Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (16 page)

Smoke thought about gliding away, but he knew that his gliding ability wasn't fast enough to dodge this. He switched to his white metallic staff and created a Manatl. He finished his purple barrier, but knew it couldn’t withstand the attack.
Finally, a lightning bolt the size of three meters came at him.
He closed his eyes and braced himself for the impact.
BOOSH
Smoke heard the loud impact, but felt nothing. He opened his eyes and found himself undamaged by Aral's final attack. He quickly looked down and saw a crisped Ledur with a life bar of (3,992/403,992 HP). He immediately dove down after his friend as the high fall would surely kill him.
As soon as he caught Ledur's body, he scowled at Aral's eyes directly below him.
At the same time, the giant olm's body glowed brightly with an electrifying blue color. It was preparing for another one of its ultimate lightning attacks.
While carrying a half-dead Ledur, Smoke was diving fast towards Aral.
"Igniz!" he suddenly shouted and his dark ember sprite instinctively knew what Smoke meant.
The dark ember sprite zoomed to the falling Smoke and orbited around him rapidly. He was covered in a great ball of flames.
CRASH
Smoke stomped on Aral's skull as he used his Comet Crush ability on the giant olm. With Aral stunned, he placed Ledur safely away from Aral.
He then walked back and stood over the stunned monster's head. He waited for Aral to open its eyes. As soon as it did, Smoke used his Cyclone of Slaughter and shredded its head apart. Chunks and pieces of the giant olm flew everywhere.
 

Smoke dismissed the window and swiftly collected the item dropped by Aral.
 

He stared at the black metal rod and recognized it as the ones protruding out of Aral's head. He didn’t bother examining the newly acquired weapon. Right now, he needed to see Ledur.
Smoke hurriedly applied medicinal herbs on his half-dead friend. "We should have a penalty for being reckless," he said as he applied first aid to him. "That way we at least get rich whenever this happens," he said jokingly as he tried to brighten up the mood.
Ledur managed a smile, but closed his eyes soon after as Paralysis took over his body.
He shook his head despairingly. They may have fulfilled Guro's quest, but he almost had no time left. He maximized the countdown timer and stared at it blankly.
 

It was forty-five minutes past midnight. The moon shone brightly on a clear sky, illuminating the man-made lake of Gitna Dam and giving it an eerie appearance.
With Igniz's purple flames as the only source of light, Smoke had a difficult time discerning his surroundings. Only the rubble of the torn down earth tower remained from their fight with Aral, the boss of Gitna dam.
Smoke thought that they were going to come out of it unscathed, but he was wrong. At the last minute, Aral used its ultimate attack that would have surely killed him. However, Ledur soared at sonic speed and took the full force of the lightning attack.
Now, that his courageous friend snapped out of the paralysis, but he was still severely wounded. Smoke used his Life Share and restored Ledur's life bar to (100,000/403,992 HP).
He thought about bringing Ledur with him, but there was physically no way for him to carry the three-meter tall winged Tikbalang.
As time was against him, Smoke hurriedly created a sturdy earth dome to protect Ledur from any unsavory monsters who would want to harm him his weakened friend. The dome was completely sealed except for the tiny holes he intentionally created for breathing.
After securing Ledur's safety, Smoke turned to his dark ember sprite. "Keep him safe, okay?"
Igniz bobbed his body up and down, and his dark purple flames flickered boldly.
Even though Igniz was only an ember sprite the size of his fist, Smoke felt a sense of assurance that Ledur would be protected.
Smoke leapt up and glided fast towards Guro's house. He took another look at the countdown timer.

He was uncertain he would be able to evacuate three villages in the span of nine hours. Even if he managed to clear them out of their homes, it would take almost three hours on foot to leave the deep valley.
'It will be really close, but I think we can still make it in time,' thought Smoke to himself, as he tried to be an optimist.
Fifteen minutes passed, and he reached Guro's house. As soon as he landed, he saw her through the window. She was sitting at the kitchen table with a candle in front of her.
Smoke hurriedly knocked at the door. “Come in,” she said loudly.
"I expected you to be here last night," calmly uttered Guro as Smoke entered her home. "I thought that you either died or dropped my challenge and left."
Smoke responded by angrily throwing the iron rods across the kitchen table. They rolled towards Guro until she stopped them with her hand. She lifted her eyes and noticed Smoke glowering at her.
"What's wrong with you, boy?" she scowled at his behavior.
"You and your calm attitude are what’s wrong. The villagers consider you their leader, but you've endangered their lives by sending me on a pointless quest to prove my worth, wasting precious time in the process," he spat out and pointed to the iron rods. "Well, there's your proof, but now there’s barely enough time left to evacuate everyone."
Examining the iron rods, a smirk appeared on Guro’s face. "You didn't inspect them, did you?"
"I didn't bother. My friend even got hurt just so I could bring it to you, but what good will it do us now? Horrabelle's army will be here soon," he shook his head and wished he had gambled on using his Beggary ability the first time he met the Gladiatrix.
Guro put her elbow on the table, resting her head in her hand. Smiling, she stared at Smoke. After a couple of seconds, she used her other hand to roll the iron rods back to him. “Inspect them.”
“I don’t care about the item,” he responded harshly. “What I care about is saving your people. So, get off your high horse and go tell them to evacuate.”
Her expression didn’t change. She calmly motioned for him to do as she said.
"Something is seriously wrong with you," he said, as he couldn't understand what was going on inside Guro's head. He followed her instruction.
 

Guro watched with satisfaction as Smoke’s expression changed while looking at the notification window in front of him. “You might want to reconsider throwing around such a formidable weapon,” she said and grinned.
Smoke was fixated on the Lightning Strike ability of the twin rods. ‘If my Lightning Affinity reaches 100%, it would deal ten times my Attack as damage. That’ll mean I’d be able to deal more than a hundred thousand points of damage with a single activation’ he thought to himself as he daydreamed about using the weapon in combat.
“Anyhow, these rods are an undeniable proof that you’ve slain Aral. With that, you have earned my respect,” continued Guro.
A notification window popped up afterwards.
 

He was pleased that his Intimacy with Guro had greatly risen, because it meant that she would be easier to persuade. "With that, I hope I have convinced you that you need to evacuate," Smoke said in a commanding voice.
Guro stood up from her chair and walked over to the window on her left. With her back turned to him, she took a look at the moonlit landscape that had left her breathless countless times before.
“Actually, after you left, I did some more thinking. I came to the conclusion that it would be wise to be on the safe side. So, I went to all three villages yesterday and told the people to prepare for evacuation.”
Smoke listened to her with a confused look on his face.
Observing his reflection in the window pane, she decided to explain herself. "I figured, even if you were lying, we could just return. But in the event that you weren’t, we would be safe."
Still muddled by her logic, he only nodded in reply.
“And now, you stand before me. Someone who seems to have risked his life for only a chance at saving a bunch of strangers. I doubt you’re a boy who would cry ‘aardwolf.’ I guess, in the end, we both got what we wanted.”
Smoke looked at the floor, ashamed of his earlier rant. "Listen, I'm really sorry for what I said earlier. I was just worried about—"
"Save it. I understand where you were coming from," retorted Guro smugly. “The residents of Pinagsama and Tatlong are all in Lugar; they should be departing soon. I was just here to pick up a few things and check if you survived against Aral. Now, give me back the lightning rods.”
Smoke's eyes grew wide. He thought that she had given him the weapon, but it looked like she just wanted him to inspect it. Reluctantly, he gave the weapon back to her.
Guro then chuckled and slapped him hard on the back. "I'm just teasing you. Aral's Lightning Rods are yours. Now, let's head to Lugar and leave this valley."
She walked back to the kitchen table. “Grab those sacks in the corner and load them onto the rowboat you borrowed from me. We’ll be using it,” she said and blew out the candle.
Smoke gulped. “Yeah, about that…”
 

* * * * * * 

Three hours passed since Smoke talked to Guro. Igniz and a fully-recovered Ledur joined them in the outskirts of Lugar village. All three villages had started their long march towards safety, towards Verbrannt. The children and elderly rode in carts pulled by domesticated ancient bisons, while the capable adults, who all had the Job of Ranseurs, speedily marched beside them.
While they were evacuating, Smoke was worried about Ledur's wounds, but it looked like the medicinal herbs Laernea gave him proved to be very effective. With Ledur's health settled, he focused his attention on the fleeing villagers.
Smoke then led the gathered crowd. He would stop by one of the trees and use his Chiropterra glove to grab a hold on its trunk and point the villagers where to go next.
While doing so, he could hear them whispering about Aral’s Lightning Rods he proudly displayed on his waist and about how he had gained the respect of their revered Gladiatrix.
These simple actions alone raised his Intimacy with them by five points. Satisfied with his progress, he then checked Horrabelle's expected arrival.
 

At a steady pace, Smoke and the refugees finally climbed out of the eastern side of the deep valley. On top of Mount Kalayaan, the villagers stopped and stared at their home for one last time. Smoke did the same and enjoyed the vast view of the fertile land below.
Suddenly, Smoke noticed a cloud of dust gather on the opposite side of the valley. He immediately used his Telefax Vision and confirmed his worst fear. Horrabelle had arrived six hours earlier than expected.
She rode on her black Nightmare as it stood on one of the slopes of a mountain. She had her hand stretched out as she directed the Brandals to storm the valley.
'That Witch! She always moves outside of my projections!' thought an irked Smoke.
Considering the terrain and the number of her men, he did some rough calculations. 'At this rate, she'll catch up to us in less than an hour.'
He thought about informing the refugees, but decided not to. He didn't want them to panic. Instead, he only informed Ledur and Guro.
"...So, that's our situation. We've got to stop them before they get to the refugees," he explained.
Guro spoke out hesitantly. "I'll stay behind. You two lead them to safety. I think I can take out a couple of hundred Brandals."
"No! That's out of the question." Smoke wouldn't allow it. He had big plans for Guro and didn't plan on losing her here.
"For now, I want you to lead the refugees from the front and speed up their march, but don't alarm them," he said to Guro. "Igniz, Ledur and I will deal with Horrabelle."
The winged Tikbalang massive black wings unfurled as he was taken aback by Smoke's sudden statement.
"Don't worry. We got this, Ledur," he declared with an uncertain grin.
Since Igniz was hovering behind him, he failed to notice that his symbiote's flames almost died out for a brief moment.
However, the three of them only allowed fear to overcome them for a second as they knew what they had to do in order to save the villagers.
Smoke held up his long white DarkElf hair back with his hands while racking his brain for a solution. He wasn't sure if Horrabelle had noticed that they had evacuated the villages, but it looked like the main force of Brandals was heading for Pinagsama village.
He surveyed the land before him and knew that his only option was to stop Horrabelle and her army from crossing the valley.
'But how am I going to do that?' he asked himself.
He thought about erecting a massive earth wall, but he didn't have enough time to cover the entire valley, and Horrabelle could probably break her way through it. He then thought about digging trenches with Digger’s Wand, but concluded that they wouldn’t buy him enough time, as the Brandals and Werewolves would quickly move around them.
Smoke looked over the valley from the left and right until his eyes fell on the colossal Gitna Dam. Seeing the architectural wonder sparked inspiration.
"Igniz, Ledur, follow me," he ordered and jumped off the mountain, gliding straight towards Gitna Dam.
The three of them reached the dam in less than ten minutes. As soon as they were there, Smoke faced his two companions.
"We're going to ask the force of nature for assistance," he stated and grabbed onto the side of the dam with his Claws of Chiropterra. He then pointed Digger's Wand at it and created a tunnel straight through to the other side of the seven-meter thick dam. A strong torrent of water gushed out of the hole Smoke made.
Ledur and Igniz nodded and followed Smoke's lead. Igniz went to the left side of the dam and focused his fireballs on one spot until he broke through. Another torrential leak came out of it.
The winged Tikbalang went to the right and used his Earth Manipulation to take out large chunks of the dam, piece by piece.
Smoke kept digging more tunnels until he heard a cracking sound.
CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK
The numerous holes in the dam that all three Vigilantez made started to connect. Smoke, Ledur and Igniz immediately flew upward before the dam broke.
From above the valley, Smoke watched his man-made calamity. Massive amounts of water streamed out from the dam. Six-meter waves were formed and the sparse trees, vast farmlands, water mills and homes were all swept away by the great deluge.
The Brandals, who had almost reached Pinagsama village, desperately retreated back to the western side of the valley. Yet, their black ctenosaurs weren't fast enough to outrun the cascading water and were all swallowed up inside it.
Smoke then saw fire eels, bull sharks and other monsters emerge out of the water. They went after the Brandals and their mounts. The bandits had a hard time fighting the monsters and most of them were eaten by the horned bull sharks and feasted on by the fire eels.
The faster Brandals and Therianthropes reached the higher grounds on the western side of the valley. They escaped the rushing tide by a hair's breadth.
He wasn't sure how many bandits were killed in the flood, but his original intention was to slow the army's advance.
Suddenly, he saw a bright light forming on the higher slopes of the western side of the valley. "Get down!" he shouted, and all three Vigilantez evaded Horrabelle's long distance lightning bolt attacks.
'Not yet, Horrabelle. Not yet...' he thought menacingly.
Smoke smirked as he, Igniz and Ledur flew back to Guro and the others. He was imagining the Witch's contorted face while gliding to safety.