I took off as fast as my legs could carry me. With only 2 points of stamina, I could run like this for maybe 4 minutes, at like 2.5 HWPH (Hell worms per hour). That's about 5 MPH. Baelor could run a bit faster, maybe, but the thugs would catch up to us soon.
"We should split up!" Baelor yelled, "Meet by the east dock!"
Split up? That means they will split up, making it easier for us to dodge them. But the east dock has no boats.
Before he could argue, Baelor took a sharp left turn and went barreling down an alley. I quickly went a different way.
I looked behind me to see Ash pursuing me. Kordo and the slime must have gone after Baelor; he had a 500 essence coin bounty on him.
I did not know Ash that well, despite this small village, so I had no hard feelings about him chasing me.
I ran out of the alley to get back to the main street. It was chaos. Orchem's thugs were killing villagers, everything was on fire, and people were scrambling to get out of the town. Ducking under a piece of burning fabric, I tackled a thug to the ground, stole his pocket dagger, and stabbed him in the neck. I quickly stood up to face Ash.
[Level 5 - E Rank Orc: Slain. +34 XP {37/200}]
I felt no regret about killing that orc. He was a monster, killing dozens of innocent villagers. Besides, this is a good dagger.
[Crax-ol Dagger - E Rank Weapon - This Dagger is of orc crafting. When used in combat, the dagger cannot be broken and cannot leave your grasp.]
Ash gripped his sword tightly. He could take a kid; he had the longer weapon after all. Ash started to slowly circle me. Like a vulture looking for easy prey.
I started to back away, hoping for someone to run into Ash and knock him off his feet. That, of course, was not going to happen.
We stared each other down for a solid minute, neither wanting to take the first move. If I charged him, we would stab me, and if he attacked me, I could dodge and stab him.
"Stalemate?" Ash suggested.
I looked at him carefully. He was the type to kill me the first chance he got. Lowering my weapon was the worst thing I could do.
Ash looked at me disappointingly. He had fully expected me to lower my guard. He did not want to wait around any longer.
Before either of us could do anything, a fireball flew in between us and exploded, sending us flying backwards.
***
I regained consciousness around 1 minute later; my body ached and was burned. Every time I moved, it was a searing pain. I was lucky to have a resistance to fire; otherwise, I could have been unconscious for longer. I slowly got up and looked around me. Ash and embers were hazing the sky; most tents burned and fell down. I saw the Fire King and Orchem fight in the distance.
That is most likely where the fireball came from.
[Warning: HP critical. {9/40}]
[Charm of the Blood Bone activated.]
I was scarily close to death. The lowest HP I have ever been at was 33 when I broke my arm.
Ash was unconscious on the ground, around 15 feet away. I stumbled over to him, looked at him pitifully, and then stabbed him in the neck.
[Level 9 - D Rank Hellspawn: Slain. +55 XP {92/200}
[Item obtained - Shard of Ice - D rank artifact - This unmeltable, able shard of ice resembles an arrowhead. When essence is expended, the user can use basic ice magic and attacks depending on the situation and the essence burned.]
Wow. Ash was level 9? Working as a mercenary sure shows well. I look at his pockets to find 13 essence coins, which I add to my pouch. Then I look at my new ice shard. Maybe I can heal my burns. I smash 3 coins on its surface, watching it absorb them and glow, before releasing a frosty mist that washes over my body.
[+4 HP {13/40}]
Some of my burns faded away, but my muscles still ached when I moved. And the refreshing feeling dispersed shortly, getting replaced by the stinging sensation of my burns.
I grabbed Ash's sword and started to limp to the east docks. I hoped that Baelor did not leave without me. I had absolutely no trust in him. I am fully expecting him to leave without me, or worse, betray me.
***
Baelor ran like his life depended on it. Which, unfortunately, it was. Kordo and Jublex seemed intent on chasing him until he ran out of stamina, which would be soon. He wasn't ready for this. Despite being level 4 and having a decent array of abilities, Kordo was a rank C demon, and Jublex was a rank D. He was only classified as a rank E demon. A frontal encounter with them will result in his death.
The east dock was in sight.
It was a small, unused dock due to a lava shark infestation in the waters. With only one remaining pier, normally, it had no boats anchored there, but Aamon hid a small rowboat in case something went south. Now he was dead, and he was sharing this boat with Markov.
He didn't trust Markov that much. His father had abandoned him and his siblings, leaving them with nothing. Why not follow in his father's footsteps? He could betray Baelor. Luckily for Baelor, only he knew where the boat was stashed, but if Markov was not at the dock when he arrived...
Baelor activated his Smoke Bomb ability, creating a fireball of smoke at his feet. And then took a sudden U-turn, hoping to ditch Kordo and Jublex. He could hear their confusion when the smoke went out.
"Eh?!? When did that brat become able to do that?" Kordo snarled.
"How should I know?" Jublex snapped back, "Come on, he is heading to the east docks. We'll meet him there."
Both of them ran in the direction Baelor was running. His plan had worked! They were unfamiliar with the town, so they had no idea that they had passed the east docks a while ago! Baelor quickly took off in the direction of the docks.
***
I stumbled out of a ruined building to see the east docks, or what was left of them. I walked close to the pier to see no boats stationed there. I let out a defeated sigh. Baelor had reached the docks before him and sailed away. Now he was stuck here, left to die at Orchem's thugs' hands.
The fiery red and orange lake that had surrounded Boiling Bottom for centuries stood ever flowing. We had special hellsteel boats that could cross it without being melted. But we had no reason to do that. We were too poor and lacked the power to go exploring. The only thing we could do was stay here for our entire lives.
"Holy fuck. What happened to you?"
I stood to the mysterious voice and drew my dagger, ready to defend myself. Baelor was standing there. A little tired, but rather healthy.
"Oh. So you didn't leave me."
Baelor shrugged.
"Come on, Kordo and Jublex will find out where we are soon. We need to move."
He went to the dock and pulled out a small boat from under a crevice. Hidden from view. It was small and triangular-shaped, with one seat going across the middle. It had 2 metal oars on either side of it. An iron crate was at the base of the triangle.
"Here she is, me and my brother's escape plan."
His voice was solemn; most likely, he was recovering from the shock following his brother's death.
I took a silent prayer for Aamon. He was not a good person, but his death was still to be mourned.
Without much talk, we boarded the boat and started rowing.
"I was hit by a fireball."
"Hmm?"
We had to take a break in the middle of the lake; rowing wasn't easy. Baelor was spacing out when I decided to tell him why I was so injured.
"When I was fighting Ash, we got hit by a fireball, sent by the Fire King."
Baelor nodded.
"Is Ash..."
"Yes, I stabbed him while he was unconscious. Not the most righteous thing to do, but desperate times call for desperate measures."
Baelor did not seem to mind. He had done worse things than that.
"The Fire King and Orchem? How is their fight doing?"
"The Fire King most likely slaughtered Orchem by now. It was never in Orchem's favor."
Baelor sighed. Now, Kordo and Jublex had no bounty to collect.
I was about to ask him about his family, just so we could get a better picture of each other, but something caught my eye.
A black fin had surfaced the lava, and was approaching us fast. Both of us have heard the horror stories of the lava sharks, how they killed 23 hellspawn and destroyed the east docks.
"Look out! Lava sharks!"
Before Baelor could look to see where I was pointing, the shark burst out of the lava, and towrds us.