Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (45 page)

* * * * * * 

The heavy silence gave the bamboo house a suffocating feeling. Smoke sat quietly in one corner, as he was invited to join San Valeur's council meeting. The silence was eventually broken by Vex.
"We should accept our losses and move on. In the end, the village was successfully defended and that's what matters. We need to fortify our defenses and keep the gates closed at all times." his voice quivered as he spoke.
The bamboo house fell silent once again. Prex let out a deep sigh, turned to Vex and said, "I do agree with you on fortifying our defenses. Let us start making plans for that right away. Also, we need to form a rescue party for Brax."
"I'm sorry, Father, but I'm afraid I have to insist on not saving him." Vex interrupted him before he could continue.
Everyone in the room was shocked by what he said. They stared at him in disbelief.
"What are you saying, Vex?!" Prex said with a raised voice, "He's your brother. He's the next in line to be chief!"
"I know that well, Father. I assure you that, even though we think differently, I love Brax. But how many men do you think it would take to rescue him? Even Forte, our strongest fighter, had a hard time dealing with the Skullcaps." Vex explained as he described what happened in their battle, "Now that there's only a handful of people who are able to fight left, we need all of them here to protect the village. We can't risk everyone's lives to try to save one man."
The villagers averted their eyes downward, knowing that Vex had a point.
"We can't just abandon him!" Prex yelled.
"If I were the one who was taken, I would not wish for you to come and find me." Vex said calmly, "I can't stomach the idea of someone recklessly risking their life for the sake of my own, and I think you know that Brax shares this sentiment."
Prex paused for a moment before sinking into his chair and covering his eyes with his fingers. It was apparent in how much pain he was.
Smoke, who sat in silence up until then, stood up and spoke confidently. "You don't have to send anyone. I alone will go and save Brax."
All eyes in the room were on Smoke. Prex's face instantly lit up as if Smoke had already returned his son to him. Revealing tears in his eyes, he motioned for him to come closer. When he did, Prex whispered into his ear. "It shames me deeply, to have to ask of you to put yourself in danger one more time for the sake of someone you had just met. Please bring my son back to me."
As expected, a notification window popped up.

Smoke nodded and said, "He may get injured along the way, but I'll be sure to bring him back to you in one piece."
 

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From the sky, Smoke and Igniz surveyed the river for pirate ships. After about six hours of searching, they finally spotted a lone ship anchored near the riverbank. Smoke saw the same black flag with a skullcap in the middle as before.
They stealthily landed on one of the trees within an earshot from the Skullcaps and hid in its branches. Smoke observed eight Pirates on the ground, cooking spined coyotes over a campfire.
"...DarkElves are nothing compared to Captain Vlad." said one of the Halflings, "He was the most fearsome River Pirate there ever was. Whenever he set his sights on a village, you could be sure that there'd be impaled heads in front of its entrance within a couple of days. He ran rampant all throughout the Murray!"
"And yet, he was slain by none other than Admiral P. Shooter." said the other Skullcap beside him, "Now
that man
made me think twice about becoming a Skullcap. His battles were always a sight to behold. They say he once fought a hundred Pirates at once and didn't even get his coat dirty."
"Vlad, Shooter, those guys can't hold a stick to the Merchant Ryofoi. He took everything from everyone! What he was doing was robbery in plain sight, and the authorities could do nothing about it. That guy was the most diabolical man I knew." said another Skullcap.
"Aye, those three are indeed fearsome characters of the Murray, but I say that Captain Jane Snow is right up there with them." said one of the Halflings as he stood near the campfire, "She gathered the crews of other Pirates in the area and formed us all into the Skullcaps. Heck, I don't even know half the guys we work with these days, but she's got all of 'em eating out of the palm of her hand."  
"That's our Cap'n Snow for you. She never fails to send shivers down me timbers." replied the other with a wink and they all burst into laughter.
"But going back to that DarkElf, he was quite something too. I gather he took out almost thirty of our men by himself." said a Skullcap, "I heard that we now have less than two hundred men because of that attack on Sans Valeur."
Suddenly, all of them fell silent at once. Then one of the Skullcaps spoke, "You know, they say that it's bad luck when a merry group falls si..."
THUD
Using his Stunning Landing, Smoke confidently landed on the campfire and extinguished it. He was confident he could withstand the flame due to his high Fire resistance. From his position, Smoke easily went after the two nearest Skullcaps and sliced their throats with his sickle, inflicting the Bleeding status on them.
After the Pirates snapped out of being stunned, one of them yelled for help. "We're under attack! Casser, Nouille, help us!" However, he was instantly silenced as Smoke activated his Cyclone of Slaughter.
The two Skullcaps on board the ship stood on the helm and looked towards the riverbank to see what was going on. They quickly found that their shipmates were being slaughtered by a single DarkElf. Realizing that there was nothing they could do to save them, they hurriedly pulled up the ship's anchor and unfurled the sail.
As they began to drift away, the one called Casser shouted back. "We will avenge your death, Maudit! We'll be sure to tell Captain Snow about this."
"We'll get you for this, DarkElf!" yelled the one called Nouille.
Smoke observed how their ship could not flee fast enough. He switched to his power chainsaw bow and attacked the yelling Skullcap with a volley of poison arrows. His target was caught off guard and took all twelve arrows to his chest.
The Pirate fell on the deck of the ship, inflicted with Poisoned status and his life bar left with less than 45%. Smoke knew that the poison damage would kill him in the next couple of minutes.
'I only need one of them to lead me to where their base is.' thought Smoke to himself as he stealthily followed the fleeing ship, gliding from tree to tree.
After twelve hours of pursuit, Smoke was surprised to see a notification pop up.

However, he saw nothing but the Murray river until he went past a riverbend. The harbor itself was built in the middle of the river, with a tall, moss-covered cliff far to its right side.  Four rocky islands were connected with wooden bridges held up by long, thick pillars. Numerous wooden shacks were scattered across the makeshift marina.
As he had traveled for quite some time, Smoke decided to take a much-deserved rest and logged out of Zectas in order to get in some shut-eye.
                 

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A moonless night fell over the Murray. Smoke spent some time using Telefax Vision and observing the layout of buildings in the harbor while sticking close to the trees near it. Igniz was placed inside his compartment to minimize his luminance.
'At least their security is lax' thought Smoke. There weren't any patrolling guards, and he could see just two watchtowers on the opposite sides of the harbor, with a single Halfling on the top of each.
The pirates' base had oil lamps hanged on wooden posts along specific shacks. He focused on checking out those places first in search of Brax.
Smoke glided towards the rocky island closest to him. With the current range of his Cunning of the Dire Fox, he sensed that there were one hundred fifty Skullcaps in the harbor.
Sneaking towards one of the lit up shacks, Smoke found a disturbing sight. The Halflings had fully-grown men and women serving them like slaves. They had collars on their necks and shackles on their hands and feet. This shack appeared to be a tavern.
The Skullcaps drank and ate while the captives served them food. Three girls were lined up against the wall, and the Skullcaps took turns throwing their dirks at them. Smoke gathered that it was a contest to see who could hit closest. Suddenly, the girl on the right fell down as a dirk had cut her leg. The other captives were then ordered to take the girl out and mend her wounds.
'The captives should be able to fight them, but they've been broken into slaves and lost the courage to fight back.' thought Smoke sadly.
He resumed his search on the other side of the harbor and found shacks with a similar situation everywhere. Some of the captives were even placed in charge of ship maintenance. He saw them removing barnacles, swabbing the decks and repairing the sails. He wanted to help all of them escape, but his first objective was to get Brax out.
Soon enough, he located his target. Surprisingly, he saw a calm Brax trying to console a group of children. Swiftly, Smoke glided to the shack he was in, landing gently and examining the lock on the door. As he took out his lightning-enhanced short sword to try to pry open the lock, Brax noticed him.
"Smoke! You're here." said out Brax excitedly.
"Shhh. Be quiet or they'll hear us. We have to hurry and get you out of here." said Smoke in a hushed voice.

Smoke groaned.
He immediately got Igniz out and pointed to the sturdy wooden door. "Igniz, burn the door down."
Igniz created a steady flow of flames and started burning a hole in the wooden door. The moment Igniz's flames touched the door, smoke started puffing out. Smoke checked the night sky and saw that the smoke wasn't that visible. "Good job, bud."
After the hole in the door was big enough for them to get through, Igniz returned to his metal compartment. Smoke expected Brax and the other captives to bolt out of their prison immediately. However, none of them moved and remained where they were.
As he stood outside the shack, Smoke called out to Brax, "Come on. Let's get out of here."
"I'm not leaving without them. These are the children Skullcaps took from villages scattered along the river." stated Brax, "We have to rescue them too, Smoke."
Smoke answered sincerely, "We will, but for now, I have to get you out. We can come back for them later when..."
Brax crossed his arms and interrupted him, "Sorry, but you can rescue me
then
as well."
"There are at least thirty more people being held captive all over the harbor. You want to bring them all along too?" asked a perturbed Smoke.
It took a while for Brax to answer. "I understand, but we have to at least save the children."
Smoke counted twenty kids inside with Brax. "Fine!" he answered unwillingly. He already intended to send his personal army here after rescuing Brax, but now he was placed in an unexpected predicament.
Smoke thought for a bit about what he should do, then turned to Brax and said, "I'll be right back. Make sure you're all ready to go when I return."
Covertly, he headed for the watchtower nearest to him. He silently climbed the ladder leading to the top of it and took a peek at the guard stationed there. The Pirate was leaning on the ledge of the tower and had his back turned to Smoke.
He quickly sneaked up behind him and wrapped the chain portion of his weighted chain and sickle around his neck to prevent him from calling for help. Smoke then proceeded to stab the Pirate in the back with the sickle several times until his life bar was drained.
From the top of the watchtower, he looked around the harbor and found a ship anchored near the shack where Brax and the children were being kept. His Cunning of the Dire Fox indicated that there weren't any Skullcaps on board. Smoke then speedily returned to Brax.
"Alright, let's leave." he said.
Brax had a hard time convincing the children to leave, but he finally did it. Smoke guided them towards the ship and waited for everyone to get on board.
"I'll create a diversion on the other side of the harbor. When you see my signal, sail out of here. You got that?" said Smoke strongly.
"What is the signal?" asked Brax.
"Oh, you'll know it from the mayhem." replied Smoke. He circumnavigated the entire harbor and stayed out of sight of the Pirate on top of the other watchtower. When he reached the other side, Smoke landed on the roof of the shack that had Halflings playing darts on their captives inside. He let Igniz out of his compartment and said, "Let's smoke them out, shall we?"
Igniz nodded and engulfed the shack in flames. Fifteen Halflings rushed out of the flaming wooden structure. One by one, he blasted them with fireballs.
Smoke jumped high in the air and landed in the middle of them with his Stunning Landing. He managed to stun thirteen of them, while the two Halflings who had been out of range charged towards him with their dirks.
Despite their agility, he easily avoided their attack and knocked them down with his chain. He then used his sickle on the downed Skullcaps and punished them for their crimes. Noticing the fire and commotion, the guard on top of the watchtower raised the alarm. Immediately, more Skullcaps came out of the nearby shacks and were approaching Smoke.
He ordered Igniz to hold his fire and fly directly above him. Once more than thirty Halflings had him surrounded, he gave Igniz the signal and his dark ember sprite started creating firewalls on the outer edges of the mob, trapping them inside a circle around Smoke. Smoke then used his Cyclone of Slaughter and killed all Skullcaps within reach. Despite the Skullcaps' agility, they could do nothing against the afterimages of his chain, iron ball and sickle.
Still within Igniz's firewalls, Smoke used Symbiote Vision and saw that Brax and the children had already sailed some distance from the harbor. As a new wave of Pirates was quickly approaching, Smoke leapt over the firewalls and glided in the direction of the escaping ship together with Igniz.
He was relieved that his plan went off without a hitch. However, this pleasant feeling was short-lived. Just before Brax could turn into the riverbend, Jane's flagship emerged out of it, along with seven more pirate ships. They quickly surrounded the fleeing ship and started boarding it.
Still far away, Smoke had to use his Telefax Vision to make out what was going on the deck. The Skullcaps easily dealt with Brax, who tried to protect the children, and made him drop to his knees after beating him down to 30% of his life bar. They then gathered all the children in one corner of the deck.
Smoke gritted his teeth in anger as he saw Jane walk over to Brax and force him to stand up by pulling his hair. Suddenly, Jane's voice bellowed out. "Stop right there if you don't want me to slit his throat." she shouted while holding her cutlass against Brax's neck. She was looking straight at Smoke.
He was surprised that she spotted him from so far away and in the dark. But then, he realized that it was Igniz's luminance that gave his position away. Cursing his carelessness, he instantly opened Igniz's orb compartment and had him hide inside it.
"Surrender and I won't kill him!" shouted Jane threateningly, pressing her cutlass harder against Brax's neck.
Smoke was gliding in a circle over the ship, at a loss as to what he should do. "Think. Think!" he said angrily to himself.
He needed to stun Jane in order to allow Brax to move away from her. However, he lacked the element of surprise, which was crucial to successfully landing his stun attacks. Jane would see him coming whether he were to use Stunning Landing or charge at her with Armored Armadillo Shield.
Then, he realised he didn't have to specifically stun her. He only needed to temporarily immobilize her somehow.
Smoke donned the jacket and hat he got from the Lamia boss. In any other situation, he would have smiled at seeing his life bar increase by 50,000 points, but right now, his mind was solely focused on rescuing Brax. He started to descend slowly.
"Land on the edge of the ship, far away from of us." instructed Jane.
Without a word, Smoke landed where he was told.
"Tie him up quickly." she ordered and handed Brax over to her first mate. The one-meter-tall Nain stood on a crate and replaced the cutlass against Brax's neck with a dirk.
As Jane was walking towards him with a devious smile on her red lips, Smoke activated Hero's Legacy. His body emitted a shockwave with a purple outline and it spread across the deck. Upon being inflicted with Fear, a look of pure terror appeared on the faces of Halflings.  Some of them jumped off of the ship and started swimming away, while others curled up into a fetal position and shook uncontrollably.
Smoke hastily took a step forward and was ready to make a dash for Brax, but stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes were met with Jane's resolute gaze.
"Mr. Nain, stab the boy." ordered Jane calmly.
While still pressing a dirk against Brax's neck, the Halfling in a red jacket took out a throwing knife from his belt and stabbed it into Brax's side. Brax screamed in agony as Nain twisted the knife and gave him a Bleeding status.
Compared to the other Skullcaps, both Jane and Nain had a lower chance to be affected by Smoke's newly-acquired ability, and had resisted it.
Jane stared Smoke down and said, "Now, I don't know what you did to my men, but if you want this boy to live, you better give yourself up."
With no weapons out, Smoke racked his brains for a solution.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you just yet." said Jane with malice.
He knew he couldn't trust Jane, but he was willing to play along as long as he could secure Brax's safety.
"Mend his wounds and I won't put up a fight." replied Smoke strongly.
Jane gave a signal to her men and a group of seven shuddering Halflings attended to Brax. Smoke offered his arms to Jane and she tied them up tightly with a rope.