Chapter 11 A Test of Leadership (Patreon)

More blue boxes unfolded in Nathan’s vision, and he glanced over his class choices.

Just three? I suppose I haven’t had a lot of time to accomplish Deeds to unlock other ones. But at least the one I’ve been guided towards for the last few days is there.

{Potential classes:

Assassin of Gemore: You have been trained in the tradition of the Assassins of Gemore, and slain their enemies. This class will enhance your stealth abilities and enable you to blend into a hostile environment. It may further develop into classes specialized for infiltration or the assassination of mages.

Bonebreaker Assassin: You assassinate with your bare hands, leaving fear in your wake as you rip flesh and crush bones. This class will make your unarmed attacks more deadly and will make you more terrifying to your targets. It may further develop into classes focused on bare-handed attacks or spreading fear among your foes.

Shadowed Stalker: You move through shadows and kill in darkness, when your prey is alone and defenseless. This class will make your attacks disorient your foes, as well as enhance your ability to move quickly and unseen in darkness. It may further develop into classes focused on spreading darkness around you or becoming intangible in shadows.}

Shadowed Stalker is right out - every single mage from here to Gemore can summon light. I’m a bit interested in the terror element of Bonebreaker Assassin. But If I ever want to go to the city of Giantsrest, I need those disguise abilities. I can’t always depend on Faline for infiltration.

{Congratulations, you are now an Assassin of Gemore. Two of your existing class skills have developed, and you have unlocked three new class skills! These skills are tied to your parent class, and their power will increase with your level in that class. Davrar applauds your choice, and hopes you will continue to survive and prosper}

{Class skill Focus -> Regenerative Focus: Your Focus will rapidly regenerate when you are not very distracted. It can be spent to enhance your attention and improve your control, or on other skills or Talents that utilize Focus

{Class skill Vital Targeting -> Catastrophic Blows: You will be better able to identify the weak points of your foes, and your strikes against those areas are more likely to inflict lethal damage. Damage inflicted with your bare hands will resist healing magic.}

{Class skill Stealthy Movement: Your movements will be harder to notice. This effect can be enhanced by spending Focus.}

{New Class skill Infiltration: You will be able to blend into hostile environments easily, and will not seem out of place even in imperfect disguises.}

{New Class skill Forgettable: Foes will forget details about you after you leave their attention. This is a mental effect that can be resisted by someone with the appropriate skill or sufficient willpower.}

{New Class skill: Unsuspecting Strike: Your strikes against unaware targets will more easily bypass armor and other protections.}

{Assassin of Gemore has leveled to level 38!}

Excellent. [Infiltration] and [Forgettable] will be invaluable - later.

Nathan left the small room, carefully opening the door and glancing over towards the other room.

Faline was just leaving her room, and she raised an eyebrow at Nathan.

He nodded deeply, so she could see in the semi-darkness. A satisfied smile spread across his face.

The leader of the Assassins of Gemore gave him a congratulatory salute, then gestured to the room of dozing slave-elites in front of them.

Right. Time to get to work. I will need to be quick.

Nathan extended his senses towards the nearest sleeping fighter, getting a feel for the enchantments. He mapped out the magic around the head of the scarred man, noting the lack of a collar. The mental magic was set into the man’s skull, and felt like it had been there for years.

The control magic was too complicated for Nathan to figure out easily - but that wasn’t what he was looking for. He was looking for the self-destructs, the booby traps that Giantsrest was in the habit of leaving in people’s brains. The trick was picking them out of the rest of the complicated  mind-control spell, and Nathan spent several minutes staring at the man’s forehead as he traced mana patterns with [Magical Perception].

{High-tier Identify 9 achieved!}

He found two traps. The first was fairly straightforward - if the rest of the spell failed, then the elite’s brain got cooked.

I think I got lucky those earlier elites didn’t die when this went off. It helped I was in close proximity and giving them the full-blast of my aura. Not sure I can do that here.

The second one was more subtle and blended into the rest of the control apparatus. If somebody started tampering with the spell carefully, then the second portion of the spell would activate, and subtly change - something - about the man’s brain.

No idea what that does. Could knock them out. Might drive them into a murderous rampage. Might just confuse them really badly. Regardless, if it’s a failsafe I don’t want it activating. I wonder if that’s what happened with the elites earlier?

Nathan ignored Faline’s impatient look, moving onto another elite. He only spent a minute verifying the spell was the same before quickly scanning a third. This one he only gave a cursory glance before nodding to himself. He spent a moment practicing what he was about to do on empty air before he rolled his shoulders and gestured that it was time.

Then Nathan walked back through the barracks, stretching out his antimagic and shredding the control spells from every elite he passed.

He was perfectly centered, burning through his remaining Focus to let him dispel the magic fast, and spending Stamina to move quickly across the room. He prioritized speed and getting the antimagic right over being completely silent.

Burning out the mind magic might also wake them up, after all.

{Aura of Antimagic 4 achieved!}

About halfway across the room, Nathan kicked a helmet. It rolled and clattered on the stone floor. He sped up. Behind him there were noises of confusion. Somebody gasped, but Nathan ignored it, unwinding the spells from three more elite fighters.

The noise reached a critical mass, and all of the slave-elites started to wake up. Four of them hadn’t been purged of the mind magic, and they grabbed their weapons and rolled to their feet, looking around with robotic expressions.

I’m so close - just these last few!

Nathan activated his Rage and jumped at one of them, spreading his aura to encompass two more.

The elite interposed his sword, and it slid into Nathan’s chest with very little resistance. The man growled and braced to wrench the weapon out sideways, but Nathan finished disarming the failsafes and purged the mind magic from him. Suddenly nerveless fingers released the blood-soaked hilt.

Nathan yanked the sword out of his lungs and turned to face the last elite, who had just donned a pair of massive spiked gauntlets.

The elite swung with all the grace of an oncoming steam engine, and Nathan ducked the blow only to find it coming at his face from a different angle due to some skill or Talent.

Nathan slammed himself to the ground with his mobility skills, a small amount of blood spurting out of the mostly-healed chest wound. He reached out to yank on the man’s ankle, but found it immovable.

Then the man landed on his chest elbow-first, breaking several of Nathan’s ribs. He twisted and Nathan’s arms were pinned in place. The elite was clearly an expert grappler, and stronger than Nathan even with his Rage.

In seconds, he was outmaneuvered and pinned - but Nathan hadn’t been trying to win the grapple. He’d been breaking the mind-control spell. As soon as the magic was gone the man abandoned his grip and pressed his armored palms to his eyes.

Nathan rolled to his feet, looking up to see everybody looking at him. He saw confusion, anger and dull listlessness. But a few faces held hope, and it was to those that Nathan spoke, pitching his voice to carry across the large room.

“You are not tools anymore. You are free of the mind magic of Giantsrest, free to make your own decisions. What is your purpose? What will you do with your freedom?” Nathan paused, then reached down to grab the arm of the gauntleted elite - whose eyes shone with sudden fire.

He pulled the brawler up to his feet. “Punish Giantsrest for stealing your life. Join me in fighting them, to carve out a life free of their magics. You are people, not slaves!”

A voice spoke from nearby, rusty from long disuse. “Loyalty to the Giant.” The speaker was the man with the sword already covered in Nathan’s blood, and he swung it for Nathan’s neck.

“No.” The attack was intercepted by a thick gauntlet, and the elite Nathan had just lifted to his feet snarled and yanked on the sword, swinging his other fist in a brutal strike.

The swordsman ducked the punch, but the heavy blow blurred and caught the swordsman in the side of the head regardless. Bone cracked, and the body dropped with a crushed skull.

The hulking man turned to Nathan. His voice was deep and rough. “Death to the Giant, and those who take its hand.”

Nathan looked into his eyes, which had started glowing like a forgefire. “I’m Nathan. What’s your name?”

The vestige of a smile appeared on the craggy face. “Olad.”

They turned together to the rest of the elites, and Nathan raised his voice again. “I have killed archmage Taeol dho Droxol and broken his magics. Adventurers of Gemore are coming to free Halsmet from Giantsrest, and we will kill Exea. Fight with me, and you will live free - or die free.”

There was a flicker of motion, and one of the elites hurled a javelin at Nathan’s head.

He’d seen the movement and already started to dodge before the weapon was even released. The spear blasted forward like it had been fired from a cannon. It tore off Nathan’s left ear and flew onwards to hit the back wall with the sound of shattering stone.

{High-tier Dodging Footwork 8 achieved!}

The spear-thrower was swarmed by two other elites, blades striking lethal blows in instants.

“Freedom or death!” Olad started the cry, and it spread through the room. More fights broke out, but those who refused to yell were outnumbered and killed in moments.

Nathan joined the chant, and many of the elites who’d been listless and confused seemed to shake themselves awake at the noise, quickly taking up the cry. All of the slave-elites were looking around, smiling grimly at each other and making sure everybody was yelling right along with them. The room filled with energy, like a crowd before a riot.

{Congratulations, you have developed the [High-tier Earnestness 10] utility Skill into [Leadership].

{Utility skill: [Leadership]

You have used honest conviction to rally the confused and angry to your cause. This skill will help portray the intense conviction you have in your purpose, and encourage people to follow your example. In addition, people will look to you as a leader, and this skill will help you encourage, reassure, and coordinate those who align themselves with you.}

The double doors at the far end of the room opened, and a single war mage burst into the room, flanked by two more slave-elites. All eyes turned towards him, and the mage’s hands came up into a casting position.

Faline melted out of the shadows near the door and threw something at the war mage’s back. It was a magical explosive - like the one that Simla had used against Nathan in their duel. It exploded with an enormous crack, sending a shockwave through the large room.

The slave-elites standing next to the mage were thrown off their feet, but the mage himself only stumbled forward, quickly recovering his footing. His [Mage Armor] didn’t even break, though it did crack slightly.

Eight elites attacked him in less than a second. A two-handed mace widened cracks in the armor, and an enchanted sword stabbed into those cracks and pried. The magical armor broke with a burst of force, tossing away everybody nearby. The mage ignored these interruptions and started casting.

[Immolating-

An arrow hit him in the temple and blood splashed. He dropped bonelessly.

All of the violence happened in eerie silence, without any yells or screams from any of the participants. Then one voice rose. “Mage-breaker! Come aid my brother!”

Nathan moved towards the voice, finding that one of the two elites who’d come in with the mage still lived. The other had been slain where he’d fallen, but a freed elite knelt atop the other, struggling to hold him down. His weapon had been kicked away, but the slave-elite struggled to gouge at the man holding him down. Already the failsafe on the mental enchantment was starting to activate as the man realized he was captured.

Kneeling down, Nathan broke the enchantment on the struggling man before it could do any permanent harm.

The newly freed elite froze for a moment before reaching up to gently embrace the man pinning him down.

{Implacable Antimage has leveled to 160. You have survived fighting several slave-elites in the process of freeing them!}

Olad’s voice rang through the room. “Armor up!” He suited actions to words, and the elites busied themselves with putting on the armor that had been lying next to them.

Faline came to stand next to Nathan. She looked out across the room, surveying three dozen elites armoring themselves to fight against their former masters. “This changes - everything. Win or lose, Giantsrest will never be the same once it’s known we can turn their most powerful slaves against them.”

“Yup. Seems like their own actions coming home to roost.” Nathan eyed Faline for a moment before snapping his fingers. “Right. I need to go get Stella. And make sure she doesn’t get killed by these folks.”

He stepped through the crowd towards the back room, feeling the eyes of the elites on him.

Olad met his eyes. “They name you mage-breaker. I never expected…” He shook his head, looking around the room. “A chance.”

Nathan clapped the hulking man on the back as he passed. “I’ll be right back, with a mage. She’s from Gemore, not Giantsrest. An ally. Then we free Halsmet.” Nathan ducked into the back room and quickly excavated a path through the sewing equipment, careless of the noise. After a moment he reached the hole in the wall and stuck his head past the fabric that still blocked it.

Stella was outside, leaning against the wall and chewing her lip. She had been watching the hole impatiently, and didn’t even give Nathan a chance to open his mouth before speaking. “What occurs! Hear me but waiting like this is tense. The shouting sounded… good?”

A smile spread across Nathan’s face. “Yeah. Send the [Message] and come on in. Might want to make sure you don’t look like a Giantsrest mage for now. I think they’re a bit touchy about that.”

Nathan returned to the large room, where the freed elites seemed to have realized they could talk to each other. Slow conversations had broken out across the room.

“Giant’s ballsack, I hate this helmet. Can’t fucking breathe.” One of the men groused.

Another spoke up, a broad grin splitting his weathered face. “Then don’t wear it. You don’t have to.”

Faline had been striding among the elites, a massive smile on her face as she eyed them up and down. But as she heard the complaint she responded sharply. “If you wish to be paralyzed and dominated, then skip the helmet. But if you want to hunt mages through the city, then leave it on. If you act as if you were still a slave, then you can approach to kill.”

A few growls met her words, and the man who’d first complained looked down at his helmet, jaw firming as he prepared to put it on.

Nathan spoke up. “We’re going to split up. Those who want to pretend to still be slaves can go hunting for mages. But I’m leading a group to the main gates into the inner city. We’ll meet up with some Gemore Adventurers there, then move to Exea’s mansion. Our priority is going to be speed, not stealth. If you don’t want to wear the helmets, you can come with me.”

He turned to Stella, who’d just emerged from the back room wearing her Gemore Adventurer robes. They were a similar color to the Giantsrest mage robes, but the embroidery and cut were a completely different style.

Nathan continued. “There’s a third option. If you don’t wish to fight - stay here. I freed you from enslavement as soldiers. I won’t demand you fight for me now. Nobody deserves enslavement, and you do not owe me a debt. I have fixed a problem with the world, and you can go to Gemore if you want - or elsewhere. Gemore needs competent fighters to keep the villages safe from monsters, if you don’t want to face the mind-magics of Giantsrest ever again.”

A snort came from the side, and Olad slammed his gauntleted fists together with a crash of metal. He was fully armored, and the heavy metal plate made him look like an ogre. “I have twenty years of blood in my eyes. A future in Gemore is a blasphemous hope. We will follow you against Giantsrest first.”

Firming his jaw, Nathan nodded. “Thanks. But everybody makes their own decision.”

The elites were segregating themselves into two groups, with some putting on the helmets and others casting them aside.

Nathan addressed the group of fifteen or so who’d put their face-covering helmets back on. “You should probably head out now. We’ll give you a bit of a head-start. Good luck - cause chaos. If everything goes to shit, get out of Halsmet and head west. Gemore will take you in.”

The masked fighters gave him salutes, then left via the front door. Some were alone, some were in small groups, but they all bore a grim air.

I don’t know that they expect to live through this.

Nathan turned to the twenty elites who hadn’t donned helmets. They buzzed with energy, their faces reflecting a variety of extreme emotions from anger to hope. “When we get the signal that our allies are through the outer gates, we’ll head to the inner gates, meet them there. Then we go for Exea’s mansion. Sounds good?”

One of the fighters spoke, his voice surprisingly high. “Other slave-soldiers. Do we kill, or capture? Can you keep breaking the mind-magic? What about collars?”

A smile spread across Nathan’s face. “I can break any magic we find. Collars, mind magic. Gates. All of it. Any slaves you capture, I can free.”

“Hail the Giant.” Olad seemed to realize what he’d just said and shook his head. “Can you teach the Insight of your magic in that time?” The comment was clearly meant as a joke.

Stella said. “They’ve taken the gate. Not all the teams are at the walls yet, but they’re close. We have three teams coming into the city soon.”

That’s maybe fifteen Adventurers. And the Giantraiders among them.

Nathan turned towards the door into the square. “Let’s roll.”

{Overall Status:

{Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Aura of Antimagic 4

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 7

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 9

Class: Implacable Antimage level 160

Deepened Stamina: 5042/5100

Antimage’s Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Class: Assassin of Gemore level 36

Regenerative Focus: 193/460

Catastrophic Blows

Stealthy Movement

Infiltration

Forgettable

Unsuspecting Strike

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 8

Leadership 1

High-tier Sprinting 4

Magical Perception 5

High-tier Notice 8

High-tier Identify 9

High-tier Dodging Footwork 8

High-tier Enhanced Memory 9

Mid-tier Lecturing 9

High-tier Tumbling 4

Mid-tier Noticeability 4

Low-tier Quiet Movement 3

Low-tier Disguise 2}