Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (46 page)

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With his hands and feet tied up, Smoke heard the Halflings talking amongst themselves during the short ride back to Port Royal.
"He must be the DarkElf Casser was talking about." said one of the Skullcaps.
"He doesn't look tough at all, yet he had us on the ropes within seconds." said another.
"Silence!" ordered Jane, "This DarkElf is nothing special. Well, aside from being a special dinner guest for our lord, that is."
After the pirate ship arrived in the harbor, Smoke was carried down to a dinghy, while Brax and the other captives were taken to one of the shacks.
"Are you sure you don't want me to tag along, Cap'n?" asked Nain.
"I'm sure. You know how temperamental our lord can be. I'm the only one who is allowed to converse with him." replied Jane flatly.
Nain bowed down to her and stepped aside.
Jane sat on the rower's seat and expertly rowed the dinghy with the tied-up DarkElf on board. As Smoke was wondering where she was taking him, they headed towards a tall cliff on the other side of the harbor.
After a few minutes, Smoke saw a cave entrance with hundreds of skullcaps growing around it. The green leaves and purple flowers gave the cave an inviting atmosphere, as if beckoning for someone to venture inside it. He curiously watched Jane pluck a flower and place it in her hair.
'Who is she prettying up for?' he wondered.
The moment they entered the cave, Smoke's Cunning of the Dire Fox detected a large monster up ahead.
'What
is
that?' he wondered. He felt anxious as he was slowly getting closer to an unknown enemy.
With only an oil lamp placed at the front of the dinghy to light her way, Jane kept rowing forward. They soon arrived at a piece of soaked land deep inside the cave. Smoke could sense that the monster was only a couple of meters away from them now, but he couldn't see or hear it. With a grin on her face, Jane secured the dinghy to a large rock and pulled Smoke off of it.
As she took the lamp in her hand, Smoke noticed a pile of bones and ragged clothes nearby. He understood that those were most likely the remains of previous 'dinner guests' Jane brought to the cave. Then, as Jane made several steps forward and raised the lamp above her head, Smoke finally saw the monster.
A massive ball of numerous intertwined vines, about three meters in diameter, was floating two meters above ground. If it weren't green, Smoke would have at first thought that the flying monster was made out of giant spaghetti. Jane then placed the lamp of the ground, knelt down before the monster and said, "I bring you an offering, lord Pates."
Smoke was taken aback when two big, glowing red eyes opened menacingly from within the mass of vines. The green monster started moving around.
'How is that thing flying?' Smoke wondered to himself.
His attention was diverted when a deep opening appeared in between the vines.
"WRRRRAAAAAHH"
A loud roar came from what were seemingly the monster's mouth.
"You want me to come closer, my lord?" Jane asked Pates. Using her knees, the pale-skinned Captain moved forward. "Is this close enough?" 
The giant monster did nothing in response.
"I see. Praise and glory to you, high and mighty lord Pates." said Jane, "I bring you a delectable sacrifice." she said and raised her head to gaze upon her lord.
The giant monster's mouth opened once again.
"WRRRAAH" 
Jane bowed down and said, "Thank you, my lord. I aim to please." She kept twirling the ends of her hair as she spoke.
'Does she really understand it or is she just crazy?' Smoke wondered to himself. 
The Skullcap Captain proceeded with her monologue, "What's that, my lord? You want me to entice your appetite with the tale of how I captured this DarkElf?"
'Is this her god or her pet?' Smoke thought and gave her a patronizing look.
Pates did nothing in response and remained floating in one spot.
"Of course, my lord..." said Jane pleasantly and began to describe her first encounter with Smoke.
Still, there were no changes in the giant monster.
'Yup, she's definitely crazy.' concluded Smoke.
While Jane was busy having an imaginary conversation with Pates, Smoke hurriedly asked Igniz to heat up the surface of his metal compartment. Once it reached scorching temperatures, Smoke brought his hands near it and burned through the rope binding him. After he freed his feet as well, he swiftly leapt towards the ceiling of the cave and used his Claws of Chiropterra to hold onto one of the stalactites. He then carefully pointed his Berserker's Ring of Flames at Jane and Pates. A dark red casting circle appeared beneath them.
Jane and Pates searched for the cause of the casting circle. Pates was the first to find Smoke and extended multiple vines in his direction with great speed. However, before its vines were able to reach Smoke, the progress bar for his ability was filled and flames erupted from the edges of the casting circle.
With both Jane and Pates caught inside it, they were inflicted with Berserk status. Their bodies slightly emitted red steam and they immediately started going after each other.
Pates lashed out ferociously with dozens of its green vines. It hit everything around itself, Jane, the ground, the cave walls, the ceiling. Its attacks were strong enough to take out sizeable chunks of the rocky walls.
Despite Pates' numerous whip-like attacks, Jane managed to reach the bottom of the giant monster. She held onto one of its vines to reach its body and stabbed Pates with her cutlass.
Her body then twitched violently, twice, and stood still. The enraged expression on her face was replaced with one of shock. She looked down at her chest and found two wide holes in it. Ever so slowly, her hands let go of both her cutlass and the vine.
But she didn't fall.
Smoke was baffled at the sight of Jane's body suspended in mid-air, with her hands hanging down. He had been vigilantly watching her and Pates while still channeling the Ring of Flames, but couldn't understand what had pierced her body or why she wasn't falling to the ground.
Suddenly, Smoke spotted something bizarre. Blood that was coming out of Jane's wounds trickled down a diagonal line towards the ground, as if painting the air red. Smoke looked in the direction the trail of blood was going and saw holes in the soft ground. It was then that he realised what had happened.
Pates had two invisible vines connected to its body. It had attacked Jane with them, and they went cleanly through her body and into the ground behind her. They were still there, stuck in the ground, and holding her in place.
Jane's body finally moved when Pates brought her closer to its wide mouth. Without hesitation, it swallowed her whole. Nothing was left of her except for her cutlass, which remained stuck in the giant monster's body.
Smoke noticed the blood-drenched tips of Pates' invisible vines move from its mouth down to the ground below it and press hard against it.
'It's not flying.' Smoke thought in a moment of clarity. 'It probably doesn't have just two, but many more invisible vines simply supporting its body from below.'
Berserker's Ring of Flames' duration came to an end and the Berserk status wore off. To Jane's credit, she managed to reveal Pates' life bar, which displayed (542,250/550,00 HP).
'I can't fight it head-on. I need to...'
Smoke's train of thought was interrupted when the stalactite he was hanging off of detached itself from the ceiling. Landing on the ground, he quickly sidestepped the falling spike.
SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH
Behind him, he heard rocks falling into the water.
"...Oh no." he uttered. He quickly turned away from Pates and released Igniz from his metal compartment. "Fly ahead of me as fast as you can and shine brightly!" he told hastily to his symbiote and leaped over the water.
Pates seemed to stagger in the air as it recovered from the negative status effect it had been afflicted by. It looked around for the DarkElf who was offered to him earlier.
However, Pates only caught a glimpse of Smoke's cape as he was leaving the cave.
RUMBLE CRASH RUMBLE RUMBLE CRASH
Pates' earlier thrashing had damaged the structural integrity of the cave. With Igniz illuminating his path, Smoke managed to safely glide out of the cave in time and escape the cave-in, leaving the giant monster trapped inside.
After taking a glance over his shoulder at the cave's entrance, Smoke ventured towards the harbor alongside Igniz. He could sense more than eighty Pirates waiting for him on the docks. The two of them prepared themselves to fight more of the Skullcaps, when Smoke noticed a commotion over at one of the shacks.
With Telefax Vision, he saw Brax and the captive children struggling against seven Halflings. Four of the children fought clumsily with their bare hands, while the rest cowered behind them. Their life bars were at less than half.
Smoke abruptly changed route towards them, with Igniz flying closely behind him. He landed on the roof of the shack and let loose his poison arrows at the Skullcaps who had their backs turned to him, inflicting increased damage to them. One by one, the Pirates were taken out.
"Good job defending them." said Smoke as he jumped down next to Brax.
"I can't take the credit for that. Some of them were inspired by your actions, and realized that they could fight back and reclaim their freedom." Brax replied with a proud smile, but it quickly faded as he pointed to the captives who were shuddering. "Although, there are many who are still afraid."
At a loss for words, Smoke nodded and pointed to a nearby ship. "Same plan as before: you guys board a ship while I cover your escape. Don't worry, Captain Jane Snow won't be waiting behind the riverbend this time." he said reassuringly.
As Brax and the captives headed for the ship, eight Skullcaps ran after them, but Smoke blocked their path.
Coupled with Igniz's fireballs, Smoke killed three more Halflings using his weighted chain and sickle. His Cunning of the Dire Fox then sensed fifty Skullcaps in the direction Brax was headed. He turned around and saw them in the distance. He easily recognized the Pirate leading them as Nain, due to his red jacket.
Caught between two groups of Skullcaps, Smoke quickly gave Igniz an order, "Trap these five inside a fire cage, bud." 
Igniz immediately surrounded them with firewalls.
"Finish them off and fly to me as soon as you're done." said Smoke as he glided over Brax and the captives, and landed in front of them.
Upon seeing Smoke, Nain picked up the pace and he and his group were now running towards Smoke, Brax and the children. As they got closer, Nain yelled, "Where's our Captain, you bilge rat?"
"Nain, right?" Smoke asked the Halfling in charge, "Pates ate her."
"Hold your tongue, liar! How dare you speak our lord's name in vain!" replied Nain angrily. "I don't know what you did to Cap'n Snow, but I'll get the truth out of ye one way or another." he said strongly, "Sick 'em, mateys!"
Fifty Skullcaps charged at him at the same time but were met with a line of firewalls that appeared in front of them. The Pirates immediately came to a halt, as they had learned their lesson from before. Igniz came to Smoke's aid in just the right time.
"Listen to me, Nain! Pates isn't a god. It's just a big monster." said Smoke with a straight face.
"Ha! Then how do you explain the agility we possess? The strength? The skill?" countered Nain.
"I don't know? You guys must be gifted fighters, I guess." replied Smoke.
"Nay, DarkElf." said Nain and shook his head. "Cap'n Snow took us in when we were nothing but hoodlums. She trained us day in and day out; told us every day that lord Pates be empowering us." the Halfling described their delusional life, "Those who couldn't last were brought to our lord. Thanks to their sacrifice, our lord transferred their energy to us and we became better, faster, stronger. We are now feared all over the Murray thanks to Cap'n Snow and lord Pates."
"Jane was crazy! She was imagining her conversations with Pates in her head." Smoke said strongly and raised his hand in frustration.
"You think that because you're an infidel! She is the only one who can understand the divine words of lord Pates." replied the Halfling.
Smoke and Nain were still in a heated argument when they heard a loud noise coming from the collapsed cave. Smoke used his Telefax Vision to discover what he already half-expected: Pates had dug itself out of the cave.
It moved surprisingly fast as its invisible vines traversed over the river and headed directly for the harbor. It only slowed down once it reached the docks, and started destroying everything in its path. Pirates and captives alike were being killed as their bodies were picked up by Pates' vines and thrown into the air together with debris and rubble from the shacks near the docks.
"See, this is what I was talking about." Smoke told Nain and pointed to the giant monster that was almost upon them.
"No, it can't be. Lord Pates has never harmed us before." said Nain in disbelief, "We must have done something wrong and incurred his wrath." As Pates got even closer, the Halfling could see it attacking Skullcaps and captives that were running for their lives.
"Cap'n Snow...we need you! Where are you, Captain?" Nain was panicking and kept looking in various directions while repeating the same question.
The pirate next to him hit Nain's shoulder with the back of his hand. "Nain..." His eyes were fixated on something.
He pointed to the lower part of the monster's body. The leader of the Skullcaps looked up towards Pates.
"No..." Nain let go of his dirk and dropped to his knees.