The Conciege
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ROTLE- Chapter 49- Lesser Than The Less
🕑 Added 2024-08-30 21:02:59 +0000 UTCThe [Gambler] class was a class of luck. By every means known to Aiden, the system of Nastild had no [Luck] stat. Not among the humans or the non-humans. He didn’t know of an animal that had it, a general monster that had it, or even a unique monster that had it.
And if the Order knew about it, then it was in the archives hidden within the archives. The library nobody knew the Order had. Not even the Order itself… perhaps. With the Order, it was hard to tell, they were so wrapped in secrets that they shrouded their secrets in the secrets of others.
So what the [Gambler] class really was, was the class of probability. No, it did not increase probability, it did not bend fate to the person’s whim. It merely took advantage of it.
It was also a rare class, so rare that most people knew next to nothing about it.
Aiden could see why the boy was not growing in level. On Nastild you focused on the things that benefited your class to grow your level. So what kinds of actions benefited the [Gambler] class? A class that benefited off of successful risks.
The boy’s class was nigh useless. Teaching it was as much a gamble as the name of the class.
I guess life isn’t fair.
“I’ll think of something,” he told Fjord, moving up to join the others.
Fjord wore a downcast look but said nothing. It seemed that Aiden hadn’t been the first person he had asked for help. And ‘I’ll think of something’ seemed to have become a part of the boy’s life, a string of words that meant ‘I can’t help you.’
Aiden put it out of his mind as he crouched beside Taliner. “What do you see?”
She pointed forward and Aiden followed the direction of her finger.
Just there, dancing between two trees, was an elevated ground. It was covered in grass and fern, and shrubbery of three colors. Aiden squinted at it. The elevation was as high as a man was tall. It was also a section of the forest that span as far to both sides as the eyes could see. It was merely higher between the trees they were looking at.
It seemed like they had come upon a different section of the forest.
“Any sign of a mantis?” he asked, still surveying the view.
Taliner shook her head. “I lost it a while back and followed the one Bora pointed out.”
Aiden remembered Bora exchanging a word or two with Otid at one point but hadn’t thought much of it. The exchange had been short and Otid had seemed annoyed by it. Personally, Aiden had thought the man was trying to convince Otid of something.
It wasn’t beyond common sense to try and bribe your way out of a problem.
“Are the marks here?” he asked Taliner. “Where was the last one?”
Taliner looked down and Aiden followed her eyes. Just there on a visible tree root was a single scarred line. It was large, deep, and clean. At least as clean as an animal marking could be.
It’s already making a territory for itself.
Aiden looked back at Fjord. “How long has this thing been missing?”
“More than a week,” Fjord answered.
Bora shot him a scowl. “You’ll answer to me once we get back, boy. Best be sure of that.”
Aiden sighed and looked at him. “Keep threatening the kid and you might not be around for him to answer to by the time he gets back.”
Otid gave him a strange look. Aiden wasn’t sure if it was because of how quick he was to defend Fjord or if it had something to do with the depth of the threat. After a moment, he realized another possibility, one he really should’ve considered.
He was calling a boy no more than a year younger than him ‘kid’ as if he was some old man. Aiden could see how it could be odd. Especially when he did it so naturally.
“There’s an opening right there.” Taliner pointed once more. “The shrubbery. Something’s off about it.”
Aiden didn’t look long to know that she was right. In the evening breeze, the shrubbery swayed, its leaves ruffling. But there was something off about it. It was also moving at its base. None of the plant life in front of them, Aiden discovered, had sprouted from the ground.
Fharanals were known to possess some level of intelligence. If this was its nest, Aiden wouldn’t be surprised if it had actually covered the entrance with false plant life.
“Impressive, isn’t it.” Bora grinned. “They are quite the fascinating creatures.”
“They should be dead creatures,” Otid scowled at him.
“Not for the price they go for.” Bora’s grin widened and showed teeth.
In some story somewhere where mothers told bed time tales of terrible men and unfortunate woes, Bora had a toothy grin with a few missing teeth, a breath of deep old tobacco, and some kind of wart or scar.
But this was Nastild, a world of proper fantasy where everyone was blessed by it. It was difficult to run into a person over the age of eighteen with any real terrible ailment. If you were healthy until your eighteenth birthday, there was too little of a chance that that would change.
Still, there was something off-putting about the man’s grin. Something about it made Aiden want to slap him across the face. He obviously didn’t.
Otid ignored the man and turned to Aiden. “If that is what we think it is,” he said. “I say we go in there and confirm it.”
Aiden shrugged. “I don’t see any reason why not. You’re the one in charge here.”
Otid paused and Taliner chuckled. It was a muffled sound, suppressed for the sake of how serious the situation was. But it was unmistakable.
“Well, you’ve been acting like you’re the one in charge,” Otid grumbled, voice so low it could’ve been to himself.
Aiden smiled, amused. “And for that, I apologize.”
Otid schooled his face back to seriousness. “How bad is it? Really?”
“Together,” Aiden said honestly, “we’d be hard pressed to win. It can be a tricky creature. Unless you've got the [Beast Tamer] class."
“So we can’t fight it.”
Aiden nodded. They couldn't find it in its nest. And as good as he was, Aiden was unfortunately specialized in fighting people not monsters. He could face monsters, yes. But facing people was where he was confident.
Bora snorted. “And we don’t have to. We’re poachers not imbeciles. We don’t go around getting into trouble that we can avoid.”
Aiden’s eyes narrowed at that. “What’s it’s level?”
“Sixty-two,” he said, nonchalant, as if he was talking about some hapless child.
Otid paled. Taliner frowned. As for Aiden, he really, really wanted to slap Bora.
Bora, for his part, shook his head and reached inside his shirt. He brought out a vial with a white liquid inside it. It sloshed about as he twirled it.
Aiden’s brows furrowed as his mind went through what he knew about the Fharanal and how to hunt it.
“Dahnal semen?” he said, appalled. “Just how stupid is your group? Unless…” He paused. “Rotsbane and Leshri’s dung.”
Bora grinned at him. “Maybe you aren’t just some stupid noble’s kid playing adventurer.”
Aiden clenched his jaw but said nothing. After all, he actually wasn’t some stupid noble’s kid playing adventurer.
Fharanals were capable of self reproduction but they weren’t asexual. And they enjoyed their mating seasons which was every season. However, the Dahnals didn’t enjoy it as much as they did. Fharanals were known to go into a fit of rage at the smell of a Dahnal’s semen or even the slightest secretion of its pheromones.
Most times, they ran into so strong a fit of rage that they would forget they were meant to be the females in the mating activity. In summary, if there was a vial of Dahnal semen present, the dumbest thing you could do was to get between it and a Fharanal.
“It’s a mixed concoction, kid,” Bora was saying. “Semen, rotsbane and dung. It will put it out like a child filled with milk from its mother’s teat.”
“That’s if it’s in there,” Otid pointed out.
“Oh, its in there, my adventuring friend.” Bora swirled the contents of the vial menacingly. “It’s in there.”
How the man succeeded in making the act of swirling a vial look menacing was impressive by Aiden’s standard.
Otid looked at Aiden. “We go in?”
Aiden didn’t point out that Otid was in charge this time. Instead, he nodded and moved ahead. Taliner grabbed him before he took the lead.
“Wouldn’t want your father mourning before he even gets to celebrate now, would we?” she said with a grin.
Aiden’s brows rose in confusion but Taliner was already walking past him, taking the lead.
True to their suspicion, the shrubbery and tall grasses that seemed to mask the entrance were not naturally placed there. They were not connected to any other plant neither did they grow from the ground.
“Smart bastard,” Bora muttered, a touch of fascinated excitement in his voice.
Otid drew his sword gently and rested its blade on the shoulder of the squatted man, standing behind him. “Do anything stupid and your head goes first.”
Bora turned back to look at him. He placed a finger on the blade of the sword and gently moved it aside. “I thought adventurers were the heroes in the stories where knights didn’t show up? Keep your pants on.”
Bora got up and pushed the plants aside. Aiden watched him, unhappy. He didn’t like the man’s confidence. Not one bit. Maybe it came with not knowing their exact levels but a level 23 poacher had no place being so confident in the presence of three adventurers. Especially a confidence that turned up so suddenly after finding their quarry.
If he has one vial hidden in his shirt, he can easily have two.
Aiden came to the conclusion of paying extra attention to the man. The wariness you gave to a man with a sword, after all, was always different from the one you gave to a man lurking in the corner with poison in hand.
As for their current quarry, Fharanals nested in burrows. When you walk in a desert, everyone knew to stay away from man-sized holes burrowed in the sand.
“Isn’t it a beauty,” Bora marveled as a path opened into the hole.
It was cavernous, soft broken up dirt that made the walls and roofs solidified to rocks. There was no falling debris of sand from the ceiling.
Otid touched the wall to his side. There was a frown in his voice when he spoke. “Too dark.”
Aiden reached into one of his many pockets and pulled out a small orb. He channeled mana into it and it let out a soft glow, blue-white. It encased the area around them in its light. The ground was barren of plant life, not even the shortest blade of grass. The walls and ceiling were a deep mud brown as was to be expected of a burrowed cave.
Aiden rapped his knuckle against the wall. The sound came out as if he was knocking glass.
Otid looked at him. “You really have everything in those belts of yours, don’t you?”
“Everything but food,” Aiden replied.
“Isn’t it amazing,” Bora said suddenly, hands gliding over the walls.
Aiden tilted his head to the side and realized that the walls were actually glossy if you looked at it from the right angle in the light. The ceiling too.
Bora’s smile was slightly manic, awe turned to a slight touch of euphoria. “As they burrow, they coat the place in their own fluid. It holds the place intact and serves to mark the territory. Lesser creatures wouldn’t dare to venture in here.”
“That makes us lesser than the less,” Taliner muttered.
Fjord walked quietly beside Aiden, crestfallen. He was likely still disappointed by Aiden’s words. How disappointed will he be when he finds out that I’m not even a noble?
They were still moving forward when Aiden felt something wrong, different. It was a straight tunnel, stretching for the length of at least a five minutes’ stroll.
“Fharanals don’t built tunnels in their burrows,” Bora was explaining even though no one had asked or was listening. “They make the single tunnel because they are brave creatures that will not back down. Some say they revel in the kill.”
Aiden moved the hand holding the orb of light closer to the pocket he’d gotten it from. “How did you people lose the creature?” he asked.
He didn’t know what it was but something was wrong. Fharanals were known to be intelligent in the way that dolphins are said to be intelligent. For all he knew, they could’ve just done the stupid thing of being lured into a trap.
Bora’s face squeezed in barely concealed rage at the question. “It broke out of its cage. Killed three of our guys before scurrying off.”
“Broke out, how?”
“A certain fool,” Bora shot Fjord a dark look, “forgot to secure the cage.”
Fjord looked down and away. “I did it properly,” he muttered, “just the way you showed me. I swear some of the bars were chipped.”
“Sabotage,” Bora scoffed. “You’re still sticking to that story. The last crew’s already dead. They chased us and we killed them. No one could’ve sabotaged nothing.”
Taliner’s expression darkened. “You just admitted to murder.”
“And what are you going to do about it?” Bora shot her a confident look that said he wasn’t afraid of her, not right now. “Not like you’re the king’s men or women. And they were poachers. They don’t fall under the protection of the king’s laws or the adventurers.’”
Aiden ignored the man and turned to Fjord. “Chipped how?”
“Like they’d cut it roughly on purpose.”
“Wouldn’t that have been obvious?”
Fjord shook his head. “When it got out, there were too many skills flying, the cage was a mess.”
“Then how did you plan on transporting it back?”
Bora waved the question aside. “Boss has got that taken care of. Ours is just to find the damned—Oi! Who the fuck are you?”
Aiden paused.
But before he could do anything, Bora had reached into his shirt and was already throwing a round vial at whoever he’d seen.
The person came into sight just before the vial hit him. Still, the vial never actually did. The man stood with a raised, gloved hand and the vial stopped maybe three inches from his open hand. It stayed there, suspended in mid air.
Bora didn’t hesitate in his surprise. He reached across himself and threw something, handclaw deftly manipulated in the action. Whatever he threw smashed into the bottle and it exploded in a spray of brown. It was like watching an explosion of dust.
Aiden took a step to the side. This was already a mess. If the person was supposed to be a potential enemy, the person was definitely an enemy now.
The dust didn’t settle for a little too long. Aiden frowned, watched it for a moment longer. He made sure there was no subtle disturbances. If the man was going to step out of the cloud of dust, no matter how quickly, it would leave a disturbance. None occurred.
Instead, a swirl appeared at the center of the cloud, then it pulled to the side, dragging the rest of the dust cloud with it. Everything pooled to the side and the man came back into view. With a swipe of his hand the entire dust cloud blew past him. It bent around him, flowing deeper into the tunnel.
“Nice going, nimrod,” Otid scowled, holding his sword out in front of him.
Taliner stepped forward, hesitated. “Look?”
Behind the man was a massive looking creature as tall as a man. It looked like a scorpion. Aiden would’ve thought it dead if it’s massive front claw wasn’t still twitching. In front of it the man stood calmly. The lower half of his face was covered with a piece of cloth, giving his face that old western bandit look. His clean shaven head stared at them along with his deep green eyes. In his hand he held a simple contraption. Aiden recognized it for what it was. A special pocket trap.
The man kept his eyes on them. It moved to the side for the briefest moment and Aiden saw a massive hammer rested against the wall. Its handle was as long as a man was tall and its head as large as a barrel, maybe two.
Strength class? Aiden thought, eyes shifting back to the man.
The man raised his hand to his side, bringing it and the contraption he held to attention. Then he dropped the contraption.
The moment it hit the ground, he was gone. Aiden didn’t know how many people had fallen for the misdirection but he had not been one of them.
Bora was the first to fall, letting out a pained grunt. Aiden stepped back, hands raised in defense. Otid went next, but he didn’t fall immediately. He let out a grunt. It was followed by the loud sound of what was clearly a painful punch. Then another grunt. Aiden’s eyes shifted in time to see the adventurer take a large fist to the face, followed by a spray of blood that splattered all over the wall.
Otid didn’t go down immediately, he staggered a little instead, but the man moved from him. Taliner dodged the first fist but the man gave her a kick in the ankle. It shifted her balance, destabilized her. She hopped back in pain and got a backhanded slap that sent her staggering into the wall. Then the man was gone from her.
It all happened in the space of a few breaths. Quick. Too quick.
The man’s feet carried him easily, precisely. As quickly as he moved, Aiden knew he wasn’t employing the [Dash] skill.
The man came to a stop in front of Aiden as if suddenly surprised. He brows furrowed very mildly. Fjord cowered behind Aiden.
The man glanced behind him, then returned his attention to Aiden. “You did not draw your sword.”
Behind him the contraption he’d dropped exploded in a myriad of colors that wrapped around the Fharanal. When it was done, it sucked the entire thing into the contraption.
Like capturing a Pokémon, Aiden thought.
“You didn’t kill them,” he said simply, hand rested on the hilt of his sword. “I didn’t see a need to.”
The man nodded. “They didn’t have to die because they did not pose a threat. Adults do not give their all in a fight against children.”
Aiden cocked a brow. “Level 50?”
Only those above level fifty said that about those below it. Behind Aiden Fjord slinked farther away from the both of them.
“Tell your friends to stay down.” The man let out a sigh. “I don’t mind taking all of you at once. It will not be difficult.”
“Personally, I wouldn’t disagree with your logic.” Aiden kept himself from drawing a length of steel. You never drew a weapon unless you were ready to use it until the end. “Sadly, I can’t let you walk away with that thing.”
“You know what that is?” The man’s head tilted to the side in surprise. “Now that I think of it, I didn’t see you with the other poachers. Why are you here?”
None of the others were getting up. Aiden’s eyes glanced to the side. Taliner, Otid and Bora remained out cold. Taliner body rested against the wall she’d been slapped into. Otid’s face was bloodied. Aiden was surprised that Otid wasn’t standing since he didn’t remember him being knocked out.
“Sometimes there’s a delay,” the man said as if in explanation. “Sometimes it takes a little longer for the body to realize that it shouldn’t still be standing. That said, are you just another poacher?”
“Adventurer.” Aiden shrugged. “Bastard to a Lord, I’ve been told.”
“And the one behind you?”
“Potential page, employee… something. Not sure yet.” Aiden’s eyes moved briefly to the contraption on the ground.
The man’s eyes watched his. “Do you believe you will be enough to stop me?”
“Seeing as you took down everybody, nope.” Aiden shifted so that he covered Fjord some more. To the boy, he said, “Find your way to the Naranoff estate. Do you know the place?”
Fjord nodded. “If I don’t, I can ask.”
“Yes, you can,” Aiden agreed.
The man’s expression shifted to amused surprise. “Really?”
Aiden shrugged. “Once you get there, tell them Lord Lacheart sent you. Ask for backup. Tell them why?”
“And you believe I will let him go?” The amusement hadn’t left the man’s mouth.
Aiden shrugged. “Maybe. Fjord, go.”
Fjord turned and ran.
The man moved.
Aiden back-stepped, moved to block the man’s path. The man didn’t hesitate. His hand shot out immediately, fingers bent like a claw. He went for Aiden’s neck but Aiden anticipated it. He raised his arm, took the blow against the forearm. Then his second hand shot out, a quick jab. His opponent moved his head to the side. He tried to spin around Aiden, but Aiden didn’t let him. He covered the space just as quickly, feet moving quickly beneath him.
The man’s brows frowned. He feinted to the side, then threw a kick. Aiden raised his leg, checked the kick and brought the leg back down. He stepped in, put his weight behind the next move, and knocked the man a few steps back with a shoulder thrust.
His opponent staggered but regained his composure almost immediately.
“Confident,” the man said.
“The kid’s gone so I’m currently winning.” Aiden grinned.
“You’re a kid, too.” The man pointed out.
Yes, I have to keep reminding myself of that.
The man moved again. Aiden followed. They exchanged a few blows, enough for Aiden to know that his opponent was stronger. Worst, the man wasn’t truly paying attention to him. His eyes kept glancing about, as if expecting some hidden trick or some unknown attack.
Aiden couldn’t help but feel a bruise to his pride. So he did something stupid. He switched the flurry of blows, threw in a few mix ups. The man frowned. Then he changed up his own pace. Aiden switched his attacks, locked the man’s hands down in a move he’d used against Jang Su.
That gave him the man’s undivided attention.
The man’s face darkened into a deep scowl. “Who the hell are you?”
Aiden saw his mistake too late. Before he could do anything, the man broke the lock in a single move. It carried strength but technique, too.
They moved again, the fight progressing. Aiden caught an angry fist to the face. A vicious kick to the side that threatened to knock the wind out of him. And a blow to the jaw that blurred his vision momentarily.
He knew he was in trouble when he took another blow to the face that spun him. It was all he could do to remain on his feet.
The scowl never left the man’s face. “Who. Are. You? I will not repeat myself.”
Aiden wasn’t winning the fight. That much was obvious. And the others were far from standing up.
“Who,” the man took a menacing step forward, “taught you how to fight like that?”
Aiden gulped. I’ve messed up.
He brought his hands up and the man moved in a blur.
Shit.
The man grabbed his hands as they came together. His eyes flickered down to them, then back to Aiden.
“What are you trying to do?” he asked in curious anger.
“Pray?”
Wit? That’s your choice? Just amazing.
The man pulled Aiden in and into a headbutt. Aiden staggered back, vision swirling, the taste of blood in his mouth. But he didn’t need his vision for what he needed to do. His hands started moving again, fingers intertwining.
Then he activated [Walking Canvas] and his interface flashed in front of him.
[You have used skill Walking Canvas]
…
[You have activated Weave of Lesser Lightning]
[Effect: Deals lightning damage.]
[Effect: 30% chance of dealing stun damage]
[Duration: 00:03:00]
His mana dropped and he felt the reach of the weaving increase with the aid of [Walking Canvas] as the man closed the distance between them once again. The moment he was within reach, electricity sparked out of Aiden and the man twitched suddenly. It broke his rhythm for a fraction of a second and Aiden threw a punch. He put all his weight into the blow, enough to send the man staggering.
The cloth fell from the man’s face and Aiden faced another level of surprise.
His mouth fell open and he almost didn’t stop himself from saying the words that threatened to come out.
Olstead?
Olstead stood in front of him. He was younger, and didn’t have his glass mana eye. But it was definitely him.
Aiden hadn’t expected to run into Olstead here. Now the hunt for the Fharanal made sense. Olstead had the [Beast Tamer] class. And he tamed any and every beast. It was part of what made him an amazing scout.
Olstead rubbed his jaw gently. He raised his other hand, the only gloved one, and the contraption shot into the palm of the hand.
An enchanted glove with magnetic principles, Aiden noted. Even now, the man was well equipped. More importantly, though, the man was currently a part of the Order. It was why he’d gotten angry when Aiden had used a move from the Order—a move he wasn’t supposed to know.
Aiden couldn’t win. He knew this as surely as he knew the Fharanal was inside the contraption. He’d eventually out-leveled Olstead in his past life but that was because the summoned leveled up faster than those from Nastild.
Right now, Olstead was stronger.
“I have a proposition for you,” Aiden said, electricity still crackling through and around him.
Olstead watched him. “I might be listening.”
“How about we do this?” Aiden pointed at the wall next to Taliner. “Why don’t I just go there and pretend to pass out for… thirty minutes?”
Olstead’s brows drew together.
“An hour?” Aiden said.
“And what happens?” Olstead asked.
“You just walk out of here, and I don’t have to get too beat up.”
Olstead didn’t seem convinced. “What’s in it for me?”
“No one starts scouring the forest when you start making your way out,” Aiden answered. “When backup comes, I’ll tell them you went left when you go right.”
“I’m going left.”
There was that dry humor delivered with a straight face Aiden knew Olstead for. “Then I’ll tell them you went right.”
“And why should I believe you?” Olstead took a step forward. “Why would I let you go when I have questions?”
“A man calling himself Tanarat stopped by my father’s place when I was younger,” Aiden said. “In exchange for allowing him hunt down some specific monsters, he promised to teach me a thing or two in unarmed combat.”
Olstead’s expression tightened. It was exactly what Aiden had been hoping for.
“He taught me a few things for a month,” he went on, feigning a touch of worry and nonchalance in equal measures. “Not enough time to teach me a lot of things. However, before he left, he did tell me that if I ever met anyone who recognized it I shouldn’t try to fight them.”
“Did he say why?” Olstead asked, practically biting out the word.
Aiden shook his head. “Just that not fighting was the best way to stay alive.”
Buy it. Come on.
At this point, Aiden had come to the acceptance that Olstead would not be a part of his team in this life. Not unless he joined the Order, which he had no intentions of doing.
“And which way did this man go?” Olstead asked. “What monsters did he hunt.”
“No idea.”
Aiden watched the tension slowly leave Olstead’s shoulders. He waited, allowed the man think. When Olstead seemed to be coming to a conclusion, Aiden heard footsteps.
Reinforcements?
They were too quick. He had hoped they would be, but this was unnaturally fast. There was no way Fjord would’ve gotten to the Naranoff manor, convinced them that he was sent by Aiden, and led them back here in so short a time.
Which meant only one thing.
Olstead let out a tired sigh. “You did well in stalling. Sometimes the truth is a powerful tool. And you’ve used it well today.”
“What’s all this madness about.”
Aiden didn’t recognize the voice and that made him feel stupid. In his confidence, he’d done something stupid. Criminals were not above doing whatever they could to buy their freedom or steal it. Earlier on he’d thought Bora was trying to talk Otid into taking his side when Fjord had been the one playing him.
He’d sent the boy off so confidently that he’d comfortably ignored the fact that the poachers were closer and Fjord could just go for them.
The owner of the voice groaned from behind Aiden, down the tunnel.
“I just keep losing men today,” it said. “That’s why I should’ve brought better men. Who’s the highest here?”
“Me, boss?” a voice answered.
“And what level are you?”
“Twenty-seven, Boss.”
Aiden turned to Olstead quickly. “They’re not with me. I swear.”
A weird feeling washed over Aiden. It was like being spied on. As if he knew where the person was, who the person was, and knew the person had intentions for him that weren’t kind. He frowned as laughter echoed from down the hall.
“Forty-nine and thirty-six!” the voice barked in laughter. “Maybe you might just be useful.”
Aiden finally turned around and set eyes on the intruders. A single man walked confidently clad in light armor befitting an adventurer. He had red hair, dull, that basked in the glow of the fire from a lit torch in the hands of one of the men that walked with him.
His height was average and so was his size. His face said he was probably in his forties or at least getting there and he walked like a leader of a gang of bullies. Ten men walked behind him. Aiden recognized two of their faces. One of them was the man who’d held a spear to Otid not too long ago.
Aiden moved back slowly until he was standing beside Olstead.
“I didn’t come here for a fight,” Olstead grumbled under his breath.
Aiden kept his eyes forward but spoke to him. “And you don’t have to. I can hold them off while you find a way out.”
“This is a one-way tunnel.” Olstead pocketed the contraption and held out his gloved hand once more. His hammer left the wall it was rested against, spun perfectly through the air, and he caught it by the handle. “There’s only one way out.”
“If you can make it out, I can hold them off.”
This time Olstead turned his head to look at him. “His at least at level fifty-four.”
“How are you sure?”
“Because I can’t see the level of people five levels above me.”
Aiden hesitated. “So he could be more than five levels above you?”
Olstead nodded.
A slow idea bubbled up in Aiden’s head. “Do you have another one of that contraption thing on you?”
“I do.” Olstead gave him a confused look.
Aiden motioned with his hand low and to the side. “Give it to me and find a way out.”
The man and his group had finally come to a stop. The man was looking around now, eyes scanning over the unconscious. It settled on Bora for a moment before moving on.
“I don’t see my monster,” he said calmly. He held a hand out behind him and someone handed him a spear. He leveled it casually it Aiden and Olstead. “Where’s my monster?”
“Are you sure about this?” Olstead asked, retrieving a contraption from his pocket and passing it to Aiden.
Aiden hesitated long enough to Olstead’s surprise before taking it. “I’ll be fine. Just find a way out. No one can explain your presence here, but mine can be. Legally.”
Olstead only frowned. “Why are you helping me?”
“Because I hate poachers. And while this place is full of poachers, you’re not one of them.”
“What was that?” the man asked.
Olstead ignored him. “Your name?”
“Lord Cornwall. Vanti Cornwall. Will I have yours?”
The leader of the poachers frowned, annoyed at being ignored. Olstead hesitated for a moment before he answered.
“Dane,” he said. “Dane of Altik.”
Aiden almost laughed. He restrained it to a smile instead. “Alright Dane of Altik. Find your way out.”
Olstead pulled a dagger from behind him. “If you survive this, Lord Cornwall, I will come looking for you. You and I need to have a conversation about your teacher.”
He channeled mana into it and a soft hybrid of runes and sigils glowed softly. An enchantment.
“May the gods show you favor, Lord Cornwall.”
“Are you done?” The leader of the poachers, Aiden assumed he was the leader, scowled deeply. His face contorted in rage. “I was going to let you go if I got my answer. But it doesn’t matter any more. I’ll take that contraption from your cold dead hands after flaying you, young Lord.”
Aiden sighed, a hand going to his soldier belt. “You talk too much.”
He unclipped the pocket and an orb fell into his hand. The man snarled. Olstead threw the dagger. It crossed the distance to take the man in the head, but he ducked to the side just in time to avoid it.
The dagger went deeper into the tunnel. It struck the ground and bounced, unable to take purchase. The enchantment on it glowed and Olstead vanished in a streak of deep blue light.
Aiden threw the orb like a baseball pitcher at the same time, aimed it at the spot where the dagger was.
[You have used Orb of Lesser Gas]
“Don’t let him—” the head of the group was interrupted as Olstead appeared where the dagger was and the orb burst into smoke.
Everyone hesitated. In their hesitation, there was another blip of blue light within the smoke and Olstead was gone.
The leader turned and aimed his spear at Aiden. Anger contorted his face and he bared his teeth. “I’m going to kill you slowly.”
Aiden drew his sword and drew an enchantment on its blade. It glowed a soft orange.
[You have used skill Unarmed Engrave(U)]
…
[You have used Enchantment of Lesser Flame]
[Effect: Fire damage with a 25% chance to deal critical damage on every blow.]
[Duration: 00:06:00.]
Aiden nodded at the man and twirled his sword. It left a trail of orange light even in the soft blue of his light orb on the ground and the soft orange glow from the fire the poachers had come with.
“I’m sure you’ll try,” he said.
Aiden was good at fighting monsters. He’d had to be. But the thing he was better at was fighting people. And at that, he was significantly better.
Right now he had the time, ease and motivation. Against poachers in his current position, he wasn’t too worried. His only challenge would be the leader.
Comments
IdolTrust
If he can’t level then he can get some mastery of skills. I wonder why he doesn’t combine the locking with unarmed engraving. Because he could enchant like slow or anti-resistance
M.Sully
Thanks for the chapter
Mr. Iron
And he'll gain some levels out of it as well. Cheers.
