Two sharp bloody paint brushes.
There was a thud behind me, and I turned to see the bar over the door bend across the side latch. Then there was another thud, and I saw the blade of what looked like an axe cut in through the wood of the door. This wasn’t some massive piece of oak. The door was probably only a few inches thick, and the hit from the axe made a crack that ran down the length.
I turned to Cornalic and used Guardian of Fortune on him. As soon as the enchantment landed on my friend, he darted forward, ducked under a swing from the man on his right, and then came up with a series of cuts from both of his weapons. The blades ripped the assassin into pieces, and the half-orc turned to handle the remaining one.
There was another smash behind me, and I prepared for the group of assholes to run through the broken door. I was just glad that this building didn’t have a front window, or we would all probably be dead by now. I could probably hold them off in this entryway for a bit of time.
Unless the crossbow-carrying assassins came down to the street and started taking shots at me.
The axe smashed into the door again, and the piece of oak fragmented into three long pieces held together by just threads of wood, the hinges, and the locking bar. The next hit would end the thing.
“Dear Leo! More men behind us!” I heard Cornalic shout. I spun to hit him with another Guardian of Fortune, but I couldn’t really pay attention to how many assassins were entering the back of the store.
Then I heard screaming outside the front.
A lot of screaming.
I sighed with relief. The city guard must have arrived, and the shouts of a melee convinced me that the guard must have brought at least fifteen men. I took a step away from the door as the axe blade was pulled from the wood. I was about to turn away and help Cornalic, but then I heard a familiar voice shout.
“You will feel the wrath of my justice, mortals! I will feast upon your blood, your bones, and your souls. Then, I will hunt down your ill-begotten kin and do the same to them. Your blood will power my magic, and when I ascend to the Throne of the Gods, I shall craft my chair with your still wet bones. Fear me, mortals!”
“Ahh shit. How did that guy escape and follow us?” I said aloud as I turned to check on Cornalic again. The half-orc was blocking the sword swings of three more assassins, and one of the men was trying to get around him to attack the women.
I took half a dozen steps into the room and swung my broadsword at the flanking opponent. He moved his sword up to parry my attack, and I locked up our hilts with a twist of my wrist. My opponent tried to wrench his blade away, but it was as if a child was yanking on my arm. He couldn’t get his sword from me, and he was unable to block my shorter blade from punching through his ribcage.
Before the assassin’s corpse hit the ground, I leapt to the next man attacking Cornalic. This asshole had seen me rip through his friend, and he turned to meet my sword thrust with his own blade. He was actually wielding a sword in each hand, and he picked to match his longer blade against me.
“Leo, the front door!” Allurie warned me, and I performed a series of offensive katas while I turned my head to the side. One of the assassins had yanked open the battered door and was in the process of lifting the bar away so he could come inside without hunching over.
“I’ve got these two!” Cornalic said as he drove his right boot into the knee of the man I was tangling with. The move required the half-orc stepping forward into striking range of the man on his left, and I hit my friend with another Guardian of Fortune. My timing was perfect. The other assassin was prepared for the half-orc’s movement, and he made a precise cut toward my friend’s leg. The blow slid across without doing any damage, and Cornalic tore open the throat of the man he’d just kicked with a rake of his short sword.
I jumped back to the front door of the store and drove the tip of my broadsword into the chest of the man lifting up the lock bar. The assassin shifted his weight back to try to escape the point of my weapon, but he was too slow, and my strike landed true. The magical sword that Gratia had given me pierced his chest and cut his heart in two.
Now that the door to the store had been removed, I could see the battle on the street. There were only five assassins left, and they formed a semicircle around the tattooed gnome. The short man was covered with blood, held an axe in his right hand, and one of the assassin’s swords in his left. Both weapons looked ridiculous in his tiny hands. The sword was nearly as long as he was tall, and the blade of the single sided battle axe was probably as large as the man’s head. He didn’t seem to mind the weight, though, the man spun the axe around in his hand as if it weighed as much as a feather, and his grip on the sword made me think the man was used to carrying awkwardly sized weapons.
“If you surrender now, I will not use your bones for my throne. I will just slay you swiftly,” the gnome growled at the other men. His health bar was at 80%, and his icon suddenly appeared on my UI party tab in the top left corner of my display.
When I’d logged out of Ohlavar Quest a few days ago, I had told Jennifer about the issue with the gnome appearing on my UI even though I hadn’t invited him to my party. The techs had looked into it and then fixed the issue the next time I logged in on the ship. It looked like the bug was back.
I heard a twang of crossbow bolts up from above me, and I used Guardian of Fortune on Bolverk. One of the bolts missed the small man by what looked like three inches, but the other one connected with his bare chest, and he glanced down when it bounced off his tattooed skin. Then the man saw me, and he gestured with his axe.
“You all are in luck. The chosen Avatar of Heliotrope stands before us. You will feel his god-like powers rip the flesh from your bones as the tornado rips the branches from the trees. Your deaths will be swift, but filled with sweet agony!”
The woman assassin that I’d tangled with earlier was still alive, and she shuffled toward the gnome at exactly the same time another assassin swung at him from the other side of the semicircle. It was obvious from the movement that the group of darkly cloaked figured were used to working together. The man attacked high, and the woman came in low.
Bolverk flipped his sword across with a sweeping motion. His grip was half on the handle of the blade and half on its guard. It was kind of weird holding style, but it allowed him to spin the blade around almost as if it was a staff and not a sword. The lower part of his blade caught the woman’s weapon, and the force of his strike actually spun her arms to the side as if he’d pushed on her shoulder
As he parried the woman’s attack, he raised his axe over his head. It looked like less of a parry and more of a “look at my awesome weapon” type of movement, but the top curve of the axe caught the man’s sword with a thunderous clang, and the assassin’s blade bounced off.
Then the gnome attacked.
He held his weapons out to his sides like a child pretending to be an airplane before he somersaulted forward. He was a ball of deadly points and edges for a few moments, and then he popped up with a leap. His jump carried him high into the air, and he twisted his hips while in mid-flight. His body made a 360-degree spin, and his sword removed the head from the woman who had just attacked him. Bolverk continued his rotation through the air, and his axe slammed into the face of the assassin standing next to the woman. The man’s health bar dropped down to nothing, and his corpse tumbled to the ground as the gnome landed.
The tattooed gnome’s Guardian of Fortune wore off, and I hit him with it again. I felt a little pressure form in my chest, but it wasn’t quite uncomfortable yet, and I figured I had a good five or six uses of the enchantment before things were going to get serious.
I doubted that these assassins would live that long.
Bolverk jumped over a low sword swing, spun in the air again, and removed the arms from the next assassin. The cloaked man screamed when his limbs flew off with a bloody spray, but his voice was cut off when the gnome ran up his chest and slammed his axe into the front half of his sku
ll. Before the man fell, the gnome was already diving toward the last pair of assassins.
The crossbows twanged above me, but both of the bolts missed the tumbling gnome. I couldn’t quite believe how quickly the little guy was moving with the oversized weapons. He was like an acrobatic monkey, and the last two men took frantic steps backward to try to keep him at the correct range for their swords.
They were backing up toward me, so I leapt from the entryway of the store with a vertical cut of my broadsword. The man on my right hadn’t expected me to attack him, he’d been too worried about the Tasmanian Devil in front, so he didn’t even turn to face me. My sword ended his life with a cleave of blood, bone, and brain.
“The powers of the gods flow within my veins. I am their avatar, their entity, their unforgiving judge!” the gnome screamed at the last attacker as he swung both his axe and sword across like twin scythes.
The assassin stepped past one of the swings and blocked Bolverk’s return with the side of his hip, but I stepped beside the gnome and drove my short sword into the man’s armpit. Blood exploded out of his mouth, and his health bar dropped to 40%. He staggered back from us, but the gnome’s axe caught him in the knee, removed the lower part of his leg, and then caused him to collapse on the cobblestone sidewalk with a horrified scream.
Then my broadsword ended him with a thrust through the neck.
“The roof!” I shouted to Bolverk as I rolled to the side. Twin crossbow twangs sounded, and both of the projectiles bounced off the stone of the road behind me.
“I will teach them of our power. They will know fear, then death, then the endless suffering that creatures of malice encounter in the afterlife,” the gnome growled. “Boost me!”
I dropped my swords and cupped my hands while I squatted. Boverk put his right boot into my grip, and I performed a snatch type movement to bring him up to the roof above us. I had actually meant to raise him so that he could grab onto the first set of tiles there, but I’d forgotten about my strength. The small tattooed man flew a good fifteen feet above me and then stepped onto the tile where the second floor awning was.
“Good throw, Leo Lennox! The gods have gifted you with strength and accuracy, as they should have. You are their servant after all.”
The screaming started three seconds after the gnome yelled down at me. They were just brief shouts of surprise, but then an arm landed on the road, and then a decapitated head smacked against the cobblestones of the street like an under-inflated volleyball. Blood began to drip from above me, and I stepped closer to the front door so that the stuff wouldn’t pour onto me.
“They are ended. None that stand before us will live, Leo Lennox.” The gnome flipped down from the roof tile above me and hung suspended from the handle of his axe. He’d hooked the thing into the tile above us, and he grunted before he dislodged himself. Then he landed on the ground with a roll and came to stand before me. His blue eyes looked all sorts of insane, he was covered with blood, and his muscles were overlaid with hundreds of taut veins.
“Uhh. Thanks,” I said to the small man.
“Dearest friend, is the front clear? I have dealt with the villains inside.” I heard Cornalic call out from inside the doorway.
“I think they are all dead,” I looked at the gnome with an eyebrow raised, and the small muscular man nodded. “You can bring the women out. We must keep moving before the city guard shows up and decide that we need to be questioned.” I didn’t know how long our battle had taken, no more than ten minutes, but I was a little surprised that a horde of city guards had not shown up to try to defend us. It made me think that they might be under the control of people that wanted Chrysa dead.
“Allurie, can you loot all the money, gems, and any small magical items you can from the bodies? You have fifteen seconds,” I said to the elf girl when she popped her head out of the shop.
“I’d love to do that! Do you want to use their bodies for--”
“No, you don’t even need to take their clothes off. Just search their pockets, take their pouches, rings, bracelets, necklaces, and anything else that is small. Hurry.” The pretty elf girl nodded at me and then spun around Chrysa and her servants before running back into the store.
“Leo, you did all this? You are truly a warrior beyond compare.” Chrysa gasped when she saw the slaughter on the street. Her words were a blend of surprise, fear, and awe.
“No. Bolverk did most of the work. You should thank him,” I said as I pointed to the terrifying gnome berserker. His icon was still on my UI, and I noticed that he had healed some. He was now at 90% health, and I hadn’t used Breath of Life on him. Did he have a self-healing? I wanted to ask, but I kind of guessed I would get an answer that had something to do with gods and ascending the throne of power and righteous fury, so I left it alone.
“Good sir, thank you. I owe you--” Chrysa began to speak, but the gnome interrupted her with a wave of his axe.
“I serve Leo Lennox until our destinies take us to the Ascended Throne. I care not for soft, weak women who cannot wield the Hammer of Fury or the Axe of Repentance. You must experience a rebirth of your soul, body, and mind by bathing in the spa of your defeated enemies. Only when the blood of your slain enemies caresses your skin and builds your muscles, will you be worthy of the powers and truth that I have seen. You!” Bolverk pointed his too long sword at Cornalic as soon as the half-orc stepped from inside of the shop. “Have come down from the mountain. I recognize your soul as brother and kin. Our souls should be united when we smash our bodies into the minions of evil that threaten to pull this world into a never ending darkness.”
Cornalic stared at the gnome for a few seconds. Then he grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “I would prefer that you smash your brave body into the minions of evil while I approach from behind. I have this medical condition that entails me not desiring to be injured. Would that be agreeable to you?”
“Yessssssssss!” the gnome hissed as he nodded. “We are bound now. Forever. I am Bolverk the God of War and the Avatar of Battle. I will take my place on the Ascended Throne and gift Leo Lennox a harem of half-orc warrior women. What is it that you desire, Cornalic?”
“Oh, so you have heard of me? I’m flattered, dear friend. I have tried to date a few half-orc. Now, I will tell you first of all that I am no racist, but I did find them a little too intense for my own tastes. It was always ‘When are we going to go battle?’ or ‘I just got this new axe, can you sharpen it for me?’ or ‘We should try that position again while I wear my armor.’ It was honestly a bit exhausting. I think I’m just not quite ready for womanly love. There was this elf girl once who I did--”
“We need to get out of here. Talk on the way.” I interrupted Cornalic’s usual long-winded monologue and pointed at the far end of the street. A few citizens of the city were starting to poke their heads out of the stores or alleys where they had hidden, and I wanted to be long gone before anyone could get a chance to study us.
“Ahh! Excellent point, dearest Leo. I shall lead,” Cornalic said as he gestured for us to follow him.
“Allurie?” I called back into the shop.
“Yes, Leo?” the girl answered from behind me, and I spun to find her already in the street. The bodies of the assassins were stacked in a neat pile, and the woman held a soccer ball sized sack out to me.
“Did you get--”
“Yes! It is all here,” she said as I took the bag from her. It felt as if it was filled with a dozen other bags, and I could feel the coins inside. It wouldn’t replace the 4,000 gold she’d left in Arnicoal, but it was a good start.
“Thanks, Allurie,” I said to the elf girl, and her cheeks turned a lovely red color.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said to the other women, and then I gestured for them to follow the half-orc scoundrel and gnome berserker through the maze of streets.
“Leo,” Chrysa whispered to me five minutes after we had run from the scene of the carnage.
“Yes?” I asked. The
woman had wrapped her arm around mine again. She was obviously terrified but was doing a good job of putting on a brave face.
“Is that strange gnome safe to be around?” Her whisper was even lower, and I had to strain to hear her over the sounds of everyone’s labored breathing.
“I hope so.”
Chapter 8
It took us another half an hour to reach the front gates of the Sanduport palace. The property was surrounded by a twenty-foot high wall, and it stretched for at least five city blocks in each direction. It had been hard to get a clear understanding of how large the place was from the harbor, but I guessed that the property was at least a hundred square acres. I could only see the top half of the tallest part of the palace, but the main structure was composed of sweeping towers, gold domed roofs, blue and burgundy tiles, and ivy trellis. It looked like something out of an ancient Byzantine painting, and I felt another surge of appreciation for the art design of Ohlavar Quest. Had Zarra’s design team built this palace? Or did they just give the tools to the AI and let it do the heavy lifting? Either way, I couldn’t wait to get inside and tour the grounds.
Even if I suspected it was going to be more dangerous inside than outside.
Quest Completed. You have been awarded 10 attribute points.
I smiled and resisted the desire to look at my stats screen. I was now at 68 attribute points. I knew that the game was going to get tougher, but I still felt like I was plenty badass for my current progression in the game. I’d been chewing on where to build out my abilities in the last week or two, and I realized that I had a lot of fun doing healing in this game. I had thought before about doing a kind of paladin build so that I could do melee and heals, and each combat encounter was pulling me more in that direction. A lot of these decisions were going to depend on the people that I could recruit into my party. Cornalic was a skilled swordsman, but he obviously didn’t want to be going toe to toe with anything. He preferred to attack things from a more indirect route. He was my damage dealer. I was going to have to get an excellent tank to soak up the damage. I guessed from my dealings in Arnicoal that I’d be able to find someone rather easily. Mirea had seemed plenty talented, and Cornalic had hinted that our old party was impressed with how well I had protected the group.
Lion's Quest: Trinity: A LitRPG Saga Page 11