Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (28 page)

The cured people from the Therianthrope curse walked to meet the Tikbalangs. They hugged them and swore to help them be free of this dire affliction.
Smoke walked over to Sierra and updated her with Ledur and the Tikbalangs status.
"Our cure didn't work for them, huh?" she asked rhetorically. "You did tell them that we won't stop until we find a cure for them, right?"
Smoke's eyebrow raised. "Of course. That's the first thing I said."
Suddenly, Sierra realized something. "Did you tell him about Horrabelle's parchment? Didn't that say that she had a way to make those monsters from the mountain to look like Humans, Lioumereans, Elves and Centaurs?"
He shook his head. "No. I didn't want to keep his hopes up until I have something more concrete that a letter."
"Well, I guess that makes sense," she answered passively.
Smoke stared down on the ground, as he felt responsible for the Tikbalangs curse.
"Hey, I might have something that will cheer you up," said Sierra enthusiastically.
"Really?" asked an intrigued Smoke. "What's that?"
"Right when the blood moon engulfed us in its light, I saw a quest window for a Job change," she said excitedly. "Of course I don't plan on going there now. Seeing as we only have less than two days left before Centzo's attack."
"That's great. I was thinking how this long quest was suppose to make you powerful when all it did was curse you," replied Smoke with the same level of zest.
"But that wasn't my good news," Sierra said slowly for suspense. "When I searched through my abilities, I found the same Acolyte abilities from before, but I found one new ability that I never saw before."
"And what's the ability?" he asked anxiously. After Sierra's transformation into a HighElf, he felt more at ease and talking with her became easier.
"Its called Transmogrify," she said with a knowing grin. "I haven't used it yet, but I think it looks really promising."
 

* * * * * * 

After Smoke and Sierra got a quick power nap in the real world, they both returned to Zectas at the same time. They needed to log in quickly for they had less than thirty hours left before the Brandals would launch their full out attack on Centzo.
Smoke and the Vigilantez survivors gathered in a forest patch, fifteen kilometers north of the city. Prosjak told him that after he assassinated Horrabelle, he was to lead his forces to this location.
Supposedly, a letter from the Duke's adviser would arrive, and help them with their task of defending the northern side of the city. He appreciated how Prosjak worded this instruction. It was as if he never considered the possibility that Smoke would fail his mission in Braucht Hilfe Village.
While they waited, Sierra checked with the rest of the formerly cursed Therianthropes and confirmed that all of them had the same Transmogrify ability. They now had the ability to shapeshift into Werebears and Werewolves at will.
Personally, Smoke would have preferred if they used this ability only as a last resort, but only Sierra had enough abilities to fight without Transmogrifying, whereas the rest of them were untrained to fight outside of their cursed forms.
Under the guidance of Phen and Rear, Ardu and Vrai took command of Sierra's former Therianthrope army.
Meanwhile, Sierra dressed in her battle acolyte set. She also equipped Smoke's Armored Armadillo Shield and a fire enchanted battle mace. The red-haired HighElf took command of her fellow Acolytes and began to train them how to defend for their lives, in case the Iron Knights guarding them were beaten.
Thyrsus suddenly called for Smoke and the core member's attention. Apparently, his falcon saw a large group heading their way.
"...From the way their moving, it appears that they know of our present location," reported Thyrsus after he canceled his Falcon Vision.
"Should we run for it?" asked Laernea and Gandiva simultaneously. The two Lioumereans were already riding on their stag moose, ready to move.
Guro, the lioness Gladiatrix, raised her hand in disapproval. "It is best if we stay in this position. Prosjak's instruction proved to be very effective when we were in Braucht Hilfe."
"I agree. Ichaival, please send the Banalite Archers and the Arcus without war chariots up the trees," added Adder.
Smoke and Sierra had no problem with Adder and Guro's suggestion. He then ordered for the entire Vigilantez force to prepare to engage the incoming forces.
Along with the Iron Knights, Sierra had the Acolytes spread out among the Vigilantez. Her life bar and attack power may have gone down significantly, but she thought that her ability to heal and tank simultaneously more than made up for it.
After she had the Acolytes in position, Sierra signaled Ardu and Vrai to Transmogrify. At once, the two teenagers transformed into Werebears and the rest of the Werewolves transmogrified after them.
With all the Vigilantez prepared, they waited for the unknown army.
Then, the sound of a large army marching came from in front of them. A legion of fifteen-thousand Avendre Mercenaries appeared before them. Each mercenary wore a thick leather armor and was equipped with a saber and a medium sized kite shield.
Fifteen Avendre stood above the rest as they wore full metal armor and carried long claymores by their side. One of these mercenaries raised both his hands and slowly approached Smoke. In his right hand, he carried an encased parchment.
"I have a letter from Prosjak," said the Avendre Mercenary and handed him the sealed document.
Smoke hurriedly began to acquire the letter’s information. Shortly, a notification window popped up.
 

After Smoke finished reading the letter, the Avendre Mercenary knelt down before him.
"My name is Commander Jeter Pion. My brothers and I have strict orders to serve the DarkElf known as Smoke," said the mercenary. "What are your orders, Sir?"
Smoke looked at the mercenary and to the rest of the Avendre. He then glanced at Sierra and his core members.
"Gather your fellow Commanders, Jeter," said Smoke eagerly. "We have a city to free."

Stacks of paper and books were packed inside the concrete house of Braucht Hilfe's village chief. This was where Horrabelle stayed during her time in the village.
Macher sat comfortably in the wooden chairs of the small kitchen. He was joined by a female Elementalist and an Archbishop who was pacing frantically inside the house.
The two Sonstwelters with Macher arrived five hours after Horrabelle's death. They were Macher's hidden allies, who were sponsoring him from within the shadows.
"Poltron, you better not be say I told you so," said Macher to the Archbishop who was about to open his mouth. "I already tried convincing Duke Burmistrz to recruit Ilad even before the mounted race, but he still insisted that we just use him to raise the stakes. The Duke even doubled my share from the gambling profits."
“I wasn't going to say that,” replied Poltron nervously. “What I was going to say is that you should have tried harder. You have seen how he rallied the racers into defeating the bandits during the race, and now he is working under Smoke. If we had Ilad in our pockets then we would have at least a spy in Smoke's army.”
Macher waved his hand at Poltron, dismissing his lectures. He didn't need to be reminded of Ilad's achievements during the race. He personally saw it first hand as he was secretly following him right from the start.
“Besides, you remember how Avidite convinced me not to,” said Macher as he pointed to the Elementalist, who sat across him. “She said that Ilad wasn't worth risking my Intimacy with the Duke.”
Avidite clicked her tongue. “What? You're putting the blame on me? I was just saying that if we are going to rule a city then you would need connections, and who would be better than a Duke of another city?” she replied, and glared back at him.
“And we are only able to have a shot at getting a city because of Duke Burmistrz. If you fell out of his good graces, then you can kiss the city goodbye,” reasoned out Avidite angrily.
Macher shook his head disapprovingly.
“Well, if you hadn't insisted that we wait for you and your members' slow mounts, we would have arrived here two hours earlier,” shouted back Macher. “And none of this fiasco would have happened.”
“Didn't I tell you to go ahead?” snapped Avidite.
“Yeah, you sure did,” replied Macher sarcastically. “Right after you reminded me who was funding for my personal army.”
Avidite shrugged her shoulders. “How's that my fault? I was only pointing out the facts, and may I remind you that you still left us anyway.”
“Guys, calm down,” interjected Poltron. “There's nothing to gain from you two squabbling.”
Macher stepped away from Avidite. He looked outside the window, and saw the wake of the battlefield. “I bet Ilad took part in this. I can feel his handy work in all of it,” he said disapprovingly. "Smoke just got really lucky to have recruited him."
“Let's forget about Ilad for now,” said Poltron. “What's done is done. We just need to move forward. Even after losing Horrabelle, with Duke Burmistrz forces alone we are still capable of winning this. We still have Centzo by its throat.”
“And what's up with all these books and papers scattered everywhere?” asked a peeved Avidite as she pointed around the house.
Macher could tell that the mess bothered her. He looked around Horrabelle's belongings and had to agree that it was  a complete mess.
'How much help could have that messy Witch contributed?' Macher wondered to himself.
Nodding his head at the Archbishop, Macher agreed with Poltron. They still had a high chance of finally obtaining a city for themselves.
“You maybe right, Poltron, but you are not the one who is going to have to answer to—” Macher stopped talking as he received a call from Duke Burmistrz.
“Speak of the devil,” said Macher to the two other Sonstwelters before answering. “Good day, Duke. I guess you have received the horrible news?”
Burmistrz voice boomed loudly on the other end. “How could you have allowed this to happen?”
“I came here as fast as I could, but Smoke trapped her inside a dome,” he began to explain. “Smoke and his guild has gotten a lot stronger than before, and that Werebear and Aqua Knight were also a pain to deal with. If only Ilad was with us and not with them, then maybe we could have—”
“I don't want to hear your excuses!” interjected Burmistrz angrily. “You don't realize what a difficult situation you have put me in, and I told you that Flame Knight wasn't useful for anything else than a rigged horse.”
Macher knew that Ilad was a sensitive topic, but he didn't realize that the Witch's Therianthrope army would have been a great help. He thought that the Duke was only overreacting.
“Horrabelle was a very important person to someone who is even more powerful than me,” explained Burmistrz with a worried voice.
"She was doing an important research for him and was about to send the information before she died…. Tell me that you have at least secured the village?" asked a concerned Burmistrz.
“Definitely! Smoke and his army ran away as soon as my forces and I arrived,” proudly answered Macher. "In fact, we have locked down the whole village and posted guards outside."
“What about Horrabelle's research materials? Do you have your men guarding those as well?” inquired Burmistrz curiously.
“Well, I'm inside the house where she was staying, but I cannot tell which research material you might mean,” answered Macher skeptically as he look through the disordered parchments and books.
“And what of her Therianthropes? Are they still with you?” asked Burmistrz.
“When we arrived, less than a thousand of them were left, but I lost track of them when they chased Smoke's men into the forest. None of them returned to the village after the battle,” answered Macher truthfully.
“No matter,” replied the Duke. “Just be sure to keep everything in that place safe. In fact, you personally stand guard in that house. No harm is to come to those pertinent papers. A group of people in long black robes will arrive shortly to gather them.”
Burmistrz's excitement carried over the call. Macher realized that Horrabelle's research must have been that important to him.
He tried to look through one of the papers, but couldn't understand the language written in them. A notification window instantly popped up.
 

“Sure. No problem. I will stay here,” he replied dubiously as he was unconvinced that these documents were even significant.
“She said that she was done with her research anyway. Hopefully I can pacify his anger, after I deliver her papers to him,” said Burmistrz out loud as he mumbled to himself.
“Since we have lost Horrabelle's forces, I have sent all the members of the Silny division to you. They are the fastest of the Cavalry Knights Centzo has to offer,” boasted Burmistrz.
“I know their acinonyx cheetahs are trained and all, but are you sure they will make it in time?” asked a doubtful Macher.
“They will arrive before your battle to subjugate Centzo will start. After all, you are doing this under my name,” said the Duke reassuringly.
“But I'm still going to be Mayor of Centzo, right?” asked Macher boldly as he wanted to make sure everything was crystal clear.
“Of course. I am a man of my words. Provided that you keep your fealty to me. I have no problem with that,” stated Burmistrz with finality.
“By the way, before I let you go, there's one more thing,” added Burmistrz threateningly. “I cannot do anything with you Sonstwelters returning to our world, but be sure to wipe out all of Smoke's Zectian members. I would like to see what he will do when all he has is himself against my Dukedom.”
“Don't worry. Smoke only got lucky last time. Next time, I will have him reduced to nothing,” said Macher with certainty.
Burmistrz dropped the call, and Macher turned to face his two friends.
“Macher, you are sure we will be able to get Centzo, right?” asked the concerned Archbishop.
“Why, Poltron, why the sudden doubt?” he said mockingly. “Don't worry my friend, I'm positive. With all our three forces combined, and the Duke's Brandals and Cavalry Knights, there is nothing the starving people of Centzo can do to stop us,” answered Macher confidently.
“I have already spent all my money on our personal army. I will be flat broke if we won't win this war,” said a worried Poltron.
“We are all in this together,” replied Avidite in a calmer voice. She walked over to the Archbishop and patted his shoulder. “We've got your back, Poltron, and you know that Macher would never let us down.”
“Thanks, I can't wait until we split this city equally among us,” said Poltron to the two of them.
“Besides, Macher already has high level Intimacies with those Cavalry Knights in his private army. I'm sure his men will be up for the challenge, right?” asked Avidite.
“Yeah, my Intimacies with them are all above 85. Some even reach up to 90. I personally trained with them and went on several level C and B quests to raise their levels from the ground up. I even know all of their names,” replied Macher fondly.
“Alright, alright. No need to go into the details,” said an irked Avidite. "You can keep your private army, while Poltron and I have our pick with the Zectians in Centzo."
“Sure,” replied Macher and shrugged his shoulder.
"At least this campaign will be ending soon. Our funds will only last for five more weeks, and that's already stretching it to the best possible conditions," said Macher out loud. He joined the Elementalist and the Archbishop.
"Just remember what you said, Poltron, we've got this city in the bag," said Macher haughtily as he wrapped both his arms around their shoulders. "Even if Ilad is with Smoke…."

* * * * * * 

“Achoo!” Smoke sneezed and asked to take a short time out from their duel. “I think this early morning mist is getting to me or something,” he said to the Avendre Commander.
Before the break of dawn, Smoke was having a duel with Jeter Pion from within the trees. He used Aral's Lightning Rods and faced against the formidable Mercenary equipped with his saber and kite shield.
Smoke had sparred with several ordinary Mercenaries and the other Avendre Commanders. Out of all of them, he noticed that Jeter's fighting ability stood above the rest.
The common Mercenary was below the level of their Ranseurs, while the Commanders were slightly stronger than them. However, Jeter was almost on the same level as Espion. There were even a few moments that made Smoke think that the Avendre Commander was almost on the same level as Adder.
Smoke swiftly moved to Jeter's left and struck him with the lightning rods, but he was instantly blocked by the Mercenary’s shield.
Yet, Smoke wasn't finished with his attack as he fluidly circled around Jeter and delivered a swift blow to his back.
SHIIIING
Without turning around, Jeter's saber blocked Smoke's lightning rod.
“That's quite impressive,” said Smoke approvingly.
“Thank you,” replied Jeter as he turned around to face him. “I know that you have been holding back, but hearing a compliment from you is still something to be proud of.”
Jeter then got into an offensive stance. “Now, if you don't mind. I'd like you to take this seriously. You wanted to know our true abilities, right?”
“Alright, if you insist,” said Smoke and readied himself as well.
Smoke used his Hyper Jump ability and almost instantaneously appeared in front of the Avendre Mercenary. He struck with his left rod's Lightning Shock ability on Jeter's body and aimed his right rod squarely on the Mercenary's chin.
Jeter was sent flying backward and tumbled on the ground. Smoke made sure to keep the damage within a safe parameter, and the Mercenary Commander's life bar displayed (102,500/205,000 HP).
Smoke walked over to the fallen Avendre and offered him his hand.
“Thanks for taking me seriously,” said Jeter gratefully as he was being helped up.
“Even if you hadn't asked for it, I would have had to,” replied Smoke and shook Jeter's hand. “That was very impressive. Where did you learn to fight like that?”
"I have been with the Avendre ever since I was young," began Jeter. "My family was in a great amount of debt and the only way they could think of getting out of it was by pawning me off to the Avendre Mercenaries. Luckily for me, Solliciter, the Avendre's Leader, took pity on me and trained me well."
“Wait, what? Your family sold you off to be a slave?” asked Smoke incredulously.
"I guess you can say that, but Solliciter never treated me as one. He even told me that I'm free to go wherever I want to," said Jeter fondly. "I even told him about how I was interested in joining your army. The stories of how you freed several villages from oppression has reached the Avendre Headquarters in mount Alouer. You have inspired me to help others, but I won't be able to do that until I pay off my family's debt."
Despite Jeter's excited voice, Smoke clearly saw the Mercenary's sullen expression.
“I see, and how much is it?” asked Smoke.
“Fifty million zecs,” replied Jeter shamefully. He turned and saw Smoke smiling at him.
“It's funny, right?” said Jeter as he forced himself to smile. “How in the world can a family be in debt for fifty million zecs.”
Jeter forcibly stretched his body and shrugged off any sore feelings.
“On the bright side, at least Solliciter allowed me to serve under you,” said Jeter gratefully. “This way, it feels like I'm really in your private army and fighting for a just cause. Thank you again for the spar.”
Jeter bowed down his head and started walking away towards his men.
“Jeter,” called out Smoke.
The Avendre Commander turned around immediately.
"Don't worry. I have a feeling that you will finally be free from your family's debt in this battle," said Smoke reassuringly.
Jeter smiled and slightly bowed his head and left.
Suddenly, a notification window popped up.