CC5 ~ 55!

~ 55 ~

“There is literally no chance that I am going to let you touch me with that thing.” Major Infraction stated clearly. She was blocking Joe with a double row of undead, and the human was starting to get grumpy. “You take another step toward me, and I refuse to take responsibility for what I’ll do to your corpse.”

“Are you really afraid of a little needle prick?” Joe taunted her, finally resorting to childish insults to get a reaction. “Big bad Major, afraid of a little needle!”

“Your needle has eyes on it, Joe!” Major Infraction shouted at him. “You need to go to prison, not have access to the most important Officers in the Legion!”

“Only a few people died, and that was an accident.” Joe argued with her, wondering if he should just try vaulting over the undead.

“A few?” She bellowed at him. Apparently, his thoughts must have been written on his face, because she warned him off right away, “You come near me, and I’ll have a new undead guard by high tea. I’m not sure you want to gain the new experience of being undead, but by the abyss, I’ll make it happen!”

“Fine! I’ll go first!” Joe held out his arm, and gently poked the skin with the taglock.

Apply Eye of Argus to ‘Joe’? Yes / No.

“Yes.” Joe answered loudly, to make sure the nay-sayers could hear him using the magic. He needn’t have worried, because in the next moment he was screaming in pain and horror as an eye appeared on the back of his hand. As soon as it did, the eye connected with his nerve endings and burned a new line of sight into Joe’s brain. There were also… emotions that came through. Namely, displeasure.

The eye began to roll up Joe’s arm, each movement disconnecting and reconnecting it again. The vision was like a strobe light in Joe’s mind, and the pain and terrible migraine didn’t stop until the eye had swirled around his neck and reached the back of Joe’s head. Then a feeling of ‘good’ came through, and the eye simply looked around with constant curiosity.

Joe stayed on the ground, not even remembering falling. He panted for a few minutes, then stood up and activated Neutrality Aura. The blood that had dried on him all the way back at the start of the ritual began vanishing, and the new lines from tears and vomit promptly dissipated. “Ugh… see? Major? N-nothing to it.”

“That’s a hard no from me.” She was backing away, keeping the undead in a line to make sure Joe couldn’t get closer.

“I’d start it on the back of your head!” Joe challenged her reputation one final time, hoping that he could inform her how important this would be to everyone involved. “What, now you can’t deal with pain? You sure that’s what you want your troops to know about you?”

That stopped her cold, and the undead stepped aside as she marched toward him. “Why are you doing this, Candidate? Are you sure you need me as an enemy?”

“No.” Joe swallowed when he realized that her troops were moving to surround him, this time not as a test. “I am certain that I need you as an ally. You control all of the undead, right? That means that they attack what you tell them to attack. If the Elves can subvert you, that means we will have a powerful enemy against our side that we can’t do anything to contain. I know it might never have been an issue for you before, but Havoc told me that they have a new illusion focus; something everyone thought was only theoretical. Are you willing to take the risk of the disease when the cure is right here?”

He held up the Taglock, and Major Infraction fumed before turning around. Joe thought she was going to storm off, but instead she only lifted her helmet to expose her head. “Do it. Know that you will never repay me for this.”

“Success is its own reward, Major.” Joe jabbed the Taglock forward as he stated the mantra of the Dwarven Oligarchy. An eye oozed off of it and grew in size, consuming the Major’s flesh until it had created a lovely eye socket for itself. Through the entire process, the Dwarf didn’t even flinch.

“That's… it?” She turned and rolled all three eyes at him. “What kind of a puny constitution do you have in that frail body? I’m assigning you an escort if you’re planning on joining this battle. Captain! Get over here!”

Another Dwarf ran over, and Joe saw something that confused him. Half of the teal-colored mustache on her face was ragged, as if it had gotten caught in a door and yanked out. The Major pointed at the Captain. “Joe, this Is Captain Cleavage. Her axe skills are unparalleled. As an example, she’s able to cleave through three Hammer Beasts with a single blow. She will be escorting you, so make sure she can see.”

The Major walked away, and Joe looked at the Captain. “Captain… Cleavage. Um. Okay. Do you accept that assignment? I’ll admit I’ve been feeling a little exposed, and a teammate would be pretty helpful.”

“I look forward to impressing you with my reach. Always ensure you are behind me; anyone who can clearly see my cleavage is slain by it,” she stoically informed him. A double-bladed axe was strapped to her back, the sharp portion extending over her head and the shaft almost dragging on the ground as she walked. “I’m actually looking forward to having eyes in the back of my head, so let’s do this.”

“An eye.” Joe told her, getting no response. “Not… it’s not eyes.”

Already unsure of his new companion, Joe poked the Taglock into the back of her head, and an eye grew to full size before locking on him. He moved around, but the eye only watched him. “How are you controlling where it looks?”

“I’ve had practice focusing.” Joe paused at her words, but… he wasn’t sure if he had just been insulted. It was hard to tell, with Dwarven culture being what it was.

After looking around for the other people that were supposed to be getting an eye and not finding them, Joe realized that all the troops and leaders had entered the tunnels already. More reinforcements had arrived, yet the tunnels obviously hadn’t widened; the line was starting to slow. Joe waved at the Captain, and they hurried to the front of the queued-up warriors. Though they got a few dirty looks—only noticeable thanks to the eyes watching behind them—no one questioned their right to be there.

The tunnels themselves were straight and sharp, lined with broken volcanic stone and obsidian. Brushing against them meant a sure way to take terrain damage, which slowed the Legion ever further. Forced to follow the path and wait, they could only move forward at a non-enhanced human’s running speed; far slower than most of these Dwarves even usually bothered to walk. Though the mountain was massive, thanks to hundreds of years of volcanic eruptions and growth, the tunnel eventually widened out into a sight Joe was familiar with.

They had entered the cavern.

The hollowed-out space was illuminated by the lava flows and dancing lights, which allowed Joe to see the raging war that he had walked in on. Hulking earth elementals slammed hammers of stone onto golems and automatons; spells and arrows fought for air supremacy with crossbow and ballista bolts; and the walls of the fort were being reduced to rubble by hammers, while simultaneously being repaired by mages specializing in earth spells.

“Our troops are being pushed back,” Captain Cleave—as Joe forced himself to think of her—summed up the situation succinctly. “Perhaps if they had been getting constant reinforcements, they would have had the opportunity to penetrate the defenses of the fortress.”

Joe let the eye on his head turn to look at her, meeting the single eye staring at him. That made him feel slightly sick, so he ‘looked’ away. “I strongly feel that this was the right thing to do.”

“I hope we can learn the truth of the matter together, and study it after surviving this battle.” She blithely stated, forcing Joe to take a deep, calming breath. Before he could retort, a howl rolled through the cavern. Joe had never heard such fury in a single statement, but he knew the voice. Major General Havoc was on the warpath.

“You want to retreat? You… filthy cowards!”