The Deceiver's Path - Chapter 121 - The Pale Crusade Approaches (Patreon)

The battle once more descended into a vicious melee, with waves of zombies clambering over the ever-growing wall of bodies. With each attack, the knot of aspirants and disguised demons sustained more wounds, and were slowly driven back. Only Sarnyxia seemed untouchable, splattering the undead with an expression of dreadful boredom.

The zombies weren’t especially strong, with most of them ranging from level 100 to 200. But there were just so many of them. Even someone strong like Piper couldn’t avoid all the attacks. And the others were faring even worse.

A surge of mana returning indicated that her illusory summons had been killed, though she’d lost sight of it minutes ago. She’d tried to order it back to her position, but without being able to see its movements to control it, the knight must have gotten snagged in a clump of zombies and been destroyed.

Recasting the same spell, she once again summoned the statuesque knight in shining golden armor. The ridiculously tall woman appeared in front of her, this time wielding a sword and a massive shield. Piper immediately sent the illusory knight crashing into the zombies threatening to overwhelm Zenos, who had been driven to his knees.

The knight’s longsword rose and fell, cutting three zombies in half with a single strike. The woman followed up the attack by shouldering aside a group of undead before launching one into the air with a kick of her booted foot.

The brief lull in the battle allowed Zenos to regain his feet and retrieve his war hammer. Without hesitation, he hurled himself back into the fray. He raised his hand, and a sonic rumble followed; the closest zombies shuddered violently before bursting apart.

Piper stared at the pulped bodies before turning to regard Zenos with new eyes. His spells were a lot more dangerous than she’d first suspected. She really needed to hide the fact that she was the infernal caster he was seeking, or things could escalate quickly. Thankfully, he seemed to have no clue that he was fighting next to a trio of demons at the moment.

As she lifted her last arrow to fire, a rumbling spread through the ground. She lifted her gaze to see an undead woolly mammoth stampeding down the valley. When she’d said she’d love to see a mammoth again, she hadn’t meant like this.

“I’ll handle that thing!” Ophelia cried out. Without any hesitation, she proceeded to charge headlong into the mass of zombies, which immediately swallowed her up.

Piper held out her hand toward her friend, shocked at how quickly Ophelia had disappeared. She hadn’t even had time to react before the young woman had hurled herself into the roiling mass of rotting creatures. Lowering her bow, she dashed forward, praying there was still time to save her friend.

As she plunged into the seething mass of putrid creatures, a brilliant light seared her eyeballs and made her shrink back. The light rapidly transformed into a spinning sphere of holy energy, shredding anything it touched.

The mass of zombies disintegrated to reveal Ophelia facing down the charging mammoth with her shining blade gripped tightly in both hands. The mammoth trumpeted and reared up, bringing both front feet down on the young woman. The blow, which should have squished Ophelia flat, simply bounced off harmlessly.

Ophelia swung her glowing sword around with a war cry, the impact hitting the mammoth like a crack of thunder. The surrounding ground shattered, and every undead creature within twenty paces of the girl was flung away. When the dust cleared, Ophelia was left standing in front of a mammoth corpse, leaning heavily on her sword.

Congratulations! You have slain a Zombie Mammoth, Level 25.

Piper was a bit shocked at the low level of the mammoth. Then again, when something weighed thousands of kilograms, it didn’t need to have a high level to be deadly. Anyway, most animals never awakened to gain levels.

The sight of zombies pouring toward her unmoving friend made her rush forward. Dropping her bow, she brandished her illusory claw weapons at the approaching horde. At the same time, she ordered Sarnyxia and Gretch to clear a space around them.

She reached Ophelia at the same time as the zombies, and she tore into them with wild abandon using her sharp claws. One of the creatures thrust a rusty spear forward and pierced her shoulder. She responded with [Demonic Lashrend] and her ensuing attack tore the rotten body to pieces.

Sarnyxia waded into the undead, each punch turning them into bloody smears on the ground. There was no question she’d gained another class somehow. She hadn’t been nearly this powerful the last time Piper had summoned her. But that was a mystery for another time.

Kneeling at Ophelia’s side, she inspected her friend. The young woman’s eyes were glassy, and she had half a dozen shallow wounds on her body though none appeared serious. Aside from appearing completely exhausted, she seemed unharmed from her fight with the mammoth.

“I got to save you this time,” Ophelia said, swaying slightly. “Now you owe me one.”

“Are you crazy?” Piper slipped her arm around her friend’s waist and dragged her to her feet. “I’ve saved you like ten times now.”

“Just the one time,” Ophelia said. “The ooze doesn’t count.”

“What about the nuns?”

“That was the one time!”

“And the demons in the Black Pyramid?”

“I could have handled them…”

Dragging Ophelia away from the zombies, she shouted at Zenos. “We’re retreating!”

“Why?” he called back, looking quizzical. “We’ve won.”

Piper slowed and took a minute to examine the battlefield. She realized with a start that no more than a dozen zombies remained standing. And most of those had grievous injuries. As she watched, Gretch and Sarnyxia moved between the undead, finishing them off in a gory fashion.

“Oh…” she said. Whatever spell Ophelia had used, it had cleared out the last major clump of undead. They’d won the battle.

Not exactly, she corrected herself as she remembered the illusions cloaking the creatures. There must be a spellcaster hiding somewhere in the valley. However, she had no idea how to root out someone who could cast illusions. She could just wander around, hoping her Perception would reveal their location, but that sounded incredibly dangerous. That would leave her wide open to a sneak attack.

Vespera staggered over, holding a hand to her injured chest. “I’m level 50,” she breathed, while pointing at green glowing balls swirling around her. “Do you know what these things are?”

Piper smiled at the flickering life magic, suspecting her new friend had earned a combat class. “I’m pretty sure you’re headed to the Life Realm. I bet fighting an army of zombies earned you a pretty impressive class.”

“The Life Realm,” the red-haired woman gasped, her eyes widening. “Do you really think so?”

Piper cocked her head to the side, her blond hair falling over her shoulder. “I’m pretty sure, but I’ve never actually seen anyone go there before. What else could it be though?”

“Maybe the slime realm?” Ophelia offered, some of her color returning. “Oh, I know. I bet she’s going to the mold realm.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “The mold realm would be the Life Realm. All the plant stuff is there.”

“No way,” Ophelia said, shaking her head. “It’s a totally different thing.”

“How is it different?”

“Mold aren’t plants!” Ophelia stamped her foot. “Mom told me so.”

While they were arguing, Zenos walked over to Sarnyxia and saluted with a fist to his chest. The demoness simply sniffed in response, giving the man a disdainful look.

Zenos rubbed his arm and winced at the reaction. “I just wanted to thank you for your help. You certainly dealt with those zombies easily. May I ask your name?”

“No, you may not—” Sarnyxia stopped talking midsentence when she noticed Piper watching her and let out a pained sigh. “If you must know, my name is Sarnyxia.”

“What an unusual name. Are you from the Bloodveil Empire as well?”

Piper rushed over and started to push Sarnyxia away. “We don’t want to waste these adventurer’s time. I had a hard enough time convincing them to help.”

Gretch, looking very much like a short man, chuckled. “You’re gonna owe us for this.”

“Oh, is that so?” Piper whispered harshly. “How do you figure?”

“We had to do a lot of messy work for you. And Sarnyxia over there said you wanted to know what we desired. So, I want stuff. Lots of stuff.”

“Fine,” she whispered so no one else would overhear. “I’ll buy you a gift basket or something. But you both need to leave.”

She’d received enough gift baskets while she’d been in hospital to know they were the standard gift. Then again, the demons might not want a package of chocolate-covered gluten-free pretzels. Instead, they would probably want something awful like a basket full of puppies to snack on. Still, she swore she would find some non-traumatizing way to thank them.

With a smoldering, and frankly confusing look at Zenos, Sarnyxia turned and picked her way through the fallen zombies. As she walked away, Gretch practically bounced along behind her. No one spoke as they ascended the hill.

Once they were out of sight, Piper planned to cancel [Subjugator] and return them to the Infernal Realm. She didn’t want to keep her demons around any longer than necessary, in case some nuns started sniffing around again.

While they were watching the demons leave, Vespera reached out to poke one of the spheres circling her. She inhaled sharply and jerked back when little sparks of energy burst out of the swirling ball. “I really need to get home,” she whispered. “I think I’m going to have my second awakening soon.”

At the woman’s word, Piper nodded along warily. She was exhausted from the fight, and she didn’t relish the thought of the long march back to town. But she needed to get the milkmaid somewhere safe to receive her next class.

“Come on,” she said, motioning for the others. “We should get going.”

Walking over to Ophelia, Piper slipped an arm around her waist. Her friend seemed far healthier than she had been a few minutes ago, and it no longer looked like she’d keel over at any second. But she’d probably need help all the way back to the city.

“What are you doing?” Ophelia asked, trying to push Piper away and immediately failing. “I’m not some cripple.”

“Oh, stop it and let me help,” Piper said before grinning. “And this way, we’re not even, and you owe me one again.”

“I knew you would pull something like this.” Her friend laughed weakly. “You’re just not happy unless I’m in your debt.”

“You know it.”

At an agonizingly slow pace, they made their way out of the valley. As she moved, she kept a keen eye out for any illusions, but she reached the hill without spotting any. She hated leaving what was likely a powerful enemy behind, but she had no other option. She just prayed that her decision to ignore the illusionist wouldn’t come back to bite her in the future.

After a short distance, Vespera fell into step at her side. “I can’t thank you enough for everything you did for me today.”

“It was nothing.”

“No, it wasn’t nothing,” she said, forcefully. “I would have died if I’d come here on my own. I owe you my life.”

Piper tried to shrug, but it was impossible while supporting Ophelia. “Aspirants have to watch out for each other. Nobody else cares about us.”

They continued on in silence for a few minutes until a thought occurred to her. “You mentioned demons invading the Bloodveil Empire the other day. Could you tell me a little more about that?

Vespera shrugged. “There’s not much more to tell. A one-armed demon queen appeared and quickly rallied an army to her side. They’ve been laying waste to the north and enslaving everyone they come across.”

“Do you know what the demoness wants?”

The young woman shrugged again. “Who knows why a demon does what it does? Anyway, demons lie, so we can’t believe anything a monster like that says.” She shuddered and peered off into the distance. “I really hate demons.”

Zenos appeared as if by magic at her side with a wide grin. “In that case, perhaps you would like to join our group again in the future. We’re on a mission to hunt down a foul infernal caster.”

“Really?” Vespera brightened. “Ever since I lost my home, I’ve fantasized about getting back at the demons who took it from me. Still… I’m not strong enough to join your group.” As she finished speaking, her brow rose, and she broke into a big smile. “Except maybe now I am with my new class! Tell me everything about this infernal caster you’re all hunting.”

Piper listened with growing unease as Zenos filled the woman in on the infernal casters exploits in Kalmyros. The man listed everything from Piper summoning the dreadhulk that had killed his sister to her defeating the nuns in the shadow of the Citadel of Dawn.

Hopefully, she could talk Lysander into giving her a new group mate in the future. Otherwise, she had a feeling this partnership would only end in tragedy. Because no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn’t be able to hide the fact that she was an infernal caster forever.

****

Alexios’s feet dangled over the edge of the cliff, Erebus’s hand tightening around his throat as he struggled to draw in a breath. His beautiful thralls clawed at his master’s thickly muscled arms in an attempt to free him, but the hulking man barely noticed their efforts.

“Filthy vampire coward,” Erebus thundered. The man’s red eyes bored into Alexio’s from within the ragged holes of the bloodstained burlap sack he wore over his head. “A mere group of aspirants challenges your undead host, and you run away like a dog with its tail between its legs? How many weeks of our work was destroyed by your cowardice?”

“I… had… no… choice,” he gasped, wrapping his hands around the man’s thick wrists. “Too… powerful.”

Erebus snarled, the sound more feral than human. “They were nothing more than aspirants. You should have joined the battle and crushed them like the worms they are. Yet you fled, with your ridiculous harem at your side.”

“You don’t understand?” Alexios choked out. “At least one of them must have been an adventurer. If I had attacked, I would have died. You need me for your plan to work.”

“Do not overestimate your worth.” With a growl, Erebus swung his arm around and dropped Alexios onto the ground. “Should you fail me again, I won’t hesitate to execute you. Now, thanks to your spinelessness, our plans for the town have been exposed, and many undead have been destroyed.”

Immediately, the thrall sisters rushed over to his side to check on him, but he pushed them away. Both of them pouted but stepped back obediently.

Alexios rubbed his aching throat and activated [Crimson Renewal]. The soothing sensation of his healing skill immediately washed over his neck. “Not necessarily…” He sputtered to a stop when Erebus once more fixed his burning gaze on him. “They may not have realized we’ve compromised the clerk at the aspirant’s guild. We simply order her to send them into an ambush in the near future and slay them. This is a lucky break, as with their classes, they will be far more useful than the worthless rabble of peasant zombies we lost today.”

“Perhaps you are right.” Erebus crossed his massive arms over his bare chest. The twin axes hanging from his belt shifted slightly as he moved. “However, you will return to the city with a new face and discover everything you can about these aspirants. I want to know if they are truly who they seem.”

“A new face?” Alexios reached up to touch his cheeks. He’d grown accustomed to the beautiful countenance he currently wore, and he’d spent years perfecting the illusion. He was loath to change his appearance. “I would rather not…”

“Are you so vain that you would choose death over following my orders?”

“No, Master,” he said, groveling in front of the hulking man. “However, I see no reason to replace my perfect face with a lesser one.”

Erebus glared daggers at him. “Follow my orders before you find yourself lying broken at the bottom of the cliff. How you see nothing wrong with the ridiculous caricature of a face you wear is beyond my understanding.”

“Yes, Master,” he said, trying to hide a scowl. Someone who wore a bag over their head would never understand what it meant to look irresistible to a harem of beautiful vampire thralls. Attempting to appear cowed, he said, “I will do as you say.”

“The Empress has ordered that the town must fall before the spring campaign,” Erebus continued, turning to look out toward the distant battles raging in the distance. “Once the supply of orichalcum is cut off, it’s only a matter of time until Kalmyros falls.”

Alexios rose unsteadily to his feet and tottered over to his master’s side. He had been promised a duchy when they conquered the city to the south. There he would create his own herd of humans, taking the most beautiful women for his personal harem. The idea brought a smile to his lips.

Erebus regarded him with disdain. “Do not let your appetites dull your senses. Always remember who you serve.”

“I remember.” He inclined his head slightly. “I serve the Pale Crusade.”

“Yes, you do,” Erebus said in his gravelly voice. “Helidros’ doom is sealed, and all within its walls will soon join the Pale Crusade.”