by Dakota Krout
A tomato splattered against his face, and Jaxon called down again, “There you go! Fresh salsa!”
“I’m going to make sure you die slowly,” The man called calmly, hopping off his pedestal and vanishing into the crowd. Joe took this moment to make a plan. The inner wall was only twenty feet high, and he was certain that he could jump that. On the other hand, the wall was bristling with people ready to fire at any moment. He didn’t like his chances of getting over the wall without getting fragged by his own teammates.
He turned his eyes toward the other place he could go: the Pathfinder’s Hall. Joe made his way over to the large structure, and found that the wall surrounding the inner area had been breached and swarmed by hundreds of people. However, no one was entering the building. It was easy to see why; the entrance was just beyond a sea of blood. Tapping someone on the arm, Joe motioned at the doors. “What happened?”
Recognizing the purple robes, the man’s eyes shone with vigor. “Mr. Silence wizard! There are huge golems that kill anyone that enters. They stepped out and shouted ‘no admittance, no warnings’, then vanished. Not sure what else is happening, but I think leadership is planning to figure this out after we own the place.”
“No one has gone in?” Joe got a head shake in reply. “No one has come out either? Then I’m going in to clear out the rat’s nest!”
With a small crowd cheering him on, Joe ran at the building and crossed the threshold. “Hold! Don’t attack me.”
A blade was at his neck just as the word ‘hold’ passed his lips. “Yeesh. Carry on with guarding the area; slay any that enter.”
“Understood. Thus far, five hundred and twenty-two deaths.”
“If you weren’t so effective, I’d never want you around me.” Joe breathed the words very softly. He emerged into the huge room that was just past the entryway, and found hundreds of people waiting for him.
“No! They’ve broken through!”
“Kill them before they have room to maneuver!”
Joe blanched as all eyes turned hostile. “Hold on! I’m Joe! Wanderer’s Guild, First Elder!”
There was a long pause as people waffled back and forth about attacking, but Everard the Weaponmaster stepped forward and looked Joe over carefully. “I know him! He’s Guild!”
There was a collective sigh of relief, and the room descended into questions. “What’s happening out there?”
“Has the guild fallen?”
“Did we win?”
“How did you get in here?”
Everard waved his arms, then locked eyes with Joe. “I’m glad you came here, but where have you been for the last few days? You missed one abyss of a battle after the Aegis fell.”
“Days?” Joe shook his head and pulled up his status, trying to use the time to think of a proper answer.
Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend’ Class: Reductionist
Profession I: Arcanologist (Max)
Profession II: Ritualistic Alchemist (1/20)
Character Level: 18 Exp: 175,220 Exp to next level: 14,780
Rituarchitect Level: 10 Exp: 45,000 Exp debt: 14,714
Reductionist Level: 0 Exp: 0 Exp to next level: 1,000
Hit Points: 732/732
Mana: 1,039/2,137 (983 Reserved)
Mana regen: 42.28/sec
Stamina: 726.5/726.5
Stamina regen: 5.94/sec
Characteristic: Raw score
Strength: 71
Dexterity: 93
Constitution: 72
Intelligence: 137
Wisdom: 112
Dark Charisma: 79
Perception: 87
Luck: 59
Karmic Luck: +18
Joe was pleased by his increases, though he knew that from now on, all stat increases would be based on hard work and not leveling. In fact, he was starting to think that his level might not matter as much as… Joe paused as he remembered a line that he had appeared when he had bound the tablet. ‘New Prestige Classes’ had become available. All game logic told him that prestige classes had the prerequisite of being high-leveled… perhaps there was still a benefit to leveling up.
“Aten took a chance, and sent me to reach my second specialization. I just finished ranking up, but to me it was only a few hours, not days. How long has it been?” Joe’s words were met with a sharp inhalation. The people in the area knew how difficult it was to reach the first specialization, and so far, there had only been rumors of people reaching the second. Yet, here was a person claiming to have reached the second Specialization?
“It’s been four days total, three since the Aegis failed.” Everard’s voice was raspy as he tried to wrap his head around Joe’s information. The outer wall fell yesterday, and a general retreat was ordered to the inner area. We didn’t make it over there, obviously. We got cut off, and were forced in here. Also, anyone that didn’t have their guild sigil showing was cut down by those crazy metal golems.”
“Aten must have requested emergency lockdown.” Joe muttered, his brow furrowing. “But why would he have taken the time to come here and give that order? He would have needed to come here in person.”
“He brought this.” Crim stepped forward, pushing his way through the crowd. He handed Joe a small box. “Sorry it took me so long; I started crossing the room as soon as I heard you were here. Aten left this in the Temple area, with instructions to get it to you right away. He figured you would go there first; I think he thought you died.”
“Thanks, Crim.” Joe opened the box, and narrowed his eyes. He pulled out a note, and a large gold ingot that was three-quarters full of intricate magical glyphs. “A remote activation? Where’s Hannah?”
There was no reply past a few shrugs. Joe unfolded the note and read through it as quickly as his combined intelligence and perception would allow.
Joe, as soon as you get this, we need your help. I don’t know how long it will take for the rank-up to complete, and I feel like a fool for expecting it to be quick. Your Coven members got caught and killed. I’m sure of it. Not only that, but our fast-travel and respawn points in the Temple stopped working; something about a war order. Anyone coming back would need to break the encirclement and return from Ardania. One of your people made it to me in time, but she died after handing me that ingot. Good luck saving us all, First Elder. I don’t know what this means, because she and Mike died when the wall dropped, but here is all she was able to tell me before she went to respawn:
Southeast side unlinked. Standing stone #16. No whitelist. Mike demanded and authorized extreme measures.
Joe read over the message once more, and realized a few things. One, it seemed that the Coven had managed to set up most of the outward-facing Ritual of Quarantine. Two, he needed to finish it, and he now knew where it was set up and waiting to be linked. Three, if he activated it prematurely, he would get hit by the effects. That was what it meant not to have a whitelist: no exceptions. Lastly… what extreme measures? Mike barely understood what Joe’s group was capable of doing; how would he be able to do anything extreme?
He looked up from the paper, and met the gazes of all the people that saw him as their last hope. “Well… looks like I have some work to do. Anyone want to come with me?”
Silence filled the room, and Joe snorted softly. “That’s just fine, but I’m still gonna need some help. Everard, you’ll enjoy this next bit.”
Chapter Fifty-Six
Joe stumbled out of the Pathfinder’s Hall bruised and bloody. There were open wounds on him, and his right eye was swollen shut. He bent over and spat out a mouthful of blood, then lifted his head and regarded the horde of people staring him down. He stood up proudly, and announced, “The golems came back, so don’t go in, but I’ve cleared out this patch of villainy! No more will we need to fear an attack on our flank as we focus on the real issue!”
There was a roar of approval, started by the man that had told Joe about the situation inside the building, and picked up by the others as they realized
that something good had happened. That was the way of a large crowd, though. “Let’s move out, and join in the encirclement of the main area!”
Dark Charismatic effects have had an exceptional effect on a large number of people at once! Charisma +1!
The area around the Pathfinder’s Hall rapidly emptied, and only a few people remained nearby to protect it until the leadership had a chance to claim the area. Joe was fine with that, as it had been part of his plan from the start. He had persuaded the people in the building to beat him badly, and after the exterior was empty, they would use the open area to stage their attack.
Once Joe could get the Ritual of Quarantine to work correctly and make everyone outside the town too ill to come fight, the people staged at the Pathfinder’s Hall would charge in and assault the combatants surrounding the core of the town. Then, they would work together to retake the town at large and get the walls back in place. Joe was confident that they could work together, gather all the damaged stone, and use the wall-raising ritual to put their protections back in place. The only downside of this plan was that Joe needed to survive walking through… that without getting recognized.
Joe gulped as he considered the seething masses of humanity that had overrun the town, knowing that this was simply the smallest fraction of the total force, which couldn’t possibly fit in its entirety. He started walking nonchalantly through the area, moving toward the Southeast corner of the town.
The distance wasn’t too terribly far; standing stone number sixteen was simply a temporary directional marker intended to help people find their way around. Road names had not been voted upon in the town yet, which meant no street names or addresses. Also, an astounding number of people simply stared blankly when instructed to go to the ‘south’. So, the pillar-like rocks had numbers carved into them, which was how people found their way around.
As it turned out, they were also an excellent place to bind a ritual. The stones had been very carefully placed so that they were all equidistant from the next, which was beneficial for magic, such as rituals, that required stability and perfect proportions to use effectively. This, along with helping people find their way around town, was why Joe had been in enthusiastic agreement when a seemingly minor point like his had come up in the required-attendance leadership meetings a while back.
The hardest part of his trek was keeping his behavior natural. He was going against the stream of humanity here; everyone else was doing their best to make their way deeper into the area, and he was leaving. That alone turned a few heads, and caused more than one person to consider him calculatingly. Joe shook his head at the unexpected gift that he had been given by the silence mage; his current robes and bearing were off-putting and recognizable. Everyone knew that the order of mages Joe appeared to belong to was cruel and efficient, which caused many of those considering, sizing-up, greedy stares… to turn into panicked ‘nonchalance’.
Soon enough, the crowd parted in front of Joe like a shark fin slicing through water. The darkness in his aura seemed to be having a serious impact on the crowd, which he was both pleased and concerned with. Pleased, as he got where he needed to go much faster. Concerned, because he was gathering far too much attention. After twenty minutes, he had finally reached the stone. Normally, it was a five minute walk at worst, thanks to the speed people with higher stats were able to move.
Joe went to work right away, finding the ritual set onto the stone with ease. This wasn’t something that should have needed to be hidden, as it was intended to be kept in the safe area of the guild. It was ready; Joe could see the mana contained within swirling and practically begging to be released. He held the gold ingot close to the ritual and activated the binding that would bring it all together. He breathed a sigh of relief as the binding began and his mana rushed out to put the effect in place.
“It stabilized.” Joe carefully wiped the sweat off his head.
“Who are you, and what are you doing?” The sharp voice was clearly directed at Joe, but he didn’t turn around. Answering right away could only make him look guilty, and he couldn’t afford to be interrupted right now. “I asked you who you were! You will stop what you are doing right this instant, or by authority of the Floodwater family, I will end you where you stand.”
“Ahh… the Floodwater family.” Now the group offering money to this cause was clear. The Floodwater family had, as far as Joe knew, only a single strategic resource: Floodwater grapes. A grape that had recently been found in a second place: the Evergrowth Greenhouse. Joe replied without turning around. “You have the authority to tell me… to stop what I’m doing?”
“I most certainly do.” The voice was cold, and the rasp of a blade scraping leather as it was pulled from a sheath caused chills to run down Joe’s spine. He turned and locked eyes with a grizzled veteran, likely the leader of the mercenary group he had fought against when the wall had first been damaged. If that were the end of it, Joe still wouldn’t have been too concerned; he would have attempted to bluff his way past as a ‘respected silencer’. Unfortunately, another man in purple robes was standing nearby, obviously trying to place where he knew Joe from. His dark purple robes were ornate, and he was clearly a high-ranking member of the mages.
“How do I know you? No,” The mage tapped his chin, “more, why do I recognize you and not know you well? I approve all who join my order. Why are you wearing our colors? You can only be a spy.”
“His bald head sparks no joy, only furious memories of trapped brothers and sisters.” A Jester stepped forward and stood next to the others.
“I know this one.” A man wearing simple robes and half-moon spectacles stared at Joe over the top of his eyewear. Joe had only ever seen him once before: at the library of Ardania. “He is the one who convinced Boris that he was a scholar, and even achieved the highest rank and honor from our organization before his true intentions were brought to light. He is the Arcanologist that forced us to demote Boris and send him on missions like a man half his age.”
“What? What did you do to Boris?” Joe stepped toward the group as he heard these words. Now that he thought about it, the ‘tenured scholar’ profession had vanished from his status sheet, leaving behind only Arcanologist. He hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, but now…
“We did nothing.” The scholar put his hands in the sleeves of his robes, arms crossed. “He did not do proper research; the hallmark of failure for a scholar. This is Joe, the focal point of all these disturbances within our organizations.”
Joe swallowed as the area around him went still. The people in the area knew that something had just happened, but they didn’t know what to make of the situation. The mercenary stepped forward. “Come with me. My employer is very interested in meeting you.”
“No, we have the right of first blood with this one!” The silencer brandished a ball of glowing mana on his palm.
“I plan to have him dissected to find what makes him tick,” The scholar announced bluntly.
Joe wanted none of this, and started backing up toward the edge of the crowd. The mercenary saw through his intent right away. “And where are you going, Joe?”
“Away from you.” Joe muttered, though in the strange silence of the area, his words were heard clearly.
“I think not.” The merc pulled out a second sword and started advancing.
“Let’s find out, shall we? Dark Lightning Strike!” Joe called down the darkness, and the crowd that was starting to press in on him was fried, all lower-leveled people dropping instantly.
Skill increase: Dark Lightning Strike (Apprentice 0). Sacrificing hundreds of humans is totally what this skill was intended to be used for! At least you never flinched away from putting yourself under the effect. Because of that single fact, this spell has gained a new ability! Bonus: Call down the lightning anywhere within line-of-sight.
Joe didn’t stop to appreciate how huge of a benefit he had just gained. He ran over the pile of corpses, but only made it to the far side befo
re a sword scraped along his Exquisite Shell. Joe knew right then that he needed to fight; fleeing was not an option. He turned and released an Acid Spray, soaking the mercenary.
Well, that was the plan. Instead, a barrier appeared, and the acid slid past the man, directly to the ground. “Huh. When you’ve been in the business as long as I have, you make sure that liquids don’t land on you. Nice try.”
Planning a Cone of Cold next, Joe found that his mana fizzled and the words stuck in his throat. A bright purple glow appeared in his vision, reading ‘silenced’. He glanced over and saw the other three people walking over leisurely. Joe grabbed a fallen staff, kicking a body that had collapsed on top of it, then took a ready stance.
“That’s… so cute.” The Jester shook his head at Joe’s antics. “Leave this one to me. We need to feed the Creeping Death Squirrel.”
Even the Scholar blanched at that, and the man had wanted to dissect him while he was still alive! What horror had Joe unknowingly given to the Jesters? All in return for what? Coffee…? Coffee! The silence wore off, since clearly the others weren’t seeing him as a serious threat. “Mate, Over-Caffeinate!”
The others attacked, unaware of what Joe was doing. Dark liquid swirled on Joe’s arm, and he felt a massive increase to his heart rate. He parried the sword coming his way with a burst of speed, then knocked the Jester’s flying daggers slightly off track with a large sweep of the polearm. Using his burst of speed, Joe dropped to a knee and held up a golden coin.
“You can’t buy your way out of this, fool!” the Jester snarled.
Joe simply smiled as he squeezed his hand and the ‘coin’ broke in half.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
The mercenary was slapped away, and he went bouncing along the bodies that had piled up due to Joe’s Dark Lightning Strike. Arthur the Neigh-Bear fully phased into being, instantly becoming the focus of hundreds of nearby people. On a positive note, most of them were screaming and backpedaling.