Chapter 17 Part 2 of 5 (Patreon)

The road opened up more with small planters dotted around with stalls selling food and drink. People wandered the area easily, wearing their guild emblems.

Guild Halls lined the sides of the boulevard, their crests adorned their walls and gates. Crafter and mercenary guilds stood next to one another. Guild members flowed through the area, beasts and carriages carrying important members to and from the halls.

A group of mounted mercenaries rode out of their hall and down the boulevard off to carry out some mission.

The Guild Halls were located in the inner city, two Vuzgal Defense force barracks and four command towers lay around the district.

Guild members stood at every gate checking people’s identification before they entered.

“There it is,” Nico said, his eyes locking onto the Adventure's Association Hall.

Nico sent a signal to the others who dispersed, closing in from different directions.

Four guards were standing by the gate, checking identification as people entered and left.

Nico could see the courtyard beyond the gate and the hall beyond that, its doors wide open as people entered and exited.

A mounted group exited the guild hall, riding off.

Nico felt a rush as he gripped his sword hilt, a shiver ran through his body, tapping into the power that had laid dormant, unused and untested.

“See you later Tollin!” An Adventurer’s Association guard said to a young man, he wore a simple shirt and pants, his hair grown long with an easy smile on his face.

“I’ll be back later, just need to get my sister from school!”

Nico stepped in front of Tollin, holding out an arm to right him.

“Sorry about that!” Nico laughed easily.

“I wasn’t watching where I was going,” Tollin tousled his hair, blushing.

“Are you a member of the Adventurer’s Association?” Nico looked at the guild hall.

“I’m not, I’m just a healer. I wanted to join as a fighter, but I had some skill in healing and this lets me be in the same city as my sister. They’ve done so much for me, I hope I can join them on the front lines in the future.”

“Ah good!” Nico was relieved, he drew his sword and stabbed it up through Tollin’s stomach.

“I was so excited I could barely hold myself back!” Nico laughed, his smile never shifted.

Tollin was groping at the blade, at his stomach, the spreading red through his shirt.

His mouth opened and closed, unable to connect what he was seeing with what was happening.

“Not even worth any experience. Lets see how good your healing is,” Nico lifted Tollin off the ground, making him scream in pain before he tossed him to the side, not showing any effort on his face.

“You’re fucking dead!” A gate guard yelled, drawing her sword.

Nico parried her attack, his strength so high it made her stumbled backwards, with seemingly lazy ease his sword cut through the air, cutting her neck.

She went down, clawing at her neck.

The Institute warriors charged past Nico, their cloaks falling off revealing their powerful armor and weapons.

Nico pulled off his cloak, letting it drop as he walked forward. One guard was left, the back of his leg sprayed red as he tipped forward. A spear rammed through his chest plate.

“Fucking dead weight, get off of my spear!” Montes said, kicking the man from her spear and spitting on him.

“People from the Montes were always hot heads,” Nico said as he walked by.

“Just cause the Head is interested in you now, Tolentino, doesn’t mean they will always,” Montes glared at him.

Nico sneered, heading through the gates. Fighting had broken out everywhere, those in the guild hall were rushing outside at the noise. Nico pulled out a spell scroll and tore it apart.

Lines of black traced through the sky above the guild hall, creating a spell formation that crackled with blood-red lightning.

The mana of Vuzgal, of the Fourth Realm was drawn into the spell formation. The wind picked up, quickly creating a vortex centered on the formation above.

Nico tossed the burnt out spell scroll to the side and walked towards the guild hall. His people were slowed by the press of guild members pushing out of the main door.

Others were coming out of side buildings around the courtyard or running around the main hall.

Five Institute fighters led the slaughter at the door’s steps.

Another guild member dropped to the ground, a kick sent them to the side, their life blood pouring out.

Nico walked across the courtyard, passing the bodies and tombstones, reaching the four stairs that flattened out to a wide veranda in front of the doorway.

The vortex picked at Nico’s clothes as he gathered mana through his body, waking up his entire body. He tapped into his power, drawing the power of the earth through his body and then into his sword.

He stabbed forward, green light was covered with wood, green runes glowing throughout. It passed through the fighters, cutting through a guild member and shooting inward.

Nico circulated his power, ready to enter the fray when he frowned at an odd noise.

Where was the explosion, that attack should have torn out the back of the hall.

There was a roar from deep within the guild hall. A large man covered in armor held a shield with a fresh scar on its face.

“Looks like you’re not all useless. You’ll be a fine ingredient for my human core pill!”

Nico charged into the guild hall.

He slashed out, wooden blades appeared in the green light left behind his attack. The blades cut out, critically wounding or killing several and throwing the others back.

The armored man blocked the hit with his shield, only slightly slowing down. Stone jumped from the ground as the big man struck it with his small hammer.

The stone crumbled under the hits.

Nico’s sword flashed, taking out two of the five ‘stones’.

He was able to compress and sharpen them. They weren’t just fragments but shaped stone.

Nico didn’t spare a glance for the scream behind him but he saw the victorious grin on the armored man’s face as he clashed with Nico.

Nicos’ blade met his hammer. The man’s full strength wasn’t behind it as he slammed his shield forward, aiming for Nico’s feet.

Nico jumped, landing on the man’s shield. He pierced his sword forward but the armored man had crunched below his shield so Nico’s sword cut through the air above his back.

Nico felt the mana change, he fell backwards and kicked off of the man’s shield, stone spears appeared in the air where Nico had been.

Nico’s kick sent the man back, crashing through the bodies of his own spears. He dug his feet into the ground, leaving twin gouges in the stone floor.

Roots grew from the ground under Nico’s feet, his eyes focused on his opponent as roots grew to meet where his feet would be.

Nico released all of his power, letting it flow through his limbs. The muscles in his legs compressed together as he shot forward.

His steps left dents in the ground as the armored man smashed his hammer into the floor. A wave rippled through the floor toward Nico.

Nico jumped over the rippling floor, formations appeared under his feet balancing on air.

The ground erupted, stone shot out at Nico from the torn ground below.

Nico pushed out his hand, a spell formation appearing on it as he forced himself out the way of the first attacks.

He interposed his sword, fighting off the stones spears shooting at him, cutting through them as he dodged in the air.

The armored man swung his hammer out stone spikes congealed upon the head of the hammer, causing the very air to crack as Nico twisted, avoiding a spear from the ground, cutting down two more.

“Thorn Rain!”

Thorns shot out from a spell formation on his hand, tens of thorns shot out, creating a tunnel through all of the spears and spikes.

The armored man threw up his shield.

“Stone Armor!”

The shield frosted over with stone. The thorns struck the stone covering shattering it and driving the armored man backwards.

Nico subdued the armored man with his Thorn Rain spell.

“Forest’s blade!”

He cut out with his blade, killing two guild members and cutting a path out of the floor, it hit a wall, tearing it apart.

A yell came from behind the shield as the temperature in the room soared. “Fire Breath!”

A wave of fire shot out from the shield it burnt through the thorns, pushing them backwards till they were only a quarter of the distance from Nico’s hand.

Nico turned his head, seeing the ground smoke and crack under the armored man’s feet, steam was rising from his body, veins cracked the skin, filled with what appeared to be magma.

A Fireball spell hit the man. The very air was burnt around him. Nico felt something deep in his stomach, something he had forgotten about for the last thirty years.

That acid that bit in the bottom of your stomach, burning through your being.

Fear.