Chapter 88 - The Fost Compound Siege (Part 2)

“I’m going to assume I don’t have to tell you what to do.” Trey glared his way and Reiklin shamefully notched an arrow to his bow.

“Aye. I’ll start now, but this attack has a very long cooldown. I won’t be able to use it again this fight.” Reiklin didn’t hesitate and pulled back the arrow, activating his ‘Empower Arrow, Tornado’ ability. The same one he’d used back in the fight at the slave pens.

He angled the shot just over the heads of the front line fighters and into the oncoming enemy reinforcements where fire was beginning to rain down on raised shields or magical barriers. Wind howled as the arrow tore through the air, sending people and their equipment flying in various directions. People too close were shredded and ripped apart with the violent torrents of the tornado and the fighting temporarily halted.

“PUSH FORWARD! INTO THE CHOKE POINT!!!” Trey screamed as he jumped off the second story floor, landed with a thud, and entered the fight himself - leading the rebound charge and filling in the gap left by his minion’s attack. The first man he came upon was an armor-clad battlemage, and he was still pushing himself up off the ground When Trey ripped his throat out and flung his body into the masses behind him.

The people in the backlines were still recovering from Reiklin’s tornado and Atharost’s firestorm when Trey’s breath of hellfire blasted them from the front.

“You have gained XP. You have gained 1 level in Aspect of the Devil: Mask. You have gained 1 overall combat level.”

Screams and cursing followed his attack as the Chekz guild scrambled to recover from the devastating attacks while simultaneously launching their own counter strike. Trey had exposed himself, left himself wide open after unleashing the hellfire and hadn’t though to step back and take cover.

A spear launched itself into Trey’s gut, taking him to his knees and a lightning bolt slammed into his head to fling him further backwards. He landed on his ass, writhing on the ground and cursing as he ripped the spear out and stood up - only to see a maul coming down. He was about to try to sidestep and avoid it when Cow-Daddy intercepted with his warhammer.

The huge minotaur knocked the attack back with a loud clang and grabbed the enemy leather-clad soldier by the throat. Lifting the screaming man up by the neck, Cow-Daddy roared into his face and slammed his horns deep into the man’s chest with a headbutt. The leather didn’t hold and the man coughed blood before being flung up and over the minotaur’s back to lay dying on the ground.

Trey popped the healing potion Jason had given him earlier and doused his wound in the red liquid as well, flinging the vial to the side as Fost reinforcements filled in the gap he’d left and fought in his place.

[Ancient Demon] “Little master.. You are braver than you appear.” Cow-Daddy hoisted the warhammer over his shoulder and nodded with contentment. “I was wrong about you.”

“Your minion Cow-Daddy has increased its opinion of you from ‘Disliked’ to ‘Respected.’ Your minion gains a 15% experience increase due to it changing to the positive category. Cow-Daddy now only takes up 1 control limit slot instead of 2.”

Radian was suddenly beside them as men soldiers from both sides clashed a few feet away. His arm was back to normal and one of his healers was close on his heels, dragging away another Fost soldier to treat him and send him back into battle.

“GET UP!” Radian screamed, hoisting Trey up by the arm as Trey’s minotaurs headed back to the front line.

Trey stood, wincing as the bleeding was still ticking away at his health even despite the health potion he’d just taken. “Thanks.”

“No-” Radian’s head was lopped off in a single stroke of a long flaming greatsword as a giant of a white knight barged through the line to make for the guild leader - even knocking aside Cow-Daddy to do it. Trey barely dodged the second swing as the fully-plated monstrosity of a knight continued to swing - cutting down one after another of the Fost reinforcements. His armor had purple gemstones laid into the pauldrons and chestplate of thick mithril plates, with mithril chainmail covering the openings in the plate armor and only a slit in the visor giving any opening to the man’s body.

Trey rolled under a second swing of a large greatsword and rushed a counter swing to intercept the next. Talsh’Noc’Un intercepted his enemy’s blade with a clash of metal and chaos, and elemental flames.

The two combatants stared each other down amidst the erupting enchanted swords making contact, until Trey’s enemy made a move. Amidst the mayhem of battle, Trey and his new opponent were now locked in one-on-one combat while others around them avoided getting in their way or were too busy with enemies who hadn’t pushed through the choke point.

Trey’s berserk ability activated. His speed, strength, aggression and defensive capabilities all skyrocketed in conjunction with the rage bar that was climbing higher by the second. It still wasn’t enough to deal with the onslaught and years of training Trey’s opponent had on him, and it was soon obvious Trey’s skill with a sword paled in comparison.

He couldn’t keep up.

Trey barely parried the first strike only to have his legs undercut with a kick. He lost his balance and tripped backwards, again just barely dodging the next strike by shadowstepping out of the way. He reappeared behind his attacker and used an obliterate ability from Talshy in a downward arc to make contact with the mithril knight, but the attack was blocked as the knight’s miraculous speed and strength brought him around to block.

The two swords connected against one another again with an explosion from Talsh’Noc’Un ripping through the ground around the knight’s feet. A large crack in his large flaming sword appeared, but to Trey’s amazement the weapon did not give. Trey’s look of astonishment was matched by the knight’s own look of shock as his eyes through the visor widened at the damage Talsh’Noc’Un had done.

Well. There went Trey’s trump card.

The knight dislodged his sword and Trey was immediately put on the defensive after that. Blow after blow was exchanged between the great weapons while keeping Trey on the defensive and the knight tried to undercut Trey’s legs again, but this time Trey was expecting it. He feigned an attempt to dodge only to bring his leg up and counterkick - sending his heel into the armored chestplate of his enemy to do almost no damage and only pushed himself backwards.

Cursing and rolling onto the ground Trey screamed out as the flaming sword bit into his ribcage during the roll and tore out a piece of bone. He could smell his singed flesh as he came to his feet and turned his head just in time to see the sword an inch away from his face.

This was it. He’d finally been outpaced and outmatched. His opponent had a serious skill advantage and Trey hadn’t been able to get in a good hit even once.

Glancing over to where Juila was taking a beating in a five on one braul that she still was managing to fend off - he activated one of the new minion’s abilities:

My Life for Master (Master’s Ability): Only activatable by her master. Juila’s

master can directly absorb portions of her HP into him, healing himself while taking

her HP away the moment he wishes it. Killing Juila with this ability automatically

activates Sacrifice of Shadows.

His HP shot back up, with a noticeable flinch from Juila - but it wasn’t anything that she couldn’t handle. She did have many times his total HP after all.

Then the knight’s flaming sword swung back down and made contact just as Trey sent Rivia a command through the minion-master link, and he glowed an orange hue. The sword’s strike literally bounced off Trey’s skin, coming into contact with Rivia’s miracle granting Trey immortality for a brief time and giving Trey an opening.

Immortal’s Infernal Blessing (God Specific Miracle: Alkir, Mistress of Darkness)

Instant effect miracle that makes target immune to all damage for 3 seconds. Moderate cooldown.

Trey grinned wickedly and stretched out his hand - then four chaos chains erupted from thin air around them to bind the man’s legs and arms.

He lunged forward, moving in for the kill as his magic bound the struggling knight in place and brought his greatsword up and right into the man’s exposed armpit where only chainmail covered.

It wasn’t as effective as he’d hoped. Whatever weapon and armor this guy had, it was ridiculously good. In fact Trey’d grown so complacent with his weapon’s ability to destroy most shit he came into contact with - that he’d let his guard down due to overconfidence. Trey’s sword only managed to cut an inch deep, drawing blood and scream from his enemy that would have easily severed the arm off most people.

The knight freed his good arm just as Trey pulled out for a second strike, batting away Trey’s blade with his own and launching a fireblast into Trey’s face. The invincibility was gone by now and Trey didn’t have time to dodge, but his defensive buff dampened the damage and his rage bar was at max to completely reduce pain, increase his battle instincts, and got rid of any semblance of sanity despite the damage.

With a scream of rage, Trey lunged forward while simultaneously wrapping his tail around the arm the knight had managed to free. Securing it once again Trey used his horror crusader’s sacred art for the very first time since acquiring his new subclass:

Horror Crusader: Terror Stricken (Sacred Art) - Level 1

*Empower your next weapon strike with terror imbued dark magic. Upon

contact the target will lose all buffs, become terror stricken, and take an

additional 250% of base physical damage from dark magic. Terror may be

resisted by a high willpower. Strike gains +200 Speed.

The attack was a blur in the wind.

Instead of the normal chaos energy he’d come to expect from Talshy, green and black miasma oozed from his sword immediately upon activating his art and a dip in his stamina points was noted. The blade moved lightning-fast and made contact far quicker than he’d anticipated, empowered by his strike - it completely severed the weakened area of armor and cleaved off the knight’s left arm through the shoulder in a spray of red.

Trey’s enemy bellowed a scream of pain and terror, breaking free of the chaos chains binding his legs with a pulse of fire that evaporated them and threw Trey back against the ground. When Trey got up again, he saw that whatever ability this knight had used had left his enemy seriously fatigued… or perhaps it was all the blood he was losing as it spurted out of the open wound where his arm used to be. Trey could also smell this man’s fear… and the way his enemy quivered and shook gave him a keen sense of delight.

Another crazed roar sent Trey rushing in. The knight countered with a flaming strike only to hit nothing but shadow as Trey’s body subconsciously turned into wisps of black along the strike area. The strike passed cleanly through, but did no damage as Trey’s body rematerialized from shadowform one portion of his body at a time - and his sword came to target the knight’s open wound again.

The attack was blocked, his enemy’s sword whipped around just in time, and Trey was again sent onto his back when an armored elbow reeled around to crunch into his jaw.

Trey hit the ground in a heap, screaming in anger with hellfire seething out of his devil’s mask with every breath. His horns picked up the vibrations of the incoming charge before he saw it, and he ducked and rolled while simultaneously lashing out with his own weapon to blindly land a hit on this bastard who just wouldn’t fucking die!

The white knight was thrown against an intact wall, the air being knocked from him and dropping his sword to the ground with a clatter of metal. He staggered and was about to pick himself up despite this when an arrow landed itself directly in the visor slit where his eyes were.

Despite Trey ignoring most of the messages, one message rang clear as he saw the perfectly timed hit and uncanny accuracy. “Your minion Reiklin has gained 1 level in the skill Snipe Shot.”

The man let out as much of a scream as he could given the fact that he had hardly any air in his lungs and doubled over while clutching his face, only to be head-butted by Trey’s horns. The arrow’s shaft made contact with Trey’s head at that same moment and the projectile was shoved further into the man’s skull - piercing his brain and finally ending his life.

The flood of notifications still streamed into Trey’s brain and he ignored all of them. Instead, he put a foot on the dead knight’s neck and roared triumphantly to the sound of cheering by the defenders nearest him. Trey caught a glimpse of Reiklin, holding his bow up in the air and giving Trey a grin.

The grin was returned in kind.

He turned around, still in somewhat of a bloodthirsty haze, and to his delight saw fields of enemies beginning to break ranks and flee. Many of them were burned, more were afflicted with pestilence and rot, and all of them were still taking percentage dark damage from Rivia’s Field of Agony on the black-afflicted ground. Half of the Fost guild compound was up in flames, mountains of hundreds of corpses from both sides lay scattered across the ground both outside and inside, and there was still a good amount of fighting between Chekz frontrunners and the Fost guild going on… but the majority of Chekz was being routed under the night sky lit aflame.

Trey’s berserk ability faded away as his rage bar began to decline. He dropped to one knee, wheezing as the pain that’d been negated by his rage bar returned to his body.

It was nearly unbearable. He had several broken ribs, a dislocated left shoulder, burns all over his body, and two large wounds on his chest where the knight’s sword had carved pieces out.

“Trey, that opponent was remarkable.” Atharost landed next to him and knelt, uncorking a healing potion and pouring half of it on Trey’s wounds. Then he handed the rest to Trey for his master to down. “You did well to face him like that.”

Trey took it eagerly and put the potion to his lips, feeling the healing effects gradually take hold. That was when he noticed Atharost’s chest had two arrows protruding out of it and the ifrit’s HP bar was down by 73 points.

Atharost irritatedly ripped out the two arrows, wincing as he did before throwing them to the ground. “I’m fine. I’ll heal this up without a problem.”

Trey watched as Atharost cast the shaman’s miracle Born Aflame: Absorb Fire. Within seconds the entire area along the building that’d been alight with flames was extinguished, the fire being absorbed into Atharost’s body with streams of light over only a couple seconds. Some of the fire from outside was also absorbed, and as Atharost took it all in - his HP and MP bars shot up drastically until they were both at full. His wounds sealed shut, and the ifrit gave a proud grin.

“That will only hold the fires back a little while longer,” Atharost pointed outside to where it was still raining comets of fire to crash into the ground. The nearby buildings around them were all torched and screams around the western edge of the city were abundant. “And though I can absorb it at a slower rate without the miracle or rejuvenating benefits the miracle gives me, the fires will still spread back here soon enough.”

Trey just sat there, finally feeling the healing effects of Rivia’s rejuvenation miracle and warily looking around. The carnage was immense, the damage was spectacular,and the dead were everywhere.

Ashe hopped over a corpse and skidded to a halt. “Trey, we were amazing! We didn’t lose anyone!”

Didn’t lose anyone? Hundreds of Fost members were dead and just as many Chekz guildies were also dead. Radian the Fost guild leader lay headless a couple yards away, and Jagla’s corpse had a hole where his heart had been a little ways beyond that. Even now the remnants of Fost were counting their dead.

Nevertheless, Ashe had been right about their own little group. Trey’s minions had all survived. All of them. Somehow they’d managed to pull through against overwhelming odds, but Trey knew they still had to get out.

He hoisted himself up with the help of Atharost, giving Juila nearby a grin of affirmation for a job well done, and groaned as his body ached in protest at moving. “Once the firestorm ends they’ll return. Chekz has been routed for now but they’ll regroup… they won’t let us live if they come back for round two and still seriously outnumber us. We were only able to hold them off because we had a choke point… they won’t make that mistake again. They’ll blow another hole in the side of the building or maybe even three more holes, use their number advantage, and gut everyone still here.”

Others of the Fost guild who’d been listening nearby nodded in solemn agreement. Trey glanced over his shoulder at the healers still tending to the wounded and looked down to the floor in defeat. Izumi was walking up with her cannon slung over her shoulder when she stopped to look at a downed enemy, withdrew her pistol and immediately fired. The soldier had still been clinging to life, but the bullet had made certain he’d met a swift end instead of bleeding out on the ground.

“We need to leave. Everyone here does. Fost is done, but we don’t have to die here for it.”

Jason was present now too. He had a bow slung over one shoulder and a grimace worn on his countenance. Adjusting his bow awkwardly, he stepped forward to ask the question everyone else was thinking. “Where do we go now?”

Trey glanced his way. “You’re coming with us?”

Again, Jason fumbled with his bow and shrugged half-heartedly. “I don’t have anywhere else to go. If you’ll still have me, then yes.”

They stared one another down before Trey gave a nod. “That’s fine. Just stop second guessing everything I do please. As for everyone else… collect whatever shit you’ve left behind and get ready. Napoleon, take the minotaurs to where we last saw those six slaves. If any of them are left or are in hiding like I’d suggested, recapture them and bring them. They’re a commodity and income we’ll have use for whenever we settle down again.”

Moving off to feast on some of his kills and gain some more strength points, he began ripping off pieces of the men he’d killed and stuffing their musculture into his mouth. Savoring the flavor with every bit of who he was as his demonic features returned in full force, he enjoyed the purring of Sithis as a soothing melody in the back of his mind.

***

Brae’s ship was still docked in the usual spot when Trey’s group marched down the wooden walkways. The’d stripped many of the Chekz members of money and loot, raided a couple of the apartments owned by now deceased Fost members, resummoned Piggy, resummoned Telipe, and made the prostitutes carry all of it. Trey even tried loading up Telilpe with a ton of the loot and sending her back into the nether, but quickly found she could only take a limited amount of stuff - and using them as mules like that wasn’t going to work. He stuffed his shadowform storage compartment with as much as he could fit in there though, and was pleased when the white knight’s entire outfit was placed inside without a problem

The seven prostitutes had been found still in the creates of the room Trey’d left them in, so it’d been easy to collect them.

The lookout on Brae’s galley spotted and recognized Trey immediately upon coming down the dock. He put out the ramp without question, taking a swig of brandy while watching the flames still soaring high along the western edge of Teretog. By the time Trey finished walking up that ramp, Brae was waiting for him and rubbing his eyes after just being woken up.

“Back already?” Brae asked with a yawn, curiously glancing behind Trey and viewing the new party makeup. “I see you have quite a few new additions… and a lot of loot? Did something just happen?”

Trey grunted, tossing Brae a large purse of coins and gesturing back to the fires two miles off. “That should be 50,000 coin total. Get us the fuck out of here and to the mainland.”

Brae’s mouth unhinged slightly and he opened the bag of money to check. “Wow. You came up with some cash really fast. We were actually trying to find another job and you just did it for us again. How…”

Brae’s eyes came up and focused back on the loot the slaves were carrying. Weapons, armor, potions, bags, and worn trinkets were in abundance.

“Fost was attacked by Chekz and I may or may have not killed someone very high up in their organization. Fost is done. I need to leave Teretog, at least for now.” Trey leaned against the railing as the seven slaves were herded down the back stairs into the lower decks by Napoleon and Ashe. “Those prostitutes are with me, the six women and that pretty boy, but you and your crew can use them to your heart’s content while we’re inland. I told Napoleon to put them in the same place we found Eeme and Juila. That ok?”

Brae didn’t look too pleased about the situation. He made a low whistle and re-examined the money Trey’d given him. “This certainly pays well… but at the cost of angering Chekz? That’s a madman’s gambit.”

Trey rolled his eyes and pointed to the pile of loot they’d taken from the dead back at the compound. “I’ll take what I need from that pile and give you the rest. If it doesn’t add up to a value of at least another 100,000 then I’ll just give you the cash outright.”

The scarred captain scratched his head, looked at the money in his hands and then to the pile. He simultaneously grinned and sighed grudgingly. “Alright. It’s a deal. If you don’t mind me asking though, why don’t you just get out of the Lawless Lands altogether and leave Ornthas behind? You seem to have the money.”

Trey did indeed have the money. The loot they’d taken likely added up to somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000… while the money they’d plundered was over 208,000 after what he’d given Brae. War was certainly profitable… Regardless, Trey still had one more thing to do.

“Grimy, get over here.”

The thin dark-skinned thief appeared from behind Juila and promptly sized up the scarred captain with a snort. “And this is him eh?”

Trey rolled his eyes and opened up a hand, waggling his fingers expectantly. “Come on. Tell me you got it from the safe like I told you to do… You might as well be useful in some regard if you’re going to hide like you did in the siege every time there’s a fight.”

Grimy the thief gave yet another snort, but reached into his trousers’ back pocket and withdrew a parchment. Handing it over to Trey, the thief gave a low bow. “Procured as desired, the paper you talked about was there.”

Trey took the parchment, read over it, and grinned. He’d heard Radian talk about this before the guild leader had died, so he was happy to have obtained it before they’d left. Those Chekz bastards would have definitely gotten ahold of it themselves and used it to their advantage if he’d left it behind, so why not raid Radian’s personal belongings? The guy was dead anyways.

He held out a map, pointing to a spot located inland and within a narrow canyon. “This location has piqued my interest after reading the notes inscribed on the associated parchment… where I found it in a journal. Radian’s journal. I’ll be paying it a visit before we leave and then I’ll have you sail us to the Soquel Empire after that to live a life of prosperity. Can you do that for me? Shouldn’t be hard considering how much I’m paying you.”

Brae gave a snort and held out his hand to shake. “We have a deal. Just try not to downplay my willingness to do this too much, I’m putting my life at risk just by working with you ya know. That, and try not to wake me up in the middle of the night anymore. I’m getting old. Just leave me be when I’m at rest, alright?”

Trey smirked and shook on it. He let go, ordering Napoleon to sift through the goods they’d taken and let him know what could be used by their party and what they needed to leave behind with Brae. Then, as the ship’s crew was woken up by their barking captain, Trey finally took a look at his condensed set of notifications that’d built up over the course of the battle.

“You have gained 14 strength from consuming your recent kills. You have gained 1 level in Aspect of the Devil: Claws. You have gained 1 level in Aspect of the Devil: Mask. You have gained 1 level in Blades. You have gained 2 levels in the skill Shadow Blades. You have gained 1 level in the skill Shadowstep. You have gained 3 overall combat levels. Your minion Fat-Daddy has gained 3 levels in Axes, 1 level in Gore, 1 level in Enrage, and 2 overall combat levels. Your minion Cow-Daddy has gained 4 levels in Blunt Weapons, 1 level in Enrage, 2 levels in Hand to Hand Combat, and 2 overall combat levels. Your minion Atharost has gained 2 levels in Firebolt, 1 level in Fireblast, 1 level in Firestorm, 1 level in Born Aflame: Absorb Fire, 2 levels in Wall of Flames, and 4 overall combat levels. Your minion Athrost’s familiar, Boxamoth, has gained 3 levels in Firebolt and 1 overall combat level. Your minion Napoleon has gained 3 levels in Firebolt, 2 levels in Curse of Burden, and 2 overall combat levels. Your minion Rivia has gained 2 levels in Pestilence, 2 levels in Rejuvenation, 1 level in Staves, and 2 overall combat levels. Your minion Toady has gained 2 levels in Barbed Tongue, 1 level in Acid Spray, and 1 overall combat level. Your minion Reiklin has gained 1 level in Bows, 1 level in Snipe Shot, and 1 overall combat level. Your minion Juila has gained 1 level in hand to hand combat, 2 levels in blunt weapons, and 2 overall combat levels.”