by James Hunter
“Really?” Asteria asked innocently. “I would like to hear one.”
Phoebe rolled her eyes. “My sister must still have snake-brain. No, Asteria, Loxo is teasing. But we can help get Jacob to sleep. I added something to the rooftop of the palace that our stinky god might like.”
“Really?” I asked. “After days of running and fighting through swamps we’re going to talk about my smell? And I just had this intense conversation with Myrina. How I smell doesn’t matter.”
All three laughed. Phoebe threw an arm around me and kissed my arm. “We’ll take care of you. And, yes, Myrina was sent in to have the conversation. I don’t see any broken furniture, so I think it went well.”
“It did. You guys win. No more Crystal Scythe for me. At least not for now.”
“Good. Come with us.”
Asteria and Loxo led the way out of my room. Phoebe leaned on me as we walked up marble steps until we reached the rooftop. Flapping awnings cast shade on a series of empty pools carved into the marble. Statues of naked water nymphs stood over the pools, each holding an amphora.
A table full of various sweet-smelling jars stood next to the pools.
“Watch,” Phoebe said. She went to a nymph and touched a stone breast. “This was my idea. Loxo wanted the ‘on’ switch between their legs.”
Loxo’s smile broadened. “I stand by that suggestion.”
Asteria giggled.
Hot water gushed out of all the amphoras and filled the pools. Mist swirled across the top of the water under the shade of the awnings. Each pool filled until the water spilled off the edge of the roof, tumbling down onto the ramparts before plummeting to the ocean below. My Rune-Caster’s skill was truly remarkable.
Loxo slipped out of her battle armor. Phoebe dropped her tunic. Asteria was already naked, blue-skinned and beautiful.
Phoebe went to the table and dribbled bath salts into the water. She lifted a tray of sponges, soaps, and cloths and set it by the side of the largest pool.
Then she followed Loxo and Asteria into the water.
“Oh, this feels so wonderful and hot,” Loxo said. “Come and join us.” She paused, chewing on her bottom lip, and quirked an eyebrow at me. “If you’re man enough.”
The godstone flashed, and I growled. “I’ll show you.”
I unclipped and unstrapped my armor until I was naked, then stepped down the steps into the pool. The water was hot and soothing. Phoebe soaped up my back, while Loxo and Asteria used sponges to clean me. The dirt, muck, and blood swirled away over the edge as the amphoras added clean water. Phoebe’s design must’ve had pumps bringing up hot water from below. I could smell the fires mixing in with the perfume of the soaps.
As they washed me, I felt worlds better, my muscles unknotting. Phoebe touched the gem in my chest. “Such a nuisance, this war business,” she said.
I turned to see Loxo and Asteria kissing each other. My libido sat up and took notice.
Phoebe turned my head and kissed me. “You don’t mind, do you?” she asked.
“Mind what?” I asked.
“I would say a ménage à trois, to use the French,” Phoebe said. “But there are four of us. Does that make it an orgy?”
My mind was fuzzy, not really working, and the godstone wasn’t at all interested in semantics at that point.
“Not sure, but I don’t mind,” I said. “Is this okay with you?”
“I’m old-school Amazon,” Phoebe said with a sly grin. “We have a more relaxed view on things. And it’s Loxo and Asteria. They’re sex-crazy to begin. Besides, when in Rome ...”
“You said you were Greek, not Roman.”
Phoebe shushed and kissed me again. This time her tongue was involved. And I loved it.
Asteria and Loxo slid over, their hands all over me.
I was clean, I was feeling more myself, and the godstone was quieter in my head, much quieter since it was getting a taste—even if only a small taste—of what it wanted.
After Phoebe, Asteria, and Loxo wore me out, I left the rooftop baths and flopped onto my bed. Myrina would wake me up when it was time to fortify the city, and by then I would’ve maxed out my Divine Essence Points. With Thymos Crystals, I’d upgrade the city, and then I’d start the endless grind of blood and battles once more. Another day, another war.
I fell asleep quickly—worn out from the madness and exertion—and promptly slipped into a dream. I was walking across a complete flat stone plain with a mist swirling about, silver tongues lapping at my arms and legs, making it nearly impossible to see the way forward. Loxo, Asteria, and Phoebe were following me, weeping. We were searching for Myrina, but we couldn’t find her.
Up ahead, I saw a white light pulsing.
Growing closer, I recognized the light was the gemstone in Ares’ chest. He stood tall, proud. Decked out in his breastplate, greaves, bracers, and horsehair helmet. In his hands glowed the Crystal Scythe. The War Blade was sheathed at his side.
Myrina lay dead in front of him, cut in half by the Scythe, blood dripping from its curved blade, forming a crimson halo on the ground before me.
A second glance, and it wasn’t Ares’ face under his helmet. It was mine.
I had killed Myrina with the godkiller. That jerked me awake.
I touched the godstone.
What was I becoming?
Beach Blanket Battle Royale
I’D ONLY SLEPT A FEW hours, but I was feeling much better. The city was quiet; my Amazons were hunkered down in the barracks, catching a little well-deserved shut-eye. It reminded me of the first time I’d walked across the cobblestones before I stumbled onto Ares and the video game I was now living in. However, there were some big differences. The north and south gates were sealed up tight. The smell of farm animals lingered in the air thanks to our livestock—not to mention our bears, bulls, and winged horses.
I strode through the silent streets, hot and dusty in the early afternoon. Storm clouds filled the horizon. It looked like we’d be fighting in a thunderstorm, which was fine with me. I was used to electricity. It was like my American Express card: I never left home without it.
I tapped the War Blade, drumming my fingers absently on the blade—it felt good to have the weapon at my side, but the godstone already missed the Crystal Scythe. I’d brought the Sower’s Glass with me as a shield and secret weapon. However, I wasn’t going to stop time unless I really needed to. Like keeping the attributes of the Crystal Scythe secret, this was one ace I preferred to keep hidden up my sleeve if I could.
Hippolyta dozed by the south gate, leaning against the stone, her spear resting on her chest. She was a tall, athletic woman with dusky skin and long, dark hair. She wasn’t sleeping on duty, since on the walls above her Battle Wardens were keeping watch. They stood ready near the ruins of the gatehouse tower. I sighed, thinking about that tower. The thing had been fucking amazing, all decked out with ballistae, flamethrowers, and a big ol’ steampunk Gatling gun. Even better, the tower had been able to rotate a full 360 degrees to keep up the nonstop destruction.
Too bad Necro Earl had destroyed it with his Harrier’s bombs dropped by harpies. Damn, but that guy was seriously the worst. He ruined everything.
When I tromped up, Hippolyta snapped to attention. “I apologize, War God. I should not have been sleeping.”
I shrugged. “No, your real crime is not sacking out in the barracks, but you’re fine. You’ve held our city, Hippolyta, time and time again.”
“Because you gave me the Shield of Perseus,” she answered.
“That’s true. But you had the courage to use it and stand your ground.”
She took my hand and looked into my eyes. “I have heard that you are finally easing into your role of war god. If you need any additional easing, I can aid you in that.”
I had to grin. The godstone liked the attention of all these beautiful women. “I’m pretty fine, but I’ll keep you in mind the next time I need, uh, easing.”
Ares had bedded every s
ingle Amazon he’d created without a second thought. I gotta say, I was growing more comfortable with the idea.
“But for now, open the gates,” I said. “I want to check our defenses, repair any holes in the wall, and spin more razor wire.”
Hippolyta shouted to other Amazons, who cranked the wheels to open the gate.
Piles of dead monsters littered the battlefield. They were mostly burned away, but a little flesh was left to rot in the sun. We’d had to destroy them with fire to stop Necro Earl from using the undead soldiers against us. I noticed that Sabra and my other Forest-Witch had been out to restore our Burmese tiger pits and dig out the trenches. That was good.
I accessed the Path of the Builder Skill Tree.
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I HADN’T MAXED OUT any of the abilities, and that was okay for now. I’d done well to strategically choose which skills I dumped points into.
For example, with Craftsman, the level-one ability cut the cost of anything I made by twenty percent, so I used fewer Thymos Crystals and Divine Essence Points. Level two would allow me to build faster, which would be nice, but at this stage it wasn’t critical. Level three cut production costs by twenty-five percent, which only amount to a five percent bump. Again, nice but not critical.
Artemis’ Blood moved my Amazon level-cap up substantially, but at the moment none of my ’Zons were close to their max. Still, it was one of the more important skills overall, so I took a moment to pull up the description.
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YEAH, EVENTUALLY I would get there. Just not yet. I mean, Aceso’s Blessing was badass, but I was really itching to use the Innovate and Elemental Smithing skills because then I’d be able to make modern weapons. And yet, the godstone blistered at the idea.
It forced me to pull up the Path of War Skill Tree.
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SADLY, I’D NEGLECTED a lot of these abilities—but, then, the plan was for me to lean less heavily on the personal combat side of things and focus more on helping my army as a whole. With Myrina’s prodding, I’d kept myself safe by maxing out Defender, which allowed me to turn my skin to steel.
You fear battle, the godstone whispered at me. Do not be weak. Do not lend credence to Earl Echo Earl’s words ...
“Screw you and the jeweler that cut you,” I muttered under my breath. “This is the plan, asshole. Besides, it’s not exactly like you did a whole lot better when you were calling the shots.” I wanted to redeem myself by showing the dumb gem the kickass shit I had on the Path of Miracles.
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“IF ANYTHING, I SHOULD really upgrade my miracles with any Attribute Points I get. I mean, come on, a zillion acid-drooling grasshoppers that can eat through armor? Yeah. That’s sick as hell. Way cooler than hitting something really hard with my sword.” For a moment, I seriously considered maxing out my Plague Locust miracle. Seriously, I loved swarming my enemies with destruction on a biblical scale. But I was also curious to see what Wrath would give me. As for the others, not a battle went by without me using the first three miracles on the tree.
The godstone muttered at me, and I told it to shut the hell up. I wasn’t going to stand around arguing with the diamond in my chest. I had work to do.
I waved away the Path of Miracles Tree and promptly accessed the MANAGE ISLAND tab, scrolling down until I came to the Defensive Structures option. There were a bunch of different options—classic Greek, some Medieval European—plus an OTHER tab, which wasn’t grayed out because of my Level 2 Innovate Ability. That was how I’d managed to create the razor wire. Just a tap on OTHER and the godstone interface pulled up an exhaustive 3-D modeling app, which would let me import designs, tweak existing structures, and fiddle with all kinds of things to my heart’s content.
I walked along the rampart. If I saw a crack or a gap, I used Thymos Crystals and Divine Essence to raise the very ground itself to patch it until it was solid stone, whole and unmarred. It was simple work, but by the time I was done, I was sweating buckets and breathing hard. I felt like I’d just finished a marathon with a full rucksack on my back. Each time the Divine Essence rushed out of me in a wave, it almost felt like being wounded. Still, it was a small price to pay for safety.
Better I feel the pain than my Amazons.
With the eastern walls done, I checked the gates and made sure they were solid. Above the north and south portals into the city, I crafted new towers. Even as I grimaced at the energy drain on me, I marveled at the spectacle. From the MANAGE ISLAND menu, I chose a tower and watched as the ground around me shivered, boulders dancing, dust and debris swirling up in a cloud. Light from the Thymos Crystals flashed as the dirt formed into bricks and magically came together above me to build a castle tower complete with arrow slits and slots for the ballistae.
We didn’t have the resources to fill the towers with flamethrowers, but Phoebe was making new heavy-duty ballistae and we wanted to give the weapons some protection. Phoebe had plans for Thymos cannons, but that would have to wait until Innovate Level 3. For now, her ballistae were powerful enough.
I pulled one up to contemplate its lethal majesty.
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THIS WAS WHY I’D TURNED away from focusing on the Path of War. The Path of the Builder had some seriously epic aspects to it. I needed Battle Forge Level 2—plus a point in Elemental Smithing—to unlock the next-level abilities. Two measly Ability Points and then we could electrocute, blow up, freeze, or burn our enemies from a distance, not only with ballista bolts, but also with javelins and arrows. Damn, someday that would be sweet.
The godstone disagreed. You should eschew projectile weapons. There is only honor in being close enough to smell your enemies empty their bowels when you slay them.
“Gross. And once again, fuck you, godstone.”
I left the eastern walls to check out the western fortifications. As I walked through Lycastia City, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a woman in a gauzy dress disappear around a corner. That was odd. No one should be wearing a dress like that. All of my Amazons were heavily armed and armored. Dresses in battle might look sexy, but come on, it’s war, not a fashion show. Unfortunately, around these parts, odd usually meant bad. So, without a moment’s hesitation, I took off at a sprint, angling toward where I’d last seen the woman.
When I skittered around the corner, though, the street was empty. Was I seeing things?
I wasn’t sure. With how loud the godstone was at the moment, maybe it was a flashback to one of Ares’ horny fantasies. “Gross again. And fuck you, Ares.”
I shook my head, trying to put the odd apparition behind me, and headed for the western side of the city, which faced the ocean.
Terraces and tall walls rose up from the cliff edges. It was two hundred feet down to where the waves crashed against the rocks. A narrow set of stone steps crisscrossed their way up from the beach. We had solid fortifications down there, including a heavy gate. If our enemies managed to get through that, they’d have to scurry up those steps and duck some serious suppressive gunfire from the three pillboxes I’d built into the sandstone cliffs. We didn’t have advanced rifles yet—only the steampunk Gatling guns—but they were still a force to be reckoned with.
Again, I longed for Innovate and Elemental Smithing. The idea of Phoebe banging out Sidewinder missiles put a smile on my face. Or a fully automatic, heavy-caliber machine gun. Ammunition wouldn’t be an issue. I’d just turn Thymos Crystal into .50 caliber rounds—we’d see how creatures of the netherworld stood up against the might of the Ma Deuce.
Strewn across the beach below were a series of enormous Xs constructed of reinforced steel, known as Czech hedgehogs. Spun between the Xs was more razor wire. Between the wire, the spikes, and the Gatling guns, the beach was a total kill zone. It was probably why Earl hadn’t tried to send his troops in from the west.
We had a smaller fortified portcullis at the top of th
e western stairs, but our real defenses were the walls far below. I took a minute, found a seat in the shade on the terraces of my palace, and sat down. I needed to rest a bit and recharge my Divine Essence, since I’d be burning through points in the coming fight.
After cooling my heels for a while—just staring off at the lapping waves, lost in my thoughts—I checked my stats again. Back up to my max, 476 Divine Essence Points. Regenerating 214 points an hour sure was useful. With a grunt, I roused myself, then traipsed down the steps and saluted the Amazons manning the Gatling guns in the pillboxes. They all sleepily saluted back. These ladies were fierce as hell, but the constant onslaught of attacks was definitely taking a toll on us.
At the bottom of the steps, I climbed up onto the top of the wall above the western sea gate. We only had a couple of Amazons there, both low-level Battle Wardens. It took me a minute to remember their names: Doris and Ianthe. They’d been stationed on our western defenses. Phoebe had suggested we name them after sea nymphs. Doris had jet-black ringlets framing a face with light green eyes, while Ianthe was tall and had darker skin and copper-colored hair. Both had a quiver of javelins on their backs, spears in their hands, and Greek short swords, otherwise known as xiphoses, at their sides.
Both saluted me.
“Are we good down here, ladies?” I asked, surveying the watery shoreline, which could hide untold dangers.
They exchanged looks. “We are not bad ... if that is what you are saying,” Doris said.
“We are skilled and dutiful,” Ianthe added. “Though we have not seen much combat. Still, we are ready to give our lives to protect the sigil in the Temple of Ares. Long live Jacob Merely, god of war!”
“Aye!” Doris agreed. “Long live Jacob Merely!”
“Not what I was asking, but thanks for that,” I replied with a sheepish shrug. “I guess I meant to ask if you’ve seen any sign of the next attack. It’s not due until two, but it’s always possible they could hit us early.”