The Deceiver's Path - Chapter 150 - Phantom Flight (Patreon)

Author's Note: I'm still battling a pretty nasty flu, so I apologize in advance if I missed anything during my editing of this chapter.

Piper darted through the trees, ducking under prickly pine branches, while dragging Ophelia along behind her. Her demon summons ranged out around them, driving away any of the cultists who drew too close.

As she ran, she continuously threw up illusions to hide their passage, but it was almost impossible to conceal their trail through the deep snow. She needed to figure out a way to disappear if they were going to survive.

The demons chasing her must have been sent by her half-sister to hunt her down. This was no mere infernal cult—this was a demonic army. And if the vampires of the Bloodveil Empire were facing demons half this powerful, it was no wonder they were losing the war.

I don’t care what Astaroth said, she thought to herself. I have to get across the mountains to save my parents.

The idea of Ethel and Alfred being in the path of the demon army made her chest tighten. The moment she left here, she was setting out to find them. Of course, she’d have to figure out a way through the snow-choked mountain passes first.

Which brought her thoughts back to the idea of a flying mount. Normally, she preferred to experiment with her illusions before using them in battle. But with dozens of incredibly powerful demons nipping at her heels, she had to throw caution to the wind if they were going to survive.

Piper slowed her pace slightly as she pictured a wyvern in her mind. If she was going to fly, she might as well do it in style. She spent several seconds on the creature's details, including hollow bones and broad leathery wings.

After casting [Shifting Veil], an illusion of a wyvern took shape in the sky above them. She heard cries of alarm from the forest, but she doubted the appearance of a massive-winged lizard would scare off the cultists. After all, they had no problem chasing after her powerful demon summons.

Ding! Your spell, Shifting Veil has reached level 36.

She followed up her spell with [Phantom Flesh]. As the illusion solidified, she held her breath, half expecting it to fall out of the sky. Her worries proved baseless as the wyvern flapped its massive wings and circled above their position.

I probably should have tried this a long time ago.

Mentally shrugging, she directed her summons to the nearby road. There was nowhere to land among the thick trees, so she’d have to meet it there. As she took a step forward, [Ambush Detection] blared in her mind.

Ding! Your skill, Ambush Detection has reached Level 15.

Spinning around, she didn’t spot any threats, so she hurled herself to the side. She heard something whoosh past her face, the breeze making her hair wave. Without thinking, she activated [Demonic Lashrend].

In unison, her claws tore through the air as her barbed tail shot forward three times in rapid succession. She felt her attacks strike something meaty, followed by a feminine cry of pain. A Wraithskin spell broke apart into motes of light, revealing a badly injured shadeling demoness.

Unlike Piper, this one had hair as black as coal. And the demoness’s skin was even paler than the surrounding freshly fallen snow.

The shadeling clutched the ragged claw marks crisscrossing her stomach. Three puncture wounds leaked blood on her chest, but her eyes burned with hatred. As the demoness staggered forward, Piper’s arrow caught her in the throat.

She lowered Gorebark and waited for a notification. When none appeared, she peppered the prostrate shadeling with three more arrows. Finally, a notification popped into her vision.

Congratulations! You have slain a Shadeling, Level 177.

Ding! Your race, Shadeling has reached Level 113.

Ding! Your class, Deceiver has reached Level 113.

Ding! Your class, Shadowflame Temptress has reached level 52.

Gorebark guffawed. “That was brutal! No mercy for your own kind, huh?”

“Let’s go,” Piper said, grabbing Ophelia’s hand and ignoring her bow’s comments.

“Just leave me,” Ophelia mumbled.

“Stop acting like a baby,” Piper shot back. “I need your help if we’re going to survive. Do you understand how serious this is?” She still simmered with anger at Ophelia for rushing off headlong after the demons without a care in the world. It was her friend’s fault that her entire life had fallen apart here. However, in hindsight, it had only been a matter of time until Ophelia’s recklessness caused a disaster.

I should have tried harder to stop it a long time ago.

“Wait!” Ophelia cried out. She staggered to the side and braced herself against a tree trunk. “I can’t resist the calling any longer.”

Piper glanced over in the direction of the road. At least she hoped it was the direction of the road. She’d gotten turned around during her brief skirmish with the shadeling. The longer her illusory wyvern waited for them, the greater the chance the demons would cut off the path to their only hope of escape.

“Stop being so dramatic,” she said, furrowing her brow. “I know you can resist the calling for a long time.”

Ophelia’s eyes widened. “There’s something wrong this time. I… don’t know what it is.”

“Enough!” Piper shouted at her friend. “I don’t have time for your ridiculousness while I’m trying to save our lives.” She knew her friend was lying, most likely to get sympathy after screwing up back at the sleighs, because people could normally resist the pull of the realms for hours.

“No… I can’t go on.” Ophelia slid down the tree trunk until she was sitting on the ground. “Pip, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have charged off like that. I… don’t know why I do stuff like that sometimes. I think there’s something wrong with me.”

“We can talk about this later.” She walked over and roughly grabbed Ophelia’s arm. She tried to wrench her to her feet, but the young woman refused to budge. “Right now, we have to keep moving!”

“I never meant to blurt out all those things about you,” Ophelia said weakly. “Sometimes, my mouth starts moving before my mind. And if I don’t say something quickly, I completely forget what I was thinking. Will you please forgive me?”

“Stop it.” Piper cocked her head to the side to listen for the sound of approaching demons. “You’re talking like you’re dying, but we’ll both be fine if you just get back on your feet. All we have to do is reach the wyvern.”

“I’m not fine, Pip.” Ophelia’s eyes widened slightly. “Please tell me that you forgive me. I need to know that you still love me.”

“Now isn’t the time for this nonsense—” Piper was cut off by a flash of blinding heavenly light. It seared her exposed skin and made her lurch away. She activated [Demonic Blood] and her wounds rapidly healed.

Blinking her eyes, she waited for the spots in her vision to clear. When they did, she found herself staring at an empty spot her friend had occupied moments earlier.

Ophelia had disappeared without a trace.

“Ophelia!” she screamed out, desperately searching for her friend. There was no trace of the young woman in the deep snow. And no tracks led away from where she’d disappeared. It was as if she had been swallowed up by the heavens.

Piper blundered around the base of the tree, screaming her friend's name over and over again. When an imp appeared, most likely drawn by her shouts, she put it down quickly with a shot to the head. But she didn’t slow in her search. Her friend must be around here somewhere.

“Ophelia!” she cried out again before sinking to her knees. “Where are you?”

Sarnyxia burst out of the forest and grabbed Piper’s cloak. The demoness dragged her to her feet before pulling her along. “We must depart from this place! I assume that is your wyvern battling cultists on the road?”

“We can’t leave! I lost Ophelia and I have to find her.”

Sarnyxia peered around the shadowy forest. “I see no sign of your friend.”

“She was awakening. Then there was a flash of light… and she was just gone.”

“I have never heard of such a thing. Regardless, we must depart if we are to survive.”

Piper shook off the demoness’s grip. “I told you I’m not leaving!”

“If that is your choice, then you doom me and those who serve you, along with countless humans you claim to protect.”

Piper laughed harshly. “Do you mean the humans that tried to enslave me? The ones who try to kill me every time they learn my true nature? I say let the demons have them.”

Sarnyxia’s usual resting scowl softened slightly. “I know you are wounded by Zenos’s reaction. However, you should refrain from making any rash decisions until you have time to rest.”

“I don’t need to rest.” Piper frantically poked around in a snowbank, hoping to find any sign of her friend. “I need to find Ophelia! You don’t understand—I was so mean to her before she disappeared. All she wanted was for me to say I still loved her, and I couldn’t even do that.”

Sarnyxia took a deep breath. “Tell me in detail what occured.”

“I don’t know.” Piper frowned as she remembered the events. “She must have reached level 50, because glowing spheres appeared around her body. After that, she said she couldn’t resist the pull of the realm. But I thought she was lying because I can usually wait hours to go. She then just disappeared in a flash of light.”

“How odd.” Sarnyxia placed a claw against her lip. “There is the possibility that she was pulled through a portal.”

Piper felt hope blossom in her chest. “So, she’s alright?”

“I cannot say. Nevertheless, it is obvious she is not here. Thus, we must leave with all haste.”

“Fine,” Piper said, deflating slightly. “Do you know which way the wyvern is?”

Sarnyxia took her hand and guided her through a thicket. For once, Piper had almost chosen the right bearing. She’d only been slightly off with her direction of travel.

The two of them ran through the forest, catching occasional glimpses of Gretch battling against cultists. The humans in robes had little in the way of combat skills, but they vastly outnumbered the imp. And their sheer numbers prevented Gretch from doing much more than keeping them at bay.

After a short run, they burst out of the pine trees onto the snowy road. In the center waited the wyvern, its red scales glinting in the sunlight, and its draconic eyes glaring at the cultists encircling it.

Without slowing, Piper lowered her head and barreled into a pair of cultists who had just begun to turn around at their arrival. While she might be small, she had far superior physical stats to most humans. The impact sent the cultists flying like rag dolls.

She didn’t slow down to give the others a chance to react. Instead, she bounded forward and jumped onto the wyvern’s wing. Once there, she clambered onto the creature’s broad back. After she had a hold of the ridge of spines running the length of its body, she mentally ordered it to take flight.

The great wings flapped, and the gust of air sent several cultists tumbling onto their backs. Flames and lances of darkness shot at the wyvern, but the attacks only scorched the scales. With a push from the powerful back legs, the illusory creature launched itself into the air.

Piper hung on for dear life as the forest dropped away below them. She spotted Sarnyxia and Gretch battling against casters as they tried to take aim at Piper. Then she soared over the trees and lost sight of her minions.

The moment she was safely away, she dismissed her demons—the last thing she needed was to give the cultists more levels by allowing her minions to be slain. She’d left the dreadhulk behind to hold off the main group of cultists, while she fled with Sarnyxia and Gretch. Though she’d sensed the dreadhulk had been injured during the fighting, it had held up remarkably well against a far superior force. Then again, it was difficult to kill something the size of a large ship.

As the wyvern spread its wings and glided on the winds, she relaxed her grip slightly. The next time she summoned a flying mount, she’d have to create some sort of seat or saddle. This was not a comfortable way to travel.

At this altitude, the biting wind cut straight through her cloak, making her shiver. It was far colder up here than on the ground, and her fingers were rapidly becoming numb. She added some sort of enclosure to the wish list for her next attempt at a flying mount. That way she and her friends could travel in comfort.

The realization that she had few friends remaining made her heart sink. In the span of a couple of minutes, she’d lost Ophelia, Lysander, Vespera, and Zenos. Most likely, the cultists had slain the noise mage by now.

She spent the next couple of minutes searching for the other sleighs. However, she quickly gave up, unable to see them through the canopy overhanging the road. She’d just have to pray that they got away.

After circling around, she tried to get her bearings. In the distance, she could make out towering peaks, while in the other direction she could see the lands of the empire.

For a moment, she considered veering off and heading directly across the mountains into the Bloodveil Empire. Then she remembered Selene and Vespera. Before she left, she’d have to meet up with her only remaining friend in the town to figure out a way to save Vespera. And maybe Selene would have some idea of what had happened to Ophelia.

Piper gasped as her numb fingers slipped off the wyvern’s spine, and she slid back before catching onto the wing. She urgently ordered her mount to land so she could warm her freezing hands.

The draconic creature banked sharply to the side and headed toward a farm. It circled an animal pen constructed from little more than sticks and then landed heavily beside it. Once they were safely on the ground, Piper released her grip and blew on her frozen fingers.

When she looked up, a man stood in the doorway of a hovel with three children and a wife clutched in his arms. His face had turned completely white, and his mouth opened and closed with no words coming out.

Piper realized she’d just made a deadly wyvern land on this poor man’s farm. She hurriedly changed her [False Face] to appear as her alter ego Anna. Her hair rippled as it became the color of onyx, and her features sharpened. Once the transformation was complete, she popped up on the wyvern’s back and waved at the farmer.

“Sorry!” she called out, trying to pull herself out of the darkness threatening to shroud her soul. “This is my mount, and he’s friendly.”

“You-your mount is a wyvern?” the man stuttered.

She nodded slowly. “Do you happen to know the way to town?”

The man extended a trembling hand to point down the road. “That way…”

“Thank you!”

Piper set the wyvern plodding in the direction of the town. She didn’t dare risk flying again, at least until her fingers thawed out a bit. She pulled them into her sleeves, but they still stung with the cold.

After she reached Helidros, she would visit the tavern that had promised to give her free food and drink for saving the barmaid from slavers. There she’d have a quiet place to center herself until she figured out her next steps.