Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (39 page)

After he read the Avendre Quests, Smoke remembered that Silap had its own Avendre Satellite Base. In fact, it was there that he made a contract with five-hundred Avendre Mercenaries to protect Verbrannt.
He then shared the Mercenary Quests to his core members.
Sierra was the first one to speak up. "My division won't be taking any of these quests. I plan to take them to Veneficatl Valley. There are some places there that I think would benefit my Druids and the Mercenaries."
On the other hand, Mamelon gladly accepted the Beasts of Burden for Betul Quest. "I would like to take the Betul Quest," said the busty Aqua Knight. "With the increase of my regiment, I estimate that we could wrangle four times the number of mounts that we previously brought in."
"Also, we won't be taking any of the transports. They are already limited as it is, and I have a different plan for these Mercenaries," she said sadistically.
"You're going to have them march to straight to Betul?" asked Smoke incredulously.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure to give them a proper rest," replied Mamelon passively. "Just think of it as part of their training."
Without further discussions or even changing the Mercenaries' damaged equipment, Mamelon gave them her leave. Together with the Elemental Knights, Shamans, and Mercenaries they immediately set off. They were headed for the desert of Wundern, a bountiful area with beasts of burden, which was also near their target village.
"What curious Sonstwelters," remarked Guro. "I think I'll follow Sierra and Mamelon's lead. I won't be taking any of the quests, as I feel that it is much too soon for them. Also, there is also the problem with our lack of draughts, so I won't be taking any of the transports. For the time being, I'll train them here."
"Oh, good. I thought you were going to have all of your ten-thousand Avendre head somewhere on foot," said a relieved Sierra .
"But they'll wish they would have gone on a death march," said Guro menacingly and looked at her assigned legion.
"What about weapons and armor?" Smoke asked her.
"Don't worry. There are plenty of raw materials in the forest patches nearby. We'll make something out of those," answered the middle-aged Lioumerean. "Until we meet again, fellow Zuchthaus Escapee."
Guro also bade farewell to the other core members, and led her nine-thousand Mercenaries to one of the forests near the walls of Verbrannt.
As for Smoke's ranged core members, they all agreed to take on the Salvage Salah Quest. It was a mission to reconstruct the remnants of the village. Although, Verbrannt did have some refugees coming from this place, there were others who remained behind. With all of their legions combined, the ranged core members had almost half of the total of Avendre Mercenaries.
"Rebuilding and improving the ruined village from scratch should not be a problem for us at all," declared Ichaival confidently.
"I also have a good feeling about this mission," added Sharanga brightly. "It gives us the perfect opportunity to build the weapon we have planned for our new subordinates."
"The two of you look like you're having a great time lately," Smoke innocently said to Ichaival and Sharanga.
"What do you mean? We always have a fun time together," replied Ichaival.
"As long as Ichaival isn't being a bother, he is always good company to be with," added Sharanga demurely.
"That's good to hear. I look forward to the growth of your development," said Smoke meaningfully.
Sierra suddenly tugged Smoke's arm. "I need to go. We still have a long journey ahead. Thank you for providing transports for all of us. That really saves us a lot of time. It's too bad that we couldn't capture more draughts."
"Don't worry about it. Soon, we'll have more than a thousand large transports and all of them we'll be pulled by strong monsters," bantered Smoke.
She gave him a brief hug, but the sensation lingered even after they let go of each other. She then turned to the rest of the core members remaining. "Everyone, please feel free to call me if you need my help."
With that, Sierra and her legion headed for the magical valley of Veneficatl.
After the red-haired HighElf left, the rest of his core members bade him farewell as well. All of them headed for Verbrannt to prepare for their journey to Salah.
Smoke then turned to Espion and the one thousand Mercenaries who were left behind.
"Welcome to team Select," began Smoke. "As some of you might not yet know, the handsome young man next to me is, Espion, he will be your Vice-Captain."
All of them saluted Espion in the Avendre manner. They covered their eyes with their right hand, touched their heart, and lastly, with their open palm pointed it to him.
Espion hurriedly emulated them, and addressed them. "Let us learn from one another and grow together."
"Now that we have that settled, let's all head for our transports. We have to visit a good friend of mine first," stated Smoke with authority.
All of them comfortably rode on ten large-carriage transports and headed southward.
 

* * * * * * 

Along with Espion and a thousand Avendre, Smoke came across the most familiar village to him. A sense of being home enveloped him. Its short walls surrounding it serve no protection at all. Yet, the magical barrier put up by Darius, could destroy any invaders below his level and concealed it from people that do not have access to it.
Smoke smiled when he saw the remnants of the armored armadillo carapace hill that he made when he hunted ten-thousand of them.
Despite being there for so long, he still felt that the enigmatic village of Nanahuatl had plenty of mysteries left unsolved.
The moment they got inside its humble gates, he saw the central fountain. This was the first thing he saw in Zectas. Then, a second later, an ancient men dressed in Wizard's robes appeared before them.
Darius used his instant Teleportation ability as soon as he felt Smoke's presence. Yet, he looked significantly younger despite his long white hair.
"Darius! I'm back!" said Smoke happily and ran to him. He hugged the Beggar Legati tightly.
"Glad you could finally grace us with your presence," replied Darius teasingly and hugged him back. "It is good to see you in a brighter light," said Darius.
Smoke remembered the time when he returned after he was tricked by Horrabelle. Since then, he promised himself that he would improve. He was hopeful that he had, but knew that there was still an even bigger room for growth.
"I have a couple of new recruits that I need to train, but before that I thought I'd give you a visit first," explained Smoke. "Espion, why don't you take the Mercenaries over to the armored armadillo fishing weirs."
Espion looked confused. "You want us to collect fish?"
Smoke shook his head and laughed. "No. Tell the men to relax in the river. There aren't any dangerous monsters there, and the children would love to have new playmates."
After Espion and his selected Mercenaries left, Darius ceremoniously bowed down to him.
"Thank you," replied Darius gratefully. "This old man appreciates you taking some of your precious time to visit him."
"Well, talking to you have always been helpful. So, I'm doing this for myself rather than for you," said Smoke flippantly.
He tried to mask the fact that of how much he actually missed his old friend.
"That sounds only fair. It would be underhanded if I'm the only one benefiting from your visit," replied Darius seriously. "So, what delicious treat did you bring for me this time?"
"Oh, have I got something in store for you!" exclaimed Smoke. "You know how Sierra's been cooking a lot of tasty meals lately, right?"
Darius nodded excitedly. The old man's saliva drooled along the side of his mouth.
"Well, she's made a new menu. It's specially designed for the Avendre Mercenaries to gain more muscles, but I think you'll like it," he explained.
Smoke led Darius to his house.
"Should I gather the villagers?" asked Darius cautiously. "If you only have a few of them, then I think it would be better not to tell everyone."
The old Beggar carefully looked at their surrounding, checking to see if anyone was eavesdropping on them.
"After all, the ones that could eat it will only feel guilty for those who couldn't... So, I'll have to take it upon myself to bear this culpability alone."
"Wow, that's very selfless of you," bantered Smoke. "But I think I we should share this we the rest of the village on another time. Let me just cook it first. Sierra already had it seasoned and shaped. I just have to grill them first."
They rushed in Nanahuatl's iconic house, which used to belong to the Beggar Imperator, Kumbaba.
When Smoke reached the kitchen, he took out Sierra's specially prepared treat for Darius. He placed burger patties on his grill, and chugged a few ember stones below it. Igniz then released a small fireball which caused the ember stones to create the right fire for cooking.
"They're pretty famous back in my world, but I haven't seen it here yet. So, Sierra thought she would share this type of food with you," explained Smoke. "They're called burgers. Normally, you place them inside a special type of bread called a bun. We had the Bakers of Verbrannt make some, specifically for this."
Smoke expertly grilled six, one-pounder-burger patties. After cooking them to golden brown and slightly charred, he quickly placed the sliced cheeses on top of each one of them. One by one, he placed them on the bun and added lettuce and tomatoes.
"It smells really good," said the salivating Darius. "It doesn't look that complicated, but what are those spices inside the ground meat?"
"That's Sierra's secret," replied Smoke sheepishly. "This is nothing fancy, but I think it'll taste great."
As soon as Smoke finished Sierra's special burgers, Darius grabbed one of them and took out a big bite.
"Mmm... You should have cured Sierra's curse long ago," said the old Beggar. "I've never tasted anything like this."
Smoke grabbed one of the burgers and stared at it curiously. He opened his mouth but hesitated to take a bite.
'Sierra already tasted this herself and Darius thinks it's tasty,' he debated with himself whether to eat the special burger.
'What the heck,' he thought in the end, and took out a big chunk. Smoke found it juicy and a little bit crunchy.
"All in all. It tastes just like a regular burger back home," he said to Darius. "I thought it would give an after buzz, but it's all good."
Darius nodded passively, not paying any attention to what he was saying at all.
"Can I have the rest?" Darius strongly asked. "I mean you'll have an endless supply of these...burgers, right? And I don't know when the next time you'll be coming here."
"Sure, no problem," answered Smoke and offered the remaining four burgers to his dearest friend.
With nothing to restrain him, Smoke eagerly watched Darius perform his wondrous talent. The old man wolfed down all of the burgers as fast as he could.
"Please tell Sierra to come visit me some time as well," said Darius while wiping the meat juice off on the side of his mouth.
After eating their burgers, Smoke thought to update Darius on his adventures.
"...You know I met this interesting person in Centzo. He goes by the name of Prosjak. I think you might know him," he said meaningfully.
"Nope, don't know him, but of course I have stayed within these walls for so long and I don't know who's who anymore," replied Darius truthfully.
"So, what do you have in plan for your men?" asked the old Beggar.
Smoke grinned and gave him a knowing look. "I want you to teach them how to make double bladed swords like Adders' BlitzSturm."
"Why? Even if there is a thousand of them, I can still make it myself," offered Darius.
"This way, they could make a strong bond with their weapon," explained Smoke. "I'll have them hunt the orchid mantis in Mandragora Forest, and then we will return here where they'll create their own swords."
"I see. That does sound like a good plan," said Darius fondly. "I'll teach them how to make the double bladed swords, as soon as you make me thirty more of those delicious burgers."
"I'll just make ten more and that's that," answered Smoke while shaking his head, amused at his friend's bottomless stomach.

* * * * * * 

On board their transports, the journey to Mandragora Forest was quick and easy. Equipped with only their sabers and kite-shields, Smoke instructed the Mercenaries to face the monsters inside the first layer, home of the poison slimes.
While the Avendre ventured into the forest, Smoke and Espion were left outside in the plains. The two of them were busy preparing a big batch of medicinal stone deer stew. He remembered how he had to settle for the medicinal rabbit stew, the first time he was here.
The Avendre returned shortly after they faced the green poison slimes. As he expected, all of them were inflicted with the Poisoned Status. He quickly gave them the stew and ordered them to return to the forest.
However, one of the Avendre Mercenaries stepped up and went against him. "But we will die from the poison."
Smoke recognized him as Hazard, Jeter's cousin. Ever since he told him that Jeter died, his Intimacy with the young Avendre dropped to below fifty.
Despite his efforts, Hazard would always question his orders.
"The HP regeneration from the medicinal stew will compensate for the Poison," assured Smoke. "In fact, once you've reached a certain point, your resistance to this monster's poison will allow you to do this."
He then took out a poison pellet and squashed it with his bare hands.
"Wow!"
"Whoa! Look at that!"
"Is that really a poison pellet?"
Similar statements came from the other Mercenaries who saw his demonstration. This instantly encouraged them to return to hunting the poison slimes.
Hazard unwillingly returned with his group while shaking his head in disbelief. They endured being in their poisoned state even while they slept. They took shifts, waking the other one up to eat the medicinal soup which Smoke had prepared for them in advance.
While they slept, Smoke was busy mending their sabers' and shields' durability. The slimes' body were soft but it still took a toll on their equipment.
When he wasn't fixing items or preparing meals, Smoke was busy with his Manatl, Earth Manipulation, and Lightning Manipulation exercises.
He used either Earth Spikes to hit his concave Manatl. He had to use his metallic golems when he trained his Lightning Manipulation.
Sometimes, when he wanted to focus on his Manatl training, he would have Igniz attack him with an onslaught of fireballs.
In this manner, Smoke was not neglecting his own growth while managing the progress of his Avendre Mercenaries.
Whereas, Smoke ordered Espion to only observe and guide from above the trees. The only abilities the Vigilantez Spy could improve on was his Stealth, Bronze Owl Ears, and Mental Map.
Espion continually gave out directions to the Mercenaries below him. He ordered them where to move next and how many monsters to expect, as he could map out the Avendre's and monsters' locations.
Due to this, the Mercenaries would systematically clear the first layer of the forest without having to make unscheduled return visits to their encampment in the plains.
Unbeknownst to Espion, Smoke did this to also improve his own battle tactics and strategies.
While waiting for the Mercenaries to acquire the poison resistance, Smoke corralled their aardwolves and dirus wolves inside his customized earth walls. Thankfully, there was another forest nearby, which was abundant with stone deer. There, he hunted enough meat to feed sixty draughts for a week.
After seven days, all one thousand of Smoke's Mercenaries gained immunity from the poison slimes' attacks and raised their levels to above 40.
Smoke's and Espion's own abilities have drastically improved as well.
With the first layer of the forest cleared, Smoke had them prepare for the next one. They were ordered to stand still as Igniz enchanted their swords and shields with his Fire.
This time, they were going to face against the crafty orchid mantises. Smoke told them about how they moved, but the Mercenaries were not prepared for their serene appearance.
The one and a half meter monsters looked like swaying flowers in the wind. The monsters' uniform motion hindered the Avendre from figuring out where to attack.
Since Smoke only needed them to acquire two mantis blades each, he thought he should lend them a hand. "Igniz, create a firewall on the gathered orchid mantises."
At once, his dark ember sprite constructed a wall of flames on the swaying monsters. The life bars on the monsters' displayed a measly 8,000 HP. After taking damage from Igniz's flames, their life bars were reduced by 2,000 points.
Igniz then blasted the monsters with a torrential rain of fireballs, revealing a damage of 4,000 points on a single fireball. This made the orchid mantises to stampede towards the Mercenaries, but the burning plant monsters got out of their formations.
With their Fire enchanted weapons, the monsters were easily picked off by the Avendre. In less than ten-minutes, the swarm of orchid mantises were wiped out.
All of the Mercenaries collected more than four mantis blades. With their initial mission completed, they were ready to head back to Nanahuatl to craft their new weapons.
"Alright, ready your gear and attach the draughts to their transports," instructed Smoke proudly.
Yet, one of the Avendre questioned him posthaste.
"But why should we stop here?" asked Hazard. "There is still the third layer left, right? And isn't that the last one? Why don't we finish it?"
"Only the boss of this forest remains there, and we have what we need. It would be inefficient for us to fight it when its experience and item cannot accommodate all of us," explained Smoke.
"Inefficient?" asked the Mercenary sarcastically. "Who are you to tell us what is inefficient when you're just a lousy leader who couldn't even properly direct a strong Avendre Commander."
Without another word, Hazard went into the final layer of Mandragora Forest.
Smoke and Igniz hurriedly went after him into the forest clearing.
Inside, Smoke could sense the tree ent's whip-like vines aimed at Hazard. He used his Hyper Jump ability and appeared in front of the head-strong Mercenary.
Smoke instantly created a full spherical Manatl, which engulfed Hazard and himself.
SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD
Despite the dozens of vines hitting his barrier. The tree ent’s attacks could do nothing against his full Manatl.
"What is that thing?" asked a surprised Hazard. "It attacked me from nowhere."
"That's a tree ent. It's the boss of this forest," answered Smoke without looking at him. "Igniz, attack it from behind."
His dark ember sprite hurriedly circled the tree ent and rained his fireballs on it, revealing the monster's name and life bar. Entree (150,000/210,000 HP). Igniz's back and fire attacks were extremely effective against the plant monster.
Entree then switched focused to Igniz. Its vines came at the ember sprite from all direction, which forced him to stop attacking the tree ent.
With the monster's back turned to him, Smoke canceled his Manatl sphere and transferred the gathered energy into his white metallic staff.
BONK
The sound of his staff hitting the back of Entree's head resonated in the forest clearing. Yet, the monster still had 30% left on its life bar.
Instantly, Smoke switched out his staff for his twin lightning rods, and used its Lightning Strike ability. He crossed the black rods together and struck Entree at point blank range.
A blinding blue light flashed before them. After the light faded, the tree ents life bar now displayed 0%. Its hundred of vines shriveled up and slowly vanished out of existence.
Smoke collected the necklace that the monster left behind.