' = Internal dialogue
ยจ= Normal speech
* = Sounds / Etc
-Chapter 57-
Both dark iron dwarf and regular dwarf ended up with rushing out of the tent, screaming. The human male followed behind them, albeit at a much slower pace.
I just stood there speechless at the entire situation and the randomness of the crazy woman in front of me.
There had been an attempt of her doing the same to me as I felt a disgusting tendril of magic attempt to get into my head but easily dismissed it.
'So this is how a psychic scream feels like...' I considered as I watched the encampment outside turn into pandamonium.
She had turned to gaze intently at me after realizing something that seemed to amuse her to no end, "So, dear envoy, are you not affected by my spell, hm?" She suddenly asked out of nowhere, her voice turning seductive yet again.
"I'm stronger than you." I said matter of factly, which made her break out giggling madly once more. This time, she gained a more stern look when suddenly she stopped, "You are just full of surprises, aren't you?" Then she rose to her feet and started to walk in the direction of the center of the tent where the gnome hung from the ceiling.
Then she turned back and said, "It's time to wake up our information source. Come with me." This time, I willingly obliged as this was one of the reasons I actually didn't incinerate this entire cave system.
She held up the curtains and waved me through with a smile, which I ignored as I walked through the passage into the central part of the large tent.
"A few more minutes of... that... and the filthy creature would be on Gerrig's dissection table... what a shame." She said, apparently amused, before she took one of the goblets on the side of the room, filled it with water from a flower vase, and threw the goblet itself alongside the water directly into the head of the gnome who hung upside down with an audible *Clang*.
This made the gnome wake up from his unconsciousness with a scream as the process of him waking up made his arms move on reflex and, as a result, embed the spiked cuffs further into his wrists.
"Meet Oglethorpe Ogniticus, previously a famed inventor of Gnomeregan, but suddenly, one day, he fled for a reason we clearly had not staged..." She said and giggled before continuing.
"We had him shipped from Booty Bay a month ago. He had turned out to be a precious investment... those goblins were apparently not very pleased when they got an anonymous letter shortly after the goblins coincidentally found out he had valuable schematics and was not sharing it with them. Still, in the end, we convinced them to sell him to us for... around two thousand gold before they could torture his inventions out of him." She explained with a smile and slowly removed the chains around his hands and feet.
She then continued with sadistic glee in her voice, "He has been an outstanding help since his arrival, especially so after the information he has 'willingly' given us about the tunnels of Gnomeregan, without it, we would not have been able to progress our plans, or at least not matching our current pace." Gerstadh explained as she walked around the gnome while poking him with a sharp nail.
"We spent weeks teaching that filthy creature called Grimlok how to read and speak; even with mind magic, it proved to be a challenge, but the results speak for themselves; we have amassed enough sacrifices to summon a Duke, or maybe even a Lord!" She exclaimed with a grin that seemed to split her face.
"This will make our operation of getting the Discs within the vault much easier! Witnessing the uprising of the coming age will be glorious!" *Cough* "I'm sorry, dear envoy, it appears I got carried away." She said and giggled.
Now the gnome's eyes flickered open with panic, covered by dark and blue colors around the sockets, "You will never get information out of me, you monster!" Oglethorpe shouted, tiredness, reluctance, and anger oozing out of his voice.
"Oh, but I already have what I need, little man, and you gave it to me weeks ago!" She yelled with sadistic glee as she held him by the throat. This made the gnome pale, even with the evident blood loss that had turned him quite pale already as he whispered with despair, "No... no, no, no, no..."
My fist clenched behind my back as I wanted to intervene, but I felt this was not the time.
"The reason you are still among the living little man is because I want you to witness the fruition of your time helping with our glorious cause!" She exclaimed with sadistic glee.
She then left the gnome kneeling on the floor as she made her way toward a nightstand beside the extravagant dark violet bed and reached into it, then pulled out a spiked collar and a leash.
Apparently, she had her fair amount of kinks, and unfortunately for the gnome, no one was there to stop what came next. He choked as the woman coiled it around his throat and pulled; the gnome fell to the ground and desperately grabbed at the collar while wheezing for air as she pulled him toward the entrance of the tent.
"You coming, Envoy? I have a place to show you..." She said with a smirk as she continued to walk. She lifted the curtain and exited the tent as the gnome choked behind her. I followed after her as my hand continued to clench behind my back.
As we kept our pace through the camp, the dark iron dwarves looked at the gnome with slight pity before returning to what they were doing.
After a few minutes, we reached the large metal door I had seen when I first entered the camp, the crazy woman reached for her robe pocket and pulled out a key that seemed to be made of bone, she then walked up to the door and with an audible *Clink* the door slowly opened without her touching it.
"I hope you don't mind. This little room of ours had been prepared only recently. After all, being sent here by the council after weeks of these imbeciles not doing their job left me quite busy when taking over the entire operation. She said with a sigh but then grinned as she started pulling the gnome behind her through the doorway.
Leaving me no choice, I followed them as we walked down a spiral-shaped hallway made of darkened marble.
There were bloody footprints and tiny bloody prints of hands that seemed to be trying to halt the process of being dragged down the hallway at the walls or floor all the way down.
Steeling myself for whatever was going to happen when we came to our destination, I continued walking behind the crazy woman.
As we got to a path that seemed to go directly forward, I saw another door in the distance. This one had the Twilight cultist's insignia on it, the hammer with spikes going around it in a circle. The door was dark violet and had a similar keyhole as before. Still, this time, the woman pulled out a pristine white key made of bone, stabbed it into the door, and twisted it violently.
Almost as the door itself gasped, it flew open.
Revealing a hundred-meter-wide circular room with a dark altar in the middle, surrounded by a pool of blood, or at least something resembling blood, I noticed it was slightly darker than usual.
With a chuckle, she pointed her hand toward the ceiling and said, "We had to give the troggs some motivation, so I had to give away some of my sacrifices some time ago, behold! Our task here is soon complete!"
Then she went to her knees and chanted with glee, "The master calls, echoing death and destruction across the globe."
Then dozens of cultists wearing similar-looking violet robes appeared from the shadows and shouted in chorus, "The earth bellows, fissures devouring the weak and the strong alike."
Then, both Gestahn and the cultists continued.
"The wind howls, snatching up bodies like leaves in the breeze.
The water screams, shearing coastlines with the ease of scythe through grain.
The fire roars, turning plains and forests to charcoal and ash.
The Twilight's Hammer descends, and all of Azeroth will hear its knell.
Add your voice to our glorious chorus,
For it is the song that will end the world."
After a brief moment of silence, they all looked to the ceiling, where I only now noticed at least cages filled to the brim with terrified gnomes.
Many looked down with horror as the children cried in the arms of the adults.
"TWILIGHT'S HAMMER! TWILIGHT'S HAMMER! MAY CHAOS REIGN FOREVERMORE!" The cultists and the woman finished chanting as they all gasped for breath with crazed smiles on their faces.
The other cultists now backed off slightly and stood at the walls around the whole room, revealing even more cultists than I had initially assumed were here. They soon kneeled in a circle formation all around the room as they gazed fervently at the altar.
A mad laughter now came from the crazy woman, "Yes! now prepare the sacrifices for the ritual!" She yelled to the cultists around the room, who all grabbed a rope each; soon, the cages above rattled, and the crying of children and adult gnome women alike escaped the cages.
The large bloody pool in the middle that surrounded the altar now churned and boiled as several cultists had put their hands in it and channeled some kind of spell.
Gerstadh turned to me with a crazed expression, walked toward me, held her sacrificial dagger outward, and said, "Envoy, the time has come. Take this knife and slit your own throat. Your life-blood will fuel the main part of our ritual!"
I just stared at the sacrificial knife strangely for a moment before turning back to the expectant gaze of the High Interrogator, "No." I stated calmly as I grasped the knife and jabbed it directly between her ribs and I could hear her wheeze as I struck her lung.
High Interrogator Gerstadh fell to her knees as she heaved for breath. Her hands shook as she tried to tear the knife out of her body, but it was to no avail as I had lodged it through her ribs in a way she would not get it out without tearing them out.
Tears of blood ran down her face as she gazed up at me as I stood before her. Then a wicked smile blossomed on her face as blood ran out her mouth, and she coughed violently.
{Just to clarify, MC and the crazy chick have cultists behind them as they are facing inward toward the altar before the pool of blood.}
While this was happening, though, the cultists turned eerily silent as they stared at the situation before a pair released the ropes from their hands and lunged at me with similar-looking serrated daggers and yelled, "How dare you injure Lady Gerst- Oof!" I gave him the speaker a brutal haymaker to the chin, blood spewing out of his mouth as he fell backward motionlessly. I turned to the other cultist that had been right beside him and kicked the man so hard he flew backward into the stone wall with an audible *CRUNCH*.
Time for mercy was over, I knew enough.
The gnome named Oglethorpe now tore the collar off his head and shouted, "I WILL MAKE YOU PAY YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!" He yelled with pure wrathful anger as he leaped toward the knife of the one I punched in the jaw, then picked it up and stabbed the cultist repeatedly. The cultist in question, who had been knocked out, gasped in pain and panic as he was awoken by the gnome that kept stabbing the knife into his stomach.
I left the gnome there to deal with his emotions, levitating above the pool. I clenched my fist toward two falling cages, heading directly for the bubbling blood pool below. I swiftly put them to the side of the room, where there no longer were any cultists.
The cultists did not just stand still anymore. Instead, they had started to slit their own throats as many had gone up to the boiling blood pool. Their slit throats gurgled with blood while they attempted to chant, but instead they fell forward into it, their faces showing the extreme agony they were currently going through as their mouth opened wide into a silent shout of pain and suffering.
As the cultists realized they were outmatched, most of them attempted to go and do the same, and in the process, let go of the untangled ropes, making a majority of the cages fall directly toward the pool of blood, which I swiftly dealt with by using my control over the air to levitate the cages harmlessly to the ground at the outer edges of the room.
All of this happened within seconds as I tried to avoid injuring the captured gnomes by levitating them carefully down to the floor.
As the numbers of cultists lessened, I felt the air in the room whirl as the altar in the middle hummed, the humming only increased as each cultist cut their throat and fell forwards into the pool of dark blood until the point of an audible *CLANG* -like chime resonated throughout the sizeable ritualistic looking room.
I then looked to where I had left the gnome stabbing the cultist and the kneeling woman behind and saw only one of the two until I heard a wet cough come from the edge of the pool. The woman had crawled her way over and was gazing at me with a chilling smile as she held her hand to her throat, and her long nails slit her own windpipe, making her stumble backward with a crazed smile as blood spewed out of her throat.
Within a few seconds, the pool of blood spewed like a geyser to the ceiling, and I sensed the magic in the area go haywire. A fiery orb could be seen within the giant blood geyser, flying directly toward the ceiling. In the next moment, another pillar of blood connected to the ceiling as a dark brown orb took shape inside it.
In a matter of seconds, the orbs expanded, then hollowed themselves out, and the hole inside flickered with elemental magic as the entire area shook violently.
*ROAR* A primitive roar of pure anger and malific intent went through the room as the previous orb of fire had a scaly-looking hand, which was soon followed by a head with horns and orange-looking skin that tore itself through the glimmering fiery orb-like entrance. It soon managed to get its entire body through the narrow opening, revealing a serpentine-looking body.
He held a black spear-like weapon in his hand as his gaze rapidly observed the room, and then it grinned maliciously as its black beady eyes landed on me.
All the blood around it dried into a sand-like substance as it slithered itself into a combat-ready stance.
Just as it tore itself through the flickering gateway of magic, the other orb had finished expanding into a portal of its own. With a *BOOM* the area shook as a five-meter-wide rock-like arm slammed itself into the pool of blood, making the boiling blood fly everywhere and the hardened ground underneath sink under its weight.
I had no time to observe the situation further as I covered the gnomes with a thin layer of ice as the boiling blood sprayed toward the helpless people who were watching the scene with horror.
It hit the ice and looked like it was attempting to corrode itself through, which it couldn't do as I had imbued the ice with arcane magic.
My eyes narrowed, however, as I felt something attempt to tear away something within me, which I soon recognized was something related to fire. I could feel my control fade slightly for a moment until I slammed my magic into whatever this was.
The serpentine form of what could resemble a naga from hell recoiled in pain and anger as a circle of fire exploded around him.
The one that had previously been only a hand was now halfway through the portal-like orb. It resembled a stone giant, but its body had thin lines of putrid green coming from underneath its skin, almost like veins. As its torso and arms lay in the pool of blood, it roared in anger and pain as well. With an audible *Crack* the orb had shattered. The giant managed to get most of his body through it before it exploded into tiny fragments; it had lost its leg on the other side, as it had been too slow to get through the portal.
'So these two represent fire and earth, huh?' I thought as I realized what the feeling from before was; it seemed as if the two creatures had a natural aura that demanded their elemental nature to abide by their will.
As I gazed to the side where I had put the cages of the gnomes, I covered it with a very thick and solid dome of purple ice.
As both the creatures had stilled as the entire pool of blood dried up, a hoarse voice resonated through the area, making everything quake as stalactites fell from the ceiling and the walls shake, "PUNY MORTALS, THE RITUAL WERE TO WEAK! WHY DID YOU NOT FOLLOW THE SACRED TEXT! The gigantic version of a stone giant shouted in anger and frustration. Its leg had started to take shape as it spoke, no doubt because of its affinity to the earth.
"Baron Kazum, what a welcome surprise! You managed to cross through along with me!" The hell naga said with a fake joy in his voice.
"SKALDRENOX, I SHALL REMEMBER YOU HALTING MY ASCENT INTO THE MORTAL PLANE! I WILL EXTERMINATE YOUR AGENTS AS MY VENGEANCE UPON YOU." The stone giant's grating voice boomed.
This made the so-called Skaldrenox snort in amusement as he replied, "Do as you will. It matters not to me. My goal has been achieved by entering this plane."
While they had been talking, I moved an unconscious Oglethorpe and the rest of the gnomes into the dome of ice, covering them safely from the conflict that was going to take place.
"However, it seems we have one last obstacle in our path. What say you, shall we let old grudges stand aside as we deal with this... thing?
Its elemental affinities are nearing the Duke stage! Haha! I will let you reap the earthen essence while I take the quite sumptuous-looking flame."
'Never heard of elemental beings able to take an element from somebody... Does that go both ways? A malicious-looking smirk occurred underneath the remnants of my headpiece, covering my lower jaw and up to my nose with its fabric.
The large earth giant stared at me intently for a moment before its eyes gained a greedy glint. Then, it nodded slowly, clearly liking the so-called Skaldrenox idea about the "Mortal" in front of it.
For some reason, they did not think this "Mortal" was worthy of their caution.
Little did they know that they would soon come to learn a brutal lesson in humility, and it very well would be their last.
Having been dealing with threats at the level of Malygos, Dreadlords, Drakes, and Hydras while also speaking to a Demi-god as if on equal standing, I was well aware by just these two's presence, that they were far from being a real threat to me anymore, they would have been so before I had changed from the fight versus Tichondrius, but now?
The realization dawned on me as I felt my shoulders slump for a moment, 'What happens once I no longer can feel the thrill of a fight? The challenge of facing off against an opponent at my own level or beyond?' I thought, just as the two beings started approaching me.
'I will deal with that... when the time comes...' These were my thoughts as I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh. I let lighting flow through me, and the world slowed down this time; however, I did not use my trump cards, but I let the lightning flow throughout my body as I allowed it to access everything freely. The result was that my entire body sped up, but nowhere close to what it would have been if I had used [Elemental Surge].
As I sidestepped a large boulder flying in my direction at what would typically be speeds an average person would not even have time to react toward, I took one step to the right. It flew past me and struck the wall behind me as the area was pelted with rocks and bits that crashed into my passive shield with dull thuds.
This was not the end of the assault from the weird duo, as an inferno surrounded me and rapidly closed as the air around me became turbulent. My response was to let out a wave of ice, which directly stopped the closing circle of fire with an audible *hiss*.
The result was a thick white fog rapidly spreading across the room. Then I felt the familiar feeling of something attempting to pull my ability to control my fire away. Still, this time, instead of pushing away, I pulled the magic into me with all my might.
I felt my skin heat up as steam escaped my pores, eyes, mouth, and nose. A feeling of euphoria struck me for a moment as I heard a familiar *Ding* go off inside my head, which made me smile when I listened to the miserable outcry of agony as something writhed back and forth on the ground a distance away from me.
'It seems whatever the naga from hell tried backfired, huh? Who could have known.'
The make-shift battlefield quieted down as the fog started to disappear, turning thinner and thinner within seconds. This revealed the form of the snake-like creature who lay entirely still as its chest heaved while it stared with hollow eyes toward the ceiling.
Its initial reaction seemed to have caused his teammate to halt its actions as it simply stood and stared down at the pathetic sight presented by the previously orange-scaled and cocky hell-naga, whose scales now had turned a dull gray, as it heaved for breath that never seemed to arrive.
"LEAVE MORTAL, TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY. IF YOU DO NOT, THE MIGHTY FORCE OF MOUNTAINS WILL CRUSH YOUR PUNY BEING UNDERNEATH ITS INDOMITABLE POWER." The stone giant said, offering such a way out. It was genuinely generous of the creature if it wasn't just because of the fear it had started to feel.
All my mercy for the enemies connected with the Twilight's Hammer is non-existent, and that will not change.
Before it could utter another rumbling word, I appeared in front of its chest, ten meters into the air. My fist imbued with lightning impaled itself into the creature, and I did my best to copy the same sensation as when I pulled the fire away from the orange-scaled snake thing.
"W-WH-WHAT?" The stone giant muttered as it fell to its boulder-like knees, its arms falling limp. Its previous plan was to throw a sharp-looking stalactite at me when I least suspected it. As it dropped the stalactite from within his closed fist, it crashed into the ground with a *BOOM*
I felt its magic... or energy of some kind cover my skin, solidifying and closing the previous steam escaping my body with an ultra-thin layer of earth. It felt... chaotic, and my mind had problems calming down the roaring emotion that slammed into me.
Then the arms of the stone giant fell to the floor as it popped off its body, the previous veins of magic now gone entirely as its gaze became distant, and for a brief moment, I could hear its weakened voice moaned from its stone throat, "n-nooo, pleeeease."
Ignoring its words, I again pulled with all my might on the threads that had become barely visible between me and the stone giant that lost parts of its body during the few seconds I pulled on its magic.
Yet again, a familiar sounding *Ding* sounded out inside my mind as the head of the stone giant crumbled and fell into the ground as its entire body fell forward and hit the ground with a resounding *BOOOOOM*.
The snake-like creature had also taken its last breath as it lay utterly lifeless on the ground, slowly breaking into dust as its body no longer held any of its previous magic, which seemed to be elemental beings own life force.
The battle had ended almost as fast as it started.
With that realization, I clenched my hand and then unclenched it as the ice covering the gnome captives disappeared into the ground; their cages turned to nothingness as I realized I could control the material it was made of to some degree. It turned out it was a mix of hardened earth and coal.
Sighing, I walked over to the previously terrified gnomes, who stared at me with wide eyes filled with shock and undisguised awe.
This lasted only for a moment, however, before they huddled together and cried in joy at the realization that they had been saved.
A small boy walked over to me without hesitation and hugged my leg as he cried, snot and tears covering my casual leather pants. The actions of the boy apparently caused a chain reaction as a pack of children all walked toward me, attached themselves to my legs and wailed their sorrows out for all the others to hear.
Many adults looked at the situation and shook their heads in regret and sorrow.
'I guess this is my life now...' I thought as I stood surrounded by children who sought a pillar of hope after what they had gone through.
-Chapter 57 End-