Chapter 256: Spirit Warriors (P2)

It was difficult manhandling Matthias over the course of a few days for my side project on Jungle. The young man has proven himself a treasure trove of helpful information about this world, acting at times as the guide I never got when I woke up here. 

Looking up Jungle's incident took some doings and a lot of money but I got interesting results and a peek into Jungle's intentions. The man has been stingy with information for a good bit so I thought I might as well help myself.

Matthias came through with brilliant findings that Jungle's been lying about a whole lot, about why he's here living in the Forest and hunting a giant snake he couldn't hope to kill alone. 

Groaning at my grin he snaps the head of the creature in his hands and lets it fall limp to the ground. In the background the Spirit Warriors continue the fight, though since we've stopped our advance the floods of the reptilian monsters slows down.

"Are you going to deny it?"

"What's there to deny?"

"That you too are fueled by greed and lust for power? That you're not so high on the morale ground as you think? That you're a liar? There's a whole lot of things, I could go on."

He scoffs, shaking his head at the ground, "You…how- Ah, you're a Lord, you have power, you have connection. I guess it was a breeze for you to look into me."

I smile.

"I stand by what I said, you and I are nothing alike, I'm on this path hunting for what is required of me."

"Years ago? You do know they think you're dead, right? And that's the part that has me baffled. You get in a pickle with the Duke's daughter and she has your kid so you have to marry her but the Duke is a bastard and would rather have his daughter disgraced than marry her to a commoner.

"So you ask what you can do to be worthy and he charges you with the over the top quest that is obviously meant to get you killed but tells you he'll grant you his blessing and make you a knight. But what I don't get is why you're still here? Chasing this monster even though your child's been sent away and the love of your life is married to some nobleman. Things won't change if you go back, well, except the fact that the Duke will kill you the moment he sets eyes on you."

"And what would you rather me do?" He spits, "Set up a new life living here? Have a new, commoner life and die disgraced and stolen from? No! I won't have it, I'll return and I'll keep my dignity!"

"Haha! Dignity? Your damn princess is vain as hell according to my agents and I'm sure you're aware that your face is fucking disfigured, a common woman wouldn't take you much less a Dukes daughter!"

"Oh you vile bastard!" He lunges at me but I see it coming a mile away and sidestep so he staggers. "You think you know everything! You think you know my…my…"

"She's not yours anymore, but…I know how you can change that."

He grunts, "Join you and your…party of…I don't even know what to call you lot."

"Call us the winners, the new rulers because that's what we are."

"Might be." He corrects tenuous, "And I even doubt that, you'll be stomped out for challenging Ire, for challenging the Synagogue."

"How can you be so sure of that? The Synagogue's power is proven, tried and tested and so is Ire's. However, my strength hasn't, I'm a completely unknown power with so much potential for growth. I'm a threat you want to watch…Timothy."

He bristles at the use of his name but recovers quickly and hums, "And what are you promising? What can you give me and what do you want in return?"

"Aside from your woman and child? I can give you the Duchy if you want, with some guided rulership of course. Or a small plot of land to farm and live with your princess, she'll be an unwanted figure in what I'm trying to build here anyway."

He scoffs in disgust, "This isn't how to bargain for fealty, you offer me things you don't have. A Duchy? Go ahead, give it to me right now, my child? My wife-to-be? Where is she?"

"Alright, something I do have? Well, I've got control over a pesky village, it's run by a council of Mages and their democratic methods are getting in the way of progress, and if it's in the way now it's bound to get in the way in the future. I don't want people getting ideas either so you...you could rule there with, after we've secured the March, it's a matter of months now really.

"The income from ruling a village, the lands, being Mayor. It'd be more than enough to start a fund to retrieve your son from the lands he's chartered off to."

He gasps, "I have a son?"

I smile and nod, "You do, and he'll need a father of means to secure him the brightest future."

He nods, "It's odd to hear a man of your schemes talk of bright futures. You aren't a good person, Lord Ash."

'He called me Lord…we're getting somewhere.'

I shrug, "Not everyone can afford the luxury of morals. I bet you wouldn't be a very good person to the Duke if you had the chance, you might."

He stares for a bit before shifting, "I'll consider this offer."

'That's as good as a yes. Who said I can't recruit everyone?'

I nod and smile, "Do that. Now let's clear that Beast Mother off the checklist, you still want her hide, don't you?"

Offering a grunt he starts off, picking his spear out of a corpse and twirling it as he passes the floating wall of Spirit Warriors.

Chuckling to myself I carry on after him, and as we move through the bright glittered caverns hidden within, trudging down the steep slopes on each layer and climbing right back up when we ascend to the next. Monsters hound us all the way but with a small Household guard of invulnerable warriors the monsters are little more than pests.

Climbing into the second layer I know the monsters here are a different breed, there are a lot more snakes each layer, larger, stronger than the ones at the lower layers. Those monsters are the ones I'm using to sort out the mettle of my supposed guard.

It's expected that there will be deserters, I just hope this steels the resolve of the ones that do stay. Frankly I'd be satisfied right now if I left here with a ton of experience from killing the Beast Mother, and twenty of these Warriors.

The second level has me pitching in here and there with Shaco and a couple of Death Grip strikes here and there. The Snakes are ever slippery but the sheer number of Warriors comes in handy catching and ending the monsters.

We clear the second level without much effort, but the third is a different breed. It's even more expansive than the previous levels, it's darker lit with purple plants curling up their luminescent bulb and buds, bathing the level in a dreadful violet.

Anselm, Jungle or rather Timothy and I never made it up this far, the sheer number of enemies and my inability to raise their fallen as minions bared our progress greatly. Standing on the third level now I can tell from the energies bouncing all over the place that even if I'd pulled out the [Soul Gem] we'd have been hard pressed to get through the assortment of Monsters growling and hissing at us.

Slithering with scaly heads up in the air are three large snakes with two front legs. By the thick looking scales, long fang filled mouth and claws digging into the ground I'd say it's got draconic features.

"Lindworm." Jungle mutters under his breath, twirling his spear.

The Lindworms aren't alone, below their large bodies are monsters that meet our size. These ones I can identify with ease, "And Drakes. You said this thing was a snake, not a dragon."

"I'm as shocked as you are." He deadpans and launches at them.

With a roar my Spirit Warriors rush the charge, the lot of them focusing on one Lindworm under Eldwin's command. The Drakes are numerous and have dexterous hind limbs, launching themselves at the charging Spirit Warriors isn't a difficult matter.

As Eldwin continues the charge blasts of fire rock the ground as Jungle goes all out, stabbing, slicing and exploding monsters with each twirl of his spear. The Lindworms remaining are left to me and they know it.

The two catch my presence and sneer, dragging and slithering their bodies at me, I pick out the [Soul Gem] and let the power flood my pathways so I can unleash two rounds of my latest spell.

"Pull of the Dead!"