NOVEL NEXT Book 3, Chapter 9 - It’s about to get a bit hot
Glimpse trailed the Scholar's ship for a day before turning back to rejoin us as we sailed and rowed towards my destination. The next three days passed peacefully, and I found myself saying farewell to Prender, Yalt, and the rest of the crew.
"Lord." Prender bent almost in half at the waist. The revelation that I was, in fact, the dreaded Warlord of the North had dulled somewhat since he found out, but none of the former slaves dared to meet my eye, and Prender tended to stare at a point on my chest when he spoke to me. Word travels fast in a tight-knit group like a ship's crew.
Bob had been briefed and stashed away, Glimpse had studied the maps, failed to make any sense of them, but understood that if he flew that way for a few hours, he'd see some islands, and that was where he needed to let the rest of us out.
"Good luck, kid. I don't know if you might be best just selling this ship when you get to port and starting a life on the shore. I'm not in Poseidon's good books, and you're helping me might leave her pissed at you." The young man briefly looked up and met my eyes. His gaze was strong and filled with determination.
"I think we will head north. I hear Urkash is not such a bad place these days," he said with a faint smile.
"If you do, come find me. I owe you one. Well, I owe you a few." I laughed and rested a hand on his shoulder for a moment. For some reason, I felt strangely paternal towards the young captain and the whole crew of the Windspite. "Glimpse?" I called, and the bird flapped down to occupy my right shoulder. "Time for some upgrades to the old magic, I think, then we'll be off."
Level 200
Primary Stats: Body: ??? Mind: A Soul: A
Available Souls: 63284
Secondary Stats
Physical strength: 150 Reflexes: 60 Health: 1000
Magic strength: 40 Focus: 42 Mana: 1000
Path of Divinity. Patron: Aresk Foeslayer
Divine Ichor: level 2
Divine Physique: Level 3
Divine Intellect: Level 3
My strength stat had increased by fifty percent as a result, I assumed, of gaining a level of Divine Physique. Divine Intellect, having grown, hadn't had any effect, though. Fucking system. I had about sixty thousand Souls to play with, and no reason to hang onto them other than to keep buying my weekly potion allowance. So I splurged.
Affinity: Fire
Summon fire: Range- 194 metres, Intensity- +236%, lasts 20 seconds
Fire Resistance- +100%
Projectile: Speed- +120%, Detonation- 25 metres cubed.
Fire Wall: Area- 39 metres squared. lasts 20 seconds
Barrier: 600 HP, Area: 10 metres squared
Fire Spirit: duration 110 seconds
Burning Skies: Area- 140x140m, duration 20 seconds
Combustion: Self. Duration: 25 seconds. Cast once per day.
Wildfire: Duration: 25 seconds. Cast once per day
Affinity: Life
Heal (self): 20HP and 156% increased recovery rate for one hour. Seals moderate wounds.
Enhancement (self): 98%,
Resistance (all): 60%
Projectile: Speed- +156%, (heal other)
Rapid Growth: Area- 20 metre squared.
Projectile: Speed- +156% (Enhance Other).
Shapeshift (Minor): Duration- 110 seconds
Shape Soulbound Servant: Permanent. Maximum 3 shaped servants.
Shape Vegetation: Range- Touch, Duration 10 seconds.
Major Shapeshift (self): duration 20 seconds. Cast once per day.
Affinity: Space
Size: range- 54 metres, Intensity- 58%
Mass: range- 54 metres, Intensity- 58%
Area: 10.5m cubed (optional) lasts 15 seconds
Resistance: 100%
Pocket Dimension: 5.5m cubed
Spatial Tear: Range- 11 metres
Phase: Duration- 18 seconds. Cast once per day.
Titanic Majesty: Duration- 18 seconds, Cast once per day.
Affinity: Earth
Shape Earth: Range - Touch, Duration 15 seconds
Summon Earth: Volume: 0.5 metres cubed, Range Touch
Refresh Earth: Area 0.5 Metres squared.
Hybrid Spell (Earth/Fire): Volcanic Vent: Area: 50x50m, Duration 15 seconds
Imbue
Enchant
Soul Transfer
Aresk's Boon: Carrion Feeders Gaze.
Aresk's Boon: Divine Steed
Boon of Kronos
Synthesised Spell: Shape Soulbound Servant.
Most of my Fire spells got a serious boost. I increased my summon fire range by sixty metres, as it affected the summon distance for all my other fire spells, and projectile speed went up another thirty percent. The area of Firewall got a bump, as well. The expensive ones were extending the duration of the more unique spells and increasing my maximum number of Shaped Servants. I would have another titan to make when I got back to Urkash.
"What did you do?" gasped Prender. I'd forgotten mortals could sense me spending Souls, even if they had no idea what happened.
"Got some spell levels. Mostly in the Fire Tree, it seems to do most of the heavy lifting for me."
"You seem… more something? Hard to say. Not different, Lord, still the same, but more so," Prender said.
"That sounds about right. You take care, Prender. Good luck."
I sent a mental command to Glimpse, and the world vanished. I was once again back in my god-world. It had grown. Not by a huge amount, but it was definitely larger.
I focused, and a chair appeared behind me. As I sat, I summoned the shadows and condensed them into various forms. Knives, mostly. The lurking presence didn't seem to approve of any other weapons. I made a variety of blade sizes and shapes, everything from Bowie knives to Kukris. The ghost seemed to particularly approve of the last style, so I made half a dozen of them and had them blur and dance around me to the happy feline rumbles from the ether.
Waste.
The thought slipped into my mind like a message from Glimpse, but the sender was far older. Supreme dispassion isn't an emotion, but that was the emotional flavour of the word. Glimpse's thoughts were usually warm, affectionate, or hungry in tone. This thing hadn't needed warmth or food in thousands of years.
Give. Watch.
Something reached out for control of the shadowy blades, and I gently let go of my hold on them. Instead of dissolving back into the swirling mists, the knives divided like bacteria until there were dozens of pitch black kukris floating in the air. Then they all shot towards me.
I flinched. I'm not too proud to admit it, and the knives fell into a close orbit around me and then sped up until they were all blurring together, cloaking me in shadows.
Try.
The presence started to pass my control back, but the blades stuttered for a moment. As I caught the pattern from the mind of the dead god, they blurred back together.
Cloak of daggers. Hides. Useful.
I stood slowly, but the blades moved with me, and I began to try to focus on other things. After a few minutes, the effect felt almost natural, like I'd stolen the instinctual use of the ability. I began running and jumping and moving through fighting forms, all the while surrounded by the cloak of daggers.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"But what use is it? I can't do this in the real world!" I grumbled as I swung my arm back and forth, a blur of shadowy daggers surrounding it.
Aura. Use outside. Helps.
The ghost of a jaguar faded away, leaving me alone with my new toy.
Path of Divinity. Patron: Aresk Foeslayer
Divine Ichor: level 2
Divine Physique: Level 3
Divine Intellect: Level 4
Another level in Intellect. I checked my base stats, but nothing had changed. I experimented with more complex structures for a little while, making armour from the shadow stuff, but it felt clunky and unwieldy, lacking the grace of the cloak. It slowed me down; even in this world that I would end up with total control over. Assuming Aresk wasn't full of shit.
My control over this realm did seem to have increased with the stat jump. The shadow-stuff moved more easily as I bent my will to shape it.
A tug on my soul made me glance up, and I dropped the shadows and reached towards the source of the sensation. My eyes snapped open in a dense thicket of trees with Glimpse looking down at me from a nearby branch.
Danger nearby, Raymond. Strange creatures, he sent.
Amir's monsters?
Possibly. Look. The bird flapped into the sky, and I stayed still as I borrowed his senses. I was deep into a straggly woodland that ran down the centre of the spit of land extending from the main blob of the island. From above, it looked like a comma, and to the north and northeast were two more islands a couple of miles away.
Where the tail of the comma joined the main body of the island was some kind of settlement, rows of wooden shacks and houses faced a busy harbour filled with half a dozen multi-masted Kentani ships, and a couple of giant rafts, similar to the Galebreaker. Glimpse swooped lower as he flew back towards me and winged along the nearby shore. I got a good look at what he'd been talking about.
Long, serpentine bodies undulated along the shore in the gentle waves. Green-blue scales glistened in the sunlight. When one of them reared up, I saw that they had humanoid faces, and a pair of arms sprouted from just behind their head fans. Long fangs shone for a moment as the thing gave a burbling cry that would no doubt put the fear of Poseidon into any sailor who heard it.
They were perhaps four metres long on average, and the entire beach looked like an army of eels was having an orgy just offshore. Definitely not safe for swimming.
The town? I sent to the bird.
Busy. Soldiers and sailors. Everyone is armed and moves like clockwork.
Soldiers. Any Soulbound? I asked.
Lots. A few are quite strong, S-ranked. Most are Bs and Cs.
I reached out to that strange sense that told me where my colleagues were, and found Amir was glowing in my mind, just over the horizon to the north. He was moving towards me, looming more and more in my mind. Not long. A few hours till he arrived.
Whatever should I do with my time? Play merry hell with his port or lurk? It wasn't even a question. An ambush is only effective if the enemy doesn't realise you are waiting for them.
There's a ship to the north, a few hours sailing or so out from the port. Can you go and check it out for me? It's Amir coming home to roost. I'm going to get into position to hit him as he comes ashore.
Amongst all his men and monsters?
I sent back a mental image of a savage grin and received a cawing chuckle in reply as the bird flew away to the north. I released Bob and Wilson.
"Keep it quiet, blokes. Baddies nearby. Keep to the trees and stay low." I looked at the two bronze beings and sighed. I slowly eased out my aura, forming into the cloak the ghost had taught me, but spreading it to cover us all. It wasn't perfect, but most of Bob's gleaming metal was muted and hard to make out. We slipped from shadow to shadow as we headed towards the port.
I led the way, moving inland as the tail of the island fattened up near the main hill that dominated the circular area. I wasn't overly worried about fighting those snake-things on land, but I didn't want to cause a ruckus before Amir got to the party.
The trees grew thicker, making our skulking easier and more challenging at the same time. It was easier to be sure we couldn't be seen from a distance, harder to move in a straight line with all the obstructions we had to deviate around. Using the beacon of the other Shikrakyn as a compass point, let me keep us moving in the right direction.
We eventually settled into a clump of bushes, and I left the wolf and the golem behind as I crept forward to look out over the town with my own eyes. It was much the same as when viewed from Glimpse. The buildings were all clean and well-built. They were simple and a bit rough around the edges, but they looked more like a military compound than a pirate lair.
I saw no public drunkenness, no bawdy ladies of negotiable affection, and nothing that looked remotely undisciplined. Clockwork was the right word to describe it. Men ticked and tocked from one place to the next, doing all the human things, smiling and joking and whatnot, but with a precision that felt mechanical.
A boat was launched, long and fat, but with no oars at the sides. A thick rope ran into the water at the front, and the water churned as it was pulled along. Brief flashes of snake-like tails told me exactly what creature was dragging the thing. It pulled up alongside one of the rafts and ropes were thrown down, tied to the long wooden planks that filled the centre of the cargo haulier, and the wood was hauled aboard in job lots.
Another boat departed, pulled by a swarm of overgrown sea snakes, no doubt. The harbour was busy. Even half a mile away, the sound of hammering and sawing reached me where I crouched.
I have found him. I switched to the bird again and looked down from far higher than usual. Glimpse was keeping his distance as much as he could while still getting useful information. Despite his altitude, the boat below was massive. It was a huge oval, lined with a crusty lip that rose above most of the waves. The centre climbed up into what amounted to a floating hill.
The thing was covered in structures. Wooden buildings rose three storeys in places, and rope bridges and walkways were strung between them. It was a fucking floating town, nearly the size of the one on land below my perch.
Hundreds of people moved about, busy with their tasks. Fifty people lined the back end of the vessel with lines trailing into the water. One of them began hauling on the thin rope in his hands and managed to drag a fish half as long as his torso over the mini-rampart that skirted the semi-submerged ship.
It is a little larger than I expected, the bird sent.
It's a fucking battleship! Jesus, it's the mother of all rafts. Well, at least it will be hard to miss the bastard.
I appreciate your optimism, Glimpse replied drily. Raymond, are you sure about this? Wouldn't it be better to acquire reinforcements?
It will take too long. We've got him right where I want him and he won't see me coming. What's that? The big flat platform on top?
It is a tower. I suspect that is where the Battery-Mages congregate for battle.
We can work with that. It's a good assumption. We'll wait when he gets here. If he comes ashore, taking out that tower and burning out the other buildings is your job, I thought to the crow who sent an affirmative mental caw in reply.
I turned carefully and inched back towards Bob and Wilson. The big wolf lay down with his chin on his front paws, looking unhappy.
"What's up?" I asked, and the wolf raised his head, whined faintly and then looked away. "It'll be fine. You'll be well back from the water. You and Bob are going to serve as the land-side distractions. Get into position inland of the town, and when it kicks off, you cause some chaos. Don't get sucked in. Stay at the edge of the town and run if you see a high-level Soulbound. Wilson chuffed dismissively, but Bob clicked a little closer to me on his spidery limbs.
"Raymond. I feel I would be better suited closer to the shore." I looked the machine up and down, his multiple glowing blue eyes, misshapen and all different sizes, narrowed slightly, the light from them dimming a little.
"Why? You'll get swarmed by those fucking snakes."
"I am not concerned about biological entities. You have seen me cut my way into Mortimer's abominations and come out unscathed. Overgrown snakes are not a concern. It will allow me to disrupt the enemy vessels' propulsion."
"Not all of your sort made it out of Ashrot," I pointed out, crossing my arms.
"They were lesser variants. I was at no risk."
"I don't even know how it's moving. Probably some kind of propellers, judging from the way the sea moved at its sides. God knows how he's powering them. You might not be able to do anything, even if you survive the tangle of sea monsters to get to it." Bob's claws, that were the crowning glory of his four tentacles, snapped open and closed like an angry crab. "Stay on the land. Circle around and attack along the shore, but fight the damn things on land, Bob."
"Very well. I'd like to note that I don't need to breathe. The water is no threat to me," The golem grumbled. I settled back and chose to ignore his quiet wittering.
Glimpse maintained his position, orbiting far above the massive raft as it carefully negotiated its way around the shoals and sand banks that filled this shallow section of the inland sea. My fingers scrabbled idly in the dirt, finding hard, glass-like rock that I figured was volcanic in origin. This place would have been a treasure trove for Bargip. I smiled ruefully. He had deserved it. A coward wasn't worthy of the tribes.
As Amir's raft finally rounded the headland and began to move into the natural harbour, I rose and stretched.
"Remember, stay at the edges of the town. The sign to attack is going to be the ships going boom."
"Burning Skies?" asked Bob as Wilson cocked his head to one side and wagged his tail slowly.
"Yep. Start as I mean to go on. Once the first spell goes off, cause a stir, but don't get dragged in. We are here to kill one man; without him, this lot will wither and die. Meet back here afterwards. Good luck."
"And you, Raymond."
The wolf and the golem slunk away into the woods as I summoned my aura, slices appearing on the nearby trees before I pulled it in close to mask my presence. I moved gracefully, flowing from cover to cover, always looking for the deepest shadows to hide in. I reached the edge of the forest and skirted along the beach, keeping a cautious eye on the churning waves.
They had cut back a firebreak, or maybe it was just to stop any wildlife from slinking into town without having to cross an open stretch of ground. I paused at the edge of the trees. I had maybe twenty metres to cover to get in among the houses, and maybe five hundred metres of winding streets to pass before the harbour would be in range of my spell.
I waited patiently as the giant raft came to a stop at the harbour mouth and a swarm of small boats disgorged and began moving to the pontoons that reached into the sea like wooden fingers. I checked Hunters Gaze and narrowed my eyes. He was on one of those boats, coming slowly ashore.
Glimpse circled a little lower and examined, as best he could, the passengers who had left the battleship. Almost all of them were Soulbound. Some were strong, but most were middling. Unfortunately, there were far more S-ranked stats than we had seen in the town.
I moved, keeping my aura a blur of daggers around me, and sprinted to the nearest house. The arrival of Amir's ship had caused a stir, and anyone who wasn't otherwise engaged had flocked to line the pontoons, cheering like a movie star had arrived. This made getting into the town easier than it ought to have been.
Prepare to target the big one. Stay well clear of the harbour, it's about to get a bit hot in there. I got a mental confirmation from the crow and checked that he was moving as instructed. He flew up, gaining some altitude and took up a position just beyond the harbour walls where the leviathan had some to rest.
I slipped a couple of Pure Mana potions out of storage and looked at them for a moment. Two thousand more mana, ready to go. All my daily spells were available. I was ready for this. A quick strike and then it would be a flight home for tea, biscuits and medals.
I slipped among the buildings, skirting around any groups working outside of the structures forced me to detour a couple of times, but in a few minutes I was crouching under a low eave, looking out across the harbour. The crowd of cheering idiots was only a few metres away, but their focus was entirely on the longboats coming towards us.
The clouds darkened and turned red. It was hardly a subtle spell. Everyone noticed immediately. Most were simply confused, but a few recognised it for what the threat it was. Shields appeared over the longboats and over parts of the larger ships. I shaped the spell so tendrils of magic traced a web in the sky.
Some were focused above the ships, but a lot of them were spread out across the bay. As the first fireballs fell, I sent a command to Glimpse to attack. I stood up so I could watch the mayhem.
No one bothered to shield the water apart from the men rowing ashore from the battleship. The other ships were clearly understaffed, at least in terms of Soulbound and wizards, as chunks of their upper hulls vanished into drifting ash and fires spread rapidly across them.
The snake-people along the shore emerged onto the land and set the crowd to stampeding away from them. No love lost between the humans and the pet monsters, it seemed. They were the lucky critters. The water level in the harbour dropped noticeably as a large volume was flashed into steam, throwing up a sudden fog that I used to slip closer to the water as the sea began to boil.
I slipped in amongst the snakemen, largely ignoring them as I was hidden by my aura. I hadn't appreciated just how effective the trick the ghost had taught me was. Perhaps the mist was doing most of the work, but I could pass within a few feet of the stunned creatures without them flicking a gill in my direction.
Glimpse began his bombardment, obliterating most of the wooden constructs on the leviathan in a series of strafing runs.
We now know how the thing was moving, he sent, and I risked a quick glance through his eyes as I paused by a bollard, barely twenty metres from where I estimated Amir would come ashore.
The ship hadn't been a ship at all, but a giant fucking turtle that had reared up as the first fireballs landed, revealing a cruel-looking beak the size of a house before it slammed back into the boiling sea. Enormous flippers thrashed, throwing up waves that sped towards the shore as the monster tried to escape to sea.
It's running. Move to help Wilson and Bob, I ordered.
The longboats had ground against the sand, and men jumped out, screaming as their flesh began to crisp in the hot water, to haul them ashore. The Soulbound leapt from the boats to the beach and fanned out. I crept closer, using what little cover there was and trusting to my aura trick for concealment.
And there he was. Barking orders as his feet threw up clouds of sand, landing thirty metres from the sea, ahead of his men. SSS Body stat. S-ranked Mind stat and just as a kicker, an S in Soul as well.
I broke from my cover and charged.