Chapter 3: Warehouse Massacre

Chapter 3: Warehouse Massacre

Desertion was technically illegal, but Orodan didn’t care given that in approximately eight hours the entirety of Volarbury County would likely be devoid of life thanks to an ancient war machine from a bygone era.

Who even knew where that thing came from? All Orodan could be certain of was that the Novarrian Empire couldn’t have built it.

As for Orodan, he was enjoying his self-granted day off of work in this loop in the nearby town of Loviaston, an hour’s Sprint away, where he was sitting at a table in a coffee shop.

Across the street from said coffee shop was a warehouse with the banner of a flower and shield flying atop it. The banner of noble House Argon, traitors to the Republic and future perpetrators of mass slaughter.

He had been sitting at the table for about thirty minutes now and was reaching the limit on information that could be gleaned by just sitting at a coffee table and observing.

He knew about this place as being one of the warehouses that House Argon used to send goods to and from the tavern in Eversong Plaza. As fascinating as it would be if there was some secret weapon or stashes of illegal substances there, the warehouse was used for delivering food to the tavern, and the shipments were in open crates and handled by local carriage drivers who had plenty of opportunity to snoop if they really wanted.

The warehouse, from what Orodan knew, was more of a staging point for House Argon’s enforcers to go out and do their dirty work, and a location where going to and from wouldn’t easily have their personal details leaked. The warehouse was strictly manned by guards and enforcers of House Argon, and Orodan heard rumours of at least two Adept-level guards within from the gossip of the townfolk.

If he spent any longer at the table and kept asking around word might get back to the warehouse that someone was sniffing around, so he decided to do what he was best at. Take action.

The security on this warehouse, at 82 Caltrop Road, wasn’t anywhere near the constant eyes that were watching the tavern at Eversong Plaza in Ogdenborough. So Orodan was able to get within twenty feet of the main double doors to the warehouse before a burly Argon guard put his hand out and gestured for him to stop.

Orodan’s fist smashed into the axe-wielding guard’s nose, a satisfying crunch reverberated through the air and a shield bash to the head followed by a sword swing decapitated the man all within a single second.

The pedestrian traffic nearby suddenly fell very silent.UppTodated from nô/v/e/lb(i)n.c(o)/m

And as the first woman screamed at the sight of the gruesome murder Orodan rushed the second guard who was a second too late to react at the shocking sight of the violence. Orodan’s sword stabbed through his head and sent him to the afterlife as well.

[New Skill → Surprise Attack 1]

Two near-Adept guards put down in less than three seconds, admittedly with the element of surprise on his side. But still, these were fighters on the same tier as himself. Orodan had grown strong.

He felt they weren’t at the Adept-level, but near it. And compared to Orodan who could now fight Adepts to a standstill, they weren’t too much of a threat.

He kicked the double doors in with as much force as he could muster, sending them flying inwards and revealing the inside of the warehouse where five angry looking guards had their weapons drawn.

Orodan roared and feinted a charge at the nearest one, a halberd user who raised his weapon to defend, only for Orodan to redirect and lash out with a furious swing at the second nearest one, a swordswoman who was caught off-guard and received a deep cut to her leg.

The element of surprise wore off and the fury and exchange of steel-on-steel melee combat was joined. Even though it was five-on-one all the guards on the first floor weren’t Adept-level yet.

Perfect Parries and Evasiveness to create openings lead to the swordswoman and a mace wielding guard being cut down in the next ten seconds. Active combat skills really were a game-changer, the Blessing that allowed Orodan to learn warrior skills faster truly was a boon for allowing him to so easily pick such things up.

The remaining three all ganged up on him at the same time, and while he could launch ten attacks a second, each of them were capable of at least six a second themselves, and taken together it meant that Orodan took some blows while dealing them in return. Although he did try his absolute best to mitigate the damage as best as consciously possible by focusing on receiving blows at the most optimal angles, maneuvering his body to receive a blow in the least critical area, and whatnot.

His left arm had a deep cut which made moving it slightly more difficult, and his ribs were likely cracked from a hammer, but the message he received was worth it.

[New Skill → Damage Mitigation 1]

Within the next ten seconds two of the remaining three were dead, but as Orodan attempted to deliver a killing blow to the last one whose morale was on its last legs, a sudden greatsword intercepted his attack and all of a sudden he was on the backfoot trading blows and being forced back as a tough-looking old man pressured him. And unlike the archer-assassin in Scarmorrow, this man was an Adept-level fighter who specialized in melee combat.

Orodan had no surefire way of knowing whether someone was an Adept, but it was a sense of decently reliable feel. He didn’t know the basic Observe spell that was taught to all nobles and students of any academy, so for him, going by feel was how he identified someone’s approximate skill levels in combat.

By this point anyone capable of pressuring and pushing Orodan back in melee combat had to be at least Adept-level, as anyone beneath that just wasn’t up to par.

The difference between fighting the Temple archer at Scarmorrow and fighting this man was quite stark. Unlike the archer whose strikes lacked conviction, this man’s attacks with his greatsword were full of lethal commitment and crisp focus.

This old man was undoubtedly a far stronger Adept-level fighter than the archer was. The situation got worse as Orodan realized that his Perfect Parry skill wasn’t nearly as effective at creating openings and unbalancing the other man. This greatsword-Adept was a master of melee combat and what worked on an archer with commitment issues in close quarters wouldn’t work on him.

Still, that Orodan could keep pace with and trade blows against this vastly more dangerous melee combatant even if it was in brief moments and exchanges that he was the loser in... it spoke well of his own growing skill levels.

Orodan wasn’t ashamed to admit that he had to start vaulting over crates, climbing up equipment and even hopped across support beams and swung himself up to the second floor of the warehouse in order to gain space and not remain in a melee exchange for too long at a time lest he get overwhelmed.

[New Skill → Parkour 1]

[Shield Mastery 37 → Shield Mastery 38]

At some point Orodan’s shield completely shattered under the powerful blows of his opponent’s greatsword and he was forced to go sword to sword against an opponent with a reach and power advantage.

Not ideal. And even his sword wouldn’t last much longer given the dangerous creaking noises the metal was making as it absorbed the mighty blows of the old man’s greatsword, which was far faster than it had any right to be.

The remaining guard who the old man had rescued from Orodan had fled already, whether to get help or not would soon be seen.

The man paused for a split moment to speak for the first time. “Murderer, you fight suspiciously well for one who’s not yet an Adept. I am Balus Mogram, enforcer of House Argon, and you’ve killed our people for no good reason. Why? Give me your name so I know who my blade slays.”

He was far more forthcoming than the archer, but understandably so given that he wasn’t an assassin and Orodan had provoked his ire.

“Orodan Wainwright... and I bring justice upon the traitors of House Argon and any who serve them!” he replied, and as Balus’s face took on a grim visage in response, Orodan too prepared to end this loop with one final exchange of blows as he could see the rumored second Adept-level fighter, a spear-wielding woman, had arrived at the ground floor of the warehouse below them. Must not have been initially present then.

Orodan breathed in slowly and tried to focus and center his nerves as best he could. Now, in the middle of life and death combat with his survival instincts and adrenaline at peak capacity, was the best time to attempt the learning of the new skill he was attempting.

He got into a power stance, gripped his sword with both hands and raised it overhead in the most powerful load-up position he could manage. And as Balus Mogram’s greatsword came in overhead in a frighteningly strong and fast swing of his own, Orodan uncoiled and exploded with every muscle in his body at full strength, to the point that he felt he might’ve even dislocated his shoulder. The sole objective being to meet the oncoming greatsword with as much pure power as physically possible.

The two blades met in the middle, and against all common sense, deadlocked for a fraction of a second as the momentum of the larger and heavier greatsword was incredulously stopped.

[New Skill (Uncommon) → Power Strike 1]

[Sword Mastery 46 → Sword Mastery 47]

[Combat Mastery 32 → Combat Mastery 33]

[Physical Fitness 31 → Physical Fitness 32]

And then Orodan’s sword broke under the strain.

As the greatsword continued onwards to reap his life, its wielder’s eyes were shocked. Balus had felt the power behind the last ditch strike that stopped his greatsword. He almost felt pity and lament at having to put down a youth who could learn an active combat skill in the middle of battle.

[Quest Failed → Battle of Ogdenborough - You have died]

A keening wail ringing in the night sky awoke him.

Orodan ignored the Quest bestowal message that always came up and instead pulled up his Status with a mental command.

[Name: Orodan Wainwright

Age: 17

Title 1: Combat Apprentice

Available Titles: One Who Has Experienced Death, Shield Apprentice, Sword Apprentice, Physical Apprentice

Skills: Sword Mastery 47 (Apprentice), Shield Mastery 38 (Apprentice), Combat Mastery 33 (Apprentice), Physical Fitness 32 (Apprentice), Unarmed Combat Mastery 28 (Initiate), Cleaning 27 (Initiate), Perfect Parry 21 (Initiate - Uncommon), Pain Resistance 20 (Initiate), Evasiveness 18 (Initiate - Uncommon), Laboring 18 (Initiate), Bleeding Control 17 (Initiate) Sprinting 16 (Initiate), Club Mastery 15 (Initiate), Dying Struggle 14 (Initiate - Uncommon), Unyielding Vitality 11 (Initiate - Rare), Maintenance 8 (Initiate), Repair 7 (Initiate), Thievery 6 (Initiate), Intimidation 6 (Initiate), Deception 4 (Initiate), Shield Throw 1 (Initiate - Uncommon), Surprise Attack 1 (Initiate), Parkour 1 (Initiate), Power Strike 1 (Initiate - Uncommon), Damage Mitigation 1 (Initiate)

Blessings: Warrior’s Heart - Increased talent and learning rate for all warrior related skills as determined by Agathor]

With that loop he added one more Uncommon rarity skill to his repertoire.

Taking advantage of the ability to risk his life and engage in genuine and lethal battles against stronger opponents gave him a rate of growth that was unparalleled.

Most people would be lucky to have an Uncommon skill or two across their lifetimes. And yet here was Orodan, with five Uncommon skills and a rare one at the age of 17 thanks to his ability to go back in time.

Putting that aside, Orodan couldn’t stop thinking about Balus’s final attack and his own Power Strike that met it. Should he plan the target prioritization better for the next loop? Should he try to pick them off one by one?

Who was Orodan kidding? He was a bull and knew only one solution.

To stubbornly grind away until his Power Strike could blow right through Balus Mogram’s greatsword strike.

The grind was slow, yet Orodan kept at it all the same.

After his daily routine, where he now took to simply lifting Old Man Hannegan’s entire cart and pouring the lumber out onto the pallets, Orodan now immediately sprinted to the town of Loviaston in every single loop and skipped the coffee shop entirely.

82 Caltrop Road was his new destination of choice, and the second he arrived he always began by immediately rushing up to the first guard and hitting him with a Power Strike, something which levelled both Surprise Attack and Power Strike.

And throughout the frequent loops of battling at the warehouse he also did his best to grind his other skills, old and new as much as possible.

Initially, he would always die when Balus Mogram himself joined the fray as the combination was far too much.

As he was on the cusp of achieving it, it came as no surprise that it took only the fifth loop of his self-imposed madness to receive a message he had been waiting for.

[Sword Mastery 49 → Sword Mastery 50]

[Title Gained: Sword Adept]

[Additional Title Slot Gained]

The messages would have been celebratory for anyone else. Even for Orodan himself whose life goal before his current circumstances was to become an Adept, it would be cause for joy at any other time.

But right now he had a goal, and it wasn’t to merely become an Adept.

The thirty-seventh loop passed and he was able to stand and trade evenly against the seven guards at the same time, however Balus’s arrival still led to him losing the exchange.

He could definitely kill all seven and Balus at once... if he allowed himself to move from the one spot and let up on his self-imposed restrictions. But he did not.

The eightieth loop passed and Orodan could finally evenly hold and trade blows indefinitely against all seven guards and Balus at the same time while standing in one spot and refusing to move, evade or use any other active combat skills.

He began the eighty-first loop by tracking Estilia down in a pottery shop a block away and throwing her through the double doors of the warehouse so she too could join in. Of course, the addition of a second Adept, to the training exercise caused him to begin dying frequently again.

His Sword Mastery and Physical Fitness weren’t levelling as fast. Each level got exponentially harder as one advanced, and because Orodan could kill these opponents easily if he wanted the simulated danger he was in didn’t count nearly as much as actual combat against stronger foes.

But bit by bit, he was still making progress.

And finally, after two hundred and three loops, Orodan got what he wanted.

His sword lashed out and caught both Balus’s and Estilia’s incoming blows, while a second motion of his sword, all within the same move, intercepted and diverted the weaker blows of the seven guards.

This was the tipping point.

His first return blow beheaded both Balus and Estilia at once, and his second and third strikes killed the remaining seven guards in an instant.

[Sword Mastery 52 → Sword Mastery 53]

[New Skill (Exquisite) → Impregnable Bladewall 1]

Two hundred and three damn loops, which meant dying two hundred and two times.

Orodan wouldn’t lie and say it was pleasant but by now his Pain Resistance of 26 truly did make most pain, even the pain of death, seem trivial. It was an unnaturally high number that would raise questions, but who else could train Pain Resistance by repeatedly dying like he could?

Of course, his Damage Mitigation of 29, Bleeding Control of 23 and his Unyielding Vitality of 20 meant that death took an uncomfortably long time to arrive, even when his limbs were lopped off, he was stabbed multiple times and had most vital organs destroyed.

Frankly, his enemies were more terrified of his ludicrous vitality and refusal to die quickly than they were of his unnaturally good swordplay.

And he himself still wasn’t used to maintaining consciousness for a full minute after being decapitated.

But despite suffering through some uncomfortably drawn out deaths, Orodan had accomplished his goal. He had acquired the skill he had felt the inklings of right from the beginning when he had fought against the two Northmen in his very first life.

None of his other skills had made gains because he hadn’t bothered using any of them during this crazy training regimen.

But now... he had an Exquisite rarity skill. This was almost unfathomable for Orodan who grew up an orphan and a street rat.

Exquisite rarity skills weren’t spoken of openly by those who had them, usually in hushed whispers and there were many rumors surrounding who had them. But it was usually very high ranking members of the military, powerful noble houses and other exceptional individuals who were likely to hold Exquisite skills.

And now Orodan had one.

Frankly, if someone decided to use an Observer orb on him he stood a very high chance of being reported and promptly ‘asked’ to go along with some very powerful individuals to wherever they chose.

The last rumour he heard of someone with an Exquisite skill a few years ago was a girl in the neighboring Tooksten County, and the Capital Guard came by within an hour of her using the Observer orb at her local crafting guild office. Her family suddenly skyrocketed in wealth and often went to go visit her in the capital and they spoke of how she was doing important work and had a very lucrative position in the High Forges of Karilsgard.

So Orodan had to tread at least slightly carefully if he didn’t want to be nabbed away to the Capital. Furthermore, his was an active combat skill of Exquisite rarity.

The likelihood of him missing out on the ability to influence the Battle of Ogdenborough due to being kidnapped by the Capital Guard and trained into being a military asset of the Republic was incredibly high if anyone caught wind.

And while that sounded like a dream career to Orodan, in the short term he didn’t want to go anywhere until he dealt with this damn Quest looming over his head.

And so he continued, eager to test himself against that very strong, spear-wielding Adept who put a stop to his rampage in Loviaston last time.

Even at level 1 of Impregnable Bladewall, the difference was like night and day. An Exquisite skill was... powerful.

The tabard wearing spear-Adept confronted him like last time for daring to rampage and slaughter the troops of House Argon, but this time Orodan successfully used Impregnable Bladewall and fended off the dangerous Lunge and engaged the man in a heated melee exchange of steel on steel that tore apart the surrounding street with the shockwaves.

He was an Adept-level combatant now. And while regular Adepts couldn’t cause collateral damage with just their regular attacks, an exceptional Adept when combined with active combat skills absolutely could. And Orodan had an Exquisite rarity active combat skill. It went without saying that he could now cause a certain level of environmental destruction if he wasn’t holding back.

Impregnable Bladewall was his defense, and Power Strike was his offense. Furthermore, once he got into close-quarters combat Orodan kept pressuring the man and preventing him from gaining sufficient distance to use his active combat skill again.

He weaved both his offense and defense together beautifully and fought the man very evenly until the spear-Adept finally had enough and leapt away with an ugly look on his face.

“Who the fuck are you? A dog of the Republic who’s done playing the charade? If so why aren’t you at Eversong Plaza?” the man asked, and Orodan was surprised he was as forthcoming with the information. Then again, the attack was in a few hours and Orodan had already acted openly.

“Less talking, come here and fight me already!” Orodan replied as he gave chase.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The man was nearing the Elite level in his abilities and was thus able to outrun Orodan with a sizeable gap.

Furthermore, the alarm bells for Loviaston had been rung a while ago when Orodan started his massacre and enough time had passed.

So he finally got to see what the Volarbury County Militia’s Elite response unit looked like for the first time.

And by see he meant experience a city block levelling attack which likely splattered him into fine red paste.

He didn’t even see the attack which killed him, only the sight of an armored woman in Militia colors atop a brown griffin in the sky.

[Quest Failed → Battle of Ogdenborough - You have died]

A keening wail ringing in the night sky awoke him.

The Quest messages were brushed away, and Orodan got to his feet with a smile on his face.

“I actually forced an Elite-level member of the County Militia to come deal with me personally.”

He smiled and mentally called forth his status.

[Name: Orodan Wainwright

Age: 17

Title 1: Combat Apprentice

Title 2: Empty

Available Titles: One Who Has Experienced Death, Sword Adept, Shield Apprentice, Physical Apprentice, Unarmed Combat Apprentice, Combat Apprentice, Cleaning Apprentice

Skills: Sword Mastery 53 (Adept), Shield Mastery 46 (Apprentice), Physical Fitness 43 (Apprentice), Combat Mastery 41 (Apprentice), Power Strike 34 (Apprentice - Uncommon), Cleaning 31 (Apprentice), Unarmed Combat Mastery 30 (Apprentice), Damage Mitigation 29 (Initiate) Perfect Parry 26 (Initiate - Uncommon), Surprise Attack 23 (Initiate), Pain Resistance 26 (Initiate), Sprinting 23 (Initiate), Laboring 22 (Initiate), Evasiveness 21 (Initiate - Uncommon), Unyielding Vitality 20 (Initiate - Rare), Bleeding Control 23 (Initiate), Dying Struggle 19 (Initiate - Uncommon), Club Mastery 15 (Initiate), Shield Throw 12 (Initiate - Uncommon), Parkour 11 (Initiate), Maintenance 8 (Initiate), Repair 7 (Initiate), Thievery 6 (Initiate), Intimidation 6 (Initiate), Deception 4 (Initiate), Impregnable Bladewall 3 (Initiate - Exquisite)

Blessings: Warrior’s Heart - Increased talent and learning rate for all warrior related skills as determined by Agathor]

He made the decision to change his title to Combat Apprentice and leave his newly gained second title slot empty. Titles and the number of slots one had were a symbol of social status. When one crossed 50 and achieved Adept level in a skill for the first time, they received a second slot. A third was received for crossing the Elite threshold at 70 for the first time, and so forth.

Of course, if a slot was left empty then to anyone using Observe it would only show the singular active Title, which had to have a Title assigned.

Orodan made this decision because the enforcers of House Argon at Eversong Plaza knew him growing up, and most importantly, they used Observe on every passing person they saw. So the discrepancy between Observing him the last time before the loops began, to now where he was suddenly an Adept? It would alarm them, and for the purposes of what he wanted to do, he didn’t need them being alerted instantly based off his Observe readings.

But still, Orodan’s smile grew wider at how far he had come.

Now it was time to put his stone head to work at grinding against the Quest once more.