War God for Hire- Mercenary: A Reincarnation, Cultivation, Litrpg Adventure

by David Burke

  “Far be it from me to dispute your words, M’lord, but demi-goddess Lash has been leading the forces of the temple in battle these past three months. It is only because of her and the other Chosen, that Queen Khepri hasn’t simply absorbed our forces…” He paused. “Err… I mean your forces, M’lord, into her own.” Moe stumbled over his words, clearly nervous as he spoke.

  “Don’t worry, man. I don’t know what happened for me to miss out on the past three months, but I will get answers.” Kyle clapped the man on the shoulder. “Now, is there a council room somewhere? If so, lead me there and send messengers to gather the rest of my inner circle.”

  An instant later, there was a flash of purple and Kierra stepped out of the hole in space that formed beside them. “That won’t be necessary, Captain. All of us are on our way.” She gave Kyle a fierce grin. “I just got here the fastest.”

  Kyle could feel her appraising him. Interestingly, he felt her probe at him with her essence. It was a bit clumsy, like she wasn’t used to using it that way, but she seemed to be using more than her five mortal senses. Then, he noticed something else about Kierra.

  Intrigued, he looked deeper. She had raw essence cycling through her. Not a lot, but it was there all the same. She was cultivating on her own.

  “Kierra, you learned to cultivate. When did that happen?”

  Before she could answer, Nyda came running out onto the roof. She was clad in the full priestess outfit he’d made for her, but that didn’t stop her from leaping into his arms. What followed next was him being kissed all over as she mumbled, “I knew it. I told them.”

  He sensed Lash step out from the guild hall onto the roof, followed by Skrug, Saber and Selma. A moment later, Gilthan came down on gusts of wind to land a few feet from them. Kyle’s senses immediately picked up a host of differences.

  Gilthan and Nyda were both cultivators now. They had small channels of raw essence coursing through them. As for Lash, she was a powerful cultivator, from what he could tell. She was definitely at least into the demi-tier now, and the power radiated off of her. Kyle saw that most of the guards actually looked to her, rather than at Moe— who was apparently a captain now—for what to do.

  “Nyda, we are all glad to see him back. Maybe you could stop hanging all over him and share a bit?” Lash made a gesture with her other hand and the guards, including Moe, all went back to their posts.

  “Yes, Consort,” Nyda said, “but it is him.”

  There it was again, another capital ‘C’. Kyle looked from face to face. They were all glad to see him, but still had their focused, game faces on.

  Finally, Gilthan said, “I concur with Nyda. It really is him.

  Kierra growled a second later, “I also agree.”

  Lash said, “Well, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we should probably go inside. There are too many eyes that might see things up here. Inside, at least, we have some warding.”

  Chapter 28 - War Council

  Kyle allowed himself to be led inside, but as he did, he found Kierra nuzzling up under his arm. Her golden fur was every bit as soft and warm as he remembered. Although for him, that had been only yesterday. His senses, however, were starting to pick up temporal differences.

  Apparently, the fight with the void wraith had taken far longer than he’d thought.

  When they got to the conference room, Kyle found a throne had been set up, and instead of the round table they’d all sat around, there was now a U-shaped table which faced the throne. Next to the throne was a smaller chair, which was equally ornate, but sized for a human, rather than for his massive frame.

  “I take it you built me a throne while I was gone?” Kyle asked.

  Lash looked at him and smiled. “First off,” she began, “thank you, M’lord, my love. You saved me and changed me and gave me so much more than I thought was possible. I knew you would return again, but I have missed you sorely.”

  A sarcastic voice from the back of the room said, “You mean you missed how he made you sore.”

  Kyle was shocked when he looked over to see Meeka. Or… he shouldn’t say Meeka. Rather, it was Raina, for she no longer appeared as the blond haired noble of House Avarda from Thena. Instead, she was the voluptuous, raven-haired succubus.

  She was liquid sex, poured into jet black, half plate armor, which somehow managed to cover most of her yet at the same time, accentuated all of her best parts. Her tail flicked anxiously on the ground behind her.

  Lash turned to face Raina, “How many times do I have to say it? We only tolerate you because of Gilthan’s representation that Lord Kyle knew about your true identity. But if you insist on wagging that barbed tongue of yours, I will have to rip it out.”

  “As if you could,” the succubus laughed. “You’ve been a demi-goddess for all of three months; I was born this way. But if you are going to insult me, at least get it right.” She smirked at Lash. “My tongue is forked, not barbed.”

  To prove her point, Raina let her tongue hang out of her mouth. It was exceptionally long, and the tip was, in fact, forked.

  The temptress slipped her long, sinuous tongue back between her plump lips before continuing. “Besides, there are so many things you could do with my tongue that you’d like much more than ripping it out.” She grinned seductively. “Just ask Kierra.”

  It was Kyle’s turn to growl now. “Raina, have you kept your promises?”

  “Yes… well, technically I have. I haven’t drained any mortals of their life essence and I’ve only eaten sexual energy from your women—and only those who were willing. Which, as it turns out, was only our lycan friend.” She shrugged. “But what I lacked in variety for my meal options, she more than made up for in eagerness.” Raina blew a kiss at the lycan in question. “I’ve taught her a few new tricks that I’m sure you will appreciate, now that you are back.”

  Kyle sighed, shaking his head.

  Lash looked at him, “So it’s true that you knew who she was?”

  “Yes, Marie. I was trying to figure out if I could trust her. We certainly can benefit from her power. Or at least we could when I left. Now, you all need to stop posturing and bring me up to speed, starting with what is going on in this room?” Kyle demanded, waving a hand at the two thrones.

  Lash clapped her hands and said, “Everyone take your chair, so that we can attend the war god.”

  Then she walked to the center chair of the U-shaped table. Nyda took the seat on her left, while the seat on her right remained empty. Kierra sat next to Nyda and Gilthan next to the empty chair. Skrug sat next to Gilthan and on the far side of the table past Kierra. Both Saber and Selma sat down. Behind them, at a small desk, Raina took her seat and took out a stack of papers.

  Lash said, “Please take your throne my lord. This is the council room we set up. This table all looks to you but we hope to provide you with our guidance as well as our service.”

  Behind them Raina mumbled, “Oh there’s gonna be plenty of service offered, I wager.”

  Kyle sat on the throne and asked, “And who sits in this smaller chair.” He motioned to the glided throne that was set up to the side and in front of his throne.

  “Forgive me, M’lord. We didn’t know how long the battle would take, so we acted to present a strong face. Just two days after you disappeared, the armies of Calrissi, or rather the survivors of Calrissi, appeared at our gates led by Queen Khepri and her council of mages.”

  “She seized control of the city and demanded to take over the guildhall as well. We decided it would be counterproductive and a poor war strategy to fight with our supposed allies during a time of war. The day after she arrived, the undead horde started to form up outside of the city walls. But she was also unwilling to alienate a demi-goddess of war and your other chosen. They have needed our strength to resist the siege. So, she controls the city, but we control the guildhall.”

  Kyle nodded along. “It sounds as though you have done a great job of
holding things together while I was gone. I will need to meet with Queen Khepri, after I get some time with each of you. I don’t mean to be insensitive, but how are our forces and how is the war going?”

  Lash started to give him a rundown of their forces. It appears that many were drawn to the banner of the war god, even with him gone. Lash’s presence and the increasing power of the others had led to them recruiting two thousand more soldiers. With casualties they now were still at almost twenty-five hundred.

  The Calrissi army had double that number of soldiers, but that was only a tiny fragment of their original force. The most terrifying part was that the undead army had grown to be tens of thousands strong. Some of the scouts were saying it was over a hundred thousand, although the increase in vampires made it hard for even aerial scouts to spy and something the Aekor did interfered with magical scrying.

  Lash explained, “The actual power of the Calrissi is not their army. It never was. Thena has a much stronger army. Their power is their mages. They have, or rather, had the greatest known academy for human mages. And their queen is immensely powerful, although there rumors. Supposedly there was a flesh mage who had to intervene to help her escape the city. No one knows for sure.”

  “What I can tell you for sure is that she is a Spirit Tier caster, but she isn’t a demi-god as far as I can tell,” Lash finished.

  “I can confirm that she isn’t a demi-goddess. Over the last three hundred years, I have done as exhaustive a search as I could to figure out where all the divine splinters were,” Raina said. Then she added, “But I didn’t realize that Hav had created an item with one of her divine splinters. She has usually just created freaking sea monsters with her splinters. Her taste in bedroom partners leaves a great deal to be desired.”

  At that moment, Froggy burst into the room. A quick glance outside the door showed a couple of soldiers on the ground. She must have had to fight her way in. “I will thank you kindly not to talk about my goddess like that.”

  “I will speak however I want to. What are you going to do about it?” The succubus asked back.

  “Calm down, Raina,” Lash said. Then she looked at Froggy. “This meeting is for the inner council of the war god. You were not invited.”

  “His deal with Hav allows me to be part of the team,” Froggy replied.

  “I think we all know that deal ended when the other gods became aware of Kyle,” Nyda said.

  Kyle sat on his throne, watching. It was true he had felt like he was being observed before, but the effect was definitely muted now. In this room, he felt like he was in his own little bubble.

  Hav’s minion said, “Very well. Then simply returned the pendant that my goddess gave you and I will be on my way.”

  Kyle stared at her for a moment before answering. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”

  “You may have grown in power, war god, but surely you don’t think you are a match for her yet. Not with all the enemies at your doorstep.”

  “First off, Hav and the others should be down here fighting beside me. This is a threat to all of them. It is a danger to the very existence of our universe.”

  Froggy scoffed, “What, some undead? My mistress could wipe them from the planet if she so desires. Besides, what does she care if the land creatures are destroyed. Her domain is the sea.”

  “There are far more deadly enemies than the undead,” Kierra said.

  “Admittedly, those walking eyeballs are fearsome, but my goddess could easily handle them. Now that Lord Kyle is back, they should present no problem for you. Honestly, the rest of you should be able to wipe out the undead, if the Aekor are taken care of.”

  Kyle coughed. “I’m speaking now. I didn’t say I was unwilling to return the pendant to Hav. I said that it was not possible. I absorbed the divine splinter that she used to power it.”

  Froggy’s eyes opened wide and a big grin split her face. “So, you decided to accept her offer?”

  “No, I have simply absorbed the splinter. It happened in the midst of battle. I will reach some type of accord with Hav once this threat is over. And to be clear. I was not gone for three months because I was fighting Aekor. I fought a void wraith and I know that there is at least one other with the necromancer's army. Take word of that to your Mistress.”

  No confusion crossed the frog girl’s face. “But…but if you absorbed her splinter, then that makes you a demi-god of the sea. So now you have to obey Hav.”

  Kyle chuckled, “Raina could you tell her how well demi-gods get along with their divine parents?”

  She stood and stretched her black, leathery wings. “Gladly. I admit that there are a handful over the last few hundred years that have gotten along well with their divine parents. It is worth noting that they are the ones who lived the shortest lives. Then there are the ones who basically ignore their divine parents. Those seem to be the ones who last the longest. Finally, there is also a small group who actively work against the gods they arose from. They don’t last long, but longer than those who are the lackey’s of their deities.”

  The frog was practically sputtering at this point.

  “Besides which, I now have splinters of death, justice, and the sea. Just a few more to add to my collection and I will have a matching set,” Kyle said.

  Froggy spun on her heels and started to leave. Kierra called out after her, “Don’t go away mad, just go away.”

  Kyle looked at the beautiful lycan with a smile but said, “Kierra, you aren’t helping here.” Then he called out to the departing emissary, “Tell Hav, that I will meet with her as soon as the siege of Nargossa is broken. If she wants to come help me, she can. If not, she will have to wait, but I am interested in a partnership. We will just have to negotiate the terms.”

  That seemed to only infuriate the frog girl even more based upon the way her back trembled as she walked away. The room was quiet for a moment before Kyle finished getting updates from Selma on their medical capabilities. Apparently, they had hired an alchemist during his absence and he was hard at work brewing what Selma called, ‘some interesting potions’ from the remains of Barak’s body.

  Saber reported on the training status of their soldiers. While it was still not what he wanted it to be, fighting for their lives together had created a bond between the men that was not to be taken lightly. Per their agreement with Queen Khepri they would man different sections of the wall throughout the day and in fact he was due back there any time now.

  Kyle learned that Kierra, Lash, Gilthan, and Skrug had all been taking turns on the wall, although mostly Gilthan worked with the mages to provide an aerial defense of the city. They finally got to the biggest change.

  “We knew you were still alive because we could still feel you. We also saw the impact the fight was having on the city. I think the queen would’ve rejected our testimony were it not for the lava stones,” Lash explained.

  “Lava stones?”

  “There was a section in the older, abandoned part of the city where the stone for thirty feet in every direction was heated constantly. Many times, it would actually bubble, as it was super-heated. Then it would cool for a while but never actually stop being red hot. The circle expanded slowly the entire three months. Whatever you were fighting in there, the battle must have been fierce for it to drag on like that,” Gilthan said.

  “Skrug new boss man returns. Boss man always wins,” the troll said.

  “I like the confidence. I just hope that it proves well founded. Now what about the rest of you? What improvements have you made? I can feel you have all become stronger,” Kyle said.

  They all looked at one another, but Lash was the first to speak. “Whatever you did to me, though, has completely changed me. I am more than twice as strong as I was before, mostly in my ability to wield war essence. But you also gave me the ability to cultivate raw essence.”

  “So, what I sensed was true, you have become a cultivator.”

  “I can’t
handle anything like the massive amounts of essence I used to feel from you, but I’m learning,” she replied.

  Raina coughed loudly behind her.

  Lash’s face grew red, “I have to confess though that while you gave me the capability, I was only able to figure it out with Raina’s help. As much of a bitch as she can be, she has faithfully served you while you were gone.”

  Kyle looked at the succubus. “I didn’t realize that you were a cultivator. Are all the demi-gods?”

  “Hardly. I now believe that each of us has that potential, but no god would teach such a thing to the demi’s. Remember, they want to keep us under their control. Between Lash and I, we figured it out. I think the dual cultivation you did with them made it easier for them to learn, because Kierra and Nyda didn’t have much trouble learning it after we had figured it out,” the succubus replied.