Soul Knight - Chapter 22 + Chapter 23 (Patreon)

[Author Note - I'm going to add this text to the bottom of chapter 21, to allow chapter 22 to simply be Nick and Eirwen's second explicit scene. But I didn't write it yet - apologies! Still, I will give the new text, then provide the next Chapter for now!) Also, I have fixed the Chapter numbering on patreon, so you might also be wondering "What happened to chapter 21? If you're checking your email. Well, the answer is that if you check your emails, Soul knight started at prologue then chapter 0. I have fixed the numbering since then, when I redid the prologue to have Nick's scene first before Kaya's. Anyway, sorry for the confusion - numbering should be correct on Patreon, RR, SH. The Chapter 20 in your email was actually Chapter 21, and no chapters are "missing" for you. We continue on Chapter 23, for now! I'll come back and do Eirwen's second scene later.]

Nick would make sure he paid for his wrongdoings, and then he would make some big changes.

He yawned. It was getting a little late, the girls chatting and even enjoying more of the stew. They each had some tea in front of them, spending some time together.

Kaya had spent some time absorbing essence, and so did Eirwen, slowly while they talked. They even had time to take showers, each taking turns in between.

“Oh! Hubby, I hit level 4. I got a new spell: [Equipment Maintenance].”

[Spell: Equipment Maintenance]
[School: Essence]
[Cost: Moderate]
[Range: Touch]
[Consume essence from items to repair damage to other items over time, bringing them to their original condition.]

“Nice! That’s really useful. Kaya and I both have a few cuts and holes in our armor that need repairs. I was a bit worried that they would be a weakness to keep track of in a fight. Honestly, I'm not that used to that, in games they were either working or broken.”

Eirwen nodded. “I’ll take care of them in the morning. I already cleaned them of all that blue blood, but now I just need to refill them with essence! See, those goblin necklaces and things will be helpful.”

Nick looked over at the armor laying next to the sink, and once again was proud of his wife for all the work she did.

He gave her a look of affection, and she beamed.

She smirked, and looked over at Kaya, who was drinking some tea. “Well, Nick and I are about to head to bed. You going to join us?”

Kaya made a surprised sound, then choked a little bit on her tea. She shook her head, and then looked more than a little fearful with her ears flat on her head. “N-No, um… I–I’m just not…ready yet. I like Nick…but…”

Her explanation didn’t really continue, and Eirwen sighed. She offered Nick an explanation, “Like the Beast Warriors are fiercely loyal to their lord, they are the same for their mate. That she came so close to selecting that jerk really has her broken. She practically didn’t leave her room for a month after we got safe. But she was young then, barely even sixteen.”

Kaya’s tail swished in front of her, where she then held it protectively. “I…just need some more time. It was just a stupid thing. I was being trained to be a rogue, and I really got my hopes up. For Winny, really! It was just so hard, after Momma was gone. When the guy showed his true colors, I didn’t think I could trust anyone again. We had to move out into the forest, which was scary on its own.”

Nick frowned. “Well, I like you Kaya, and I’m in no rush. That guy might have done you dirty, but Prince Noblefrost here does what he says and says what he means. Even when the words might be nonsensical at times–you can count on em’.”

Kaya chuckled, and she gave him a look of longing. “And I know that. Still, I like it better for you to be focused on Winny for now. Seeing her happy just warms my heart. That you’ve helped me so much with my goals means a lot to me. I will make it up to you, some day. I promise.”

Nick chuckled. “You already did–promise, that is. Well, I think I’m ready for some rest.”

Eirwen smiled, and looked at Nick with a bit of lust. “That’s right. We’ll have some time before we enter the Trial tomorrow, it looks like? You should be able to get some axe training, before the portal opens.”

Kaya nodded, looking excited. “I’m looking forward to it. W-Well, I’ll let you two head to bed. I do need some extra rest, anyway.”

She seemed to blush, as she looked at Nick.

They said their good nights, and Nick headed to the room with Eirwen.

(As a reminder, the rest is to be written later. I will create a chapter posting by itself of Chapter 22 when I find the time to write the explicit scene. Later, I will shove this above section at the bottom of chapter 21, making 22 the explicit scene only.)

Chapter 23

Nick looked over his armor, finding Eirwen’s repairs had closed up the gap and left the surface smooth.

“You turned all those macaroni-looking necklaces into armor repairs? That shit is crazy. Still, it’s convenient, this spaceman armor looked impossible to repair otherwise.”

She giggled, “Hehe, what’s a spaceman? I used the wolf teeth first on Kaya’s, but then I needed to use up nearly all the goblin trinkets. Your armor took a lot of them, by the way.”

“I’ll tell ya later. These weird plastic-like sections just reminds me of it.”

Kaya noted, “I thought it looked like a gray beetle carapace or something.” She tapped on it with her knuckles, making dull knocking sounds. “Seems like it’ll even be decent against blunt blows? Few armors are good against slashing, piercing, and blunt damage. It’s usually two out of three at best.”

She was also wearing her armor, and ready to go. Kaya looked over her new axes with a bit of pride. They were able to alter the loops in her belt to hold the axes and easily withdraw them for combat.

She was still armed with many daggers and her short swords. She was still not great with the axes, but had reached Novice in just a few hours.

With some real combat, Nick thought she would move on quickly. She was definitely decent with her daggers and short swords, but the superior reach and power of the larger axes were not something easy to ignore.

They had to kill a bunch of time to wait for the Trial to open. Eirwen had told Nick that it might have been preparing it or aligning it in some way. The inhabitants of the floor would likely be made aware of the shift, though it could depend on the goal.

After Nick’s training with Kaya, they took a nap to feel more rested for when the Trial opened.

Jerome and Jerry were waiting for them, and had simply absorbed essence from the Ordeal for sustenance. Nick wondered if they would ever be able to converse with him.

The portal opened, and the party gave resolute nods.

“Let’s get in there, kick some ass, and get out. Then we’ll kick Davon’s ass, and then…”

Kaya chuckled. “Then kick some more? You’re walking the hero’s path. You can never stop.”

Eirwen cheered, “Let’s do it! This should be really exciting. I can’t wait to see what we can do! It’ll be dangerous, but it’ll be a place we’ve never been.”

They entered the portal, where it dropped them out inside a barrier. The bind stone had glyphs running all over it, and the amount of essence coming off of it was immense. He felt drawn to it.

Nick’s party was standing on a small hill, overlooking what appeared to be an island or peninsula–a beach behind them. There was a giant volcano in the center of the island, and a forest covering much of the valley in front of them.

The island looked quite large, the volcano easily ten to twenty miles away, from Nick’s estimation.

[Trial of Leadership]

[The Orcs of Nagduros and the Humans of Zura are at war. They refused to complete their Conflict, and were placed in this Trial as a Minor Tribulation.

There are several ways to complete this Trial for Nicholas Noblefrost. Help either faction to triumph over the other, by enabling them to settle their Conflict. Or, clear the nest of young drakes. This will settle their Conflict, granting them additional lands and restoring their Ordeals to their homelands.

The inhabitants will be interested in settling their Conflict. If no solution is found within the Time Limit, it will be upgraded to a true Tribulation.]

[Time Limit: 13 days, 12 hours]

[You must leave the barrier within ten minutes, or all protections will be removed.]

Nick was a little confused about what specifically they needed to do.

Eirwen hummed. “I think I get it. Your job is to either help one defeat the other in their Conflict, or convince them to work together. A drake is really powerful, and their numbers will make it nearly impossible for a small group, normally. Or, if you’re strong enough, you can just kill the drakes yourself.”

He asked Eirwen, “Okay. What’s a Conflict?”

“There are many ways to utilize an Ordeal. One of them is to expand your territory, the protection and benefits of it. If two Ordeal’s territory overlaps, it can create a Conflict. A formal challenge can be formed, to decide who gets ownership over that territory. The conflict can be combat related, but it doesn’t have to be. It depends on what territory is being fought over, and it can be decided upon by those in conflict.”

Kaya looked over the portal. She noted, “It looks like there is a maximum of ten entrants here. That means only seven people in total from Davon’s party can join. I think he won’t want to come here, but he’ll definitely fill it up with his goons.”

Nick noted that this meant that they would likely know immediately that Nick and his party were three when they arrived–whenever that might be.

The hill they were on wasn’t very high up, and they couldn’t really see that much of the island.

“Let’s try to climb one of those trees to get a better look? I don’t see a city or anything.”

They exited the barrier, and then Kaya and Nick both climbed one of the trees, while Jerry and Jerome stood watch with Eirwen.

The island was simple, to Nick. It was nearly a circle or oval, with the volcano dead center on the island. There were a number of clearings across the island, but it was mostly forest or jungle covering it. They could traverse nearly the entire island without leaving the forest, with the exception of the large clearings near each settlement.

They were on the southern tip, and there were two walled settlements, one east and one west. The villages had what Nick thought were at most a hundred to two hundred people inside, judging from the number of buildings.

There was a tower at the center of each, and from the distance, they didn’t look all that different.

He snorted. “A tower inside of a tower? This is some bullshit right here. I better not have to climb those too.”

Kaya chuckled from the branch next to him, where they were standing. “The towers act like a beacon, providing certain benefits to those near it. Nearly all settlements on Orion form near one because the benefits are so significant.”

Nick thought he understood. It was likely as important as settling your city near access to water. It provided protection, and even provided food if it had the appropriate floors within.

She added, “It looks like to the East is the Orcs, and to the West is the humans.”

Nick raised his brow. “How do you know? They look similar to me at this distance.”

She pointed in the distance. “Those banner you see there, the large painted symbols just have that tribal feel to them. Let’s head back down to Winny.”

There was a banner that was absolutely massive on each of the towers, draping down along the height. At her point, Nick kind of saw what she was talking about, but it wasn’t that obvious to him.

They couldn’t see what was to the North end of the island, the large volcano in the way.

The two let Eirwen know what they saw, the two cities or villages easily at least twenty miles away.

Nick asked, “So, what do you think, Winny? Orcs or Humans?”

“Orcs are known raiders, and while many are honorable, our chances of a peaceful encounter are just lower than with humans. Of course, like any group, there can be bad or just aggressive people among either of them. I’d rather go with meeting the humans first.”

Kaya nodded. “I agree. We’ve definitely heard of many orc warlords. Still, we know of a human bandit one, too, so things are up in the air.”

Nick shrugged. “Let’s give it a go, then. They shouldn’t be outright hostile, right? We are potential allies.”

Eirwen sighed. “But we’re also potential enemies. They will keep that in mind. Thankfully, we don’t actually have to be directly involved. We just have to help them settle their differences.”

Nick said, “This sounds tough. We’re going to have to fight through this wilderness which likely has creatures around our level besides, and then the natives likely know we’re here. They might be having some folks coming here soon to look for us.”

Kaya nodded. “I think it’s best we move through the forest so that we’re harder to spot. We may want to cover our trail as best we can, too.”

The forest was thick with vegetation, but it wasn’t so bad that they needed to cut through. He sent Jerome first, Jerry following from behind. All in all, Jerry was low on arrows. Not many of the poor goblin arrows were recoverable from the rhino’s flesh.

Eirwen’s bolts held up a little better, and she managed to repair a few of them using her new skill. Still, even her ammunition was limited further. She had only had nearly thirty bolts at the beginning, and she was down to twenty. The hobgoblin was down to ten.

They moved through the jungle slowly, and they relied on Kaya and Eirwen’s advanced senses to search for an enemy. It was later in the day, as a result of when they completed the fourth floor.

Nick estimated they were only moving through the forest at around two to three miles per hour. It was a pace they needed to maintain to sense any oncoming hostiles.

They hadn’t made it much more than an hour or so through the forest when Kaya raised her fist. Her ears were whipping left and right, her nose sniffing the air.

He stopped Jerome up front with a thought, his order somehow able to handle this. Jerry seemed to understand, and neared a tree for cover.

Some yips echoed through the trees, before some barking coming from all around them.

Nick frowned as he moved closer to Eirwen, and Kaya climbed into a tree nearby, standing on a branch parallel to the ground.

It seemed they were somehow surrounded. Nick was frustrated at this, just how could they be found out so easily? He was experienced with forestry, and they had taken a slow pace on purpose. Eirwen’s steps were a little noisy, but there wasn’t much they could do about that with the weight of her pack.

Nick could feel their souls enter his view and sensory, and to his surprise, he didn’t get a negative impression.

Except for one. The yips and barking increased, until a stocky humanoid creature entered the clearing.

The best way Nick could describe it was a werewolf, but that wasn’t quite right. Perhaps a gnoll might be closer, but he wasn’t really sure what he was looking at. It was bulky and a little under four and a half feet tall. It was wearing hide clothes or armor, but it was a patchwork mess.

Not really much of a threat, from what he could tell.

It marched into the clearing like it owned the place, and like it had no care about Nick and his party at all. The creature held what looked like some kind of ball and chain weapon, but it looked like a…short, pudgy werewolf.

Kaya snorted from where she stood above them in the tree, observing the oncoming creatures. “Wolflings. What are they doing? This is really weird.”

Nick looked at Eirwen in question, and she just chuckled in response. “These are monsterfolk, they are a mix of wolves and goblins breeding, I guess? They aren’t very smart, like a child’s intelligence. Still, if they were hostile, they would have already attacked. I don’t think they would want to take you on, normally. They should be able to sense your strength.”

The large wolfling looked at Nick with a little anger. It yipped and barked, and several wolflings entered the clearing all around them, much smaller and weaker than the large one–barely four feet tall, the size of an eight-year-old at best.

They were dressed similarly, their hides not covering much of their bodies. Some walked, but some ran on all fours. It seemed that their digitigrade legs and their hips made it possible to walk on two or run on all four without issue.

They barked in response, and they had Nick’s group surrounded.

However, they didn’t look like they cared at all for Kaya and Eirwen, or Jerry and Jerome.

They all pointed and yipped at Nick, and he actually thought they were kind of cute. While it was like they had the faces of wolves, they were scrunched up and flattened. They almost looked like furry goblins, with a canine mouth and wolf ears atop their heads.

They were white with the gray, brown, and black patterns that reminded him of a husky.

Except for the big one, its angry expression and pudginess caused it to lose its cuteness.

It had a malicious glint in its eyes, and while it wasn’t really capable of understanding good and evil, or right and wrong so much, it was still tainted with wrongdoing. Nick guessed that he felt greed from the monster.

“These poor things. They look so hungry!”

Now that Eirwen pointed it out, Nick thought he saw what she meant. The creatures looked hungry, with very little meat on their bones. Compared to the fat one, Nick was starting to see what might be happening.

The large wolfling pointed at Nick and howled into the sky. Something stirred within his belly, causing him to frown.

Kaya looked at Nick, and back to the wolfling. “I think it’s challenging you! I’ve never heard of anything like this. Maybe because you’re monsterfolk too?”

“Uh…okay? What do I get if I win?”

Kaya scratched her head. “I dunno. Well, if you lose, you get dead, so it’s probably better to win. But maybe the wolflings will let us go without fighting, if you win the challenge.”

Eirwen added, “I’d rather not have to kill them all. They’re too cute–like little wolf children.”

Nick shrugged and moved forward, which caused the large wolfling to bark in laughter. It yipped, and now there were a total of three dozen wolflings circling the clearing. They had weapons, but they were more like crude spears.

He had a fair amount of confidence of cutting through them easily. They were actually weaker than many of the goblins they faced on the third floor. With the essence so thick, he wondered how this could be.

The monster howled again, and then all the wolflings were silenced. They all looked at Nick, as if expecting something.

Kaya stifled a giggle. “I think…they want your challenge! Your howl, or roar!”

Nick groaned. He knew Kaya was going to tease him about it later. Deciding to get it over with, he took a deep breath, and tried to draw from the area that stirred inside him. It was within his body core, in his stomach area.

Nick roared, yelling, “Hiyaaah!” like a martial artist kiai, but the results were shocking.

It was like a strong gust of wind blew through the clearing, several wolflings stumbling from Nick’s shout. Kaya almost lost her footing from the tree, and Eirwen gasped. “W-wow.”

The large wolfling began barking, and it started spinning its odd spiked ball and chain above its head. The ball began whipping about in a circle as it picked up speed.

“I guess it’s on now? I can kill it?”

Kaya chuckled. “Ye–”

Nick’s throwing knife whipped across the clearing in an instant, piercing the wolfling in the heart.

The ball and chain flew off to the side, bouncing across the ground and crashing into a tree as the monster let go of it. It fell to its knees, before falling on its face–dead.

“That it? Alright, let’s get–”

The wolflings started yipping and barking in happiness, many dropping their spears and running over to Nick. They hopped up and down, seemingly dancing and cheering.

They crowded around him with what looked like happy smiles on their canine faces. While many stayed away, they almost seemed to bow in reverence. However, there were a few that marched much closer.

Three approached him much closer, and actually started sniffing, climbing and pawing at him. But also…

Kaya laughed. “They’re licking you? Wait! Those are females, aren’t they?” She leapt down off the tree, joining the crowd.

“Hubby! I think they are seeing you as their new alpha. This is great!”

He started shoving the little wolf people away, but they just ignored his shove, giving him happy, puppy dog eyes as they continued jumping all over him. One eventually landed a lick on his face, despite his efforts to keep them at bay.

“Ugh. What’s great? These things won’t stop licking me.”

Eirwen shoved through, and arrived next to Nick. The three sniffing and licking his armor switched to look over at Eirwen, and sniffed her as well. They immediately formed up behind her, causing Nick to raise his brow.

Eirwen giggled. “But you saw how good they surrounded us, right? They are trackers! They can probably smell us coming from a mile away. We could use their help.”

Nick frowned. “I mean, I suppose. But how do we tell them what to do?”

Kaya pointed at Jerome, then at the corpse. “Couldn’t you just put Jerome in there?”

Nick looked at Jerome, and he saw a flicker of emotion: Jerome looked like he was slapped in the face, before his expression went neutral.

Nick asked Eirwen. “Did you see that?”

Eirwen narrowed her eyes. “Uh, I guess he doesn’t wanna? Weird. Maybe just try to summon something compatible? You’re supposed to know soul magic.”

Nick sighed. “They might act weird when I summon him, so maybe get behind Jerome, Winny?”

She did as he instructed and her three little wolflings followed with their tails happily wagging, and Kaya and Jerry both gathered near Jerome.

While thirty enemies might seem like a lot, it was more like facing a kindergarten classroom. He imagined with their weapons, they might be a lot more dangerous than that, but Nick’s soul blade would cleave through them and their weapons like a scythe through wheat.

Nick walked over to the dead wolfling alpha. He did his best to draw into his core, and even tried to stir his body core–the part he now imagined was the monstrous part of him.

“Summon Soul Servant!”

The body rose from the ground, the wolflings gasping and barking in response.

Nick’s knife clattered to the ground, as its body was healed. A significant amount of his soul power was reserved, causing him to frown. He could definitely feel this soul was somehow different, but he wasn’t really sure in what way.

The wolflings looked over at the raised former alpha, then back at Nick. They then started to cheer once more, yipping and barking in happiness.

Kaya chuckled. “I guess they knew you did that? Maybe try it? Order them around.”

“Like what? I guess I’ll start with something simple.”

He looked at his new wolfling alpha. “Order them to sit over there.”

A small amount of mana left him, as often happened when he gave much more precise orders for Jerome and Jerry to follow. Simple commands were intuitive, but anytime he needed something much more complicated done, it appeared to cost mana to properly convey his desires.

His alpha barked and yipped out loud, and all of the wolflings froze. Then, they obeyed, their tails wagging behind them as they ran over to the area he indicated and sat. They all looked at Nick in interest.

Eirwen gasped. “I know! Do the follower pact thing with them!”

“Huh. Maybe. What do I offer them?”

Kaya snorted. “They’re monsterfolk. You offer them your protection as their alpha, and they serve as your followers. You have that Archaen Law thing, right? They’ll have to follow it, so that will at least keep them from killing people–unless they are really starving.”

Nick raised his brow at that, but figured he’d give it a shot. He stirred his soul, pushing his soul pact.

“Alright, Jasper. Translate my words for me.”

Kaya chuckled. “Jasper? Where the hell are you getting these names?”

His eyes glowed white, and his soul magic reached over the wolflings.

“Wolfling tribe, I offer you a Soul Pact. Carry out my will in the Noblefrost name, adhering to Archaen Law as my Followers, and I will protect you as your Alpha.”

His alpha barked and yipped, and Nick was shocked at how long it took for the creature to convey this. He barely held on long enough with his magic. The many wolflings tilted their heads in confusion.

However, one by one, they barked and yipped in glee. White energy left him from his soul core, wrapping around and entering the many wolflings.

[Milestone Reached: Reached Ten Monsterfolk Followers]

[Passive Trait Earned: Monsterfolk Empathy]

[Monsterfolk fall on a wide spectrum between humanoids, monsters, and beasts. As an Archaen, your innate connection to these folk has been improved. You now gain insight into a monsterfolk’s emotional state and motives with both spoken and unspoken language. Through this same connection, they may now also understand yours more intuitively.]

Something stirred within Nick, and it was now like his Advanced Soul Sense had been improved. He could now feel a surface-level of emotions, as the many wolflings barked and yipped in excitement.

It was then that he had a confirmation, and the effect was instantaneous. It was like their needs immediately became his, a desire to fulfil his role as their alpha.

His new little tribe of wolflings was starving.