Not yet, Sam thought, looking for his way out. It was all for show because he had no way out where his opponents were standing. He pressed his fingers against the tree at his back.
“What, you’re not going to fight back? Caesar will be disappointed, but a kill’s a kill to me,” Rondo said as he approached.
Sam spun around the tree trunk on the slower footed Caesar’s side. Caesar’s blade had nearly caught him, but a quick dodge had put the needed distance between him and the killers chasing him. Sam quickly unequipped his weapons with a few thoughts to quicken his running speed. He stayed away from the path, but soon found himself chased by more than just Rondo and Caesar. He heard light footsteps closing in from all over. He looked to his sides briefly and saw four masked Cutthroats chasing him, two on each side. He looked back only briefly and saw two more masked Cutthroats approaching from behind as he slowed to let his stamina refill.
“Damn, you guys are quick!” he said, huffing.
As they closed in even closer, he sped up after recovering much of his stamina. The forest soon darkened and up above Sam could see various armor clad revenants tied up and swaying from the trees. He knew if he kept running that he’d be at the place he’d escaped from before, Caesar’s cabin. None of the Cutthroats had given up their chase, but Sam couldn’t see Rondo or Caesar behind him.
“I’ll have to thin them out,” he said to himself while running uphill. He had completely outpaced everyone by the time he got near Caesar’s cabin. He looked back and didn’t see any of them.
“That was too easy ...” he said through ragged breaths. “I am tired as hell though.”
He swept his eyes around the whole forest surrounding him and couldn’t find any sign of movement. Had he really outran them that easily? He stayed low in the forest until a loud voice called out to him.
“You there, skulking in the forest! Come out of the shadows, why don’t you! I don’t trust things that sneak!” It was King Herke and he was standing near the front door of Caesar’s cabin. Sam stepped out of the forest towards the cabin, quickly equipping his weapons and looking around to see if any danger followed him.
“Oh, it’s you, with the burning soul. Have you come seeking to bring this killer to justice too? This is his home.”
“Yes. I’ve been here before.”
“That’s right. You faced the fiend.”
“Yes, and I lost.”
Caesar didn’t even consider him strong enough to hang in his collection.
“There is nothing shameful in a loss and when death doesn’t keep you down, your opponents will find themselves in a regrettable way. That is the only blessing to come from this curse, unlimited persistence,” the king explained smiling. “Though seeing this sick parade of death all around us, strewn from the trees, it reminds me why it’s so important to contain the undead. We can be truly monstrous.”
“They’re chasing me, king, both killers.”
“The forest killer and who?”
“Rondo.”
The king appeared taken aback for a brief moment.
“That Cutthroat is chasing you? Are you sure?”
“Yes, sir.”
His shock quickly faded away, replaced by a new determination.
“Then we will turn the chase back on them. You cannot fight two, but can you fight one?”
Sam thought about it. He was much stronger than he was before, but could he defeat Caesar? He wasn’t so sure. Not only was Caesar overwhelmingly strong, but he attacked with extraordinary speed and range to as well.
“I can fight Rondo. I’m sure of it.”
Rondo didn’t seem as unbeatable as Caesar. If he fought with a dual wielding style, then Sam had some experience fighting against it thanks to his skirmish with Justinian89Thrills. And Rondo wore the same armor as Sam, meaning their defensive values wouldn’t be too far apart. He would rather deal with a speedy Cutthroat than a greatsword wielding blood knight in full plated armor.
“That won’t do. I need to bring him to justice myself,” said the king with ice in his voice. Sam had considered that would be the case.
“It’s the only way to fight them, king. Otherwise, Caesar will overwhelm me.”
“Then I will fight them alone.”
Sam had also considered that he’d say that.
“Not a wise course of action, sir. Together they will overwhelm even you. The forest killer alone might match your strength.”
“I would be foolish not to consider your counsel, but you must understand that I need to be the one to pass sentence on Rondo. My family’s blood is on his hands. My wife, the young queen Mera. My son, little prince Philoke. Two innocents, taken by his depraved hands.”
“I hear you, king. We, however, need to be smart about how we fight. I’ll hold off on killing Rondo so that he may answer to you once you are done with Caesar.”
The king considered it.
“You are capable of doing this?”
I’m not sure.
“Yes, sir.”
“Then that’s how we battle, but first we have to rid ourselves of those who don’t belong.”
He reflected some moonlight from his greatsword into the forest and revealed two Cutthroats hidden nearby in the dark forest. Others came forward, out of the dark surrounding them. Sam counted ten in all, all now closing in on him and the king. He quickly drew his Rapier and dropped into a fighting stance with his shield clutched in front of him. King Herke held his enormous greatsword in front of him in one hand and when three of the Cutthroats approached him, he spun around three hundred and sixty degrees and cut through his foes with tremendous velocity and weight behind his blow. His three attackers were killed instantly.
Sam baited two of the Cutthroats near him into attacking up close. They each attacked with the same Dagger that he started the game with. He held his shield up and watched the blows get deflected off of it. The two Cutthroats attacked so fast that he didn’t have much of an opening to land his own attack.
He backed up a little and skillfully parried a super quick stab from the Cutthroat in front of him. Instead of going for an easy opening blow, Sam kicked his undead enemy to the ground. It gave him a few precious moments to engage the other Cutthroat one-on-one. The other Cutthroat, identical to the first, came forward with the same quick stab. Sam had the attack scouted and parried the blow. This time, he went for the opening blow and finished his opponent before hastily returning to the other grounded Cutthroat and finishing him with a stab through the heart, which was called a grounded opening blow.
Sam turned around and saw the rest of the Cutthroats going after the king. He was being swarmed on all sides except his back, but one of the Cutthroats was trying to maneuver there as well. Sam ran up to help defend the king, but had to quickly roll out of the way when he lashed out with three wide swings of his mighty greatsword.
All of the Cutthroats directly in front of the king fell to the ground dead and the ones to the side were knocked away. There was still the problem of the one approaching from behind, however. Sam quickly ran in a little closer and tossed a Fireball at the Cutthroat’s back. His armor caught fire and he writhed around trying to put out the flames. He lost a fifth of his health and his HP continued ticking down even more thanks to the burning effect.
Sam quickly followed up with a leaping thrust, light thrust, then a charged thrust which finished the Cutthroat. With only two Cutthroats left, Sam ran at the one closest to him, on the king’s right side and engaged him. The king turned to his left and dispatched the other one with a single one handed slash, while Sam dodged then offered a quick then heavy thrust to finish the remaining Cutthroat, whose HP had already been diminished by an earlier attack from the king.
“That’s all of them,” Sam said hungrily taking in air.
“Not quite, but it was an impressive showing.” Sam was chilled by Rondo’s voice, especially since he couldn’t see him. “You’ve proven that my subordinates are no much for either of you, but I alrea
dy knew that.”
The darkly clad assassin stepped forward out of the dark forest with a triumphant grin plastered across his face. His russet eyes seemed to shine with a mix of hunger and horror. Behind himself, Sam could hear the faint clinking of armor. He turned to see Caesar approaching from the path below. The king’s gaze hung heavily on Rondo with an intensity that Sam couldn’t even fathom. It was hard not to see the king as a real person when he cast such powerful emotions and had such a strong presence. Rondo kept his eyes on Herke as well, as a deer would watch a wolf. Rondo inclined his head ever so slightly to Sam, never breaking his staring match with the king.
“Well, you’ve done it again, fool. You’ve played the perfect predictable little lamb leading us to our real prey. I honestly cannot thank you enough,” said Rondo, humor in his tone.
Caesar approached then stopped a few yards from the pair. He was on one side and Rondo the other. Sam kept his shield up and focused on Caesar since the king was currently focusing on Rondo.
We’re going to have to trade partners, king, Sam thought. He couldn’t say it aloud and give away the strategy. It might’ve been the only advantage they held.
“You see, my bloodthirsty friend, I was right! He led us right to him,” Rondo yelled to Caesar. Caesar inclined his head in the king’s direction and seemed to be studying him.
“So that’s the Mad King of tales so old? Is he really the same king of Aschelund, Herke the bold? He could be a doppelganger based on appearance alone,” asked Caesar in a singsong tone.
“I have to agree, he looks just like the old fuddy duddy, at least as much as my memory serves,” said Rondo.
“I’ll know for sure by the way he wields his sword. No one could duplicate the king of Aschelund’s strong sword style. I live to test my mettle against the true royal style,” said Caesar, eagerness in his voice.
“Ahh, you do know your combat styles. I’m glad to hear that you know so much about the old king here. Hopefully you’ll find killing him satisfying. You can even take his Quintessence. Consider it a reward for parting his head from his body.”
There was a silence and Caesar’s posture shifted. He stood up straight, almost rigid and placed his mailed fist against his head.
“I have no interest in killing him or taking his Quintessence. I am looking forward to challenging him, however.”
“That’s good enough. Just make sure to weaken him enough so that I may do the job myself. That is satisfactory, is it not? If you won’t take his Quintessence, then I will to rid myself of his persistent nuisance.”
“It goes the same for me. I’ll have your Quintessence and your head, child killer, wife killer. But it’ll be a long hard path to that point, degenerate. I’ll kill you, repeatedly. You’ll die and revive and die again for all of the jobs you’ve cashed in on and all of those you’ve murdered for coin. I keep a list of your crimes on me at all times. There was a record of your kills and I procured it. That’s thirty deaths you must suffer. Then I’ll kill you twice for my wife and twice for my son. That’s thirty-four deaths. Only once I have taken your life thirty-four times will I finally take your Quintessence and leave you to live the rest of your miserable existence as a mindless revenant. The only suitable fate for scum like you,” explained Herke menacingly.
“Your anger is misdirected, old fool. It was the nobles who set you and your kin up to die. I am only the knife that they hired. I have no more connection to your family than I do to the fool helping you. I was told, by them, that my duty was for the good of the realm. I also had ears of my own that had heard from those same nobles that your family was cursed. Your first heir went mad and killed your first queen. That was a secret, but him being cursed was a truth known to the whole kingdom. Even as you shipped him off to these accursed lands, the whispers started that your whole brood was cursed. And since you’re here now, it proves them right. They protected the kingdom from your cursed bloodline. I couldn’t care less either way as long as I had gold in hand, but that is the truth of it,” explained Rondo.
“Truth? My wife and child were not cursed. They did not rise up after you killed them. Those nobles with their cowardice, should be glad to have stayed dead. If any of them should ever find themselves here then they will face a much harsher punishment than you. We won’t be playing games of blame. Your dagger bleeds the blood of the innocent and you will face punishment. Get out your sword and face your fate.”
Herke stomped towards Rondo with murderous intent.
“Caesar!” yelled Rondo.
Sam had briefly taken his eyes off of the blood knight to look back at the commotion behind him. Caesar quickly bypassed him and made a beeline for King Herke.
“King!” Sam yelled.
“Keep him distracted, I’ll kill the upstart,” said Rondo as he darted towards Sam.
28 End of the King’s Quest
“Who the hell are you calling upstart!” Sam yelled as he readied to cross blades with Rondo.
King Herke tried to cut the villainous Cutthroat off, but was met by Caesar and his greatsword. The king steadied his own greatsword and the pair of them clashed. Rondo quickly closed the distance between him and Sam, looking at him with a murderous gleam in his eye.
“I’m referring to the idiot fool who’s in over his head,” hissed Rondo.
He brandished his ornate short sword in one hand and his black dagger in the other. His attacks were swift and unrelenting. Sam held his shield out and blocked all of the incoming attacks. He grew anxious when he saw his stamina bar quickly winding down with each new blow. He had to move.
He rolled away to recover some stamina, but found that Rondo was right back in his face again. Sam lifted his shield again to block, but had lost his footing soon after. The shock of falling down had blinded him to what caused his fall. It had all happened so fast and Rondo quickly took advantage of Sam’s disorientation. Rondo hit Sam with a slash as he was rising and followed up with a thrusting attack. Sam had quickly lost half of his health along with having massive buildup to his bleedout gauge.
“Did you just kick me?” he yelled then quickly rolled away nearer to the cabin.
The king and Caesar were fighting intensely to his right, both going blow for blow and canceling out each other’s heavy slashes. Sam listened to their swords clash and boots kick up dirt so that he had an idea of where they were compared to where he was. His eyes were strictly on Rondo, who was proving to be a tricky opponent.
“This can’t be all you’ve got? Let’s give you a test,” Rondo said to Sam.
When Sam moved too far out of his range, Rondo threw a knife at him. Sam blocked it with his shield and continued to backpedal. He was getting discouraged about the fact that he didn’t have an opening to retreat and heal.
“I think it’s time to show you my more advanced killing artes. It’s a one time show. Make sure to take it all in,” said Rondo.
Rondo held his hands out to the side and splayed his fingers out like a magician would do. He then did some kind of hand flourish and produced a handful of throwing knives. In seemingly one smooth motion, Rondo tossed a succession of three of the knives at Sam. Sam blocked all three knives, but doing so locked him in place and drained his stamina.
As expected, Rondo approached soon after and struck Sam’s shield with his shortsword. Sam was pushed backwards and decided to roll in that same direction. Pain shot through his shoulder as a well-timed throwing knife tore through his flesh. He hurriedly rolled again to dodge the other two incoming knives.
How is he doing that? he thought.
As Rondo approached, Sam charged a Fireball and tossed it. Rondo first rolled backwards then to the side to avoid the Fireball as it collided with the ground and exploded. It gave Sam the spacing he needed to safely drink from his Soul Fire or so he thought.
As he drank, he felt all three knives pierce his chest. The third knife knocked him down once it hit. Once the Soul Fire’s healing effect was done, he was left with half of his maximum H
P. His poisoned and bleeding gauges had also built up halfway, leading Sam to believe that each of the knives had a different status effect placed on them.
Sam began to shake. Rondo hadn’t given him much room for error. He hadn’t expected him to give him so much trouble from a range, but those knives were as powerful as any of his close range attacks. When he finally got to his feet, he was suddenly shocked to see Rondo once again in his vicinity.
Rondo quickly stabbed him in the shoulder thanks to a poor last minute evasion of Sam’s and followed up with an upward slash with his shortsword that was first aimed at Sam’s ribs. Sam saw the origin of that particular attack and was able to parry it. He pushed Rondo’s sword hand aside, surprising the Cutthroat, and thrust his Rapier into his heart for the opening blow.
Rondo folded and Sam pushed him off of his blade where he then fell to the ground in a heap. Surprisingly, Rondo still had a little over half of his HP. Sam scoffed. Only in a video game were you able to get stabbed in the heart then get up and dust yourself off right after. Sam’s own heart was beating a mile a minute, after getting the desperate parry. He used the time to heal up to max with his Soul Fire and ate a Stim Plant as well.
He briefly looked over to see Herke and Caesar still engaged in intense combat. The king’s slash had grazed Caesar’s skull helm and chipped it. Caesar was unperturbed and continued forward pressing the king with big overhead slashes. King Herke blocked each blow with his sword. Sam couldn’t help but notice a similarity in their overwhelming sword styles, though Caesar’s fighting style seemed much more vicious and reckless. The king fought smarter and hopefully it would be enough to give him the edge against Caesar.
Sam turned his attention back to his own problematic opponent. He felt a lot better now that his health was at full and Rondo’s was near half. Rondo attempted to circle around Sam, but Sam stayed on him maintaining eye contact and proper spacing. Rondo then threw his three knives. Sam rolled to the side to avoid them this time. He dodged the first two knives, but was stabbed and knocked down by the third which had curved to hit him. It had some sort of tracking effect on it.