But alas, there were no tablets or esses there. Money, stocks, bonds and jewelry were of no interest to me ― I wouldn’t be able to take them out of the labyrinth in any case.
I’m reminded of I believe Dag, the scout. One of the guys that abandoned me in the caverns of the Crooked Mountains. He said all werewolves were magical creatures. Well apparently he was wrong. Only the alpha had a magic supply. No one else in his pack did. That must have been the very reason they were not able to transform. Their larger claws and fangs excepted. Animal eyes, too. Most likely, that was a natural feature.
I also figured out the Scourge of the Undead crystals. They activated and raised a passive physical skill that increased crit chance, but only in battles with the undead. Gorgie already had it up to level six.
― Scourge of the Undead.
— Level: 6 (0/140) (Can only be improved using Scourge of the Undead crystals).
— Type: Passive physical skill.
— Rarity: Epic.
— Description:
— In battles with undead, critical hit chance for physical attacks is increased significantly.
— Effect:
― Critical damage chance +50%
I though was less lucky. In fact, I got totally skunked. All the crystals I got were level one.
But the biggest disappointment was the fact that Gorgie’s max Mind was still down at one. I must admit I was seriously anticipating a shift at level thirty, but the Great System had her own opinion on the matter. A firm and unwavering one. The only being that can stand up against the Great System is Bug. But in this case, I’m actually glad to have the malicious spirit ignoring my pet.
We got him to level thirty-two in the cold storage of a butcher’s shop. It was relatively quiet, and Gorgie had plenty of meat. The sheer number of carcasses hanging along the wall was staggering. I also noticed another little quirk ― the sniffer morphs, or scouts as Pinebogey called them, were keeping their distance from these meat and butcher shops. At first I couldn’t tell why, but then it hit me. The large concentration of essentially dead flesh would somehow confuse their senses. While my magical “vision” from the red scolopendra interpreted the hogs and veal as a lifeless gray substance, the undead must have seen the world through a different lens.
Thanks to my magical sense, I could also “see” all the morphs as soon as they appeared inside my hundred-thirty-foot range. When the necromancers were creating their deceased servants, they had placed magic supplies in their heads. The small toxic green spots pulsated right where their brains should have been. And there were thick magic cables running from that spot down their spines to their appendages. The structure was in some way reminiscent of the Fort Stout golem’s energy system back from the Stone Forest.
I sat on the upper steps of a wooden staircase leading down into a cold storage room and tucked into a pickled apple. Gorgie was lying next to me with his eyes closed and a full belly. His stomach grumbled like a giant kettle drum. And no wonder! Eating so much meat! In one sitting he took down a quarter of the shop. If the owner were still alive, the sight of his ransacked cold storage would give him a heart attack and kill him again. But alas, this butcher was not so lucky. His half-devoured corpse was lying on the ground near the back door.
Every so often, necromorph energy grids would flit through the field of my magical “vision,” which I was activating whenever I got the chance, not worrying about saving mana.
“They definitely aren’t slowing down,” I shared my observations with Gorgie.
Gorgie didn’t even bat an eye though. With how easily he was crushing these dead creatures, he couldn’t have considered them serious adversaries.
“Is it possible the palace has already fallen?” I continued thinking out loud. “If so, this is gonna get sweaty. By the way, did I mention that this city is going to be wiped off the face of the earth?”
Gorgie slightly peeked open his right eye, snorted and drifted off again into his post-meal nap.
“Uh huh,” I nodded. “Let’s see what you say when they hit us with some super killer move,” I said, not believing it myself.
Over the last few days, I had learned so much about the true history of the fall of the ancient capital of Darta that it was getting hard to believe it would all be leveled in one fell swoop. Why the skepticism? Easy. The necromancers have already been storming the royal palace for six whole days and just can’t seem to get inside. That really begs the logical question. If they have a powerful spell capable of destroying an entire city, what’s the hold up?
Why are they dragging their feet? Do they need one of the defenders alive? Are they afraid to damage the spoils of war? The palace is probably stuffed to the gills with artifacts and valuables. Or could it all in fact be much simpler? Might they have simply been lying to us all this time? Feeding us all false stories like the traitor general and brother of the hero King?
Of course I’m not discounting the possibility of sudden total annihilation. I’ve seen it before ― such spells do exist. I have used them myself. But then what would be the point of amassing such a huge army of undead? It’s a huge waste of mana! Just hammer the city with a spell and its over!
No. There’s something else going on here.
My thoughts were already about to loop around again when four magical grids fell into my field of “view.” Now those are clearly not undead.
I took a glance at Gorgie. Not sleeping anymore. He was completely alert.
“Surprised you didn’t smell our visitors earlier?” I snorted quietly. “They’re mages. Let’s sit tight.”
A few moments later I realized we wouldn’t be able to just wait them out. Another few magic supplies appeared to the right and left of the building we were holed up in. And another second later, two more spots lit up behind us. They had the butcher’s shop surrounded. They seemed to have been hunting us.
The coming of the unknown mages we took in stride. Based on their clipped supplies they were around level twenty. Well, maybe the one out in front was a little over thirty. In any case, four thousand mana points was nothing to sneeze at. Neither Gorgie nor I sensed any melee warriors. There were a dozen all told. And they clearly were not from the citadel of chaos. They were probably the same hotheads we saw a few days earlier.
“Ready?” I asked Gorgie quietly.
“Hrn,” he answered confidently. Waves of vibration traveled down his bone armor. I could practically sense the power rippling through his body.
The only thing that might scare me would be a mentat mage, if they had one. Otherwise, the people surrounding Gorgie and me now were no real match for us.
“Hey! Over there! In the meat shop!”
From outside, near the front door, I heard a mocking baritone. Based on the confident and commanding notes, the speaker was in charge.
“Come out, agent of chaos! We know you’re in there!”
I wonder how. Did they follow my tracks? Do they have abilities like mine? How were they able to determine my faction allegiance?
Then it hit me. The seal of chaos! I looked at the energy structures of the people surrounding us in a new light. There it was! How did I miss that? All of the mages had barely visible dots pulsating on their wrists. I glanced at my seal. In my magical vision it looked like a dark lilac ink blot flowing out into the energy channels on my arms. I looked around and counted the seals of my adversaries. Four were fire-red, five a saturated dark blue, two brown and one a lighter blue. The red are obvious ― fire. The two blue shades must be water and air, while the brown is earth. I could be wrong though.
They didn’t attack right away, so they must wanna talk. I wonder if they’ve spotted Gorgie. If so, why were they only addressing me? They must not have. That’s odd. I wonder why.
As a matter of fact, I had several theories. First and most obvious, Gorgie’s high Animal Instinct score. With my heightened Mind, I could now read the System’s short hints and characteristic explanations, both for me and the harn.
So
now I knew that Gorgie’s instinct governed not only his senses, but camouflage as well. My Marauder cloak’s camouflage score must have been lower than my potential adversaries’ observation or other senses. Let’s see how they react to my invisibility.
Another guess had to do with Gorgie’s resistances. The mage that had yet to see him was either fire or mentat. Heh… I found myself yet again thanking the gods for those legendary resources. I got a lot of useful tablets from that.
“Stay here, but keep your guard up,” I whispered to Gorgie and went to the exit.
The harn breathed an impatient sigh and fell obediently to the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his claws sink deep into the floorboards. I chuckled. He always does that when he’s feeling very impatient.
Before stepping over the threshold, I activated muckwalker’s aura. I also had the Ysh and chaos shield ready to go.
As I walked out, I took a look around. With normal vision, I can see only five. The others are hiding. But the ring was slowly starting to constrict.
“Chaos must have fallen on hard times. Is the Snake really so desperate she started sending out scrawny little weaklings?”
The man with the mocking baritone was a gray-haired level thirty-eight with an aristocratic visage. Tall, stately, with a well-groomed wedge of gray beard. Golden rings on his fingers. Gemstones glimmering in the sun. Clothing, shoes and weaponry. It’s all very expensive stuff, just like that of his companions. He looks to be around forty or forty-five. Although who knows how old he really is?
There was a red seal smoldering on his wrist. His similarly pampered cohorts flanked him, standing still. Obviously nobility. Honestly though, their levels are lower. One more fire mage and three with dark blue seals.
They all appreciated the gray-hair’s joke. I even heard a woman laughing behind them, somewhere off on a rooftop. And there I could clearly make out the only light blue seal in the squad.
Beyond the seals, there was another detail I could see ― an emblem on each of their chests. On it was depicted an open palm in the embraces of a multicolored magic whirlwind. The order of mages. Master Chi and the people who came to kill him wore the same patches.
“Well, what do you want?” I grumbled out uncouthly. I was acting that way on purpose. The aristocrats and mages as well were not accustomed to such a tone. They had clearly taken me for a commoner. Just look at their lips. Pursed in disgust. But I say let them throw a tantrum. I just love throwing my adversaries off kilter. The more their nerves are firing, the more mistakes they’ll make.
“You, peasant, have clearly forgotten your place!” the baritone frowned. Every aspect of his appearance was meant to communicate that I was treading the line.
I wonder why they’re still talking to me. Are they just bored? I had noticed that nobles were by and large a breed inclined to melancholy and boredom. That by the way was where all the war and gruesome forms of entertainment came from. They’re just bored, the creeps.
I heard a commotion to the left and right. Just above, where the air lady was sitting, I heard another bout of laughter.
“Am I to understand the good sir mage is hard of hearing?” I bellowed out. “Let me ask you again. What do you want?!”
It was the same way all my neighbors, me included, used to talk to Madame Rima, a deaf seventy-year-old granny who lived in the corner house on a neighboring street.
“You will answer for you insolence, peasant!” the head fire mage barked and pointed a hand at me.
“Wait a second, Troyce,” the hand of a raven-haired mage with a dark blue marker fell on the fire mage’s shoulder from behind. “Let’s turn out his pockets first. Otherwise it’ll be just like last time. A little pile of ash and zero loot.”
Seeing the fire mage trying object, the black-haired one hurried to settle him down:
“After we take his chaos particles, he’s all yours. Agreed?”
“He insulted me, Rom!” Troyce wouldn’t relent.
“Yes,” nodded the raven-haired Rom. “And you can turn him to ash in a few minutes. But first, the loot.”
Rom put some pressure into the last part and, seemingly, slightly settled Troyce’s burning righteous fury. A mentat? I’ll find out very soon.
“I hope it’s worth it,” the head fire mage hissed through his teeth.
Letting his cohort’s last sentence go in one ear and out the other, Rom turned to me and smiled:
“Well, brash fellow, have you managed to snatch up a lot of chaos particles?”
I decided to play along and pretended to dig around in the knapsack hanging off my shoulder.
“Let me take a look,” I grumbled and, digging through my knapsack, moved my lips, acting like a fool who had just learned to count.
“Well, how do you like that?” Rom burst out laughing a minute later. “Counted up your riches? Well, not so much yours as ours now.”
The mages greeted the last sentence with snickers.
“Yes, good sir mage,” I answered, continuing to play the idiot. “I’ve only been able to get fifteen thousand six hundred seventy chaos particles.”
The way the pompous turkeys’ faces stretched out was a sight to behold. While the others stared at me wide-eyed in dumbstruck disbelief, I saw comprehension in Rom’s eyes. He was seemingly the only one that had realized who was really the hunter, and who was the hunted.
Chapter 7
“READY?” I asked Gorgie mentally.
In reply came an emotional bundle of impatience and excitement to hunt.
“Then you get the ones in the back and the left. I got the ones in front and right. Let’s get started!”
In the next second, I activated all my prepared spells at once.
― You have summoned the magical spirit of the Crusher!
The mages didn’t notice the sudden appearance of the giant ghostly beetle, followed by an impenetrable magic fog swallowing up the meat shop and everything around it in a thirty-foot radius.
The only one who managed to react was Rom. A watery cocoon wrapped around his body.
― You have summoned the magical spirit of the Longtailed Ysh!
The trusty ghostly snake, who had saved my life many times before, was back and ready to deflect enemy attacks.
― You have activated the spell Chaos Shield!
Another eighty thousand points of defense. I’ll share five percent with Gorgie, who had already broken through the back wall of the meat shop and come crashing down on two mages with brown marks.
― You have activated the magical ability Blackblood Mother’s Canopy of Invisibility!
“Troyce!” came an aghast cry from the left. “I can’t see him!”
So neither Troyce nor Rom had spotted me. That must have been done by the level twenty-seven dark blue mage.
― You have used Anomaly Elixir “Concentration!”
― You have used Anomaly Elixir “Concentration!”
For forty minutes, my speed and agility would be up by twenty points, while my aim and observation got fifteen.
Bursting sharply from place, I extended my right hand. Thanks to my magical vision, I could see all my rivals perfectly well.
― You have activated the spell Glitterspark Eel’s Chain Lightning!
As expected, the stun effect didn’t work on Troyce or Rom, but three of their crew were sent slowly slouching to the ground.
― You have activated the magical ability Ice Golem’s Breath!
A cloud of frost formed around me, lowering the speed of my enemies by seventy percent and taking away fifty-five mana points every five seconds.
Easily walking fifteen paces, I found myself next to the fallen mages. These idiots were so assured of their invincibility that they didn’t even bother with defense.
I sent Mites flying toward Troyce and Rom, who had been caught by the ice golem’s breath. Now let’s try to drain their mana supplies.
My improved Mind allowed me to easily keep tabs on the whole battlefield.
The brown marks behind the meat shop went dim. And no wonder. Gorgie is lightning fast and impossible to catch. A moment later, the system belatedly informed me that two of the mage squadron were down. The harn meanwhile dashed toward the red and dark blue mages. I got off a ram down the alley which, based on the thundering and tinkling of glass, demolished the corner of the meat shop and damaged a neighboring building.
― You have attacked mage (22)!
― Critical hit. You have dealt 1763 damage!
― Enemy incapacitated for 36 seconds!
― You have attacked mage (24)!
― Critical hit. You have dealt 1412 damage!
Labyrinth of Fright (Underdog Book #5): LitRPG Series Page 7
