Chapter 140: Hence We Fight (P3)

The kickback from the blast knocks me out of Shaco and for a second, I'm worried I just annihilated my newly made familiar as well as a defenceless Kaylin.

But then I feel the quiet humming connection that keeps me and my familiar…connected.

In hindsight it wasn't quite a brilliant plan to slice down a magically enchanted object that stores mana. But I don't much regret it, Kaylin is free now and at the moment, if they've recovered from what would be at most a concussive blast, Shaco should be well on his way detailing the plan to Kaylin.

What's the plan? The actual, feasible, tangible, step by step plan?

Well, stroll in and start killing of course. It's about time anyway.

With a grunt I get off my butt and dust myself off.

"You done? Is she okay?" Anselm asks, basically biting his nails.

"She's fines." I wave him off as I start walking towards the gate. "If all goes well you should be fighting right next to her, although, I doubt there'll be much fight left to partake of once I step in."

Squinting from the burning sun and sweating like a pig I huff. I never thought I'd miss the cold of Frozia but here I am.

"Fine." He gulps, floating closely behind me, "Are we really just going to…walk in?"

This isn't the first time he's asked this.

"I mean, I know I'm flying ahead to get the early kills in for you so you have some ghouls at your beck and call but still…just walking in?"

I shrug, "It's not like I want to just walk in. It's more like I can't take sitting here any longer. Kaylin is free now, but Aren is still unheard of, did you hear anything about Aren?"

Anselm shakes his head; a look of worry still splays across his face. "You think the Mayor may have him then?"

"Exactly what I'm thinking Anselm, and I'd appreciate it you were less not onboard with my crazy plans and more supportive about them."

He gives me a funny look and shakes his head, chin placed nicely between his fingers as he thinks, "But what would the Mayor have to do with Aren? He's not as attached to you as Kaylin is, and that should be obvious to anyone watching."

I shake my head, "Perhaps, but I made it so Kaylin, the actual person giving the orders is safe behind a human shield, Aren."

Anselm scowls, "If that worked then why was she thrown into a dungeon?"

"Probably something to do with the fact that she was the one to fight The Mayor and she was also the major commander on that last mission I sent her on."

"What last mission?"

Shoot, just can't keep your big mouth shut can you Ash?

I can't exactly tell Anselm upfront that I asked Kaylin to kidnap the boys to send a message to their Mayor father. Although, I wonder, after so many years or decades within the presence of Frozia and coming out with a wholly distorted sense of time.

So maybe he won't really care?

Better not risk it. Besides, it's not like any harm befell the children.

"Don't worry about it. I think we're close enough for you to be flying off?" I suggest, urging him to make the first moves and get me the dead I'll be using for my entrance.

He grunts saying nothing but flies off all the same.

It doesn't take much longer before the men up top finally see me approaching their city.

A chaos ensues, men, women and warriors scrambling to their stations up on the wall or down at the gates and in mere moments, as though the unfortunate lot had drilled for this very moment, a shot is fired.

It blasts past me, the accuracy of the giant, oversized iron bolt fired from an equally oversized crossbow is off by a few feet.

But I can't relax and hope they keep missing.

In that moment, as they yell at each other and prepare to fire a second, the package I've been waiting for drops.

Two bodies fall limply from the height. Their comrades watch in shock but don't much have the time to process it as above an explosion occurs just as the bodies slam the ground.

"Create Undead." Happy as hell to utter the words my mana twirls around me and attacks the bodies just as the men below, at the gates prepare themselves for me.

"Aim!" a man who I suppose would be their captain in this situation yells as the men take aim, pulling on their strings.

It seems like the Mayor failed to educate them on the exact kind of power coming to visit.

"Fir-ugh!" before the man can utter the words and before any of his willy willed subordinates can fire a stray arrow at me, green wispy tendrils latch onto all their necks.

Fuck, this will hurt. I wince as I utter the next words, "Soul Invasion." Instantly ten out of the thirty-men are stripped of their souls as they convulse rapidly, souls that obediently come down and revolve around me.

Curiously, the remainder twenty still hang onto their souls.

[Soul Invasion Failed. Soul Capture Failed. Target Willpower Exceeds Invasion Attempt.]

[Soul Invasion Failed. Soul Capture Failed. Target Willpower Exceeds Invasion Attempt.]

[Soul Invasion Failed. Soul Capture Failed. Target Willpower Exceeds Invasion Attempt.]

[Soul Invasion Failed. Soul Capture Failed. Target Willpower Exc….

It keeps going for all remaining twenty flailing in intense pains as the Death Grip on their necks eats away at their flesh.

But I can feel I'm about to run out of mana though. What a paradox. Not enough mana to perform some Soul Manipulation and have one of the newly acquired souls filter natural mana into me and not enough mana to sustain my Grip on the fools.

I let them fall to the floor, all of them choking and coughing over the sounds of Anselm doing Frozia's work up there. The man is really going at it, I can feel the cold from way down here.

"Urrhh…" a guttural groan sounds beside me.

My ghouls, done with their transformation the previous guards now turned mindless servant of mine stand ready for their next orders.

"Kill all your friends."

No better way to put the order for the simple-minded ghoul to understand. With unnatural speed they launch off the ground and latch onto the wall, climbing up the height like cockroaches fleeing a scene.

Except, they're about to make a really messy one.

Turning my attention back to the men down here in front of me, a few have picked up their weapons, melee this time and are posed to fight.

I suppose the System wasn't joking when it said their willpower exceeds the norm. Nevertheless, they're still humans and this is just the first door I have to knock down to get to the Mayor.

Silently, I beckon them to come at me, pulling out my trusty dagger as I do, unbeknownst to the first fool that comes charging at me, I intend to drain his soul and have his mana prepare me for the battle yet to come.