Seeds of Discordia

Liam, Artem, Blair, and Roman jogged down a road before making a turn. Their aim was for the Dungeon Tower. They could have taken the fastest route from the Crafter’s Association, however that path was filled with monsters that poured out from the Tower. Instead of trying to fight their way through the monsters that were slowly increasing in levels and durability, Liam and the others decided to try and find a different route.

The problem was no matter what road they came across, swarms of monsters were rushing down trying to find someone to infect. That problem was starting to annoy the four. As they tried making their way finding a route with less monsters they did come across something of a pattern. After they had killed so many monsters there was a lull, a pause of sorts before more monsters started to fill the streets. The pause stretched each time it happened. Every time it did, Liam and the others tried to think about why, but couldn’t figure it out.

After the fourth time it happened they came across a street that didn’t fill with monsters. Liam was trying to remember where this street led to but didn’t need to as Eri informed them that it was a path they could take straight to the Dungeon Tower.

Artem didn’t like how empty the street was as they made their way down it. He voiced his opinion about it being a possible trap or maybe the Undead creatures were making an ambush. Liam wouldn’t lie to himself by saying he didn’t have the same thoughts, but Eri did say that this path was one they could take. If there was anything like that she would have said something…right?

After jogging halfway down the road, Liam heard a chorus of weird noises. They sounded like hoots and grunts, but a bit more gurgled. Liam’s Danger Sense suddenly flared up right in front of him, making him skid to a halt and shout while jumping back, “Back up!”

Artem, Blair, and Roman reacted at the same time as he did, making him believe his words weren’t needed. Right as they jumped back far enough, a massive object landed right where they once stood. Four other objects crashed down near the object, creating a giant dust cloud.

Liam and the others got into a defensive stance as they scanned the area. As the dust settled they got a better look at the objects that had landed in front of them. However they were not objects, but creatures. These creatures stood on two bulky legs with their backs hunched over and their long muscular arms touching the ground. They had short silver that covered ninety percent of their body. The skin that wasn’t covered in fur was a deep red. They snarled as they stared at Liam as he assessed the one right in front of him.

 

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“Possessed Zombified Infernal Silverback. 25,520/25,520 HP. 12,500/12,500 M.P. Level – 29.”

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Liam scanned the body of the Undead Gorilla creature in front of him. Some of the silver patches of fur had started the process of decaying, but it wasn’t as bad as the other monsters he had seen so far. He took a quick glance around at the other and noticed they were a bit further in the process than the one right in front of him, but not so far along that they would be easy to take down like the others.

Artem cautiously took a step forward with his shield raised as he slowly pulled Liam behind him. Roman and Blair slowly lifted their weapons up as a they got into a defensive stance while looking at the five creatures before them.

“What’s the plan Liam?” Artem asked while keeping his eyes on the foes especially the one leading them.

“I…,” Liam started to say until he heard noises coming from the rooftops.

Liam, Blair, and Roman spared a glance at the rooftops on both sides of the road while Artem kept his eyes forward.

“What’s that noise guys?” Artem questioned as he gulped, not wanting to hear the answer.

Liam felt his blood run cold as he saw lines of Zombified and Possessed Zombified Infernal Silverbacks make their presence known to the four.

“Do you really want to know?” Liam asked.

“No…not really,” Artem responded, but then surprised Liam as he stated, “I just need to know how many I need to hold back while you guys try and kill them.”

Liam felt Blair and Roman turn their gaze on the big Half-Orc, just as shocked as Liam felt.

Roman let out a manic chuckle as he turned his gaze back at the creatures closest to him. He then said half-jokingly, half-approvingly, “Of all the times to grow a spine, you choose now to say something badass.”

Blair smirked as she shook her head. She too was impressed with the resolve the man had shown. She gripped her weapon tightly in her hands and hardened her resolve as she stared at the tough looking creatures before them. If the most cowardly member of their team was ready to face monster way above their level, who was she to not respond equally to that. She felt her skin harden as the scales she normally hid took form over the areas she had no protection over.

“You may have the heart of a warrior in you yet,” Blair commented.

Liam was happy with each of their resolves. He knew he had to respond in kind as well, but the fact of the matter was, they were too strong. If there was one thing he had learned after all that had happened over the past few days, it was fight smart not stupid.

There were too many of the creatures here, they were both Undead and a lot stronger than normal. This situation wasn’t similar to the fight against the Hubristic Arisen Lich. That fight he had his whole team and three other teams to help out. Also to note, they might have been outnumbered and out leveled then as well, but the dungeon had a small bit of protection that hindered both the strength and level of the boss monster and its minions. Out here nothing was hindering this monsters besides time and the Toxo’s venom decaying through the monsters bodies.

Taking in all of that into account it would be smarter to run away. However, he wasn’t sure if running away was a safe choice either. He didn’t know their speed or how far they could jump. Could they throw stuff at them, and it not take them out? what about magic? They had mana which indicated they could use spells. All of these questions swirled as he internal fought with himself to make a decision.

Fight, a voice faintly whispered.

Liam whirled around to see if he could find the owner of the voice. No one was behind him. He could have sworn it came from behind him, but there was no one there.

Kill them. the voice faintly whispered again.

It sounded like it tickled the edge of his right ear, which made him twitch his head in that direction. The only person who was there was Roman. He knew the voice didn’t come from him.

Roman noticed Liam’s jerky movements as well as the confused look on his face. He turned his face just enough to look at him while still keeping the agitated snarly Undead gorillas in sight. “What’s wrong Liam?”

“I…I’m not sure…,” Liam started to say until Artem asked again, “What are we doing? I need to know if we’re standing our ground or not.”

Liam went to open his mouth but then felt several vibrations coming from his pocket. Liam was confused as to why his Web Watch was suddenly vibrating so much at a time like this but didn’t get long to think about it as Artem shouted, “Incoming!”

Liam snapped his head up to see the leading Possessed Zombified Infernal Silverback let out a loud roar before pushing off its back feet and straight form them.

“Shit!” Liam cursed as he went to grab as many of his throwing daggers as he could. He didn’t know if he could accurately throw them all in one go, but he didn’t care. He was in survival mode.

His actions proved to be not needed as a new figure suddenly appeared before Artem and spun their body around swiftly and powerfully while extending their leg out in a round house kick. The force of the kick was powerful enough to make the creature fly sideways and crash into the building to their left.

Liam’s eyes widened as he got a good look at the woman who had appeared out of nowhere. Although he had only seen the leather armor and the bestial half mask a couple of times, he knew who it belonged to. It was Midnight Claw. The only thing that was different this time were the claw like fist weapons she wore on her hands.

He then heard a high pitch wail come from the roof top to their right. He turned just in time to see the heads of the monsters up there explode as Cryptic Wing fly quickly over them. He looked at the rooftops on his left side to see two figures fighting together, tearing through the Undead Gorillas with a bit more trouble than the other two, but a lot easier than if Liam and his friends had fought them.

Liam turned his gaze back on the fight that was happening before them. The ease the woman had against these level twenty nines and twenty eights. While they were probably really low leveled compared to her, Cryptic Wing and the other two Fiddler Spider Web members fighting, they were still stronger compared to Liam and his three companions.

Midnight Claw killed one of the Undead Gorillas, causing the others to hesitate before making a move at her. She took this time to turn her head to look at Liam and the others and shouted, “What are you waiting for? Get to a safe place now!”

Artem, Blair, and Roman turned to look at Liam. Liam nodded and started to move. However, instead of back tracking he ran straight forward. The area was clear now that Midnight Claw and the others were taking care of them.

Midnight Claw had started to look back at the monsters who were starting to get their fear under control. She then snapped it back as she saw the four suddenly run past to her in the opposite direction she wanted them to go. “Not that way!” She yelled out. She was about to reach out to them but had to stop as the group of Zombified Infernal Silverbacks charged her at once.

Liam kept an eye on his surroundings as he raced forward. He knew the opening might not last long. He knew who these people were, but since he didn’t have his Spirit Weave ability activated they didn’t know who he was. Even if they did know, he wasn’t sure they would allow him to continue since the stronger monsters were starting to appear.

As they ran he heard Roman mutter, “Damn. Who were those guys? They seem badass!”

Liam smirked for a brief moment. He was about to reply but stopped as he heard something he didn’t think he would ever hear come from Blair.

“Maybe wearing a skull helmet isn’t so bad.”

Liam saw the smile on her face as they ran. He had kind of forgotten that Blair was against the skull helmet at first as well as any equipment that followed the fashion. Maybe after seeing Midnight Claw and her mask she felt it wasn’t that bad of a thing.

They ran the rest of the way to their destination in silence. He could hear Artem breathing heavily as they tried to keep the same pace. He slowed down a bit to help the big man keep up and not fall behind.

As they started getting closer to their destination, Liam asked, “Do you guys need a Stamina Potion?”

“Yeah,” Artem quickly replied as they slowed to a crawl.

Liam passed out some potions to everyone so they could replenish what they needed. After they did that they jogged lightly trying not to tire themselves out before they reached the Tower.

It didn’t take them long to make it close enough for them to see the stairs that lead up to the Dungeon Tower. As they approached it, they got a better view of the state of the building. There were holes scattered along the bottom and second floor of the Tower. Holes big enough for the taller or heftier monsters to make it through. As Liam stared at it he realized the monsters that had been coming out so far were only from the two floors. From what he could tell, the dungeons on the other floors hadn’t broken yet.

Liam, Artem, Blair, and Roman came to a stop not too far from the bottom of the stairs. Even though they didn’t see anyone or any creatures they could feel some powerful beings close by. It didn’t take long for them to know where the powerful auras was coming from.

“I must say that I am thoroughly surprised to see people have made it here so soon,” a voice called out.

Ten figures suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs and looked down at Liam and the others. Each were taking the form of a Beast-kin. There were two Male Lion-folk, a female and male Wolf-folk, two male Cat-folks, two Bear-folks, and two female Weasel-folks.

Liam subconsciously sneered as he looked at the Weasel-folks.

“However, I am more surprised beings as weak as you four made it here,” the female Wolf-folk stated as she looked at them with slight amusement in her voice.

“I’m surprised you guys are still using Illusion Magic to hide your true forms,” Liam stated.

Artem, Blair, and Roman side eyes Liam with a raised brow, not understanding what he meant. Their confusion grew even more as each of the Beast-kins narrowed their eyes on him. The female Wolf-folk asked cautiously, “Whatever do you mean? I don’t see any reason why we would need to disguise…”

“Are you serious?” Liam asked with a raised brow. “How long do you plan on keeping up the charade?”

The female wolf-folk’s face turned into a frown. “You’re right. It’s probably way past the point of us keeping this up. However, I want to know…how did you know? You don’t seem strong enough to sense Illusion Magic of our level.”

“You’re right that I’m not that good,” Liam started. “Besides the fact that all of you are out here just standing there while everyone else is fighting to save the island, there was a single reason as to why I knew at least one of you were using Illusion magic to disguise yourself.”

“Oh?” the woman questioned. “And pray tell what that reason was?”

Liam pointed to the man standing at the very end of their line on his left. Everyone turned to look at him. He looked back at his companions, untucked his arms and stated, “Don’t look at me. I’ve never met this guy before.”

“We’ve met before Zareth,” Liam started. His straight expression turned into an amused grin as he remember the man’s real name and added, “Or should I say Falith.”  

Falith snarled at Liam as he narrowed his eyes and glared at him. “How do you know that name?”

“Let’s just say that someone in your ranks let your name slip while around me,” Liam responded. “To clarify though, we didn’t meet in the traditional sense. In fact you really didn’t know I was there. However you did have a strange sense when I was hiding behind you while trying to leave the Teleportation Tree.”

Falith’s eyes scrunched a bit as he tried to process what Liam had said. He muttered to himself for a few seconds before realization hit him. “You’re the fucking heretic I kept sensing behind me that night. You’re the one who’s committed the Great Sin!”

The rest of the Beast-kins in disguise snapped their gaze on Liam. Power suddenly surged from all around them as the Illusion Magic that was disguising their true forms started to dissipate. After it had completely disappeared Liam, Artem, Blair, and Roman got a better look at their true forms.

Three males and one of the females had turned into Oni’s. Their muscular bodies looking menacing with the little amount of armor on their bodies. Their sharp horns on their heads protruded up towards the sky. A couple of the males had turned into Incubuses wearing tight leather armor and brandishing twin swords.

The two female Weasel-folks didn’t change in height, but instead their skin lost the fur while turning smooth and purple. Small horns that barely poked out from their foreheads, tiny wings were stretched out as far as they could go. To Liam they looked like a much better looking version of those bald ugly fire imps from earlier. Although he still didn’t know what their races was.

 The last two males, the ones that were disguised as Bear-folks stood tall and almost as muscular as the Onis. The difference between the two were these guys didn’t have horns but instead had an extra pair of arms and hands. Their skin was also blue as well.

“This man needs to be killed,” Falith, who was disguised as a Lion-folk, but now revealed as one of the three male Onis snarled.

“Wait a second,” one of the female imp-looking people called out. Her voice was not what Liam had expected. It had some of the feminine qualities to it, but at the same time it was so gruff that he had a hard time processing she was actually a woman.

The other Demon-kins turned to look at the Imp woman and gave her vicious questioning eyes. the look reminded Liam of someone who wanted to go on a rampage but was stopped because someone had a dumb question.

“I think he is one of the targets we’ve been looking for,” the Imp woman continued as she winced from their stares.

“Which one?” the Oni female asked as she looked back at Liam.

“The one that kept giving us the slip,” the Imp woman replied.

“You’ve had run ins with these guys?” Blair questioned as the Demon-kins talked to each other.

“Not all of them. just a couple,” Liam stated while keeping his eyes on the enemies. “Let’s just say these are cultist bastards that worship the Seven Immoral Vices.”

“Like that Lich asshole?” Roman suddenly asked, a bit too loud.

The ten Demon-kins snapped their focus onto Roman as soon as they heard him say that.

Blair reached around Liam and smacked Roman behind his head making him flinch and rub the spot while asking, “What was that for?”

“What was that about a Lich?” the Oni woman questioned.

“Don’t worry about it,” Liam stated. “It’s on a need to know basis and you don’t need to know.”

“You know, you’re awfully cocky for someone so weak,” Falith stated as he glowered at Liam.

“I’ve been told that before,” Liam smirked right at the man. He knew his attitude could get him killed, however, before the Demon-kin revealed their true forms he received confirmation that no matter what happened, he wouldn’t get hurt.

Falith took a step forward but was stopped as the Oni male right next to him gripped his arm and said, “Stop. A new wave is about to commence.” The man then looked at Liam and stated, “Too bad. We could have offered you and your friends safety since your future skills were deemed necessary. However, the fact you have committed a great sin, and your attitude has led us to decide that you are better off dead.”

“You know,” Liam started up again. “I still don’t understand what this Great Sin is you damn cultists keep saying. What Sin have I committed?”

The Oni man gave Liam a wicked grin as he answered, “Don’t worry about it. Like you said earlier, it’s on a need to know basis and you don’t need to know.”

Liam frowned at the man, but before he could say anything else, several loud roars and screams came from the Dungeon Tower. The ground suddenly rumbled as a part of the wall on the third floor suddenly exploded. A giant King Cobra like monster stared down at them as it let out a menacing hiss. The ten Demon-kins stood stoically as a wave of monsters suddenly poured out from the destroyed building entrance and ran past them towards Liam and the others. The giant snake Monster coiled up right before it lunged out of the building.

The ten Demon-kins let out a chorus of devilish laughter as a couple of the taller monsters took to the front of the pack and jumped towards Liam and his crew. Artem readied his shield as Roman tensed up with his fists in front of him. Blair lifted her weapon over her shoulder and got into a stance that would allow her to swing her weapon down hard and fast.

However, right before the tall monsters reached their targets, a small body suddenly appeared right in front of Liam with a long katana like sword. Liam was surprised, not because of the man’s sudden appearance, but the fact he was already sheathing his weapon as his feet touched the ground. The heads of the two monsters still in midair suddenly slid right off their bodies, killing them.

Artem’s eyes widened as he watched the giant Cobra snake monster was suddenly gripped mid-air by a fifteen foot bird with white as snow feathers all over its body except for the golden ones that rounded her face. The massive bird let out a  terrifying screech as she dug her talons right into the snake. A swarm of small versions of this owl dove in, clawing and distracting the monsters swarming out as black inky spiders engulfed them from below.

A fog of poison rolled over a group of monsters that tried to run towards the back of the building on the left side. A black and dark purple scaled snake with neon green spikes running down its back and similar eyes struck out of the poisonous cloud and dragged her victims inside. The creatures that were able to escape from the cloud only made two steps before their bodies rotted away completely, leaving nothing behind.

Liam grinned widely as he watched the smug look on the Demon-kins faces turn into confusion and then horror as they realized what was going on.

That’s right motherfuckers. You’re all fucked now.