Exalted Warlock - 43 Chapter 4

“Alright then, onwards, to adventure!” Magnus shouted as he charged the back entrance like some knight or maybe just like a madman. In his opinion, the latter was the most accurate because even though he kept hidden, deep down– he was terrified out of his wits.

Before Magnus could eve pass through the threshold, the door swung open and slammed against the grey slabs of stones. A young man in the Jade Viper’s garb came stumbling out the door. All there was in his eyes where untold terrors and a frenzied panic.

Magnus cursed under his breath as he quickly put on his black bandanna to cover half his face, leaving only his eyes exposed.

Thankfully or possibly more concerningly the man didn’t even give Magnus a second glance or even indicate that he saw him standing there. All he did was run away in like he was in a drunken stupor as he screamed out, “RUN FOR IT! RUN FOR IT, THERE IS ARE MONSTERS!”

“Well that can’t be good,” Magnus joked, trying to create some levity in this grim, foreboding atmosphere. Though mostly, he wanted to keep sanity intact.

“And you still want to go in,” Codex muttered with a sigh.

Magnus said nothing to that in response, his only answer was him withdrawing an arrow from his quiver and nocking it onto his bow.

Slowly, ever so carefully, he inched the door open, praying that it wouldn’t squeak and be the death of him. Then he entered the tavern, stepping inside to the unknown and terrifying.

What greeted him as he set foot into the tavern was a dark, ominous corridor that seemed to stretch on forever. All the candle lights were whiffed out making it difficult to see, all there was to go off of was the moonlight pouring in from the glass tinted windows.

Sounds of fighting and cries of pain came from up ahead, Magnus quickly rushed towards it, totally forgetting about the dread he was feeling just moments passed. Once he crossed the distance he was greeted by a door, he pushed it open but it refused to budge an inch.

Something was blocking it on the other side, Magnus did not know what or whom, but it was obvious he wasn’t getting through that way. He tried to make out something, anything from the tiny slit that parted only a few inches, but it was impossible.

This was a total inconvenience, he didn’t want to waste a single second, he sought to act now and come to the rescue. Yet his path was cut off to him, in his anger and frustration, he tried several more times to make the door budge but it was being a bull like him.

With a sigh of resignation, he quit with his futile attempts, banging his head against the problem won’t solve it. If he wanted to aid Bulut and Soykan he had to play it smart, or he would be of no use and might even be just getting in the way.

Right now the smart thing to do was finding another way to where the action was going down.

Thus he surveyed his surroundings, to his right were stairs that lead up to the second floor and to his left were three closed shut doorways.

Making his decision on which to start off with first, he opened the first door on the left.

Beyond laid a simple bedroom with two cots on opposite ends, a plain wooden cabinet, and a night stand. Magnus saw nothing out of sorts and more importantly no way to get to the fighting, so he moved on to the second door. What lay within was a room of the same exact copy of the first room, plus it had everything in order and no apparent path to the battle.

The final door laid off to another bedroom as well, but this time more lavishly furbished. Unlike the other two spartan room this one had a king-sized bed with a rug underneath, a writing desk that came with its own chair, two night stands, a well-decorated cabinet with one large and two smaller mirrors, a long shelf lined with numerous items, a divider, and so much more.

But what caught his attention was the uncovered latch that had a ladder that lead down, that must be the secret passage towards the tunnels.

Though more importantly then that was the person lying in the bed off into dreamland. Magnus inched closer to them or should he say to her, and to get her a once over. She was a middle-aged woman and even in sleep, she had a permanent scowl on her face, though what he paid attention to was the slight bruise on the back of her head.

“It looks like she was knocked by Bulut and Soykan when they came through here,” Codex remarked, voicing her own theory, which was most likely accurate.

Magnus debated waking up the lady, but thought better of it. She would like it one bit getting woken up by a kid similarly dressed as the men who knocked her out. Plus it is much safer for her in here than out there where danger lies await. Also, it would be best for her to sleep off the throbbing pain she would wake up to, he comforted himself with.

Leaving her be, he silently closed the door shut and even locked it with the spare key he found in the room, for whatever good it would do.

He gave the closed door a final glance and turned away from it. It crossed his mind to head down the ladder towards the tunnels, but even with a glance of the map, he knew he would get lost down there. Those tunnels were massive and spread across a whole city block, plus he was ashamed to admit it but he was no good with directions.

Anyways, he knew that Bulut and Soykan were at where the fighting was happening, that he knew deep within his bones. An Infamous is never far from trouble, those were the exact words all four men said, and he completely agreed with it.

With that done, he made his way up the stairs, he hoped that he would find what he was looking for up there or else it is down the tunnels for him, retracing Bulut and Soykan’s footsteps.

As he came up the stairs as quietly as possible so as not to get ambushed if there were any enemies here. Once he was up the flight of stairs, he was greeted to the sight of the second floor.

This floor was a wide open space that had dozens of tables littered about it which were all well furbished with skin table sheets, and taking up one whole corner was a bar which was well stocked up on all kinds of liquor. Plus, most importantly of all this floor had a large opening that you could gaze upon the floor below.

Magnus ran to the edge, pushing aside all tables and chairs with careless disregard, then coming up to the railing he gazed down below.

What he saw made his blood curdle and his spine chill, he felt like vomiting then and there but he held it in as he surveyed the scene below with all the detached he could muster.

It was a chaotic, bloody mess on the first floor, everywhere he looked he saw blood, bile, and gore streamed out of it.

There were upturned tables lying everywhere with scattered chairs sprawled in the mix, plus spilled food and drinks staining the floor.

More substantial though, were all the prone bodies littered everywhere as still as only corpses could be. Fighting in their midst were the surviving few, which only a few handfuls of people made up that number.

They were a weary and terrified lot, who only stood up to fight since their enemies would give them no quarter and also because there was no escape.

The door he tried to come from was blocked by a large stone the size of a wagon and the main entrance was already taken over by the enemies that the poor remaining souls were fighting.

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These adversaries were not humans at all, they were nightmarish creatures that were plucked right out of a Lovecraftian tale.

They were hairless quadrupedal creatures with long raking claws, their flesh a brownish-red roiling mass of pungent, decaying flesh that skidded off here and there on to the floor. They had no eyes or ears just a reptilian nose and a mouth that had rows upon rows of sharp jagged teeth.

An endless hoard of them just kept on coming out of a large gaping hole in the center of the common room. But standing tall upon the bleak scene with his twin axes in hand was Bulut. He was ordering around the survivors into fighting stances and shouting out commands to them while he cut down countless scores of enemies with his monstrous twin axes.

That more than anything felt to Magnus like that was what was making the survivors stand tall and continue fighting. Still, even with all the enemies that Bulut was cutting and the good fight that the survivors were putting up the creatures were still gaining ground.

Magnus looked for Soykan among the surviving crowds, expecting him to also be prominent among them like Bulut was, but he could find him. His stomach twisted into knots and he deigned to even look at the dead fallen bodies, some which were even being eaten by the creatures.

There was no way Soykan could be dead, no way at all, he told himself, trying to ease his apprehension.

As another one of the survivors dropped dead thanks to one of those creatures that split his stomach wide open, spilling his guts on to the floor, it was Magnus’s signal to get into the fight.

He nocked his bow back and let loose an arrow, it struck one of the creatures in the flank who was about to finish off a downed man. With the aid provided, the survivors were able to make quick work of the toppled creature before it got up with the make shift spears in their hands.

Thanks to the assist, his presence was now noticed, nobody had a clue who he was but they were thankful to him. Though there was one soul who recognized him and he, on the other hand, was not so happy about his presence here.

“What are you doing here, lad?” he shouted while continuing with his slaughter.

“I am here to help, obviously,” Magnus replied in a nonchalant manner, using it to cover up his worries. He knew before he came in that the gents would rather see him safe and sound in the carriage or better yet at the hideout.

There was no way they would want him out in the field risking his life. He would be forever babied by them under the guise of still yet more training to be completed or him not being up to par.

Though that ended now!

He wasn’t going with the flow anymore. He knew himself better than anyone, maybe everyone except Codex, but still, he was more than ready for this.

“I will have none of that, lad,” Bulut growled. “Get back to the carriage while this is dealt with.”

“No can’t do, ax wielder,” Magnus retorted while also being very careful not to spill his name. “You need my help, these people need my help, and I am here to offer it.”

Bulut said nothing more after Magnus’s statement, but from the look in his eyes, this was not over.

“Is that seriously the best you could have come up with?” Codex asked as she broke down into laughter

“What? Can’t you see I am under a constraint here?” Magnus asked. “I don’t really have the time or energy to stop and think of the perfect name,” he supplied as he let loose another arrow.

“Ax Wielder!” Codex repeated as she once more burst into laughter.

Magnus his gritted teeth as ignored her irritating outburst and asked her in a tone louder and much harsher than what was necessary. “Did you find these things weak points? Or are you going to laugh your ass off until we get killed?”

“Alright, alright, slow your horses,” Codex retorted as she started to collect herself.

Right before his eyes, red spots started to light up one by one on all the creatures’ bodies until each and every single one of them had it. “Aim for those spots and that should do the trick.”

Magnus grumbled under his breath a thanks, then did as he was told. He carefully aimed his bow, taking his time as he stretched the string back and then fixed his shot, then when he deemed it adequate he let loose.

The arrow flew through the air and struck home, silently, without even a struggle the creature he hit went down.

Magnus grinned wickedly, now that is what you call a bullseye. Still, he had to give credit where credit was due, that creature only went down that easily because of Codex’s interesting ability.

Thanks to the scanning ability that she already has, she was able to use that to find the weak points of each individual. Magnus used that to great effect when he was sparring with any of his fellow thieves.

There are racial weak points, for example; humans are weak behind the ears, nose, throat, solar plex, and so forth. There are also weak points that could be specific to a gender for example; a man’s weak point is their groin area. Furthermore, there are weak points specific to an individual maybe somebody has a weak leg or favors their right hand, which is also taken into consideration.

Still there is also more, much more that Codex takes into thought which she has it all figured out. Nevertheless, this is a great ability to have and Codex is really never to be underestimated. Even with no technology on hand which basically where all of Codex’s powers lay, she is still able to push grounds and make headways.

Plus once more she provided her worth in a new and interesting way. He must say it is a fascinating idea Codex came up with basing most of her innovative ideas in fantasy. This is after all a medieval fantasy world, so why not get into the groove of it.

In any case, thanks to Codex pointing out all the creatures’ weak points he was able to kill one creature after another until his tally was starting to reach Bulut’s kill count.

Still, there were some shots he missed completely or he just struck in the wrong spots, that was to be expected after all since he wasn’t a master of the bow.

Nevertheless, he hit home more often than he missed, he didn’t want to brag or anything but he was a pretty good shot. His skill has to partly do with him spending countless hours wielding the bow over the last three seasons under the tutelage of Bulut and also because of all the marksmanship training he did with his father.

Magnus also went out of his way pointing out the weak points of the creatures to the remaining survivors. That made them more effective in killing off the creatures and boasted their chance of surviving by a lot.

Bulut, on the other hand, used the creatures’ weak points to great effect, he knew about Magnus’s knack for picking up on everyone’s weak points so he trusted in it. Using his twin axes he cut into the creatures’ weak points, making them drop like flies.

Still, despite the best efforts everyone was putting up, the monsters kept on coming on like a ceaseless mass. For every creature cut down, two would take its place and attack with savage ferocity.

Unlike the faceless creatures, the remaining humans didn’t have the same number as them. As one person gets cut down the others have to take up his burden and from the looks of it, soon everyone shall break under it.

This was not working at all, he was already running low on arrows and soon he will not be able to provide any more cover.

When that happens Magnus knew all hope would be lost, and everyone would be torn apart by those creatures. That is why Magnus spoke his thoughts and told Bulut exactly what he thought. “Ax wielder, we need to come up with another plan. This is not working!”

“I can see that already, lad,” Bulut grunted as he took down another one of those creatures. “Yet what else is there to do but to stand and fight?” he asked after which he followed it up with an order to the survivors, shouting to them to cover the hole in the defense a departed soul left behind.

Then turning his attention back to him, Bulut continued with, “There is no retreating, here, both exists are closed off to us, so all we can do is stand till the last man.”

With that final remark, Bulut drew the conversation to a close then got back to giving orders, “You there,” he shouted. “Put a thrust into your japs, you sorry excuse of a man.”

Magnus clearly understood what Bulut meant, this was the end of the line for him and all these remaining survivors. The only option left to them was to go down fighting or get torn down by these bloodthirsty creatures that clearly didn’t understand the concept of surrender.