Touch of Fate

Chapter 65: The Fall of Sin

Approximately 100 kilometers north of Wyrport, Robert, the trader, was looking for a good place to set up camp. He had been heading along the inland route to the northwest, looking to skirt Wyrmrest Lake on his way to the capital.

Ordinarily he would have stopped much sooner, but the sounds of explosions and screaming carried from the city on the cool night breeze, had encouraged him to press on a little longer.

He had been travelling this particular route for many years, and rarely had any issues with monsters or bandits. As such, he often travelled alone, with only his old pack horse, Trevor, to keep him company.

He was just beginning to pull off the road to shelter under one of the uncommon trees in this grassland, when it exploded.

Robert was thrown from his cart as a rain of wood splinters cascaded down around him.

Trevor, as a full-blooded Borvani horse, a fact that Robert expounded upon whenever the horse came up in conversation, remained unimpressed. He passively waited for his master to finish rolling around on the ground, slowly chewing a bit of grass he'd snuck almost an hour ago.

Robert stood up hesitantly, and approached the crater where the tree once stood. Sticking from the ground was a massive spear, nearly 3m in length. It had a glassy finish, as if it were made from a volcanic rock. A mottled pattern of dark red was etched into the shaft of the spear, glowing with an ominous light.

Robert had no idea where the weapon had come from, or really what its nature was, but seeing it resting there in all of its brooding might, only one thing came to mind.

"JACKPOT! I'm going to be rich!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[This is going to really bother me. What am I forgetting?] Mike was thinking to himself.

[Oh well, I'll worry about it after we take down this demon.]

Lesser demons had begun entering the intersection again, this time pouring towards the barricade from all three directions. He heard James's shouted orders directing the archers to resume their covering fire. Judging from the motion of the Gluttony Demon, it would also reach the intersection in approximately one minute.

Deciding that now was a good time to launch another Fireball, Mike began the chant. "I let thee free."

As he was concentrating, he dimly noticed a few oddly shaped demons in the crowd, acting strangely.

"WATCH OUT!" An impact to his side sent Mike sprawling as several barbed spines shot through the air his head was occupying.

He looked down at Sera, who had fallen over on top of him. "Whew, thanks. That would have been really painful."

She blushed and looked away while climbing off of him. "It's nothing. I owed you for earlier anyway."

Mike peeked over the barricade, trying to locate the origin of the spines, and nearly received another one to the face for his efforts.

From what he was able to determine, there were three large, quadrupedal demons lurking within the crowd. He didn't get a good look, but it seemed like they were covered in porcupine-like quills, only facing forwards instead of backwards.

"What are those things?" He asked, more to himself than anything.

Tal, who had been forced to take shelter as well, answered, "Spiker Demons. Shoots spikes."

"Thank you, Tal, for that illuminating information." He said sarcastically.

She puffed her cheeks out in the closest thing to a facial expression he'd ever seen on her. "Very agile. Resistant to fire. Need caution."

"Hmm," he muttered to himself, trying to weigh his options.

Brenden neatly dissected a lesser demon in the shape of an oversized caterpillar with a set of bird wings. "What's the plan?"

"Well, they won't let me get a chant off, and I can't just incinerate the area due to their fire resistance." He glanced over at Tal and Brenden. "I'm going to try something a little different, can you draw their attention for a bit?"

They nodded, engaged in a quick whispered conversation, and burst into action. Brenden hopped over the barricade, and began running alongside it while yelling like a madman.

[What the hell is he doing?] Mike thought while placing a hand on the ground and concentrating.

Their plan became clear, when the Spiker Demons started focusing on him, launching barrages of spikes at the swiftly moving beastman. Brenden engaged in an impressive display of agility, simultaneously slaughtering any of the lesser demons that approached, while dodging and weaving around the flying spikes.

However, he couldn't keep it up for long, and after one particularly close call, he was left off balance, with another wave of the deadly projectiles incoming. Just when it looked like the heroic youth would be skewered by the barrage, a wall of earth sprang up in front of him.

Tal had run parallel to Brenden's path, staying hidden behind the barricade while preparing the chant for a simple defensive spell when it became necessary.

The Spiker Demons, clearly upset by the sudden reversal, launched long streams of spikes into the wall, destroying it piecemeal. Brenden looked unconcerned, despite the growing danger, and the reason soon became evident.

"Alright, get back!" Mike called as finished pumping mana into the ground below the intersection. The beastman responded by back flipping over the barricade.

[Has he gotten more agile since we fought? He's not even using any enhancement techniques.]

Mike will his magic into action. The hand touching the ground clenched, as if grasping something. With a grunt of effort he wrenched it upwards.

With a groan of distressed earth, the ground immediately in front of the barricade erupted, high into the air. It formed a temporary cliff that spanned the entire intersection. Unfortunate lesser demons fell from its top, landing with bone crushing force in the pit that had taken shape in the wake of Mike's magic.

With increasing velocity, the ledge started to fall away from the barricade. Observers could now see that he had torn loose a portion of the intersection, forcing it to collapse on the rest like the cover of an opened book.

A thunderous crash sounded as the raised section of earth collapsed back onto the other half of the crossroads, creating a cloud of dust in the process. With the exception of those few demons who managed to flee back into one of the surrounding streets, the entire wave had been buried under tons of earth.

A stunned silence descended.

Mike sucked in his breath. That had taken a lot more mana than he had been expecting. Evidently, he needed to work on his skills before trying to do something like this again.

Brenden slapped him on the shoulder, nearly knocking him over. "That was great! As expected of my rival. You're making this whole thing easy."

[Has he gotten stronger too?] Mike found himself thinking, while rubbing his now aching shoulder.

"Focus. Gluttony Demon. Almost here." Tal cut in.

"Right, we stick with the plan." Mike paused as he considered the altered battlefield. His actions had created a mound of dirt on one side of the intersection and a pit on the other.

The original plan was predicated on the assumption that the Gluttony Demon would be in the deepest portion of the intersection prior to trapping it. Now, they would have to let the demon approach much closer in order to definitively halt its movements.

"We'll just have to be flexible. Brenden, if it gets too close, try to get its attention. Keep it from tearing into the barricade. Tal, as soon as you think it's appropriate, do what you can to seal its movements. I'll be ready to deliver the final blow. Any questions.......Good."

With an earthshaking roar, the demon crested the small mound on the north side of the intersection. This close to it, the adventurers on the barricade could see the bits of runny viscera that dribbled down its chin. Its stench of rotten meat combined with unwashed human filth was nearly overpowering. Mike was forced to continue watching its progress through watering eyes.

Before it started down into the pit in front of the barricade, it paused, slowly examining the defenders.

[Come on, move you big tub of lard!]

Some long forgotten fragment of intellect seemed to awaken, and the demon developed a rudimentary plan to deal with it's puny enemies.

It sucked in a deep breath, expanding its round, fleshy midsection. Mike felt a sudden flash of alarm. Not sure of what the creature had planned, but fearing the worst, he quickly threw his mana into the ground. A tall wall of rock formed in front of the barricade, and just in time.

The demon vomited a long stream of viscous green liquid at the adventurers, and only the sudden imposition of the wall saved them from being sprayed with it. The fluid hissed and smoked against the stone. A few drops that made it around the hastily made defense fell among the adventurers, eliciting curses and screams of pain.

"Why do demons have to be so f****** horrifying?!" Mike yelled as a few drops fell on him as well, burning small, painful holes in his skin.

As soon as the demon's attack had finished, Mike concentrated his will, took an exaggerated step forward, and punched toward the demon with his right hand.

The crumbling remains of the wall exploded in a hail of rock shards, peppering the Gluttony Demon. It was largely unharmed by the attack, save for a lucky chunk of stone that pegged it in the eye.

The demon roared in pain, reeling from the sudden injury.

"Now Tal!" Mike called, unnecessarily it seemed.

".mired in the depths, [Quicksand]."

Suddenly the ground beneath the demon turned into an unstable patch of swiftly shifting sand. It lost its balance, and with characteristic slowness began falling into the pit.

Mike wasn't willing to let this opportunity pass, but he lacked a good vantage from which to deal the final blow. Knowing that he had to make this next attack count, he pulled deep from his mana reserves.

He began to recite the chant for the Stone Javelin spell. "From the depths of Eon, I call to thee. Break free from the ancient bonds of thy earthly shackles and fly true.."

[Wait, was that how it went? Whatever. Close enough.]

Before finishing the chant, he redirected some of his mana into his air magic, creating a powerful blast to throw him above the fallen demon. He pointed a hand down, drawing a bead on the beast's head.

"[Stone Javelin]!"

This time the spear looked more like the mast of a ship, easily 10m long and close to a meter in diameter, with a wicked, barbed tip. It didn't hum, but roared as it descended on the demon like the wrath of a vengeful deity.

The entire top half of the beast disappeared with the sheer force of the blow, as the spear buried itself into the ground, vanishing into the depths of the earth.

An earsplitting crack sounded as the bedrock fractured under the assault, small fissures forming around the new crater.

A sudden wave of familiar weariness passed through Mike.

[Whew, it's been awhile since I've been this low on mana.]

With a fair amount of effort he directed himself back towards the ground, and landed, a little harder than he meant to. "Augh, my knees. Why always the knees?"

After a few moments, he was able to stand straight. Stretching a little, he glanced around, only to be met with a thunderous wave of cheers from the surrounding adventurers.