Unconquered Tower

FIFTY-EIGHT

A white flare rose high over the treeline and Moira darted away even as Roan rolled to his feet. The short woman was a blur as she raced into the darkening forest without hesitation.

“Damn, she’s quick,” Roan spat as he chased after her.

“Damn, I’m quick,” Roan said in wonder as the trees sped by him. It was like sprinting downhill, but without feeling out of control. Roan sped up faster, stretching his legs further as he slowly started to catch up to Moira who was far ahead of him. He blinked as the wind dried his eyes.

Ahead of him Moira cackled, her laughter flowing behind her as the unrivaled joy of their newfound strength was made apparent. For a blissful second, Roan let himself be lost in the moment. Then a goblin came screaming out of the bush at him, obsidian knife slashing wildly.

It was too slow, its ambush coming as he flew by it so that its knife cut nothing but air. Roan spun in mid air and lashed out with his warhammer, a flick of his wrist that splattered the goblin’s head across the trees.

Ahead of him Moira spun with grace, her staff bashing across several goblins in a row as she ran. Roan had to leap over the dead bodies as he ran, as the flare began to fade away. Moira was speeding up, hardly more than a shadow ahead of him. Roan gritted his teeth and ran faster, wind howling past him as he kept his eyes moving constantly.

Goblins came and went, too slow to stop him as they burst from their ambush spots to swipe at air. After the second kill, Roan stopped killing them, instead he ran with his eyes locked on where a second flare had burst to life, illuminating the entire area as sunlight failed and left the dense forest bereft of its warmth.

“ROAN!” Moira screamed and Roan felt his heart drop as he picked up speed, changing direction to follow after her voice. She screamed again, but this time it was in pain. A flare of orange firelight lit the air ahead of him and Roan raced directly toward it even as the heat bloom splashed against his face.

Flickers of flame continued to burn, leaves, grass, and bark on fire as Roan skidded to a halt. Moira was off to the side, hunched over her side as dark blood stained her clothes, clutching her ribs with her free hand while holding a sword now. Across from her was a tall, emaciated figure. Wispy hair rose in every direction off of its mostly bald pate while it lifted a gnarled wooden staff made of burnt wood. A stone glowed at the head of the staff, red light burning brightly as it slowly walked toward Moira.

Most importantly its lean back was to Roan. Moira launched herself forward in a stumbling attack, waving her sword back and forth wildly in an inconsequential attack. Inconsequential aside from occupying the creature’s entire focus away from Roan. The warhammer impacted the back of its head with finality. Bone and blood spattered across the ground as its legs folded instantly and it crashed to the ground.

“Thanks,” Moira panted as a healing potion appeared in her hand. She tipped it back and swallowed quickly, before turning to look at the fading light of the second flare.

POOR-GRADE

GOBLINOID SHAMAN

HORDE CAPTAIN

500 CREDITS

“It’s a horde captain,” Roan informed her as he bent down over the broken body of the shaman. It was physically weaker than the ogre had been, dying to only a single blow. The firepower it had wielded had been impressive though.

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Roan searched across the creature’s body, looking for something like the ogre’s teeth necklace and coming up with a necklace covered in finger length bones. With a thought it disappeared into his storage ring. There was a pair of obsidian knives similar to what the goblins used on its belt, but Roan didn’t care about those. The staff was light, felt like charcoal under his fingers as he lifted it up.

“You done? We got to move,” Moira said, seeming healed already.

“That wasn’t an inferior healing potion,” Roan remarked as he got to his feet and lifted the warhammer with one hand. With his advances in his physical stats, wielding the weapon was easy as they started to run again.

“It wasn’t. Common grade, made it with the vitality of the shroom in level one,” Moira said, panting a bit as they moved more cautiously. A third flare went up not far from them, blossoming into a bursting star that illuminated the entirety of the area. There were sounds of fighting ahead including the bassy bellow of multiple ogres.

“You have more of them?” Roan asked.

“Several, why?” she asked, looking at him curiously.

“Think we’re going to need them,” Roan said as they came upon Darren and his team. Roan hadn’t realized how many people had gone with the other man, but there were at least a dozen climbers still on their feet as they fought off waves of goblins. A pair of ogres were being whittled down by trios, while the rest of the group had formed a wide circle that held with tenacity. Bodies were laying in the middle of the circle, some of them screaming and crying, others still.

Between Moira and Roan were a dozen goblins and another ogre who hadn’t launched itself into the fray yet. Roan scanned the area looking to see if there was another of the captains waiting in the wings, but he didn’t see anything suspicious.

“I’ll handle the ogre, you get to the wounded,” Roan said as he tossed her the staff.

“Don’t lose that, I want to see how it works,” Roan said as sprinted directly at the group of goblins. Two of them turned to look at him, hearing his voice, but Roan was too fast for the weak monsters. His warhammer cut left to right as he swung with all his power. The two goblins were tossed like ragdolls, smacking into their allies and rolling across the grass. Only one kill notification popped up, but five of the little bastards were tangled up together, screaming and gibbering as they tried to untangle themselves.

The ogre began to turn around, its tusks glistening in the light of the flare. Roan had a clear path to the monster and he took it, leaping a bit to get more power behind his attack as he brought a descending blow to crush its skull. Dirt exploded as the ogre threw itself to the side, rolled on a shoulder to get back to its feet as it lifted up its big club.

Moira flew by him, running past the stunned goblins and into the fray. She leapt and danced past the few who managed to even notice her with ease and was perched above the wounded moments later. Roan smiled as he skipped backward to avoid the ogre’s surprisingly fast swing.

“She gets them healed and in fighting shape and we can turn this around.” Roan attacked, running closer to the ogre and spiking it through the ankle. He ripped the hammer sideways and tore bone and flesh free as it staggered, blood spurting out in rhythmic pulses as it howled. The ground trembled as the ogre crashed down. Goblins shrieked and fled, running as fast as they could away from them. Roan reared back and cracked the back of the ogre’s head.

“Works better now,” Roan panted, slightly out of breath as he pulled out the horde lieutenant's necklace and stored it with one hand. He looked over toward the others and saw that Moira was getting people to their feet quickly and they were reinforcing the defensive position.

“Towards, Roan!” Moira yelled, pointing him out as nearly twenty pairs of eyes fell on him. As one the group began to shift, fighting their way closer to him with discipline that seemed out of place in the tower.

Walking wounded were the first to walk to him, limping or holding bandaged limbs as they reached him. Few said anything, just streamed past him while more and more of the fighters followed after. Moira followed after the wounded, running past them to lead the way back to Village 3.

Darren came nearly last, his sword drenched in blood, and he looked Roan up and down once before nodding.

“Glad you finally made up your mind.” Roan shook his head as even wounded and exhausted Darren managed to sound egotistical, an air of superiority around himself.

“Taoya is holding the walls. Let’s go,” Roan said as the last fighters started back toward them. It was the two trios who were holding off the ogres. Roan waited to see them disengage, but movement drew his eye to the side. With the fading light of the flare it was hard to see. A flare of red light suddenly filled the area and Roan felt dread hit him as he stared at the six climbers who had clustered together as they worked their ways backward.

“LOOK OUT!” Roan screamed, but it was too late. A lance of fire shot out and consumed the rearguard.