Second Chance Swordsman 3 (A LitRPG Adventure), page 43
"Ardoniel," bowed the two soldiers. "Grim tidings come from Moonfall Village. The entire village decimated. Worse than that actually."
"What is worse than decimation?" asked Eryndor.
"This," said a soldier, kicking the bruised elf on the ground.
The elf on the ground hissed and jerked around spasmodically.
The eyes were filled with nothing but black.
"When we first captured him, he pretended to be normal," said the elf soldier. "But since we tied up his arms, he's gone completely catatonic. He's been taken over by those bugs. The entire village has. Our trackers tell us other villages have as well. There's an army of these mind-controlled elves. They're just the foot soldiers for the more terrifying insects roaming the western lands of the Glittering Forest."
Eryndor rubbed his forehead. "This is no good. We must protect others across the Glittering Forest as well as all of those who reside here in Sylvenstride.”
The awkward feeling in Curtis' stomach had not gone away. It was only getting worse the more he thought about how he knew the answer.
Don't do it.
It won't go well.
Hundreds of memories of Curtis trying to share scientific and historical facts with his father rushed through his mind. Memories before he had been banished when he just wanted to show off to his father all the things he had learned, all the insights he had made. He just wanted to show his father something he could be proud of, but all he ever got was ignored or insulted or neglected.
“I know how we can protect Sylvenstride,” said Curtis.
Somehow the words cut a silence through the room.
Eryndor’s eyes twitched as the sound came out of Curtis’ mouth.
The Ardoniel looked at Curtis with a cruel face.
“You expect me to believe that?” he hissed. “You stand here before me. Proof that you couldn’t even do banishment right.”
The words cut right through Curtis’ body, but he swatted them away.
This was so much bigger than him or his father.
“As Ardoniel I expect you to do whatever is in your power to protect your people. Or did you forget how to do that when you forgot how to be a father?”
Curtis smiled at that last point. If his dad wanted to throw barbs, so could he.
Eryndor Ashgrove scowled at the words of the son he had disowned.
“The mind roach is allergic to reginald-weed,” said Curtis, walking over to the insect-controlled elf on the ground. “Watch.”
Curtis materialized a piece of reginald-weed from his inventory and held it up to the elf on the floor.
It immediately began clawing and trying to get away from Curtis, acting crazed and violently. The soldiers kicked the mindless elf on the ground to keep him in place.
“My recommendation would be to hang reginald-weed all across Sylvenstride,” said Curtis. “That will keep any of the mind roaches from penetrating the city. That can be the beginning of our defensive strategy.”
A tiny bit of hatred faded away from his father’s eyes. He was impressed. Or, at the very least, appreciated the good idea.
Such a tiny morsel of approval before his banishment might have filled Curtis with happiness for days, if not weeks. Now it meant nothing to him. It only confirmed how big a gulf there was between his father and him.
Eryndor turned to the soldiers and told them to go spread the word.
“If this bug army is coming from Moonhollow that roughly gives us a week until the army of bugs is at our doorstep here in Sylvenstride,” said Eryndor. “What’s our plan for when the powerful leader of this army shows up?”
Curtis smiled and turned to his black-haired companion with red eyes.
“Father,” said Curtis. “Let me introduce you to Sam.”
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Everyone in the room turned to Sam.
He felt slightly awkward taking the spotlight after witnessing the cold-hearted reunion between Curtis and his father.
It was weird as Sam had never known his parents. Had only known the nuns and priests who looked after the orphanages he stayed in and the familial bonds he had made with the fellow orphans like Klara and Toby.
He remembered days pickpocketing in the streets, days when he was so starving if they failed to steal some bread, he wasn't sure if he would make it. He remembered on days like that, he might catch a passing glimpse through a window of a mother setting the table with children sitting on either side, the father coming in and joining them. How nice it all looked. How cozy. How warm. How full of love.
There were nights when Sam would fall asleep, yearning for such a family. To have a mom and a dad who loved him. It felt so unfair that he had neither. It felt cruel. Unjust.
And yet, seeing Curtis and his father, Sam realized that life could be cruel and unfair to you in other ways, even if you had a father or a mother or both.
He'd take Klara and Toby over a father like Eryndor Ashgrove every single day of the week.
A lot of people didn't get to choose their family. Sam would be forever grateful that he got to choose his, and even more appreciative of the fact that they chose him back.
There was a part of him that wanted to punch Eryndor Ashgrove in the face. For being so unkind to Curtis, for banishing him, for continuing to be so unkind and cruel to his own son.
But that wasn't what they were here to litigate.
It did make Sam wonder, however, how much was missed in the historical record of the Elven Genocide in his first timeline. So much was destroyed, so much knowledge and wisdom lost. Perhaps in the utter destruction of the Glittering Forest at the hands of Lilith, so too, was the fact that the elven leadership was in the hands of an aging and embittered Ardoniel who had lost sight of the priorities of his people.
Sam knew the broad strokes of the history of the Elven Genocide, but there were plenty of details missing.
He knew history’s eye had lost track of certain things in his first timeline and Sam quietly wondered what those missing pieces might be.
Still, that didn’t matter. They had already changed history immensely by being here, preparing to take on Lilith alongside the elves. In his first timeline, no one had come until it was too late.
Curtis' plan to put reginald-weed across Sylvenstride was an excellent defensive strategy against Lilith's mind-roaches.
Sam was just about to get into the next steps of his plan when a huge explosive blast happened outside the window of Mother Gaia.
Crap, Sam thought. It’s happening sooner than I expected.
A massive gold portal emerged in the center of Sylvenstride.
The gold gate.
“Don’t panic,” said Sam, staring right at Eryndor and the other elves in the room.
The biggest complication in the Elven Genocide—and what proved to be the elves’ downfall in Sam’s first timeline—was the arrival of the gold gate.
The gold gate was a special irregular dungeon gate that appeared in the middle of Sylvenstride right before Lilith's invasion.
All of the city's elves were so focused on trying to destroy and close the gold gate that they were unprepared for Lilith's massive siege on their capital city.
The gold gate had been the first dungeon gate to appear in the elven lands that the elves couldn't close with the use of their old magic. In the end, it meant that along with Lilith's siege, the elves also had to contend with a massive dungeon break as well.
Things would be different this time, however.
They were already more prepared.
And this time, Sam would be entering the gold gate.
Thirty minutes later, Sam and his companions stood outside the entrance of the gold gate.
“So to go over the plan one last time,” said Sam. “I’ll clear the gold gate while everyone else prepares Sylvenstride for the battle with Lilith and her army. Then I’ll get back and we’ll take on Lilith together.”
Everyone nodded.
Sam believed in all of his friends and companions.
They were about to face one of the darkest moments in history from his previous timeline and together they were going to stop it from ever happening.
“Good luck, everyone,” said Sam and, with that, he stepped into the gold gate.
Eryndor Ashgrove returned to his private chambers after his meeting with the foreign visitors.
He poured himself a glass of water and guzzled it down.
He was feeling itchy and irritated from the moment Curtis had materialized that bushel of reginald-weed.
Thank goodness, they didn’t notice my eye twitch, he thought. I wouldn’t want to betray the New Queen.
He headed over to the window and looked across the city.
How shall I play it, he pondered. How shall I destroy every last one of these wretches who call this place home?
Eryndor Ashgrove hadn’t been Eryndor Ashgrove for quite a while now. He was something else. Something darker and more sinister than even the cruel and stern man he had been once before.
For deep inside his brain nestled a mind-roach, manipulating his every thought and action.
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Sam emerged on the other side of the gold gate, entering a realm where the ground at his feet was a beautiful cloud that stretched on for miles in all directions and that, thankfully, he didn’t fall through either. Above him was a dusky twilight sky, the sparkle of stars just faintly pulsing through the fading daylight.
This would be the arena for the upcoming gold gate.
The gold gate was an irregular gate similar to a challenge gate. The way it worked was that there were five stages within a gold gate. The stage was increasingly difficult waves of monsters.
To destroy a gold dungeon gate or keep it from dungeon breaking, one had to fight and survive their way through to the end of the fifth stage.
Sam had chosen to enter the gate alone, because he figured it was better to leave as many powerful fighters back in Sylvenstride in case Sam ended up taking far longer than expected in here or Lilith managed to get to Sylvenstride quicker than anticipated. The other reason was simple: Sam knew he needed to train and rank up his Death Lord class if he had any hope of defeating Lilith in a fight.
He was eager to get stronger.
Sam materialized his shadow blade and got ready for the fight ahead of him.
A day later, Lilith marched through the forest, leading her army behind her.
She kept her eyes, ears, and nose alert. She was always looking, listening, smelling. She embodied her senses, using them as a shield, a sensory shield protecting her against any approaching threats. Right now, however, the biggest threat in the vicinity was her.
No one would question that.
Since hatching and even more so, since leaving the dungeon gate in which she was born, her power was growing by the hour. She could lay eggs and create more powerful insects for her army. She could create mind roaches and take over other living beings and harness them under her total control.
And with that army, she planned on taking control of this entire forest realm she had been born within. If for whatever reason, she couldn't take it over, she would then destroy it. Simple as that.
The biggest threat to her at the moment was the species of pale skinned and long-eared folk. They contained magic that could harm her and her insects.
She also knew from — seeing through the eyes of those under the control of her mind roaches — that the long-eared folk species had acquired help from a group of other magic users from a different species.
She remembered them.
Two of them in particular.
The older man and the older woman.
Edgar and Mildred she had heard her companions call them.
There was something about those two that confused Lilith; made her uncertain. They brought up feelings and sensations she hadn’t known she had. They were feelings different from her normal way of seeing the world: survive, kill, feed, repeat.
She didn’t like these new feelings. These new sensations. They were making her weaker. They didn’t help her with her survival, her hunger for more power.
If she ran into this Edgar and Mildred, she would make sure she’d kill them straight away.
She would remove all threats to her growing power.
She continued to march forward to the capital of the long-eared folk, her massive army following right behind her.
Meanwhile, in Sylvenstride, Toby sat in on strategy meetings with his fellow Traveler companions and the main elven army leadership.
The city had been absolutely drenched in reginald-weed, which meant they were protected from any massive attacks made by mind roaches, which was good.
The elven army generals pointed out where most likely the main fighting in an attack on Sylvenstride would take place.
The most likely means of attack were either aerial or from the ground up. They would have rangers and other particularly strong anti-air fighters stationed all over the city, while the rest of the fighting forces would be situated in the two main entrances into Sylvenstride from the ground level.
If coming from the very bottom of Sylvenstride—an area known as the Sacred Soil—the main way would be to crawl up the two central trees on the eastern and western ends of the city, respectively. These central trees were the next oldest and largest trees after Mother Gaia. These massive trees were known as Brother Solis and Sister Selene.
The forces would be placed between these two trees while the Ardoniel, Thalia, and Curtis would be stationed at the top of Mother Gaia to feed their mana into the generator and pull back the shield of the Great Perimeter to exist solely around Sylvenstride.
The plan would be to keep Lilith and her bugs out for long enough that their ranged attacks would whittle away her army and give the elves the overall advantage to push forward and win the fight.
The way the elven generals described the plan made it feel like the attack would be a breeze. That victory was assured.
Toby was naturally inclined to never feel this way.
But even still, the elven pride was concerning him.
They'd never faced an attack on their capital city like this before. They'd never faced an enemy quite like this one either.
It wasn't that Toby didn't believe in the elves or even his and his own companions’ ability to help out.
But, he also didn't believe it was going to be as easy and simple as the elven generals were making it out to be.
From the window of the meeting room, he could see the glow of the giant gold dungeon gate.
He didn't like that Sam wasn't here in the build-up to this fight. He knew they had to split their resources, but still it made him uneasy. Sam was always the trump card that worked in their favor.
Get back here soon, Sam, Toby thought to himself. Get back soon.
When the strategy meeting was over, he headed back to his chambers to absorb as many of the monster stones he still had in his inventory.
He would raise his magic affinity stat to as high as it could go, so he was as strong as possible for the upcoming battle ahead.
Toby knew he needed every advantage he could get.
They all did.
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Sam slashed his sword, cutting through an aether-goblin’s chest, leaving the monster to collapse into two pieces on the cloud floor of the gold gate's arena.
A message popped up in Sam's retina as he finished off the remaining aether-goblin.
Congratulations! Stage 1 complete. Stage 2 will commence in 1 minute!
Sam closed his eyes and breathed in and out, counting the seconds. He wasn't tired. Not yet. Stage one of the gold gate had been easy, which was to be expected.
The best thing he could do in the interim time before the start of the next stage was calm his mind. Keep composed. Prepare himself to return to the flow of battle in a few mere moments.
He had never gained the exact details of how the gold gate in Sylvenstride operated, but he had read about other gold gates in his previous timeline. The first stage was typically quite easy. The stages got progressively more difficult as the Traveler moved on from one stage to the next.
The timer finished.
Puffs of smoke appeared in the distance.
Emerging from behind the clouds of smoke was a group of flying monkeys with bright red eyes and tambourines for hands. There were four of them.
What the—?
Sam gripped his shadow blade and immediately swiped at the creatures’ shadows.
The floating monkeys flapped their wings and stayed in the same spot, unharmed.
Sam could see tufts of their fur split by the wind. That was as far as the damage went from his attacks on the creatures' shadows.
Okay, Sam thought. Going to have to get up close and personal then. That's fine.
He rushed forward towards the floating monkeys.
As soon as he was in a position to encompass all the monkeys in his radius, he triggered Pain Ring. A bright crimson red light shot out from his chest, covering the arena.
Within seconds, the gnawing teeth of his silver dragon armor set began powering him up. This was crucial. Even though attacking creatures’ shadows typically did slightly less damage than normal, the sheer level of defence showcased by the flying monkey monsters suggested Sam was going to have to raise his power level significantly before he could take them out.
He slashed his shadow blade at one of the floating monkeys’ chest.
The creature disappeared and reappeared behind him.
Sam turned around and slashed again. This time the creature drew back with lightning speed.
The apprentice-tier Traveler was quickly taking in and assessing the creatures. They were fast and clever. Oppressing them with raw strength might not work here. That was fine. Sam had plenty of tricks up his sleeve.
Sam triggered Hurting Hook. A sizzling orange light of energy shot out from his palm and into the monkey monster and dragged the creature right up to him.
