The Pinnacle Warrior

“Get moving! Fight or die!“ Astrid internally cursed herself and her relaxation as she hurriedly strapped her shield onto her left arm while she threw herself to her feet. “Muti! Kill the bastard, gut them and get back to us!“

The Barbarian didn’t respond, but she continued to scream her rage at their ambusher as she disappeared from view. That she wasn’t using her Stealth at all was enough of a testament to her insensate rage, but the sound of her pounding through the fields while her blades sliced through every stalk of grain served as an additional display. Astrid kept her shield up, eyes looking out for the people who were working in tandem with the monsters, but as a dozen gnolls rushed towards her, she cursed as she called to the rest of her party, “Muti’s on her own for now! Kill the gnolls as fast as you can and then we’ll back her up. Clear?”

Felix stepped right next to her, his shoulders tensed and his fists raised while Skandr and Benedict stepped forward, much closer to their two allies than they usually did in a fight.

“You want me to do anything different?“ Benedict asked, a quiver to his voice.

“Keep us healthy. I’m gonna push myself to kill and dismantle as fast as possible, and I don’t care if I get hurt to make sure that I can back Muti up.“

“I can do that.“ With a specific directive, the Bard seemed to be in a slightly better headspace. There was no more time to talk, and Skandr channeled his spell with muttered words and twitches of his fighters as Astrid and Felix got themselves into the fight.

With her looking now, Astrid saw that they were 13 gnolls. She cursed as she noted the shaman channeling its bloodlust aura, but as the brawlers threw themselves at her, she knew she just needed to kill them as fast as she could. Fortunately for her goal of quick killing, Felix swallowed hard, shouted, “Keep me alive, please!“ and used his attention-grabbingSkill. Eight brawlers, one shaman, and three rangers immediately turned towards him, fists, knife, and arrows flying. With Skandr’s Lightning Reflexes and Benedict’s Quickened Step, he was able to avoid half of the punches as well as the knife and arrows, but that was only the first second, and the attacks continued flowing towards him like a storm.

“Fall!” Skandr screamed as he sent out a condensed curtain of lightning into the brawlers and shaman. Bolts arced from one monster to the next, each one shuddering and twitching as Skandr’s attack lanced through them. Each gnoll slowed as Astrid swung wildly at everything she could reach, focusing on debilitating blows more than ensuring there was a kill. Anything to keep them from inguring Felix. She only had a couple seconds before Felix would be injured or killed, and she drew on Steady Load as best she could to ensure that a gnoll went down with every swing of her shield and hammer. She felt their blood fly through the air and slick her face through her helmet’s visor, but the shaman was still alive and shrugged off the slowing effect of Skandr’s spell. It lunged forward with its dagger towards Felix’s belly, and he was locked up by other attacks, unable to dodge.

“Die!” came Benedict’s demand as he used a Skill to empower his words. Astrid hadn’t seen him use this Skill specifically, but she could see as the scream leave her party member‘s mouth and rippled through the surroundings. Felix stumbled a little, his face in a grimace, but he continued fighting while the shaman and the brawlers all around seemed to take a much heavier blow. The magical attack blew back the surrounding fields, but the shaman was only slowed, not stopped. The bone dagger cut a 40 centimeter gash in Felix’s torso as the shaman fell to its knees.

Astrid‘s cries of challenge were wordless as she threw herself at the monster, but the sound of her hammer smashing through its neck cut through the cacophony of battle. The monster fell immediately, its death notification flashing in her eyes. It was far from enough to satiate her need to protect her allies and take vengeance on her enemies, though. She carved through the remainder of the brawlers with casual ease, her elevated attributes from reaching level 10 granting her the ability to overcome challenges that were impossible to her even a week ago.

Skandr sent three Lightning Bolts at the Rangers that seemed to be considering leaving the fight. The Alacrity-focused monsters were slowed, and Astrid sprinted towards them with her shield held high. The closest one was trampled, and she left the crumpled body in her wake, even though there was no kill notification. The next went down to a single swing of her hammer to its ribs that folded it in half, and the third died to her smashing the edge of her shield into its throat and nearly decapitating it with the single blow

“Muti! Where are you?” She didn’t hesitate to call out.

Again, a wordless cry, answered Astrid‘s question, and she threw herself in the direction that she could hear the Rogue’s voice. Astrid rushed through the fields, her shield high, but her eyes still looking in every direction to ensure she wasn’t surprised by anything. She couldn’t see the site of the battlefield, but she could tell she was following the path that Muti’s rush and chopping blades had carved in the grasses. Maybe that was on purpose… But that didn’t matter. The clanging of steel on steel let Astrid be sure that she was on the right path. Before long, she came to the sight of a furious Muti fighting off two Assassins.

Each wore identical equipment, dark leather, with some sort of an enchantment that Astrid didn’t care to try to understand right now. They held an arm-length dagger each, with a small crossbow hanging on their hips. Whenever one tried to get some measure of space between themselves and the rampaging Rogue, she would open herself up to a minor attack to ensure that the other wouldn’t be able to bury a bolt in her back. As such, a dozen small wounds covered Muti, and her sharp teeth and pointed ears were covered in blood, mostly her own.

Astrid rushed to close in on the nearest Assassin, but they turned and saw her, both started to flee. The Warrior pursued, but Muti shouted, “At the left!”

Without having to think about it, Astrid raised her shield just in time to intercept an arrow. She felt the projectile splinter against her mana-blessed iron.

“Skandr!“ Astrid screamed. “Cover the whole damn place!”

The Lightningmage had been ready for this, and as he threw both hands into the air, a furious crackling of lightning filled the air as both hands exploded with blue lightning. Without any seeming logic, the spell’s bolts fell all around them, mostly staying free of the clearing that Muti had been fighting in. As such, the Assassins were untouched, but Astrid heard a grunt of pain from the direction where the arrow had come from.

“You four focus on the Assassins. I’ll take down the bastard on this side.”

Astrid didn’t wait for a response as she sprinted in the direction of the other ambusher’s broken Stealth. They tried to hide from her awareness again, but this time, she knew where they were and didn’t slow herself. Even with their Skill, they couldn’t hide themselves from her rage. As soon as they realized that, they started to shoot towards her. The arrows that sought to take her life multiplied as they screamed forward, splitting in the air and seeking her flesh. Her armor and shield were too much for the attacks to harm her when she was prepared, and before long, Astrid drew close to the third assailant.

Much like the two Assassins, the Archer or Ranger had dark leather armor with a mask and equipment of at least the same quality that Astrid herself wore. Under the form-fitting armor, Astrid saw that this was a woman, though she knew nothing else about the ambusher. That didn’t matter, though, and she closed in on the woman, her enemy.

“You killed Bogdan! You’ll get no pity for me!” Despite Astrid’s challenge and her screams, the Archer didn’t say anything as she, with shaking arms, drew her bow again and again. With a scream, Astrid parried another flurry of arrows before, with a scream, smashing her hammer into her enemy’s waist. As the woman screamed in pain, Astrid was struck by the fact that this was a person, which had somehow never occurred to her.

She killed plenty of monsters now, thousands, but this was a person. A Human. Astrid felt herself hyperventilate as the Archer dropped her bow and raised both hands in surrender. She couldn’t strike a surrendering person down. Despite the words that she had just screamed, Astrid immediately considered how to allow this person to live. After all, she could bring her back to Klara, maybe they could get some real answers out of them to figure out who they were working with. Maybe then they could all—

With quick, but somehow stiff movements, the woman begging for her life pulled a knife from her waist and flicked it at Astrid’s face. She raised her shield, the blade pinging off and flying into the nearby fields. With her heart boiling with rage that burned away her pity, Astrid smashed her hammer down into the archer’s dominant arm. She screamed again in agony, but Astrid‘s rage was too overwhelming to care now. Anything this woman did was another attempt to manipulate her. She raised her hammer and, with another movement, crippled the archer‘s other arm.

Deciding to leave her legs for now, Astrid reached down to yank the assailant’s mask free. Then, she could get some more answers. The Archer’s pained blubbering shifted to become more panicked than before as Astrid pulled the mask upward.

“Please, no! I’ll do anything! Just don’t take off the mask! I promise it’ll—“

Astrid didn’t listen, but as soon as the fabric pulled from below the woman’s chin, showing even the barest hint of her skin, the prisoner started to scream. The acrid scent of burning flesh mixed with a strange sweetness filled the air, and smoke billowed from under the armor. The woman’s pained cries and whimpers shifted to a heart-wrenching wail as her body seemed to lose volume. Before Astrid could try to figure out what was happening, a sickly green liquid seeped out from between the armor’s sections, but then the armor too dissolved away. Less than 10 seconds later, Astrid was looking at a mostly melted skeleton.

“Duchess above.“ Astrid whispered in terror. “What is this?“

She turned her attention back to her party and, with a quick look behind her at the vestigial remains of the archer, rushed to help her allies. When she got more than 20 paces away from the site of the grisly murder, Astrid heard more shouting.

“That’s disgusting!”

“Do not touch it! It burns!“

Astrid sprinted into the clearing, seeing Muti, Felix, Skandr, and Benedict standing in front of two sickly green puddles. Her stomach twisted as she looked at the remains of the two Assassins. How willing were these people to come out on this ill-fated expedition? Could they have known that this would happen?

“How many did you find?“ Muti asked, seemingly unconcerned with the remains of her enemies. Her left hand was covered with large pustules from, apparently, touching the acid that remained of their attackers. Benedict stepped forward, looking at the hand, and, with his face nearly as green as the acid, began singing his Song of Healing.

“Just one. When I tried to take off her mask, this same thing happened to her.”

“You did not kill her?“

“I wanted to try to bring her to Klara…“ Astrid trailed off as she looked at the remains of two other people, people betrayed by their superior, or maybe even owner. Was this something that all noble Classes could do with the people who were under the influence of their Skills? Astrid‘s stomach turned, and, despite herself, felt a hint of pity for these people. She could and would continue to hate them later, but for now, she could only think of them as fellow Humans, twisted beyond their control to do the work of one who was so much stronger than them that they had literally no choice.

“Let’s gather what we can.“ The words were more of a whisper coming out of her mouth. “We’ll call it an early day before we go to talk to Klara.“

***

Pyra

Pyra felt herself hyperventilate. With a telescope, she’d almost been forced to watch as her allies, even if they weren’t friends, dissolve into puddles. What was this? Did the Marchioness know about this? She and Georg had been forced to stay back as their allies ambushed the party. Now, they both had just watched as their allies died. Georg had stood, ready to go to their support, but the tides of battle changed so quickly against them that, instead of rushing to his own death, he was forced to stay behind.

Despite her disbelief, Pyra knew. Not only did the Marchioness know about this, she was the one who did this. It was because of her, because of her class or because of the armor she’d provided, or something else entirely, But of course, the marchioness knew that this happened. And now, Pyra was tied up in this. I needed to go report her team’s failure, as well as the loss of three of their five members. The faint camouflaging enchantments were no longer a comfort for her. The words she’d been told every time she’d dawned this armor rang through her head.

“Don’t remove anything until you’re back here. If you do, you’ll die.“

No, this wasn’t an exaggeration. It was reality, and the reality she signed up for and felt so grateful for just yesterday… She swallowed hard, ready to return to her bosses and report her failure. Or, now that she was forced to think about it, to report to her masters. Pyra Physician was no longer a free woman, and she didn’t have even the most basic rights afforded to a child without a Class. And she’d felt so proud about that? Her face fell as she snuck away with shame and self-hatred filled her heart. 

***

“That’s all you got?” Klara asked, seemingly unconcerned with the three assailants’ painful, magically enforced end. “It’ll be hard to get anything from a regular issue dagger.”

“They were our level, and they just dissolved! Murdered by whoever controlled them! And you don’t care?” Astrid demanded, her vision still consumed with the view of the Archer screaming as her body became liquid. 

“Yes.” Klara didn’t seem at all affected by that. “When someone is controlled by a Skill several tiers higher than them, they’ll succumb very quickly to the repercussions of violating the terms of the Skill.”

Astrid didn’t have any words to say, but most of her companions were similarly disturbed by Klara’s uncaring attitude as well as her matter-of-fact explanation. “They wanted to kill or imprison you. You were better fighters. They paid the price, because that’s what their owner demanded. It’s horrible that they were trapped in this, but they’re our enemies now. The survivors from their party will be pulled away, since it’ll be obvious to the rest of the Guild who they are either way, might as well keep them out of the Guild’s hands, if you ask the nobles.”

Astrid didn’t reply, feeling her gorge rising in her throat. The smell of acid destroying a body was still in her head, the sight of the corpse withering to nothing, the sounds of sizzling flesh and screaming agony…

“Astrid.” Klara’s voice cut through her spiralling. “Listen to me.”

With a force of effort, Astrid turned her attention back to the Guild’s representative. Klara, with a kind, soft smile, reached a hand out to Astrid’s. “I’m sure you feel partly responsible for this. It’s not your fault. They made bad choices, perhaps outside of their own control.”

“I could see Skandr there.” Astrid whispered, her party reacting with quiet sounds of distress. “I could see him being forced to do that, and then dying. I could hear—”

“He didn’t.” Klara cut her off again. “He didn’t have that happen, and if he did, then that wouldn’t be your fault either. These are unfortunate victims, but their current states have nothing to do with you. So don’t think so much about it. You’ll just end up driving yourself insane. No, get some rest, get some food, and get paid for your work. Oh, actually, that’s me today.”

Astrid nodded dully as Klara turned her attention to the other delvers. Felix and Benedict both were shaken, but mostly ok, while Skandr was bale and terrified. He hadn’t spoken a word since they’d seen what happened to the noble’s slaves that couldn’t deliver on their master’s expectations. Klara spoke quietly with him as Astrid gathered herself and prepared to leave the representative’s office. When Klara spoke with Muti, she merely asked, “Was it a worthy battle?”

Muti sneered. “They were cowards. Hardly worth the blood spilled.”

Klara shrugged, then, after patting Skandr on the shoulder and collecting all the trophies and materials before giving the requisite payment, bid them all to leave. They filed out of the room, sticking together as they walked into the main space.

“I never want to have that happen again.” Benedict tried to put on a playful face, but Astrid suspected even a Hiveguard, famously unable to read Human expressions, would have been able to see he was faking it.

“Same.” Astrid agreed. “Now, we need to get you two some levels. And fast. Agreed?”

Her party nodded their agreement, and they ate their early dinner in relative silence before retiring to their rooms. The morning came soon, and they left to return to the Dungeon, determination burning in their eyes.