A Soldier's Life - 178 - To the Victor Goes the Spoils

Chapter 178 To the Victor Goes the Spoils

The goblin had a bloated belly, drooling in its sleep and blowing grotesque saliva bubbles. I assumed it could finally die happy with a full belly. The goblin had tossed everything out of my pack and scattered it across the room. I thought about killing the small, unsightly creature, but it had saved my life in a manner. It seemed too cruel to kill my benefactor in its sleep. I moved as quietly as possible to reclaim the spear and make sure it had no access to any weapons. I would let it run away into the dungeon when it woke and be responsible for its own fate.

My veins and arteries were still burning with every beat of my heart, warning me not to use any aether. On the other hand, I had three powerful potential essences in this room. I would not risk permanent damage to return the goblin in my dimensional space, but I would claim the promising essences.

I figured I needed some sense of urgency to catch up with the others, as Castile had the kettle of souls. I started by searching the mage, no longer squeamish about looting the dead. The robe I used to drag him to the safe room seemed relatively clean. Even the pools of blood oozing from his neck did not soak into the fabric. It was probably an artifact, so I snapped it in the air, rolled it up, and stuffed it into my conveniently emptied pack.

He had a single shiny, untarnished gold ring on each finger. Both were definitely dungeon artifacts. His elaborate black belt had six small sewn-in pouches, three on each hip, just big enough for a hand. I inspected each one, and they were all curiously empty when I studied them in the light of the dungeon. Maybe he had used everything. I coiled the appealing utility belt and added it to my pack anyway.

A heavy gold and silver medallion rested around what remained of his neck. Another artifact, and maybe this was the same as Castile’s aether shield amulet. I had depleted the summoner’s aether shield during the fight. It went into the pack for now. He also had nice leather boots, but his feet were half the size of mine. There was not enough here for the summoner to survive, so I assumed the summoner had left his pack somewhere.

I strapped my black blade and the magebane blade to the pack and shouldered it. I carried the spear and left the room. The walk to the owlbear room seemed to take forever, but I was rewarded with a room with tall grasses and some dark berry bushes. I easily located the untouched reward chest from defeating the owlbear. Without hesitation, I shattered the chest and was relieved to find the greater healing potion I sought. I consumed it without delay, my multitude of injuries fading like a bad dream.

I had not realized how injured I was until the warmth of the healing potion washed through me. I could have waited hours and healed myself with my spell form, but I needed to catch up with the others and felt the urgency. The silver coins and a second potion went into my pack. A quick glance at the potion runic script told me it enhanced your strength when consumed. I pulled the collector from my space, my aether channels flaring in protest at even the small amount of aether I used to retrieve it.

I considered my armor for a moment. It was in a sorry state and had multiple holes in the resin-infused hide from the powerful arcane missiles. I unbuckled it and tossed the pieces on the floor, abandoning them. Even my clothes underneath had numerous holes from the arcane arrows. Feeling much more free in my movement, I returned to the safe room to find the goblin still sleeping with a larger puddle of drool under its chin. At least the creature was having pleasant dreams.

I used the collector on the owlbear first, wincing at the effort of channeling even a wisp of aether into the collector. As the disc pulled the rich blue smoke, I was worried it had been too long to yield anything. I was rewarded with a modest dark purple sphere, a major strength essence. The summoner was my next target, and I placed the collector on his chest in anticipation of something grand.

I jumped when the goblin released a large flatulence. It was an attack, just not physical, as the foul cloud reached me as I worked. I covered my nose as I channeled my aether, ignoring the persistent pain. I was rewarded with an apex essence that looked like a luminescent pearl—the magical attribute for aether pool. I thumbed the sphere in my hand in appreciation. I had assumed I would get a magic affinity essence, but this was much better. I wanted to consume it immediately, but I was still recovering from my last earth essence, and my aether channels were also still on fire. The burn was so bad that I was sweating.

The headless drake in the corridor was my last potential essence. I packed the apex pearl in my pack and moved to the corridor where the drake lay. It really was a beautiful creature when it was not trying to kill you. I ran my hand along the scales, and they were silky smooth and cool to the touch. If Maveith had been here, he would have been upset that I was not working hard to harvest the creature. I balanced the collector and submitted to the increased pain once again. The rich blue aetheric smoke formed rapidly. A dark blue aquamarine sphere formed—a water affinity apex essence. I was slightly shocked that it was an apex essence from the drake, but appreciatively, I packed this essence with the collector in my pack. I could stop using aether for a time.

With the black blade and the magebane blade strapped to my pack, I shouldered it. When my aether burn lessened, I would move my entire pack to storage, but right now, it would take a fair amount of essence to do so, and I thought better of risking further damage to my aether channels. I prepared to exit the dungeon with the pack and just the spear in my hand. The goblin chose this moment to stir. It panicked on seeing me. I held the spear, resting the butt on the floor unthreatingly. The goblin scurried into the wall.

“I am sorry, but I can’t take you with me. No more free rides. Best of luck, little guy.” I saluted the petrified creature and walked into the oily surface, leaving the terrified but satiated goblin behind.

I was snow blinded me as I exited the dungeon. It was midday with the brilliant sun reflecting off the snow, and I swung the spear in a defensive arc as my eyes acclimated to the intense change in lighting. Splotches of red spread before my blurry vision. Legion armor and blood-stained snow came into focus as I relaxed, not seeing any specters. A troll was further away, near the collapsed tavern from the wyvern’s attack. A legionnaire’s body was trapped underneath its mass.

I inhaled the invigorating fresh air, finally free of the stale dungeon air. I sighed as no one from the company was in sight. I shouldn’t be surprised as it had been more than two hours since they fled before me. The hearth tree canopy extended high over me. I took quick glances to search the green branches for the giant eagles but didn’t see them. I guessed the wyverns had finished them off. Still, it would be a shame to fall prey to an unsuspecting attack at this point when freedom was so close.

Relaxing slightly, I searched the area around me. No specters were in sight. On inspection, the body under the troll was Lucien, the horse master. I closed his wide and shocked eyes and whispered to him, “Thank you for teaching me everything you knew about horses.”

I could see another legionnaire within the wreckage of the tavern, a bow still in his grasp. I assumed this was Pavel but didn’t venture into the debris to confirm. Underneath the tavern were the runic armor and great sword, but this was not the time to retrieve them.

The snow was packed in the walled-in courtyard where the dungeon entrance was located. The tracks in the snow showed the company had scaled the wall to my right since they couldn’t gain access to the lower city because the tavern had collapsed over the entrance from which we had arrived.

I picked up a legion helm, the red hair of Remus spilled out of the helm as I turned it over, and his frozen head rolled out of it. My indifference to his milky eyes staring at me in the icy snow surprised me. My helm was the only piece of my own armor I still had. I still had the complete set of legion armor that the duchess had gifted me in my storage, but I wouldn’t be able to retrieve it for a while.

The torn bodies of three legionnaires were scattered and pressed into the packed snow. It confirmed that the wyverns had killed everyone in the group of three: Soren, Cyrus, and Remus. I started to piece together a set of armor from the bodies. Cyrus had been short but barrel-chested, and the pieces of his upper body armor should fit well enough on me. Soren had been taller, and his greaves should fit me somewhat well. I began to dig out Cyrus’s upper body when a familiar voice boomed behind me, “Eryk!”

I spun to see Maveith standing in front of the dungeon. “Maveith, you all went back into the dungeon?” I looked at the wall that I had assumed the company fled over and then back at Maveith.

Maveith’s excited voice echoed too loudly for my liking, “No. I have been searching the dungeon for you! I have been going in and out, checking the entry rooms, hoping to find you!”

My throat tightened as Maveith’s friendship and loyalty touched me. “Thank you for looking for me Maveith. What of the company?”

“They went over the wall and planned to find a building where they could access the under city,” Maveith informed me, but his booming voice attracted a specter through the wall. I snatched my spear, and a single stab forced the specter to dissipate. The spear must be a stronger runic weapon than my black blade.

Maveith had rushed to my side, ready to help. I whispered, “Keep your voice down, Maveith. Keep watch, and I am going to salvage some armor.”

“I am sorry. I was just so happy to see you alive. What happened to your armor? Is the summoner coming?” He asked much quieter while standing over me while I worked on Cyrus’s corpse.

I growled unhappily, and I pulled the body from its icy grave. “The summoner destroyed my armor. I do not think the summoner will not be joining us.” Maveith grunted but did not ask further questions.

My fingers were soon numb from the icy snow as I claimed the armor from my fallen companions. Legion armor was fitted precisely to each person. I knew I was going to get some chafe marks from wearing this armor, but it was better than not having any protection. “Ok, Maveith, let’s get out of here.”

The company had packed snow and debris to create a small ramp up to the wall. The wall was just over ten feet in height, and I was able to grab the edge and pull myself up. Maveith handed me my spear as I surveyed the city on top of the courtyard’s wall. Maveith climbed up to join me. Half the buildings in the city expanse had collapsed over the centuries. Still, a number remained, some reaching up multiple stories from the streets.

It looked like the weeks we had been trapped in the dungeon, and the snow had compacted some. The bluish heads of a number of specters could be seen down the streets just above the snow. So, I guessed the snow depth was between four and five feet. The company had broken a path in the snow to a building just down across the street.

“Wyvern, Eryk,” Maveith whispered, startling me and drawing my attention behind us. Far in the distance, a wyvern was circling away from the city. It must have been released from the summoner’s control when he entered the dungeon and hadn’t wandered off just yet.

“We need to get into the undercity and catch up with the others. I can see dozens of specters down this street.” I dropped the spear and lowered myself down to the packed snow. Maveith landed with a thud next to me. I barely had time to collect my spear before the first specter emerged from the wall of snow around us.

A quick upward slash handled the specter. “Move, Maveith!” I hissed as I moved down the path the company had cleared earlier. The narrow channel to the structure was dangerous as specters could arrive right next to you. The spear was an amazing weapon against the specters, never taking more than one strike. Reaching the door to the building, we found it smashed in by the company before us.

I thundered over the threshold and looked around. “Maveith, do you have your glowstone?” The goliath entered behind me, and I turned to defend the door while Maveith retrieved the glowstone. I didn’t want to retrieve my glowstone as my channels were burning. I cut down two specters by the time Maveith had his glow stone out.

The building was some shop, but all the display cases were long destroyed, and the furniture collapsed. Two broken windows had allowed drifts of snow inside. I could see a multitude of footprints in the dust and snow. “Find out where they went. I will hold the door.” As Maveith followed the company’s path, I cut down three more specters. The commotion definitely started to attract more specters to the city.

“Over here, Eryk!” Maveith finally barked. I retreated after cutting down another specter. The collection of specters we were leaving behind would be reformed in about half an hour. I was anxious to get some distance from them. At the back of the store, Maveith found stairs descending into the under city. Clear footprints in the dust confirmed the company had descended. “Go!” I encouraged the goliath.

I followed Maveith down the stairs, and when we reached the landing, the tracks in dust went both to the right and the left. “Which way?” Maveith asked while focusing on a specter walking toward us from the left.

I was confused by the tracks. It looked like the company had split, with half going left and the other half going right. No, Konstantin had laid a false trail for the summoner. If I were Konstantin, which trail would be the correct one?