Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (6 page)

Smoke felt sorry for Nahulog. He was only trying to help liberate the Condortlians but ended up dead. He was glad that he had reliable friends who were coming to rescue him.
He searched Nahulog's remains but found nothing nothing else. He made a mental note to investigate the strange shrine that Nahulog mentioned in his journal.
After he searched the entire pit, he returned to his recovering friend. He wondered what Adder would say about Nahulog.
Smoke lightly shook Adder's right shoulder to wake him up. It had been thirty minutes since he called Laernea and found the remains of Nahulog.
He estimated that Laernea should arrive within the next few minutes. While they waited, he told Adder about the contents of his fellow Condortlian's journal.
After he shared Nahulog's tale, he gave an order to his symbiote.
"Igniz, why don't you make a beacon to help them locate us."
The dark ember sprite obeyed and released a pillar of light upward. The beam reached the top of the 100 meter cavern.
Igniz's beam awoke the sleeping monsters nestled on top of the ceiling. They looked like the giant bats that Smoke had fought on Mount Gliseloc, but these monsters had cat like faces.
With his power chainsaw bow at the ready, Smoke was about to release a storm of fire arrows when a different set of fire arrows came from above him.
Ichaival shot down a monster with four fire arrows. The monster revealed its name and HP, felisbatus with a maximum life bar of 22,000 HP.
The Hunter kept on firing his arrows as Laernea brought her carriage parallel to where Igniz's beam formed a pillar of light.
Smoke hurriedly scaled to the top of the ledge and began shooting down the cat-like bats. Smoke fired eight arrows and Ichaival in turn matched his attack speed.
He looked at Ichaival and grinned. He nodded at the Hunter and Ichaival understood that it was now a contest to see which one of them could shoot down more felisbatus.
Ichaival trained hard on his Phantom Arrow ability, and it was now capable of firing eight arrows at once. However, Smoke still managed to take down more felisbatus.
It was because of his inherited ability from Mitleid. The Beast Monarch ability which tripled his damage on beast type monsters.
It took them ten minutes to clear out all of the felisbatus. The score ended with Smoke in the lead at two-hundred-sixty kills to Ichaival's two-hundred. Laernea did her share of ninety kills, but she didn't speak up as she was far behind the two of them.
Smoke was impressed. They were able to dispatch the monsters because of Ichaival's rapid attack of arrows.
"Great work, Ichaival! I didn't know your Phantom Arrows ability was already at that level."
"Thanks. I had to do something to improve myself. I mean Sharanga's doing her inventions, and Vijaya has her six falcons going on. In fact I even left my falcon with her, since Ichai would have a hard time inside a cave."
Laernea envied Ichaival being praised and spoke up.
"We would've gotten here sooner, but we had a hard time getting enough rope."
Smoke patted the lioness Lioumerean's shoulders.
"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're here. Come on, let's help Adder out of there."
 

* * * * * * 

Nahulog's journal was right. Smoke and his men were not able to bring back the Matera Vitalis. It was indeed too heavy to extract from its current location.
Adder's new scaly crusted limb caused quite a stir between Laernea and Ichaival, but Smoke told them to keep a tight lid on their questions.
After all the attention that Adder's new limb was getting, Smoke decided to put a bandage around it and covered it up. They decided that it was best to show it first to Eldmar, Condortl's acting village chief.
When they arrived they immediately went to Eldmar's hut. Once inside, Smoke removed Adder's bandage and showed them what was hidden beneath it.
Smoke, Eldmar, Tanda, Laernea, Ichaival, and Espion all gathered inside the hut.
"Tanda, have you seen anything like this?" Smoke asked.
"No, never. I've never seen a Human arm grow back before, but why did you make this scaly cast? Adder, do you mind if I remove it? Bits and pieces are already starting to come off anyway."
"Come off?"
Smoke and Adder were puzzled and checked the brown crusted arm. Slowly, Tanda began taking off pieces of the brown crust which revealed a normal Human arm.
He couldn't contain his astonishment.
"Whoa! When did that happen?"
"It wasn't like this before?", asked Tanda and Eldmar asked in unison.
"Maybe it was during our ride back here?" said Smoke.
Tanda finished removing the brown scaly crust and Adder's normal Human hand was out in the open.
Smoke was very happy for his friend. He felt responsible for Adder's lost limb ever since the Condortlian sacrificed himself inside the lamia's cave.
"Adder, isn't this great? You really got your lost arm back." exclaimed Smoke.
The Condortlian grimaced. He wasn't all that glad for his new arm. Something inside him rejected it, but he forced a smile on his face.
"Thanks be to, Cuezaltzin! It's a miracle!", praised Eldmar.
Everyone was very happy for Adder, and he thought it would be rude to seem ungrateful for his mysterious miracle.
Adder wanted some time for himself to think.
"Thank you everyone, but I want to get some rest for now."
Slowly, everybody left the hut and wished Adder a speedy recovery.
With Adder safely back in Condortl, Smoke wanted to resume his hunt for the maddened Centaurs. He couldn't bring his entire private army with him because the mutated Centaurs could return and attack the village.
He selected Espion and Ichaival to join him. Laernea protested but gave in. He also left Vijaya in charge until Adder felt better.
Smoke ordered Laernea to drop them off at the outskirts of the Margome mountain range, but they made a quick stop over at the coordinates where Nahulog found a shrine.
The passable road inside the mountain took them to the correct X and Y coordinates, but the Z coordinate indicated that it was directly above them.
He ordered his men to stay behind since the climb was challenging. With his Claws of Chiropterra, Smoke swiftly went up the demanding wall.
His dark ember sprite effortlessly flew up with him. The climb reminded him of how Igniz taunted him when he scaled Mount Gliseloc, but the memory made him laugh instead.
He found a small hole when he reached the top of the wall. It was big enough for him to squirm inside.
"Igniz, can you check what's inside the hole? I don't want to crawl inside for nothing."
The dark ember sprite flew up and gave a small nod before he went inside the opening. It became pitch black as soon as Igniz disappeared into the aperture.
Five minutes later, and Igniz came out with an astonished face.
"Hey? Was there anything good inside?"
Igniz madly flew around and created a fiery image that had horns.
"There's a monster inside?"
Smoke's symbiote shook his head and then nodded shortly after.
"Well, which one is it? Oh, nevermind. I guess I'll have to see it for myself."
He got on all fours and carefully crawled inside the crevice. He had to unequip all his equipment because of the narrow space.
As Smoke reached the middle of the tunnel, he used his Cunning of the Dire Fox ability to check if there was indeed a monster inside. Yet, his ability sensed nothing.
He searched around, as far as his DarkElf eyes could see and saw nothing. Always on the look out, Igniz went out ahead of him.
His symbiote signaled him to step out of the small crevice. Once outside, he found that he could stand up straight but barely.

Smoke was surprised by the sudden game notification. He had never heard or read of Vigilantez, but he must have been someone special to have a concealed shrine. It had an area of twenty square feet and a height of six feet.
He looked around and still found nothing. Not until he turned around and saw the imposing figure of the Ifrit, Vigilantez.
The entire wall above the exit of the small crevice was covered in a fresco painting of the Ifrit. The flaming figure had orange flames for hair with two bent horns which pointed upward.
Vigilantez had a humanoid form except for his hands and feet, which had claws like those of a lion. He only wore a lower body armor that was made of a black lusterless metal.
He had four wings stretched out behind his back and covered the entire wall. It was made of red and orange flames. At first glance, Vigilantez looked like a Lord of Hell.
Yet, if you studied his face close enough it looked like that of a forlorn child.
As Smoke touched it, an earthen hand came out of the wall and a notification window popped up.

He was in a dilemma. He didn't know anything about this Vigilantez character. Although, he had read about Ifrits in the real world. They were powerful and cunning Djinns.
With only the general knowledge of Djinns, Smoke decided to bet on making an offering. From Sierra's regular report, he found out that the boss in the mausoleum,  had a high drop rate of the skull helm, which was uncommon for a rare item.
This made Smoke decide to use the skull helm that he had with him. He originally planned on giving the item to Adder but he refused it. The Condortlian did not want to wear an item from an Undead monster.
He removed the doubts he had in his mind and placed the skull helm into earthen hand.

Smoke inspected his map and found four blinking lights beyond the Margome mountain range. He got nothing else aside from the temple locations and the 500 Favor points.
He felt that he was cheated, but there was no use crying over spilt milk. He was still deep in regret when he received a call from Sierra.
"Gandiva's back and she got the Guildium and the special ability that I was talking about. So, how's everything on your end?" she asked.
Smoke was happy to hear Sierra's voice and was even happier when he heard that everything was going well for her, which made him feel inadequate.
"I don't know how to say this but, I kinda got Adder almost killed again... But don't worry he is stable now. In fact, he's even grown back an arm." said Smoke in a meek voice.
There were three seconds of silence before Sierra answered. "What do you mean an arm? And how could you have almost killed Adder?"
Smoke told Sierra about their run in with the mutated Centaurs, and he told her about the mysterious Vitalis stone that recreated Adder's left limb. He was ashamed of the Vigilantez's reward that he casually left out of his update.
They shared their theories about Adder's limb for a few more minutes until Smoke heard Sharur call out to Sierra that the militia were ready.
"Oh, right. I'll be right there. Just give me a second. Listen, Smoke. Since we already have the Guildium I wanted to ask your opinion on the names I came up with." said Sierra.
"Come on, I told you that I didn't want to do anything with the guild." said Smoke with a hint of annoyance.
"Please, just hear out a couple of names?" pleaded Sierra.
"Fine..." stated Smoke.
Sierra then started to give out the names. "What about Vagabond Freedom Fighters?"
"Why Vagabond? Isn't that a dead giveaway of my hidden Job?" he asked.
"I wanted something that would put your presence into the guild's name, but don't worry I'll think of something else." she said in all seriousness.
"I'm not too sure about the Vagabond part, but I definitely don't like the Freedom Fighters." said Smoke with conviction.
Smoke stared in front of the Ifrit Vigilantez painting and said. "What about Vigilantez instead?"
"Vigilantes?" asked Sierra.
"No, Vigilantez with a Z." replied Smoke.
              

* * * * * * 

They were greeted by a wide red wall of mountains when they got out of the tunnel of Mount Aeriloc, the commanding mountain range of Margome.
Fifty kilometers out on the other side of Mount Aeriloc, they got closer to the mountains and they realized just how tall each mountain was.
Their map indicated that they were still fifteen kilometers away from the base of the mountain, but they could no longer see the summit of any of the mountains.
Smoke scanned the vast area with his Telefax Vision and saw a resemblance of a settlement. He ordered Laernea to head west, in its direction.
Ten kilometers from the foot of the Margome mountain range, and they found the settlement that the Condortlian Scouts created. Sadly, everything in sight was destroyed.
Smoke, Ichaival, Espion, and Igniz got down Laernea's carriage.
"Are you sure I can't stay?", asked Laernea.
"We've been through this before. I want you to be our back up, and you protecting Condortl reassures me of residents' safety."
"Alright, alright. But I still say I'd be more help here, with you."
Smoke took in a deep breath before he tried to explain himself to Laernea again.
"Like I said. You work best with your stag moose, Tulin, by your side. Also, we need to be covert from here on out, and you guys would stand out."
"Okay. Just give me a call whenever you need me then, and you can count on me rushing to see you."
Smoke smiled. Laernea opened her arms for a hug, to which he casually pushed Espion and Ichaival in front of him and had the two of them hug her instead.
They bade their farewell to Laernea and proceeded to investigate the Condortlian's settlement.
Clay pots were broken and scattered. Their tents were torn to pieces. Dried blood covered most of the settlement. Curiously, the Scouts' food supply remained intact.
On a field some distance behind them, Smoke and his men found small red flags planted on the ground.
He assumed that these were the landmarks of where they planned on making their corn field. He looked around and found them plowed with corn seeds sown into the fertile soul.
There was a decent sized stream, that had a general width of ten feet, near the plowed field. Ichaival stood behind the crouched Smoke and whistled loudly.
"I can't believe the Condortlian Scouts' chosen location. This place is beautiful."
Espion couldn't help but ask Ichaival's observation.
"Beautiful? Did you forget about the traces of blood in the settlement?"
"I'm not talking about that. If you take away the ransacked settlement and just focus on the view, then I'm sure you'll see what I mean."
Espion turned his head from left and right to watch the great wall of red mountains. Before he turned back to Ichaival with a raised eyebrow.
Ichaival shrugged.
"I guess you got too used to the dungeony ambiance inside the labyrinth. Well, I think I'll take Sharanga here someday. I'll show her my ancestor's village then take her here."
"What do you mean ancestor's village?"
"Oh, Smoke didn't tell you? You see, I'm one half Condortlian. My father, James Jackal, escaped from Condortl before the Lizard people enslaved them."
"I never knew that. Why didn't you say anything before, when we were still in Condortl?"
"I didn't want make a fuss out of it. Besides I haven't done anything yet to make them proud of me, but don't you worry. I'll do something soon that'll make the Condortlians' sing praises of my name."
"I bet. Like the way Sharanga sings songs of your glory." Espion heckled.
Ichaival groaned. "Ouch! That was too close to the heart to be funny."
Smoke raised his hand and formed a fist.
"Knock it off you two. I sense something's coming. Igniz, lower your glow and hide in my cloak."
With his Earth Manipulation ability, Smoke created a burrow. All three men went inside it. Shortly after, twenty Centaurs came and trotted towards where they hid.
Smoke peeked at the Centaurs who had just arrived. He was expecting to see the monsters who had taken Tracas, the young boy who was kidnapped under Smoke's watch.
However, these Centaurs looked normal. They stood at a height of 8 feet with long hair. They had leather armor which protected their upper bodies and carried heavy long bows. Their horse halves varied from black, brown, yellow, and white.
The battle ready Centaurs slowly walked to where Smoke and his men were hiding. An old white haired Centaur who looked to be the leader spoke.
"Come out of there. I can sense your unwanted presence."
The Centaurs had their bows and arrows pointed at the place where Smoke and his men were concealed.
Smoke refused to believe that their hiding spot could be easily found. He created a well camouflaged burrow. There was no way the Centaur could have sensed them.
"Fine. Then let me help you out."
The white haired Centaur used his own Earth Manipulation ability and opened up Smoke's hiding place. The DarkElf and his men had their weapons out. They were prepared to attack at the slightest sign of aggression.
Yet, Smoke didn't want to harm his potential comrades. He wanted the Centaurs to join them in Verbrannt.
"Wait. We're not here to harm you. My men and I will slowly put down our weapons. I hope you'll hear us out."
The Centaurs' leader watched Smoke and his men closely, before he spoke.
"Sorry. This isn't really like me, but the last Condortlians caused too much trouble. Men fire!"
All of the Centaurs shot out their arrows. Instantly, a dome of Earth erupted from the ground and shielded them from the attack.
Smoke managed to block the arrows in time. The Centaurs' leader forced opened the Earth dome with his own ability, and an opening was created for half a second before it closed again.
It was a tug of war between the DarkElf and the white haired Centaur. Espion and Ichaival did their best to block the arrows that got in during the opening.
"Are you sure we shouldn't attack them?", asked Espion.
"Just give the order and we'll bring on the hurt.", added Ichaival.
"No, we have to talk to them. Now, stop bothering me. Using Earth Manipulation requires a lot of concentration."
Steadily, the white haired Centaur got the upper hand. Smoke thought about creating a tunnel with his Digger's wand to help them escape, but he doubted that would work because of the Centaurs' Earth Manipulation ability and keen senses.
Their tug of war that used their Earth Manipulation ability kept on for another ten minutes.
Suddenly, the sound of arrows hitting the dome stopped. Smoke then heard the white haired Centaur speak.
"DarkElf. I've ordered my men to stop attacking. Your mastery of the Earth has impressed me. Lower your dome so we may speak."
"And you expect me to believe that, just cause you said so?"
"In the name of Verlassene Pferde, I swear that my men shall not harm you."
"Give me a second, while I consult with my men."
Smoke instantly switched to his Digger's Wand and created a tunnel for escape. Then he turned to Ichaival and Espion.
"So, we're going to escape and regroup?" Ichaival confirmed.
"No, that's just for you two. This tunnel will take you two kilometers towards Mount Aeriloc. I'll close the tunnel up when you enter. I'll give you guys a call when everything is clear."
"What about you? You aren't planning to face them just by yourself, are you?" Espion asked.
"Of course not. This is just a precautionary measure. Now go. Before the Centaurs catch on to our plan."
Reluctantly, Ichaival and Espion headed into the tunnel. Smoke had just closed the tunnel when he heard the white haired Centaur speak.
"What's keeping so long? You're not planning of escaping are you?"
"No. Of course not. Well, we are coming out now. I hope you're a man of your word."
As his earthen dome collapsed, Smoke leapt into the air with his Lunar Gravity Boots. He opened his hooded cloak and was gliding his way to Ichaival and Espion, when the Centaur leader unfurled his two gigantic white wings.
The Centaur's wings were attached to his horse section. Each wing's length doubled the Centaur's body.
With the white haired Centaur's wings expanded to its fullest, he flew up into the air with just one flap and was instantly beside Smoke.
"Hey. My name's Rudel. I thought we were going to talk? Now, why don't you land down?", said the white flying Centaur.
The DarkElf was astonished at the sight of the flying Centaur, and he couldn't help but follow him down to the ground.