“We will figure out a way to win.” I sighed. “Now you’d better get a move on. We need that processed fast. I don’t want to start building structures or clearing the forest and find out we did something wrong and get fined.”
“That’s probably wise,” Buffy said, taking a deep breath. “I’ll be on my way.” She took a few steps forward, her gnarled green wings extending from her back. As I watched her, I realized how important this must be to her. She almost never used her wings because she thought they were ugly.
“Hey, why aren’t you taking the gateway?” I asked, gesturing at her wings. “I know you aren’t fond of flying.”
“Because if something happens to me, we can’t get another one.” She gave me a sad look. “As much as it pains me to say, I’m a lot more expendable than that thing is.”
Unsure of how to respond to that, I decided to just let it go.
“Okay. And, Buff, I have total faith in you.” I smiled at her, and this time I wasn’t lying. I knew Buffy would do her best to get us situated. “You’d better come back.”
“That actually means a lot to me, Arthur,” she said, flapping her wings and lifting into the air. “Maybe when I get back, I can make it up to you?” She gave me a lascivious look, and before I could respond to the busty goblin, she took off toward the Royal Centre.
I watched her go for a moment, a few thoughts I’d rather not share bubbling through my mind. The things she could do with her tongue… wow.
Shaking them off because I had better things to do than daydream, I turned back toward the Graveyard of Statues and made my way up the hill. Only as I reached the top, an explosion on the far end threw me from my feet.
I fell backward to the ground and backslid several feet before crashing into the Extractor. I lay there for a moment, trying to get my bearings as the sky crackled and exploded with lightning.
That’s when I heard the high-pitched scream of lizard men as they charged forth from the Darkness at the edge of the Graveyard.
“Fuck!” I cried, leaping to my feet and pulling Clarent from its sheath. I summoned my armor as I glanced at the Extractor. “Wait here.”
“Confirmed,” the machine spat as I sprinted back up the hill. In the distance, I could see a pack of about a dozen lizard men coming out of the Darkness while another pack had surrounded Gabriella and Crystal.
There was a blackened splotch between the two waves where I guessed a beholder or something else had been. At least, that’s what I was guessing based on the fact there appeared to be a few less lizard men directly between that splotch and Gabriella.
Her mace crackled with energy as she swung it at the lizard men, taking them down with ease while Crystal fired ceaselessly into the horde with her dual pistols.
As I sprinted down the hill as quickly as I could, I saw Gwen burst into the air, her body wrapped in the green glow of Sally’s haste magic. The succubus unleashed a concentrated volley of flame between the lizard men’s second wave and our friends. Her magic turned the ground into a molten cesspool of swirling lava. The lizard men halted their charge, hanging back for a second before trying to leap the lava flow. Only, as they did, a geyser of flame ripped from the ground to engulf them. It didn’t catch all of them, but those it did strike, fell to the earth in writhing masses.
Black smoke filled the sky as Gabriella whirled, swinging her mace in an upward arc that crashed into the underside of closest lizard man’s chin with so much force its head exploded like a water balloon. As the creature’s headless corpse slumped forward onto its knees, the angel pressed her other hand to its chest. Golden light rippled outward from her hand moments before the body exploded like a bloody grenade.
As the lizard men on either side of the creature were immediately reduced to vapor by the corpse explosion, my mouth fell open in shock. Gabriella was powerful, and what’s more, it didn’t even seem like she was trying. Sure, we were facing scrubby lizard men, but as I watched her drop another lizard man with a casual backhanded swing of her mace and repeat the procedure, part of me wondered if she could single-handedly take down one of the twenty story tall ravagers.
The thought chilled me. Not because she was powerful, but because Mammon was supposed to be stronger than her. That meant brute force was out. That was for damned sure. I’d have to defeat her some other way, and something told me beating the Princess of Greed at her own game would be next to impossible. The sad thing was, as I watched the archangel dispatch the rest of the lizard men with practiced ease, I knew it was the more likely of the two options.
12
“Well, at least we have some Dark Blood,” I said, gesturing at the pile we’d collected from the corpses of the dead. “Though I’m not sure if we should sell it or keep it.”
“That’s the rub,” Gwen said, rubbing her chin. “We’ll likely need it to make explosives in the event more Beholders show up—”
“How can you think of selling it?” Gabriella asked, clearly annoyed. “Using Dark Blood to empower weapons and armor is one of the primary ways we fight back against the Darkness. Selling it gives up our advantage.” The archangel pointed at the rift separating us from no man’s land just a few meters away. “They are right there. More could come through at any time. Selling what little advantage we have for coin is lunacy.”
“It’s not lunacy if we’re going to die anyway,” Gwen said, crossing her arms over her ample chest. “We need food, water, basic supplies, and last I checked we had no funding.” She ran a hand through her hair. “It’s not ideal, I agree, but we’re definitely going to get attacked, so we will be able to get more.”
“So your plan is to be less prepared for next time?” the archangel turned to me. “You can’t seriously think this is a good idea.”
“I’m not sure what choice we have, but either way, we don’t have to make it now. So let’s table it.” I made a time out gesture with my hands. “Sally, can you process the Dark Blood with what gear you have?”
“I can,” she said, taking a deep breath. “It won’t be ideal, and it will take longer, but I can do it.” She frowned slightly. “I guess I’d better get to it.” Without another word, she gathered up the Dark Blood and moved back toward the other edge of the Graveyard. Crystal shot me a look, and when I nodded, the rogue followed her friend.
“She seems annoyed,” I said when I thought the two of them were out of earshot.
“It’s not with you,” Annabeth said, piping up for the first time. She had been whittling away at a piece of stone with her carving knife. “It’s because all the rock here is just that. Rock. There’s nothing she can do to help us, and despite what she says, she doesn’t really have the proper supplies.” Annabeth held up her knife. “I am fine because most of my supplies were my own. I have lost none of my tools. Nearly all of Sally’s were owned by Lustnor. She’s essentially starting over, and it is frustrating because she wants to help more.”
“I know the feeling,” I said. “What are you working on by the way?”
“This?” Annabeth held up the figure. It was still half-formed, so I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be a badger or a panda. “Just a warding charm. We don’t have the barrier spell like we had in Lustnor, so I figured maybe I could make some guardian sculptures to place around the town. Don’t know if it will work, but I figure it can’t hurt.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said, rubbing my chin. “You do that.”
Gabriella glared at me. “Is this where you try to decide if she should focus on making sculptures we can sell instead of ones to defend ourselves?” Before I could respond, she continued. “We don’t even have skills like that in Heaven, and here you are, wanting to sell it like a common whore.”
“You don’t understand—”
“Oh, I understand perfectly,” Gabriella snapped, cutting me off before I could finish my statement. “You need money and supplies, and all these other things because Hell wants to lose this war.” She glared at me again. “I recognize it isn’t you
r fault, but I still blame you. Your job is to unite this world and come help me, and instead, you’re falling behind.”
“Now wait a second,” I started, anger flaring up inside me. “I’ve been doing my best.”
She met my eyes then, making my sudden flare of anger die. “Be better.” Then, without another word, she unfurled her massive wings and took off into the sky.
She didn’t go far, just to the other side of the town, and when I moved to approach her, Gwen put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.
“She just needs a minute to cool off,” the succubus said, nodding into the distance. “She’s just frustrated like Sally. We want to all be doing better, and it seems like everything is getting worse.”
“I’ll fix it,” I said, staring at the angel in the distance. “I promise.”
“I know,” Gwen said, taking a long look at me. “But you aren’t in this alone. We’re all here for you, here to help. Your losses feel like ours, and we’ve been losing a lot.”
It was true. We had been losing too much. It almost felt like we were snatching defeat from the jaws of victory that had been so close just a few days ago. Sure, there had been Dred and the Darkness, but we’d had a win. How quickly all that had slipped away was mind boggling. Still, sitting here and stewing over it wouldn’t get things done.
“I suppose it’s time to get some wins then,” I said, nodding to the succubus. “I’m just not sure what to do. I feel useless.”
“Sometimes,” Annabeth piped up, causing me to look at her. She was still sitting there, knife chipping away at the stone like it was a piece of wood. “Sometimes I don’t know what I should make, and it takes me a while to figure out the proper form for a given sculpture. Other times I know exactly what to do.” She smiled. “But in the end, both wind up working just as well. Perhaps we are taking a more winding path, but be assured, Arthur, it is still the right path.” With that, she went back to her sculpture.
“That’s true,” I said, taking a deep breath. It had felt like we were losing, but even still, we were progressing. We knew where a Princess of Hell was, and the book had said we’d need them. That was better than we’d been just a few days ago, especially considering how Lustnor was just a thing, and things could be replaced.
“I’ll go talk to Gabriella,” Gwen said, looking at me for a long moment. “Unless you want me to stay and comfort you?”
“I don’t think I’m in the mood right now,” I said, taking a deep breath. “But I appreciate the offer.”
“Okay, then,” the succubus said, shrugging her shoulders. “I’m around if you need to blow off some steam.”
I watched her turn and walk away mostly because I really enjoyed doing so. Part of me did want to take her up on the offer, but it felt like the wrong thing to do. Everyone else was working, I ought to be too. First thing’s first, get the Extractor to clear the rest of the stones strewn across the Graveyard.
It didn’t take long to reach the machine, and a quick set of verbal commands had it picking up rocks like an energetic Roomba. Unfortunately, that’d only taken ten or so minutes, and I was sure everyone else was still busy. That left me with not a lot to do.
I pulled out the book Gabriella had given me intent on going over what was there one more time. Only as I pulled it out, there was a new status message icon above it. Curious, I flicked it open.
New Information has become available.
A surge of triumph went through me as I flipped open the book and found myself staring at pages that had formerly been blank. Now there was a whole section on Mammon. Most of it was already what I knew, telling me how she was a fallen archangel and was the Princess of Greed, but it ended with a design for a set of gauntlets unlike anything I’d seen before.
Recipe: The Unrelenting Grips of Greed
Class: Blacksmithing
Used to create Unrelenting Grips of Greed.
Ingredients: Heart of Flame, Heart of Earth, Heart of Water, Heart of the Storm
Requirements: Special: 95+, Agility: 95+, Special: 95+, Mammon’s Favor.
While the recipe gave no indication on what the gauntlets did, the next page showed a picture of them. They were crafted from solid silver, and each one had a set of two gemstones set into them. On the left one, a red gem blazed on the palm while a blue gem bladed on the back of the hand. The other was similar with a green gem in the palm and a white gem on the back of the hand.
As I stared at the drawing, a tooltip appeared next to it, and as I opened it, I saw the status for the gauntlets themselves.
The Unrelenting Grips of Greed
Type: Gauntlet
Durability: 2,700
Defense: 1D8
Enchantments: Armament of Greed
Ability: Gathering – Can be used by the Builder to pull useful elements from the surroundings.
“Hmm…” I mumbled as I stared at it. I wasn’t quite sure what the ability did. It sort of sounded kind of useless, since most of the things we needed were right in front of us like stone and wood, but maybe it wouldn’t be. Either way, I was pretty sure I’d need to craft it either way since it was one of the Armaments…
That’s when it hit me. Not all of the Armaments were things I had to find. Some of them could be crafted, and with each one, I’d grow more powerful. A smile crossed my lips. I wasn’t sure how we’d get Mammon’s favor, but at least I had a path forward. We’d start working on crafting the gauntlets, and since all the ingredients were listed as products of Alchemy, I knew just where to start.
Smiling from ear to ear, I went to go find Sally.
13
“So, what do you think?” I asked Sally. She’d been staring at the recipe for the better part of five minutes, chewing on her lip with her “I’m thinking” face.
“I don’t think we can make this. I’m turning it over in my mind, but I just don’t see it happening.” She offered the book back to me. “I’m sorry.”
“What?” I asked, taking the book from her. “Is it a stats thing or something?”
“It’s not that at all.” She shook her head before reaching out and touching my hand like she was trying to comfort me. “The problem is that this seems reasonable to craft, but it’s not really.” I frowned at her, glancing back at the recipe.
“What does that mean?” I asked, looking down at the recipe. “Shouldn’t that mean we can make it?”
“You’d think that, but it’s not true.” She moved next to me and leaned forward, causing her hair to fall in front of her face. “I’ve seen recipes like this before.”
“I think I’m going to need a much better explanation because we really need this. It’s the recipe for one of the Armaments.” I pointed at the gauntlet. “There’s not another way.”
“Then I feel like you should go find one that’s already been made, assuming one had. That would be easier.” She huffed and blew the hair out of her face. “Sorry.”
“Sally, what’s the actual problem? Like you said, this doesn’t seem hard.” I shrugged. “Sure that Mammon’s favor might be difficult, but she’s the Princess of Greed. We can definitely buy that from her. It might cost me an arm and a leg, but we can buy it.” Even as I said the words, they felt sort of hollow. After all, Mammon wanted me to join her. Helping me would be the last thing on her mind.
“You don’t get it.” Sally pointed to the ingredients list. “These hearts aren’t hard to craft at all. Hell, I can make the Heart of Fire with what we have in the camp. These two,” she gestured at the Heart of Earth and Heart of Water, “are basically training materials for newbie alchemists. I could get the materials to make them, if not already completed ones for nothing.”
“I’m failing to see the problem,” I said, shaking my head in confusion. “This sounds easy enough.”
“The problem is the Heart of the Storm. Notice how it isn’t the Heart of Air.” She gave me a long, hard look. “Can you see the recipe for that in my skill tree?”
“Hmm, give me a second.” I op
ened her skill windows and scrolled down to her known recipes list. It took me a minute to do, and that’s when I noticed she was correct. She had a recipe for Heart of Air and Heart of the Storm. Like the other heart recipes, the Heart of Air showed max skill level, but the recipe for Heart of the Storm was outlined in red, indicating she’d never made one before.
Recipe: Heart of the Storm
Skill: 0/10.
The user can upgrade a Heart of Air to control the ebb and flows of the storm.
Ingredients: Etheric Flame – Blue (3), Heart of Air (3), Favor of the Broken Storm
Requirements: Special: 95+, Agility: 95+, Special: 95+
Since I didn’t know what Favor of the Broken Storm was, I opened the tooltip.
Favor of the Broken Storm
Material: Gemstone
Grade: S
Sculpted from Heart of Air by the Head of the Sculptor’s Guild.
“Oh,” I said as I realized the problem. There would be no way to get the head of the Sculptors’ Guild to sculpt us one of those. Or, at least, it would be so expensive, we’d never be able to buy that and Mammon’s Favor. These were items that required massive amounts of cash to get made, and we still needed to get her to work on the Stairway to Heaven.
“Do you understand now?” Sally asked, dejection clear in her voice.
“I get it. This is like when I wanted to collect Batman comics, and I realized that I’d never be able to get the whole set because a few were ridiculously expensive. It wouldn’t matter that I had the rest because those few issues were make or break for a serious collection. It made me give up before I started.” I rubbed my eye.
“Exactly,” she said, nodding. “I’m going to get the other three made anyway, just in case, since it will cost nothing, but we need to think of a different way to get a Heart of the Storm. Otherwise, it won’t matter.” She gave me a smile. “Maybe you’ll find a way.”
“When you say find a way, maybe don’t do it in such a hopeless sounding voice.” I scratched my cheek idly with my finger. “This may be too much right now for us to take on. We’d still need a master smith to actually craft the gauntlets for me. I’m pretty sure Sam could do it, but it’s not like we have access to her.”
The Builder's Greed (The Legendary Builder Book 2) Page 8
