Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 440 (Patreon)

Chapter 440 – Slaughter

“There she is. Edea Dortoris, Level 21 Blackshield Warcaster and Battleslave Commander. Twenty slaves around her, all level 10 to 20 in Tier 2, with twelve fighter-types, with four rangers and three healers. One mage that looks to be an outgrowth of the Barrier Mage class. No primary offensive casters other than the main target, who is more of a spellblade type with the ability to block spells with her shield.”

Catalina nodded as Charity delivered her report. The composition made sense, given the ‘backstory’ of the Blackshield Mercenaries. The company was primarily a supplemental fighting force for larger groups, and focused on actual battles, rather than adventuring. So, having the majority of their fighting force being fighters, with some ranged backup in the way of rangers made sense, especially when you added in a Barrier Mage type, who specialized in defensive spells. It was a formation designed to endure on a battlefield, rather than win fights quickly.

The normal difficulty of having little to nothing in the way of ranged magical damage was actually nicely compensated by the Barrier Mage. So long as the mage had mana, the company could advance under his shields while they made their way to the enemy. In an open battle, that kind of thinking was perfect. However, urban conflicts were rarely open battles.

They had scouted this place the day before. The Blackshields took training seriously, as a mercenary company ought to. House Vomhur had training grounds that those in their service could use, and the Blackshields spent two hours a day, every day, using the facilities. Their preferred time was 06:00 to 08:00, while other groups were still eating breakfast and getting ready for the day, giving them enough space to work on unit drills with their whole group.

Fortunately, Catalina and her pets had already prepared surprises for them. Well, with the help of some new minions. They’d managed to catch the other group of adventurers, Dylan Walker and his group, out on the town. They didn’t recognize Catalina, because she used [Shapeshifting] to turn into a buxom elf. The four men and two women in the group never had a chance against an Unholy Breaker of Wills, once she got within range.

Dylan and his crew from New York were all under [Domination Kiss], which allowed her to control their actions like puppets when she concentrated. The effect only lasted for 24 hours, but that was fine, she still had six hours before the effect ended, and she’d be done with them by then. What was important was that, because the effect was temporary, whatever system was in place to track ‘kills’ did not register Dylan and his crew as being eliminated, yet. Which allowed her to use their funds to purchase certain items from Vomhur’s stores, and get them to prepare the training field, ahead of time.

Dylan’s team were working out in the far corner of the training ground, not taking up much space, and wearing combatant badges for House Vomhur. On seeing that, the Blackshields ignored them. After all, the training ground was open to all Vomhur fighters, and they hadn’t reserved it especially for their own use.

They should have been more cautious. Yes, the training ground was House Vomhur territory, but it was not a Safe Zone. In fact, because of the rules about limiting collateral damage to property and the rules against targeting noncombatants, the training grounds the different houses ran were some of the preferred hunting grounds when dealing with larger groups like this. It meant that area effects could be used more freely, after all.

Catalina chuckled, watching the field below. “Jose, stage one.”

Jose, her Master Artificer, was holding a simple remote control. An actual remote control, like you’d buy to replace one you lost for your TV. Of course, he’d modified it to interface with devices that you didn’t want to be nearby when they went off. Like the [Dispelling Mines] planted under the Blackshields’ feet.

Twelve mines went off at once, blanketing the area in discordant magic that shattered existing spellwork and rendered magic items inert for one minute. Not much time. But one minute in an ambush was an eternity. Especially when things were just beginning.

Stage two was set off by the [Dispelling Mines] themselves. [Alchemical Flash Bombs] were, as the name suggested, alchemical rather than magical in nature. They didn’t need magic to function. However, the triggers of these bombs had been frozen just before activation by magic. Magic that the [Dispelling Mines] removed. Another dozen blasts went off, only a second after the first stripped any protections they had. The entire company was blinded and deafened for sixty seconds. Enough time for the next step to begin.

Stage Three began as Dylan and his team charged. As ordered, they gave no thought to defense, and all attention to causing as much damage as possible to the weakest defenders. The Barrier Mage and the Healers went down almost immediately. The last healer managed to get an [Area Cleanse] spell off just before Dylan’s sword removed the healer’s head from his shoulders. But the spell still took effect, clearing the Blinded and Deafened statuses from the Blackshields. Dylan’s team did not care, they continued killing, going after the rangers next. All four rangers, built for ranged combat rather than melee, died before the last of Dylan’s party was brought down.

“Stage Four.”

Catalina’s pets descended from the nearby rooftop where they had been watching, using Ryan’s [Hellfire Comet] to turn the six of them into six orbs of hellfire, streaking at the Blackshields who were still trying to understand what happened. All six of them struck in the middle of the formation, causing six overlapping blasts of hellfire, each blast doing damage (before defenses) equal to their max HP, but leaving them stunned for ten seconds, afterwards.

[Hellfire Comet] was risky to use with just one person. Yes, the damage output was impressive, but there were plenty of defenses against magic and elemental damage out there, even some who were immune to Hellfire entirely. And while the spell gave the individual a ten second immunity to Hellfire after the blast, to go with the stun, that wouldn’t help against anyone who survived the blast, and the same courtesy wasn’t extended to any allies who might have been in the blast radius. A ten-second stun when surrounded by enemies was not a good situation to be in.

However, when you had six comets land simultaneously, with overlapping fields of fire? With the people you’re targeting stripped of magic protections from spells and gear? That made things much safer. Even the strongest fighters would be hurting after something like that, unless they had some racial abilities reducing the damage. And even then, the overlapping blasts should knock them off their feet.

The smell of burnt flesh was thick when the stun released us. Of the twelve fighters, five were dead outright, and another four were so badly burnt that they could do little more than scream in pain. Or maybe that was because their armor had partially melted and was in the process of burning through their flesh. Either way, only three fighters and our main target remained, slowly getting to their feet.

One, a female fighter in burnt leathers with a pair of axes that marked her as likely being some kind of berserker, never made it to her feet. Charity was already there, her left dagger turning partially to shadow, allowing it to slip between two vertebrae, dropping the woman to ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Not dead, the woman’s regeneration was too much for that to kill her, but the Paralyzed condition would not go away until she got some magical healing.

The System was brutal, but it was fair. Yes, such a stroke would be considered unfair. However, Charity was only in a position to make that strike because of her skills, her training, and the work our entire team had put in preparing this field. Without all that, she never would have been able to make an attack like that without getting intercepted.

Dante broke left, his hammer and shield striking in a one-two combo. The shield bashed a greatsword wielder’s blade out of position, before the hammer crushed the man’s arm at the elbow, using his own plate armor as the anvil. The Dead Arm debuff would last for at least thirty seconds. The fighter cried out, and tried to guard with his good arm, but even if you had the strength to hold the blade aloft with one arm, you couldn’t effectively use a two-handed greatsword one-handed without special skills.

Jonathan broke right. A sword and shield fighter opposed him. Jonathan used the Lightning Palm technique through his shield, like Dante had shown him, causing the fighter to cry oud and let go of his blade when it struck his shield. He charged forward, shield out front, bashing it just an inch to the side. Not much, but enough for a quick thrust from his blade, which pierced the fire-damaged chitin of the man’s armor. Some kind of giant spider gave the chitin for that armor, which raised questions Catalina declined to think on at the moment regarding its provenance.

Ryan hung back, ready to act, if needed, but six [Hellfire Comet] spells had drained most of his mana pool. It had been a gamble, and it had paid off, reducing a fight that could have been unwinnable, even with the healers and rangers taken out of play, into something where they were unlikely to lose. His part in the fight was over, unless something very troubling happened.

Catalina surged forward with Jose. Their target? The Blackshield Warcaster herself. While the others could be taken one-on-one, especially in their gravely wounded state, Catalina did not dare underestimate the leader, even if she was over fifteen levels below them. Even if that Warcaster likely spent many of her skill points improving her profession skills, to get the most out of Battleslave Commander. Anyone with magic was a dire threat when backed into a corner. Especially when they knew death was not the end.

Jose’s [Monomolecular Power Blade] slashed out. The sword had a simple name, but its function was simple. The blade created a field of energy one molecule thick, which allowed it to cut through pretty much anything if there wasn’t a magic barrier in the way. The actual damage the weapon did was surprisingly low, but that was because all its power went to sundering materials and amputating limbs. Something that the Warcaster discovered the hard way as her shield split in half, and her arm fell off, sliced on a diagonal across the forearm.

“[Hellfire Weapon]! [Domina’s Lash]!” Catalina called as her [Godtouched Gatorspine Whip] lashed out at the Warcaster. The High Knelfi screamed in pain, as she collapsed to the ground. That much was only natural. After all, her whip, which had been a drop from Grandpa Earl, the first time they fought him, also had the [Hellfire Weapon] skill coating it in Hellfire, for extra damage, and the Lightning Palm technique running through it, granting more extra damage and acting as a taser. And then, there was [Domina’s Lash], which doubled the pain and debuffs caused by a strike, without increasing damage.

Before the Warcaster had time to do more than twitch a couple times on the ground, Jose was there, with his blade. And then the Warcaster had no head, and the last of the Blackshields were eliminated for this round of the Games, along with Dylan and his party. With combat done, the parties disappeared into ash, to be resurrected after the next Game ended. Not having to explain bodies everywhere was nice, but it meant that they couldn’t loot, beyond what the System offered them. Fair enough, she would have hated to lose valuable items with each death.

Bounty Report

Target

Description

Edea Dortoris

Combatant for House Vomhur

High Knelfi Female

Level 21 Blackshield Warcaster / Battleslave Commander

Leader of the Blackshield Mercenaries, with twenty battleslaves under her command, all accomplished combatants in their own right. Eliminating the Blackshields will open a critical hole in Vomhur’s defenses.

Reward: 3000 Points for Edea, 500 for each Battleslave.

Dylan Walker

Combatant for House Vomhur

High Human Male

Level 23 Blademaster Fighter / Master Commander

A recent addition to House Vomhur’s mercenary forces. Walker and his 5 party members are a well-rounded, if unimpressive, adventuring group. Teamwork metrics suggest high damage potential if left unchecked.

Reward: 1000 Points per party member.

Total Rewards

19000 Points for Demonthrals Party

“Mistress, look at this!” Ryan called out, bringing up the badge interface, to show the report on the two bounties. “Looks like mind controlling the other party and sending them to their deaths still counted as our kills, despite not being the ones to put them down. And we got credit for all the Blackshields, too!”

Catalina grinned. “Well, the Lord Kuronoth does know how to make things interesting. Come on, let’s get out of here, and back to Throk territory before anyone important investigates. We still have two more bounties to take care of, after all.”