Chapter 12: At War?

“Fuck! So there really was a mage?”

“The motherfucker was slippery! I went to their backline and looked for anything resembling a mage. At first, I couldn’t see anything wrong. Some corpses here and there, probably thrown by the blast, and that’s all. But, as soon as it started getting black, an area turned blurry, almost like there was a glitch in the game.” He moves his hands and fingers, amusingly must be said, in an attempt to imitate the effect—without much success, I must add.

“Yeah yeah, we get the idea!”

“So, uhm… I naturally approached to investigate. I stabbed forward without care, only to see the blur teleport away and appear a few meters back. It was a fucking mouse! It was holding this while casting the spell.” An ordinary book at first glance, but I know appearances might be deceptive. Inspect!

[Amplifying Book]

Rarity: Uncommon

Magic cast with this book has a 5% chance of amplifying its damage or effects by a 50%.

Wow! Did the mouse manage to trigger that 5%? If he did not, I can only imagine how fucked we would have been.

“As much as I like this book, I think it should be yours, Mike. I can’t rely on luck to heal anyone, plus I cast little to no spells. It will have much more impact on you.”

“Ah! Thank you!” He says in a dubious voice. Is it that strange? Maybe he was afraid that me being the shot-caller would also mean me hoarding all the loot?

“Hey, guys! I was in the middle of my heroic story!”

“Sorry, Dorian,” I say while I do an involuntary sigh. “Go on!”

“So, well, as you might have noticed, I did not manage to stop him. But I believe I at least delayed his plans.” His arms open wide while he repeatedly nods. “Every time he teleported away, he started casting immediately. It turned into a cat and mouse game. Between blinks, I could slash or stab him once. It was bleeding from everywhere, yet he kept on casting. Not even once did it bother to attack me directly.”

“He probably believed, and rightfully so, that if he could complete the cast, he would kill all of us at once. Except for Isha, I suppose. Isha?” Although she came with us, she is not part of the party, to avoid leeching experience. As ludicrous as it might sound.

Ah, there she is. My eyes follow a yellow trail pouring from the poor cadaver of the mage. She is already tearing it apart. I feel my belly revolving, I swear I’m going to throw up again if I look at it anymore. She’s methodical, thoughtful, heartless, and disgusting.

“You were saying, Dorian?” I attempt to distract my mind.

“Oh no, that’s it. We kept at it until it eventually dropped dead.”

“We should revise our strategy then. Mages are the first priority from now on. We will wait until you acquire their location and, hopefully, take them out instantly.” Where are we, by the way? With all the commotion, I haven’t even checked it up. “It seems we are in their mess hall?” I announce, somewhat unsure. “Let’s quickly search around for anything worth and keep going, we have made too much noise.”

I approach Isha with my mouth shut and my nose pinched. “Have you found anything?”

“Indeed. This is no simple coincidence. A mage? And not a novice. No. This is deliberate. And all of them belong to the Shadow Mice faction… I fear the worst.”

“We are fucked, aren’t we?”

“Your mouth! Remember who you are talking to. But yes, the situation looks dire.”

“Mark! Over here!” Lillia’s voice reaches from a table distant from the center of Mike’s blast.

Both Isha, who seems to have lost interest in the mage, and I meet her.

“What is it?”

“Take a look at all these papers; they seem to be maps of Irisgarth’s surroundings. And those marks,” she points at some lines and spots over the paper, “I think it’s the routes they will take.”

They look primitive, unlike the detailed maps we are used to in real life. A few trees presumably symbolize the forest north of Irisgarth. The city itself is represented as a palace fortified by walls. The mines should be these mountains over here.

As for the tactical information, it is a bit of a stretch, but it does show several lines leaving from the cave system. They don’t point directly to the city. Instead, they seem to take a detour to a nearby town. I say town because the drawing is of a few houses, but who knows.

“Any idea why they would go there, Isha?”

“That town is called Draka. And either they want to have a vantage point, or they want to scare us by wiping a town. That,” her voice deepens at the thought of what comes next, “or they are meeting reinforcements there…”

“Fuck…” I try to keep it low to avoid angering her with my swearing. “They are not alone?”

“If only we knew. They usually live in rather small tribes, like the kobolds and the shadow mice. They are seldom in touch with other societies, but everything is possible in this situation. I will keep those,” She points at the map and documents, “let’s go.”

Following Isha’s orders, we set the pace up. “From here on, there are several corridors. I am sure they’ve heard us.” I lose my eyes and take a deep breath. “And I am sure they will ambush us. As we said, Dorian, locate mages. I’ll bait the assassins on the back.” And like so, we take one of the exits and resume our exploration duties.

It doesn’t take long until Dorian whispers to me some news.

“5 ahead, one mage at the back.”

“Mike, there’s a mage ahead. Focus it, disregard the others. Rand engage!”

As soon as Rand’s fists reach the first enemy, Dorian uses the confusion to strike at the mage. A fireball also flies towards it. Lillia has already gotten the flow of our battles; without the need for me to call it, she naturally provides cover and assistance for Rand.

The battle develops much better than the previous one. The mage, being so focused down, has had no chance to cast that powerful spell. Instead, he is relying on small localized bursts of darkness and its annoying teleportations.

“Heal!” Just now, one of those pockets of darkness impacted Dorian. A good 35 hp hit. God. Luckily it seems he’s limited to casting every 4 seconds. Plus, the projectile itself is rather slow. It only got him because it was cast at point-blank.

Aside from that, the battle ends without much noise. Just one more heal to help Rand, and good to go.

“Okay guys! This was so much better! Take some minutes to restore resources and catch a breath.”

I should check my messages. I still have some from the previous battle.

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Archer]

[You have leveled up]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Shield Bearer]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

[Heal has gained a level]

[Your party has slain a Shadow Mage]

[You have leveled upl]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

[Your party has slain a Shadow Mage]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

I should start reading these more frequently. Two levels and one of heal, not that bad. Though... yet again, I have forgotten about Materialize.

[Status]

Name: Mark

Health: 100

Mana: 104

Inquisitor [7]

Materialize [3]

Heal [4]

Mana Drain [2]

How disappointing is this! That’s less than 1MP per level, and 0 HP! “Are you all ready? Let’s go!” I, without intending to, let some of my anger transpire. I need to work on that Materialize. “I’ll be in Specter form from now on. I need to get my levels rolling.”

And so we embark on a journey of slaughter and blood.

[Your party has slain a Kobold Archer]

[Your party has slain a Shadow Assassin]

[You have leveled up]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Shield Bearer]

[Materialize has gained a level]

[Your party has slain a Kobold Soldier]

[Mana Drain has gained a level]

Being in this form is sucking me dry. So I’ve had to suck a few Kobolds dry alone the way. Not too much; otherwise, my own health will drop to critical levels.

The day, for the most part, continued precisely like this. Killing. Killing. And more killing. The odor no longer affects me. I am even getting used to Isha’s practices.

We have found several more interesting rooms. However, none of them contained any new information—nothing to confirm our suspicions. We have several more magic amplifying books, and at some point, we have started collecting even the swords and shields. In case it is not apparent, we will sell them once we get out.

There is no inventory system, as most traditional games have. Instead, we have to carry everything on us. And by now, we are at our limit. If we take any more things, we might not be able to fight. Also… we better not die, or we’ll just lose everything.

“Should we call it a day? It’s taking longer and longer to level up. Plus, we have all this loot.” I scrutinize every one of us and contain a burst of laughter. We look ridiculous with all this trash.

And just like this, with the shadows of war following us, we decide to exit the cave.

“Tomorrow we’ll meet in the city. We must inform the Governor.” I make a pause. I hope they don’t see the shine of greed in my eyes. “And we must sell everything.”