Another odd thing that happened was that not even one of the giants wanted to loot the body of the defeated scolopendra. They did their best to avoid its corpse, not even so much as looking at it. And there was plenty there worth taking.
I saw a notification after defeating the beast that I first dismissed. It said that Gorgie had discovered Legendary mandibles and ten Epic scolopendra barbs. They needed fifty skill points to butcher though, which was twenty points more than my gremlin pal had.
After a brief discussion, we came to the conclusion that leaving such loot behind would be a true crime. And so Mee invested all the silver tablets he earned into the butchery skill. I added five to that and we had exactly fifty points.
By the way, beyond the silvers, the gremlin also got a gold tablet of Intellect, which he tried to give to me. But I firmly refused to accept it. That tablet would be his personal capital one day. And in the future, if the kid wanted to leave me, he’d always have a starting point...
The remaining fifteen silvers I invested into the gremlin’s health, which increased his life supply by one hundred fifty. Now I wouldn’t have to fear for our healer quite so much.
Over the last two days, I didn’t so much as approach the pedestal. I decided I’d look more into my discovery after Mee tended to the trolls. I didn’t want to tempt Farhas again. Who could say what might have been down there? Any magic trump card would come in handy for the elder now — the tribe was on the verge of extinction. He could have done anything to guarantee the survival of his brethren. And the friendship amulet would be no help. He gave it, so he could take it away. But it would be over my dead body.
So when the trolls got on their way at the end of the second day, our desire to spend one more night in the tower caused no suspicions.
After tending to the giants Mee, draped head to toe in all kinds of gifted amulets, said:
“They asked me to stay with them.”
“I never doubted they would.”
“You aren’t mad?” the gremlin asked in surprise.
“Why should that make me mad?” I asked back, surprised.
“But...”
“Listen, brother,” I softly interrupted him. “You are free to do as your heart desires. You are a free gremlin. I will accept whatever you decide and support you.”
“Thanks, Rick,” Mee said seriously.
“What are you talking about? We’re family!”
“And that’s why I said no,” the gremlin nodded toward the bushes where the trolls had disappeared a few minutes earlier. “I’d never be family to them, nor they to me. Despite their gratitude for saving their lives, I’m just someone with a useful gift which, by the way, you granted me. So your path is my path, too. No matter how hairy things get!”
In response, I just silently placed a hand on his shoulder. I won’t lie — it was very nice to hear. And I was grateful to Mee for his loyalty.
After we accompanied the trolls and waited another few hours just in case, we started excavating.
I’d already planned where Gorgie should dig and what direction, but the pedestal had a surprise in store for us. As it turned out, the heavy stone slab was fairly easy to just move aside with a clever mechanism.
And under the slab we found a hatch that led to an underground passage. The stone steps below, covered with a thick layer of dust, led us to a wide door
“Rick, look!” said Mee, pointing at a stone sign hanging above the door.
I brought the torch closer. The sign read:
“Here lies the last defender of Fort Stout — Err the Cold.”
Hm... Err the Cold... Err the Cold... Somehow familiar.
Oh yeah! That’s right! When I killed the Firepaw it said I had replicated his feat!
I activated the sixth sense and saw two magical spots just beyond the door.
I was not afraid of any traps even though the monster hunters were huge fans of them. In all our time here, I had fully studied the fort’s whole power system. Thanks to the map and my new ability, I was able to tell exactly how the tower’s main supply connected with the smaller supplies.
For the record, the smallest supply in the intricate system was the golem’s. My initial theory that it was a huge mana crystal proved false. It was actually much more complicated. In so many words, the golem itself was the supply. So all my barbaric ideas of busting the statue open to take the high-capacity crystal from its chest died then and there. All that remained was to applaud the unknown craftsman who created this marvel of magical design.
Overall, my guess about the burial vault we discovered was confirmed — the fort map had been made long before the celebrated hunter’s interment. And that’s why the burial chamber was not marked on it. Other than that, there was nothing blocking access to the body of the deceased.
I was curious about the words “last defender” and who in fact could have written them.
Considering it briefly, I reached for the considerable steel ring that served as the door’s handle, and pulled it toward me. Both the ring and the door itself seemed sturdy and heavy at first glance but turned to dust in the blink of an eye.
We had to go up to the surface and wait a bit for the dust to settle.
A few minutes later, we went down again. As per tradition, Gorgie dove first into the mysterious opening. After investigating every corner of the burial vault, he gave his approval and we crossed the threshold into the tomb.
It was a fairly spacious square room with a low ceiling and a carved-stone sarcophagus in the middle. Based on its modest dimensions, Err the Cold must have been approximately my height.
I activated the sixth sense again and saw weak magical emanations coming directly from the sarcophagus.
I checked for traps of all kinds again, then gave Gorgie a wave. The stone slab over the grave slowly moved aside under the force of his scaly paws. While watching the harn struggle, I listened to my feelings. I was not experiencing any pangs of conscience over the fact we were somehow defiling the grave of a great hero. After meeting the foxman’s ghost, my opinions on the afterlife had changed dramatically. I imagine Err the Cold’s spirit doesn’t give a crap about what happens to his long decayed mortal shell. And if something that might help a young member of his order to survive were found next to it, I’d bet my hand that he would only be in favor of his despoliation.
When the slab fell to the ground, the three of us cautiously peeked inside. As expected, the body of the legendary hunter had long since turned to dust. As had all his clothing. Except for one item...
— Ephemeral belt of the Twilight Mage.
— Type: Magical objects.
— Rarity: Legendary.
— Effect:
— + 10 ephemeral inventory slots for crystals.
— Increases the effect of inserted crystals by 20%.
— Note:
— After equipped, becomes part of wearer until death
Shaking with worry, I reached for the newly discovered item. The first thought that came to mind when I picked up the treasure was, “why didn’t whoever buried Err take this item?” I did not want to believe the legendary hunter had been buried alive by his own comrades.
But the dark thoughts all ran for the hills when I finally realized what I was holding in my hands. Made of ten rectangles which were also crystal slots, at first glance the belt looked more like a large necklace.
Using my ability, I was able to recognize two sources of mana. As it turned out, two of the ten slots already had mana crystals in them. My heart aflutter, I dug deeper into the description...
— Large mana crystal:
— 21/1680 mana points.
— Large mana crystal:
— 17/1920 mana points.
Both crystals had just a little mana left. Those crumbs were what the Scolopendra’s Sixth Sense was detecting.
I looked closer at the total capacity of both crystals. I took the smaller one out of its slot. It changed to one thousand four hundred points. Got
it. Correspondingly, the normal capacity of the second was one thousand six hundred. My heartbeat racing, I took out my eight-hundred-mana crystal and placed it in one of the belt’s slots. The capacity instantly went up by one hundred sixty points.
I was distracted from contemplating the amazing discovery by the gremlin giving an admiring squeak:
“Four thousand five hundred!”
Smiling, I nodded.
“Adding my own supply to that, I’ll have almost five thousand.”
“Don’t forget, you can also have another small crystal with five hundred whenever you want,” Mee reminded me.
“True,” I answered. But I quickly cooled his jets: “We will only be using your crystal if absolutely necessary. The last thing we need is for our healer to run out of mana.”
I had to admit — Mee was right. The two crystals we had and the two we’d found, plus the bonus from the belt — our survival chances had just gone up significantly! What was I even saying! Now we had enough mana to activate an elemental crystal!
“Wait! Well of course! How didn’t I think about that right away!”
Slapping myself on the forehead, I started feverishly grasping for the elemental crystals. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a perplexed look on my friends’ faces and hurriedly added:
“You’re about to find out...”
When the fire-red crystal appeared in my hand, Mee exclaimed:
“If this actually works, the power of the spell confined in the crystal will go up several times!”
As I slowly lowered Heaven’s Wrath into the belt slot, I think all three of us all stopped breathing.
“It worked!” Mee piped up first, having seen the elemental stone fit perfectly into one of the slots.
In the meantime, smiling happily, I read through the spell’s improved figures.
Elemental Crystal “Heaven’s Wrath.”
— Type: Magic confinement crystal.
— Rarity: Epic.
— Effect:
— Contains the spell Heaven’s Wrath.
— Heaven’s Wrath
— Description:
— One of the most powerful fire magic spells, created by Magister Pyrus.
— Type: Offensive/Area of Effect.
— Rarity: Epic.
— Magic School: Fire.
— Effect:
— Caster indicates a point and calls down a rain of lava upon it.
— Requirements:
— Intellect — 15.
— Expends 5000 mana points.
— Radius of effect: 200 feet.
— Duration: 3 minutes, 36 seconds.
— Note:
— Must have reputation 2000 with the Monster Hunters to purchase.
— Price: 500 tokens.
— Crystal disappears after activation.
— Weight: None. Takes no space.
I don’t know how much the damage went up by but the radius of effect was up thirty-five feet. It also added an extra thirty-six seconds of spell duration. Some might call that a pittance. But if you consider that it was thirty-six additional seconds of lava raining down from the sky, it could end up thinning out the enemy ranks a good deal more.
I did the same with the other elementals and turned the belt over in my hands.
— Attention! Would you like to use item: Ephemeral belt of the Twilight Mage?
After I gave my agreement, the belt dissolved into thin air as the backpack had before, and I saw a familiar message.
— Tab created: Ephemeral Belt of the Twilight Mage.
I glanced at my supply.
— Mana supply: 710/4770
My Wisdom instantly detected the higher capacity and started filling it. Overcome, I closed my eyes tight in pleasure. When the supply filled up, I could stop worrying about the constant lack of mana.
Early morning the next day we got underway. Yesterday Farhas gave us a detailed explanation of what paths to take west. He described every prominent landmark in painstaking detail, be it an unusual tree, rock or clearing. He warned me about the other troll tribes and explained how to behave when meeting them and what to say when doing so.
Once we reached the edge of the forest, I turned and cast a final gaze at the collapsed walls of Fort Stout, which had sheltered us and given us protection.
I understood that I would never be coming back here. And that didn’t bother me one bit. Very soon this area would basically be hell on earth. We’d only delayed the inevitable. The portal is not stable and the situation will only get worse. I hope Farhas has the strength and authority to convince his tribe to leave these lands.
Waving goodbye to the golem, who was frozen in an awkward pose, I turned and walked under the shade of the trees after Gorgie and Mee.
Chapter 24
IT’S THE MIDDLE of day five since we left the hunters’ fort. I must note that Farhas did not lead us astray. The trail was exactly how he described. All the landmarks and natural markers fit his descriptions to a “T.” Except one — in our five days underway, we hadn’t encountered a single other troll!
On the one hand, the conspicuous lack of the forest’s native inhabitants put me on guard. But on the other, it made me happy to some degree. After all, any encounter would waste precious time. The orcish horde would soon be thronging over the whole borderland, and avoiding their wolf scouts would be problematic.
“What do you think — why haven’t we seen a single troll?” I asked Mee, who was walking next to me.
“I overheard Dago talking to Farhas,” the gremlin answered. “The geezer said all the tribes probably knew about our battle with the spirits.”
“I see,” I nodded. “Decided to get out of here.”
“Cowards,” Mee said angrily. “After all, they could have come to our aid!”
“I don’t think it’s a matter of cowardice.”
“Then what is it? Were they not afraid?”
“Of course they were afraid. But that doesn’t mean they deserve to be called cowards.”
Mee furrowed his brow comically and said:
“I don’t understand at all. You have me all confused.”
I smiled.
“Alright, let’s try to figure it out. Answer this question for me. When we fought the beasts, were you afraid?”
“Yes,” Mee nodded. “Especially when you told us they were coming.”
“I was scared too,” I added. “I’m sure that Farhas, Dago and the other trolls, even big old Erg all felt the same way... But we didn’t flee. We all stayed to fight. Yes we were afraid, but does that make us cowards?”
“I guess not,” Mee answered thoughtfully.
“What about the neighboring tribes?” I continued. “Their leaders have a mandate and, to be precise, their task is to safeguard the women and children of their tribe. Do you understand now?”
“Yes,” Mee answered darkly. “But I don’t accept it. If we lost that battle, it isn’t hard to guess who they’d come after next...”
“I’m in complete agreement with you there. The trolls live in small communities. Here the law of the land is every troll for themselves.”
“They need a chieftain! A king!” Mee exclaimed.
“Hm... King of the trolls...” I muttered thoughtfully. “You might be right. But I don’t think that would make things any better.”
“Why?” the gremlin asked, sincerely surprised. “Is it really bad to have everyone unified under one ruler?”
“Well, at first it might be good, in case of war for example... But what would happen when the troubles recede?”
“Peace?”
“You sure?” I chuckled. “As a rule, kings surround themselves with the strongest and most influential of their kind, and they grow accustomed to power very quickly. With time, they turn into leeches that their whole people must feed. At the very least, that’s what always happens in the western human lands. I have to imagine it wouldn’t go any differently for the trolls.”
“Ye
ah, that’s exactly what happens with the orcs too,” Mee said perplexedly. “The chiefs and shamans live better than the rest...”
“And their right to power is maintained by the wolf riders,” I added and the gremlin nodded slowly.
“That’s what I’m saying — I don’t think it would make things better. But who knows? maybe the quiet tribal life is just the thing us humans need. Where every person is a member of just one clan. After all, a clan is a family...”
The Wastes Page 27
