Chapter 36 - Not a smart move

Getha’s chair slid back with a screech as he jumped to his feet, his meal and goblet forgotten. His eyes went wide as he extended the index finger of his right hand, arm outstretched in my direction and hissed like a boiling kettle.

“Kill them!” he barked as a shard of ice crystallized at the end of the finger that was aimed at me. I spent ten mana and summoned a blob of fire on top of what I assumed was the projectile version of the Ice Affinity. I didn’t wait to see what happened next. Fractions of a second counted here. I shoved Jandak to one side and Hatrikandos to the other as I surged between them.

A cloud of steam exploded around Getha’s hand and he screeched in pain, wheeling away. Fire beats ice motherfucker, I thought as a savage grin spread across my face. Four metres. I could cross that distance at a terrifying speed but I wasn’t taking any chances. The bandaged men were raising their crossbows so I spent another twenty mana to set their heads on fire. The bandages caught and flames spread down their bodies but they didn’t seem to care. The crossbows came level and the strings snapped forwards.

I batted the first bolt to my right casually. Even at this short distance my new reflexes let me palm the bolts aside. I heard a grunt behind me and the sound of wrestling but the others would need to take care of themselves for a few more seconds. My dagger was in my hand and I leapt, sailing across the gap to slam into the scalded lord of Gethanel, punting him into the wall with my leading foot. He smacked against the wood with a thump and slid down into a boneless heap.

A stave whistled past my head and I turned to drive my dagger into the burning cloth over the man's heart. The blade slipped between the ribs but his head, wrapped in burning bandages, slammed forward and knocked me back on my heels. A staff crashed across my shoulders from the other side and battered me to the ground.

I rolled back under the table on instinct as the pair of staves cracked the wooden floorboards where my head had just been. I was dazed, possibly concussed, but old instincts backed up by new capabilities took over. My free hand shot out and yanked a staff back behind me, disarming one of my opponents. I used the force to help launch myself forwards, feeling the table spin over behind me, my back bashing into it as I rose to my feet.

Ten more mana to Enhance myself. I moved more fluidly and some of the fog in my mind faded away. Ten more to heal myself and I felt as good as new. That was probably just the adrenaline though. As I rose I drove the bronze dagger up into the bandaged man’s chin, aiming for the ever professional instant kill. It slammed home and the body went limp, dragging my arm down before I could pull back to face my other opponent. I let the blade go and spun to catch a descending staff in both hands.

The bandages were burning away merrily and as they crumbled to ash my opponent's face was revealed. A grinning rictus of grey skin pulled back over yellow teeth, now slightly charred and covered in blisters, met my gaze and I heaved with all my might to hurl the monster away from me. The body slammed into the wall but even as it slid to the floor it righted itself like it had bones made of rubber and lurched back towards me.

I still had the staff and it flashed out to slam the thing’s head into the wall again with a thud. I danced backwards trying to catch my breath and check my sanity.

It slowly righted itself, the left half of its head noticeably dented, and took an unsteady step towards me. Twenty mana went into a fireball that appeared next to its skull and slammed it back into the wall. The detonation was larger than I’d expected and it knocked me backwards as well. I flailed at my clothes to put out the sparks and flames where they’d caught on me.

Snatching my dagger out from the first head I rushed to repeat the impromptu brain surgery on his friend. With his guards down I quickly checked Getha was still out of it. He seemed to be but I punched him hard in the temple to make sure he stayed that way then spun to take in the rest of the fight.

Hansa sat in a puddle of piss, pressed back into the corner by the door. Jandak and Brath were locked together, Brath’s hands clamped around Jandak’s throat while my friend repeatedly stabbed the bandaged man in the gut.

“Just fucking die!” Jandak gasped as the stone blade flickered back and forth.

“Destroy the brain!” I called as I rushed towards them.

Jandak clearly heard me and tried to follow my advice but the vice-like grip on his throat was weakening him and Brath’s arms stopped him getting a good shot at the base of the skull.

I arrived and drove my own dagger into the weak spot, wrenched it back and forth to turn the contents of his skull into unsavoury porridge before I staggered back. Jandak coughed as he pried Brath’s fingers from his neck and rolled away from the corpse.

“He was cold,” Jandak muttered, sitting up slowly.

“He was dead. This was magic,” I replied.

Hatrikandos had been killed. Blood pooled beneath him to drip through the floorboards. A crossbow bolt had pierced the bronze trader medallion and sunk into his chest. I offered a hand to Jandak who clambered to his feet. He slapped a fist against his chest and sighed as the healing trinket activated.

“You aren’t the only one. Getha was from your world?” he asked. He glared at Hatrikandos’ body and bent down to wrench the bolt out of the old man's chest. It was stuck through the medallion and he pulled again to snap the thong from around the old man’s neck.

“No, he wasn’t. I know my enemies. There’s five more like me plus however many they’ve made, like Getha.” I gasped. The adrenaline was starting to fade but it spiked as the door below slammed open and footsteps rushed the stairs. I grabbed the table and hurriedly wedged it against the door.

“Madness! You’ll be hunted down for this! The Master won’t tolerate it!” babbled Hansa. I kicked him hard in the chest and he shut up, backing away until he saw the bodies of the zombies. He stopped, uncertain which way would be better to crawl.

“Worm!” snapped Jandak. “How do we get out of here?”

“No way out, savage! You’re fucked!” Hansa began to giggle hysterically.

“I can jump,” I’d checked the height out the windows and was confident I’d be able to run after I hit the mud. “You?”

“I can use Enhance and try. What about him?” Jandak gestured to Hansa. My wrist flicked and the dagger crossed the distance to sprout from his eye. I strode over and plucked it out, wiping it on his robes.

“I didn’t like him.” I slipped the blade back into its sheath. “Let me grab sleeping beauty and then we book it.”

“Book it?” Jandak asked in confusion. He was looking down at the mud outside and some of his confidence seemed to have ebbed.

“I mean run. We go grab Mune and get the fuck out of town.”

“There’s a lot of those bandaged guys outside,” he said dubiously.

Health: 109/150

Mana: 150/250

I was regretting the mana I’d spent to access my storage space earlier. But I had enough for what I intended. I checked out the window and saw the undead swarming into the building. Maybe two dozen of them? The door shook as something slammed into the other side.

I rushed back and slung Getha over one shoulder. He felt light enough now but I knew he’d feel a hell of a lot heavier when my boots hit the ground outside. The banging on the door intensified and the table slid into the room slightly. I kicked it back into place as I passed then stood at the window with Jandak.

Normalis Humano slain.

Ten Souls Gathered.

Reanimated Humano Slain x3

Forty five Souls gathered.

“Tuck and roll, bloke,” I told him before putting my words into action. I launched myself outwards, landing five metres past the edge of the hall and rolled, partially using Getha to cushion myself. Jandak swore then leapt after me. He rolled but as he came back to his feet he stumbled. I threw a Heal at him and he began limping back towards the wagon, Brath's sword clutched in one hand. I had to respect his dedication to looting.

One hundred and thirty mana… what to do? I eyed the highly flammable wooden construction and smiled. Nine blobs of fire appeared against the wood and on the other side of the ground floor windows. The fire caught quickly and screams filled the air as burning figures shambled out the door, apparently unperturbed by the flames wreathing them. More fucking zombies. I took to my heels and followed after Jandak. As I caught up with him I scooped him under my free arm and he squawked in indignation. He didn’t fight me too hard, I think he knew we needed to move fast.

“Mune! Get your shit together and run for the others!” I yelled as I finally saw the wagon. The mob of undead, only half a dozen or so now, had tailed me this far, stumbling along in my wake. I was out of mana but they were mostly crispy and while it didn’t kill them it did seem to slow them down.

“But the goods!” Mune yelled as he turned and guiltily threw aside the now empty final tankard of ale we had saved for the others. His eyes went wide as he saw me sprinting towards him, a stranger over one shoulder and an unhappy Jandak under the other arm. He sprinted for the gate but I got there first. The guards had been pulled away by the commotion at the hall so we were unopposed as we ran towards the site where the rest of the party had set up a camp a short distance from the wall.

I staggered to a stop and dropped Jandak and Getha.

“Can you walk?” I asked Jandak who grunted and rose to his feet shakily.

“That was undignified,” he muttered. “Why’d you drag that bastard along?” I knelt to check Getha’s pulse then smacked him in the head again just to be safe and definitely not for fun.

“I need to know who made him,” I replied absently. “Blokes, we need to move. Break camp now!” The men we left outside the town rushed to obey.

“His dad got really drunk and fucked his mum,” said Mune with a smirk.

“Not what I meant. Someone gave him powers like mine. I need to know who and how.” That silenced them. In a couple of minutes everything we needed and could carry was packed up. Smoke hung thick in the air above the town behind us as we bravely ran away.

We stopped by a copse of trees after we’d run ourselves ragged for hours. I carried my prisoner off to one side, making sure the rest of them were out of his sight so he couldn’t cast any magic at them, and tied him to the thickest tree trunk I could find with metres of thick leather cords. The kill notifications had trickled in over the last couple of hours and put me in a foul mood.

Normalis Humano slain x76.

Seven hundred and sixty Souls gathered.

Reanimated Humano Slain x7.

One hundred and five Souls gathered.

I’d started a fire and killed a lot of people. Probably innocent people, at least by this worlds standards. The system didn’t seem to differentiate between men or women or children. The odds were that a good chunk of my victims had been in the latter two categories. My stomach was roiling and the smell of smoke clung to me, a constant reminder of what I’d just done. Getha seemed well enough for now so I went back to our small fire and sat down in silence.

“We lost all the ivory!” Mune groaned for the fiftieth time.

“Those were dead men walking around you fucking idiot! At least we’re alive and not moving corpses!” snapped Jandak. I’d cast Heal on him a couple of times as we ran to save him from burning through the charges on his fang.

“One of my enemies got there first,” I muttered.

“You’re going up against people who can make the dead walk? Can we just send you off on your own?” asked Hermant.

“I tried to,” I said sadly as Jandak cuffed Hermant around the ear. “Kril made me stay and now my enemies are your enemies so I have to stay.”

“Yeah but-”

“Release me now you fucking vermin or my lord will wipe your pathetic wagons from the plains!” Nasal, arrogant and coming from behind a tree. Getha had woken up. I rose to my feet and strode over to him.

“No tricks you little shit. Mine are stronger and better,” I said glaring down at him as I drew my dagger. His eyes widened at the same time as his pupils contracted. I crouched down to bring my face closer to his.

“Let’s have a little chat about your boss, shall we?” My knife slid slowly towards his left eye.

You have been afflicted by Rot (4%). 1% resistance from Life Affinity.

Health: 149/150.

I stayed still for five seconds, knife held a centimetre from his unblinking eyeball, as my health ticked down to one hundred and forty five. After that it stabilised.

“Not a smart move.”