Revenge of the Sorcerer King 31

Chapter 32

Oberon 

I rubbed my fingers together and could feel the skin. I couldn’t understand how this was possible. Was I becoming a zombie? But those creatures were changed into undead with all their flesh and skin. I bent down and grabbed a stone. Turning towards the sky, I threw it as hard as I could. It went flying and I quickly lost sight of it. Definitely stronger. 

I heard a thump behind me. Turning, I found Alessa done with her meal. She had a satisfied face that made it hard for me to be mad at her. She had completely drained the guy, which if my vampire lore was correct, would change him into a ghoul in a few hours.

“We can’t leave him or take him,” I said pointing at the svireled body. 

“I know,” Alessa replied. She held her hand up and began a quick chant. Flames wrapped around her gauntlet. She flung her arm and they sprayed onto the body igniting it like dry kindle. It was only a few seconds before the body was reduced to mostly ash. I nodded and waved my hand, carving a small pit and burying the ashes in it. 

“What’s wrong with your hand?!” Alessa asked when she saw my skin covered limb. 

“A little bit of an upgrade maybe. I’m not sure what all the benefits of it are yet,” I said replacing the gauntlet. “Come on. The others are waiting for us.” 

We left the alley and walked back to the wagon that was parked next to a tavern. We had let the adventurers have a little free time and allowed them to hang out in the tavern while we did the mission. When we rounded the last corner before we reached the wagon, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or not. 

Jack was headfirst in a puddle of mud. The other guy who’s name I couldn’t remember, and the girl were on the seat of the wagon and were a few seconds away from doing some very inappropriate things in public. Most of their clothing was already missing. I could tell from a hundred meters away that they were both drunk enough to knock most people out. People passing by where whooping and hollering for them to go all the way.

“Where the hell is Helena and Ted?” I asked more to myself. 

“I can smell Ted from that direction,” Alessa said pointing down an alley next to the bar. “Don’t hold your breath on me finding Helena though.” Alessa shrugged with her hands in the air. 

“What about me?” Helena’s voice popped up behind us. 

“In a minute,” I said then threw a simple water spell on top of the two lovers. They snapped out of their alcohol fueled daze. Shame overtook them the next second and the girl proceeded to faint right there. The guy looked around and covered the girl before he pulled his pants back up. “Take care of them. We’ll talk about this later.” The guy nodded to me quickly. 

We left them and headed down the alleyway. It didn’t take long to find Ted. He had painted a target on the back wall of some building and was throwing spells at it. We watched him for a second before we approached. Arcs of lightning that were dyed green where popping against the target. They dissipated quickly but I could tell they were quite deadly.

“Practicing?” I asked.

“It was taking everyone a while to get back so…” Ted said with a nod. 

“You’re pretty decent with lightning magic,” I said moving next to him. 

“Been working on it since I was six years old. Even if I’m working on Necromancy now, I don’t want to get rusty.” 

“That’s a good idea,” I said. I raised my hand like he had and channeled my mana as I chanted a quick spell. An arc of lightning left leapt from the palm of my hand and struck the center of the target. It was a nice spell to use to immobilize someone. 

“My hats off to you. That was pretty impressive,” Ted said. 

“Years of hard work and sacrifice.”

“If you two are done bonding? Can we leave before the town wakes up to find a certain someone dead in their bed?” Helena asked with her hands on her hips.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said waving her off. 

We left the alley and threw Jack into the back of the wagon as the other guy was struggling to lift his dead weight. I really needed to find out his name. The gates were already closed for the night, but a few gold coins changed that. In a matter of minutes, we were back on the road towards Frinz and our last assignment from the mercenary guild. 

“Anyone following us?” I asked looking to Helena as I controlled the reins. It was hard to pin-point people while moving. Life flames were all over the place from weak monsters and other creatures. I couldn’t tell them apart when there was a considerable distance between us. 

“Just a group of twenty or so men. Should be easy enough. Well, easy for me. At least there are no walls for you to be thrown into out here,” Helena answered glancing behind us. 

“Very funny,” I said. I kept our pace at a leisurely one since the followers would likely have a spot out of the way already picked for us. That would only serve to help us out. “Alessa. I hope you didn’t fill up completely back at the town.” 

“I could go for a few more liters,” Alessa replied patting her completely flat stomach. 

Roughly an hour later, about the time most people might be relaxing their guard, a dust cloud formed behind us. Twenty-three people dressed in a mixture of armors were fast approaching us. I was wondering how they would box us in when a wall of fire erupted in front of us. The horses skid to a stop in a full out panic. Using practiced control that I didn’t remember having, I was able to bring them under control and calm them down. 

Whoops and hollers sounded out behind us as the force of people encircled us. Helena and I sighed as we dismounted. Alessa and Ted followed. The adventurers were still wasted and were out cold. When they caught sight of the two girls the men started to laugh in a sick manner. It wasn’t hard to realize what they wanted. 

“Can we help you gentlemen?” I asked stepping forward. 

“Yeah, I think you can. Hand over all your money and the women and we’ll let you live,” one of the men, the ugliest by my reckoning said as he moved his horse a few steps closer. 

“That’s it?” I turned to Helena and Alessa. “What do you two think? Should I sacrifice you two so I can live to see another day?” I asked sarcastically. 

“Do it and you’ll be seeing me very soon,” Helena said with a tone that let you know it was a promise. 

“Like you mean it,” Alessa said laughing.

“You three think this is a joke do ya?!” the bandit asked with a snarl. 

“A little yeah. Flash a little gold and some pretty girls at the gate. Of course, the cancer of the area is going to catch wind of it. Classic, hasn’t really changed in a thousand years,” I said shaking my head.

“Just cause you have that pretty armor doesn’t mean you’ll beat us!” He growled then gestured. Around ten of the men wielded bows and notched an arrow at his command. “Final chance.”

I drew Promise from my scabbard. “Let’s dance,” I said.

Alessa 

Powerful. That was how I always felt after drinking blood. Especially when I drained the person dry. Like I drank part of their soul. It took a lot to control myself before drinking, while drinking, and even after drinking blood. It was a constant struggle with myself not to hunt something or someone. Not to ripping something apart while my body thrummed with power after a feast. 

That was why I was incredibly happy when Helena told me we were being followed. Finally, I would have something to crush before this feeling of power left me. I had to make sure I didn’t lose out to Oberon and Helena. Even though they were both older than me by several centuries, they liked to kill everything themselves. 

I poured mana into my gauntlets while Oberon was talking to the man. Once Oberon pulled his blade out, the battle began. Arrows rained down on us, but none of us even bothered to avoid them as we charged the men. They just bounced off of Oberon’s and mine’s armor. Helena would pop in and out of shadow allowing the arrows to pass through her. 

A bolt of lightning passed by me and struck one man full in the chest. It soon bounced to two more before it expended all the energy it had. The three charred bodies dropped to the ground. Helena and I were faster than Oberon and met the men first. We both plowed through them like they were paper dolls. Blood sprayed from limbs that were ripped off from the force we delivered. 

Three men and two horses later, I exited the back of their encirclement. Blood dripped off me in rivets from the amount that sprayed on me. I turned in time to see Oberon collided with the leader. 

His sword, Promise, sliced clean through both the rider’s sword, the rider himself, and the horse as he brought it down with an overhead strike. He twisted mid-strike while his sword was still in the mid-section of the horse and pulled it horizontal to slice the man next to him in half. A haze of mana extended from the tip of the blade as he pulled it back around. Three men at least two meters from his stopped in their tracks as their upper half dropped from their lower half. 

Not wanting to be out done, I turned to find the nearest enemies. I thought about the spell Oberon used earlier today then punched the ground. Five of the archers that were huddled together dropped into a pit that formed under them. I didn’t need to look to know they were dead, as spikes lined the pit’s walls.

I straightened to look around for another foe to kill but only found dismembered bodies and puddles of blood. The fight must have only lasted a minute if that. I found myself almost disappointed by the lack of anyone else left to kill. Helena was dragging a man that was still struggling over to us. 

“Found him hiding in the woods over there. He was the one that cast the fire wall,” Helena said throwing him in front of us. He immediately tried to make a run for it, but Helena slammed her foot down on one of his legs. He screamed and curled into a ball.

“Snack?” Oberon asked.

“Too noisy. Figured you might want to ask a few questions. If not, I could use a drink,” Helena said with a shrug.