the ground, smoking.
Tarryn was back on line.
He slung spells left and right, faster than he had ever before. Darts of fire set fur ablaze everywhere.
I noticed the bleeding and concussed debuffs were gone. Meikeljan. It was good to have friends.
With a barbaric yawp, I sprang to my feet and reentered the fray. I felt renewed, like I hadn’t been fighting literally all day.
With everyone back, fighting turned to killing.
The gruesome work was done just as the sun settled behind the mountains. As the day slipped to twilight, I stood in the clearing, gore up to my knees. I let my arms drop, releasing a stolen sword, and just looked at the carnage. A hundred, two hundred bodies. Maybe more.
Many had been dropped by Tarryn, who was currently wiping vomit from his mouth while leaning against a tree. Ragnar and Skeld worked their way through the clearing, making sure all of the corrupted were dead.
All the while, Meikeljan walked around, blessing the ground and the corpses.
It was an odd thing to see, because it turned the dark black blood and ichor of the corrupted ones to a deep red.
I hurt.
My HP had dipped way down several times, but with combat finally over, I started to heal and feel better. Physically, at least. The rage over Emeline had gone down somewhat, but every time I thought about her, I remembered The Master, and thought about going to Osterstadt and killing him. Or kill everyone there, and assume I got him in the bargain. So maybe the rage wasn’t quite gone yet.
I began to follow Meikeljan – after he’d cleaned an area, I’d scour it for loot. There wasn’t much in the way of coinage or armor, and their weapons were so rudimentary they’d probably be more useful as raw materials. But there was quite a lot of precious metals and gems. The corrupted ones had them weaved in their fur. Perhaps, back in the world, I’d have felt weird going over bodies like this, but I knew these gems could help feed kids. Or build a school. And that made it worth it. Even if it continued well into the night.
Chapter 164
We staggered back to Coggeshall in the light of the four moons. Exhaustion rested heavy on all of us, and I had to carry Tarryn. We all stunk. But a saving grace in the cold: there weren’t many flies swarming us. Some came around the bodies, but they seemed happy to stay on the bodies and let us be.
The Thingmen at the gates stared, and it took Wian coming and yelling at them before they let us in. Mercy and Essie grabbed Tarryn from me, and took him into the mountain to get his healing started. I sent the three little furballs off to the healers to do the same. I wanted to get to my room, take a shower, try and become marginally human again.
Nope.
Nikolai came up.
“There is someone here to speak to you,” he said.
“Are you kidding?” I asked.
“Caticorix.”
“Fuck him.”
“I think you would do well to speak to him in this state. He will not be expecting it.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Get him to attack.”
“Do you have something prepared?”
“You might say that.”
“How long has he been waiting?”
“Not that long. Perhaps an hour.”
“And he can’t wait longer?”
“I am sure he would, but it behooves us to make him attack as soon as possible. I doubt anyone outside of this valley knows he has foreign me
rcenaries. And the rest of the Empire will not like having foreigners meddle in our succession. If word gets out, Legions will come. So he must attack us, and he has to crush us. Completely. However, he clearly came here to talk to you to buy time. Either he has more soldiers coming or he is betting on finding a way around our walls. So for a short while, we maintain the advantage, we have him where we want him, we just need him to commit his forces and attack. So go piss him off.”
“That sounds like something I’m good at,” I said.
Nikolai gave me a smile. “Indeed you are.”
Chapter 165
I walked up the wall and hopped off, landing on the other side to see Caticorix on his horse.
The man’s eyes went wide at my appearance.
I took two big steps and swung my fist around, catching the horse in the side of the head.
It dropped, unconscious.
Which was not at all what I thought might happen. I thought the whole thing was an illusion, and, instead, I accidentally knocked a horse the fuck out. And, to be honest, I felt pretty bad about that. The horse was just being a horse, minding its own business, and here I come, boom, punch it.
The illusory Caticorix remained in place, floating in the air with the slightest of visual flickers. He screwed his face up, doing his best to be political and swallow the anger. A moment later, and he was standing in front of me. Still an illusion, but at least I knew it now.
“You are a disgusting excuse for a human,” Caticorix said.
“Yeah, well, you’re a disgusting excuse for a goblin.”
He was confused.
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked.
“Why are you covered in blood?” he replied.
“Because I fucked your wife. You want to tell me what this is all about?”
“I know you are a man of no honor, but to stoop to thievery when—”
“Dude, you’re the one here sieging me. You’ve sent soldiers against my gates. Stoop to thievery? The fuck does that mean?”
“We may be at odds, but we are still men of the Empire, and—”
“Fuck you. You bought a foreign army. I ought to get the Legion out here to kick your ass.”
“You dare accuse me of—”
“Come on, man. There’s no one left to believe your shit. I know you’re here to kill me, kill the princess, and take my home. You know I know you know. So you can blow smoke up my ass, but I’m not going to enjoy it, and you’re not that good at it.”
“You wish to die, do you?”
“I mean, at least then I wouldn’t have to see your ugly face any more.”
“I am looking forward to placing your death mask on my wall of fame.”
“Okay, you have a wall of fame full of desk masks? What’s a desk mask?”
“A death mask, you moron.”
“Ah, death mask. Still sounds stupid that you’ve got a wall of death masks. No wonder your wife is sleeping around.”
“You dare speak of my wife in that way?”
“You dare wear those shoes with this tunic?”
He huffed, then said: “I thought we were done with questions.”
“Hey, man, I’m just buying time until you want to bring your pasty ass up here and fight.”
“Oh? The fight can start at any time, your grace.”
He vanished.
Then there was a flash, and suddenly the tunnel was filled with soldiers carrying huge shields and long spears. And they were already advancing as one.
“Shit,” I said.
They lowered their spears, the tips coming out a solid fifteen feet. I was staring into a phalanx.
“Your grace,” called out Wian above me. “Might I suggest you move.”
I heard the gates opening, and I turned to run back into Coggeshall, but, instead, there was a massive stone ball there. It looked almost too big to even fit through the gate.
A hundred Thingmen shoved, helped by a few of the big draft animals. And that ball moved. I ran as far to the side as I could, feeling the ground rumble as the massive ball rolled by. I couldn’t help but want to get in on it, so as soon as I could, I ran behind the ball and gave the thing a shove.
It slipped into the tunnel, and you could barely hear the screaming over the noise of the ball mowing down the phalanx.
I stood there, my jaw hanging open, looking at smears of blood and broken bodies. It was incredible and horrible at the same time. Also, remarkably effective.
Behind me came another noise: boots.
The Thingmen and the Legion were all armed and armored, and swarming past me, chasing the ball and getting ready to engage the enemy on the other side.
I turned to go, but there was a hand around my elbow.
“Not this one, your grace,” Wian said. “Let your Thingmen handle this battle. Apparently there is a war you have yet to finish.”
I was confused, but also exhausted, so I nodded.
He smiled, and pushed his helm down further on his head.
“For the Empire,” he shouted, “and Duke Coggeshall!”
There were cheers from the soldiers, and it echoed down the tunnel.
I stood there and watched them until they disappeared from view.
“There is much yet to do,” Nikolai said.
I jumped a little, startled at how he’d snuck up on me.
“Yeah, building buildings, making the place safe, I get it,” I said.
He pointed to the rock still tied on my wrist. It was pointing to the northeast, and glowing.
“You have a sacred quest, my lord,” he said. “I wish it were as simple as you assigning others to take this over, but it is quite clear this, in particular, is a quest you alone must complete. And soon.”
“What else did you learn while I was gone?” I asked.
“There were one hundred and twelve bodies discovered in Coggeshall. Their blood was black. They were in the process of changing. These were the corrupted ones who had managed to remain hidden from us. And had this Master not revealed them to us, we would have most certainly been destroyed from the inside.”
I sighed.
“The corruption is, perhaps,” Nikolai continued, “the most dangerous thing I have yet seen. It is insidious in the manner of its attack, and I fear it may slip out of control. You must complete this quest as quickly as you can.”
“Fuck, dude,” I said. “I was really starting to like staying in one place. I have a bed. I want to sleep in that bed.”
He chuckled.
“You will yet have time to sleep in your bed, Montana. I advise you leave in the morning. It will give me time to put together a party to join you.”
“Wait, I can shower? Sleep? Leave tomorrow?”
“You must get your rest, Montana. At least what little you can. Tomorrow, you go on a bear hunt.”
“Gonna catch a big one?”
“Your grace, you are going to have to catch them all.”
About the Author
Eric Ugland ran away from Seattle to join the circus. And then he came to his senses, and moved to Manhattan. Now he's a novelist in Oregon, trapped by trees and snow and bears. Mostly bears. SO MANY BEARS!
The Good Guys is a continuing LitRPG series I’m writing in the world of iNcarn8. Join my reader group and be the first to know when new books come out.
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Contents
Also by Eric Ugland
I. Part Four
1. Four: The Loot
1. Chapter 2
2. Chapter 3
3. Chapter 4
4. Chapter 5
5. Chapter 6
6. Chapter 7
7. Chapter 8
8. Chapter 9
9. Chapter 10
10. Chapter 11
11. Chapter 12
12. Chapter 13
13. Chapter 14
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14. Chapter 15
15. Chapter 16
16. Chapter 17
17. Chapter 18
18. Chapter 19
19. Chapter 20
20. Chapter 21
21. Chapter 22
22. Chapter 23
23. Chapter 24
24. Chapter 25
25. Chapter 26
26. Chapter 27
27. Chapter 28
28. Chapter 29
29. Chapter 30
30. Chapter 31
31. Chapter 32
32. Chapter 33
33. Chapter 34
34. Chapter 35
35. Chapter 36
36. Chapter 37
37. Chapter 38
38. Chapter 39
39. Chapter 40
40. Chapter 41
41. Chapter 42
42. Chapter 43
43. Chapter 44
44. Chapter 45
45. Chapter 46
46. Chapter 47
47. Chapter 48
48. Chapter 49
49. Chapter 50
50. Chapter 51
51. Chapter 52
52. Chapter 53
53. Chapter 54
54. Chapter 55
