Stray Elf: Lost in the System

X.

The siege was not what I was expecting.

The sappings we huddled in were formed by Dios attuned mages yesterday, before we had even reached the base. They spread across the blasted field like bursted blood vessels, thanks to their magics. Rain started pouring at sunset, making the smell of death much more unpleasant. No man’s land was a swamp of wasted lives, now separated into ash and limbs from the Peligree’s mages along those towering walls. Despite the doom and gloom, I never imagined such a place like this to be this boring.

Well, I sat back and breathed in the nasty air. Not that I wanted to be in an epic battle anyways.

We were commanded to use the sappings to gain grounds closer to the walls, but instead we were pinned down and stuck hoping the mages decided to target somewhere else. A massive trebuchet launched a devastating rock into the walls above our heads, but a lightning bolt struck into one of the sappings as a response. More sonic booms and electrical attacks slashed the air and water, while our dwindling Dios mages frantically reformed the walls.

Tunneling would have to wait, I stared at the darkened pits that burrowed below ground. The goblins and slave soldiers were under there, somewhere, while we sat around in the shallow parts tucked away from the sorcery volleys. That left us to our own devices, which meant sitting around and being bored. I was sure the nervousness faded but the fear of getting zapped to death shot back quickly after an eighteenth lightning bolt careened by in a jagged lunge. I caught a glimpse of the attack as it danced along, which vanished as quickly as I could blink.

The Dios moonfall was yesterday and was the reason these mages were able to gain ground. I wondered if it was just poor planning or bad luck, since the Reaver moon fall always came next in the continuous cycle of the seven moons. I also wondered if there were any other Nameless within our ranks. Was I truly alone? I did not really put much thought into my race and I assumed the other stray elves would not have much in common with me.

What a joke, I scoffed. To be thrown in a hellish life. Whoever was in charge of my reincarnation must have had it in for me.

“Oi, Nameless,” Yokgu was chewing on some meat he pilfered from Moonwatch. He offered me some of it, but I politely refused. I could not eat after seeing all those dead and dismembered women hours before this mess. “Suit yourself, then. You’ve just been in a terrible mood since your girlfriend’s in a cage, haha!”

He laughed until a lightning bolt crashed somewhere nearby. Nanishtar, I sighed. I had a sinking feeling she was no longer with us.

“I would be too,” he started to laugh again. “If the girl I slept with ended up being a twenty-foot monster.”

“Does that form not have a time limit?” I asked. I did not care if she was not around to tease me, but her healing capabilities were valuable. We might as well be walking into diseases and injuries shortly after the Reaver moon goes dormant once again.

“No,” the cyclops mage confirmed my fears. “In order for her to go back to her original self, she would have to go back to the Hells.”

By the sound of his tone, I guessed being a twenty foot bloodthirsty monster was a better alternative than going back home to the Hell circle of Lust. More lightning bolts struck, showering us with dirt. The demon siblings cheered with the other Tusk soldiers. They seemed to enjoy the destruction Reaver magic caused, even though the artillery was inching closer to our position. I wanted to get off my butt and get out of here.

Yokgu had the same idea, so we moved further away from the attacks. More rocks slung into the air, but were simply destroyed by lightning bolts. He jumped as another bolt blinded us.

“Hells, this shit. To Hells!” Yokgu pounded the tunnel walls to vent his nervousness. “Can’t a godsdamned trebuchet sink a lucky stone in those mages’ heads for once?”

“It’s useless against a fully empowered mage, with Skills and a Moon a simple rock would not scratch them,” Caspan observed. He was able to shake all the dirt from his feathers. He was the only clean one out of all of us, which made me jealous. Perhaps those succubi in that shop did something to me when they cleaned my body. I missed showers, toilets, and sinks that had water in them. Instead, now I was coated in dead skin flakes, crusted mud and blood. I wondered if I could use my DEX Stat’s speed to shake it all off, but the stupid orc was in the way.

Yokgu groaned as thunder rolled above in the clouds again, then an even brighter flash followed. The Reaver moon packs one hell of a punch, I felt my arm hairs raise in protest of the sudden atmospheric change. A lucky spell destroyed the war machine close to us, forcing us to move again. Silmil laughed.

“That was close!” Samuel also cheered. There’s more inactive war machines than sappings because the ones that use them are dead, I sighed. Why laugh at that? Yokgu bumped a shoulder plate against mine and grunted for a question.

“You got magic, don’t ya? Do something about those guys.”

“I told you,” I retorted. What a stupid orc! “Have you forgotten my fire magic?”

“Useless! Bah!”

A couple of minutes went by as we listened to the crackling shots of magic crashing. If such powerful magic existed in this world, I wondered if promoting my INT Stat would improve my own spell potency. If I could sling such destruction without the help of the Moons then I could slack off while still remaining the most powerful soldier. Or end up dead like those Dios mages, I pushed the fantasies away as I noticed the ashen remains of fallen demon mages.

A lightning bolt hit the wall above our dugout, breaking part of the sapping’s support and the machine above it.

“Shit,” Yokgu gestured to the incomplete tunnels to get in. “She’s fallin’ down!”

The only thing that kept us from being crushed were the beams of support as we filed in. The light of the moons peered through in specks of dirt above our heads. Despite this, the twins still cheered for the lightning. Yokgu punched a hole through the dirt rubble. The cyclops grinned.

“That brawn of his proved to useful at certain times. How about that, Nameless?” The cyclops laughed. I agreed.

“Too bad there’s a Yokgu attached to it,” I shrugged off dirt from me. The orc scoffed, then reaches in his pouch and pulls out more dried meat.

“You’re welcome,” he tore a bit of it off and chewed loudly. “I ain’t punching the rest down. We can sit this one out, yeah?”

“As long as that moon is up, we’re trapped anyways,” Caspan noted. “Oi, you idiots! Get back to work! More beams!”

He barked at the mute slaves that piled in with us. They were husks of their former selves, whatever they were. I was not aware of what exactly happened to them in their short trip in the Hells, but I was sure it was quite memorable. They began to work immediately after I glared at them accidentally. Yokgu not wanting to fight was new to me, however. He looked at me oddly.

“What?”

“You got someone at home or something?” I played the teasing part as well as I could. “Why don’t you want to smash some heads together?”

“Heh,” Yokgu laughed. “You trying to get me back for that succubus jab, Light Voice? In Orc culture, I would have to fight my woman first if I fancy her. Then I’d fight her father. Or was it the other way around?”

“Huh,” I learned something new everyday, I chuckled. “Guess you lost against her.”

“I ain’t got the time for that,” he shrugged. Suddenly, his demeanor changed. I felt a disturbance in the air and dove away from the entrance. “Look out!”

Another magical bolt blasted the entrance, rattling the earth and the pillars. It was dark, so I uttered the small fireball phrase and a tiny candle sized flame burned before my finger. Yokgu was covered in mud, while the others were left in tact. How much combined luck do we have? I contributed nothing but light, making the orc nervously laugh at me until one of the support beams started to cave in.

Both of us sprang into action. If that beam cracked apart, we would all be buried alive. Both Yokgu and I held it up, while the others looked for another beam to put up.

“You want to know something, orc?” Beads of sweat dripped down my face as I held up the flame and held the pillar up against my back. “You remember the battle where I got my head hit?”

“Shit,” Yokgu adjusted himself. Caspan quickly raised another beam up before us, giving us time to escape the cave in that followed. “Which battle, we’ve been at this for a long time, you know.”

“The battle I hit my head when I was a rookie?” I prompted him, but to my surprise the orc seemed like he could not remember.

“Not all of us have memory like yours, Nameless,” he grunted. “Nor lifespans as long.”

“O-Oh,” I could remember the details of the mug I drank from in St. Kueyo, the long walk through red soaked valleys from the Spine. “You don’t remember the Spine from only nine months and sixteen days ago?—“ I received a glare as a response. “Anyways, I received a pretty hard blow to the head. I have forgotten everything before that day.”

“Really?” Yokgu stroked his chin, but it was evident that he had no idea what I was talking about. “Lucky. Ain’t many things to remember during our training days in Hell.”

Could it be that my lifespan is truly that long? Is my perspective on time warped because of that? I wondered if that could be a reason why I feel nothing ending human lives. Why feel bad over ending someone's life twenty or so years early?

“I gained a skill,” I went on. The mage seemed particularly interested by making a curious grunt for me to continue. “I’m having trouble understanding it, but it seems to make me much stronger than I should be.”

It was a risk revealing the full extent of my Status skill, but if we were to die out on the battlefield to some lightning magic I might as well admit I have something like a Hero’s Unique Skillholder. Yokgu kept stroking his chin, but then he laughed. Unable to track his reasoning, I gave him a stare and bluffed like he was making fun of me.

“I’m serious!”

“That explains the sword,” the cyclops behind us mused. He looked at my blade and the halberd I had dropped on the ground while holding the broken beam together. “And the heavy beam you held together.”

“I had Yokgu helping me,” I turned to face him, the flame in my hand leaving a small ray of light as it traveled with me. I wondered how I was supposed to turn off my magic. The orc crossed his arms and denied his help. “Anyways, I can prove it’s different from my Power Skill. I’m much stronger because of it.”

“Is that why he calls you a freak?” Silmil asked.

“Freak!” Yokgu laughed. Still, he moved with the others.

“Exactly,” I replied without realizing what she called me. A chorus of snickers came from the onlookers, but I sighed. “I heard Heroes only have Unique skills, but I don’t know what to call this type of magic if it isn’t that. Watch me.”

Despite the flame orb bobbing above my hand, I prepared to punch the caved entrance. A feathery hand stopped me.

“Don’t punch there,” Caspan pointed. I noticed others backed further away from me. I guess they believed me besides Yokgu who simply remained unphased by whatever I was trying to prove. The birdman had a map in his other hand from who knows where. “Punch here instead. It’ll link up with the other tunnel networks.”

“Thanks for believing me,” I muttered. Caspan grinned and raised his hand in a mock bow.

“Be my guest,” He pointed at a spot they were mining. The dirt and rocks were solid, but an empowered strike would easily clear this out. I cracked my knuckles and the small flame remained. Caspan backed away as soon as he heard me punch.

My A Ranked Stat let my fist tore through the terrain with an explosive shockwave, caused by the flame spell igniting. The ground rupturing must have caused a bit of ruckus above the surface, because the booms of the lightning strikes ceased the moment I struck the wall. Well, I looked at the smoke rising from my fist. That was one way to turn my magic off.

“Freak,” Yokgu muttered as the new improvised tunnel formed.

“You’re welcome,” I sighed.

All that remained before us was the depths of the tunnel I created. Hopefully no one was working along those networks. There were several openings leading to further sappings, perfect for telling how many hours the Reaver moon fall had left. I waved my hand.

“Now we can commence the assault,” I shook off the remainder of steam evaporating off my glowing fist. “Let’s get to it.”

If those Dios mages could not continue their tunneling and defense building, I might as well finish it for them. Devastating magic or not, I will crush whoever was responsible for Nanishtar’s fallen sisters. It was either that motivation or the fact that I was getting bored waiting around in the muddy tunnels like a rat. Yokgu whistled and signaled the shocked troops to get moving. I could clear out most of the tunnel, each time getting the same shocked reaction from the others.

Skills really do place oneself far above average people.

As we moved, lightning fell upon the earth around us. It was evident that my ruckus did not go unnoticed, so we kept up the pace like ants moving tunnel to tunnel. A peculiar banner was draped all the way across the gates as we made our approach. I only noticed it when the skies were regaining their color. The delay and waning lightning strikes gave us enough time to escape into the final sapping. It was close enough for me to break an entrance in with my skill. That moon must have contributed a lot, since they could pin us down for one entire night. Now, the other armies were keeping most of the mages occupied by advancing with us.

“That banner,” I mused as we rested against the walls. “It does not look like the other banners of Sarwitz. Do you know anything?”

I ignored Yokgu and directed the question at the cyclops for an answer. The banner depicted a massive demon skull, surrounded by letters or emblems of their language. The banner did not seem to be an official Sarwitz symbol, but appeared to be a mercenary army’s like ours.

“That banner belongs to the Devil’s End Group,” the mage peered above the trenches and ducked quickly before they could see us. “An Adventurer Party from the Sarwitz Guild.”

“Shit,” Yokgu muttered. “Thought we got rid of that little guild awhile ago.”

“Apparently not,” I shrugged. Adventurers did not seem like the kind to be able to withstand an army, but suddenly my skill activated and gave me an alert. “Are they particularly strong? With a name like that?”

“Some call them the Heroes of Starwatch,” he explained. “The King must have ordered them here.”

“Looks like you’ll have to punch a way to the gate,” Caspan looked at his map. The gates suddenly started opening, and my Status skill started acting up again. I did not need to know what it was alerting me for. “It looks like they’re here.”

“Well, that would get more of their attention on us if I do that,” I looked at my fist. Yokgu stared at me in disbelief for even considering the birdman’s idea. “Plus, my fire magic would not work.”

“Are you two good in the head?” Yokgu asked. Caspan shrugged.

“No,” I replied without hesitation.

Yokgu barely had the time to utter a word when suddenly a massive lightning bolt struck the dugout we hid in. I dove out the blast, but two more spells followed close behind me. The crackling explosions shook my ears, but I was able to get back on my feet. I noticed I was closer to the gate, however, the rest of the Tusks were not moving or reduced to powder. I hoped they got out of there in time. I grit my teeth as I saw the shadows of three individuals standing outside of the gate. What a horrible mistake! Even if I was weakened by a magic spell, leaving their defenses was a terrible idea. Were they simply confident in their strength?

Alert: Heavily armed Crowned Entities are within the vicinity.

I rose to my feet, feeling the burn of the spell’s electricity dance along my legs and arms. A small grim amusement twisted my face. Of course, the alert I ignored showed up on its own. They were confident since they were called Heroes. My feet found a flattened road, and before me the figures stood on the steps traveling along a massive gold-trimmed ramp that led up to the gate. There was history built here soon to be erased. One of the so-called Heroes started to approach me. I inspected their gear. They were more prepared than the other adventurer party we defeated in the jungles.

Phantom blades danced around the first hero. He wielded a pair of scimitar-like blades, but less than ideal armor, as he slowly approached me. I will not underestimate these adventurers like last time. The other was a female, wearing a magnificent robe and holding an enormous staff with a complicated disc shaped apparatus containing a red gem inside of it. She has to be the pain in our asses tonight. The woman of lightning smiled as if she was looking down upon me.

To her, I supposed I was nothing but just another demon. One who would take that pretty staff of hers if I emerged victorious here. The third began to advance slowly along with the mage. He was a heavily armored soldier, seemingly out of place in this band of adventurers, but he was wearing a helmet unlike the Tank in the other adventurer group.

“That sword…!” the Scimitar man spoke slowly, but there was anger in his tone. I glanced at my sword strapped around my waist. He must have recognized that it belonged to that adventurer I slew. “That terrible deed you did back then, and all the atrocities you’ve committed. What you did to Philip’s adventurer party while they were rescuing captives! Did it make you feel big? Do you feel happy for the death you spread, demon?”

Before I could respond with a shrug, he shouted the name of his skill: “Spirit Dance - Ignite!”

The Scimitar adventurer’s spinning phantom blades began to glow white, igniting into fiery blades that launched straight towards me. Something was off, however, because I could not tell whether they were significantly weakened without the Reaver Moonfall’s presence or if my Stats were too high for them. I perceived each of his nine blades as if they were slowly moving laundry fluttering gently along a clothesline towards me. I readied a Power Skill, and slashed them away with the Black Blade.

“We are the Devil’s End,” he laughed triumphantly through the attack. “How does that taste!”

The dust settled and the three Heroes must have been too shocked to react to my survival.

“It must be nice,” I grinned under my helmet and kept my voice darkened like the night. Maybe I was a bit too evil and should reign it in. The anticipation of battle grew upon me like a second skin and I chuckled. I jumped and stretched for a moment as the shocked adventurer party stared at me.

“Having a Name. I wonder what that’s like.”