21 Chapter 21: Poisoning Spree
While the knights were waiting for the captain to arrive, Alex was dipping needles in the venom of the two-headed viper turtle and preparing to assault them all.
Poisoning the girls at the inn, reminded him of a classic comedy film, "The Gods must be crazy." In the movie, a bushman would stealthily shoot a needle laced with poison at the kidnappers from a small bow; once the arrow made contact, he would pull it back with a string before the kidnappers could react. It was perfect; the kidnappers would slap the spot where they were pierced by the needle, thinking it was a mosquito.
Alex was planning to do the same thing; this would not ruin his previous plans but allow it to flourish and limit the time he would waste killing the knights. Alex would target everyone except the wind elementalist; they were extremely sensitive to their environment.
Using Inspect, Alex found out there were ten fire elementalist, three wind elementalist, and seven earth elementalist on the roof.
"System keep count." Alex requested.
*Ding* "Yes, host."
Alex's first target was a fire elementalist because he was the furthest at the back. If anything went wrong, no one else would see. Alex opened a rift, small enough for the needle that no one could see if they weren't paying attention. Alex subsequently fired the needle to the back of the knight's knee and then pulled it back into the rift swiftly. This prompted the knight to kick his leg backward.
"Hey what happened to you?" a soon-to-be-dead knight asked.
"Nothing, I thought I felt someone stabbed me," the poisoned knight replied.
*Ding*
[One knight has been poisoned and will die after 4 days]
Alex moved on to the others; some would feel nothing, others would punch or kick in the direction from where they had been stabbed. Some thought that it was the other knights messing around. There were some Alex left because they were wearing full body armor with a helmet.
*Ding*
[fourteen knights have been poisoned and will die after 4 days]
While Alex was poisoning the healer, the Knight captain arrived. After hearing the healer's report, his face got longer.
'Both Matthew and Walter were a lethal combination. Walter's wind would amplify Matthew's fire; Matthew would attack up close while Walter covered his weak spots from a distance with his wind element. For that space fellow, to take them on with the space being locked showed how terrifying he was.'
The captain felt he made the wrong move, but he could not stop! He had to repay the favor. Even though he was being paid good money, the choice was not his anymore. This was a debt that he owed, and the form of payment was to capture the women.
If he didn't owe them a favor, he would never put his knights in such a predicament. The space bastard already killed five, and he could not report this to his superior or the viscount since there was no corpse.
How many times have a knight been absent for weeks just to show up again? Even though Matthew wasn't practically dead, it was something he could work with.
Seeing the mood of his knights and the doubt in their posture, the captain could not help but bellow orders.
"You five take Matthew back to the fort. Relay my orders to the others; everyone will move in a group of five or more. No one is allowed to go anywhere alone. We must kill that bastard and get those women before the viscount and Christopher comes back. That's an Order!"
Within the void, Alex did not attempt to poison the captain since the quest specifically said torture. He specifically stayed to follow and kill Matthew. He would also introduce the culprit to the knights that were protecting Matthew. Alex changed his clothes, wore the face of infinity mask, placed his ghost blades in his inventory, equipped himself with rope, a bow, and a quiver full of twenty-five arrows. The face Alex chose for the infinity mask was the second son of James Markson, Willis Markson. Even though James Markson is a lord, his children are essential commoners. The title of lord can not be passed down to his children. Unless James's children rendered outstanding service to the empire and gain a title, James Markson's land and home would return to the king/empire upon his death. Even if James's wives are alive!
Alex was using Willis Markson as a starting point for the quest:
[quest]: Show the Markson family the true meaning of hell.
[Reward]: 2000 exp (possibility of a bonus reward. No evil deed goes unrewarded)
With over ninety knights dying to poison, the knights would not let Willis Markson go regardless of whether he did it. Significantly a commoner and the son of a man who had the lowest title of nobility. A title that was beneath theirs. They would need to appease their anger and the resentment of the knight's family that died.
As the knights were descending in a winder u-shaped stairwell, Alex exited the rift on the fourth floor. He tied the rope to the wooden post and left it there before reentering the rift.
Alex drank a mana potion in the rift before exiting the rift on the stairs leading to the third-floor above knights and the healer. The captain was in front while the twenty knights were following behind. Matthew was in the middle, being carried on the back of a knight's with the healer beside him and four knights bring up the rear.
Without hesitation, Alex fired an arrow, hitting Matthew on the side of his head. The arrow entered one side and came out the other. Alex didn't stop firing the arrows into the crowd of knights. The Knights were not expecting the attack; Alex's arrows were not aimed to kill but to wound.
The knights bellowed in rage before charging up the floor after Alex.
"Ha ha ha I lace the arrows with a colorless poison; you will all die after four days. Haha ah aha hahaha" Alex played the part of a madman as he ran up the stairs.
"You bastards should have never raped my woman. Justice for the commoners. Justice for the commoners". Alex kept screaming while running up to the fourth floor and occasionally shooting arrows.
"I WILL POISON ALL OF YOU BASTARDS. I ALREADY KILLED SIX OF YOU, AND THERE WILL BE MORE THAT WILL FOLLOW!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Justice for the commoners." Alex's played his role, convincing at least to a bunch of angry knights.
Once on the fourth floor, Alex gripped the rope and jump down between the U-shaped winder stairs, rapidly going down. While descending the rope, Alex plastered a grin across his face and made sure that the captain got a good look at his features; the stairwell had too many lights not to. When Alex passed the captain on the second-floor stair, the captain sent a fire slash towards the rope cutting it.
Alex fell to the ground but rolled to break his fall before exiting through the lobby, making sure the innkeeper and others saw his face as he fled.
Once he made it to the side of the building, Alex opened a rift and disappeared.
He was heading to the knight's fort to poisoned them all. This was a perfect opportunity to farm points; he did not care who was wearing a black or blue pin. None of them helped jewel, none of them helped Lith in his time of need, they can all join him at the yellow river.
The captain and his knight's expression did not interest Alex; the thought of gaining so much free exp sent him mad with glee.
Alex arrived at the fort. Entered every building, poisoned everyone he saw except for those whose stats he could not see, wind Elementalist and families at the fort seeking refuge.
Attacking the refugee families would not give him enough exp to justify the use of the poison. It would be a waste of the venom. He also needed them alive; they would be the ones pressing the knights to arrest the culprit.
Alex spent two hours tending to his future victims.
*Ding*
[One hundred and ten knights have been poisoned and will die after 4 days]
After Alex was done, he shot three arrows with notes attached at the fort entrance.
The letter claimed that over one hundred and fifty knights would die from poisoning in four days for raping his woman. Until all the knight's captains confess, there will be no antidote. In bold lettering, "Justice for the commoners" was writing on it.
Alex wrote similar notes and sent them to the brothel inns, hotels, restaurants, and shops; he wanted everyone to know what was happening.
'there's no way those knights will cover this up,' Alex thought.
Alex knew what he was doing by accusing the captains. Of course, the captains would not admit to it. Would you confess to a crime that you didn't do for an antidote to cure a poison that your men may or may not have?
Alex wanted a storm. It would overwhelm commoners when the knights die in four days while enraging those with titles of nobility. The Knights would be angry at their captains while the captains would be overwhelmed at what transpired. This would complete his quests.
[quest]: Within nine days, turn the kingdom into a living hell. Kill three hundred citizens.
[Reward]: 3000 exp (possibility of a bonus reward. No evil deed goes unrewarded)
[quest]: Show the Markson family the true meaning of hell.
[Reward]: 2000 exp (possibility of a bonus reward. No evil deed goes unrewarded)
Alex did not stop there. He went after the other knights that we're searching for the girls. He went to was near Baron Rouge's house and poisoned every knight except for a wind elementalist. Alex would repeat his action four more times.
*Ding*
[One hundred and eighty knights have been poisoned and will die after 4 days]
Seeing Alex's actions, Star nodded his head, while thinking 'that's my boy! Kill them all!'.
Once Alex was done with his poisoning spree, he removed the infinity mask, switched back to his hard mask, cloak, and ghost blades. There were three hours and thirty minutes left until sunrise, and he still had plans. He was literally running on health, mana, and stamina potions. His first task was to move the woman and set up traps for tomorrow morning's hunt.
