agoraphobic_dragon
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Godfather's System 93
🕑 Added 2023-07-18 19:04:38 +0000 UTCAs I walked forward and gave a momentary pose, my magical sword glowing even brighter, the camp suddenly froze. The appearance of a figure on their most likely escape path was enough to add to their growing panic, but I had designed my armor very carefully to look like a savior that stepped out of a storybook.
Of course, I had no doubt that, if I tried to appear like that among them any other time, ridicule would be the least of my worries, but now, the blue glow of ordinary mana, coming from a flamboyant knight was enough to quell the panic that was growing.
And, that was before I used my Charisma, for the first time as a visible tool. I was copying the field of courage that the young duke had used, though it was more intense than he had used, far more effective as a short burst that would leave them depleted after five minutes…
Considering the danger, it was what they needed.
The panic of the crowd dispersed, replaced by artificial courage, intense enough that a few were already preparing to rush forward.
“Stand your ground,” I shouted as I started rushing forward, with no desire to see them die due to artificial courage that had been injected; especially since it was more my fault than theirs. They ignored the order, too excited, showing I needed to be more careful using Charisma.
But, carefully modulating the effect was for the future. For now, I used another trick. “Create a defensive line!” I shouted, this time backed by Charisma, trying to copy the command aspects of Charisma.
Which, unlike the others, didn’t work nearly as well.
When Duke Yoentia used it, hundreds of peasants had fallen into line in a smooth precision that would put special forces to shame, moving in a perfect pattern. I was barely able to pack one overriding order to them, and they pushed and shoved as they created one line.
A horrible way to meet the charge of the cultists. While they were not mounted, each cultist was easily stronger than an elephant — and probably less intelligent, as the transformation not doing any favor to mental aspects — and the single, stretching line was a bad way to meet that.
Luckily, the cultists were still confused by my sudden appearance. Their warriors looked mindlessly eager, but their leader stopped them while he carefully examined the forest, checking reinforcements.
Admittedly, I would have preferred them rushing forward, as the stupider the enemy, the safer was to deal with them.
But, at least, it gave me enough time to arrive at the camp before them without showing the full extent of my Speed. Even better, I deliberately faked a lack of dexterity whenever I used Speed, acting like I was having trouble controlling it.
Such details were important.
“I want a line eight-man-deep,” I ordered, and gestured a section. “You lot, stay in place, others, line behind,” I ordered. They were slightly reluctant, but when I stood in front of them, they moved far faster. Then, I let my gaze turn to the cultist. “Attack me if you dare, the dog of a demon!” I shouted.
I was ready to use my Charisma to fuel his anger after I finished speaking, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The moment my insult escaped. “Attack, I want his head!” the cultist shouted, and the rest attacked.
Clearly, he was rational only when compared to the rest of his group, a childish insult enough to destroy any semblance of control. Unfortunately, they were still dangerous enough. “Hold the line,” I ordered even as I rushed forward to meet their charge halfway.
It would have been challenging to meet their attack if they had even the slightest strategic awareness and moved together, but the order of their leader was backed by Charisma — weak, barely a few points — and it had been enough to snap their already tenuous control. As they rushed, they were like rabid beasts.
Which made them more dangerous against the campers, but for me, making them much weaker.
I targeted the first one, who had managed to move almost fifty feet ahead of the rest of the group. I timed my attack perfectly, cut his leg, and kicked it toward the group. “Destroy it,” I shouted even as I left the unbalanced cultist behind. His bleeding stopped immediately, but his speed was gone, which was what I needed.
The second one ended up the same way, enough to tell their leader that it was not working. “Gather together and kill him first!” he ordered, and they had gathered, making it much harder to deal with them without receiving a counter-attack.
Dodging one attack was much harder than dodging nine. Of course, it was still feasible if I used the full range of abilities, but I didn’t want that, not with a thousand witnesses ready to regale my tales. Using the full range of my Strength was not a problem, nor was the Charisma usage, but the most useful skill was Speed, and I didn’t want to reveal that any more than necessary.
I wanted them to be looking for a flying cart, not a lone traveler cutting through the forest.
Luckily, even that limited speed I revealed gave me a chance to test the devoutness of their priestly leader. I rushed near them. They could have rushed to block me, but that would mean the faster one leaving the others behind, which, after the priest’s order to stay together, was not an option for them.
Instead, they moved only using the speed of the slowest, showing the dangers of the Charisma-backed orders — not that they were geniuses without that restriction — and soon, I left them behind, and started to rush toward the leader.
Even on his corrupted face, the evaporation of his zeal and arrogance was apparent, leaving its place to terror as he realized my strategy.
“No, kill the heretic knight!” their leader shouted, showing that he wasn’t particularly willing to sacrifice himself. And, more importantly, he didn’t have the tactical acumen to target the people to force me to retreat.
Well, it would have forced me to reveal my Speed before letting him live — especially if I could disguise it as some kind of charge ability that left me exhausted — but still, it was a strategic deficiency. However, as I rushed forward, his expression shifted from panic to a desperate resignation.
“You wanted this, you heretic. Meet the embodiment of my god,” he shouted as he pulled three mana crystals from his pouch and threw all three on the ground, each with a relatively simple sigil on the surface.
I watched where he was aiming them, ready to dodge them desperately. Yet, their trajectory showed that they would fall halfway between us. I looked at his expression, to see if he had any sign of panic or disappointment, but only saw maddened glee.
Meaning, it was not a projectile weapon, or some kind of weapon.
As I watched the outer structure of the crystals cracking and letting out a red mist — far more intense than the garbage I had picked from the dungeon rejects — I decided to take a slightly reckless decision. I rushed forward even faster, faking a momentary charge, and rushed to grab two of the crystals before they landed on the ground.
Unfortunately, due to his incompetent throw, the third one was too far away for me to get before the glowing rune activated correctly, so I threw my magical dagger, breaking the crystal into two along with the sigil.
“What are you doing!” he cried in shock as grabbed the two and replicated the ethereal pull I used for ordinary mana crystals.
[Archery of Destruction (5/X)]
[Archery of Destruction (8/X)]
[Archery of Destruction (12/X)]
[Archery of Destruction (19/X)]
[Archery of Destruction (24/X)]
A flood of notifications popped into my sight as both crystals turned to dust too bad that while I was doing that.
The moment I had finished consuming that, I pushed a burst of mana from my hands, and immediately, a blue burst covered the area.
[-14 Mana]
A wasteful move, barely for the looks, but I wanted both the cultists and the peasants to think that I used my mana to somehow neutralize it rather than absorbing.
At the same time, the other crystal, which fell fifty feet away after the momentum of the dagger, disintegrated, and a flaring gap appeared, one that gave me a sense of madness. I recognized it. It was a portal, similar to the one that was at the top of that castle where a great abomination monster was trying to step into our world…
The current portal was smaller, but still, not something I wanted to deal with.
Luckily, I had various environmental advantages I could use. “Take only the most critical resources you need, and retreat in an orderly manner,” I shouted to the camp, not wanting to keep them if the portal could form successfully.
The idea of rushing forward to see if I could absorb the mana of the half-formed portal was tempting, but even in a half-formed state, I could see a dangerous shadow behind me.
“It doesn’t matter even if you prevented two of them. Even one of the heralds of our god will be enough to deal with you,“ the leader started laughing, his already loose connection to sanity snapping further as an aura of madness started spreading from the portal.
I stretched my Charisma to prevent that effect from affecting the peasants … and my desperate attempt worked well, and they continued retreating with a running pace, leaving most of their belongings back.
Meanwhile, I continued rushing forward. I didn’t want to tussle with that monstrous creature … but then, I also didn’t want it to appear without any issue.
My memories offered me another solution. I ignored the creature and rushed forward, the leader too distracted not to fall under a few hits of my sword, landing on the ground in pieces. He was still alive, but I didn’t even bother finishing him off.
Instead, I reached for his glowing amulet, one with a very familiar shape, and absorbed its mana.
[Archery of Destruction (25/X)]
Just like that, the forest, silent around us, exploded with the crazy cries of the beasts, rushing forward immediately, the world once again desperate to destroy the cultists.
With the beasts creating a useful shield, I rushed back —stopped to pick up the silver chest — and arrived next to the retreating group. I would have liked to stay and defend them, but, regardless of the situation, the military would challenge my presence, meaning they would be on a bigger peril if I stayed.
Especially since, with the great commotion going on, I didn’t expect the traitors in the military successfully cover what had just happened.
Still, before leaving, I had one last gift. “I want eighty volunteers!”I declared. “Eighty men that would swear to the sun itself that not only they would help their fellow refugees to safety no matter what, but also promise to continue fighting against evil wherever they find!”
The order was backed with Charisma, so hopefully, it would actually make them safe until their destination. The second part was more of a show.
Soon, more than forty volunteers stepped in, which should be enough to keep the camp safe with the addition of advanced skill. “Take this,” I said as I distributed the Advanced Skills to them. While I expected those skills not to enable mana usage, they were still incredible gifts — an ordinary one had been enough for half of Jertann’s gang to betray him, let alone an advanced one — so I wasn’t surprised when the volunteers to suddenly fall on their knees and thanking me.
The ones that didn’t volunteer looked shocked, realizing that they had lost the opportunity of a lifetime, but before they could even time to argue, I walked away, trusting them to handle themselves now that the cultists and the beasts distracted each other.
And then, I disappeared among the trees, letting out one last flash of mana as I disappeared.
Comments
The Tallest Tree
A bit confused on his gains
Stephen Pearson
Thanks for the chapter! :-)
