(II) Fever
Starting Chapter 84 of "Path of the Deathless": 43 (II)FeverDread Aura > 57The Inquisitors proved to be more knowledgeable than the automaton by... See what happens next!
43 (II)Fever
Dread Aura > 57
The Inquisitors proved to be more knowledgeable than the automaton by far. Apparently, they knew about the attack on Blackedge months in advance. The woman was even the one that reached out and hired the raven and crows that appeared during the festival. It was as Harkness claimed: The ones he fought were rogue New Albion assassins turned freelancers. Apparently, there was a whole network of them across Integrated Earth.
The Inquisitors were operating directly under Inquisitor Szjik back at the capital. Apparently, the notebook Oldsmith gave Shiv earlier was something called a Sync-Letter. That made it one of two books bound to each other, and what he wrote on one page would appear in the other. Apparently, Master-Advisor Oldsmith and Inquisitor Szjik updated each other nightly about what was happening on their side.
City Lord Havel Van Stormhalt, meanwhile, was above both of them on the totem pole, and was apparently second only to the Auroral Council members, one of whom set this whole thing into motion.
The final bit of essential information had to do with the Animancy Core. Presently, the Gate Lord held it within his personal vault. With how much danger the Animancy Core posed to all lesser forms of magic and even the fabric of someoneâs soul, an agreement was drafted between Oldsmith, Vicar Sullain, Compact, and Lord Scorn for Gate Lord Confriga to hold the weapon for the duration of its presence within the gate before it would be handed back to the Inquisition on the surface.
Apparently, the exchange was scheduled for tonight. Due to Shivâs brawl and subsequent encounter with the Gate Lord, however, that likely wasnât going to happen anymore.
Which was good for Shiv, because it gave him more time to deal with the problem.
Unfortunately, this was where the good news ended for Shiv. Also, in part, because of his fight with the damn orc. 811âs final words werenât just some creepy reincarnatorâs promise, it was also practically a Curse. Except it wasnât entirely detrimental, since it also spiked his Cooking levels. Probably because Culinary Berserker was connected to Cooking. He couldnât level one without affecting the other. Unfortunately, having Culinary Berserker also meant that his original plan of âfind a way to kill all the enemies while trying to avoid killing the slavesâ was probably going to end with him experiencing mindless bloodlust.
Shiv sighed as he considered all the problems ahead of him. He looked at his left arm and watched a wyrm drift to and fro. The Necromancy wound was fading slowly, but it was like waiting for an injury to heal naturally while he was Pathless.
That being said, he wasnât alone anymore. Both Tran and Heather were Adeptsâand reliable. The former had a lot more experience, and the latter was a Jump Mage. That greatly increased his options. There was also Siggy, who knew this placeâs underbelly, but⌠she was mostly doing things because she was afraid of Shiv. Which worked for him, but didnât make her reliable.
The three people from Blackedge sat inside Oldsmithâs personal study. Shiv kept a watch over his unmoving Inquisitorial prisoners using his Woundeater mana. After the Psychomancer tried reaching out to his fellow Inquisitor once, Shiv reflexively took all the manâs fingers. That sent a rush of relief through Shivâbut also most definitely made his Orcish Skill worse. This was why he ended up choking the prisoners out.
Even then, it took Tran pulling at him to make him let go of the Psychomancer.
âWell, I wonât lie,â Heather said, rubbing her eyes. âThings are looking absolutely abysmal right now. But that doesnât mean thereâs nothing we can do. Or that we canât get out of the gate.â
That caught Shivâs attention. âWhat do you mean? The gateâs under lockdown. The paths to the Abyss and the surface are both closedâand I didnât even get to see where the surfaceâs exit gate is.â
âCorrect,â Heather said, a bit of condescension seeping into her tone. âHowever, locked is the key word here. A gate is a minor world between worlds born from bridging mana. It cannot truly be sealed, because if mana does not pass through, then there is no space between. A bridge must remain connected, after all. This means that given enough time and focus, I be able to activate one of the exits. Maybe.â
âYou can do that?â Shiv said, impressed.
âMaybe,â Heather emphasized again. âMy Portomancy has evolved into Dimensionality. Iâm not that advanced yet, but considering the size of this place⌠Itâs bigger than Blackedge, but not by that much. Iâd say weâre in a Category Eight Gate.â
Shiv stared. âDoes that mean the gateâs Heroic-Tier, orâŚâ
The Jump Mage opened her mouth and clearly almost said something disparaging, but then she seemed to remember Shiv's current temper issues. âNo, thatâs not exactly how it works. Gates output a lot more mana than most Pathbearers. As such, they are rated like mana storms. This is a mid to low gate, I believe. Which means I should be able to slip through. Should. Maybe. With time.â
âNice, Heather,â Shiv said, grinning. âGlad I saved the two of you.â Both she and Tran eyed Shiv. âItâs not the only reason. You want me to apologize for all the torture and butchery I did again?â
âNo, no,â Tran said, raising his hands. âWe know. Weâre not blaming you. But⌠It is weird. With it being you. Weâre not used to⌠the new you yet.â
âI havenât changed,â Shiv said. âIâm just bigger, stronger, faster, a little wiser, and I got some kind of Orcish Skill virus thatâs compelling me to torture and kill people by turning slight annoyance into explosive rage.â They kept staring at him. âAlright, yeah, I guess you two have a point.â
âYou said you had a mask that could disguise you?â Tran asked.
âYeah,â Shiv said. He pulled out the Mask of False Paths again, handing it to the Adept Slayer. âItâs a bit damaged from when I came in, but itâs also one of the few reasons I got this far.â Shiv frowned. âIâm probably going to go down and kill Oldsmith in a while. I was thinking about beating it to death with a belt, for obvious reasons, but now maybe I should do it quickly. And then Iâll see if I can take its face.â
Tran shook his head. âNo. Donât. Thatâll still feed the skill. Youâve done more than enough for me and Heather, so, I think you should leave some of the, uh, liquidation work to us for now.â
âLiquidation?â Shiv asked.
âWeâre gonna kill these people,â Heather seethed. âThat sword-bitch especially. And then the Psychomancer. Slowly.â
Shiv frowned at Tran. âHey, does the Orcish Skill spread between people?â
A dark look came over the Slayer. âNo. But getting mentally tortured after being physically mutilated doesnât help oneâs resentment.â
Shiv nodded slowly. He didnât know how he felt about this. Aside from being frustrated, because a small part of him really, really, really wanted to experiment on them using his Woundeater andâShiv froze. âYou said the Orcish Skill spreads and multiplies to other skills as well.â
âYeah, it grows through you,â Tran said. âWhy?â
âI think the next skill of mine that might turn is my evolved Biomancy,â Shiv muttered. âI canât stop thinking about using it on people. It didnât even occur to me that I was torturing them earlier.â
âYeahâŚâ Tran nodded. âOrcs, man. Theyâre a real nightmare. System bless the hard bastards at Lone Star for holding them at bay.â He bumped a fist against his chest in salute. âAnyway. Hereâs what I think the plan is now. We kill the prisonersâthereâs not much more weâre getting out of them, and Iâm not risking anything with Master-Tier Inquisitors. You see if you can take the botâs identity. Then me and Heather are going to do some scouting when we can. You should⌠stay here for a while and try to fuse your Orcish Skill with your original skill. Iâll try to think of something else in the meantime.â
âWhat you want us to do about the goblin?â Heather asked. âBecause I think Iâm just about mad enough that I can make killing her personal for me, too.â
Shiv considered that and then grunted. âLeave her alive for now. She knows things about this place. Oh, and Heather. When you kill the female Inquisitor, bring me her armor and weapon. Thereâs someone I want to give it to.â
Heather blinked. âI⌠kind of wanted to take that off her. Especially since they destroyed my gear.â
Shiv laughed and pulled some of his reserve corpses from his mantle. Both Tran and Heather backpedaled, their expressions shifting into confused terror. Shiv ignored them as he used his Biomancy to start assembling two new sets of armor. âIf you need armor, I got some diamond-hard onesâand if you give me some time, I think I can get you two some Master-Tier Adamantine-strength bone armors as well. That can harden in response to all kinds of physical trauma. Itâs pretty good. I just need to die a few times more to harvest enough bone for that. Iâd give my Adamantine exoskeleton to Uva too, but I want her to have something else in case sheâs not comfortable wearing my bones.â
Shiv peeled away the skin and extracted the flesh as he spoke. Nearby, he heard Heather and Tran both gag and look away as two new sets of skeletal armor came into shape. âHere,â Shiv said. âStep in.â
Dread Aura > 58
He frowned. He wasnât using the aura right then, so whyâd it level?
Tran swallowed. âI, uh⌠W-whoâs Uva?â he asked, trying to shift the topic.
âGirlfriend,â Shiv said, a slight grin flashing on his face. It dimmed a second later. âShe probably would have kept me from doing some of this stuff.â
Heatherâs eyebrow rose. âHuh. You sure were busy the pastâŚâ
âTwo weeks or so?â Shiv guessed. âYeah. But me and her went through some stuff together, and, uh, I guess one thing led to another. I hope sheâs fine.â
âAnd you would rather us wear your bones? As armor?â Heather blinked.
âItâs good armor,â Shiv said. âTrust me. Now. Who wants to get fitted first?â