Anything ~ 35!

A note ahead of time, some of this is getting reworked when I come through it on my editing pass. (Turns out I found that they had killed a few people earlier in the book. Whoops :P )

“We’re under orders to have the trial right here so that no one can subvert justice.” The Knight Captain told them from behind his closed faceplate. “You’re suspected of the murder of many of the Kingdom’s Ascenders. Your team leader may speak for you. If she lies, you are ordered to report the falsehood. Taylor Woodswright, how do you plead?”

“According to the Hollow Kingdom’s Unified Ascender Statutes, I have the right to know my accuser,” was Taylor’s first cold comment.

“Denied. Section thirty-one dot one dot one.” The Captain replied easily.

“Really?” Taylor drolly retorted. “Credible threat of retaliation against your personal self and people under your care? How is that?”

“Thirty-two dot one dot six.”

“Well in that case. I invoke fifteen dot four dot eight.” Taylor’s scoffing replies to each of the Captain’s mechanical answers devolved into a multi-minute back-and-forth of numbers and sections that Luke didn’t care about at all. He let the drivel swirl around him as he yawned and wavered on taking a nap like Andre was doing. He decided against it. He wasn’t tired, and there was no guarantee that there weren’t lotuses lurking underground and waiting for him to slip up.

Long enough later that Luke was once again debating on that nap, the two arguing Ascenders seemed to find a compromise. He noted that Taylor seemed pleased with the exchange. She saw him looking at her, and she flat-out explained, “The fact that they not only know the law, but are following it exactly, means we’re going to walk away from this ‘trial’ without any major issues. They’re the King’s agents.”

“Why are they here, then?” Luke looked over the men surrounding them. He couldn’t make out any of their features, the armor made them all the same height and girth, as well as clearly being enchanted to destroy any scent that came off of them. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought he was surrounded by golems instead of Ascenders. “I feel like this is going overboard.”

“Royal Order of King’s Inquisitors.” Taylor told him as if it were obvious. “If no one but the King knows their identities, then they can’t be bribed or coerced by factions in the Kingdom.”

“How many dead, Taylor?” The Captain demanded from her directly.

“Three total, and as fart as I can tell, they weren’t acting on behalf of the Kingdom.” Taylor replied instantly.

“Fart…?” The Captain seemed more shocked by her vulgarity than her revelation of killing. “What-”

“I’m tired and have sand in my mouth.” Taylor growled back with a tinge of red on her cheeks. “It was a slip of the tongue, and you don't need to be rude. You knew what I meant.”

“Right…” The Captain regained his composure. “Sigil, designations of the slain.”

Taylor’s Sigil chimed in reply and a solid pane of light appeared. The Captain looked it over before returning his attention to the group. “Two slain were acting without proper orders, one that was, but your authority was higher than theirs. I find you guilty of self-defense, and fine your group ten thousand gold as reparation. This trial is concluded.”

“Guilty of self-defense?” Zed’s shocked tone shattered the still moment. “Wait… they can kill us, but if we kill them so they can’t kill us, you still take an arm and a leg?”

No one bothered to answer him, so he quietly raged next to Luke, who gently reached out and slugged him. The Bard rolled twice as he bounced off the lush grass. He hopped to his feet and looked at the Murderhobo in shock. “Dude.”

“Friendly touching shows a growth in the bonds of friendship.” Luke deadpanned, holding up the book on interpersonal communication that Lord Woodswright had sent along for him what felt like years ago.

Zed looked on in horror as Luke pointed out the passage he was referencing. “No! Don’t read that, you’re a Murderhobo! Just be angry with me at the situation we’re in!”

Luke furrowed his brow, read something from the book, then carefully put it away. He turned to the Knights and bellowed, “I’m angry on behalf of my friends! Righteous anger!”

“Oh, right. Do you know the status of the rest of Heaven’s Earth? If you killed one of them…?” The Captain ignored the others and faced Taylor as his words trailed off.

“I do not know where they are currently, or their current health. I could make a few guesses, but I’d rather not.” Taylor chose her words carefully and ignored the lingering silence as the Captain continued staring at her.

Andre awoke at that point with a pained yelp. “Why? Who did that?”

“You just fell asleep, Andre.” Taylor loudly informed the befuddled man. “We just finished a trial from the King’s Inquisitors, and I spoke on our behalf. Say nothing-”

“Not that!” Andre roared at her, startling everyone present. “Who attacked the land? Ow! It’s still happening! This is so large that it has to be an Ascender with an area of effect spell!”

“There’s… no one.” The Captain looked around blankly. “We’re the only representatives of the Kingdom in a score of miles. How far out?”

“Not far! Getting closer!” Andre waved deeper into what had just been desert a few hours ago. “That way, and spreading like the blight!”

Luke decided against waiting around for other people to start moving, and shot to the top of the hill. The late afternoon air was filled with a deep thrumming, and he went still as he saw what was coming toward them. There seemed to be a thunderstorm rolling toward them, but in all actuality it was the largest swarm of insects he had ever seen. Each of them was practically a clone of the one next to them, and the blades on their front dug into the earth wherever a hint of greenery or life could be found. “Preying Mantous. They have wings? We should probably leave.”

Andre was next to him in the next moment, looking at the bugs with hate-filled eyes. “No! No! They’re killing everything!”

Indeed, everything from bush to lichen was slashed and devoured. The bugs even dug into the ground a little and tore out the roots of anything they found for additional sustenance. The Captain stood near Luke, his armor gleaming in the reflected sunlight. “A locust swarm? Okay. That’s probably your fault. Archdruid Andre, you are ordered to cease growing plants into the Scarocco desert until those creatures are proven to be no longer an issue for the Hollow Kingdom.”

“Wha - no! Andre raged as his Sigil chimed in confirmation of the order. “Why would you do that?”

“I’ll not lie to you,” The Captain shook his helmeted head. Andre waited for more, but the man simply stopped speaking.

“Then why would you stop speaking on a comma?” The Druid demanded of the Knight. The tension rose as the bugs came closer, and still not a word was spoken.

“If they need to not be a threat, let’s make that happen.” Taylor stepped into the silence, and with a brush of willpower started clusters of spells into the approaching tidal wave of beasts. Each Flame Lance she sent into the wall of chitin penetrated dozens before detonating and roasting hundreds.

Andre joined in, tossing seeds into the air that reached the bugs and stuck… then did nothing. “I can’t even grow plants for combat? You’re trying to kill me!”

The Captain remained silent, Zed pulled out a lyre and started strumming, and Luke charged at the calamity. Five seconds of running, eighty percent of his mana devoted to his battering ram knuckles, and fifty mana to activate Shockwave Cleave. He hit a single Preying Mantous as it swung its natural weapons at him, and Luke smiled at the realization that there were thousands of weapons within range of Source-cerer’s Armory. Ten percent of their total damage was added to his singular attack…

Damage dealt: 9,783 blunt. (4,924 weapons in range, average maximum damage 5 per weapon.)

Damage taken: 276.

Current health: 14/290.

The cleave skill radiated out with an intensity that could only be matched with the eruption of a volcano. Luke was sent flying backward, the bones in his arm, shoulder, and a quarter of his ribs broken in multiple locations. His organs were also heavily damaged from the sheer output he achieved, but the pain was only pain - for now - so Luke kept his eyes on the tsunami of bugs that were being converted to ichor and shards of carapace.

Since the creatures were packed so closely together, the power of the shockwave simply kept increasing. A single creature might be hit by two or even three of the branching shockwaves in the same instant; which would propel fifty-five percent of the damage of each of them into the bug behind it. As the bugs could only take a small amount of damage anyway, the fact that the power was halved meant nearly nothing until the half-life was in the single digits. At that point, the bugs were still mangled, but survived.

Preying Mantous killed: 138,427.

Etheric Xenograft Potentia gained: 38,319. This type of creature can no longer earn you Potentia!

“Got ‘em.” Luke wheezed a laugh as blood bubbled out of his lips. No one came to check on him, too enthralled with the sudden flood of insect innards that was still pouring from the sky.

“No…” The Knight pointed into the distance. “You didn’t. You just slapped down the first wave. Can you do it again?”

“Nope.” Luke lifted a shaking hand and sucked down the last dregs of mana that he had managed to hold onto. His health increased by a mere fifty points, but he no longer felt like he was about to bleed out internally. “I’m too damaged to continue here. Ta-ta.”

He hurried over to the center of the camp where Andre would activate his personal portal most often and, using his left hand, he began punching at the air. It took twice as long as usual, as he usually used both hands, but eventually a crack appeared in the air. He kept at it as his mana drained away, and fell through the portal as soon as it opened wide enough to accommodate him.

The portal snapped closed behind him, and Luke looked around his blue Murder World. “Loophole found. When I go back, I’ll only need to stay one more day before coming directly back here. Thanks for the vague wording keeping me trapped on the base world, King Alexander. You’re the best.”