The Deceiver's Path - Chapter 112 - Prologue (Patreon)

The despondent moans of the undead drifted across the golden fields of wheat rustling in the breeze. Above, towering dark clouds threatened to storm as the group of wayfarers crept towards the sprawling villa.

Eleni slowed her pace as she reached the stone wall surrounding the main compound. She motioned for Xander and Lydia to head to the right, while she gestured for Hector to follow her in the opposite direction. With a bit of luck, they might find a way to infiltrate the manor without being noticed.

As always, Hector’s overgrown lizard Cronos padded along at his side. Recently, the beast had awakened and gained the ability to cast life magic. While Cronos’ spells were often unpredictable, they had proven handy during several encounters over the past few weeks.

Eleni paused at the corner of the wall and peeked around. She jerked back at the sight of cultists wearing dark robes emerging from a side gate. They spoke in hushed tones as they hurried away from the manor and headed in the direction of the nearby road.

Leaning against the wall, she breathed a sigh of relief at not having been spotted. If the undead cult inside was tipped off to their presence, it would make their mission even more difficult.

“Remember,” Eleni whispered. “We’re here to assassinate the necromancer only. If you encounter a zombie, aim for the head.”

Hector frowned as he placed a lead bullet in his sling. “This isn’t my first time fighting the undead, you know.”

“Are you talking about that one time you fought the cult in the warehouse?”

His frown deepened into a scowl. “That still counts.”

“That was well over a year ago,” she exclaimed softly. “Anyone would need a refresher after that long. My job is to train you and help you survive.”

“Do you think Piper’s ever coming back?”

Eleni was momentarily taken aback by the question. Though she should have expected it after mentioning the battle where Piper had saved her from an undead cult. But the last she’d heard of the young girl was that she’d been sent to a mountain villa to recuperate after her ordeal. Since then, she’d been kept in the dark about the infernal caster.

Before she could reply to Hector’s question, she heard the creak of the door opening again. She peered around the corner and caught sight of two cultists struggling to carry out a barrel. She had no idea what was inside, but she imagined it was nothing good.

As one of the cultists nudged a rock against the door to prop it open, she spotted her chance to sneak inside. She cast [Razor Gale] and the surrounding wind sharpened into hundreds of invisible blades. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the projectiles coursing toward the cultists.

The robed man and woman barely had time to make a sound before they were shredded. Both collapsed into a bloody pile of torn robes and chunks of flesh.

Eleni studiously avoided looking at her handiwork as she crept around the corner. The spell was brutally effective, but the aftermath turned her stomach. Even after using it several times since receiving her third class at level 200, she still had to look away afterward.

Stepping over the bodies, she took a quick glance inside the compound. Thankfully, the area beyond was completely deserted. No one had noticed the cultists being slain by her spell.

The scouts from her guild had been watching this place for days. According to them, aside from the necromancer himself, there were no high-level cultists. The guild believed this would be an excellent training mission for the novice members in her group.

She sidled through the opening, her gaze sweeping across the courtyard. The last thing she wanted was for her group to run into something unexpected. If this quest went poorly, she might lose the chance to lead her own group someday.

Once she was sure the coast was clear, she crouched down in the shadows of the wall and wrapped the Duskborn Cloak around her body. As long as she remained stationary, no one outside of a scout should be able to notice her.

“Go and fetch the others,” she whispered to Hector, standing outside the wall. “I’ll guard the gate until you return.”

Hector motioned for his animal companion to follow, and together they trotted away. A moment later, he disappeared around the wall.

Eleni hunkered down to wait, her hand resting on the blade she’d looted from Jason, son of Ares. The weapon had proven unbelievably powerful, slicing through enchanted armor as if it were parchment, and dispelling all but the most powerful wards.

She wasn’t sure how much of her recent success was due to the powerful enchanted blade. But she suspected that it was more than she’d like to admit. And in the back of her mind, she always worried that Jason’s surviving family members might try to track her down to reclaim the weapon.

Thankfully, she didn’t have time to dwell on that dark thought as Hector returned, leading the others. As the three wayfarers entered the gate single file, she rose to her feet, throwing back her cloak. Then she pointed at Lydia.

“I want you to take the lead,” Eleni whispered. “Keep an eye out for any traps or undead.”

Lydia nodded and moved along the wall, heading toward the main building. As she walked, she lifted her kite shield to peer over the rim.

Eleni went next. While she was no front-line fighter, the group’s well-being was her responsibility. If they encountered anything dangerous, she wanted to be able to react swiftly. After all, the undead moans were coming from somewhere. Before too long, they would encounter their source.

Xander appeared at her side, holding his staff at the ready. He glanced over at her with a grin. “As I was saying before, would you allow me to buy you dinner when this is over?”

“This isn’t the time or place,” she said flatly.

“I know a wonderful chef in the inner city,” he continued. “And I could take you for a stroll along the battlements afterward. The view is simply spectacular.”

“It would be inappropriate for me to be courted by one of my trainees,” she said, fighting down the urge to sigh. Hopefully, that would shut down his advances.

“Ah, I see. Well, I won’t be your trainee much longer. As soon as I become an adventurer, I’ll woo you with the most amazing dinners and gifts you’ve ever experienced.”

As she opened her mouth to scold him, his sister beat him to the punch.

“Would you shut up?” Lydia hissed. “Your courting is going to get us all killed.”

Xander sniffed and glared at his sister. “I don’t see any threats, do you?”

Eleni held up her hand to stop Lydia from replying. “That doesn’t mean there aren’t any. Surely you know there are hidden dangers on these sorts of quests.”

“Well, I suppose you’re right. However, I can’t ignore my feelings toward you.”

Lydia snorted. “You have those feelings for half the women in the city.”

“That’s patently untrue!” Xander cried out. “I only have eyes for Eleni.”

“Then who were you out with last night?”

“She’s a friend and nothing more.”

“Silence!” Eleni snapped. Her hand grabbed the hilt of her sword, and the blade slid free from its scabbard. The ancient metal shone with a dull light. “Something is wrong.”

The others scanned the courtyard, but nothing stirred.

“Are you sure?” Lydia asked slowly. “I know the cults are becoming more powerful, but the scouts only sighted a handful of cultists and undead.”

“They were wrong,” Eleni replied brusquely. “Fall back immediately to the gate. Don’t stop no matter what happens to me.”

Walking backward, she pushed the others along. She felt an immense welling of power from the stables. And something was moving in their direction.

“Run!” she shouted. There was no longer any point in attempting to hide their position. Something incredibly dangerous knew they were here.

As the others bolted for the exit, she continued to backpedal, covering their retreat. A moment later, her worst fears were confirmed. The doors to the stable burst open, and the sounds of a hundred voices shrieking in agony swept across the courtyard.

She fought down the urge to cover her ears as a shambling monstrosity emerged from within the stables. As it rose to its full height, supported by dozens of mismatched legs, it let loose another scream with a hundred tortured voices.

Eleni gazed at the creature in horror—it was a corpse golem. The original inhabitants of this villa, along with many of the animals, had been grafted together through malevolent magic to form a golem of indescribable power.

Everywhere she looked on the monster, she witnessed body parts writhing in agony. At the top of the amalgamation of flesh, three horse heads regarded her with glowing red eyes. On its chest, countless human mouths continued to scream in agony.

The creature let out an earth-shattering screech before stampeding forward. For something that looked like it shouldn’t even be able to move, never mind run, it was terrifyingly fast.

Eleni cast [Razor Gale], her hair whipping to the side as a gale coalesced around her. The blades of wind shot forward, carving off chunks of the monster. But it was simply too large and bloated for her spell to inflict much damage. The only way she could escape was by reaching the gate. Its sheer size should prevent it from following.

Spinning on her heel, she sprinted away, quickly catching up with the wayfarers. One of the perks of reaching level 200 and having a mythic class was that she received a mind-boggling number of stats with each level.

Grabbing Xander by his robes, she dragged him along to the entrance. Already, Hector and Cronos had disappeared beyond, and Lydia stood guard by the door.

With a glance back at the charging monstrosity, she pushed Xander through the doorway and jumped after him. A second later, the creature crashed into the wall. A few bricks tumbled off the top, and legs ending in hooves groped through the door.

Breathing hard, she spun around and her stomach dropped. Surrounding the entrance stood hundreds of zombies and dozens of figures draped in dark robes. As they’d been trained to do, her group members stood in a protective circle around her with their weapons at the ready.

Eleni tightened her grip on the sword, trying to ignore the creature desperately trying to smash through the brick wall behind them. As cracks spread through the façade, she feared the wall wouldn’t hold much longer.

A man in dark robes stepped forward and threw back his head to reveal a desiccated face. His empty eye sockets burned with cold energy.

“It’s so good to see you again, Eleni,” he said in a hollow voice. “It was surprisingly difficult to lure you here.”

“I don’t know you,” she said, planting her feet. “But I’ll happily kill you if you don’t let us go.” As she spoke, she examined the man’s face. Something about his features tickled her memory, but she couldn’t quite place him.

“Don’t you recall giving me this gift?” The man tried to chuckle, but with his dried-up tongue, nothing emerged but a choking sound. “We met at a warehouse when I was but a simple mortal.”

Her brow shot up toward her hairline at his words. Was this the necromancer she’d slain with Piper’s help? She couldn’t be sure after what the ravages of death had done to him.

“By the Emperor,” Xander whispered. “He’s Eldric; the necromancer from the warehouse that burned down.”

“Ah, at least the cleric remembers me. Now, before you go blaming your scouts for failing to report on my little horde here, I specifically arranged for your group to deal with this undead infestation.”

Eleni gritted her teeth at the revelation that there was a traitor within her guild. By revealing that information, it probably meant the necromancer felt confident no one would leave here alive. “Do you intend to turn us?”

“No, though I’m sure you’d prove most useful in my ever-growing army. What I want is for you to deliver a message.”

“A message?” She blinked rapidly in surprise. “To whom?”

“To your little infernal friend,” Eldric grinned, his shrivelled mouth twitching upward. “My Empress plans to claim this city before the end of the year. However, the many infernal cults springing up are starting to become an annoyance to the Pale Crusade. I want you to inform her that they must give up all claims to this area immediately if she doesn’t want to bring our realms into conflict.”

Eleni tried to hide her shock at the news of infernal cults operating in the city. She hadn’t heard a peep about that until now. Had she been wrong about Piper all this time?

Shaking her head, she pushed down her doubt. Piper had saved her on numerous occasions, and she would never start a cult. This had to be another infernal caster. However, if she admitted that it wasn’t Piper, then she was as good as dead.

“That wasn’t her,” Xander called back. “She was framed by the real infernal caster.”

Eleni touched Xander’s arm, fighting down another sigh. “Please let me handle this.” She returned her gaze to the undead necromancer. “I will do what you ask if you let my group depart unharmed.”

“You may go back to your city,” Eldric said. “However, you will not escape its coming doom. The Pale Crusade is inevitable, and before the end of the year, your city will fall before its power.”

Eleni watched in shock as the man finished speaking and then turned to walk away. As he shuffled toward the road, the other cultists and undead followed him. Even the corpse golem fell silent, and when she glanced over her shoulder, there was no sign of the monstrosity.

Exhaling, she felt a surge of relief wash over her body. As she stood there, the storm above broke, and fat droplets of rain fell from the sky. A chill crept across her body, though she wasn’t sure if it was from the deluge soaking her to the bone or what she’d just heard.

 Before she did anything else, she needed to inform the guild master, Niko. She hadn’t even seen Piper in almost a year and a half. Hopefully, he would know what to do with this information.