Chapter 83: Ch 82 “Touch of Mortality”

 

 Two cloaked figures walked north with the tall curtain walls of Firmusa behind them. The city behind them was recovering from the assault on the countries with preparations for burial processions underway and the populace organizing themselves into militia groups trying to root out the agents of the Fallen still residing in the city.

From one of the women's mouths, a puff of white smoke escaped into the frigid air causing the other woman to try to mimic the taller woman.

 

"What are you doing?" Iris turned toward Kia with a puzzled smile as the petite undead made loud exaggerated breaths. "This?" She puffed a cloud of white smoke toward the mage's face.

 

"Not funny." Kia puffed up her cheeks in annoyance and leaned on the elf's shoulder hiding her fair face from the risen.

 

"I agree but it is enjoyable to tease you." Iris said, idly scratching the girl's neck as she pulled out a map of the kingdom that Umbria had given her, their targets were located in the middle of the wilderness and the usual lists she was used to using were inadequate.

 

"Where are we going?" Kia asked as she took a peek at the well-made map which was filled with small notes made by the vampire.

 

"Kia, Haven't you listened to me and Umbria talking?" 

 

"Ehhh... I was listening but I had forgotten that." The girl licked off the last remaining crumbs from the corner of her small pink lips.

 

The elf sighed heavily before explaining. "We will destroy enough of Fallen's outposts to cause Akkad to come out from his lair and then

Umbria will take care of him while we and her retinue will deal with Akkad's followers." The elf explained to the necromancer pointing at the first outpost marked on the map.

 

"I remembered that."

 

"Of course~" Iris said running her finger through Kia's black hair for the last time before heading northeast.

 

  Umbria explained to Iris that the mercenary company Sons of the Fallen were hired by the king specifically after she had manipulated many of his advisors to forward this new company to the king. She had intended to use the Fallen to rebel and turn the pious king's attention and the populace away from their kingdom and onto this new threat and to eliminate the people which forwarded the company. The rebellion was intended to live as long as Umbria needed them before eventually killing the rebels from the inside as she usually did. Shortly before their arrival, the vampire explained that Akkad had snatched her tool away from her shortly after she had sent a Firmusan army to their slaughter. The time between her last report on the location of the Fallen and Akkad's ascension was short enough to warrant the accuracy of the map in Iris's hands.

 

  The vampire rationalized her heinous acts to Iris with belief in Kia's divine plan and explained the cruel reality of the most northern human city found itself in. Umbria stated that the Bulwark would have been drowned in human blood by the very same vampires currently ruling Firmusa without her firm hand as the Overtyrant which kept the plentiful monsters of the north from carving slices of the human population into their possession with violence as the only arbiter of order. Seeing herself as a necessary evil with divine duties rather than a simple tyrant. 

Regardless of reality Iris still felt revolted by Umbria's actions which were still preferable to whatever horrors daemons would do after taking control.

 

  The two gradually made their way northeast with white snow slowly covering their surroundings in a uniform puffy blanket. Kia scoped a handful of snow into her slender hands and began to curiously touch the ball of puffy white.

 

"Tasty?" The elf asked as the inquisitive undead gave the snowball a hesitant lick.

 

"No," Kia answered, her tone disappointed with her cruel findings. "Tasteless."

 

"Oh!" The risen gasped in surprise at the one eatable thing the necromancer found unappetizing.

 

"Grumble, grumble..." The petite girl beside her wearing her long black dress under a new white cloak with a second dark green side for use in the spring grumbled under her non-existing breath.

 

"I don't even mind your grumbles~" The elf smiled at the girl with a new thing to adore and tease about.

 

 

 

  The snowy emptiness which slowly covered their surroundings as the day slowly transformed into the night. An almost complete silence surrounded the two with only the crunching sound of the snow under their feet and Kia's usual humming kept the veil of silence at bay.

 

  Iris's ears faintly twitched as she heard something to her right snap a twig buried under a thin layer of snow. She turned toward the source of the noise, tunning her hearing toward that bush she thought something was hiding in.

 

"No no to stronk stronk." 

 

"Yes yes too things us more tribe needs more young young."

 

"Me feel dead dead things near."

 

*Whack* *Whack* *Whack*

 

"Listen me I boss boss I stronk."

 

  A series of whispers spoken in a broken common came from the bush to the elf's left. She silently patted the mage's shoulder, who also trained her senses on her surroundings.

 

"I sense roughly 40 goblins around us." Kia answered Iris's unspoken question.

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  The risen tightened her unyielding grip on her weapon just as a loud whistle travelled towards her. She turned around to a rock hurling toward her, the rock threw a cloud of snow glistening in the dim moonlight as it hit the ground leaving a bruise on the side of Iris's forehead. She quickly went into a battle stance after barely managing to dodge the first attack. 

Her eyes scanned the edge of the forest finding no goblins to attack, her ability Combat Precognition wasn't activating without visual contact with her attacker, causing her to rely on her reflexes to dodge the incoming hail of projectiles.

 

"Infernal Mirage" Iris casted a ward which illuminated the snow around her in an orange glow. She could hear panic cries coming from Kia's side of the engagement as rocks started to bounce off her spell which flared in intensity before each blow.

 

"Attak!" A high pitch voice ordered, causing an avalanche of white fur creatures to emerge from the forest.

 

"Flame" A fireball briefly illuminated the dark battlefield as it impacted the biggest goblin Iris spotted. The possible goblin boss was tossed into the partially melted snow. "?" To Iris's surprise, the large goblin wielding a highly ornated dagger stood up with barely any damage to be seen on his thick coat of fur.

 

  Iris thrusted at the goblin closest to her, painting the snow red. Quickly pulling out her weapon she hit the second goblin in the side of his head with the back end of her weapon, causing the creature to be lifelessly hurled into the white snow before moving the opaque glass tip down into another goblin's skull. The tall undead sensed something behind her, she spun around and saw a goblin with a crudely made net creeping on them from the side. The net spun in the air as the hawk-nosed goblin was impaled with an arrow made from pure mana. The net wrapped itself around the elf missing the mage by only a few steps. A terrible cheer sounded from the goblins assaulting them, reinvigorating their attack.

 

  The net caused Iris's ward spell to permanently appear before a rock bounced off it, causing a rain of orange glass shards to hit the ground before crumbling into the abyss.

 

"Shackles Off!" Iris loudly shouted the untested spell as the goblins threatened to jump her and surround the necromancer, who now had to concern herself with her rear being unprotected.

 

  The magically inexperienced elf didn't know what to expect from the spell but disappointment settled into her heart as nothing was happening. She rushed to grab the net and throw it away from her. As she raised her hand the net felt like a living being willingly following the elf's arm before harmlessly being discarded without catching on the dwarven spear wielded by the undead elf.

 

[Inspect]

 

[Snow Goblin Boss Level 39-42]

 

  The elf used inspect on the large goblin charging at her. She had ample time to dodge the snow goblin's brutish attack as the large knife he wielded was driven into her thigh. She wasn't worried about the wound already preparing to use her nails as a close combat weapon and to drive them under the goblin's chin.

 

"Ahhh!" An incapacitating pain similar to what she felt when Kia anchored her soul to Iris pulsed from the wound as her world suddenly went black.

 

"Iris!" The elf heard her name being called out before a crackle of energy deafened her as she noticed a mute feeling of being electrified buried deeply under the unnaturally intense pain from the knife.

 

  Iris regained her vision and saw the remaining two dozen goblins run for their life before Kia's heavenly form stepped into her vision, her face frozen in a mix of concern and anger. 

The elf bit her lips in pain as Kia grabbed the hilt of the weapon and pulled it out. From Kia's closed fist a sizzling noise started to appear before a grey smoke escaped her clutches.

 

"Stay still." A dominating voice echoed inside Iris's mind as the girl threw the gilded dagger into the snow.

 

  The dagger penetrated Iris's enchanted clothes alongside her skin. The wound resembled a partially molten candle as her blood continuously poured out, fizzling aggressively like water over a fire. Her blood stopped boiling when Kia casted multiple spells while muttering but the wound hadn't closed nor her regeneration began to heal it like it already should have.

 

"Still, I said." A freezing cold voice hissed at the sitting elf when she tried to move. The girl pulled out a white material bandage and casted another litany of spells before wrapping the bandage around the elven thigh.

 

"Should work." Kia's voice returned to somewhat normal as she stood up.

 

"What happened?" Iris asked.

 

"The dagger was infused with holy mana." The necromancer said while examining her hand which had touched the dagger before wrapping a bandage around it. Her hand looked much more awful than the stab wound in the risen thigh.

 

"Wasn't expecting a goblin to have a holy dagger," Iris commented. "Levels are not everything, huh?" 

 

"I wouldn't be worrying if you were high-level." The usually slightly immature girl gave the elf a look that made the grown woman feel shameful for her comment. "What do we do now?" She said while glancing at their surroundings.

 

"How long will it take for my wound to heal? Then we can talk about the future."

 

"Shouldn't be too long, I had made you to be as much resistant to cleansing as I could manage." The girl puffed up her chest in pride. "If I or the annoying lady would have been stabbed with that thing, at best we would have been unconscious for... I don't know but I am sure for a very long time and at worst-" She pointed at the dagger in the snow and elaborate after seeing the elf's face.

 

"I got the idea, Kia." Iris interrupted the girl, she stood up feeling as if her leg was set on fire. "First we have to get away from here unless you would like to see which corpse eaters are common in the north," Iris said. "This was a rhetorical question, Kia."

 

"I knew that." The girl pouted slightly as she jogged to the gilded dagger buried in the snow causing it to disappear into her inventory. 

 

 

 

 

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