Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (2 page)

His private army divided themselves among Espion, Weise, Rasant, and Stark. Their voices grew louder as they talked about their adventures inside the labyrinth in more detail.
Smoke's original members also shared their stories and adventures before their four latest brethren joined their ranks. Their family had now grown to be fifteen members strong.

* * * * * * 

Their militia members had been reduced to one-thousand-and-eighty men. Sierra had asked Smoke to take charge of the entire battalion, which he gladly accepted.
Smoke divided the militia to serve under his private army members. All except for the three Maneators. Even if the three of them were friendly, the militia members were still afraid of burly Maneators.
As the Beggar Evocati readied himself to leave for Coatl, Smoke handed him a letter addressed to Madam Dawney. It stated his deepest regret over what happened to Ental, the hell boar that he rode for the mounted race.
Caid assured Smoke to express his sincere apology to the retired adventurer. The Beggar Evocati left for Coatl city shortly after. He went back to gather more information. Caid also told Smoke that he will send the information via the Beggar Tablet.
Sierra immediately started to test the one-hundred-ninety Zectian Knights and the four-hundred-ten Sonstwelter Knights that had joined them in the previous battle.
She had each one of them form a line and step into the 'interrogation room' that Caid had prepared for them. The Beggar Evocati assigned a Light Wizard named Baldaquin to control the casting circle.
They were grilled with a series of questions. They were asked with questions like 'are you a spy?','have you disclosed the location of Verbrannt castle?', 'have you posted this information anywhere outside of Zectas?'.
Fortunately, all of Knights passed. None of them were currently working for the Duke and had no immediate intentions of doing so. Smoke had asked Caid if he had found the ability tome 'Circle of Truth and Intent', but sadly he wasn't able to.
When all of the Knights were done with their inquisition, Sierra had them all gathered in front of the Verbrannt castle's main doors.
Smoke and his private army stood in front of all the six-hundred Knights. The gathered Knights recalled the impressive battle prowess that Smoke and his men had shown in their last battle, but his performance was still overshadowed by the three massive legendary monsters in his private army.
Most of them had only heard about the Maneators and had never seen one, but Smoke had three of them as his companions.
Sierra stood in front and was about to offer them the contract of becoming a member of the guild, but most of the Knights there already belonged to a guild.
Mamelon, the Aqua Knight, spoke in behalf of those who had undergone the test.
"More than half of us are willing to change guilds, but there are those who cannot leave their current guild. I'm afraid that we have to refuse your offer. All of us still plan on seeing this revolution against Duke Burmistrz's tyranny, and I can only offer to make a guild alliance with you."
As the Aqua Knight spoke, she kept on looking around for Ilad, Smoke's undercover persona, among his men.
"We only have three groups who wish to remain in their guilds. There's our guild the Confiance, then there's Espoir Guild, and lastly the Fidelite Guild."
Sierra stepped forward and replied to the entire crowd.
"I understand your concerns. Then allow us to draft another guild contract and a guild alliance contract, but first I need all of you to sign this confidentiality agreement. It just states that you can't disclose the location of Verbrannt castle to anyone. Breaking this rule kills you and if you're a Sonstwelter it will reduce your level by 75%. After signing the confidentiality agreement, please feel free to roam around Verbrannt Village. Our battalion commanders will show you the locations where you can put up shops or homes that you can actually own. Also, the castle is still strictly off limits until you have joined the guild. Thank you."
The red werebear smiled as she delivered her threat together with a reward. It was her retention plan for the potential guild members. She thought that they might fight better for their cause if they had something at stake as well.
All the Knights were shocked by such strict conditions. Nonetheless, it was rare to be given a property in Zectas. All of them signed the confidentiality agreement because they understood the risks involved and knew what was at stake.
Sierra was happy with the turn of events. She had sent Gandiva over to Centeo City to acquire a Guildium. It was a stone needed to create a guild.
The Guildium records all the guild's history. It documents the guild's members, assets, earnings, contracts, alliances, and everything else involved in a guild.
Centeo city was north of Coatl and required a week to travel back and forth. Sierra planned to have the Knights acquainted with the residences, and finish their homes and shops by then.
Sierra asked Sharur, Jinggu, Sharanga, Ichaival, Thyrsus, and Vijaya to guide the Knights around Verbrannt and point them out to the designated areas where they could put up their homes or businesses.
As the multitude of assorted Knights were about to leave, Mamelon managed to get close enough to Smoke and introduced herself to him.
"Hi, my name is Mamelon. Let me just say that this is really an amazing thing that you're doing for these people and I hope that when we do conquer Coatl you remember all of those who helped."
Smoke wanted to walk away, but Mamelon had been already shaking his hand.
"Of course, the rewards will be according to the efforts and accomplishments shown by each individual. Please excuse me, you can talk to Sierra for more information about that matter."
He tried to let go of her hand, but she still held on firmly.
"There was one more thing. I haven't seen Ilad around. I was wondering where he was?"
"I sent him on a special assignment. I don't know when he'll be back."
Mamelon looked sad when she heard the news.
"He didn't accept my friend request so I couldn't call him. Can you please tell him that I'm looking for him. You know, when you get a chance to talk to him?"
Smoke nodded and forcibly freed his hand from hers.
"I'll pass on the message, but you should talk to Sierra about that as well."
Smoke hurriedly escaped into the castle.
 

* * * * * * 

Smoke had decided to head back to the labyrinth and create his fourth Maneator. Together with Sierra and a select group of his private army members along with their battalions.
The members of the labyrinth expedition were Smoke, Sierra, Ichaival, Laernea, and Espion along with four-hundred-seventy-five militia members.
Adder was left in charge to take care of the residents and the Knights in Verbrannt. He had Thyrsus, Sharanga, and Vijaya to assist him.
Sharur and Jinggu were ordered to create a canal that could channel the river towards Verbrannt. The OrkElves had the Maneators; Weise, Rasant, and Stark to assist them. They also had two-hundred militia members to help them out.
With the people in Verbrannt all occupied with their own tasks. Smoke and his expedition party headed out. As they headed towards the secret exit, they made sure that none of the Knights followed them.
As a precautionary measure they headed in the opposite direction of the labyrinth's exit when they left the Verbrannt castle grounds.
After forty-five minutes they reached a structure that looked like a small hill which was covered by thick trees. Smoke stopped and directed some men to push the hanging roots aside.
An entrance with a diameter of ten feet was revealed. He ordered his men to hold the roots in place while the rest of the men entered. It looked more like an entrance to a cave from a quick glance.
As they traveled further inside, the floor and walls revealed a smooth and white marble stone. Igniz lit up the torches that some of the militia members were carrying as well as enhanced their weapons with Fire.
Smoke led the way with Igniz hovering around him. He asked the men to prepare themselves, when he saw the piled up skeletons.
These were the skeleton monsters that guarded the tunnel connected to the mausoleum and the labyrinth's exit. When they left the labyrinth they only encountered level 70 to 80 skeleton warriors, but now there were level 80 to 90 skeleton archers, and level 90 to 110 skeleton mages.
The skeleton warriors were easy to deal with. Their sluggish movements made them easy targets to the militia members. Smoke had thought about using the labyrinth as their own special dungeon to raise the level of their militia.
However, the new skeleton archers and skeleton mages proved to be formidable monsters against their militia members. Smoke immediately ordered his commanders to hunt down the ranged skeleton monsters.
He had an ominous suspicion as soon as he saw the new skeleton monsters. He ordered Espion to join him in front. Together they swiftly headed towards the tunnel's exit.
Sierra remained behind and took command of the militia members. Their militia members varied from levels 65 to 80 which gave them a decent experience from the skeleton monsters.
Smoke stopped when he reached the tunnel's exit. Slowly, he took a peek and found four massive boulders were at the center of the chamber.
From Smoke's fight with Dasende, he had learned that those boulders were the dormant forms of the gigantic krampus guarding the exit of the labyrinth.
Those monsters would awaken if they entered within the krampus' range. His suspicion was confirmed when he saw the four dormant krampus laying there.
Andrais, the great sphinx who guarded the labyrinth's treasure room, told him that the labyrinth upgrades its difficulty whenever there is someone who leaves with its treasures.
The new skeleton monsters and the increased guardian krampus were the labyrinth's way of protecting itself. To prevent the the same level of intruders who had previously entered.
On their way back to Sierra and the militia, Smoke found it strange that the krampus guardian had been increased to four but the skeleton monsters were only added with archers and mages.
As Smoke was lost in his thoughts, he heard someone's yell.
"Smoke! Aim for the skeleton knight! It seems to be the boss of this mausoleum!" shouted Sierra over to him as soon as she spotted it.
The seven foot skeleton knight kept on bashing the shields of the militia. Sierra, Ichaival, and Laernea had damaged the monster which revealed its name and life bar. Loueric (210,187/300,000 HP).
The skeleton knight had enough of the werebear's attacks and ran away from Sierra and the commanders. As it ran, it kept on attacking the lower level militia.
Loueric had an impressive life bar, but its weakness against Fire proved to be a fatal flaw. Smoke instantly equipped his power chainsaw bow and attacked the skeleton knight with his fire arrows.
+ Attack hit skeleton knight: Loueric. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 6,143.
A torrent of fire arrows came all at once, and lit up the skeleton knight. The militia members did their best to move out of the way. They held their shields in front of them, and blocked the incoming attacks of the skeleton knight.
Loueric was aggravated by Smoke's damage. As soon as the skeleton knight saw that it was a lone DarkElf who was the source of the fire arrows, it immediately charged towards him.
Espion ran in front of Smoke and met the skeleton knight head on. The skeleton knight pulled back its right elbow as it prepared to lunge its sword against the young Spy.
Smoke never ceased his fire arrows as Espion ran in front of him. They used the attack pattern where Espion stayed low, close to the ground on his left side, while he kept on with his head shots and right upper body attacks.
With the green dual knives out, Espion expertly parried the Loueric's sword thrust and ran the dual knives against the skeleton knight's blade.
The young Spy dodged the skeleton knight and was directly behind him. Espion immediately started to attack the skeleton knight's back.
Loueric's focus was on the Espion which made him turn around to face the young Spy.
+ Attack hit skeleton knight: Loueric. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 9,114.
Five more arrows struck Loueric's back and extinguished the last HP of the skeleton knight's life bar.

As the body of the skeleton knight faded, it dropped a rare loot.

Smoke hurriedly checked the skull helm.

He then ordered everyone to quickly gather the loot. There were mostly ragged clothes, but there were also the occasional weapons such as round shields, composite bows, and wind rods.
After they collected all the loot, Smoke asked everyone to camp outside of the mausoleum and have a quick meal. He wanted to check how long it would take for the skeletons to respawn.
As each platoon began to make their meals, Smoke asked Sierra to join him to somewhere more private. He had something important to tell her. Laernea watched intently as Smoke and Sierra walked into the forest.
Smoke started with what he discovered at the exit of the labyrinth.
"Listen, I know that this was my idea to make the labyrinth into our personal special dungeon, but we shouldn't move further into the tunnel. Do you remember the four meter krampus that I was talking about? Well, they've increased the guards to four. There's no way we could take on those monsters as we are now."
"But do you think it would be safe to continue hunting just inside the mausoleum?"
"I think it's a safe bet. We really do need all those equipment. If only we had mages and archers who could use the rods and bows."
Sierra smirked when she heard Smoke's concerns.
"Don't worry about the bows. I already have a plan on how to use those."
Smoke looked puzzled as he had no idea what Sierra was talking about.
"Anyway, the real reason why I wanted to talk to you was because there was one more thing I discovered inside the labyrinth."
"And? What was it?"
"I know where the Witches of Wysteria are. They're somewhere in the desolate lands to the west of here. Some place called  Veneficatl valley."
Sierra became quiet. She had been searching for the witches for months, and now she finally knew their location. However, there were also the residents of Verbrannt to worry about now.
Smoke silently waited for her to speak. He knew that it was a difficult situation. He never wanted to create a guild, but they desperately needed one in order to have a chance at defeating Burmistrz.
He had promised her that they would remove her curse after he completed the Mitleid's quest. So, he was prepared to bite the bullet and stay behind to facilitate the strategies that they had planned for Verbrannt.
A few more minutes passed and Sierra finally spoke.
"Hmm. I'm sorry to have to do this to you, Smoke. But we did have a deal. There's really no other way but for you to do it."
"I know... Don't worry. I'm a man of my word, and I don't plan on breaking my promise to you."
"Good. I know that finding the witches would still take a long time. You can spend that time to build up our army. You know, while you're looking for the witches, and I expect you to slay them for me when you find them."
He couldn't believe what he heard, and Sierra went on to explain her reason why she would rather have Smoke search the witches.
"The quest only requires their deaths and for me to bathe in their blood... I can't also expect you to stay behind and execute our plans for Verbrannt. Now, don't take this the wrong way. I know you would do a great job with the Zectians, but I also know you'll have a problem dealing with the other Sonstwelters. We really need to create a guild and I'm willing to stay behind to do it. So, can I count on you to complete it?"
Smoke's smile was filled with joy and excitement. He couldn't help himself but reply with.
"Of course!"