elra
patreon
An Otherworldly Scholar - 179
🕑 Added 2024-11-24 02:11:46 +0000 UTCThe citadel exploded, and blocks of stone showered all across Umolo. A chunk of the citadel hit the wall near the outer camp, and the rain of rock and dust obscured my view of the night sky. I covered my eyes. Debris fell on the outer camp, but other than a few collapsed tents, nobody was wounded.
The tiny patch of Corruption on my chest dug into my flesh.
The Black Spire rose like a thorn from the mountainside.
“The Greyfangs are going nuts! They are attacking the base camp!” Ginz emerged from the cloud of dust, coughing.
I had a bad feeling.
I powered my Wind-Shoot Boots, but the mana felt unstable, so I canceled the spell before it could misfire.
Wind-Shot Boots. [Identify]: Wind-infused boots that can create small air currents at the user's discretion. Enchantment threshold: 340/290. Status: Degrading.
“Firana! Get me to the wall!” I shouted.
The girl dropped from the eastern platform and ran by my side until we were before Umolo’s wall. The block of the citadel had made the wall partially collapse, so the jump wasn’t as high as usual. Firana put her arm around my shoulders and used [Aerokinesis]. She propelled us over the rubble and on top of the wall.
I let [Foresight] scan the city.
My [Night Vision] allowed me to see everything.
Skirmishes erupted along the camp. Greyfangs and Umolo Orcs attacked the tribes. Something wasn’t right. I strained my mana sense. The world lost its colors until only the trails of environmental mana remained. The Black Spire burned like an effigy in the night, its tentacles of mana threatening to swallow the world. Hundreds of black mana threads emerged from its surface, connecting to the Greyfang heads.
Mana surged through their bodies as they launched spells left and right. Magic users weren’t an opponent common orcs could face.
“Puppets,” I muttered.
Ginz was right. We had to go.
“Firana, tell the elders the Greyfangs have fallen to Corruption. Tell them to break camp. We are leaving Umolo. I don’t think that is something we can destroy,” I said, pointing at the Black Spire.
The girl took a running start. Mana swirled around her legs, and she took off with a crack like thunder. A violent gust pushed my hair back. Firana was suspended in the air, and for a moment, I couldn’t tell if she was jumping or flying. She landed a hundred meters away on the archer’s platform.
Could she control that much mana before?
Prompts from the battle appeared before my eyes, but I dismissed them. I had no time to waste. I needed to probe how strong the possessed Greyfangs were. I dropped into the city and rushed toward the Teal Moon camp. The power of [Mirage] surrounded my body, and I became a shadow.
Enraged Greyfangs assaulted the nearby Purple Lotus camp.
A fireball illuminated the night sky, and a squad of Purple Lotus orcs was sent flying against the tents. I peeked over the corner. The Greyfang’s skin had turned black, overrun by Corruption. Even their eyes were like obsidian.
I was unsure how my mana barrier would react against their spells. As my mana barrier wasn’t a proper Skill, I couldn’t just identify it. I needed to minimize the risk. The effect of the Energy Potion would wear off eventually, and I would be out of combat.
A crazed Greyfang plowed through a tent and scanned the camp. Purple Lotus warriors appeared for the south, half a dozen of them. Mana surged through the Greyfang’s corrupted body, and a flying icicle shot faster than my eyes could follow. A Lotus warrior was skewered, but the rest managed to cover the distance between them and the Greyfang. The fight, however, didn’t tilt to their advantage.
The Greyfang’s skin was hard as Ghoul leather, and its movements were nimble as an elf’s. [Foresight] pinged my brain, pressing me to run away. I felt the same way when I faced the possessed Chrysalimorphs. I decided to trust my gut. There were more Greyfangs in Umolo than we could deal with, even with the Teal Moon tribe's help, but to flee, we needed supplies and accommodation for more than a thousand orcs.
I missed last week when I was in charge of only four kids.
The Purple Lotus warriors struggled to subdue their opponent, even if they were five to one. Their weapons barely scratched the Greyfang’s skin.
One of the warriors stepped back. He opened his hands to the sky and closed his eyes like he was praying. Out of nowhere, a surge of raw Fountain mana blew away the destroyed tents. I understood what was happening a moment too late. The Purple Lotus warrior burned like a wick.
The Warrior’s Trance.
The tide of the battle changed. The trance warrior was as fast and strong as the Greyfang; however, his defense didn’t seem to increase. It took only a single opening for the Greyfang to chop off the Purple Lotus orc’s arm, but that didn’t dissuade the warrior. Something was out of place. The Purple Lotus Warrior attacked with a flurry of mana-charged attacks, but the barrier around the Greyfang remained intact.
They exchanged blows faster than the regular eye could follow until the Fountain mana disappeared and, like a spent lightbulb, the light inside Purple Lotus Warrior went out.
Although he was wounded, the corrupted Grayfang remained standing.
I sharpened my mana sense. The thread connecting the Greyfang to the Black Spire supplied him with a constant stream of mana. Then, I looked inside of me. My mana pool was already half-depleted from the fight against the monster wave, and I wasn’t sure I could wage an extended battle against the Greyfang.
[Foresight] pinged my brain.
The Overseer's enchanted sword was hanging from my waist, inside the sheath.
I drew the sword, and my mana sense caught a red hue.
Anti-Magic enchantment.
The Greyfang unleashed a barrage of fireballs on the Purple Lotus warriors.
I jumped out of my hideout and sneaked into the Greyfang’s back like a shadow. [Swordsmanship] took control of my body, and [Foresight] showed me the closest path to the kill. I aimed at the thread connecting the Greyfang to the Spire, but my sword only cut through air.
I cursed.
Changing course before the Greyfang could detect, I chained an attack towards his neck. The Black Spire overcharged the shield. My sword hovered a millimeter away from the Greyfang’s skin. Black sparkles shot out in every direction, leaving dark marks on the tents and the ground. The orc turned around, his glassy eyes black as night. [Foresight] sent an unequivocal message into my brain. Danger.
I panicked and fed the enchanted sword half of my remaining mana. My body trembled as a freezing wave hit me—mana exhaustion. The Greyfang channeled a fireball in his hand, and the heat seared my clothes.
[Foresight] screamed in my ear.
Run. Run. Run.
I sidestepped and, with a swift movement, stabbed the Greyfang’s eye.
The sword broke the barrier, but the orc managed to slam into my chest before falling to the ground like someone had cut the strings of a puppet. I landed in a tent, feeling like a car had just hit me. The Greyfang’s was too fast even for [Swordsmanship] to allow me to adopt defensive maneuvers.
The Greyfang was dead, but my fears were confirmed.
I grunted as I got on my feet and stumbled towards the Teal Moon camp.
The infinite mana shield would be a problem as long as we were in the range of the Black Spire—if it even had a limited range. One way or another, we weren’t in a position to fight.
When I was halfway through Umolo, Ilya’s [Spirit Animal] landed on my head, and a moment later, the four kids were around me.
“The outer camp is preparing to march,” Wolf said. “There are still three hundred Teal Moon non-combatants in here. We need to get them out. Chieftain Dassyra is preparing a safe passage, but we can’t catch the Greyfang’s attention.”
I nodded.
When we reached the camp, the Teal Moon orcs were already packing their bags. Our tent was turned into a pile of tight-knotted sacks. I didn’t expect them to have the work so far along.
“What can I say? I’m a better messenger than Corin,” Firana said.
While I was fighting the Greyfang, Wolf already had the camp in motion. In a single afternoon as a Warchief, he was already more effective than most politicians.
Luckily, the Teal Moon camp was in the corner of Umolo, and the fighting hadn’t reached it yet. I climbed the roof of the bathhouse. The Greyfangs spread over the base camp, wreaking havoc despite the difference in numbers.
“Ten minutes, and we are going! Leave anything you can’t carry!” Wolf yelled from the top of his lungs, just below me.
“Leaving Umolo will mean the Teal Moon will leave the pact,” Little One pointed out.
I could barely hear their conversation.
“The pact is already broken,” Wolf replied. “Umolo will not survive the night.”
The Teal Moon orcs obeyed. They worked fast and methodically, like firefighters in an emergency. Every single one of them knew what to do. Tents, tools, and supplies were loaded in carts, and a caravan walked down the wall to the main gate. Only what was destroyed by the citadel’s explosion was left behind.
“You had to play with Corruption, you idiots,” I grunted as I scanned the battle between the tribes of the pact and Umolo’s corrupted warriors.
“Aren’t we doing the same with the System?” Ilya asked.
I didn’t sense her approaching.
The System was a huge gamble. Orcs and elves knew it. None of this would've happened if they had shared their methods since the beginning, yet I understood why they kept their secrets. The Warrior’s Trance and the Holone Grapes weren’t just defensive measures but weapons of great power. Sharing them with rival settlements would be a massive security risk.
The orcs of the outer camp didn’t use the trance during combat, which made me think that even they didn’t know how to trigger it.
“Did we cause this?” Ilya asked.
The concern in her voice was almost palpable.
“No. This is the Lich’s doing. Worsened by the Avatar’s mistakes, worsened by lack of information, and worsened by greed,” I replied, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Watching the distant fighting made my stomach shrink.
I wondered if the situation had a solution at all.
How much time had passed since the System was created? The whole world seemed to have forgotten about its origins. For the people of the kingdom of Ebros, the System just existed to protect them from the Farlands. It would be impossible to convince them to abandon it.
“We should be going,” Ilya said.
“Let’s cover the retreat.”
I was surprised to see that where the Teal Moon camp was, there was now an empty plot of flattened land. The Orcs were so disciplined that, at times, they even seemed robotic. Still, I didn’t expect them to pack everything in a few minutes.
The Teal Moon warriors entered the city and created a path for the caravan to exit.
No Greyfangs had reached the gates yet.
A few meters ahead, Wolf was having a discussion with Zaon.
“...this is an orc’s problem,” Wolf said.
“Can’t we help them, though?” Zaon replied.
“Not this time,” I interjected. “Let’s take the Teal Moon tribe and the orcs of the outer camp far from this mess. It’s as much as we can do.”
I was the only one who could stand toe to toe against the Greyfangs, and I didn’t trust the draining bullets to deplete the Greyfang’s armor as long as they were connected to the Black Spire.
I glanced at Umolo one last time before crossing the city gates.
The Black Spire stood defiant, dominating the valley like a spiral of death.
I hoped Farcrest would be doing better.
A long caravan headed east under the light of torches and magical lights. Orcs didn’t have draft animals, but that didn’t prevent them from moving heavy carts at a surprisingly fast speed.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
As far as I knew, Umolo was the only permanent orc bastion.
“Chieftain Dassyra knows a place hidden among the mountains. Only three entrances, one of them recently collapsed, it’s easy to defend,” Wolf replied.
I knew where Dassyra was taking us—Mister Lowell’s secret farming spot.
“Will the caravan be able to get through the forest?”
“We might not have walls, but we have roads. This is our territory. When the monsters come, we step back to let them through. If they decide to stay, we hunt them down,” Wolf replied. “Mobility is survival, and we have taken precautions to travel fast.”
I nodded.
Orcs were nomads, but they weren’t primitive at all.
Fifteen hundred orcs walked into the woods in complete silence. We took the rear of the caravan among a few Teal Moon warriors. The forest drowned the sounds from the battle we left behind. Nobody followed us, and the path was devoid of monsters.
Wolf’s position as a Warchief had me worried.
After an hour of marching, I dared to speak again.
“Wolf?” I whispered.
The Teal Moon warriors glared at me as I approached the orc boy.
“Aren’t things too smooth with the tribe?” I said, pointing at the caravan.
Wolf gave me a sad smile.
“Oh… if I mess up, they are totally killing me. For now, I have Chieftain Dassyra and Chieftain Oro’s support, so there’s no discussion to have,” he said, his voice quivered.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” I replied, glancing at the Teal Moon warriors.
“Thanks,” Wolf laughed nervously. “The enchanted armor you gave our warriors helped a lot. It isn’t just useful but shows your interest in the tribe’s survival. Old orc ladies loved that you helped protect their sons and daughters.”
“I guess old ladies have a lot of soft power.”
The caravan continued traveling through the forest. To reach the entrance to Lowell’s secret gathering spot, we had to leave the Umolo’s valley for the east, turn south around the mountain range, and then west. It would take us only a few days, but I was sure the Lich wouldn’t show us that much courtesy.
A lot could go wrong, and Wolf’s neck was on the line.
“Baldwin IV was only thirteen when he was crowned king of Jerusalem. Wolf can do this.”
The thought didn’t bring me much peace.
“Warchief Revered Robert Clarke!” Kara said, crashing my train of thought.
The girl slithered through the carts and under the glance of the Teal Moon warriors. The chainmail didn’t seem to slow her down.
“Kara, the battle is over. Please, drop the honorifics,” I greeted the girl.
“Well, regarding that… the elders are pleased with the current state of affairs, so they decided to extend your appointment as Warchief.”
The news felt like a bucket of cold water. I closed my eyes and saw the vivid image of my father raising his eyebrows and saying something about manhood and responsibility. When I opened my eyes, Kara was still there, awaiting an answer.
“Good. Tell them I’m sorting things out with the Warchief of the Teal Moon tribe,” I said. “Umolo has fallen, and it’s time for a new alliance.”
Firana jumped forward.
“Are we starting a cult?”
“Stop trying to make the cult happen, Firana,” Ilya replied. “It’s not going to happen.”
“You take the fun out of everything,” Firana sighed.
“Cult leaders usually don’t live to see old age,” Zaon pointed out.
We continued walking for hours, and with the sunrise, we abandoned the valley through the eastern pass. I thought we would stop for a rest, but the stoppage was due to a stuck cart. A moment later, the caravan continued.
As we reached the highest part of the pass, I sat on a rock. The Black Spire towered menacingly to the west. The Warden’s Tree didn’t evoke a more jolly feeling, but at least it wasn’t a solid Corruption turd.
Slowly, it set in on me. The world was changing faster than its people could catch up to. Even if it was just a coincidence, I was in the position of choosing the course of history.
I wondered if I should make the decision.
I had regained my confidence as a teacher, but I wasn’t deranged enough to believe I had all the correct answers. The Avatar believed the System’s Corruption problem was fixable. Byrne believed the opposite. Orcs rejected the System. Elves partially used it but refused to share their secrets. None seemed wrong, but none seemed right either.
“Do you even want to be a Warchief, Wolf?” I asked.
The boy shook his head.
“Even after all this misadventure, I’m still unsure what I want. I didn’t get a Class because I wanted to. I didn’t slay Callaid because I wanted to, either. I did it because it was necessary,” he said.
I felt a surge of pride but did my best to hide it. It was a good answer—simple, even. Even if it was hard, ugly, or painful, someone had to do it. Maybe it was the same for me. I didn’t want to choose other people's destiny, but this time, it was necessary.
“I’m thinking about a new order of loyal warriors,” I said.
“All orc warriors are loyal to the tribe,” an orc scout standing nearby pointed out. “Korg is only saying,” he added, shrugging.
Loyal not to the Warchief but to the tribe.
“Ginz?” I asked. “You better prepare those magic hands. We had a lot of work to do.”
The Craftsman gave me a mischievous glance.
“Aye, aye, captain.”
Comments
Ben Bass
TYFTC! It looks like things have hit the point where corruption is growing ever faster, unraveling the system much faster than Rob or anyone hoped. Will Rob be able to fix the system as the avatar wants, re-write it in his own way, let it unravel entirely or do something completely different? Anyway Rob will need to make a decision and devise a plan of action soon. Let’s hope he doesn’t have to go from earth shattering decision to decision without being able to come up with a larger cohesive plan…
Michael Wilson
“I am known as Rob Maud’dib. I am the voice from the Outer World.”
