Kingdom Evolution: LitRPG Gamelit Fantasy Kingdom Builder, page 16
The scene was a bloodbath. Dozens of bodies were about, and those who were still standing didn’t seem long for this world. There was no confusing a Galian for a Goliath though, considering the size difference between them. The Goliaths must have been ten feet tall, with enormous muscles, gray skin, and war paint upon their faces. Their armor and weapons looked primitive, but even the clubs they wielded looked big enough to smash him through the bottom of the mountain. There weren’t many of them, but they looked like they were in better shape than their smaller relatives.
The Galians were a different story. While they were muscular, and had gray skin, the resemblances stopped there. The smaller race had a variety of horns on their heads, and couldn’t have been much taller than himself. Their bodies were the ones that made up the majority of the dead, although he did see two Goliaths in the mix.
“See the one over there,” Sedra said while pointing to her right. “The one with the black paint over his eyes? That’s Koznyk’s new champion. That’s my guess, at least, but I don’t think he’s raised the podium yet.”
It was easy to guess who she was worried about, and he couldn’t deny that he looked like a champion, even from afar. He was easily a foot taller than the other Goliaths, with more muscle, and a giant stone axe that had just cleaved a Galian in half.
“I suggest a temporary alliance,” the crusader said while turning back to them. “I could win if I only had to deal with the champion. However, the Galians could see us as a threat, and might turn on us, even while we fought their enemies.”
“Galians are not as stupid as you claim,” Saralyth grumbled and shook her head. “Galians are peaceful, mostly, which is why they hide in the mountains.”
“They’re blood-thirsty war-mongers,” the crusader growled with a sneer. “We have to purge this entire mountain, just to ensure that Koznyk doesn’t claim one as her champion.”
“What is Koznyk the goddess of?” he whispered to Saryss, who seemed like the kind not to judge his lack of knowledge.
“The goddess of war,” she whispered back, then leaned closer until he could feel her breath against his ear. “I do not agree with my champion though. Yes, the Goliaths pose a great threat to the world, especially when one is backed by the goddess of death and destruction, essentially. The Galians are far different, like your servant said.”
“She isn’t my servant.”
“Hey, over here,” Sedra snapped and yanked her follower back. “No conspiring with the enemy, Saryss. Now, make your choice. We won’t hold the advantage of surprise for much longer. Not if that brute finishes off the Galians.”
“Togashi?”
“We’ll help, but we’re not killing the Galians,” he replied quickly while keeping his eyes locked on the other champion. “If they’re peaceful, then they deserve to live.”
Then why did Elasha send me to kill them?
“I make no such promises, but I shall not attack one without provocation. Now, let’s go. My strength will weaken once the sun is gone.”
He turned to see that the bottom of the sun was touching the horizon, which didn’t make much sense since it was dark at the temple. They had to be far away, which meant that Elasha hadn’t been forthcoming about where they were being sent, especially if what Saralyth said about collaboration was correct.
Sedra must have been waiting to see if the Goliath champion would become injured before charging in, because that’s exactly what he would have done in her shoes. Each second was costing the Galians their lives, which meant that a potential ally was being decimated. He nodded back, but suspected that the crusader wouldn’t hold true to her word for long.
The massacre had grown worse by the time they forged the temporary alliance. The massive champion was standing over a pile of bodies, searching for his next target. There were five more Goliaths left, each fighting a cluster of Galians, which led him to a decision.
“We’ll help the Galians,” he said to the assassin while Sedra stormed toward the other champion. “Let her deal with him.”
“Thank you for believing me. Holding your trust means more to me than you can imagine.”
“You can thank me when we survive this. Let’s go.”
Saralyth wasted little time getting in on the action. Silently she raced across the battlefield, found an opening in the nearest cluster, and dove with her knees sliding across the dirt. In two quick motions, she slashed the tendons of the Goliath’s legs before her, then darted out of the way when the brute growled in pain. Twice more she jumped into the fray, carefully choosing her attacks as she slipped between the Galians to slash at vulnerable areas of the monster’s body. There was a lesson happening before him, so he made mental notes as he watched the Galians finish off the weakened brute.
Togashi turned just in time to realize that he was about to die. One of the Goliath men had just finished off the last Galian fighting him, and charged with his beady eyes narrowed upon Togashi. There wasn’t much time to think, especially when the sheer size of the brute swallowed up the remaining sun behind him. He did have time to take a quick guess on the space between the Goliath’s legs, then dropped to his knees and held his weapon before him. Just as he’d hoped, the brute charged right over him, but his weapon caught more meat than he wanted. The lodged weapon dragged him along for the ride, which saw the monster falling face-first into the ground while flipping Togashi onto his back. His weapon was pinched between the massive thighs and the ground, so he drew the stone dagger, turned, and went to work stabbing the thick neck beneath the thicker head.
Despite already being injured before squaring off with Togashi, the Goliath proved that death was still a long way away. The brute was pushing himself to his feet, giving Togashi a choice with little time to decide. He didn’t want to stay within range of those thick arms, so he lifted his feet and kicked off the Goliath’s back. The next move wasn’t coming to mind, and his eyes widened when he saw the angry monster turning his way.
“Die!”
From the corner of his vision, he saw a blur of gray, green, and blonde, accompanied by a growl. The head of a massive stone axe whizzed by him, blowing air upon his face as the weapon slammed into the brute’s chest. Blood splattered on Togashi, but he never blinked once as he saw the mess spewing from the gut of the Goliath. Fingers snapped in front of him, and slowly he turned to find a woman an inch taller than him, with black horns curling over her head, and a blonde braid resting over her exposed shoulder. She wore a simple green halter top, with baggy brown pants, and shouldered the axe that had to weigh more than his lower body.
“I would say you’re welcome, little one,” she chuckled before clapping his back with a hard hand, “but you just made my job a lot easier. You’re brave to take on someone twice your size.”
“I’d rather be quicker,” he groaned, wiped the blood away from his eyes, then turned to see how the battle was fairing. There were two Goliaths to his right, with a dozen Galians surrounding them, as well as one assassin who looked like a child playing with their parents.
“Is that all you have, little woman?!” a voice thundered from over his other shoulder.
Togashi turned the other way to find Sedra staggering back from the Goliath champion. Her sword lay broken on the ground, and she was only holding up the shield with one hand. He didn’t see any cuts, but the way she held herself said she was badly injured, and on the verge of losing her battle. The Goliath offered her a sneering smile before raising the hefty axe above his head, looking to offer a killing blow upon the crusader.
He was charging in to help without a clue what he would do, only to see movement from the corner of his eyes. To his horror, Saryss sprinted into the battle, where she placed her hand upon the shoulder of her champion.
“Goddess! Your champion requires your aid!”
A flash of brilliant light blinded everyone, and he swore the temperature of the battlefield just went up a dozen degrees. When his vision returned, he found that Sedra was gone, likely having been retrieved from her goddess. The same couldn’t be said for Saryss, who was a sitting duck for the giant who was still blinking while swatting the air before him with his meaty hand. A smile curled upon the brute’s lips though, and the axe slowly pulled to the side while his gaze locked onto the poor blind woman who had just saved her champion. The look on her face said that she had already accepted her death, and she dropped to her knees and bowed her head.
“No!”
Togashi hadn’t used the shadow jump ability, but the lowered sun was casting a perfect shadow made by the brute’s head that rested over his shoulder. In a fraction of a second, the world around him went dark, only to have the light return while his legs straddled the monster’s shoulder. The element of surprise was quickly fading, and the head turning his way offered one chance for victory. With another growl, he plunged the dagger into one beady eye, ripped it out, then drove it into the other. The brute dropped the axe in favor of clutching his eyes, leaving another golden opportunity before him. Quickly he stabbed at the exposed neck, then drove it in next to the spine, threw his legs over the giant’s back, and clutched the dagger’s handle while letting himself fall. The blade made a foot-long gash before it exited the flesh, drawing a blood-curdling scream as he landed on his feet.
The brute gave up on nursing his injuries, and started thrashing his hands about wildly in hopes of striking his unseen foe. The path was leading him right to Saryss, who was still kneeling, waiting for her death. For the second time in a day, he charged at the small woman, scooped her up, and carried her from the path of the blows. Saryss screamed when she felt his hands upon her, but relaxed when her hand found his arm. She must have realized he wasn’t the Goliath, which made him smile when he came to a sliding halt.
Back in the fray, the giant champion fell to his knees, let out a cry, then collapsed on the ground. Just like with the guards, the brute’s body vanished, leaving three orbs in its place that he was in no hurry to retrieve, along with a large, black object that made a lump form in his throat.
“Are you alright?” he asked and dared to take Saryss’s hands into his own.
“It would seem that you’ve made a habit of rescuing me,” she chuckled lightly while her head turned up toward him. “Should this continue, I may have little choice but to pay you back.”
“I need you to walk. The champion is dead, but I need to collect some things, and I don’t want to leave you alone.”
“Quite thoughtful of you, Togashi.”
With her arm in his hand, he led her over to the where the body had vanished, and quickly scooped the familiar items into his pocket. When he was down to the big, black item, he held it up to the failing light.
“That is a goddess stone, like the one you used to become Elasha’s champion.”
“I thought you were blind?” he chuckled and looked at the stone while adding the new knowledge. “Why is it black, with a pointing thing at the…oh, duh. Goddess of war.”
“You are smarter than Sedra believed.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
He turned to find Saralyth storming at him, just before she pulled back and punched him in the shoulder. Before he could lift his hand to rub the throbbing flesh, she threw her arms around his neck, then pulled him in and squeezed.
“Don’t do anything stupid like that again, you hear me?” she whispered into his ear as her trembling body pressed against his. “Elasha would kill me if I let you die.”
“I’ll try to keep that in mind.”
“Great,” she whispered, sniffed, then gave him a lightning-quick kiss on the cheek before pulling away. “Now, go deal with the Galians.”
“Why do I have to…”
When he looked over her shoulder, he realized what she meant. A dozen thick brutes were down on one knee, bowing their heads at him. He knew they were showing their allegiance to the one who just bested the monster, but he wasn’t in any position to handle the situation.
“Here, you forgot this,” Saralyth said while slipping another orb into his hand. “I think you really made an impression on the blonde one.”
“Blonde?”
“The one with the yellowish hair. The one who helped you kill that first Goliath?”
He looked around until he found a Galian he recognized, only to realize that his assassin was right. She was the only one who was actually looking at him, and the smirk on her painted lips had him picturing a death that saw the naked brute grinding him into rubble. It wouldn’t be the worst way to go, better than being pulverized by the Goliath, at least.
“Oh, uh, hello there,” he chuckled nervously and offered the Galians a quick wave. They all looked at one another in confusion, but the blonde one was quick to wave back. “Okay, so, yeah, glad to see some of you survived. Uhm, sorry we didn’t get here sooner though.”
“You have saved this clan,” a male next to the blonde spoke while lifting his head. “You are now our chieftain.”
“Oh, no, no, no. I am nobody’s chieftain,” he chuckled again and waved his hands in front of him. “You’re uh, you know, free to go back to whatever it was you were doing.”
“Is that the wish of the chieftain?” the man asked while slowly rising to his feet. By the time he finished, he was six inches over Togashi’s eyes, and had to outweigh him by over a hundred pounds, if not more. Having such a large man asking his permission for something felt wrong, like trying to eat one’s food while it was still cooking.
“The champion of Elasha humbly requests that you worship her name,” Saryss called out and stepped by Togashi while placing her hand on his arm. “Mind you, this is only a request, because the goddess of the moon would never order you to denounce your loyalties. Should you wish to do more, travel to the temple of Elasha, and pledge your loyalty there.”
“Does this tiny creature speak for you, champion?” the man asked with an enormous brow raised his way.
“I don’t know about speaking for me, but I think…no, I do agree with her,” he replied, unable to withhold his smile before he leaned over to whisper. “Thank you. That was brilliant.”
“Some are made to take down monsters,” she whispered back with a smile that made his heart flutter. “Others were created to speak to crowds.”
After waiting for Saralyth to explain how to get to the temple, the assassin guided Togashi closer to where they’d been hiding, then leaned in and lowered her voice. “Now you’ve got a new problem.”
“Like how we’re going to feed these people if they come join our flock?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of what to do with her,” she grumbled with a nod toward the blind woman in the dingy robes. “I know you’re not going to leave her here. Not with all the feelings you have for her.”
“Hey, I’m not…”
“I didn’t say you were in love with her,” she challenged with a raised brow. “I said you had feelings. That includes teeny-tiny ones. Don’t get so defensive with me.”
“We’ll take her with us. Elasha will know how to get her back home.”
“Assuming she wants to go.”
“Why wouldn’t she?”
“Uhm, because her goddess and champion left her to die, Togashi. She has to decide between that nightmare, or the man who saved her life twice in a single day. Kinda makes you a hero in her eyes, so to speak.”
“Was that a joke?”
“Oh, ouch, yeah…” she growled and looked over at the woman in wait. “I better work on that.”
17
“You continue to impress me,” Elasha praised as he placed all of his earnings onto the podium. The last was the goddess stone, which made her eyes widen when it was placed before her. “Quite, quite impressed. Now, let us…”
“No,” he groaned and took the stone away when she went to reach for it. “Not until you answer my question.”
“I don’t think you needed to snatch the stone to ask a question, Togashi, but very well. What do you wish to ask?”
“Who did you think we were going to kill? The Galians, or the Goliaths?”
The question had haunted him ever since Saralyth explained the difference. He’d already made up his mind that he would quit if the goddess gave him an answer he didn’t like, even if it meant he’d never be cured of the toridium poisoning. The smirk she offered him said quitting was an unlikely result, so he braced himself for whatever she was about to say.
“Forgive me, Togashi, but the quest was vague intentionally,” she replied and slowly reached out to take his arm in her hand. “Before you become upset, please hear me out. As a champion, you will often find yourself in a position where a moral decision must be made. If I told you to only take out the Goliath potential champion, then your morals would never have come into play. However, when given a choice, you proved yourself worthy of being my champion, one who I can trust to make sound decisions. I’ll understand if you are angry with me for this, but I couldn’t continue to send you out on my behalf without knowing where your heart truly lies.”
