Ep. 20 Betrayal! (Patreon)

Zamart's P.O.V.

I arrive in my room and let out a sigh of relief, this room is the only place in the castle I can relax anymore. I take a look around and realize there is not much for me to take just a few books and items I have made.

I head to my closet and change into my best travelling gear then start putting the rest of my clothes into a dimensional storage bag. I pack up my books and my few personal effects, and as quickly as that I am done.

So that's everything of value, now what's my next step? I remember hearing that the rebels are in the Forest of Fangs, I've never been there though. Let's see the closest I have been would be the port city of Durendall, that's only a few days walk from the forest.

So my best bet is to teleport to the port and walk. However, teleport takes a lot of power and I haven't recovered my magic yet, but I don't want to wait around, I need to leave while everyone is focused on the pit.

I am trying to remember a good way out of the castle, I know every inch of it as I have enchanted it at the king's request. Adding layer upon layer of defensive spells because the king is worried about assassins and rebels.

'Wait the enchantments! That's it!'

I can undo all the enchantments and regain some of the power used, not only mine but I know the keys to the enchantments my master did as well. After all, the king will be my enemy now so why leave him with a well defended castle.

I go into my casting room and sit in the circle my master made so many years ago. I access the magic of the castle and only then realize just how many enchantments I can remove. Even with restoring my powers and teleporting, there is still going to be a huge amount of energy left over.

I need to decide what to do with it before I begin or I might accidentally level the city. Hmm, I could make an item? No, I have nothing of high enough quality to hold that much power, it would just explode.

I am unsure what to do, I have never used such a huge amount of power all at once. I start thinking of castle life and how I can affect it. Then I think of the court mages, not the ones I have chosen and trained which the king dismissed or sent to combat areas, but the current court mages that were chosen by the king from among the sons of the nobles who support him.

All those useless clods with no real talent for magic lording it over the common people. If I use half of this power to drop a massive dispel over the castle, to remove their protections, then the rest of the power to launch an attack against all of them. I could kill all of them at one go and leave the king without any mages at all. Not only that but then there would be no one to come after me.

I decide and start unraveling all the magic woven into the castle defenses. I only recover about a quarter of the magic used but it is still a staggering amount of power since the enchantments have been built up over the past two hundred years. I know that even the incompetent court mages will feel this massive amount of mana moving around so I have to act quickly.

First I refill my own mana supply, then I ready my teleport spell, next I cast the most powerful dispel spell I know with extra power in it, and finally I feed the remaining power into a spell targeting the court mages. As soon as I release the spell to kill the court mages I activate the teleport spell and in the next instant I am over one thousand miles away from the capital sitting on a hill overlooking the port city of Durendall.

I sit here for a while just enjoying the sunshine and the pleasant ocean breeze. I feel a weight has been lifted from my heart that has been there since the queen's death. I slowly get to my feet and turn south and start walking towards the forest. As I walk I can't help but chuckle as I picture the king's face when he finds out all his precious court mages have been reduced to piles of ash.

As soon as I find the rebels I need to tell their leader all about the summons and the king's secret army. If the rebels can get word to the other kingdoms about the king's plan to attack them they can start getting ready to defend themselves. Hopefully this will start to atone for my actions since the queen's death.

In the Pit

Tarrik sends twenty soldiers down the rope into the pit before following them down himself. He leaves another twenty surrounding the well as the king ordered. He is convinced that it will be easy to kill the beastman with just the soldiers he has sent down but he was not going to disobey the king.

Even before he reaches the bottom the foul stench assaults his nose, he lets go of the rope with one hand to bring a scented handkerchief up to cover his nose and mouth. When his feet hit the floor he feels the bones crumble to dust beneath them, and sees his twenty men standing in a circle around the bone pile with torches held high.

Even with the twenty torches the room is not well lit, so he pulls the enchanted torch of his belt and raises it high. The enchanted torch easily lights up the whole room and even a few feet of each of the five passages.

Knight Commander Tarrik says "Squad one will assume defensive positions, squad two split into pairs. Each pair is to investigate one of the passages, when you spot the beastman do not engage, simply call out and squad one will rush to your aid. We will overwhelm him and make short work of this so we can get out of this foul place."

The soldiers obviously think that getting out of here is the best part of the plan but nevertheless they obey his orders and the pairs set off into the passages holding their torches high.

Ash's P.O.V.

I have been waiting patiently this whole time, I am sitting just past the fake wall occasionally glancing through a crack to check for movement. I have set my shield, mace, and two swords aside and am armed only with the Black Razor.

Finally, when I glance through the crack I see a light in the hallway, I freeze and watch as the two soldiers walk into the room. As I hoped they just see a dead end, they wave their torches around to light up the corners then turn to return up the hallway. As they turn away I gently push the fake wall open and slide out silently, I quickly move up behind the pair.

As I move up behind the soldier in the back I reach around with my left hand to cover his mouth and I stab him in the back with the dagger in my right hand. The other soldier starts to turn at the sound of the torch hitting the ground but I am already there to drive Black Razor into his chest.

I quickly toss their torches into the spider den then pick up the corpses and throw them into the tunnel before closing the fake wall. Then I go all the way to the corner before the well room to take a look and see what I am up against.

Meanwhile the other four pairs have returned and the last pair has been gone for ten minutes. Tarrik is getting impatient, he wants this over with so he can return to the castle and take a bath and maybe a servant girl.

Knight Commander Tarrik says "You four, go find out what's taking them so long. You go up and find a court mage and have him levitate a pair of hunting dogs down here."

With a "Yes Sir!" one soldier grabs the enchanted rope and rises smoothly out of sight, the other four soldiers Tarrik pointed to head for the passage where I am.

Hearing everything I quickly retreat down the hallway and hide myself in the alcove across from the spider room then settle in to wait. The four soldiers are moving slowly until they spot the light from the two torches, then they rush into the spider den but stop when they see two torches just lying on the ground.

This is exactly as I have planned and as soon as they stop I step out of the shadows and kill the first soldier. As the body is falling I step between the next two and stab left then right, then lunge forward to stab the last soldier in the throat just as he is starting to scream.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Dagger Basics has progressed to level 3!

Dagger Basics

Level 3

Agi +3

You do 15% extra damage with daggers.

Okay that's six down, now it's fifteen to one. The odds are getting better all the time. I quickly move back to the corner to watch and listen for my next opportunity.

Meanwhile Tarrik is pacing back and forth, when suddenly he hears a scream and turning in the direction it came from he sees his soldier that he sent up the well fall to his death. A few seconds after the body comes the enchanted rope, the coils of it covering the corpse like a shroud. Then Tarrik's enchanted torch goes out as Zamart's dispel reaches even the pit.

Knight Commander Tarrik yells "What in blazes is going on?"

I see all the soldiers staring towards their comrade's body and quickly step out behind one of them. I again reach around to cover his mouth as I stab him in the back and drag him back into the darkness. I set the body in the passageway then quickly move through the shadows to the passageway leading to the goblin lair.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Stealth has progressed to level 5!

Stealth

Level 5

MP Cost 15 Agi +5

You can sneak up on average beings.

It takes a minute for the soldiers to notice their missing companion. When they do it's a confusion of yelling voices. I wait patiently to see what they will do now. I don't know why the magic rope and torch failed but I am grateful for it.

Knight Commander Tarrik yells "QUIET!!!!"

Knight Commander Tarrik says "Panicking will only get you dead! You and you stay here and wait for reinforcements to come. The rest of you with me, we will hunt down this beast!"

I watch as the leader and ten soldiers go down the passage to the spider den, they only pause for a minute at the soldier's corpse. The two left behind have moved to stand under the well and are looking upwards like they are seeking salvation.

This makes it easy for me to sneak up behind them and end their lives with two swift stabs. I snuff their torches then follow the rest into the passageway leading to the spider's den. When I look around the corner I see the leader and two soldiers standing in the hallway.

'Enough cat and mouse, let's change the game!'

Four soldiers return from the direction of the tunnel to report nothing, while the other four return from inside the spider den to report six torches but only four bodies.

Knight Commander Tarrik yells "Where the hell is this stupid beast!!!"

"I'm right here!"

As I step into the light I throw three firebolts, one at the leader and one at each of the two soldiers standing closest to him. The soldiers don't react in time and are hit, Tarrik however is fast enough to pull one of the other soldiers in front of him to take the blast.

MP: 130/205

As the three soldiers hit go down in flames I shoot a grin at Tarrik and run back towards the well room.

Knight Commander Tarrik yells "After him! Don't let him get away! KILL HIM!!"

The seven remaining soldiers hesitate for a few seconds as they look at the burned corpses of their comrades. Then they visibly gather themselves and take off running after me.

Knight Commander Tarrik thinks "How the hell can that thing use magic? Especially when ours isn't working? Did he do that?"

Knight Commander Tarrik pants as he runs after his men, his armor is normally enchanted to be lighter so he isn't used to running with the full weight. He catches up to his men in the well room, they are standing looking at the two corpses of the men they left behind.

Knight Commander Tarrik says "Where the hell are our reinforcements? What is going on up there?"