“I’m pretty sure that’s supposed to be nerves of steel,” Jason replied, resisting the urge to sigh. “Like the metal.”
“Huh, well that doesn’t make any sense at all,” Jerry murmured, suddenly looking confused and turning his back to the other soldiers as he paced the room muttering to himself. Jason could still see Jerry’s expression, his pale face assuming a more somber expression. Catching his eye, the innkeeper gave him a small wink.
Jerry’s antics had garnered a few small smiles from the men and women filling the room, lightening the mood slightly. There was a method to the former thief’s madness that was sometimes difficult to detect. However, Jerry understood the importance of morale – that much was clear. Jason could already see the tension draining from their men.
“Anyway…” Jason continued with an eye roll, playing his part as the flustered commander. “If there’s nothing else, then go take your positions. We attack on my signal.” The remainder of the group nodded and filed out of the room, leaving only Jason, Riley, Jerry and Grunt – the giant’s silent form looming in the background.
“It’s a shame that we can’t capture them,” Riley murmured, her eyes riveted on the warehouse across the street. “We could learn a lot.”
In another flash of movement, Jerry was standing beside her once again. “You’re right. And dead men don’t tell any tales – well, except for me, I guess,” he added with a thoughtful look on his face.
In a flash, the capricious thief’s expression sobered, his eyes suddenly going hard and lifeless. “However, these men are too dangerous to take half measures. We have to go into this prepared to kill. There is no room for hesitation here.”
Jason had to suppress the shiver that ran up his back at Jerry’s tone and expression. Jason was starting to suspect that his carefree demeanor might merely be an act. The only question was which Jerry was the real one – the jokester and clown, or the notorious thief. Riley had told him about Jerry’s former position back in Vaerwald. Jason suspected there was a reason that the thief wasn’t dead or rotting behind bars by now. To stay alive and free, he either had to be meticulous and cunning or possess an extraordinary amount of luck.
The innkeeper’s expression lightened, and he shrugged. “Either way, I’m calling dibs.”
“Dibs?” Riley asked with an incredulous expression.
“Certainly, my lady. The tradition of dibs is well documented.”
“Suuure…” she replied slowly. “But what does that mean here?”
“Why that I get the privilege – nay, the honor – of killing these men myself.”
Jason just shook his head. “We’ll see what we can do,” he said in a dry tone. “But either way, Jerry’s right. The priority here is to eliminate the Order. Everything else is secondary.” Riley didn’t push back on that point, but her forehead was still creased in thought. She looked worried – not that Jason could blame her. They would only get one shot at this.
A notification flashed in his peripheral vision, and a glance at Jason’s map confirmed that his division leaders had rejoined their units. They might fail here, but they couldn’t let that stop them. Now was the time for action.
“Okay,” Jason murmured. “It’s showtime.”
* * *
The fires started small at first, a simple splash of orange amid the oppressive darkness that hung over the street. Then more fiery blooms erupted along the warehouse’s roof. It took only a faint breeze for the flames to take hold of the ancient, dry wood, and burn with vigor, spreading across the structure’s roof at an incredible pace.
Similar bolts of flames struck the buildings ringing the warehouse, the missiles erupting from the shadows. Within moments, the fire had spread, reaching inside the buildings and burning the hollowed husks from the inside out. Plumes of dark, billowing smoke filled the air as the fires consumed the structures in an ever-growing inferno.
Jason’s hand clenched reflexively around his staff, his knuckles white as he watched the blaze from across the street – his eyes fixed on the door to the warehouse. He could only hope that the Order agents took the bait. Squeezed in from all sides by the roaring flames, Jason wanted to push them into the intersection.
He spared an anxious glance at his map, noticing that the two blinking drones had changed position – likely following whomever was inside the building.
“The target is on the move,” Jason said softly, earning him curt nods from Riley and Jerry.
The archer had taken up a position at a nearby window, an arrow already nocked and ready to fly as soon as the first opponent stumbled into sight. Meanwhile, the innkeeper had assumed a more relaxed posture, leaning against another windowsill and humming softly to himself while cleaning his nails with a dagger – as though untroubled by the raging flames.
A shadow stumbled out of the warehouse, barely visible through the smoke and crumbling debris. Jason would have missed the movement if not for his enhanced Perception – the skill highlighting the blurry shape in blue.
“We have contact…” he began, interrupted by the twang of Riley’s bow.
Before Jason could finish his sentence, Riley’s dark missile was already spearing toward the target, joined by a hail of arrows from the buildings surrounding the intersection as the Kin identified the blurry shape. The missiles created a humming noise that warred with the crackle and pop of the raging bonfires nearby.
The dark figure barely avoided the arrows, rolling forward. Smoke billowed out around his form, creating a clear pocket of air that finally made him fully visible. Jason immediately recognized the familiar bandages of the Order. Although, this was only one of Thorn’s foot soldiers.
As soon as the man was completely visible, a rain of projectiles filled the air with renewed intensity. Even the lower-level mages and archers were now able to get a clear shot. Just before the hail of missiles struck, a second form darted from the building. The figure’s movements blurred as it raced forward. Jason stared in disbelief as he saw the missiles knocked aside as though they had struck a protective wall of force.
A moment later, the second man stood over his brother in arms, his staff still spinning, but now moving slowly enough to be visible. Great, they were using weapons now.
“Another foot soldier,” Jerry observed. “It doesn’t look like Thorn decided to join our little soiree.”
“At least not yet,” Jason murmured.
He didn’t need to issue a command – his troops already knew what to do now that they had pushed the Order agents into the open. Several things happened at once. Great walls of flame erupted along each street, creating multi-layered barriers nearly 10 feet thick and 15 feet tall – effectively boxing in the two men. They might be able to drain mana, but there had to be a limit to how fast they could accomplish this feat. At least, that had been Jason’s thought. The walls of flame were intended to slow them down, not stop them entirely.
Another blast of missiles raced toward the two men. They dodged, danced, and weaved through the hail of projectiles. One of the agents was rapidly spinning his staff until it was merely a fast-moving blur. The agents held out against a wave of missiles so dense that it nearly obscured them from sight as the Kin launched everything they had at them.
As the cloud of projectiles began to clear slightly, Jason held his breath, his eyes searching for the two agents. What he found put a smile on his face. An arrow had pierced one man’s thigh, and the other was nursing an arm where a malignant black substance clung to his skin. They might be fast and strong, but everyone had their limits. Jason had learned that the hard way.
It only took a 50 on 1 fight to level the playing field, he thought grimly.
Before he could celebrate, however, the two men moved, running toward one of the walls of flame. As Jason looked on, the unarmed man unwrapped his hands, plunging his flesh into the fires while the other with the staff covered his rear. Within seconds, the flames began to dwindle as the agent swiftly drained the mana that sustained the spel
ls. Meanwhile, his accomplice continued to ward off the constant hail of missiles that pelted their position. It would only be a matter of time before they broke free.
Jason began to move toward the window. He needed to get down there. If he could put pressure on them, he might be able to force them to stop draining the wall, and his ranged troops could keep whittling them down.
Before he could jump down to the street below, a hand landed on Jason’s shoulder, the grip vicelike. “Now, now,” Jerry said. “Where do you think you’re going? You don’t plan to share with the group?”
Despite his carefree choice of words, when Jason looked back at the innkeeper, he saw only rage and death in his eyes. These were the men that the thief had been chasing for weeks – the deaths and injuries of countless civilians piling up in the meantime. Jason could understand that look. Jerry wanted revenge.
“I called dibs,” Jerry said softly.
“We also shouldn’t reveal your presence or your new abilities. Not if we can help it,” Riley grunted, her bow still humming as she launched arrow after arrow. “We don’t know if Thorn is out there somewhere and these two might still get away.”
Jason grimaced. She was right – even if he wanted nothing more than to plunge his Soul Blade into the two agents. He was also concerned about Jerry, though. He and Riley might respawn, but the rogue only had one shot at this. However, Jason also noticed that Grunt made no move to stop Jerry or leave his position near the doorway. If the hulking giant had faith in his employer, then so should Jason.
“Go on then,” Jason grunted. “And make sure you end this.”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” Jerry murmured. With a wild look in his eyes that Jason had never seen before, the thief bit his thumb hard, congealed blood pushing slowly through the wound.
And then, he was gone.
He didn’t just slip into Sneak or leap through the window. One moment, Jerry was standing in front of Jason and the next… nothing. There was no sound in the room nor any telltale shadow indicating that he had stealthed.
Before Jason could question what was happening, a cry of pain erupted from the street. He glanced down, his eyes widening in surprise.
Jerry had plunged his blade into the staff-wielder’s lower back. The man had been distracted, spinning his weapon to ward off the hail of missiles that were still streaming toward him. Meanwhile, his ally’s attention had been focused solely on the wall of flame, slowly breaking down the magical barrier. With a vicious twist, Jerry ripped the blade free, blood spurting from the wound. It appeared he had used a specialized blade, tearing out a jagged chunk of flesh. The Order agent dropped to a knee, rolling forward and swiping backward with his staff in a single fluid movement.
However, the weapon met empty air. The thief was already gone.
The agent rolled to a stop, missiles pelting the cobblestones behind him. He began spinning his staff again as another barrage hurtled toward his position, but his movements were slower now, and he favored his side. Even at this distance and with the chaos in the street, Jason could see that his blood was swiftly staining his bandages. Jason was surprised he was able to move at all since the position of the wound indicated that Jerry had stabbed into his right kidney.
The other man draining the flames quickly backed off, realizing that his companion was wounded and could no longer cover him. The occasional arrow and bolt of dark energy now made its way past the whirling staff. The unarmed agent retreated to his injured accomplice, limping slightly due to the shaft still embedded in his thigh, before grabbing the staff and assuming a defensive stance. Meanwhile, the man Jerry had attacked crawled back to the flames – clearly intending to continue draining the wall of fire.
Jason noticed the way the staff-wielder’s eyes darted around the intersection – trying to identify their attacker and his next angle of approach.
Without warning, the Order agent twisted and swept forward with his staff. The weapon stopped in midair, and, as Jerry flashed into existence, Jason could see that the staff rested against one of the thief’s daggers. A manic smile was painted on Jerry’s face as he watched the Order agent and the thief’s skin seemed to glow with an ominous red light. Then his other hand flashed forward, and several dark missiles erupted from Jerry’s palm. The Order agent leaped back, neatly batting the throwing knives out of the air. Between the smoke, the missiles still raining down upon the area, and their blazing speed, their movements became difficult to follow. Jason could only pick out faint flashes as they struck at each other.
Out of curiosity and unable to contribute directly to the battle raging in the street, Jason’s hands wound through his Custom Skeleton. The world soon slowed to a crawl. This gave him a chance to see the real battle raging in the street, and his mouth dropped open in surprise.
Jerry was fighting on an entirely different level. Even with the time-slowing effect of Jason’s spell, the thief was still moving. More than that, however, he seemed to be stuttering, popping into and out of existence at seemingly random moments. One second, the agent’s hand was stabbing toward Jerry’s face, and, in the next, Jerry was standing two feet away and unleashing another barrage of throwing knives. The thief’s erratic jumps and movements threw the agent off balance, and the injured man stumbled as he turned to intercept the missiles, his leg finally acting up.
Jerry immediately capitalized on the opening – not to attack the uninjured agent, but to simply vanish. The thief reappeared beside the injured man who was now kneeling on the ground, his hand buried in the nearby wall of flame and his blood leaking onto the ground from the hole in his back. Jerry neatly sidestepped a palm strike from the injured agent. The other agent threw his staff like a spear toward Jerry, trying to buy his ally a moment to recover. Except the projectile was intercepted by a well-timed arrow from Riley – knocking it off course and the weapon clattering to the ground. Jerry hadn’t even bothered to look at the other agent, as though he had known Riley would intercept the staff. Instead, he looked down at the injured human, his grin widening.
“Checkmate,” Jerry mouthed the words, even though Jason couldn’t hear him at this distance. The agent met his gaze, hate and rage filling his eyes.
Jerry’s daggers flashed forward simultaneously, tearing through the agent’s neck with surprising strength. He ripped the man’s head from his shoulders, sending it tumbling through the air as his neck fountained blood, the crimson droplets spraying in every direction.
Jerry never stopped moving. Even as the thief killed the first agent, he was already dashing through the spray of blood which hung suspended in the air. To Jason’s enhanced senses, Jerry seemed to casually push aside the crimson droplets. The thief barreled toward the other agent, and the man met his charge. The two raced toward each other at a blazing pace, batting aside the occasional stray arrow with an almost casual swipe of a hand or dagger.
They met in a rapid-fire series of blows that was incredible to watch. The agent was now unarmed, but that didn’t seem to make any difference. He dodged, ducked, and spun as though his body was boneless – showing a level of agility that Jason was certain he didn’t possess. Jerry’s onslaught was relentless, and he didn’t give the man room to launch a counter attack, his blades stabbing at him again and again.
As the seconds stretched on, Jason noticed that Jerry’s movements were slowing and the agent was beginning to get in an occasional punch or kick. Jerry’s chest was moving rapidly, his breathing shallow and fast and Jason could just barely detect a grimace on his lips. The red glow along his skin had also begun to lessen. The thief lunged forward one last time, his blade sweeping at the air. The agent immediately came up inside his guard, a look of triumph painted on his face as his palm struck Jerry squarely in the chest.
Fire blossomed from the agent’s fist, sending Jerry hurtling backward and slamming his slender form into a nearby building – causing the boards to crack and crumble from the force of the impact. Jerry lay unmoving on the ground, and the a
gent stood a couple dozen feet away, a smirk beginning to curl his lips. A glance at Jason’s raid menu confirmed that Jerry’s health was redlining, but he was still alive. He wouldn’t be for long, however. Jason grabbed at the windowsill, releasing his spell as he prepared to drop down into the intersection.
Hesitating, Jason realized that the Order agent wasn’t moving or capitalizing on his advantage. He merely stood in place, his expression frozen in mockery.
The man suddenly dropped to the ground with a dull thump, several belated arrows embedding themselves in his corpse.
“Too fucking slow,” Riley murmured from nearby.
And then Jason saw it.
A single dark shaft protruded from the agent’s neck; the shaft highlighted in an ominous blue glow as his Perception skill triggered. Riley had used that final exchange to get in one last shot. And she had made it count.
Jason looked down at the carnage.
Fires raged across the nearby buildings, the flames stretching dozens of feet into the air. He could already detect a telltale blue glow in the distance – evidence that their ice mages were summoning a blizzard to quiet the flames and keep them contained.
Scraps and fragments of dried wood and ash littered the intersection, mixing with the blood of the decapitated Order agent and his companion. Several Kin had already entered the road and hovered over Jerry’s prone body. Jason let out a sigh of relief as he saw the thief’s health stabilize in his peripheral vision.
The battle was over – at least for now. Only two bodies lay on the ground; they were missing a third. Thorn was still out there somewhere, and the clock was still ticking.
Chapter 54 - Torturous
After the battle, Jason immediately began shouting orders, directing their troops to put out the remaining fires and start cleaning up the destruction they had caused. The surrounding buildings were little more than ash and ruined debris by the time they were done, and the remains still smoldered despite the faint covering of ice that had crept across the area. He also made sure to set up a defensive perimeter. Despite the deaths of the two agents, they couldn’t be certain whether Thorn was nearby or might use this opportunity to launch a counterstrike.
Awaken Online: Dominion Page 55