SB: Chapter 249 – Interlude 33 (Patreon)

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Alpha Dark Moon

“Frenzied Slash!” I roared and cut down another large ice golem. I leapt away as a fireball exploded where I had been. I snarled at the demon maintaining its distance and sniping at me.

I leapt forward again and cut down another large ice golem. Several small spider monsters raced at me and I easily stepped around them while kicking out, killing them each in one blow. The monsters the demons used were incredibly weak, but they had endless amounts of them to send in our direction.

“Flame Wall!”

That was the sign for me to switch out. Alpha Eternal White Bite rushed out to take my place holding the front line. I jogged back to the walls across the ruined battlefield. Elites and professionals were moving out to confront monsters, but a legend was needed to keep the demon in check.

“Alpha Dark Moon, the dungeon fortress was attacked,” a messenger said.

“How many?” I asked nervously. If we were attacked inside the settlement, we would be finished.

“It appears to just be one adventurer from the Cat Clan. They put the guard to sleep and exited the building. A search is being done, but their scent is concealed. We would need someone with stronger tracking skills to find them.” I shook my head. Everyone was needed for the defenses and to rotate in and out of battle.

“No one was killed and nothing destroyed?” I asked.

“Only one barricaded door was damaged, that’s it.”

“Then it is no concern of ours. They clearly don’t want trouble, but they fear that we would force them to fight this battle,” I calmly replied. It was a losing battle. While we were stronger, the demons never fully committed, choosing to wear us down over a long period of time. I cursed them in my mind, but didn’t let anything show to keep morale up.

“Understood, I will let the search parties know, Alpha,” the messenger said and ran off. I let out a small sigh. I would have preferred a large adventuring team to help us, even if they did cause trouble and demanded payment. Anything to break the losing situation we were in.

Alpha Eternal White Bite was just as savage as ever as I glanced at him fighting the monsters. I needed to rest and let my points recover. The worst part about the weak monsters was that they provided very little experience. While our skills were increasing, they weren’t increasing fast enough. Only about 40 skill levels a month if we were lucky.

The other six alphas of this settlement were holding their respective positions while rotating in and out of combat in pairs. We had managed to heavily injure one demon, but the remaining four were incredibly cautious. Once the fifth one fully recovered and returned, the balance would tilt in their favor.

Already our Mana core supply was running low to power the enchantments to grow food. Once food production began to fail that would be the beginning of the end.

I would not fail my people.

It was time to commit and break this siege in our favor. I was no coward. I had seen over 400 years and was a mighty beastkin and the oldest alpha. I would rather suffer eternally than see my people and descendants fall.

Waiting more wouldn’t help. It was slowly getting dark for longer and longer. No aid was coming from the Bear or Cat Clan. I would have to break this deadlock myself. It was time to dig deep and go beyond. I had already taken care of things that I needed to. No need to say anything else.

I leapt back onto the battlefield and several wolfkin glanced in my direction as I raced across the battlefield. I darted past Alpha Eternal White Bite, who gave me a nod of respect while racing behind me. I had talked with him about what might become necessary.

The demon began to retreat as monsters swarmed towards us. Alpha Eternal White Bite moved in front of me, intercepting and killing the monsters, using his body to break through while I followed behind him. Once he could go no further, I leapt up and raced across the top of the monsters towards my target.

The demon spun and I grinned.

“Shackles Of Ice.”

I leapt over the chains that emerged from the ground. I had seen this before and knew what to expect.

“Frenzied Slash!”

The demon dodged and pulled out a wand. I rushed forward. A beam of water pierced my left shoulder, but it was a minor injury. I grabbed the demon and bit down on its neck. The demon plunged its hands into my sides grabbing my spine.

I refused to let go as I used skill after skill. If the demons wanted to kill us, I would kill them with me. I lost feeling below my chest as I was completely bisected. My hands were digging into the demon’s eyes and face. The eyes finally gave way under my pressure.

The demon began to stumble about and scream in pain. I refused to let go as Alpha Eternal White Bite rushed up to finish the job.

Boris

I was with a madman. I had heard the stories of the legendary child Justin Burnstock and his parents, mostly his mother. I had grown up working on a farm. The largest and oldest of 10 siblings. My grandfather was a retired adventurer. He had barely reached level 60 before retiring. He had purchased a farm and his eldest son, my father, had become a farmer inheriting the farm.

I had always thought I would be a farmer. I didn’t mind, it was a simple and happy life. Then the war came. My family was forced to flee. Instead of a large farm that we used to have, my father was allocated a much smaller plot of land to work on by the College of Advancement.

Us children had to find other work, since the farm wasn’t large enough to support everyone. As the eldest and strongest, I left to take up work to help my family. My grandfather had always talked about how stats were the foundation of being strong. That was why I always trained constantly, to improve myself and to be strong. I was lucky enough that he had taken each of his grandkids into the dungeon to get a bunch of levels.

Unfortunately, I was never good at book learning. Words made my head hurt. There was no need for complicated skills, just strength was enough for me to live my life. I worked as a porter for the College, moving supplies and crates.

It was a decent job, but it didn’t pay that much. Only a handful of copper each day. That was why I had registered to be an adventuring porter. Unfortunately, I only had my strength. No Monster Processing, no Cooking, and very few skill levels in Cleaning. I wanted more money to start a family and farm of my own. I could have inherited the small farm, but it was better to give and help than take.

That was when the offer had come in. Work as an adventuring porter for Justin Burnstock, the legendary child. The pay was a gold a day. That was a lot! So, I was foolish and accepted the contract. Even if I died, my family would get a huge payout. That was why I had trusted this adventurer.

At first it seemed normal enough. Going deep into the dungeon. Justin was really strong. He knew so many skills and worked as hard as I did, just with studying. It was like my grandfather said, a son of a supreme legend starts at a higher level just at birth. I didn’t fully understand that, but now I did.

His strength gave me confidence. I had some questions about the heavy metal case I was carrying, but I could tell he didn’t want to answer questions about it. It was like the other work I had done, people just wanted workers to shut up and do their jobs. I knew enough to not make trouble.

Then we began ascending to the beastkin continent. I didn’t really understand what that meant. I figured we were making a highly valuable delivery. And I got free meals and to work out every day while being paid quite a bit. I hadn’t thought to question things and what was happening, trusting Justin knew what he was doing.

Now I was screaming internally while we hid out in a metal building, in a hostile settlement that was under siege by demons?!

It was too late to turn back. I had no idea where we were or how to get back. My job was carrying the heavy metal case and not saying anything. I could do that. But my heart was beating furiously even while we rested and I heard the sounds of shouting and fighting in the distance.

A demon had killed his mother, the Supreme Warlady. My grandfather liked to joke he was the opposite of the supreme legend, where she went from farm girl to highly capable adventurer, he had gone from mediocre adventurer to mediocre farmer. My grandfather had always admired her, so I thought I could trust her son.

I was clearly mistaken. Her son was out of his mind. I didn’t want to die. I wasn’t a fighter. I had a lot of strength and thought about going into the dungeon. All that money would pay for a nice weapon and let me earn more money.

Demons were thinking monsters!

If we were found, could Justin even fight one? I knew he was strong, but the fact he had trouble moving this case was concerning. I knew his stats were low and he wasn’t using his free stat points after our conversation. If he died, I had no chance. No chance whatsoever.

I could only sit in silence and wait to see what happened, trusting him with my life. I now felt that one gold a day was a bit too low for how dangerous this was. I should have known better, but I didn’t want to work for coppers.

Once I got back home, I was going to live a quiet farming life with a nice girl and lots of children. I never understood why my grandfather had retired, but now I knew. I felt like I was at the edge of a cliff with a strong wind trying to push me to my death. Fear gripped me tightly. I didn’t want to die.

“Rest if you can. We will have to run a lot tomorrow. I have stamina potions for us,” Justin said. I just nodded, not trusting myself to say anything. Just had to keep my mouth shut and do my job and hopefully I would survive.

“We will go up the cliff. Can you climb with that case?” he asked.

“It will be hard if there aren’t proper places to grip and support the weight,” I replied as succinctly as possible.

“I have rope and Ozy can secure it at the top of the canyon wall. That should be able to handle the weight. We go before dawn while it is dark to avoid being spotted.”

Where were we going?! I screamed in my mind, but just nodded. Asking questions would just invite more trouble. I just had to do my job, I repeated to myself. Just do my job and everything would be fine.

“After that a lot of running across the mountains, rocks, and snow to the Great White Waste past the End of the World.” I didn’t know what any of that meant besides having to run a lot in this cold. We had already put on cold weather clothes several days ago.

It had been a bit warm in the dungeon but I hadn’t said anything. Now I felt the chill seeping into my body. If I survived, I would have a story to tell my grandfather. He would smile and laugh. He was the best and I missed him.

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