Chapter 64
Another Time
Both Valen and Sylas rushed out of the palanquin, aghast, with even the latter feeling an abject level of horror for a moment. Quickly recovering, he immediately rushed to the front, leaving the mindless Prince behind. What mattered right now was not the fire itself—but when it started. If it started recently… there was a chance they could return in time if Sylas rushed them. However, if it started sometime soon after their departure… then the castle is as good as gone.
Looking from the state of things, however, it didn't seem like the kind of fire that had been burning for weeks now—it really did look like a more recent event. Even the recency, however, mattered. Sylas easily rushed past everyone and through the destroyed gates. Once inside, he paused at the sight of horror—corpses were everywhere. Dozens of them lay strewn about, most disemboweled or desecrated. It was also then that Sylas saw it—a Ghoul—lumbering about in the distance.
Though he already suspected it was the Ghouls, seeing as there could hardly be anyone else, it still took him a moment to readjust. He could figure out numbers and such later—for now, he had to find at least one survivor. Rushing out, he instinctively headed to what he considered to be the most secretive place—Ryne's underground 'lab'. When he reached the side, he saw that the doors were closed shut, causing some hope to swell in him.
Bursting inside, he rushed through the corridors and started banging at the doors, screaming out her name.
"Ryne!! Ryne!! It's Sylas! Open up, Ryne!!" a moment later, hurried footsteps entered his ears as he sighed in relief. Doors were flung open and he saw the young, teary-eyed girl covered in blood rush out and toss herself into his embrace. He instinctively replied in kind, wrapping his arms around her shivering and shaking back.
Instead of saying anything, she cried. She cried unstoppably, inconsolable. It was strange, Sylas mused for a moment, as she'd already seen many things equally as horrifying.
"I… I thought I'd never see anyone else again…" her meek voice fought through the cries. "I thought I'd die alone… don't let me die alone, please. Don't let me die alone."
"You won't," Sylas quickly said, taking a deep breath and pulling her out of his embrace, crouching them both down. "Look at me, Ryne. This is really important, alright? I need you to focus. Can you do that for me? Focus, Ryne. Can you?"
"Y-yes," the girl nodded meekly.
"Tell me—when did the invasion start?"
"I… I… I think it was about five-six hours ago? I was in the kitchen, chatting with Sylvia when we heard an explosion. I—I rushed out and I saw everyone running in panic and heard them screaming that the Ghouls were coming. I—I tried to help! I really did! I even used up all my talismans but… but we were overwhelmed! So… I… I ran away. I left them and I ran away. I left them…" Thank God! Sylas breathed a sigh of relief. If it was 'just' five-six hours ago, they'd be able to make it in time. But it wasn't just about making it time—they also had to be in shape to fight.
"How many Ghouls did you see?" Sylas asked.
"A hundred? Two? I… I don't know. A lot. Where is everyone?" the young girl asked. "Where is the Prince? Uncle Tenner?"
"They're fighting," Sylas said. "Listen to me carefully—I need you to go back inside and hide."
"Please, no!! Don't—don't leave me alone!! Don't, please!!" she screamed and clawed at him, tears pouring out like rain from her bloodshot-red eyes. Sylas found it even stranger still, but declined to inquire. This wasn't merely due to the Ghouls—this was likely linked to something else entirely.
"I have to check on the Prince," Sylas said. "And, if you do hide, I'll bring him here to keep you company."
"… do… do you promise?" she asked.
"Aye," he nodded, smiling lightly and patting her head. "So, be a good girl and hide for me, alright?"
"Y-yes."
"Good," he nodded. "See you soon, then."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
While Ryne went back inside to hide, Sylas rushed out of the basement and back into the open grounds. He still had to figure out the numbers, how they got into the castle, and as many other tiny bits as possible. The more he knew when he returned, the easier it would be to defend the castle.
Running to the courtyard, he saw that the entourage had already crossed the gates and started fighting. Valen was hollering orders like a madman, occasionally even stabbing forward himself, joining the fray, before being pulled out by one of the captains.
The most heroic, by far, was Derrek—he took three-four Ghouls all by himself at once, easily fighting them off and even killing them.
Forcing himself to ignore all that, Sylas spun about and began counting—he counted the Ghoulish corpses, those who were still alive, all the while he was rushing toward the wall. How did they get in? And how did the fire start? Those were the most important questions he had to answer before returning.
Even from a hundred yards away or so, despite the unrelenting smoke and the first signs of a blizzard, Sylas saw it—the hole that was just recently repaired… was there again. The difference was, however, that it was much larger—in fact, it stretched nearly four hundred yards across. There was a major, gaping hole that was practically an invitation.
"What the fuck…?" he mumbled, stopping. He couldn't phantom what possibly caused it… and yet, something did. Swallowing a mouthful, he braved himself forward, passing many charred corpses on his way. Among them, some were missing heads, some were missing limbs, and some were just chunks of gore.
The horrifying sights, however, didn't scare him nearly as much as the stench—it was a mixture that he never experienced before in his life. The closest he could compare it to was if he sat near a BBQ frying a steak… while there were rotting rodents, open sewers, and expired eggs all around him. It was beyond uncomfortable and vomit-inducing, but he held back. He had to figure out what blew a hole in the wall.
Once near, he was still not any closer to the answers; though he counted an extra forty to sixty Ghoulish corpses, there was nothing to indicate what could have blown the hole in the wall. He also all but confirmed that it wasn't talismans or any other form of magic as he was confident enough in picking up on the remnant energy. And an explosion of this magnitude would leave plenty of remnant energy lying about to the point that even someone worse than Sylas would likely be able to pick up on it.
"Could it be the Shadows?" he mumbled. He suspected that they had the means of knowing when Dyn was killed. If they steered the undead toward the Castle… it was possible. However, that still wouldn't explain the gigantic hole in the wall.
Sylas walked to the other side, inching closer toward the forest, looking for anything that seemed out of place. It was right around then that he actually found it—it was a part of a corpse, strangely enough. It was a torso, from the looks of it at least, but one missing most of its right and bottom side, leaving seemingly only left-breast-area intact. Well, 'intact' was a strong word—it was still charred and scarred and mauled beyond recognition.
What stood out about it was that Sylas… didn't recognize it. He was actually eerily confident in identifying Ghoulish corpses as he'd seen plenty of them during the initial loop, and the torso… it didn't belong to a Ghoul, of that he was certain. All Ghouls had extremely wrinkled skins, beyond the surface rot and decay, that had looked like dried plum. The piece of the torso that he found, however, was fully taut and stretched, appearing developed.
While not absolute proof of anything, a suspicion emerged within his soul—that another type of an undead joined the invasion this time around. After all, Ghouls were hardly the only ones. They'd seen aplenty raining from the sky. But, even beyond that, the world had identified many variants of the undead. The only reason Ghouls were the most 'popular' ones, so to say, was that they were the most likely to invade.
"Fucking shit," he groaned, feeling a headache. If there was a zombie type that could just explode… how to even contend against that? "Kill far away and make them explode within their own ranks? Aaah, I fucking hate this. Why can't there be a day of peace in this piece of the shit world? Every day it's fucking something…"
His grumbling stopped abruptly as he heard noises—feet stepping over the branches. Looking forward, he saw a massive silhouette emerge—it was a frosted figure, some ten feet tall, muscular beyond the point of reason. It had iron chains wrapped around its neck, an iron mask covering its face, a loincloth covering its crotch, and was barefoot. A pair of iron cuffs hung off its wrist, one of them extending into a chain linked to what looked like a mace head.
Its skin… was strange. It was snow-pale, but the underlying sheen would emerge like blinking lights, cyan-dyed. A bad feeling surged within Sylas as he started at the figure. And, just as he suspected, he saw a window pop up right after.
You have discovered 'Thrall of the Frost'
Quest: Defeat it
Reward: (Magical Skill) – Thrall's Rage
"... SHOULDN'T THIS BE FUCKING MONTHS AWAY, YOU STUPID FUCKING SYSTEM?!! JESUS-FUCKING-CHRIST, YOU HATE ME, DON'T YOU?! THIS IS REVENGE FOR NOT FOLLOWING YOUR PLOT, ISN'T IT? MIGHTY DICK, WHY DON'T YOU BLOW—"
You have died.
Save point 'Pup's Blood' has been initialized.
"… oh, we are sooooo fucked…"