Chapter 017:

First thing I had to say about the City Guard of Ambryxis was that it was almost terrifyingly competent.

Regular members - those that formed patrols that guarded the streets - were all Aura Manipulators of Foundation Building stage. Which in local culture meant Aura Conductivity of level 11-20. Leria was level 17... which only showed how weak in fact the cult was. A single militiaman would have curbstomped her when she was still one of its guards. Sure, Ramshiran could in turn curbstomp a whole squad of City Guard, but…

A single patrol of four guardsmen would have overwhelmed us in combat. And that‘s without considering that each squad had a retired adventurer of low Foundation Expanding (21-30) stage as a sergeant. And also a sorcerer of equal strength and similar background. Plus all squadmembers carried enchanted amulets that allowed them to contact each other even over distance. So even if we took one patrol out, two more plus a command group (a patrol reinforced with both sergeant and sorcerer) would soon come crashing down on us.

Even if we somehow triumphed over the whole squad, there were fast response units stationed throughout the city. Thirteen Aura Manipulators of Foundation Expanding stage and a single sorcerer per each. Set to depart the second a patrol squad goes dark.

Identical squads were stationed at each gate. They were even stronger because they were trained to use Ambryxis power to empower themselves in combat. With gates being one of major anchors of his magic shield protecting whole city, there was A LOT of mana in air. And even if they somehow lost, there were always regular soldiers nearby, guarding the city walls and ready to respond to call for aid.

In short - fighting our way through the city gates was a major nope. The way Ambryxis was governed bordered on a totalitarian state, with religious faith in Black Pantheon and their faithful servant Ambryxis being the dominant ideology. And you don‘t pick a fight with law enforcement in totalitarian states. It‘s always a horrible idea unless you have a few thousand (at least) badasses guarding your back.

No wonder the head of the City Guard is part of the Masked Council.

We couldn‘t just stroll casually through the gate. At night they would ask for our identities. And they would connect the dots after checking out that this group left the night of the Vhyl‘s murder together with his slave. Waiting for the day would also be a horrible idea because they will probably discover the murder by then and will look for the slave, believing the murderer might want to smuggle her out of the city.

Thankfully, while the City Guard was competent, it wasn‘t flawlessly competent. They were strict only on things and people brought into the city. Ambryxis - and by extension the Guard - didn‘t give a shit about things you brought out. For them you could blow up the rest of the world, flood it with drugs or do whatever the heck you wished to - and they wouldn‘t bat an eye.

Because of that, while bribing the guardsmen to let you bring something inside was next to impossible, bribing them to let you bring something out was a different game.

That’s what you get when the pantheon you worship includes a god of bureaucracy, corruption and bribes. According to Leria taking bribes for smuggling things out was considered something accepted. High ranked City Guard officials got a cut. It was even a part of the Guard’s official finances.

Situation changed when somebody stole something important inside the city, someone was kidnapped or a murderer was on the run. When that happened the high-ranked members of City Guard recovered from their bribe-induced blindness. And when they watched, no guardsman was stupid enough to act out of line.

It cost us one hundred ambries to make the guards on the watch look another way. They took it literally, leaving the post for ten minutes. After making sure we would bring something out, not in by setting a magical alarm that would warn them if something entered the city while they were gone.

I can‘t blame them. In their job it’s sometimes better to go to great lengths to see nothing. As someone bright once said, the less you know the shorter the interrogation. Bringing the girl out of the city - and getting out of it for the time of the investigation - was child’s play.

Besides... They. Even. Had. An. Alarm. Installed into the gate. One that would detect people passing through the wrong way and inform them. All of that to make taking bribes easier. No wonder Glorastia fell. It‘s leadership - or even the leadership of local organizations like city guards - kept sabotaging itself by reckless backstabbing and corruption, even in the face of the Decemberists’ threat. There are things you can‘t avoid when you are building an empire of evil, and corruption is one of them.

***

After we returned to the Hold, Leria announced that she would take care of the child. Then she promptly departed with her - Vila seemed too shocked and scared to react in any way but silent obedience - to her room. Simea in the same time retreated to her own room and catch sleep. Leaving me with only Lena to describe what happened to Vaera and Kytar.

We were brutally interrupted when Lena’s familiar appeared beside her. Then she...

… hugged it?! I almost choked on my drink.

“What?" Lena said when she saw my reaction, right after letting her familiar go and giving him a final pat on the head to which he reacted with a happy murmur. “What happened, master?”

“No, it‘s just... it’s a Shadowlurker. An infant form of one of most feared daemons. I remember being murdered by them once in World’s Requiem. When I returned sometime later the thing was wearing my skin while cackling maniacally. " I shook my head. Yes, that was traumatic. Back then. Now the line between average day and trauma fuel was pushed much further. “Seeing it act like a cute pet is almost surreal for me.”

As to prove me right the Shadowlurker settled down on her lap. She cooperated and soon it was hugging her. With its long arms that ended in a razor sharp fingers that could shred an inch thick steel plate like it was paper.

“Hey, what can I say?! Toothy is just cute.” She returned the hug.

“Too... you named it Toothy?!” I would have choked again if I was stupid enough to return to drinking after the talk moved into dangerous waters.

She nodded.

“Whose the cutest daemon around?" She said, while looking at... ‘Toothy’. It purred almost like a happy cat. Vaera and Kytar laughed seeing my face.

As far as I know even an infant Shadowlurker would have rather munched on her throat before skinning her alive while she slowly dies of blood loss and pain. These things were hatred made material, created by Shadow from the remaining bits of the Malice’s corrupted flesh that latched onto her/his/it when they were in their mother‘s womb. That she/he/it exorcised and hid in the deepest, darkest parts of her/his/its afterlife, where they kept spawning Shadowlurkers (and... other things) forever. They were known to be among the hardest daemons to summon and control since they seemed to enjoy changing their summoners into still screaming collages of blood and flesh if they lost only the slightest bit of caution.

This thing was Pentagram Lite, essentially. There was no other explanation for the way it acted other than Toothy being ‘damaged’. It was a daemonic version of a child mentally impaired since birth.

It still seemed like a tough little daemon that would be of great use to us, though I’d prefer if we encountered more... amiable daemons. I know this is Dragonspine Mountains, a place where shadows fight against darkness, but this is getting ridiculous. The light side was just as tough (if not tougher) than the dark one in DFI‘s games, and its hierarchies of servile daemons were as diverse. Despite this, the only good aligned daemon we saw to date was Leria‘s familiar…

***

I paid a visit to Leria before going to sleep. Or, to be even more precise, I wanted to see how‘s Vila doing.

I knocked on her door. She opened them almost immediately.

“Shhh.” She put a finger to her lips. “She fell asleep.” She closed the door behind her and we moved over to the bench in the middle of the quarters.

“How is she doing?” Well, no need to pretend now. She was smart enough to know why I visited her.

“Shaken, terrified, malnourished, heavily bruised due to long abuse… “She sighed and shook her head. “Honestly, it‘s a miracle she is alive. Tomorrow I will need you to look at her. With your medical knowledge. "

“Medical knowledge.” I chuckled. " I wouldn‘t exactly call myself competent in that matter, but I’ll try my best if you wish. The thing is…” I scratched my head. “… Who will look after her? I’m not exactly sure if setting up an orphanage here is a good idea. We should keep a low profile and so on.”

“Not all people we are going to kill will have slaves.” She responded calmly. “If you want to know, I will take care of her. Kytar will deliver her food when I will be gone.” I see. So she had it all thought in details. " She straightened herself. “Annihilating evil is only the first thing you have to do when you want to restore Harmony. You should also heal the wounds it left behind. "

The only thing more scary than a person with conviction and determination to follow it is a religious person with conviction and determination to follow it… and with belief that they will be rewarded after death and that they were objectively right because the gods were on their side. I was yet to see the end of her crusade - I slowly warmed to the idea of being her number one sidekick - but I was absolutely sure that tons of people would die.

I wonder how long we’re going to remember Vhyl, its first victim. How long before he changes into one more face in the army of people she casts aways from Symphony?

There was a reason Chosen Ones were rare. Even in World’s Requiem they could get scary. Few Chosen Ones - even NPCs - teamed up could signal a downfall of a major player guild. Here? In a world that seemed tailored so that everything could happen?

***

First thing I did in the morning was the check up I promised Leria.

Vila wasn‘t even trying to hide herself when Leria stripped her so I could apply my medicines. She was far behind that point. I can‘t even describe the feelings it gavet me. Yesterday I had a moment of doubt when I wondered if we didn‘t go too far with Vhyl. Now? Now I felt it was sad that he died so early.

I guess there will be more like him, especially with Leria around.

After we finished, Leria told her she could do whatever she wants as long as she won‘t leave the caves and will listen to what Kytar says. She nodded silently.

Then we departed. We need to hunt things to get stronger.

***

“That‘s weird.” Lena commented a few hours after we entered Black Woods. “How is that possible that there isn‘t a single living thing here?!”

I sighed.

“Ask miss Burn-The-Heretics.” When she looked at me, I pointed at Leria. “Anomaly keeps spawning daemons to repel our incursion, but all of them feel that there is a Chosen One amongst us and flee as fast as they can.” After all, they were much more attuned to the supernatural world than even most sensitive mortals. They lived in a permanent and much stronger version of Sense Magic that extended to all their senses.

Made me wonder how exactly they felt Overtyrant‘s mark on her. Did he make it personal so they would know it’s his Chosen One? Probably not, Ambryxis would have pissed his pants yesterday... before blowing us up together with the whole district to be sure he eradicated the threat. Did he make her appear as a Chosen of a different god? Or perhaps as a Chosen without mark of affiliation, a living enigma for daemons surrounding us? Maybe only unaligned daemons like those of Black Woods could feel it? Or perhaps only other gods knew of us but could act against us only in accordance to the rule of the Great Game?

I should probably accept the same approach as most locals. When it was 100% sure that there was a game going on above your head you couldn‘t comprehend... it‘s better to ignore it. Just live your life. Try to achieve your goals. Venerate the gods responsible for the fact that your settlement survived another day without getting annihilated - most of them had sensible tenets and rules so it wasn‘t that hard. Marry. Have children. Pass away. It wasn‘t THAT hard. Seeing gods’ hands everywhere and trying to guess what they had in store for you was a guaranteed way into paranoia and insanity. Them being hyper-advanced AIs changed nothing.

“Mmm… Isn’t that bad?” Lena interrupted my thoughts.

“Why?” I shrugged. “They were weaklings to begin with. Trust me, beings that can give us a fight will still come. Consider this a graduation from fighting things like Stalkers and Hexcasters. With Shrike being our final exam."

We didn’t kill Shrike for real. We banished her into the Dark, making her leave her corporeal vessel behind for us to pillage. Daemons don‘t die. Outside of a magical anomaly you could try to imprison one in an object. When a daemon pissed off Imperium too much, they massacred his corporeal body, trapped his spirit in rock and then ground it into dust before scattering it around. Which worked, but the thing in question was still alive, just forever banned from entering Reality.

In an anomaly it was even harder to do. It kept resurrecting ancient concepts, ideas and things, vomiting them into faces of people visiting it. When the reality was sufficiently disturbed one could loot the same sword a million times. When the reality was sufficiently disturbed one could imprison the same daemon a million times.

Shrike was probably still around. Pissed off at us beyond belief. Leria and Vaera knew. But they probably considered it a basic knowledge of adventurer, so basic in fact they couldn‘t even imagine we didn’t know that. Let’s not ruin Simea and Lena’s mood.

In fact… didn’t we come farther into anomaly than ever before? It was dark here. We had to use a torch again, so…

A loud crashing sound came from the front. I cast Bend Reality. I could feel our warriors covering themselves in Aura. Vaera surrounded himself in Dragon Shield.

Something large was coming right at us through the clearing.

Blackwood Knight

Category: Dark/Thorns

Type: Daemon/Servile

Threat Grade: Iron X

A daemon born from malevolent energies spilling from the being that sleeps beneath the Black Woods. He now haunts this forest, driven by the hatred it inherited, stalking those brave (or foolish) enough to enter the accursed forest.

It was tall. Two and half meters at least. Made from twisted blackwood as all creatures from the Woods we encountered so far beside the Shrike. He had an outer shell made to look like knight armor, together with a pitch black breastplate and leggings, a tower shield that looked two inches thick and a long halberd.

Iron X, uh. Should be manageable. Barely, but manageable. Especially since it seems to have no spells or hex…

He pointed his halberd towards the sky. I could feel the magical energy swirling towards the tip. What the heck? That‘s certainly a preparation to...

I was about to shout a warning when he pointed the halberd back at us. What followed was an overpowered version of Thorn Wave, quite similar to my Tentacle Push. It hit our warriors, pushing them back despite Aura Armour.

Blackwood Knight

Category: Dark/Thorns

Type: Daemon/Servile

Threat Grade: Iron X

A daemon born from malevolent energies spilling from the being that sleeps beneath the Black Woods. He now haunts this forest, driven by the hatred it inherited, stalking those brave (or foolish) enough to enter the accursed forest.

Knows following spells and hexes:

Thorn Assault

Shit, they censored the info that enemies use spells?! Is DFI still in charge of the ga…

The ten meter long, three meter wide cone of thorns conjured by Thorn Assault disappeared. Shit. It almost overwhelmed the defenses of both our warriors. From the maximum distance. If somebody gets hit by this point blank, it’s going to get gruesome.

Warriors leaped forward. Simea disappeared. Vaera and I cast magic. He used Dragon Fireball that exploded on the Knight‘s armour. I called Sunstone and it appeared in front of me. It immediately detected a hostile and covered itself with white flames that it… spit on the enemy? Weird, but the best word I could come up with for it was spit. Fucking Doom Magic.

It hit the Knight straight in the breastplate. It dispersed, of course. Well, it was a Copper VI after all, don‘t expect miracles. Knight probably lost a tiny bit of lifeforce. And my familiar is going to keep doing this for as long as the fight lasts, so...

The Knight could guess that Leria was a bigger threat. Seeing her charge at him he immediately tried to pierce her with his halberd. She avoided it and used Mighty Blow - but he blocked it.

A second later Lena came close, but he bashed her with his inhuman strength, breaking her Aura and sending her flying.

Note to self - Lena is too weak to fight enemies like that. Even if she wasn‘t wounded - only beaten up - and landed on her feet. I could see her calling Toothy onto the battlefield. Good thinking, it‘s Iron V after all. It appeared right beside her, only to immediately disappear from my sight after it used Suppress Presence.

Leria made a three meter high jump - despite her armour - and used aura combined with gravity to make her slash stronger. Another Mighty Blow, strong enough that it cleaved half of his tower shield apart. It bashed her, but only pushed her back. He immediately tried to impale her on his halberd, but she blocked it with her shield.

Toothy suddenly appeared... ATOP KNIGHT’S HEAD?!

I could feel him using his Rend hex on his arms, strengthening them like Aura did, right before he shoved his razor sharp fingers into knight‘s face.

Ouch. I’m not sure if the Knight could feel pain, but if he could... then I almost feel sorry for him. He trembled, right before trying to bash Toothy with his halberd. Since he already jumped down, the Knight ended up hitting his own face, with enough strength to almost make himself fall on the ground.

The Knight immediately repaired itself, of course. It was still a critical hit if I ever saw one. It chopped off a sizeable part of his energy, almost as much as Leria‘s cleave.

Wow. I almost laughed seeing the Knight hitting itself in the face. But now the comic relief was over. Back to battle.

Lena leaped into melee, just as her familiar sharpened his fingers on Knight‘s waist. Simea suddenly appeared, stabbing the side of his leg. Leria used Piercing Lance.

The Knight jumped up a little. A loud bang accompanied his landing, immediately followed by a shockwave strong enough to push all enemies surrounding him back. The earth beneath me trembled as if a meteor careened into the ground.

So... he has magic that allows him to escape being lynched by a crowd of enemies. Wonderful. I fired a Destroyer Bolt on him, but he disregarded it. He turned around his halberd and... drove it into the ground?!

I don‘t like it.

The ground around him exploded, with thorn spikes emerging from beneath it with extreme speed. Leria blocked with her shield, but Lena failed to do so, one of the spike piercing her leggings. She screamed and sliced it off. Seconds later Vaera suppressed the bleeding with her spell.

Simea and Toothy avoided the attack completely. Shadowlurker must have felt Lena‘s pain and unleashed a howl that almost made me turn around and flee.

Even the Knight seemed to tremble for a second. The thorns he conjured disappeared. My Destroyer Bolt and Vaera‘s Dragon Fireball hit him, dropping his HP significantly.

Leria suddenly stood up and threw out her sword and shield while giving out an almost animalistic howl.. Oh shit, I know what that mean. She used Rip and Tear…

… Let’s make her first usage of Overtyrant‘s hexes memorable. “REND EVIL!"

Two berserk hexes pushed her into an overdrive, increasing her already superhuman strength much further. She leaped forward, screaming what must have been a war cry distorted by righteous fury that bordered on overwhelming rage.

The Knight immediately detected a threat. He tried to swing his massive halberd at her from above... but missed. She gave him no time to do anything. Before he hid behind his shield, she leaped at him from the ground, stretching her hands towards his neck.

I couldn‘t see details, but I could hear her triumphant howl and see the Knight‘s head sent flying. Her weight and speed toppled him and made him collapse backwards. She fell on him and unleashed a flurry of blows on his regrowing head and torso, all while shouting something incoherent.

He lost his weapon and shield when she toppled him, so he retaliated by trying to punch her from the sides. Toothy appeared and swung his arm at his elbow, soon joined by Simea. Lena stabbed his other arm. Leria kept furiously beating his face.

Am I ever needed here? Even my familiar stopped casting hexes since it could no longer do it without hitting an ally.

The Knight, despite losing his HP fast, punched Simea off him. Toothy evaded being grabbed and decided it was time to retreat outside of his opponent’s reach. This freed Knight‘s hand long enough for him to punch Leria‘s side with enough strength to shatter an iron plate.

She screamed, but immediately responded with a massive hit to his face. No success there, another punch practically blew her away from him. She landed on all fours few meters away, hissing loudly. She didn‘t even stand up but instead leaped forward with aura reinforcement from that position.

Yeah. I almost forgot how... animalistic Overtyrant‘s worshipper could become when they lost themselves in fury. Even then they still attacked only targets of evil character though.

This rage and hatred weren‘t a part of Symphony. They were a willing suspension of it, made to prosecute their war against evil despite all odds. I once saw Overtyrant‘s worshipper ripping out a glorastian soldier‘s throat with their teeth. I heard about one taken prisoner only to tear apart iron bars in his cells and murder half of the prison guards with his bare hands before they cornered him in the kitchen.

Before they slew him he grabbed a kitchen knife. Knowing what he did without it some of his opponents fled from the battle.

Note to self - stacking Rend Evil and Rip and Tear is a horrible idea. Amusing to watch, but horrible.

The Knight stood up. I fired a Destroyer Bolt at him, it connected right before Leria reached him. He trembled, his strength weakened and his defenses collapsing fast. He had no time to recover his weapons, so he tried to kick our berserker back to buy some time. One second before Lena, whom he forgot, stabbed him with her spear reinforced with Mighty Blow, piercing his breastplate.

It broke his stance, making the kick miss the target. What‘s more, in the split second Leria reached him he was standing only on one leg. Bad idea. Despite the primal fury that controlled her she knew what she should target.

He fell again. Leria once again started pummel him with her fists while Lena nailed his face to the ground. Toothy and Simea used the occasion to leap into melee. I used a significant part of my mana and cast Hex of Devastation on Lena and Simea’s weapons.

Hexes ran out of mana fast, but the Knight felt them. His HP fell down rapidly. It once again tried to free itself, but Simea and Toothy jumped back from his punch, only to return to attack immediately, not giving him time to shake off Leria.

10%. 5%. 1%.

He trembled for the last time. His arms and legs ceased moving. Lena and Simea made a step back before collapsing on the ground, panting heavily.

Leria gave him few last punches before noticing he was dead. She raised up, growling. She failed to notice more targets, and the berserk state faded away. Only for her eyes to roll back.

She fell unconscious and dropped on the ground.

I’ve lost 65% of mana in this short exchange. Damn.