Stray Elf: Lost in the System

V.

We arrived at the first hour of dawn.

The slave soldiers were busy building more siege walls and ladders behind the palisades as we marched in, devouring the woods and rocks we came from. Strangely, as an elf, I thought I would be more offended over the loss of nature and vegetation but nothing moved inside my heart. Not even the shattered bodies and broken siege equipment strewn across the field between the bulwark and us affected me. Was I even human in my old life? I sighed— that just goes to show how little I knew about fantasy novels.

Our numbers were still relatively intact from the skirmish with the adventurer party and their small troop, but the higher ups only wanted to speak with Commander Ake. I stood outside and inspected the adventurer party leader’s sword. It was made for cutting beasts and hacking limbs, but came with nothing else. Yokgu made scowling faces as he did his strange war ritual.

Samuel eventually made his way next to me and joined me in the silent judgment.

“What… What is he doing?” Samuel asked. I shrugged. Yokgu beat his chest and let out a forceful growl as the yelling and screaming freely reigned over the battle.

Arrows bounced off most of the wooden stakes, but we stood clear of the walls as we waited. I was nervous from watching those siege walls being built. We were the ones who were going to push them and set ladders on the wall. Caspan fluffed up his feathers and stuck his neck up to observe the defenders. The bird man rarely spoke with actual words, but kept a militant eye on logistics.

Was he overworked and underpaid? I remembered catching him gliding between soldiers and delivering death upon our enemies. Caspan suddenly pulled Silmil to the side as an arrow landed in her spot, without any effort. The girl jumped, but moved closer to Nanishtar. Underpaid, I noted as I checked my status for alerts. Instead, only my level and stats showed. Were there no Elites in the fort?

Level 2. Slay another Elite to reach experience threshold.

CON: F

STR: C

DEX: C

INT: F

STA: D

Luck: N/A

I did not have time to be gloomy over it. Ake slithered out of the pavilion with a familiar weary look on his face: Our part in the battle was at hand. Yokgu stopped his war ritual and I remembered his words from last night. Fighting in a siege was going to be a lot more difficult, I assumed. Yet we were soldiers so we must follow orders.

“Get the walls ready!” He ordered and pointed at me. “You and Yokgu, northern path! Take a cover and get to the ladders there. Go!”

I saluted. The Tusk unit was ordered to get on the walls as fast as possible and we were the frontline. We were supposed to breach their wall, lift the gates and capture this place. Yokgu roared as I ripped a shield off the rack. It was starting to get misty, but my boots were moving before I had time to worry about it. The volleys thinned the further we were away, but I was not looking for any opportunities to play in the mud. Move it, move it, move it!

I see Yokgu’s hand point to a wheeled siege wall swollen with arrows. He mouths something, but it’s clear what to do. We were not going to lay with the bodies surrounding it, and I pushed my shoulder against its soaking rear. Yokgu slammed into the wood as well, and we both stopped to catch our breath for a moment.

“Fine day out of the Hells!” He grinned as we shoved against the wood.

“It’s like we’ve never left,” I grumbled, but I understand this was his way of dealing with nervousness. Yokgu laughs to cloak his anxiety.

“At least the sky isn’t pouring magma!”

Something told me that he meant that literally, but I heard the twang of released strings in the distance. The sky was beginning to rain arrows in scattered rhythms, but we advanced. The wall faced more resistance crunching the bodies of dead Damned soldiers than the falling arrows all around us, but thanks to my new Strength promotion I could keep up with Yokgu’s own. I was careful to not expose myself. I ditched the spear and had a shield on my back, but the sharpened points still could catch my arm through it if I blocked. The wall caught on something or someone, forcing us to bump into it. Yokgu swore.

“Shit! Do these bastards ever run out of arrows?”

“Push,” I growled, but it was no use. We were stuck in a rut of bodies and sticks. I peered through the crack of the siege wall and spotted the ladder next to a ram. Several wheeled walls lay split apart on the ground, and I realized that our own cover was groaning from the arrows slamming against its threads. “We’re going to have to ditch this piece of shit now and run for it!”

Yokgu grunted, and I dove to the ladder with my shield up. He was swearing, but I decided to put my C ranked strength stat to the limit.

“Wait up!” He called, but I shifted to the center of the ladder and moved it by myself. A few arrows collided with its posts, but none hit me. Yokgu finally caught up with me and we reached the tattered walls of the fortress, out of the firing range of the archers. I looked at the other units reaching their targets, and the numbers were not looking good.

“Help me get this on!” I told him. Yokgu grunts, but we are able to push the hulking wooden ladder into the wall. I noticed peculiar steel hooks studded along the ends of the ladder, barbed in order to force the defending soldiers on top to waste time on their attempts to push it down. I gestured to the orc to climb up, but he swore. “What, afraid of heights?”

Yokgu beat his chest and looked at me with a look of frustration, like a dog hiding its mess. I get the hint. This bastard would rather destroy a hole in the wall with his fists than using them to climb over it.

“Whatever,” I grumbled, grabbing the rough rung.

The misty air beat my face with a chilly stench as I ascended and before I knew it the orc below looked like an ant. Each rung buried itself in my palms, but only the wind shook the ladder as I began my ascent. Hopefully no one will notice me climbing up this thing. I vigilantly kept my eyes off the shrinking ground and stared up at the grey clouds above.

The sounds of swords clashing and yelling assaulted my ears as the cold stones of the tooth-shaped battlements awaited my fingers. The ladder rungs wobbled the closer I got, refusing to let me hesitate. The carnage awaited me and I had better be ready. Hell below, hell above with arrows fluttering to the earth like flocks of dying birds. I scanned the area above the top rung and realized the Damned Army already had lots of men up on the walls keeping their defenders busy.

It was time to take the gates!

The wall was wider than most hallways, littered with destroyed wooden fortifications and fallen men on both sides. A Tusk soldier grabbed my attention as soon as my feet landed on hard stone and pointed to what we were fighting for. A massive turret pulley mechanism in an open tower stood at the other end of all of those Sarwitz soldiers. I nod and together, we join the fray.

The heat of battle matched the sparks and crimson mist spraying with every swing of my sword. My Strength stat held up well, allowing me to remain tough as I cut my way through. As long as I was able to stand and fight when told, there was little else that mattered to being a soldier. As I cleaved my way through an enemy’s guard, my Status skill activated by itself. Trouble’s afoot, I growled as my skin crawled.

New objective for level up: Defeat the Crowned entity.

Crowned? I ducked under someone’s spear and slashed them down, trying to get a better look at the commotion. In the fray ahead, something was wrong. Tusk and Damned soldiers were being thrown away like leaves in a wind off the walls by something dangerous. It had to be him. As I was about to charge towards the enemy, someone was flung straight into the castle battlements beside me, followed by wreckage. After clearing my vision, I saw a bloody Samuel lying in the smashed rubble as the dust settled.

“Samuel?” I crawled over to him. I checked his pulse, and the demon boy moved a bit.

“He’s,” he coughed up blood. I checked my shoulders and noticed our forces backing up. “He’s got her.”

Luckily, Samuel was alive, but I had little time as I heard heavy footsteps thumping towards me. Turning, I beheld the threat ahead. A mountain of armor stood across from me, holding a struggling Silmil in a heavy fist by the neck. This is the Crowned enemy my Status warned me about, which meant he was much more powerful than the Elite I faced.

Shit. This situation is bad, I realized I was too far to interrupt him. Strange magic was channeling into him, and I could hear him utter words I could not understand. Human language? I looked for a way to stop him, but as I did the enemies behind me charged at me. I swore, but suddenly a gust of wind pressed against my face as someone intercepted their charge in an explosion of rocks and debris. Caspan drove them away! He signaled for me to go after the Crowned enemy or the gate mechanism, but I knew I had to move. A metal buckler clattered on the ground, and the realization struck me.

My shield! Immediately, I tore it off my back and hurled it at his arm as I ran towards him. The giant palm dropped the girl as my shield connected, but his other was following up with a smashing strike. I cursed, then slid to block his hefty blade with my sword. A shattering crash coursed through my temples and the weight of the world toppled over me. I do not know if I closed my eyes or blacked out, but his blade was intercepted by me!

So this is a Crowned enemy’s strength? I struggled to force myself out of the bind. Throughout the attack, the knight never stopped chanting in that strange language.

“Sah, Usalah!” He roared, pressuring me further. “Prah, Sah, Usalah!”

“Watch out!” Silmil screamed.

“Get the hell—“

Another blow struck my sword. Impossible! I collapsed to my knees. Both of his hands were on his massive sword! Where did this second strike come from? Before I could reach an answer, a third strike sent my world upward. I saw sky, the stone, then sky again as my body cracked apart from landing. If I could groan the last of the air in my body I would. My Status skill did not warn me of this enemy’s powers other than its name.

Was I dead? I felt colder, and a strand of my hair slapped my face. I felt blood stick to my cheek. Shit! My helmet must have flung off from that attack. My body felt broken, but I could still hear the chanting though they were distant echoes as I struggled to get up. Through my disorientated vision, he was returning slowly to Silmil and Samuel. Caspan had gone off somewhere, tearing the enemy ranks apart. The chanting continued.

“Oi!” I roared. My body felt like it was going to fall apart, but I was able to quickly stand up much to my surprise. Adrenaline coursed through my legs. If I could not defeat this opponent, I will die trying! The giant knight turned and faced me. Something shifted in my vision, and the knight split as two ghostly white figures turned to face me, standing next to him and copying his movements. Was I too far gone already? There were three of him? Those phantasmal clones had to be a part of his Skill!

With a mighty swing of his sword, the clones rushed me and copied his movement. Being afraid was not a soldier’s duty, I sprang into action. It was a gambit I had to take to save my comrades. I dodged two swift strikes from his clones, then another two as I made my way towards the edge of the castle wall while he continued his assault. Those phantom blades sliced up this casle wall’s section, and threatened to destroy me if I got hit once. Having been struck once already has resulted in my breastplate getting crumpled and the loss of my helmet. I knew I could use his strength against him, but I had to remain vigilant of his clones.

He was closing in, but thanks to my DEX Stat I could keep up and barely dodge his wicked swings. The incessant chanting, unfortunately, could not be blocked. I waited for the opening in his stance, and dove between his legs as he and his clones brought his blade down upon the cracking stones.

“Your chanting shall remain unheard,” I yelled the most intimidating thing I could think of, but I realized my own sword was glowing white. It’s light and wondrous, I marveled. So this is a Power Skill? The huge knight turned and faced me as I delivered an upper slash at his chest. My sword burst into a brilliant streak of coruscating light as I swung with my full might. After the skill’s effects wore out, the knight and both of his clones were still standing. I shrunk as I felt all three stare down at me, unmoved. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Prah! Sah! Usalah!” The Crowned Knight flashed before me, with both of his clones soon to follow. The full power of his fist slammed into my stomach three times, plunging throughout my organs, shattering bones, and ripping the light out of my eyes as I crumbled into the ground in front of Silmil.

“No!” She screamed. I lay there, unable to even process my own screams, hearing his footsteps match the thunderous pounding within my own body as he approached. They suddenly stopped, and so did Silmil. Did he kill her?

The sudden clunk of metal clanged before my vision. My own sword?

“Prah! Sah! Usalah!” The knight awaited for me to get back up with his clones. He issued me a challenge? I caught steamy breath exiting the knight’s visor, and noticed my Power Sword did wear him down slightly.

“Heh,” I could not help myself grin, through my puffed out and bruised cheeks. My gambit paid off. The Crowned Knight and his clones stomped the ground as he urged me to get up. Was it the hubris of man? Did the old me resent humans just as much as I did when I woke up on that fateful battlefield?

I gripped the sword’s hilt in my hand and summoned all of my strength to get up. All around me, men from both sides were flinging off the walls and at each other, but at this very moment I knew what to do. The wind whipped my wounds, and I was sure my breastplate was stabbing into my insides, but I was still breathing. I will not let this opportunity go to waste.

“Here I come,” I muttered, readying my Skill. The Knight chanted, but regarded my next move with an air of condescension. “Power Sword.”

I let loose the powerful glowing sword and let my arms give out as it hit its target— colliding with the ground. The Knight started to laugh and gloat, but realized the wall beneath him was cracking apart instead. It was over for him! The wall suddenly gave way and quaked beneath him, shattering and causing him and his clones to tumble into the depths below. I collapsed on my knees, leaning onto the white hot sword’s hilt for support. I chuckled at the sword, and realized how lucky I was. For once, I sighed. There was no time left to gloat. The battle was raging on, but I felt a hand on me. The other Bassalt soldiers watching our battle fled down the ramparts after realizing I was a newly christened Skill Holder.

Or maybe they had other things to worry about as massive stones were launched overhead.

“Are you alright?” Silmil’s voice gathered itself in my ears, but I was waiting for that important alert as she shook me. Something reinvigorated me and I was sure the demon girl felt it because her hand quickly pulled away. There it was! I stood up, ignoring my Status skill’s alert. Despite being covered in my own blood, my body felt lighter and fully healed. It was better than the way that human Skill Holder healed me.

“That’s the last of him. We have to get that gate,” I started, but Silmil glanced back at her brother. I corrected myself. “I will get that gate. I guess.”

My armor was crumpled, but there was no time to change out of it. Since that chanting knight was dead under that pile of rubble, the path to the gate mechanism was clear. I forced my feet to move, sword in hand still unbroken. Perhaps my Luck Stat changed. The walls were still fraught with Bassalt and Damned soldiers clashing, but I pushed my way through and stood at the massive turning wheel’s tower when no one was looking.

Chains as large as Yokgu linked together to pull the gate up, but the mechanism definitely required more than one person pushing the levers on its wheel to retract the gate open. I tested and swore. It was too heavy! I peeked outside, but obviously no one was volunteering out there while fighting for their lives. Status, I think. It was urgent, but I could not think of anything else.

Level Up Achieved. Promote three stats and gain new stat perimeters.

Three this time? Was this because I defeated the Crowned Enemy? What was that Skill? I continued the prompt.

CON: F

STR: C

DEX: C

INT: F

STA: D

Luck: N/A

If only I had any help with this skill, and stayed indoors more playing video games in my old life enough to remember what I was doing. The stats themselves were impossible to quantify, but the CON stat caught my eyes. I theorized it awhile ago, but if it was short for the word “constitution,” I knew I would need all the extra energy after taking a hit from a Crowned enemy. Does that mean vitality, or something to do with my body? I wondered if I even had the word right to begin with. I decided if promoting it meant the difference of not nearly dying after taking one hit, then it would be necessary.

I hoped it would not change the way I looked, but I closed my eyes and chose the three stats I wanted to promote. I noticed I have been assuming the stats’ acronyms, but I was correct in the two stats I promoted previously. I made my choice: Constitution for a stronger body, strength to push the gate’s mechanism, and dexterity to aid in dodging more unpredictable attacks.

CON: F now upgraded to E

STR: C now upgraded to B

DEX: C now upgraded to B

INT: F

STA: D

Luck: N/A

After I upgraded those stats, I was nervous on what B ranked Strength could look like. Would I have to be careful doing common tasks from now on? I placed my hands on the lever and let my newfound Strength do the work. I heard the mechanism click, offering some resistance at first, but slowly the massive chains started moving as I freed the lever and rotated it. The lock gave way, nearly catching my hands between its sudden gear spins as it spun like a whirl pool. The harsh grating of metal resounded, as horns from outside blasted in a terrible mix of noises.

Reinforcements were coming through the gate! I relaxed, for my job was done and the battle outside on the walls and in the courtyard were quickly turning into our favor. As I made my way out to regroup with Silmil and Samuel, the Damned Army was sweeping the place, butchering anything human. I kept my guard up if any survivors were in the area, but suddenly a hand grabbed the edge of the battlement near me from a ladder. A familiar battle cry came from behind the wall, and Yokgu lept up onto the stone ready for a fight.

“RAAAH!” He brandished his axe, while I stared at him blankly. He must have spent this whole fight struggling against his fear of heights. “Hells, you look like a bloody mess! Is… Is it over?”

“Yes,” I pointed at the carnage below. The Tusk soldiers that survived both the deadly Crowned Knight and the battle on the wall cheered for me. Yokgu looked at me oddly, questioning what I did. Before I could answer, the crowd roared something about me being a Skill Holder.

“No way,” Yokgu groaned.

Later on that night, celebrations were spreading throughout our new fortress as more of the Damned Army began to occupy its walls. There were rumors that the Hatred Army was going to be here by first light. This place was simply a beachhead, allowing for the supply lines to smoothly get food to the demon army as it spread in this country like cancer. I found myself stumbling along back to camp after drinking alone, hearing odd moans and screaming from one of the barracks. A woman’s voice seemed to gasp and moan from within. The Dios Moon was falling, shading most of whatever terrible debauchery was happening within it, but I could not help but peek inside.

The recognition struck me hard enough to sober me up. It was Nanishtar’s decadent screams. I saw her stark body in the midst of blood, many demons and other men. I pulled myself away from the shocking sight and sighed. At least she was preoccupied tonight enough to leave me alone. I made my way to a barrel to lean against after seeing the Tusk soldiers resting opposite of where the battle took place. We could sleep wherever, even amidst death filled places like here. I opened my status, hoping that leveling up would explain anything. What I found instead made me groan.

Level 3. Stat parameters not maximized yet for level up. Slay 100 enemies to acquire enough experience.

One hundred enemies? That is a cruel workload, I complained in my head. The Status skill screen shut off by itself, leaving me to my own devices to fume. I suppose if my stats were now much stronger and close to reaching their maximum power, then it would make sense. I worried if B rank was nowhere near the top, but sleep flooded my eyes quickly. I will think of what to do later.