∼ Opportunity ∼

Chapter - 073

Despite it being in the dead of night, worried people were awake and peering out of their doors and windows, watching the soldiers run through the streets. In the distance was the glow of roaring flames, a plume of smoke silhouetted against the moonlight.

Arriving at the scene, Nyx not far behind the men that had run ahead, he looked at the large building that was consumed in an inferno. It was quite beautiful, to be honest. Nyx had a sense of familiarity with flames nowadays, not just with his [Fire Resistance]. He actually felt something else building up whenever he summoned the fires of his magic. A kinship?

The bellow of a man broke over the roar of the flames. It was Liam. "Where did they go! Godsdammit soldier, answer me!" He was shaking a poor man on the ground who already looked worse for wear. His armor lightly scorched, and blood ran down from his bruised forehead. He looked as if he had been knocked unconscious and barely woke in time to get out of the fire.

The lieutenant was the one to pull her enraged captain off the disoriented soldier.

Four other soldiers laid away from the burning wrecks, all in a row, all dead. One looked to have been run through with a blade, slightly burnt like the only survivor, and the other three were completely unrecognizable, their figures a mix of charred flesh and armor that had fused together in an unsightly manner. And those were just ones who could be retrieved from the fire.

Looking around, Nyx couldn't spot any of the bandits. The soldiers had already swarmed this place. Around fifty men, alongside some upstanding citizens, were all trying to put out the fires and get a hold of the situation. Nyx paid them no mind, inspecting the scene, looking for any trace of the bandits.

All he found were footprints in the mud that were quickly rendered useless in the flurry of activity that we're all the humans around. Nyx cursed to himself as he couldn't find any coherent trail, the tracks ruined by those annoying townspeople. "Humans and their precious buildings... tsk," Nyx muttered.

Gaining a sudden idea, he turned back to the human survivor being questioned. He seemed much more lucid now, though his answers still weren't any more informative. He had been out for all of it seemingly. "Sir Mage..." Liam said with some hostility, his current anger bleeding over into his distaste for Nyx as the gnome approached.

But Nyx just ignored him. He just came closer to the human on the ground, peering at him intently. The bedraggled human became distinctly uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the robed gnome, and he even thought he barely glimpsed two glowing yellow eyes from under that hood.

"What is it?" Liam asked, some irritation entering his voice at being ignored. The soldier's eyes suddenly widened when heard the gnome sniffing at him. "W-what are y-you doing?" He stuttered out, trying to shy away from the unknown gnome.

As before, Nyx entirely ignored the humans, nodding to himself in satisfaction as he took a step back.

Before any of them could react to his odd behavior, the glow of demonic mana took shape around his robed hands. Runes carved themselves into the air, forming glowing red rings around his arms as well as on the ground before him. The terrified soldier who had no idea of what was going on or who Nyx even was, could only stare in wide-eyed horror whilst the captain and lieutenant were hesitant to interrupt. Magic was being performed before their very eyes. Something that people out in the sticks could only hope to see one day.

As beautiful and intimidating as it was, it gave them a sense of helplessness with the power on display. The ring completed - the gate was opened. And from its veil of dark, blistering energy, came something most unholy. A demon. Those who had thought Nyx nothing more than mage before were now paling in realization. He was not just some second-rate mage. He was a warlock.

Looking around with curiosity, and face too savage to be anything human, the demon's focus locked onto the gnome. Then in a sudden display of something that couldn't be explained rationally, the demon assaulted its master - or rather, it tried to lick him... forcefully? The humans were left bewildered as they watched the gnome cursing, short stubby hands trying to keep the demon's head away.

Liam and his lieutenant just looked at each other, at a loss.

"-Gah! Stop it!" Nyx cursed, his words finally breaking through to his hard-headed familiar. It stopped, falling back to sit and stare, smiling all-too happily for his liking. Shaking off his sudden unease, Nyx turned to the human soldier, pointing at him. "The foreign scent, follow it."

The soldier blinked, having little time to react before the demon practically jumped on him. Falling back onto the ground, hands covering his face in horror, the human nearly fainted. But as no pain or anguish came to him, he realized the demon was merely sniffing him up and down. Still, it terrified him to no end. A gods damned demon was on top of him! And even though it didn't weigh more than half his own bodyweight, its brutish, claw-tipped hands were obviously made for killing. In not so elegant or painless ways.

Jumping off the human, the thrasher let out an excited sound, her eyes dilated with the hunt. She had caught the scent. Running after the thrasher that bounded out of town without as much as another word, towards the northern region of Cragspire, Nyx didn't even spare a moment for the humans to collect themselves.

"What just... happened?" The lieutenant asked slowly, not really sure if she should believe her eyes anymore.

Suddenly coming out of his stupor, Liam jolted. "Shit, he must've gotten a trail! He's going in alone!" He scrambled to catch his men's attention. "To me, soldiers! Be prepared to fight!" Liam didn't even wait to see how many men got the order as he sprinted after Nyx who seemed way too fast for a mage. "-Fucking outsiders." He muttered under his breath as he ran.

Rushing through the cracks and gorges in the ragged landscape of Cragspire, the clatter of soldiers trying to keep pace began fading out as Nyx followed close to his familiar. Although he wanted to keep her quiet as she giggled and howled, bounding through the rocky land, Nyx himself felt the ecstasy of the hunt. So he found no ability to fault her.

But as the scent became stronger the closer they came to their quarry, Nyx's senses more than enough to follow it alone now, his mind cleared with the calculative cunning of his impish nature. At least enough to order the thrasher to remain silent. She was reluctant, pouting as she was perched on a rocky ledge. But Nyx paid her no mind.

They had arrived at the bandit's camp only short of an hour later.

Lodged in between a small rocky valley of sorts, crossing in three directions as another valley split off, rugged men were going about, hauling sacks of grain, crates of fresh food, and tools of every sort. They were settling their spoils.

Nyx could see about two dozen men here, only a couple of whom were women. Though, it would seem that those women were as tough or more so than the men. Which did make some sense since women generally wouldn't survive the life of a bandit, surrounded by depraved men whose sense for law and order was far gone. Only the roughest of them could.

Gender differences between humans aside as Nyx couldn't care more than a brief thought of it, he stalked the men that were closer, lounging about tents and cots laying about fires. But as he watched them, it became evident that these were not all the bandits. It couldn't be.

On closer inspection, there weren't even two dozen. Only fourteen or fifteen. This couldn't possibly be what Meadesborough and its decently-sized militia had trouble with. Additionally, from all the spoil Nyx could see, there wasn't nearly enough to account for all that had been stolen from the town over the last couple of months. Nyx's speculations were soon proven true when one of the many conversations finally caught his interest.

"Ey, did you see any new boots among the haul?" One of the bandits asked, removing his that barely looked like footwear anymore. "Could use some, these are about as worn as your mother."

An apple was thrown in the man's direction, the thrower smirking playfully. "Fuck you," He snorted, heaving up the crate of apple upon a stack of others. "But yeah, though I think it was with the boss's group. They took the storage if I 'member."

"Great. Though... didn't he head off already?"

"Yup, took that moron, Jack, back up to the main camp with him." He spat a glob of phlegm on the ground. "Torchin' the storage and all. I think boos lost all patience for him. Or at least, what little remained of it. Little mercy will be shown I gather."

"Fucking idiot, that one." The bandit shook his head exasperatedly.

"Yeah, you don't say." The man tsked, thudding down beside his friend on the cot in front of the fire. "Ah- In it for the violence since the beginning. Not for the gold or survin' like most. It was only a matter of time before he got himself killed - or worse."

Sharing a crate of apple and bottle of what appeared to be pilfered wine, the two men's conversation became considerably less interesting and useful as they drank themselves blind and ate till they were nauseous on their spoils. They weren't the only ones, though. All of the bandits were celebrating, half of them already smashed and the others well on their way there.

Atop his perch on the rocky ledge that shielded most of this hidden valley, Nyx snickered darkly wth the thrasher by his side, both sharing a mirrored predatory look. A perfect opportunity, was it not? These arrogant humans thought they were all safe and sound to let down their guards.

Oh... he'd show them they were all but.