44 Navigating the Ruins

Soon after entering the ruins, I was first set upon by enemies. Unfortunately, it was not the bandits realizing I was heading for the same target, but instead the undead.

I had made it through a few of the small settlement-like areas that I had spied from the entrance without issue. I looked through the houses on my way, but there was nothing left but the stubby remains of the walls.

After walking for about four hours, I made it to the fifth grouping of houses in a cavern. The caverns were connected by chiselled stairways and hallways that wound circuitous routes through the mountain's underside. They must have carved these pathways into the already existing natural tunnel systems, as there was no rhyme or reason for how they flowed.

Nearing the mouth of the cavern, I heard the cacophonic sounds of battle. I could also smell iron in the air as I checked my minimap, and sure enough, a swarm of red dots, denoting enemies, appeared upon it. The strange part, however, was the identities of the majority of the red dots. I only saw three "Mercenary Bandits," but dozens of "Ancient Undead" surrounded them. Shrouding myself in the shadows and deafening my presence, I peeked into the cave to observe the situation.

Standing in the cavern's centre were three human men wearing leather and mail armours equipped with bastard swords and bucklers. At their feet were three corpses that had belonged to their comrades. They had been seemingly slashed and torn apart by the talons of the creatures around the men.

Bones, stained with age to be closer to yellow than white, composed the creatures that my map and System identified as Ancient Undead. Their hunched backs, elongated skulls and sharp, talon-like finger bones made it quite apparent they were not risen humans but rather some other race. I looked at their status window and concentrated on their race to bring up their entry.

"The restless spirits of these people were bound to the worldly realm even after death. Their haunted bones and ruin architectures being the only proof of their long-lost civilization."

Hmm, guess I should put their souls to rest before they kill all of the men; I need to ask questions. I opened my storage around my hands before slipping my Gauntlets out of the pocket dimension straight onto them. Then, with a crack of my knuckles, I was ready to go.

The undead approached the men in groups of two or three, almost seemingly toying with them and steeping their human captives in fear. One of the men was fighting back an undead. Seizing the opportunity, another skeleton lashed out from his blind spot and severed the tendons in his left arm. Falling uselessly to his side, the man had his attention torn away from the creature he was engaged with. Bad move. It slipped past his now deficient guard and sank its skeletal jaw around his wrist. A bloodcurdling scream could be heard as the creature backed away, holding the man's forearm and wrist in its mouth like some sort of dog from a nightmare.

As the man lost his ability to fight back or defend himself, he was set upon by several of the walking dead at once. Though they surrounded him as they tore apart his insides, the downside of skeletons is that their frame-like bodies gave an excellent view of the action. Poor bastard.

I sheathed my hands and shins in flames as I whirled through the crowd of skeletons, my limbs a flurry of precise strikes and kicks as I cremated the enemy all around me. While I performed the Grim Reaper's job for him and cast these cursed souls to the depths of the Underworld, I saw out of the corner of my eye one of the bones creatures rip the throat out of the second last brigand. I better step in before I lose my final interrogation target.

I pulled out a handful of round iron ingots I had in storage. I had initially bought them as part of all the materials I got to practice crafting, but with my new abilities, they served another purpose.

The Trickster role was an advanced version of the Rogue/Thief classes that focused on stealth, misdirection, distraction, and in combat, a variety of methods of short to medium range high damage single-target attacks. Where an Assassin goes for the ruthlessly efficient kill, a Trickster goes for a killer spectacle. I had gained many skills, such as the aforementioned Stealth and Shadow Walk. I had also gained plenty of combat skills, most notably here; Thrown Weapon (Small) Mastery.

Lining up three of the skeletons, I used the max levelled throwing skill and my high strength stat to launch an iron ball on a collision course with their skulls. Beyond my expectations, I had overdone it. The ball completed its task, but as it left my hand, the sphere was travelling so fast that the air stuck in front of it was compressing so quickly that a loud cracking noise blew through the cave as the ball broke the sound barrier.

The impromptu ballistic missile not only destroyed the skulls as I had intended but also shattered the remainder of the skeletons' bodies. In addition, the shockwave created by the ball as it flew by the remaining skeletons near my targets wreaked havoc as the shockwave knocked apart the few closest and blew over the others.

Bang. When the supersonic metal meteor crashed into the opposing wall, it had two significant effects. First, the roughly 6cm (2.5") diameter metal ball created a 3m (10') wide crater in the wall. Second, the iron, now molten from the sheer energy that had to be dispersed from its collision, splattered across the rock, making it look like an iron vein was sticking out of the wall.

Sensing the danger, the last few Ancient Undead turned from the cowering bandit, who had collapsed in terror when his last comrade had been slaughtered, and they descended onto me. There were only seven left, so as they came at me, I pointed one gauntlet behind me and launched myself forward, using some wind magic. Then, with my other hand extended, I used earth magic to orbit a dozen small rocks around my fist. When my gauntleted fist contacted the closest creature of the night, I launched the rocks to take out its friends.

Standing up from the attack, I used my minimap to confirm that there were no remaining hostiles, other than the pitiful excuse for a human in the centre of the room, before relaxing my stance and dusting myself off. I was covered in a bit of bone dust from all those spooky skeletons. I noticed the man's stare burning a hole in my back as I straightened up.

Turning around to look at him, I activated my status check and read up on him. Jahk, level 3, Bandit for his class. Nothing Special. Interestingly, thanks to another of my new abilities, Underworld Informer, I saw that he had committed several severe crimes. I checked through them to see if he was irredeemable scum or not. No murder or rape, only some theft and banditry. Hmm, maybe he will live through this. Not likely, but I am feeling benevolent today.

Walking over to Jahk, I grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air to be eye level with me. His feet dangled 15cm (6') off the ground as he grabbed at my hand and wrist to hold himself up and attempt to pry my gauntlet from his throat. I was sturdily holding him with careful attention to not completely restrict his blood or oxygen supply to his brain. He needed to answer some questions. With the realization of his inability to escape my iron grip, a tang of ammonia filled the air, and a dribbling noise could be heard on the ground as he lost control of his facilities and expressed his fear in the most base way.

"Jahk, I see your soul and know it is filthy," I started, using my Mimic Voice skill to add a heavy rumble to my voice and my Ventriloquism for reverb. Scared before, Jahk now trembled like the last leaf on an autumn tree as he thought a god was here to judge his sins. "Unlike your fellows here," I spit on the corpse next to me, "You are not completely beyond redemption in the eyes of those who judge from on high. First, however, you must tell me all you know. Start with the dwarf girl for whom you heathens hunt."

My flair for the dramatic, mixed with my new Trickster abilities, made for a convincing argument as Jahk unloaded every dark deed and piece of information he had. Finally, after I got what I needed, I gave Jahk a choice, "Now, before you lay two paths. One, you let your soul fester and end your life early in a shallow grave, in which case, I kill you now to hopefully say a few of your victims. Option two, you repent, you give up your life as a criminal, and you spend the rest of your days looking to heal this world as much as you hurt it." Jahk opened his mouth, ready to make a commitment. But, before he could, I quickly added, "Before you choose, be warned that the path to saving your immortal soul is not an easy one."

Jahk froze and closed his eyes. He must have thought about everything that led him to this point and whether he was ready to have his life ended here and now by this unfathomable being who held him aloft. "I will repent. Please save me," he whimpered.

"Good choice, Jahk. Let us see you reborn." I used my storage to put all the bandit corpses and their belongings away, as well as Jahk's possessions. Then I reached towards him with my other hand and, in a single sleight of hand, disrobed him fully, careful to not took the stained pants with my bare gauntlet. With a flourish and a flick of the wrist, I simultaneously ignited his clothes with a fire Elemental Fist charge and throw them to the side. The fireball helped reinforce the feeling of cleansing the past.

I explained to Jahk that his past was dead, but he still had not earned the chance for repentance. I told him that he needed to go to the Abbey near the city and commit good deeds through the Mother Superior's direction. I explained that I would leave a horse tied up with a few days worth of food outside the caves and that his test would be to get there before the horse runs away or is stolen. When he said he should be right behind me, I clarified the most important part about the sincerity of change.

"Only through suffering will your soul be redeemed, do you understand, Jahk." With tears of fright in his eyes, he nodded as I released him to the ground before snapping his left shin with a pinpoint kick. "Good luck Jahk, we shall watch over your progress with hopeful hearts," I told the man who was screaming in pain before I slipped into a shadow, seemingly disappearing before his eyes.