Revenge of the Sorcerer King 31

Chapter 31

Alessa

Helena unlocked the servant door with a spell, and we made our way into the dark house. It appeared the master of the house didn’t feel the need to light up the parts of the house he wasn’t using during the night. Not that I blamed him. When I still lived with my mother before they found out about my family heritage, a single candle cost us a meal for the day. I wasn’t sure if that was normal for other families, but it was all I knew. 

Helena led the way. I was sure she could hear the breathing on the upper floor like I could. It sounded like there were only two people in the house. I felt sorry for how ever was being dragged into this scheme, but Oberon and Helena didn’t really know the meaning of mercy. Actually, I felt like Oberon knew the meaning very well, which was why he was able to do some of the things he does to people. 

We reached the second floor without incident. Both Oberon and Helena said they couldn’t sense any traps or magical runes or seals. On the landing for the second floor, there were three doors. Two of which I could hear breathing from behind and one that was empty. Oberon pointed at the nearest one, then waved for Helena to take the farthest one. 

I tapped his shoulder and pointed to myself. He tapped my visor and pointed back down the stairs. He obviously wanted me to keep watch. I gave him a rude gesture and he just patted my head like I was a child. I turned and placed my body so I had a view of the doors and the stairs. Oberon gave me a thumbs up and moved to his door. 

I watched as they both tried their doors at the same time. Oberon’s was locked but Helena’s wasn’t. Oberon applied a bit of force to the handle and I heard a small grinding sound as the mechanism inside was twisted further than it was meant to go. They glanced at each other then nodded as they pushed into the rooms at the same time. 

It was only a few seconds before the breathing in Helena’s room sped up to frightened levels and I heard a muffled scream. A few seconds after that the breathing stopped and the tinge of blood filled the air. I couldn’t help myself as my mouth started watering. I dug my nails into my arm to resist going after the smell. 

To distract myself I focused on Oberon’s room. It was taking Oberon longer than I expected but I could hear him moving deeper in the room. His footsteps stopped suddenly then there was a thump. The breathing of the occupant rose to levels that I thought a human shouldn’t be able to handle. Oberon suddenly sailed past me and slammed into the wall adjacent the door to the room. 

“Son of a bitch!” Oberon growled as he pulled himself out of the wall. 

“What is it?” I asked as I braced myself for whatever was in the room. 

“A fucking werewolf!”

Oberon

The room was larger than I expected. It wasn’t decorated too much, mainly furs. I thought the person who lived in here must have liked to hunt. Once I was deep enough in the room, I found the life force of the occupant and ready a silence magic missile. A quick shot to the head would kill just about anything.

I launched the spell and the man moved just as the spell hit impacting his back. I didn’t hear a cry of pain and it was directly below his head. Before I got a chance to inspect the damage. A man jumped at me and kicked me fully in the chest. I didn’t get a chance to brace myself and was sent flying back out into the hall. I still managed to see the man’s had morph into that of a wolf. 

I pulled myself out of the wall. Werewolves were a bitch to deal with. They had heightened senses and were mostly immune to magic. Their strength, depending on their age, could equal that of a giant. I couldn’t help but wonder how this leveling system might have changed that equation. I was surprised one would be living in the middle of the city. They’re not exactly subtle about their… diet. 

I drew Promise from my belt and ready myself. 

“Why are you trying to kill me?” a voice called from inside the room.

“I’m only trying to kill a one Mister Hinz,” I called back.

“Who is now dead,” Helena said spinning the amulet in her hand. 

“Hinz is dead?” the voice asked. I noticed that it wasn’t upset. In fact, I thought it sounded almost… happy. 

“Indeed. He wasn’t very delicious,” Helena said pulling a cloth from her bag and wiping her mouth. 

“At least you got to eat,” Alessa said sourly. 

“Oh, don’t worry. You’re not missing anything.” 

The sound of large feet colliding with the floor echoed as a large man walked out of the room. He was in a non-aggressive state with his hands by his side. Once he exited the room, his wolf features started to fade. An average looking guy appeared. Someone you might forget if you passed them on the street. He kind of looked like a push over. 

“Since when could werewolves control their state?” I asked curious.

“Where have you been, buried under a rock for a thousand years?” the man asked with a laugh. “Werewolves have been able to control it since the Hero.” 

“Interesting. I guess you learn something every day,” I said. 

“If you guys have killed Hinz then I would like to leave with you. He’s kept me his slave with a spell for years now.”

“How?” 

“Blood magic. I got careless and he got ahold of my blood. Uses me as a bodyguard. You’re actually lucky, tonight there is a new moon so I’m weaker than normal.”

“Aren’t we lucky,” I said with a snort and glanced at the indent in the wall.

“Self-defense. Anyway. Help me get out of the city, please! I long to run in the forests again. To hunt like I should,” the man begged.

I glanced at the two women. They both just shrugged. “Alright. We’re only here to kill this guy anyway. Just tell us where his stash is, and we’ll take you along.” 

“No problem. My name is Weiz, by the way.” 

He led us over to the third room which had an even stronger lock on it than the first door. At the thought of the first locked door I asked Weiz about it and he said that Hinz didn’t like sleeping with his door unlocked. Weiz suspected that the blood magic used must have been imperfect, but he could never find a way to break free from it. Not that he ever let Hinz in on that. 

After a bit of rummaging around, Weiz led us to a spot on the floor that was a trap door. Helena had to use a bit of magic to break the enchantment on it, but it was low level and nothing she couldn’t get through. Inside was a mountain of gold and gems. Helena was the only one with storage magic at the moment, so I had to let her take it. The best I could do was just a few simple items at a time. 

Alessa’s eye glittered as we pulled the gold up. I couldn’t blame her given her situation as she grew up. The poor girl never really knew what wealth was before now. With the house looted, we left just as quietly as we entered. Weiz lived up to the werewolf name, and was almost quieter than Helena as we left. 

The surroundings of the house were just as we left them. Ted was sitting on a crate looking bored out of his mind. The whole event only took a few minutes but for someone on look out that can feel like hours. Alessa waved at him and we broke into pairs as we left the alley. Helena disappearing off on her own. 

It was just me and Weiz walking down the street. Given that he was able to punt me across the room, I found I didn’t mind the large plain man. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” I asked once we were a few streets from the crime scene. 

“No. I need to return to the hunt. Maybe fates will have our paths cross in the future,” he said shaking his head. 

“Pity. Lots of chaos in the future,” I said with a sinister chuckle. 

“I can smell the undeath from you. I have no doubt you will cause more trouble than is good for you.”

“Trouble has a nice ring to it. I have a few goals for now. Once those are complete, we’ll see what happens,” I said shrugging. 

“Give the girls my thanks,” Weiz said then ducked into the passing crowd. It was only a few seconds before I lost sight of him even with me watching as closely as I could. 

I laughed to myself earning a few glances then turned and started back to where we parked the wagon. I was almost back when I heard a yell of pain from down a nearby alley. I was going to ignore it until I remembered that Alessa had been complaining all day about starving. I turned and headed into the alley. 

I suppose I wasn’t too surprised when I found Alessa clutching a man that looked to be in his twenties in a death grip and had her mouth locked on his neck. I made sure there wasn’t anyone that might be in the area then leaned against the wall to wait for her to finish. I need to find some herbs that will work on a lich. Not having a cigar sucks, I thought as I pulled my status up to occupy my time. It had been a few days since I last looked at it.

Name: Oberon DarkPhoenix

Age: N/A

Race: World Lich

Level: 41

[Necromancy Basic Magic Mastery: Adept] [Basic Magic Mastery: Partial Lock 60%] [Sword Mastery: Partial Lock 40%] [Rune Mastery: Partial Lock 76%] [Advanced Magic Mastery: Partial Lock 92%] [Contract Magic Mastery: Partial Lock 58%] [Space Magic Mastery: Partial Lock 82%]...

Followers: 1206

Sin: Error! World’s Curse detected! EXP gain reduced by 66.6%!

Curses: World’s Curse, Ancestral Curse, Undeath

Boons: Forgotten Knowledge

Enhancement: [Body][Mind][Spirit] 1

First thing to surprise me was the fact that my followers had jumped by nearly a thousand in the few days I checked. I could think of a few things that could be the cause but nothing with certainty. I was also glad to see I was able to receive Exp from my city back in the desert even this far away. I was level thirty-nine the last time I checked my status and hadn’t killed anything since. 

“Enhancement, huh,” I mumbled looking at it. My eyes caught my gauntlet and reminded me of Grodo’s status which had upgrades for him. 

My weakest point right now was my body. I couldn’t withstand anything thrown at me, and I was getting tired of being thrown into walls. I debated for a few minutes before I mentally clicked the Body option. The next moment I dropped to my knees. 

I had a sense of touch even as bones, but I hadn’t truly felt any pain so far. Even when I was being tossed into a wall, I barely felt it. Now, however, it felt like worms were grinding through my bones. I gritted my teeth not wanting to risk releasing any noise. For the next minute solid, I felt like I was… filling the armor. 

Finally, the pain passed. I took a breath, as meaningless as it was, and stood back up. Nothing else changed on my status and I didn’t really feel much difference just moving my body around. Looking at the gauntlet again, I shrugged and pulled it off. Bones… was not what I saw. There was a thin layer of skin, sickly white and paper thin with no meat, but skin.