Distracted by the ready chance to give hugs, Mystal immediately wrapped me up as I dragged her along. The High Lady spoke up as we made our way toward the gates, “Can I have a private word with you Florin?”
Cursing internally I gave Mystal a sheepish look and muttered, “Head toward the gate with the others.”
The other members of our party were leaving the mansion and making their way through the carnage strewn grounds toward the distant open gates. Mystal pouted but left me there with Valerie and her mother.
The High Lady looked down at her daughter and spoke surprisingly softly, “You too.”
Val started to speak up but her mother just shook her head, “Go.”
With that the young noblewoman walked off, casting concerned looks back at me and the giant noble lady.
After a long moment where the cold golden eyes seemed to burn through me the High Lady said, “The Ghost of L’Chasse. To think the Cardienne family’s greatest name would come back to us as a Remnant.”
My face creased into a tight smile as I said, “Given what I’ve heard about your people I doubt they like that their most famous member is a rebellious folk hero,” I looked toward the statue and finished my statement with a tight smile, “and a male.”
The High Lady suddenly looked weary, rolling her shoulders as she chuckled, “I think young Alphonse cares more than any other member of his family.”
A distant memory from my earliest days surfaced and I considered whether to broach the subject. Finally, I shrugged and pulled the house icon I’d taken from the bodies of Alphonse’s prospective killers from my inventory and showed it to the High Lady.
The woman looked mildly confused until I added, “Did you send those men to kill Alphonse in the Necropolis?”
After a brief pause the giant woman guffawed a booming laugh. She laughed so hard and long I started to worry about her. Finally she wiped her eyes and smirked at me, “Of course I did, although I would prefer you not tell my daughter.”
Raising an eyebrow I asked, “I’m no fan of the guy. He’s betrayed us and if I have anything to say about it he won’t be living much longer but wasn’t he Val’s closest friend?”
The High Lady leaned against her axe handle, it’s blades digging into the stone platform at her feet and she started to explain, “House Cardienne’s previous matriarch’s name was Alexandra. She and I were close.”
She gave me a pointed golden glare and said, “Very close.”
After a long moment she continued, “When Valerie and Alphonse were still young she grew sick. I was at her bedside so often that my duties went untended. My servants and consorts worried for the state of my mind. As it became clear that Alexandra would not recover she confided in me that Alphonse had a sickness of the mind.”
She worked her jaw back and forth and looked toward her distant daughter as she continued, “Even so young he tortured animals and toyed with his servants in,” she growled, “unsightly ways.”
Rolling her shoulders she continued, “She made me promise that I would keep Alphonse close, counsel him and hope that Valerie’s moral character would influence him. It seemed as if their close relationship had a beneficial effect on the boy. They were the best of friends and to my eyes he had left his darker tendencies behind him. My friend was gone and to soften the blow I took my eyes off the affairs of house and turned back to saving L’Chasse and Lothin.”
Leveling her stare back at me she continued, “The moment I announced candidacy for my daughter’s chief consort Alphonse’s good natured and friendly demeanor vanished. It was clear that he had worn a mask for years in hopes of gaining a position of some power. My daughter’s heart was broken as her oldest friend simply vanished to be replaced by a mechanical and mercurial creature of political ambition.”
Smiling at me she said, “When Alexandra asked me to care for Alphonse she begged one final thing. She asked that if Alphonse ever threatened me or Valerie I would put him down.”
Smirking at her I looked toward the gates with concern.
A chill ran down my spine as she spoke with a cold promise in her tone, “I would do far worse to anyone who threatened my daughter. Alphonse earned a quick death due to his relationship with Alexandra.”
Nodding toward the gate she said, “Good luck. I will gather what forces I can and attempt to retake Lothin. There are certainly cultists out there who will need to be stopped. Our people need a leader, and I will take care of that.”
Nodding, I added, “Those servants inside are going to need some help. I can’t take on a staff right now.”
The High Lady offered a nod and turned back toward her manor, striding toward it with purpose.
With that I departed toward the gates and I took the opportunity to prompt Lydia for my level and skill notifications before the final push. My concerns about the Priests of Pain and the final showdown with Sevrin were somewhat alleviated by the massive gains I had made since the last time I asked the AI for an update:
Congratulations!
“Several skills have reached Expert level 9! You may now advance these skills to Master!
Note: You may only advance five skills to Master!
Alert: Certain skills are available to be combined into Roles! Your skill will not diminish with the skills in question but you will begin at Role level 1 opening a whole new realm of possibilities! You may only have one combat, social and crafting role and each Role consumes one of your Master slots.”
Note: Some skills can only be attained by choosing to keep a skill free from a Role and others can only be obtained from within the Role skill hierarchy!
Finally, while Role skills are stronger on the whole they level much slower than regular Master skills and when you gain a new skill you must choose between a number of skill options equal to the number of skills under the Role.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
I surveyed the options. There was of course the chance to upgrade each separately and consume four slots but there were other skills that I definitely wanted to advance and one empty slot did not seem like enough for what I envisioned.
There were a number of interesting roles.
Thief was a combination of the Acrobatics (Dodge) and Stealth (Silent Movement) skills but I sensed an even more focused Role could be gained by holding out to getting the Lockpick skill to Expert 9.
Blades (Light Blades) and Dual Wield got the option to take the Dervish Role. I got the sense not having the Dodge skill roped in meant that it might be designed for a more stand up combatant and it was clear that was not my path.
Only one option utilized all four of my Expert 9 skills. The Assassin role roped in Acrobatics, Stealth, Dual Wield and Blades. It quite honestly seemed tailor made for what I had been doing so far. I chose it and watched as the four skills were organized under the Role.
I was immediately given four options. Spinning Blades allowed me to deflect attacks while doing damage to the enemies who attacked me. Shadow Leap allowed me to teleport a short distance through darkness. Phantom Dodge allowed me to vanish from a point of attack and appear up to three meters away. The skill I settled on, however, was Guillotine Blade.
“Guillotine Blade: If you strike from hiding the target must resist your Agility with their Vitality or become stunned for three seconds. If you strike a target who is aware of you with Guillotine Blade they are silenced and unable to speak for ten seconds. If the creature resists your attack it still suffers the effects of Backstab. Creatures without vital organs are immune to Guillotine Blade.”
Locking that in as we crossed the grounds I watched Mystal split into drones. This time she had chosen to return to the old standards of Gregor and the other four guards from the border fortress. Each of them looked at me and offered a nod tinged with grim determination.
Gregor offered a growled greeting, “Captain.”
In addition to the skill ups I had gained four levels which amounted to attribute increases and new abilities for the Blood Dancer class. Apparently having an E Tier race meant I could now increase two stats by fifteen instead of two by five. Quickly going over my statistics, I now had three that were over one hundred. One of my boosts went into my central statistic, raising my Agility. With that I applied the second increase to Spirit. The stat affected my traps and they could definitely stand to be boosted in the damage department.
Finally, at level thirty six I received two ability choices for Blood Dancer. They appeared to be standard modifications like my Endurance skills.
Endless Essence
Your Essence Pool increases by fifty permanently.
Endless Vitality
Your Health Pool increases by one thousand permanently.
While a permanent increase to Health like that was tempting but nothing could beat Essence as a resource. Not only did it facilitate my Regeneration ability but it also allowed me to activate skills like Surging Blood and Dance of the Rose Hurricane multiple times. With Blood Cloak and Endless Essence I now had a hefty Essence Pool of two hundred and fifty.
As we neared the gates I could hear the sounds of approaching guards and shouts. My allies rushed ahead through the gate to meet them. When I started to join them Valerie grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face her. Without saying a word she leaned into me, grabbed the back of my head and kissed me aggressively. I swore I could taste her lips, warm, sweet and firm.
I blinked in shock as the kiss broke and she looked into my eyes with resolve. There was not an ounce of uncertainty in her. She smirked at me and drew her sword as she hurried past me and into the street without saying a word.
Watching her go I could only imagine myself tumbling off a cliff, reality fading away at the top and the cold hard ground rushing up to meet me.
“Lyd,” I said, starting to ask her about my messages.
She asked, “Yes, Mal?”
With a sigh I growled, “Nothing,” as I rushed to join my new allies.
The streets outside the manor were already in complete chaos.
Mattieu and Celeste seemed to be attempting to turn using their force magic to blast screaming victims through the garden wall into a game.
Protag was softening up the back line of the soldiers, and throwing icy explosives at the ones who chose to stand back and sling flaming arrows at us.
Valerie and Theodora, to my shock, were working together. The vampire woman’s power to crush an enemy’s will with a glance set them up for a casual dispatching by the masterful sword thrusts from the noble.
Blinking away the shock of the sudden kiss and how I felt about it I rushed to join the fight. Valerie was nearby, paying me no attention, as she hacked through her second guard.
Mystal and her mist soldiers were working as a unit to charge a pair of archers.
Activating Surging Blood I was upon my first set of enemies in moments.
The street became a haze of blood, screams and clanging metal as we cut through our foes in the general direction of the Descent. In short order I was surrounded by a cavitation of drifting Essence as I cut down my eighth cultist. I glanced down the street to see the drifting form of one of the Priests of Pain and looked to Theodora and said, “Looks like our first dance partner is here.”
The vampiress smirked and licked blood off one of her elegant blood claws as she vanished, her movement faster than even I could follow.
I called out to Protag and the others, “Advance toward the elite once you get an opening! We are going to the big fight. Do not get close to it!,” and then vanished as I activated Blazing Boots to charge toward the Priest of Pain through a hole made by the Foixs.
As I charged through the haze I was shocked to see a bladed arm swinging toward me at my speed. Dodging aside I continued my charge as I rode a wave of exploding rock from the arm’s impact. As I neared the monster it’s head swiveled away from me and fired a lance of flame from its white hot mouth. Theodora appeared rolling away from the attack and shot me a wink.
The spikes protruding from the Priest’s body burst outward to try and stop me, but I dodged and managed to get close enough to dig into its side and activate Slice. More spikes burst from its body and I flipped away running around the monster ahead of the spears, managing a few more telling strikes into its dense hide.
Meanwhile, Theodora was appearing as if from thin air all around the monster’s torso and tearing into it with her simple sword or gouging its gray dead flesh with her claw. When the eyeless monster screamed in pain it was with dozens of voices. Finally, she appeared and the monster seemed to have anticipated her movement, batting her away despite her speed and into the side of one of the manors.
That left me uncomfortably alone with the towering beast.
Evade activated and I dodged the first swing of its moon bladed spear, which tore into the stone road beneath us and sent debris flying in all directions. Every ounce of my Essence was devoted to dodging in hopes that Theodora would return.
Around us other cultists had joined the melee but the Foixs, Valerie, and Protag were easily holding them at bay. Seeing an opening I charged in to slash into the giant Priest and took a spear in my side for my trouble. Tumbling from the injury I managed a single superficial swipe, sending a spray of blackened blood from its wound.
My Blooded Buff was announced by Lydia and I used the sudden infusion to burst into a series of slashes and deep cuts as I easily dodged its many strikes. To my relief I saw Theodora appear behind its head and slash into its spiked skull with her claw and sword. The monster swung both of its half moon spears as it lumbered in a circle. Theodora vanished and I vaulted over it, rolling to avoid a fresh volley of thrusting spears from its body as I charged in and inflicted a series of rapid slashes on it.
Theodora screamed, “It’s dying!,” and I noticed too late that the monster was starting to shake and thrash and those spears that seemed to thrust from its body were rattling and coated in thick ichor. A foe violently shaking as it was about to die from its wounds? Cursing I turned to try and get out of range of what was surely an explosive final attack.
I was not fast enough.
