Get up! I shouted at myself mentally as I fought to force my body to stand, feeling the hunger instantly rebel at my attempt to do so, snarling at me from within at my attempt to interfere, a complicated storm of emotions surging through me. Bracing myself as the torrent of alien thoughts slammed into me, I felt myself be nearly swept away once again, barely managing to hang on. As I did, I found myself falling into the same sort of mental trance that I had when I essence melded, allowing the emotions to wash over me without fully finding purchase. This allowed me to get a better sense of the maelstrom that I’d found myself in and to try to redirect it in a way that I could control.
I know you’re hurt and hungry, I mentally sent to the storm that raged around me, feeling it twist and snarl in response to my words. But I can help. Let me help. We don’t have time to fight one another. If we do, we will die.
I repeated those words in my head as quickly as I could as I continued to fight for control, losing all sense of time not only outside of me but within as well, the litany I forced myself to recite my sole focus. At first, as I spoke, the hunger did nothing to react to me, continuing to twist with anger and stubbornness. But after what felt like an age, I felt it slowly begin to relent, the primal emotion slowly beginning to release its hold on me, allowing me a chance to regain the control so desperately sought. Grasping onto it like a drowning man, the next thing I knew, I could finally feel my body once again as I found myself lying on my back on the sandy arena ground with both agony and ravenous hunger coursing through me. Sucking in a deep breath as the twin sensations slammed into me, I was almost overwhelmed by them. It was only because of the sudden appearance of the large glowing figure above me that I was able to focus past their near-crippling effects and dodge the claw that abruptly shot out towards me.
Turning my head just in time, I felt the claw impact the dirt beside it, allowing me a chance to rake my free hand along the length of the forearm it was attached to, clawing through a layer of something hard. Watching the figure recoil with a shout of pain in response to my attack, I didn’t waste a second to leap to my feet, lashing out towards it as I rose with the longer claw that was my other hand.
My sword, I said, correcting myself as I felt the hunger’s animalistic thoughts still filter occasionally over my own. That’s my sword, not my claw.
Feeling my mind continue to clear as I regained my feet, I threw myself at the glowing form, slashing out at it with both my sword and hand, attacking with all the strength and ferocity that I could bring to bear. Lasting for a handful of seconds, I rained down every blow that I could muster on the figure, dodging around its feeble, if even timid attempts to strike at me. It was only when I felt the hunger fueling my frenzy from within abruptly fade that I came to a stop, its absence casting my azure vision to return to normal and for the exhaustion that it had helped mask to wash over me.
“Ugh,” I grunted, unable to help but fall to one knee, Amaranth’s sudden presence at my side catching me under one arm before I could land on my face as I abruptly found myself short of breath with my heart hammering wildly in my chest. Panting heavily, it took me a second to process everything that had happened while I’d been in the hunger’s grip, the warm pulse of the nearby healing totem washing through me, helping my mind regain its focus and remember where I was and what I had been doing.
Carver, I thought, my head snapping up and turning towards where I’d last seen the large glowing figure that I’d fought against. Taking only a second to spot him, my eyes widened as they landed on the also kneeling form of the orc adventurer a dozen or so paces away from me, the man breathing as heavily as I was with both hands planted against the ground for support. But where the last time I had seen him in his corrupted wendigo-like form, he was now almost back to his normal state, the black tar that had covered him slowly dripping off his body and soaking into the sand beneath.
“N-no, not…like this,” I heard him whisper as he shook his head, his voice sounding dazed and weak to my ears. Pounding the ground as he repeated himself once again, Carver visibly strained to push himself back up to his feet but succeeded only in shifting upright, enough for his eyes to reach mine. “You. What…are you? How could you even…”
“Win?” I asked the man as he trailed off, using the opportunity to push myself back to my feet with Amaranth’s help, my legs shaking unsteadily as I rose.
“No.” Carver hissed, his face abruptly tightening into an angry scowl as he glared back at me with pure hatred, the man once again attempting to rise to his feet. This time, he was able to muster the strength to stand, forcing himself up with what looked like sheer force of will alone. “Y-you haven’t won anything. You can’t win anything. Today…today is my victory. A-and the last day that I need to deal with you.”
“No, Carver, it isn’t,” I replied as I watched the man rise, feeling my breathing start to even out more and more with every second that passed. “This is the last day that I need to deal with you. Face it. You’ve lost. You can barely even stand, let alone fight.”
“Th-that’s what you think,” the man growled back at me as he swayed unsteadily on his feet, one of his hands rising up towards me, a flare of dark magic beginning to build in its palm. “B-but I’m just getting s—”
Carver’s words abruptly cut off as the world suddenly blurred, everything around me turning into a wild spray of colors for a single instant before snapping back into focus, putting the man directly ahead of me. Eyes widening in shock at my appearance, I saw him flinch as Savagery swept out in an upwards arc towards him, his free hand instinctively reacting to protect what looked to be a killing blow to his throat. Yet as the blade sang through the air towards him, I shifted its trajectory ever so slightly so that it caught his outstretched arm instead, the weapon’s razor-sharp edge biting deep into the flesh.
And severing it completely.
Hearing a scream fill the air as the sword finished its journey, I stepped out of the way just in time to avoid Carver as he fell to his knees once again, this time clutching at the stump of his left arm. Overwhelmed by the injury, the man had no chance to react to my follow-up attack until after it had landed and sealed his fate for good. But that attack wasn’t with Savagery, the sword, in fact, falling from my hands as I reached into my inventory for something infinitely deadlier, something that I knew would end the orc adventurer as a threat for good.
So it was then with the loud click of an iron clasp locking that our battle came to an end as I closed the siphon collar around Carver’s throat, its magic activating itself with a dull flash of crimson light.
“W-what? …” the orc exclaimed in a pained voice the instant that the magic vanished, his hand shooting up to grab at the shackle. “N-no! No, no, no! Where did you get this? You can’t have this!”
“You know exactly where I got it from, Carver,” I replied back to the man, feeling a sudden, overwhelming surge of relief and triumph rush into me as I saw the man begin to panic, spinning towards me as he tried to desperately tear the collar free. “And I think it suits you perfectly. It’s about time that you’ve paid for everything that you’ve done to us.”
“No, this can’t be happening,” he said weakly, the remainder of the corruption that still clung to his body starting to wash free of him as if it were water. “After everything that I’ve done. After everything that I’ve sacrificed, it can’t end like this…it can’t. It can’t…”
“It has,” I told the increasingly defeated-sounding man as I bent to pick up Savagery from where I had dropped it, my mind already starting to think ahead to what I would have to do next. I may have succeeded in defeating Carver, but that meant little in the grand scheme of the battle that still raged all throughout Aldford.
I have to get him somewhere where he can’t escape or be rescued, I noted as I considered my next steps, the single thought all that I was able to form as I abruptly heard a triumphant fanfare unlike any other that I’d heard before echo in my ears. Eyes widening at the noise,
I only had a second to realize what was happening before two lines of golden text flowed into my vision.
You have completed your class challenge: The Path of Balance!
Please confirm if you wish to follow this path and progress to level 30.
I…I did it, I thought as I read through the list, feeling my heart leap at the sight. That battle counted for my class challenge. If I want to, I can choose an advanced class now.
But before my curiosity could get the better of me and I started to dig into my character sheet, I felt a pulse of alarm shoot through my link with Amaranth a second before a voice called out to me.
“You beat him.” I heard it say as we whirled in its direction, only to find no one other than Hido and a dozen other Dread Crew standing at the arena’s edge, all of them looking on towards me with wide eyes.
“You beat Carver.”
Chapter 71
I felt my body freeze as I looked out towards the growing mass of Dread Crew adventurers that were rapidly arriving at the arena’s edge, a part of my mind realizing that it had to be all of them, or if not, close enough as to make no difference. Regardless, it was a force larger than anything that I could ever hope to stand against, the realization making my earlier victory turn to ash in my mouth. Yet as I met the eyes staring back at me, I was surprised to see no hostility, at least none that was directed towards me.
“I did,” I eventually replied to the man after I found my voice in light of all the people that had appeared. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“Y-you, better believe it’s going to be a p-problem,” Carver replied from beside me, regaining some of his earlier defiance with the other adventurers’ arrival. So much so that he fell over in his haste to scramble towards them and faceplanting into the sand. “H-Hido, w-what are y-you waiting—”
“No, Lyrian,” the elf answered, his face hardening with resolve as he completely ignored the orc’s stuttering voice. “I don’t think it’ll be a problem at all. In fact, I think it makes things much easier for all of us. That is, assuming that your offer is still open?”
“My…offer?” I replied, completely taken aback for the split second that it took me to realize what Hido was talking about, the dread that I’d suddenly been feeling a second earlier, giving way to hope. “Yes, of course, it is.”
“A-an offer? What offer?” Carver demanded, the man sensing that something was amiss. “W-why are you all still standing—”
“That’s good. Great even,” Hido said, interrupting once again as a wave of relief visibly passed through not only him but all of the nearby adventurers. “Then, on behalf of the Dread Crew, I would like to formally surrender with the request that you please send us as far away as possible from here. In exchange, we’ll do and tell you everything you need to know about what we’ve done and what we know about the orcs. We’re done fighting you all in this useless, wasteful war that we’ve been dragged into.”
“And so are we,” I replied, just managing to get the words out before a bright silver box suddenly appeared in my vision, formalizing the elf’s words.
War Quest Update! Aldford vs. The Orc Tribes & The Dread Crew
Hido, the leader of the Dread Crew, has offered you his faction’s unconditional surrender.
Do you wish to accept?
“Wait, what?” I heard Carver bark a second after the box appeared, the man struggling clumsily to push himself back into a seated position, clearly unused to doing so with a single arm. “You can’t surrender! You’re not the one in charge! I am!”
“No, Carver, you’re not. Not anymore,” the elf stated in a flat tone, his eyes moving for the first time to acknowledge the prone man. “We’re done with you ignoring us and treating us all like garbage despite everything that we’ve done. We’re leaving. All of us.”
“You can’t leave! Where are you going to go?” Carver spat, finally managing to push himself upwards until he was sitting. “You came to me because no one else would take you!”
“We will,” I said as the silver box faded away from my vision, my words breaking the exchange between the pair and causing them both to look towards me. “I accept your surrender. This war has gone on more than long enough. Though with that said, if it’s not too much trouble to ask, we could use a little help with, well, you know…”
I gestured vaguely towards the sounds of battle all around us as I trailed off.
“It’s definitely not too much trouble,” Hido replied with a shake of his head. “In fact, I think that’s the least we can all do to show how serious we are about this. Not to mention we’ll get a little payback of our own. Life with the orcs hasn’t been exactly…pleasant.”
“I imagine not,” I said, my attention turning towards Carver who looked completely stunned by the mass defection of what until a few minutes ago had been his people, so much so that he had nothing to say, his mouth hanging open limply. “But speaking of the orcs, I don’t suppose you have anything to share about Zhul’s battle plan that could help us out? Like if he has any more surprises in store for us?”
“Uh, well, I really wish I could, but no,” Hido answered, suddenly looking a little anxious that he didn’t have a better response to offer. “At least not more than you’ve likely figured out by now. We’ve been kept out of the loop of all the planning since…well, since the beginning. It’s how he kept us in line.”
“I understand,” I replied without a hint of disappointment in my voice, not having truly expected anything earthshattering from the man this far into the battle, though his response caused a question to abruptly come to mind. “If that was the case, though, why did you all come here? Were you looking for Carver?”
“We were,” the elf answered with a nod, taking that opportunity to glance towards the man, who was still sitting silently on the ground beside me. “After what you said to me yesterday, I knew that it was time to do something about him, and the battle seemed like the best opportunity. If we were able to somehow get rid of him and send him back for a respawn…”
“Then you’d have a few days to slip away before he got back,” I said, getting an idea of what their plan had been.
“Pretty much,” Hido acknowledged, his eyes turning back towards me. “So what happens now? What do you need from us?”
“Well,” I replied, returning to my earlier thoughts before any of them had appeared as I considered the question. “First thing’s first, we need to regroup with the other defenders and see how the battle’s going. Then after that, we find a way to win this thing.”
“Can we?” Hido immediately asked, looking at me with a wary expression. “Win, that this.”
“I don’t know. Maybe,” I said as I reached out with raid sense to get an idea of where everyone was in the town, finding that a substantial portion of the defenders were all mustering near where I expected the town hall would be. “But at the very least, I’m fairly certain that we won’t lose.”
Saying nothing in response to my choice of words, Hido simply gave me an understanding nod in response, our attention shifting to getting all of us moving, which included a particular recalcitrant Carver. Trying his best to resist, fight, and otherwise be a colossal pain to deal with, we were forced to take a few seconds to bind and gag the man before he was bodily carried along with us as left the arena behind. It was in minutes that followed as I found myself sprinting at the head of the Dread Crew that the surrealness of the moment hit me.
The Dread Crew surrendered, and we caught Carver, I thought, shaking my head as we all sprinted through the empty streets of Aldford. Even in my wildest dreams, I hadn’t expected that we’d be so lucky to actually catch the man, figuring that he would end up fading away somehow when the war truly turned against him.
But as that thought filtered through me, I was forced to remind myself that the battle was far from over, and that victory, be it pyrrhic or otherwise, was still very much in doubt. To that end, I took the opportunity that the brief lull in fighting offered to turn my a
ttention towards my character sheet, looking to make the most of my newly completed class challenge and the path that it had granted me. So it was with that thought that I brought up the notification floating in the corner of my eye and saw the confirmation flash before me.
Congratulations! You have completed your class challenge for the Path of Balance! Should you decide to pursue this path, you will immediately progress to level 30, where you will be able to choose your Advanced Class. Be warned, however. Choosing a path is an irrevocable choice that will define your progression going forward. Be absolutely sure that it is the one that you wish to pursue before you make your selection.
Do you wish to follow [The Path of Balance]?
I absolutely do, I thought without a second’s hesitation as I confirmed the selection, already having had my eye on the particular path in question due to the flexibility that it offered—something that I especially appreciated in light of all the fighting that I had to endure today. It was as soon as I finished selecting my choice that I felt a rush of energy surge into me, instantly banishing every last dreg of pain and exhaustion that I felt, followed by several lines of text appearing in my vision.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 30!
You may now choose an Advanced Class! You will not be able to gain experience until a class is chosen.
You have 10 Attribute Points Unspent!
Your Familiar’s understanding of magic grows—you may teach him two additional spells.
Eyes widening as I skimmed over everything, I didn’t allow myself to get bogged down in the minutia of my decision making, knowing that I only had a couple of minutes, if that, before we arrived at our destination. Instead, I simply opened the newest notification that appeared in my vision with the level gain, its contents giving a similar warning about choosing my advanced class as it had for my path before presenting me with the three options I had available me.
Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4) Page 94