by Aleron Kong
The sergeant fit his skilled position of Tank perfectly. He screamed defiance and every enemy within twenty yards felt an irrational need to attack him and ignore everyone else. It was not as powerful as a true Warrior’s Taunt Talent, but it still gave everyone else some respite. The goblin fighter that Richter was facing learned that attention was vital in a battle when the chaos seed’s elementum short sword swung through his neck and sent his green head flying.
The five guards crashed against more than twenty goblin scouts and fighters. They stood alone. Richter’s saproling had already been torn apart. The forest creature had served a purpose in that it had gained Richter precious seconds of respite at the beginning of the battle, but it had been no match for the fury of dozens of goblins.
Despite being outnumbered, the battle was far from decided. Both sides had advantages. The guards had increased reach, higher quality weapons and the fact that they fought side by side in formation with shields. They were a far cry from a Roman legion, but they still fought together. The advantages of the goblins were their numbers, savagery, and fear of their leader. They knew that a fate worse than death awaited them if they did not fight as hard as they could for the Witch Doctor.
More than anything else, however, it was Richter’s Profession that made a difference. Every weapon and shield that a member of his war party used was enchanted. Freeze, Sonic Damage, Life Damage, or Goblin Slaying were instilled into every mace and longsword. Every shield was enchanted with simple defensive bonuses, and most were at least +2 or +3.
Richter had wanted to give them stronger effects, but he had become much more familiar with the capacity of various metals to handle enchantments over the past few weeks. After a negative experience with an exploding high steel dagger, the chaos seed had started paying more attention to the feeling of pressure that appeared whenever he transferred the power of filled soul stones into arms and armor. Gloran had elaborated on what Krom had mentioned about different metals having varying capacities to handle soul power. Not only did metals have different capacities, but they also had different resistances to accepting soul power. The elf had said that most materials resisted being enchanted. The rising pressure that Richter felt was actual the soul power building in the air until it entered the item. If the will of the enchanter could not overcome the resistance of whatever he was working on, then the enchantment would fail, sometimes explosively.
Gloran had been amazed when he examined Richter’s sword. The elf had cast a spell that allowed him to assess the properties of various materials, among them, enchantment potential. Elementum was apparently a substance that almost welcomed enchantments. The elf had cautioned Richter against trying to channel so much soul power through less ‘friendly’ mediums. The chaos seed had taken the warning to heart. As most of the guards’ gear was made from leather or high steel, Richter could only manage enchantments that provided a +2 or +3 in most cases. Gloran said his control would most likely increase as he practiced the skill, but that was his limit for now.
Time had also worked against him. The truth was he just hadn’t had enough hours in the day to enchant every weapon for every guardsman. Luckily, the solution for that was simple. The best weapons and armor were kept in the forge. It had become SOP for his war party to equip with them before going out and to return them when they came back. Though the enchantments were nowhere near as strong as those on Richter’s own equipment, the power of the magic weapons was immediately apparent. In the opening salvo of the battle, a goblin scout was disarmed by the sonic enchantment on a gnome guard’s blade, allowing her comrade to easily dispatch the small creature.
As happened sometimes in battle, Richter oddly found himself in a moment of calm. He realized that he was in a moment of choice. On his left, his guardsmen were fighting the goblin scouts and fighters. On his right, the three standing sprite archers continued their attack, but with little success. The Warriors’ shields and the Mage’s spirits blocked ranged attacks too well. In that still moment, he had to decide: right or left. Before he could, Sin-ak gave a curt order in goblin-speak. Both Warriors nodded and unleashed their Taunts simultaneously.
The red haze over Richter’s vision had subsided for a moment, but it came back with a vengeance, making the whole world appear ruby-tinted. Richter screamed in rage and ran towards the goblin grinders. His moment of choice was gone.
Sion and the other two meidon sprites turned their attention to the Warriors, ignoring the Mage. They fired indiscriminately, screaming in anger, but the arrows had no more effect than before. To make matters worse, since the start of the battle, the Professionals had moved closer to the sprites. With a roar, they finally stopped defending and attacked. One used a Talent, Thrust, and his body blurred forward, aiming for Richter’s Companion.
Sion dropped his bow, and it was only with a massive contortion of his body that he avoided being gutted. He still didn’t escape unscathed. The tip of the goblin’s long sword stabbed through the sprite’s armor, catching him in the right chest. Sion jumped backwards with a hiss. His hand wove in a particular configuration, and he muttered a word of Power. While the Warrior started swinging again, Sion released a lightning bolt that caught the Warrior in the neck. The goblin was able to resist being stunned, but it still gave the Air caster a moment of respite. Sion found two potions on his belt and downed them in one go. His wounds began to close.
The other Warrior used the talent, Arc Strike. He swung his sword crossways at the other two sprites, attacking both at once. The blade, powered by his Profession, swung left to right. Both meidon sprites were struck. Luckily, their armor was enough to keep them from being cut in half, but they still lost a good deal of life and were thrown to the ground. One of their bows fell to the ground in pieces. The Warrior moved in for the kill. The goblin leered as he prepared to end one of the sprite’s lives, but he hadn’t counted on one thing.
He hadn’t counted on Richter.
The chaos seed moved with the superhuman speed afforded to him by his thirty-eight points of Dexterity. Warrior or not, the goblin was overcome. Perhaps if he had been of a higher level, or if his equipment were better, the green-skinned grinder could have prevailed. It was not to be.
Richter flowed through his sword forms; Orc’s Hammer to put the Warrior off balance was followed by Cat Swatting Mouse to bleed him. Then Richter committed to the fast movements of Willow in the Storm to avoid the goblin’s counterattacks, before arching his right arm overtop his enemy’s shield in Scorpion’s Kiss.
The clear green blade penetrated the goblin’s arm. Not a deep wound, but his Elementum Short Sword of Freezing unleashed its power. The weapon flashed blue, and the goblin’s entire body froze solid, becoming a statue of blue and white. It immediately began to thaw, but Richter wasn’t going to give his foe that time. The Warrior had called him to battle, and so the goblin would reap the whirlwind.
His other sword swept up, striking a frozen sword arm and leaving cracks in the ice. Two more blows and the limb fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Melting blood fell from the stump like slush. Richter raised his sword again, but then he learned the folly of having allowed the Witch Doctor the time needed to finish a long casting.
The three spirits that served the Mage extended their hands. Beams of pure magic shot forward and mixed with the Dark power spilling from the caster’s hand. They plaited into one larger ray of magic and struck the earth, sinking in and then disappearing. Everything was quiet for a moment, but the Mage stared at Richter with a triumphant expression. The chaos seed’s stomach dropped. He didn’t know what was coming, but he was sure it would be bad.
The ground started to shake. Large rents opened in the earth, and when Richter looked down, it seemed that they extended down for miles. At the bottom of the one near him was a roiling pool of black. A moment later, creatures of pure darkness began crawling up the sides of the shaft. Seconds later, his people were being overwhelmed.
Richter spared a glance back and saw Sion lock
ed in melee combat with the other Warrior. The battle was almost one-sided as his injured Companion dodged blow after blow. It looked like the goblin was striking his friend, but apparently Sion was managing to stay just ahead of his deadly adversary. Richter desperately wanted to help his friend, but the Witch Doctor had just downed a blue potion and was already beginning to chant again. Praying his friend could just hold on, the lord of the Mist Village started running towards the mage. Before he had moved ten feet, though, a Dark creature in human form sprang out of a rent and attacked him!
Richter swung at the creature and his sword passed through its body. It shrieked as the magic in his blade harmed it, but the monster still struck and tackled him to the ground. Wherever it touched, even on his armor, a bone-chilling cold leeched strength from his body. Richter shouted as he tried to get up, but the monster managed to stay on top of him, raining blows down with claws formed of Dark magic. His head whipped back and forth, and even as he fought for his life, he took in the battle.
The bodies of both guardsmen and goblins lay unmoving on the ground. Flames had engulfed several trees from Richter’s fireball, and the charred body of a goblin scout lay in the middle of the inferno. Three of his men, including Caulder still fought back to back. Only five scouts and fighters remained to stand against them, but all of the village fighters were bloodied. Now they were also battling the Dark monsters, who grew in number every few seconds.
Sion still fought the Warrior, and both bled from several places. Another creature of Darkness was approaching the sprite from behind, however. The Life magi had dragged the wounded sprites away from the battle and now stood guard over them. One fired a crossbow at a Dark creature shape like a giant fox, but the bolt passed through with no effect. Another cast Weak Life Bolt. The summoned Dark creature shied back from that, but the spell had a two-minute cool down, and the mage had no other offensive magic. Alma flew above the battle, her offensive spells and Psi Blast all in cooldown. She wanted to attack the caster directly, but whenever she got close, the Witch Doctor’s spirits beat her back.
Richter took all of this in, but didn’t truly quail until his gaze fell upon the goblin Mage. The green skinned caster’s arms moved in conjunction and black energy was thick on his hands. A manic look was in his eyes as he spoke words of magic. The chaos seed struggled even harder against the Dark creature atop him and he managed to score a glancing blow, but he knew he would not get free before the Witch Doctor finished his next casting. Richter felt the end coming.
He was right, but it was not his end.
The very first order he had given in the battle finally bore fruit! Unseen by anyone, and forgotten even by Richter, the shale adder had slowly slithered its way closer and closer to the one target its master had identified for it. The twenty-foot long green snake melded perfectly with the trees and grass of the forest. Just as the Witch Doctor was preparing to cast his strongest spell, the adder struck. From only four feet away, the coiled reptile shot forward and buried its large fangs in the Mage’s neck. Fast as the wind, the adder coiled itself around the goblin’s body and began to squeeze!
The goblin’s slave spirits immediately began to attack the snake, tearing at it with ethereal claws. Scales and red blood flew, but the snake squeezed and bit the magician even harder. Most importantly, Alma showed the bravery and ferocity that was at the core of her very being. Casting a quick spell that draped her body in golden light, she dove down and latched onto the Dark wizard’s head and used Brain Drain.
The Mage would normally be too high level for her to incapacitate with her attack, but between the spell feedback and her level seven ability, the goblin swooned. The adder squeezed even tighter. Its body was like a vise and the goblin caster began to suffocate. The Witch Doctor’s spirits attacked with even greater ferocity, but to their frustration, could not effectively penetrate the protection of Alma’s Minor Life Armor.
Richter finally managed to bury his sword into the Dark humanoid above him and the creature faded out of existence. Its wails echoed strangely in the air even after it had disappeared. Wasting no time, he started to get to his feet and was surprised by a hand reaching down to help him. He tilted his head to see a weary smile on Sion’s bruised face. His friend looked strange, though.
The sprite’s face looked hazy somehow. The edges of his chin and nose were indistinct.. The rest of his body looked blurry as well. Richter looked at him in confusion, but then he realized that his Companion had drank a Potion of Gaseous Form. The blade Sion held was still sharp and in focus, as was the smear of green blood along the blade. The sprite nodded at him as they clasped wrists, “Tabia does good work. Let us finish this.”
The two Companions moved as quickly as possible towards the Mage, but not quickly enough. The mental fortitude of the goblin was enough to finally overcome the stun effect of Alma’s attack. With his one free hand, the furious goblin reached up and cruelly dug his nails into her little body. The familiar was helpless as she performed her special attack, but she did not stop as her blood began to flow over her delicate scales.
With a cry of rage, Richter reached the Witch Doctor and drove his blade down into the goblin’s chest, while Sion skewered the goblin in the abdomen. The chaos seed and goblin leader locked eyes and their hate for one another was palpable. The caster released his grip on the dragonling and ripped the bone necklace from his throat. The goblin pointed a long nail at Richter and thought just one word. Into that word though, the Witch Doctor poured all of his malice, “Kill!”
The slave spirits, finally released from their primary duty of protecting the Witch Doctor by the destruction of his Necklace of Spirit Bondage, fulfilled their final geas and attacked Richter. The three freed souls struck his body with the force of a sledgehammer. He lost his grip on the short sword embedded in the Mage’s body and was carried through the air. The spirits moved him back ten feet and then dropped him… into one of the bottomless rents in the earth. The three ghosts dissipated into the ether, joyous even as Richter fell into darkness. His last sight before being swallowed by the chasm was the light fading from the Witch Doctor’s eyes and Sion reaching out to him as he wailed, “Nooo!”
CHAPTER 49 -- Day 140 – Kuborn 30, 15,386 EBG
Richter looked up at the opening in the earth sixty feet above him. As his muscles ached, Sion shouted down at him to hold on, and he heard another sprite voice shout in the distance, “Your lord! I must speak to your lord! He has to know!”
The chaos seed hung there, battered and bruised. One hand clutched the hilt of his short sword. The weapon stuck out from the wall of the pit where he had managed to desperately plunge it as he fell. His other hand held a small shelf of stone. That was all that was keeping him from the sea of Dark magic that undulated below him. A stack of prompts flashed in the corner of his vision, waiting to be read, including one that had the clear, pulsing border of an absorbed memory. None of this interested him at the moment, though.
Despite everything that had just happened, despite all of the things that were waiting to be done, and even despite the mystery of what he had ‘to know,’ there was only one thing on Richter’s mind. He sighed heavily in frustration and pain, then shouted up to his people looking down at him, “Would you hurry the fuck up! I’m literally hanging off a cliff down here!
~ The Story Continues ~
Thank you all for reading! This has been my most ambitious book and I hope that you found delight and joy in its pages! Creating this world is a labor of love, and as with all true love, it fills me with purpose… and sometimes I want to light it on fire! Lol
Being able to share it with you means the world! The story continues! As always, peace, love, and the perfect margarita!
Aleron
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INDEX
Richter’s Spells
Earth
- Weak Barkskin: This spell will increase natural armor by +2. This is a spell of Earth Magic, level 2. Cost: 20 mana. Duration: 20 min. Range: self. Cast Time: 1 second. Cooldown: N/A.
- Grease: This spell will make a 10x10 foot area slick greatly increasing chance of anyone in the area falling down. This is a spell of Earth Magic, level 1. Cost: 15 mana. Duration: 5 min. Range 25 feet. Cast time: 2 seconds. Cooldown: 10 min.
- Summon Weak Insects: Summons a host of stinging and biting insects in a ten-foot wide circle. Causes minimal damage, but impedes concentration. This is a spell of Earth Magic, level 1. Cost: 25 mana. Duration: 5 minutes. Range 20 feet. Cast time: 1 second. Cool down: 20 minutes.
