The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In A Time Loop - Chapter 5 - Chipping Away At Mount Castarian II
Since surviving the fire beam wasn’t an issue anymore, there was now new ground to gain in this fight.
The nine-hundred and ninetieth loop began with Orodan’s customary Surprise Attack and Power Strike on the very first hapless Adept he had slaughtered nearly a thousand times by now in a practiced routine.
The woman was split right in half and Orodan immediately managed to slaughter three non-Adept guards before Buximus and the weaker spear-Adept engaged him in melee with Sagatos flinging lightning from overhead on a lower balcony.
Prior to this, Orodan had been holding his offensive prowess back even as the loops progressed onwards, his priority having been developing a skill to resist the formerly lethal fire beam cast by Lord Aeglos.
But now he wanted to gain new ground from this loop onward, his priority being running headfirst against the new wall that was Lord Aeglos and the Master-level necromancer protecting him.
Which meant that Impregnable Bladewall held off the assault, but he actually decided to reciprocate for the first time in a long time.
A Perfect Parry imbalanced Buximus, its skill level combined with his Physical Fitness now being high enough to make even near-Elite melee specialists stagger as their guard was exposed. And a Power Strike carved through the accompanying weaker spear-Adept’s armor and bisected him.
His new Blessing was strong. Evasion was no longer possible for his enemies.
A second Power Strike took the head off of Buximus himself, and Orodan leapt onto the balcony while completely ignoring the lightning bolts of Sagatos as he got right up in the mage’s face.
Sagatos looked terrified at the sudden turn of events.
Frankly, without melee fighters tying Orodan down, he was a lethal threat to spellcasters. Barring skills which allowed them to fight faster, a mage of the same level would be at a severe disadvantage. And Sagatos wasn’t exactly a physical threat.
Orodan’s second Blessing didn’t allow the lightning mage to even flee. It was frankly perfect for hunting down cravenly opponents.
“Back away fro-”
Sagatos’s head was separated from his neck and Orodan moved on to engage the five reinforcing Adepts.
It was difficult, and even though Impregnable Bladewall had improved tremendously, he still took a blow here and there against the five-on-one onslaught. But his survivability now was unfathomable to his foes, and so he happily accepted damage trades which he knew he’d survive. In return, he delivered unavoidable and lethal Power Strikes of his own which quickly reaped the lives of three out of the five Adepts before a much earlier than expected fire beam hit him in the back.
Only four seconds had passed. Lord Aeglos had joined in even sooner than expected.
If he fought defensively and appeared to not be making ground against the initial engagement, Lord Aeglos wouldn’t start acting until the eighth second. A timeline which was now halved as Orodan’s frankly terrifying blitz and massacre had likely caused the Elite pyromancer to get serious right from the get-go.
In the next two seconds the remaining two melee Adepts died and Lord Aeglos stood in his usual spot atop the highest balcony of the tavern with a look of genuine concern on his face as his fire beam was essentially walked through.
Even its impact force was almost ignored.
Which lead to a reaction Orodan should have expected, but an outcome that made him grumble all the same.
“Sound the alarm! We’re under attack! Master! Please help us!” the man cried out with a magically infused voice.
Lord Aeglos, was a certified gutless coward. And he would honor Agathor by putting the rat down.
The good news was that it seemed the Master-necromancer was at least some distance away. She hadn’t arrived until at least two minutes of bombardment in the last loop. And it was a similar situation this time around as well.
The bad news was that a torrent of Adept-level reinforcements began crawling out of the tavern at a steady rate. Worse, while Orodan could survive the Elite fire mage’s spells, his weapons could not.
His sword turned to molten slag in his hands and slipped through his fingers. His shield disintegrated, and his clothes were burnt clean off, leaving him in the nude. Not that he was shy of such things.
So, he reached Lord Aeglos with no more than his Unarmed Combat Mastery to rely upon.
Which proved… to be surprisingly enough?
It shouldn’t have surprised Orodan. But Elites specialized in different things.
The gulf between him and the Elite-level skeleton that slaughtered him last loop was tremendous in melee combat.
But once Aeglos’s main advantage of magic was nullified? The man had little to no ability in anything martial. Frankly, Orodan wouldn’t put his Physical Fitness at even the level of an Apprentice.
No wonder his training in the militia emphasized that surprising a mage and rushing to close quarters was a good strategy. They were so incredibly vulnerable against even an Apprentice-level warrior in melee. And the danger only increased against higher-level martial specialists who were faster and tougher.
A swift unarmed Power Strike which the man couldn’t flee or evade crushed Lord Aeglos’s skull.
[New Title: Elite Slayer]
The acquisition of the title was but a small distraction which he quickly brushed off as a crowd of dozens of Adepts mobbed him.
Impregnable Bladewall still worked with just his fists, however the effectiveness was multiplied by his far lower Unarmed Combat Mastery instead. And if Impregnable Bladewall, even with a sword and shield, still allowed blows through in a five-on-one against Adepts; then it was utterly overwhelmed against the mob of nearly fifty Adepts attacking him from all sides.
And when Orodan thought he might be able to survive through attrition and playing the long game via his incredible survivability, he was reminded that two minutes had passed.
And the now dead Lord Aeglos’s Master-level master had arrived.
And she was not happy.
“You killed my favourite little disciple!” she howled, a chilling madness reverberating throughout the entire Plaza.
The Adepts mobbing him were killed in an instant as she fired a colossal beam of necrotic magic towards him. His Mana Resistance kicked in, and instead of being vaporized, he only saw small black spots of necrosis pop up on his skin. His Unyielding Vitality was working to steadfastly resist it, but it spoke to the sheer power of the attack that it could harm him through Mana Resistance.
Entire blocks of town behind him were utterly obliterated by her necrotic prowess.
And when she realized that the colossal beams of pure necrotic energy which levelled massive swathes of Ogdenborough weren’t outright killing him but only causing small black spots of decay to appear on his otherwise functioning body, she tried a different strategy.
She sent a pet out.
It was big, at least a head taller than the Ogre-barbarian who’d killed him in his first life. Some kind of eight-armed rotting undead abomination with horns protruding from its head.
It moved faster than anything he had ever seen before.
Suffice to say, if the Elite-level skeleton monk killed him without any struggle in melee, then this thing was far beyond him.
Orodan was torn to shreds and his remains were scattered all over Ogdenborough. The sheer rage and ferocity of that thing was inhuman. Whatever creature it was in life, it became even more fearsome in death.
A keening wail ringing in the night sky awoke him, and for once Orodan took a moment after brushing the Quest message away to remain in bed and simply… exhale.
The traits of being vicious, bloodthirsty and ferocious were ones Orodan was often described with.
But whatever that thing he fought was… it possessed a level of rage that was beyond human, and its sadism was evident in its butchery of him. Orodan had a lot of work to do, in regard to his own warrior spirit and mentality before he could properly fight such a nightmarish creature toe to toe like a warrior.
The thought of fighting such a nightmarish creature that would gleefully torture and eviscerate him, making every death painful…
…brought a manic grin to his face.
It would be excellent training, and Orodan looked forward to learning from its barbaric ways.
The reminder of his own weakness in the larger scale of things was offset by his hint of pride at the fact that he had killed an Elite.
Elites were essentially the most powerful people in open society, and for him to have killed one at a lower tier himself? It was a phenomenal feat. Even if Lord Aeglos was a mage and Orodan had a Legendary skill which completely nullified the man’s specialty.
He had made progress and would continue to advance. His obstinate nature and bull-headed way of doing things was bearing fruit.
So Orodan resolved that he wouldn’t give up, no matter how daunting the foes before him were. No matter how horrifying the deaths he experienced.
He would simply keep hitting his head against the impassable wall. And in the process, grow.
***
Mana Resistance and Impact Resistance continued to increase in level as he was knocked about by the Master-necromancer’s incredibly destructive beams of pure necrotic energy, and when that failed, that abomination was sent against him.
The power of necromancers didn’t necessarily lie in their personal combat prowess, but primarily in their undead minions. Necromancers sharpened their overall power by finding, killing and bringing into their collection, more and more powerful creatures, and perhaps even enhancing them.
So Orodan held a small bit of hope that when he managed to eventually defeat this nightmarish freak of nature she’d sent to butcher him, she wouldn’t be too difficult. As impossible as it seemed, he had a shot of defeating the Master-level necromancer herself.
And so, it began.
His fist met its gigantic, clawed arm, and he was utterly pulped, losing his arm and a chunk of his torso as well. He wasn’t its match at all, and it reminded him of the fact across many, many loops.
Orodan was torn apart, oftentimes sadistically, in almost every single way imaginable.
The long, drawn-out deaths as his limbs were ripped off, he was chewed alive and more, were probably the most painful things he had ever experienced. It had a sadistic gleam in its eyes, even as an undead minion. Whether it was a natural trait of its species, or a characteristic cultivated by the necromancer, he didn’t know. What he did know, was that it knew what it was doing, and enjoyed inflicting suffering upon him. Its actions were meant to make him feel weak and powerless.
Being killed by regular warriors felt honorable, a noble death in fair battle. But this freak of nature tearing him apart and toying with him as though he was mere prey was something else entirely.
Still, each time he died, he awoke with a manic grin, eager to return. Facing such a ferocious and savage monster only gave him inspiration for how to better develop his own warrior spirit.
He gleefully kept going, not a word or thought of complaint as he maniacally ran to his inevitable death each loop. Who knew? Perhaps it was a Bloodline of his, to be capable of mentally persisting for so long against pure impossibility.
His Pain Resistance skyrocketed, and he began gaining new skills over the course of fighting this freakish creature. And he turned his focus towards experimentation as he fought.
Although calling it fighting was overstating it when he was basically torn apart over the course of a minute. With it only lasting so long because a part of the creature’s mind retained a semblance of excruciating sadism, even in undeath.
A pleasant message greeted him on the fifty-third loop of this self-imposed torture.
[New Skill (Rare) → Slashing Resistance 1]
And that death and the subsequent loops onward became even more horrifyingly painful. For as the skill levelled alongside his constantly increasing suite of defensive skills, each death took ever so slightly longer and gave the damned thing even more opportunity to torture him.
[New Skill (Rare) → Piercing Resistance 1]
Was the message he got on his one-hundred and ninth loop. Even more pain followed as his deaths became slower.
He must have fought and died for what felt like ages. His entire waking existence was filled with nothing but fighting, death and pain. But incredibly slowly, and surely, he started to gain ground.
Dying Struggle levelled up to 56, which gave him some freakishly increased abilities of his own in every single area as he was close to death. That alongside his own growing rage and indignation at being torn apart lead to a ground-breaking skill at loop four-hundred and ninety.
[New Skill (Rare) → Death Rage 1]
It wasn’t an ability that required him to be dying, but it was one that would eventually lead him to death if he kept using it for a while. Of course, for Orodan, when was death ever an issue?
It was an empowerment-type skill which essentially siphoned his very vitality and lifeforce into increasing his physical prowess. And he had a lot of vitality to spare given his Physical Fitness, and every ounce of it counted for far more thanks to Unyielding Vitality. So even though it was a Rare skill, thanks to the synergy between his existing skillset, it felt more like an Exquisite skill in terms of power.
In that loop, he’d actually managed to leave visible damage on the beast for once and was able to see some of its slower moves.
The loops following that, his newfound Death Rage allowed him to butcher all of the dozens of Adepts that rushed him after the death of Lord Aeglos. Which moving forward left him in the awkward position of having to wait for the arrival of the Master-necromancer and her beast.
It incensed her greatly to see every responding Adept dead before her arrival.
At the six-hundred and second loop, his experimentation in mentally focusing and toughening his body all around, even while taking damage, paid off. And he was rewarded with another skill.
[New Skill (Exquisite) → Iron Body 1]
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Deaths now took excruciatingly long, but he also survived the initial fight till the arrival of the necromancer with much more life left in him. This finally allowed for the unique situation where he was strong enough to deal some very minor but visible damage to the abomination, and also tough enough to survive it for ten seconds without losing his limbs and becoming unable to effectively deal damage.
The monster became consumed by an even greater rage whenever it realized Orodan was going toe to toe against it and actually reciprocating some damage, even if the trade was overwhelmingly lopsided.
He continued fighting and dying past a thousand loops.
Even though he still kept count, the number became meaningless. To Orodan, only the slow but steady trickle of his skill levels rising was what mattered.
On loop number one-thousand four-hundred and forty-three his Death Rage had reached 45, his Iron Body had reached 38, and Physical Fitness hit 51. This in combination with his now highly levelled defensive and vitality skills lead to a crack in the impassable barrier he had been hammering away at.
Orodan was now strong enough to start grappling one or two of the abomination’s limbs in an attempt to minimize the damage he received and put it at an awkward angle incapable of hitting him properly.
It was still drastically physically superior to him, but it was larger than him. His entire body was perhaps the size of two of its arms put together.
But if he put his full body strength into it, he could grapple and tie up one or two of these arms.
[New Skill → Wrestling 1]
The Abomination roared in horrifying rage and psychotic frenzy as it attempted to throw Orodan off, all while continuing to pummel, claw, rip and tear at him with its other free arms. But Orodan too was also pummelling its arms that he was holding onto and keeping tied up, and soon, his new toughness and increased strength paid dividends and he won a damage trade-off for the first time.
Won a damage trade-off against its arms at least.
The eight-armed necrotic monstrosity roared as two of its arms were ripped off and Orodan fell to the ground with them.
He was definitely far more beat up overall than it was. But he had made genuine progress.
What’s more, the necromancer was not amused.
“Raaargh! What are you?! A zombie?! Kill him now!” she shrieked.
And soon enough Orodan was sent back to being awoken by the harpies once more.
Many more loops of mad battle passed. Orodan fought, killed, inflicted damage upon his foe, and died.
Attempt one-thousand six-hundred and eighty-seven brought with it a tipping point where his wrestling became good enough that he could effectively tie up four of its arms and pummel it with impunity.
Now, it was just a matter of time and vitality for him to wear it down and kill it. And he was going to eventually start winning the damage trade.
Too bad that the necromancer was a spoilsport and promptly sent in the Elite-skeleton that had crushed his head a while ago; alongside five Adept-level undead wolves. Together they decided to gang up on him and assist the abomination.
He was mobbed and killed. But not without the realization that he could now, with some decent exertion, destroy the Elite-skeleton which killed him the first time.
Attempt two-thousand three-hundred and forty-three was the loop where he grappled the abomination into submission, managed to destroy the interfering skeleton and undead wolves, and was about to win.
Which was when the necromancer pulled out another trick and decided to glow a sickly green. She connected an energy tether to the abomination, which started healing and growing stronger, albeit at the rapid expense of its own integrity and condition.
Suffice to say, he lost against this newly empowered abomination. Still, it was one more step towards victory and breaking the wall with his head.
Finally, the results came on loop three-thousand and seventy-three.
***
Orodan had disliked Eversong Plaza and House Argon before the time loops, but now he positively hated them.
Every little stone tile, every stupid stall, he had come to hate it all.
He had shattered each and every tile in his struggles against the abomination. He had disintegrated each and every stall as he was knocked around and thrown like a ragdoll.
One day when the loops were over, he really wanted to raze this dung hole into a crater.
But for now, House Argon’s destruction would suffice.
A single motion of his wrist, and his sword slaughtered the first Adept who he had slain thousands of times.
He shot like a cannonball along the plaza perimeter and killed each and every single Apprentice-level guard of House Argon. They were butchered like chickens before they had the chance to even realize what killed them. His tireless will demanded he follow through and end the traitorous house.
A second passed, and Buximus and the spear-Adept rushed him but were slain in a single blow each as Orodan activated Death Rage. At level 53 the empowerment skill completely overwhelmed Adepts as though they were children before a grown man in rage.
Sagatos and the following five Adepts that rushed out were slain by the time two seconds had passed.
Lord Aeglos the cowardly pyromancer was met by a Shield Throw which decapitated him before he could cast a fire beam and Orodan himself then proceeded to roar.
It was a deep, guttural thing which came from within and carried far farther than it naturally should. It held the rage and sheer bloodlust that had built up within him over the thousands of times he had died and the thousands of lives he had reaped.
The necromancer’s pet beast had taught him well what real savagery and ferocity were.
[New Skill (Rare) → War Cry 1]
“Your Lord and every worm of House Argon outside the tavern lies dead! Come out and avenge him! And send for the necromancer and her pets too!”
Nearly fifty Adepts stormed out of the tavern doors to see a single man standing before them, surrounded by corpses. Blood seeped out of his eyes, nose and mouth as the effects of the Death Rage were quite detrimental to his health.
Of course, they didn’t know just how deep Orodan’s vitality ran.
They charged, and they were butchered. Pieces flew everywhere and blood stained the stone tiles of Eversong Plaza. The ones at the rear attempted to flee only to find they could not, courtesy of a Blessing locking their bodies up when they entertained the thought.
In the course of fighting it, Orodan came to respect the sheer rage, brutality and bloodlust of the abomination. They were traits worthy of a true warrior. While he didn’t intend to go around letting these traits control him. He felt that when needed, such savagery should be harnessed in battle.
And so Orodan had fought his enemy thousands of times and took after it. And he perfected the lesson he began learning as an orphaned street rat; that when the time for violence came, it was best to be the most violent person in the fight.
He waited two minutes before the arrival of the necromancer, and while he could have gone into the tavern, he did not. He refused to enter until he bested the obstacle in his path, it was a matter of principle. It was symbolic.
He would not be Orodan Wainwright if he didn’t bull-headedly break a wall in his path with his own head.
“You killed my favorite disciple!” the woman howled, but before she could get to casting a necrotic spell, Orodan interrupted her.
“Don’t waste my time. Your pathetic magic won’t work against me, send out the eight-armed warrior that serves you, it’s the only thing that can challenge me,” he spoke calmly, in contrast to the Death Rage running through him that was ravaging his veins.
Of course, she didn’t comply right away. But changed her mind after seeing how Orodan simply stood there with a nonplussed expression on his face as she launched her most powerful beams of pure necrotic wrath at him.
Her expression seemed far graver this loop.
The abomination came out, and Orodan wasted no time.
Both combatants were at a perfectly matched level of aggression and rage, and Orodan could now keep up with it.
He met its furious charge in the middle. And while he was still inferior to its raw strength, he could match its speed.
And he could definitely match it in terms of technique and ferocity.
Its claws found greatly reduced purchase in his flesh, and its attempts to grab and tear him apart were thrown off with pure Death Rage enhanced physicality as the gap in strength was no longer as massive.
He began bullying it with a combination of swordplay, shieldwork and unarmed strikes, and this time the necromancer immediately sent out her ancillary minions, which she decided to immediately empower with a necrotic tether at the cost of their lives. Something she had never done before.
She was taking Orodan very seriously this loop.
The abomination alongside its new allies met Orodan in a brutal and frenzied barrage of blows. Seven-on-one and yet Orodan still held strong, even if he was on the losing end of the exchange. Ten seconds passed before the undead wolves were crushed.
And before the skeletal warrior could meet the same fate despite its necrotic empowerment, the necromancer’s eyes glowed green and she began empowering the abomination as well.
It was a titanic and furious clash.
The skeleton monk, an Elite-level undead minion. One that had slain Orodan with casual ease thousands of loops ago.
This skeleton was now a non-factor and was pulverized within five seconds by the death zone of violent and savage fighting between Orodan and the abomination.
When empowered, the abomination’s skin would begin cracking and its eyes and wounds would start glowing green. Furthermore, its advantage in physical strength grew greatly and it even gained a small speed advantage over Orodan.
But Orodan was by now used to fighting uphill battles against foes who were his superior. This did not deter him in the slightest.
Every single skill he had was pushed to its limits and weaved together in a desperate and vicious fight that only got more dangerous as his vitality dipped lower.
The empowered abomination held the advantage and was slowly gaining ground on Orodan but was made to pay dearly for it.
And finally, Orodan was pressed to the point where the increased skill level of Dying Struggle allowed for him to activate it earlier. And the battle changed.
The higher level of Dying Struggle now made him nearly twice as powerful, and he used the advantage to his benefit by slamming the empowered monstrosity on its head with the strength advantage he now held, and slowly beginning to grapple its arms while pummelling and savaging it with repeated blows that were relentless.
The monster was an undead, but deep in its instincts it still retained the ability to recognize when a creature was more aggressive and lethally violent than it, and even as an undead it instinctually quivered and weakened under the Death Rage fuelled mauling by Orodan.
One by one, each of its eight arms came off, and finally Orodan stood on top of its back, pinning it onto the ground beneath him.
It must have looked comical, the man-sized Orodan on top of such a large beast. Overpowering the massively larger undead.
But nothing about this vicious struggle was funny, and Orodan barely wrapped both arms around the creature’s thick neck… and pulled.
It roared for the last time as green necrotic energy leaked out in increasing quantities, and finally, its head tore free from its shoulders. A move it had performed on Orodan himself countless times.
Finally. It was dead.
The previously insurmountable wall had been broken.
He looked up, its head in both his hands, towards its master.
Her gaunt face was filled with shock, and a true expression of fear.
“You’re… you’re a monster… that was a Demonic Berserker I empowered… no mortal should be able to match it blow for blow… not at your level.”
“And you’re a weakling and a coward, using your minions to fight for you,” Orodan insulted. “And now that they’re dead…your death approaches!”
She tried to flee, to escape, and at last when true death came for her, to evade. But Orodan’s second Blessing would let her do none of that.
The inklings of begging might have started to form on her face, as unused to such a thing as she might have been, being a Master-level mage.
But Orodan didn’t give her the time to think about it as a Power Strike pulverized her. A swifter death than she ever gave him.
[New Title: Master Slayer]
She was as physically weak and slow as the other mages he had fought in this damned plaza.
Finally, he allowed Death Rage to deactivate. He was left with only a tenth of his total life force. But even that was substantial enough to still allow him to explore. Furthermore, at the high level the skill was at, Unyielding Vitality now started allowing him to slowly recover his life force if he rested a bit. He’d be back to at least half of his overall vitality over the course of thirty or so minutes.
And so, for the first time in maybe close to ten-thousand loops. He stepped through the double doors of the Castarian’s Boot tavern.
***
There were no defensive measures waiting for him inside. And the interior was like any luxurious tavern he had heard about. Tables lined with expensive-looking silken cloths, counters behind which fancy bottles of drink were stocked, and numerous decorative chandeliers and banners bearing the motif of House Argon hung from the ceiling.
Orodan supposed it was a poor experience for his first time being inside a wealthy tavern, but he wasn’t overly impressed by the customer service of the whimpering servants inside. He left the servants be and moved onto the guards who attempted to resist him.
He kept interrogating guards and giving them a severe beating upon refusal to answer until one was forthcoming to his question of where the war machine was. An act which levelled his Intimidation to 7.
The trembling guard said that they weren’t informed of its exact location but did inform Orodan of the entrance to the tunnel systems which led under the mountain.
He entered and was shocked.
He was a street rat and an orphan who’d been inside Ogdenborough his whole life. A mere bumpkin from the poorest town in the Republic.
The sight of tunnels which were hundreds of feet tall and wide had him gaping like a fish. Was this what adventurers saw in the distant monster infestation sites they delved? Were sights like this common within the depths of the earth? Perhaps it wouldn’t be the worst career option.
The idyllic nature of his exploration was interrupted however as after a few minutes of sprinting through the tunnels he was ambushed by two Elite-level soldiers. Their armor was black and gold… Novarrian colors.
He dispatched both of them with some work but proceeded more cautiously moving forward.
After another ten minutes of delving deeper and following the beginnings of some strange metallic pipes he saw, he finally came to a rather large metallic console of sorts, guarded by a group of Adept-level armored warriors.
They wore the same black and gold armor. Novarrians. Imperial military.
Their captain, an Elite halberdier approached Orodan.
“Damn, so Master Fausta truly did fall out there… you Adenians have control of the Republic side of the mountain I take it?” the man with an ornate hat asked. “Well then, why have you come here alone? As a messenger? To ask us to surrender? I didn’t realize the Republic would give up this game and just attack early on the night of.”
“You’re mistaken, I’m no messenger and I haven’t come here to ask you to surrender. I butchered the soldiers of House Argon at the tavern and I’m looking for a way to stop this damn war machine they’re trying to awaken.”
Whatever the Novarrian captain was expecting to hear, that was not it.
Next to him his soldiers murmured in shock.
“You… what sort of negotiating tactic is this? Is that meant to be a threat? Have all the Imperial loyalists on the Republic side of the mountain been executed? Do you Adenians have no respect for the standards of war?!” the captain exclaimed. “There are hundreds of troops deeper down the caverns, just so you’re aware. It won’t be a bloodless victory for you!”
Orodan quirked an eyebrow.
This man was a little too forthcoming, friendly and willing to talk for someone that should be an enemy of the Republic.
“Why are you talking to me so freely? Who are you?” Orodan asked.
“Captain Tibiratus Vicena, of the third penal battalion… as you can tell. Those of us down here are the sacrifices of the Empire. Sent to guard this spot till that thing’s activated, and we’ll die as a result when it does,” the man replied. “So… I wouldn’t be opposed to facilitating the honorable surrender of my unit. We’ll be killed by our own forces if we try to leave through the other side of the mountain.”
It made sense. Orodan doubted the people chosen to guard the tunnels inside the mountain would have a high survival rate when the metallic giant awakened.
“These tunnels connect to the Novarrian side of the mountains?”
“Of course! Why do you think that tavern on the Republic side exists, and where do you think we all came from?” Tibiratus replied.
“Well… I have no idea what’s going on… what’s this farce everyone’s talking about? Why hasn’t the Republic raided this place already, and why the hell do Northmen show up?” Orodan asked bluntly, tired of the prancing about.
“You… you really don’t know?” the captain asked. “So… what’s actually happened out there at the tavern? Where’s Master Fausta? Who are you really?”
“I’ve already told you. I killed everyone up there besides the non-combatants, and if this Master Fausta of yours is the necromancer with an eight-armed Demonic Berserker as a minion, then I killed her and her pets too. Now hurry up and tell me what’s going on before I decide you’re next.”
Tibiratus Vicena visibly gulped, and for the first time he seemed to take Orodan very seriously and realize the gravity of the situation he was in.
Nobody would arrive down here alone and simply claim to have killed a Master if there wasn’t truth to it. And Tibiratus wasn’t going to ask the man about his titles, which were obviously a disguise if he was able to kill a Master.
“I apologize sir… to put it bluntly, both the Republic and the Empire have been coveting the machine for decades now. But it wasn’t until recently that the means to activate it were found. However, it was Republic scholars who found the second half of the key, while the Empire already had the first. So, the both of them agreed to ‘work together’ to activate it,” Tibiratus replied in a most respectful tone as he diligently explained. “Also, the machine can only be activated at a certain time of year, which funnily enough starts from today in the afternoon. I believe the charade both sides are playing is pretending to get along until the time for activating the machine arrives. Both Republic and Imperial researcher and guard teams are down in the main control chamber. It’s an open secret among both sides that a bloodbath will start in that room when the time comes…”
Orodan finally had a general understanding of the situation. The war machine was something both sides were supposed to work on activating, but of course both the Republic and the Empire planned on mutually backstabbing one another. And it made sense for the losing side to send a massive response around that time in the hopes of taking back control of the machine.
Given the desperate attack he saw at the tavern… he believed the Republic’s team down in the control chamber were on the losing side. Furthermore, he recalled one of the Republic soldiers denouncing House Argon as traitors.
So then…
“Say… how are your relations with House Argon?” Orodan asked.
“House Argon? They’re a noble house of the Republic sir, we don’t have many dealings with them.”
Orodan couldn’t confirm anything, but he now suspected that House Argon’s betrayal might have been what lead to the Imperials gaining control of the machine and the desperate attack at noon, which was quite near the time for the machine to activate.
The Republic might have been aware that the Imperial would try fighting, but perhaps they hadn’t known of the impending betrayal by House Argon.
From what he recalled of his first life, House Argon and the Guzuharans had been fighting a rather defensive battle and were trying to delay and buy as much time as possible.
“Alright, that’s enough. My head hurts thinking about this. Politics were never my strong suit during training in the militia… tell me where the main control chamber is,” Orodan said. “Also, the way up to the Republic side is entirely clear. I’ve killed mostly everyone. Get out.”
They didn’t have to be told twice, and once Tibiratus finished explaining to Orodan where the control chamber was, they scampered off quickly.
The directions were thankfully straightforward, and the tunnel paths themselves naturally lead there.
And as Orodan continued delving deeper down the tunnels the question of why there were so many guards posted throughout, was answered. It was an answer in the form of a weird skittering centipede, as large as a horse and much longer.
Thankfully they were monsters that could be slain by Adept-level guards, so they posed no threat to him whatsoever. But it did mean that unless they wanted the tunnels crawling with these things, they needed guards around the junctions.
And guards Orodan did find.
Every minute or so of sprinting led him into groups of a dozen or so Adepts wearing Novarrian colors. The initial groups were penal battalion soldiers and decided to simply give him a wide berth and flee out the way he came once he informed them of the situation on the surface.
But as he got deeper the strength of the guards increased, and they refused to back down without a fight.
He killed four separate groups of a dozen high-level Adepts on his journey, and finally, he arrived in the largest subterranean chamber he had seen thus far. At one end of the chamber was the entrance, which split off in two directions. One where he came from, and one a direction Orodan could only assume was towards the Novarrian entrance to the tunnels. Both paths led to this massive chamber however.
On the other end of the chamber was a large metallic gate which looked firmly shut. In front of it stood the strongest group Orodan had yet encountered.
A group of ten Elite Novarrian soldiers, their leader, a near-Master level warrior in heavy armor with a sword and shield. And it didn’t look as though the man was interested in any sort of dialogue.
Orodan activated Death Rage and prepared for a fight.
