Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (12 page)

As the body of the Witch started to fade away, it left behind two items.

Right after he collected his loot, Smoke leapt up and glided towards the irregularly shaped black dome of miasma. From up in the sky, he saw the dome begin to break.
A frightening sight greeted him when the black dome collapsed entirely. Rudel, the normal Centaurs, and the mutated Centaurs all disappeared.
In their place, twenty unconscious Tikbalangs laid down on the ground and a single monster that looked like a Tikbalang but it had two massive bat-like wings.
The winged Tikbalang was the first one to come to. Adder, Ichaival, Espion, Laernea, and the four adolescent durcules beetle gathered around Smoke as they prepared for their worst battle yet.
It stood at a full height of three-meters. The monster groggily walked over to the DarkElf. "Smoke, what happened? Did I save them?"
Smoke's eyes widened in astonishment. "Rudel?"
"Yeah? What's wrong? Do I have dirt on my face or something?" asked Rudel in his new monstrous appearance.
 

Smoke and his private army members cautiously watched twenty newly transformed Tikbalangs still lying motionless on the ground. A few seconds later, some of the transformed monsters began to move and regain their consciousness.
He saw Rudel horridly examining his new winged Tikbalang form. Each wing had sharp ivory nails sticking out on top. Rudel's black gigantic bat-like wings covered his entire body. The transformed Rudel expanded his monstrous wings which made Laernea shriek in terror.
He felt Rudel's unease as the winged Tikbalang kept searching for his missing horse half. Instead of hooves, Rudel grew a pair of abnormally long and muscular Human feet. Instead of hands, Rudel had parted hooves attached to disproportionately long arms.
"Neeeeeiiiiiiiiggghhhhhhhh! Huh? Smoke, what happened?" Smoke's heart ached when he heard the mutated Rudel's question. "What did that Witch do to me? Tell me this isn't real!"
Smoke remained silent. He couldn't find the words to comfort the transformed Rudel. Slowly, the winged Tikbalang stepped outside of the casting circle that the evil Witch Terrabelle created before Smoke killed her.
The moment Rudel stepped outside, Smoke saw the awakened Tikbalangs running towards their direction. "Rudel, behind you!" Smoke cried out.
Smoke took out his power chainsaw bow and began firing at the charging monsters. Ichaival and Laernea followed their leader and attacked the monsters with their fire arrows enchanted by Igniz. Adder and Espion equipped their melee weapons and waited for the monsters to get within their reach.
They faced twenty Tikbalangs against only five of Smoke's private army. With the odds stacked against them, Smoke and his men prepared for the worst.
Yet, a strange thing happened. The rampaging Tikbalangs disappeared when a cloud of dust erupted inside the casting circle. The earth trembled hard. Smoke unequipped his power chainsaw bow and reflexively pushed his private army members further away from the casting circle.
After the ground stopped shaking and the dust finally settled, Smoke saw a black winged Tikbalang flying above the casting circle. The transformed Rudel used his Earth Manipulation and created a pit so deep that the Tikbalangs could not get out of it.
Smoke watched Rudel fly down and land next to him. "How did you do that? I thought you couldn't use your Earth Manipulation ability here?" He asked.
"Same here. I just saw the Tikbalangs coming and I knew that I should do something. The next thing I knew I was flying over them and the ground responded to my will of creating a pit designed to capture them."
"Maybe you inherited Terabelle's Earth Manipulation when you smashed the black orb?" Smoke thought out loud. He intentionally left out the part of Rudel's transformation into a winged Tikbalang.
"Maybe. But we have to do something about these Tikbalangs. I'm afraid that they could escape and hurt the ordinary residents of Pferde."
Smoke remembered the rare hand accessory that he looted from Terrabelle, the Horse Ring of Domination. He quickly took out from his backpack window and examined it.

The Horse Ring of Domination looked like a simple item but its passive bonuses alone gave Smoke a great increase in his Earth Manipulation ability. It boosted his Earth Affinity to 90%
'I've got to try this out.'
Without a word, Smoke equipped the Horse Ring of Domination. He then stood in front of the pit with the Tikbalangs inside it. He raised both his arms. The ground on top of the pit began to shake once more.
Swiftly, he joined his hands together. CRAAACCCKKKK! He created a resounding noise when his hands connected. Earth bars came out from the top of the pit and formed a prison over the Tikbalangs.
'Now to try out its active ability.'
"Rudel, I think I can do something about the Tikbalangs."
Smoke ran on top of the earth bars, which surprised his private army members. "Smoke, what in Cuezaltzin's name are you doing?" Laernea cried out in fear. "Get out of there. You don't know if those things you made can hold you! Or worse, the Tikbalangs could grab you!"
Once he got to the center of the pit, he made the earth bars separate and dive down to the bottom of the pit. He then turned around and faced his party members.
He waved goodbye to his party members as he dove into the pit. Igniz swiftly followed after him. Smoke thought he heard everyone gasped when he jumped down. THUD! He landed smoothly with the aid of his Hooded Cloak, Wings of Cologus.
Igniz automatically released more of his luminescence and lit up the place. Twenty Tikbalangs which were three meter tall gathered around the earth-formed funnel. The monsters began bashing their hooves into the earth bar as they tried to get to Smoke.
Dust scattered everywhere as the monsters surrounded him and kept on smashing into the earth bars. He checked his mana bar and saw that he still had (102,031/214,593 MP) left.
The DarkElf raised his right hand, which had the Horse Ring of Domination. He pointed it to the nearest Tikbalang in front of him and activated the Tikbalang Dominate ability.
The Tikbalang head embedded on the Horse Ring of Domination glowed with an emerald light. A similar emerald color glowed in the targeted Tikbalang's eyes.

"Neeeeiigggh! Master I obey..."
The three-meter Tikbalang bowed down. Its Human knees bent on the ground while its lengthy hooves gave it an awkward posture. The Tikbalang's name and life bar displayed above its head changed from red to green.
A smug smile appeared on Smoke's face. A thrill of excitement overcame him as he imagined an army of twenty Tikbalangs. He already had three Maneators at home.
'If I could raise these guys' levels close to 300, then facing Duke Burmistrz will become a reality.'
Smoke pointed to the Tikbalang beside his dominated monster and used his Tikbalang Dominate ability again.
The Tikbalang head embeded on his ring glowed an emerald color once more, but this time the targeted Tikbalang's eyes glowed a fierce ruby color.

"What the hell!"
Smoke knew that there were three attributes that controlled the Horse Ring of Domination's success, but he thought that since he had two out of the three, he would have better odds.
He used the ring's active ability until he ran out of Mana. He got fifteen Tikbalangs on the first run and waited until he got 5,000 MP to use the ability again.
Two minutes passed and he saw Rudel fly in after him. "Laernea sent me down to check on you. Although I said that I didn't hear any sounds of fighting, she still insisted."
"Just give me five more minutes. Hmmm... maybe more, and I'll have all twenty Tikbalangs under control."
"You can control them? Are they sane like me?" Rudel asked.
"Umm... You'll have to see for yourself." Smoke pointed to a kneeling Tikbalang nearby. He motioned for Rudel to try and talk to it, while he waited for his MP to regenerate.
Rudel sat down in front of the kneeling Tikbalang. His bat-like wings folded neatly but the sharp ivory claws remained protruded.
Smoke could tell that the controlled Tikbalangs were mindless drones. He didn't wish for such a tragedy to befall on the noble Centaurs, but at least if he could control them he could redirect the carnage these monsters were capable of.
When he saw Rudel's reaction, he knew that the winged Tikbalang came to the same realization. "If it's any consolation, I think we could still reverse the Witches' curse if we have all three of their blood vials." Smoke said reassuringly.
"Personally, I'm not an optimist but this time I'll gamble on hoping for that cure." Rudel uttered the words with conviction before he flew out of the earth funnel that Smoke had built.
After ten more minutes, Smoke finally dominated all twenty Tikbalangs. He ran out of Mana and it would take him another ten minutes to regain enough Mana to manipulate the ground to elevate them upwards.
So, he ordered his platoon of Tikbalangs to climb up the funnel as he opened four doors from the earth bars. Smoke climbed out first as his Tikbalangs followed. One by one the controlled Tikbalangs climbed out of the earth funnel.
Smoke stood in front of his twenty Tikbalangs. His party members stood in a daze as they watched him command the monsters. He told them to stand guard and attack any enemies of the Centaurs.
He then gave out the order to his party members to head for Deropa's house. He needed to talk to Pferde's village elder. Rudel decided to stay behind. He didn't want his people to see his transformation.
The DarkElf could sense Rudel's inner turmoil and decided to do something about it.
"Rudel, I've never done this before, but I would like to ask you if you could honor me by being a part of my private army?"
"What? You want me to join you even after I've transformed? What if I go berserk and lose control of my senses?"
Smoke extended his right hand and waited for Rudel to shake it.
"I have complete faith in you. I know that your willpower is stronger than any of the Witches' spells. As a sign of my trust, I'm gonna loan you this Horse Ring of Domination."
Smoke took off his newly acquired item and gave it to Rudel, but the winged Tikbalang pushed Smoke's hand away.
"No! I can't accept that. Don't you need that to manipulate the ground in this area?"
"You're right, but this is just a loan. I have something special in mind for you. If you're willing to be a part of my private army."
The winged Tikbalang bowed down before Smoke.
"I would be honored to be a part of your private army, but I have one condition. While I am in this form please stop calling me as Rudel. Until my curse is removed, I shall be called Ledur."
"No problem with me."

As Smoke read Ledur's information window, he could barely contain his excitement. This winged Tikbalang had the highest level out of all his private army members.
He wondered if Ledur's level was already that high when he was still in his Volataur form. He dismissed the thought immediately.Otherwise how could he have stood a chance against him at Earth Manipulation?
 

* * * * * * 

Back inside the village, Smoke felt the villagers' eyes carefully observing him from inside their homes. He gave them a wave and a smile but it didn't help alleviate the dire situation.
He briskly walked towards Deropa's house. He knocked three times before he heard the old Volataur call him inside. Due to the sensitive topic, he asked his private army members to stay behind.
He only allowed Igniz to follow him inside.
"So, what exactly happened? I tried calling my Centaur Warriors but I couldn't reach any of them. Except for Rudel, and he doesn't accept my call."
"Well you see..." Smoke told Deropa their entire arduous battle with Terrabelle. If Rudel and the Centaur Warriors didn't sacrifice themselves then even more innocent villagers would have been hurt by the mutated Centaurs' rampage.
It took a while for Deropa to absorb all the disconcerting information. He kept pacing around with his cane inside his wooden house so much that Smoke felt the wooden floor could give out at any given moment.
Steadily, Smoke noticed that Deropa's pacing slowed down. Until he finally stopped.
"So? What do I do now? Those Centaur Warriors were our last line of defense. If the other two Witches come after Pferde we're done for. I don't want to be the Elder who goes down in history as the one that lost Pferde."
Smoke understood the burdens of being a leader. Personally, his top priority was always the survival of his people. So, he gave Deropa his unsolicited advice.
"If you stay in Pferde, you will only be putting your villagers in harm's way. How about the Simiavulgs? Do you think they would be willing to help you?"
"I doubt that they would be willing to help us. I don't have any qualms with them but our villages have always kept to themselves."
Due to his habit, Smoke ruffled his head as he pondered on for answers. He did this action to show Deropa that he did not have any plans in advance.
Yet the reality was that he had been holding on to this idea from the beginning. He just didn't know how Deropa would take it.
"What about if you migrate?"
"Migrate? And where do you propose do we do that? We've been here for hundreds of years." Deropa spoke with uncertainty.
Right from the start, the goal of Smoke's journey to the western part of the Wysteria continent were two things. First was to hunt down the Witches of Wysteria and second was to recruit citizens for Verbrannt.
"I know that, but you have to consider the condition that Pferde is in. It would take years to completely rehabilitate this place."
"Then where do we go?"
"I'm thinking that if we need to move somewhere far. There's a village called Condortl just past Mount Aeriloc and they're in a similar situation." Smoke began cautiously. "I was thinking that your two villages could migrate together. Traveling in numbers does slow a group down but it also gives better protection."
Deropa slowly walked with his cane to a chair and sat down.
"I guess migrating with another village sounds better. It will help my villagers understand just how dangerous this place has become. But you still haven't answered my question. Where do you propose we migrate to?"
"There's a prospering village just outside of Coatl. It's called Verbrannt. My friend Sierra runs that place. It's currently focusing on its defensive power. So you can be sure that your villagers will be safe there. I'm sure they will give you a seat at the village council when join them there as well."
Smoke saw Deropa nod with relief. His Charisma was only at 34 but his intimacy with Deropa compensated for it. He had convinced Pferde's elder.
Before Smoke left Deropa's house he had to tell him about the individuals he planned on guarding them for their journey to Verbrannt.
"I'll have Adder join you. He is my second in command in the private army. He will lead you to Condortl as he will tell them of my plan for their migration."
Deropa passively nodded until Smoke went on to say.
"Just one more thing. The Tikbalangs were Terrabelle's creation but twenty of these monsters are now under my control. Their leader is a winged Tikbalang named Ledur."
He instantly saw Deropa's relieved face turn into a horrified Volataur.
"Don't worry you'll like Ledur. I promise..."