I watched as we flew west over the sound. We’d soon turn south, staying over the water. At first I didn’t see any discernable difference in the navy below. Each and every one of those undead was now bound to me, and they were cursed just as I was. More so, even. They no longer had any choice in the matter. They existed only to track me down and kill me, and they always knew where I was. There would be no place for me to hide. Last time I’d attracted only a small portion of the navy, but it included the lead ship, which had turned to follow, disrupting their attack on Valisa. It had taken the primordials several days to purge their ranks of the ruined undead and to resume their mission.
Now the entirety of the fleet was attached to me, and they would go where I went.
I had to get back to Harmony. I had a whole host of things I needed to do and precious little time. But first I’d lead these ships as far away as I could, giving the beleaguered defenders some breathing room, if only for a day.
Below, the first signs that the ships were trying to turn around. The undead at the walls lurched away, heading back into the water. They scrambled back to the closest ships, which started to flounder under the crush of undead warriors trying to get back to sea. The nets on the sides of the galleons swarmed. A burning boat tipped over.
We passed over the long line of boats, flying south. Eventually we came to open water. Sparkling lights shone up through the water, indicating large pools of fish along with much larger sea creatures as well. I caught sight of a tentacle arm twisting out of the water. The undulating arm had to be twenty feet long.
At this height, I could also see the distant line of destruction wrought by the hobgoblins. They had swarmed over the eastern wall. Thank goodness for the bridges and Lake Aberdeen, otherwise the whole of the city would’ve already fallen. Their army of almost 500,000 would not be so easily distracted.
One thing at a time, I thought.
I opened up the War Events page. The way chat worked with this new menu interface was a little different, and I didn’t like it as much. I had to mentally pull up a box. It didn’t automatically pop up like it normally did. I supposed this way was better when I was dealing with multiple war events around the world, each with their own contained chat. Still, I’d gotten so used to the more simple messaging format.
His Royal Majesty Jonah: Millicent. Does this work? Can you hear me?
Millicent: I am here.
His Royal Majesty Jonah: Has it been long enough? Are the fairies ready for work?
Millicent: We are ready and waiting for your command.
His Royal Majesty Jonah: Okay, I don’t need you just yet. But be on alert. I will call you soon.
Millicent: Excellent. I look forward to feasting upon the tattered flesh of our enemies.
We floated for several hours, moving slowly to make sure the burning fleet followed. Larissa reported that the bay in front of the wall was a shattered mess of sinking and floundering boats, but the majority of them were underway toward my position. The undead who hadn’t made it back onto boats were now walking south along the wall, pointedly ignoring the archers above them and the rising tide to their right, which would soon wash most of them out to sea.
Larissa sounded ecstatic in her message, but I knew this was only a temporary victory. They’d be back. Destroying the entire fleet would be almost impossible. One way or another, the burning fleet would have to be dealt with ship by ship, and eventually I’d have to face these three primordial gods. Hopefully that wouldn’t be today.
I slept—thankfully the game allowed me to sleep—resetting my regen on Yi’s airship.
Lights dotted the coast as we flew. I wanted to stop and warn these people. With the undead on land, anyone caught in the herd would turn undead. Hopefully the undead warrior’s single-mindedness would keep the civilians safe.
We alighted in a small fishing village called Grove. The town was bigger than Icardi, but not by much. It sat upon the eastern shore of where I was leading the ships. The first would arrive in a couple hours, having to navigate the myriad of waterways. If we managed to hold them back long enough for a sizeable portion of the fleet to get into the long, L-shaped inlet, then we will have bought ourselves some time. Not much, but it would have to do.
I knew we had to abandon this village. This time tomorrow, there would be nothing left. But it seemed the village was already abandoned. Most every adult in the village had probably been arrowed, but where were the children and elderly?
“There are children upon the wall,” Yi said as if she’d read my mind. “I saw this myself. Smallthunder gave Keta and your royal guard some tips on how to effectively recruit volunteers for the defense force. Instead of working inside and going out, which has a tendency to cause the people to run, you work your way outside in.”
We waited in the dark. Yi barked orders at her goblins, and I poked around the town, making certain it was indeed empty. I found no signs of life, only indications of the town’s swift recruitment. A cart was overturned, and apples lay rotting on the ground around it. Doors stood open, revealing dinner tables with food upon them. I could tell the white jackets had descended upon the town around 6 P.M., the standard closing time of village markets. They’d done it when everyone was either at the center of town or in their homes, preparing dinner.
How many NPCs did we arrow?
I pulled up the War Events menu and went digging around. The current number of arrowed citizens was solid—around 250,000. But now it seemed that number was terribly low. Many million people lived in the country of Aberdeen, and I’d only so far seen a handful of people who weren’t arrowed.
I found a history tab, but the stats within didn’t make much sense. After some fiddling around, however, I found a summary page for each day.
Two days before was when the hobgoblins had arrived and breached the eastern wall. Keta had put several battalions of NPCs outside and inside the walls, and she’d put Larus in charge. They’d all been destroyed, bowled over by the battle-hardened and armored hobgoblins. I stared at that number, gobsmacked.
As a colonel, Larus only had the ability to actively control 10,000 citizens at a time. The rest had been left to fend for themselves.
Almost 750,000 dead. A cataclysm. The mounted hobgoblins and the shamans had made quick work of the people.
I fell to my knees before I realized what I was doing.
These are NPCs. They will be back. They’re not really dead.
I thought of Keta’s sister, of Silverbrite. I didn’t know what the nature of that curse was, but it was described as painful. And she suffered it every day? It made my torment in the Lake seem like nothing.
I have to stop this, I thought. It was the first time such a realization came upon me. These NPCs… They are real people. They feel, they think. They don’t know they’re in a simulation. How many more NPCs were out there like that four-year-old girl? Suffering every day? Why? Because of some quest?
“I have to stop this,” I said again, this time out loud. Yi looked at me, cocking her head to the side.
“Tell me about him,” I said to Yi. “About Smallthunder. What does he want?”
“He promises we will one day see the words. He says Keta is closer than anyone he’s ever ministered to. It is why he wishes to keep her safe.”
“But what does he want?” I asked again, frustrated. I wasn’t even certain what I was looking for, but this not knowing was just killing me.
Yi was silent for a few moments. “He has me and his other scouts search the world for the awakening. It is how I found you. But there are others he seeks as well. He speaks of a great injustice that must be punished. In the name of Tharon, they will suffer an eternity of pain. Keta knows where some of these people are, which is why she was granted such great powers. Smallthunder is dealing with them now, these betrayers. When he returns, he will form his army to take back Harmony.”
Keta knows where some of these people are.
Holy crap. Isabella. Smallthunder is looki
ng for Isabella.
Of course. If she and her partners murdered half the crew of The Hibiscus, then of course Smallthunder wanted to find her.
And I had found her. Keta knew exactly where she was because she was the one who opened a portal for me. Is that why Isabella and her friends were training? So they could fight Smallthunder?
Damnit. I now had more questions than ever. I pulled up the system information menu, looking at the number of online players. It was still at 13. Had Smallthunder found Isabella and her crew yet? Had they gotten away?
I felt a moment of panic, and I wasn’t sure why. Are you scared that he’s going to get to her first or are you scared because you still want her to be the good guy?
“Why don’t you come back with me, and you can ask these questions of him yourself?”
I almost said yes. I had an overwhelming urge to find answers.
But every other instinct I had told me that Smallthunder was no good. He was just as bad as Daniels.
Over the war messenger, a male astound announced the front line of ships were now entering the inlet. Moving at about five knots, they’d be here in just under two hours. Just as they arrived, we’d have to head back. If I waited longer, we risked Yi losing moonlight and the ability to fly her ship.
The astound and a few guards had been brought via airship to the mouth of the inlet. He wouldn’t be able to completely block it off, and many of the ships would not yet even be there, but a well-placed boulder would throw them into further chaos.
On the ground by the shore, I spied a simple fishing pole. I still had my fly rod in my bag, wrapped up and untouched. I had not fished since we’d woken up in the game. I hadn’t even touched a fishing pole. I was a level 86 fisherman, and I had not fished. Not once. The quiet inlet twinkled with lights of fish along with a few brighter spots, indicating sunken treasure.
I grabbed the discarded fishing pole, preparing to cast it into the water.
I froze in place as the line of notifications appeared.
You have discovered the Mastery ability to cast Create Fishing Pole.
You have discovered the Mastery ability to cast Create Bait.
You have discovered the Mastery ability to cast Create Hook.
You have discovered the Mastery ability to locate Fishing Guilds.
You have discovered the Mastery ability to Tame Leviathan!
You have discovered the Mastery ability to wield pole as weapon!
You have discovered the Mastery ability to cast Silence.
An additional 20-plus mastery abilities appeared, one after another, all having to deal with the act of fishing. I had assumed I’d already received all my fishing-related abilities that one time I’d stepped into the water. Obviously that was wrong. I could create a neverending stream of fishing wire. I could negotiate cheaper prices on fishing hooks, though I didn’t need that because I could now create both poles and hooks. Some of the other abilities were also made obsolete by better versions. (I had Repair Fishing Pole, Mend Fishing Pole, Duplicate Fishing Pole, Create Fishing Pole, and Enchant Fishing Pole.) I could already summon fish and see fish in the water and find water sources. I now had the ability to automatically know the fish’s breed and name. I could determine a fish’s value just by looking at it. I could now breed fish, too, whatever the hell that meant.
Curious, I dropped the pole, opened my pack, and pulled out the fly-fishing rod. It was wrapped in a cloth and had been the entire time. I unwrapped it. I received another line of fly-fishing related abilities, most of them useless. One, however, caught my eye.
You have discovered the Mastery ability to fish the clouds!
What did that mean? It had an exclamation mark, so it had to be something good. I’d have to figure it out later. Still, with the fly rod in my hand I felt deadly, like with the first time I’d held an urumi. I eyed a small fishing canoe about 30 feet away, pulled up onto the shore. I tossed out my weighted line, back cast, and then looped the line, casting sideways toward the canoe. The fly smashed into the canoe with a satisfying thump. The wood on the canoe audibly cracked.
“Huh,” I said, back casting again and transferring the lure back into the water. This time the fly landed perfectly smooth onto the surface, alighting like a feather.
Fly fishing in the dark was an exercise in futility, but I saw the twinkling lights of several fish zipping toward the lure, as if drawn to it. I stripped the line, allowing the fastest of the fish to catch it. My reel spun as the fish was hooked. I could immediately tell this was a big, heavy fish.
Damn. At this level, it’s almost too easy.
I reeled the fish in, and it glided out of the water. It was an ugly bugger, wide with large spikes on its back.
Words floated over its head. Quillback Rockfish. Rarity: Common. Value: 25 fishmonger. 35 chemist. Weight: 2.7 kgs. Length: .8 meters. This fish is safe to eat.
I grasped the fish, and a small bell rang in my head. A single ruby fell out of its mouth. I looked at the gem in surprise. Then I remembered I had a weird mastery ability called Catch of the Day. It gave me a random bonus once a day from the mouth of the first fish I caught.
I pocketed the ruby and tossed the rockfish back into the water.
His Royal Majesty Jonah: Uh, Gretchen. Here’s a protip. Find a fishing pole and try to catch something. Do it as soon as you can.
We returned to the deck of Yi’s boat as the first burning ship turned the corner and entered this last part of the inlet, like some sort of flaming beast emerging from hell. Then another and another appeared. Soon, a wall of fire descended upon us.
I asked the astound if the five-masted ship of the primordials had entered the neck, and to my surprise, he said it had. It’d passed by fifteen minutes earlier. The astound had built multiple boulders, and they would roll them into the narrow channel on our orders.
Yi pulled us into the air before we were in range of their arrows and spells. Above, the sight had an odd beauty to it, fire streaked across the dark water.
His Royal Majesty Jonah: Do it now. Drop the boulder.
The trip back to Harmony only took a half hour, and most of that was spent rising and then landing on the castle’s landing platform.
The entire harbor burned. The air guard was out in force, cutting down the stragglers. Masses of the undead remained at the walls, trapped on a thin strip of land as the tide had come in. Without the fleet to breach the wall, however, they were trapped, uselessly scrabbling against the vertical stone while high above, archers picked them off one by one.
The burning would spend some time digging themselves out of the inlet and would be back, despite what I’d done. Still, we’d dealt them a blow. I’d give us 12 hours, maybe more. I hoped it was enough. If not, I’d have to do it all over again, though Yi had made it clear she wasn’t intending on remaining in the city.
We’d diverted some of the city guard to clean up all the undead rattling around the city streets, and it appeared most had been dealt with. Apparently some undead beetle things were still going berserk near the zoo, and a high-level vampire had managed to turn an entire platoon before some paladins managed to banish it. The interior of the city was once again secure.
Jonah note 23
Keta waited for us as we disembarked. She looked at me sheepishly as we descended back into the fourth ring of the castle. I’d always seen the half-auric as powerful, larger-than-life, the only one in the room who always had her shit together. Now she looked nothing more than a nervous, timid woman. “I apologize for drinking to excess,” she said. “I am better now.”
That’s what you apologize for?
I opened my mouth to say something when Larus burst into the room in a flurry, coming from one of the window slits above, flapping loudly as he landed on the floor in front of me.
“Your majesty!” Larus cried. “I had to see it for myself. You have returned to us!”
Larus wore the same spiked helmet he’d been wearing the first time I’d met him. The hat’
s plumage was scorched to hell, and soot covered his feathers.
I looked at the seagull, and I immediately felt sick to my stomach. He was the leader on the eastern flank. 750,000 NPCs lost. That number… It was so big my mind couldn’t fathom it. That was the population of a city, all gone.
“What’s the situation?” I asked him.
He flapped into the air and landed on my shoulder so we could talk while I headed toward my bedroom. “The hobgoblins are currently cornered on Hiram Island. Just before you arrived, we decided to burn the bridges leading to and away. So now they can only get across in their boats. In the morning, the rock singers will build a pair of towers that will help sink these boats when they emerge.”
“How’s morale?” I asked.
“Uh,” the seagull said, sounding uncertain. “We had some setbacks in the first several hours of the fighting, and it has hurt morale, I am afraid. The hobgoblins do not fight with honor, and they are a brutal enemy to face down. They swarmed over the walls, climbing them like they weren’t even there. The lines broke, and people ran. They were cut down by the thousands. Prince Maghan, that giant brute of a leader. He fights with a large, black bow. It shoots black arrows with a red tip that will follow you, even around a corner. He took out an officer standing right next to me. It was most unpleasant.”
“Okay, here’s what’s going to happen,” I said. “I am going to my chambers, and I am going to be gone for several hours. While I’m gone, several things need to happen.” I relayed to Larus and Keta my orders.
I had to talk to Waldo. It’d been too long, and I needed to know if the AI had any advice. I had precious little time, and we’d lose even more of it when I talked to him. Time moved much more quickly when I entered that odd, small room next to the royal bedroom.
“Your majesty,” Keta said “I think I know what you’re intending, and there’s a problem.”
I strode into my bedchamber, followed by Keta and Yi. Larus still remained on my shoulder. “What do you mean?” I asked. I stopped dead. “What the hell? What happened to my room?”
The Hobgoblin Riot: Dominion of Blades Book 2: A LitRPG Adventure Page 45
