章 686: Clockwork Legends
A/n: 4.3K words… double chapter I guess!
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(Part 1)
"Damn the accursed fates!" Shouted the Clockwork Titan as it was ordered to retreat by Mecinar.
Glymet was panting and out of Stamina but he couldn't stop now that his companions had returned.
"Swims, you stay here in case the Titan returns. Kota, you follow me." Glymet gave orders and started to retreat as well in order to recover.
"Good work, old man." Jon's voice echoed from the bracelet, "You should return and take some items from the Pavilion of Artifice."
"I can't do that. I need to get to Laaneth and Ram." Glymet said.
"In terms of combat, they are stalling their enemies well. Still, you must go to either Laaneth or Ram. Ram is the closest. I still advise you to return. "Jon said.
"I'll do that later, now, what is the fastest direction to Ram?" Glymet asked.
"Check the map function on the bracelet. You should navigate through the Mire Mechanica." Jon replied.
"This dense jungle?" Glymet seemed uncomfortable with stepping into the unknown.
"Goddammit! Don't say that word!" Jon freaked out on the other end.
"What? Why?" Glymet frowned.
"Fuck it!" Jon sighed in a bad mood, "Yes, you have to jungle. Happy now?"
"… Whatever you say."
Glymet seemed in no mood to argue with Jon remotely and stepped into the Mire Mechanica along with Kota.
The two of them traveled as fast as they could and thanks to Kota's Argonian nature, they were crossing the mire at a good speed.
"Old man." Jon's voice was heard again.
"Yes." Glymet asked.
"I've sent some supplies across the Mire Mechanica since you're too stubborn to return. You'll find these supplies stashed into mortar shells." Jon said.
"That's a great help… I guess I felt something falling just now."
Glymet went off for a while and Jon kept tracking his movements through the bracelet's map.
"Found it!" Glymet said, "But I guess some of the Mire natives have taken a liking to your gifts too."
"Don't tell me what they are and just dispose of them." Jon replied while praying in his heart.
"Two-headed wolves, huh?" Glymet reported the appearance of the monster he saw.
"Just…" Jon wanted to block his ears but…
"MURK WOLVES! Delicious!" Kota (Dragon) screamed.
"… I hate my life…"
< Your Team has destroyed a Turret! >
Jon decided to be silent from this point on. Whoever does what, he is protesting at the rogue machine that kept bringing out his dark memories.
"Who destroyed the Turret just now?" Laaneth asked.
"I did! Hahaha! Who's the most handsome treasure hunter and smuggler Argonian in Tamriel now?" Swims replied with a proud laugh.
"Good job, Swims!" Glymet replied as he managed to liberate the supply drop from the monsters, "Be careful now, they will focus their defenses against you?"
"What? Why me?" Swims asked in a shaken tone.
"You're the one who destroyed a Turret." Glymet replied playfully.
"Dammit!"
A minute later, Glymet and Kota broke through the Mire and stumbled on the sorry sight of Ram who was being cornered by the White Factotum.
Without further ado, Kota picked a small boulder and tossed it at the mechanical elite causing the latter to evade just as Glymet sent a wave of flames at it. The two cooperated instinctively to get Ram out of his corner as the latter activated the escape sequence on his bracelet.
Facing the White Factotum now was Glymet and Kota who reversed the situation since the White Factotum is a much easier opponent than the Clockwork Titan. They pushed him back fast enough that they were in the range of the enemy defense line.
Unlike Jon's gatling gun tower, this defense system was rather a magical one that shoots arcane bolts. It was hard to dodge still and annoyed Glymet a lot but Kota was keeping his distance and throwing anything he saw at anything whether it was the tower, the White Factotum, or the Abomination Minions.
Glymet plotted swiftly and rushed behind the enemy's defense point to corner the White Factotum at the expense of a couple of hits from the defense tower, which he managed to tank, and pincered the White Factotum with Kota.
Seeing that both his retreat and attack options were blocked, the White Factotum took cover from Glymet and focused his firepower on Kota. From his staff, ten highly concentrated bolts of Lightning were formed and their target was the oversized Argonian.
These attacks were highly lethal yet once again, Glymet decided to tank one hit from the defense tower to fish him out of his cover and save Kota.
As the White Factotum evaded the danger of Glymet's attacks, it noticed a shadow growing around over its head, and out of literal nowhere, a large boulder descended on the White Factotum leveling it with the ground.
< An Enemy has been Slain! >
"NICE!" Glymet shouted in excitement but he saw something happen to the White Factotum and Kota.
As for the Factotum, it was too broken to move but as its chestpiece burst out, Glymet could see a Black Soul Gem resting inside its chest and connected to the Factotum in a weird mechanical way. As for Kota, he seemed very exhausted and shrunk back from his Dragon persona to the normal cowardly Kota.
"Shit! Jon, Kota must retreat to recover, send Ram to the middle route while I rush to aid Laaneth." Glymet called.
"Yes. Hurry!" Laaneth's voice interrupted the call, "Two more Elite Abominations are joining the damn Elite Factotum."
"It's okay…" Jon replied calmly, "Old man, you remain where you are, I've already activated the escape sequence on Kota's bracelet. Watch out for the Abominations!"
"But Laaneth is…" Glymet shouted.
"I said it's okay. Help is on the way." Jon replied, "Ram, drop altitude!"
On the southern route, a buzzing sound was heard as an object came dropping from the sky at an unimaginable speed and it started to…
*brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt* *swoosh* *swoosh* *swoosh* *swoosh*
The sound of the gatling gun sounded with four lines of smoke speeding amidst the hail of bullets towards the enemies that were facing Laaneth. The two of them were Assassin Abominations, the same kind of many-armed single-wheeled Abomination which Glymet faced at the Northern Route.
These Abominations, as well as the Pale Factotum that was chasing Laaneth, were hit directly by the hail of bullets and four bombarding missiles. The sheer destructive power of this Air to Ground attack was so great that it killed the two Elite Abominations on the spot.
< An Enemy has been slain! >
< Double Kill! >
"Activating Lightning Blade!"
Ram suddenly started to break apart in the air and separate from the temporary flying parts before descending in a straight beeline towards the Pale Factotum and a blue thin line was seen cutting it through.
Where Ram landed was far behind the Pale Factotum which didn't even stagger before sliding part from part as the cut appeared in a thin line from its left shoulder to its right side and it fell completely disabled.
< Triple Kill! >
"Amazing Ram!" Laaneth shouted while she staggered from exhaustion.
Just at this moment, the Factotum lying between them started to glow brightly as if magic was activating from within and as the two avoided the possible attack, they found out that the Pale Factotum was teleported away. The same thing happened in the middle route where Glymet is. Once Jon heard of that and heard about what Glymet noticed in these Factotums, he started thinking.
"Factotums powered by Black Soul Gems. I've read about this somewhere." Jon said, "The Black Soul gems are the only kind of Soul Gems that can house a black mortal soul. Originally, natural geode (soul gems) can't house mortal souls thanks to their nature which is different from every lesser creation. But throughout history, a few people have discovered the method to create Black Soul Gems. The first who are theorized to have done so are the Ideal Masters, Lords of the Soul Cairn, a realm for the Dead. The Ideals Masters were said to have existed before the First Era way back in the prehistoric times of the Merethic Era. The second to have discovered the Black Souls Gems was either Sotha Sil or Lady Vastarie, a former Worm Cultist and the Immortal Witch of Azura, via reverse engineering the regular Soul Gems. Currently, Mannimarco the Worm God is the fastest entity that can create those Black Soul Gems. If these soul gems in the chests of those Factotums weren't made by the Worm Cult then we are looking at something very very ancient. Sotha Sil's soul trapped some of his followers to give them immortality as machines so if I am not mistaken, those Factotums you just fought are historical figures."
"He's always this detail-oriented?" Swims asked while shaking his head from the amount of information Jon just poured into their ears.
"He's a Fourth Generation Apprentice of Divayth Fyr." Laaneth defended Jon.
"Either way…" Jon ignored them, "Ram and Laaneth, you two have nothing in your way now! Press forward and destroy their first defense! Make sure those Factotums that retreated don't surprise you."
"On it!" Ram replied.
"I need to recover a bit more!" Laaneth complained.
"Guys!" Swims-at-Night shouted, "I am being pressured here by those weird things!"
"Jon! Send Kota to Swims once he recovers!" Glymet spoke to Jon.
"No! I'll send Kota to Ram and Laaneth in the south." Jon said, "Swims, I want you to drag those Abominations away to the Mire. You'll have a terrain advantage there since you are an Argonian and they move on wheels. Once you are done with them, rush to where Ram and Laaneth are."
"Alright." Swims didn't disagree and started taking his enemies to the Mire.
"Old man, you should destroy the turret in front of you to cause the enemy to panic then move to the southern route as well. Once the five of you are there, you should break through any defense in front of you."
"This is risky, Jon." Glymet complained.
"This is a trap, Old man." Jon replied, "Mecinar is now busy dealing with you and thinking that he should save his strength to face me. He's focusing too much on the game now. If he sends any of his machines to the Vale of Tears, I shall welcome them in person."
"Best of luck then!"
Jon's trickery was working so far, Glymet didn't want to complain since he was also focused on the current fight while Jon was planning for three fights ahead already. Also, it is not wise to go against a trustworthy commander.
The plan accelerated smoothly. Glymet managed to destroy a turret while Ram and Laaneth also destroyed a turret with the help of the Combat Factotums. This meant that the enemy was set back by a complete stage of defense on all three fronts. The problem now is the front Jon was aiming for, the southern route or in other words, the main gate of the Brass Fortress.
This was the least point one would expect for an attack to come from. The bulwark of the fortress is made of thick metal and almost impossible to destroy but the plan was to go forward this way. Who knows if this is a double trick or a triple one.
As the five champions gathered in the southern lane, they destroyed another turret and started to meet the new patch of Elite Abominations. The combined efforts of the five overwhelmed any enemy in their way and they reached the final defense line at the gate of the Fortress.
There, they clashed with the final turret and vanquished their foes but the amount of the Elite Enemies that faced them started to increase. Ram took care of all the small fries thanks to his spray-and-pray tactic while Glymet tanked for the rest and took care of any harassment done by the enemy. Finally, the final turret has fallen.
"Jon, we have entered the city from the southern route. The first gate was broken long ago but there is a large barricade far in the city that will block us." Laaneth reported.
"Alright. It seems that all the fight right now is happening in your direction. Is there any sign of Mecinar?"
"No." She replied.
"I see… this slimy fucker!" Jon cursed in a low tone, "Be on alert, make sure you uncover the machine that is creating those Abominations and destroy it."
"On it!"
The group didn't dally longer and destroyed a large device that was one of the defensive systems used by the Brass Fortress which was used to put limitations on hostile abilities. The moment this device was destroyed, Laaneth and Jon felt like their ability to contact the other realms like Oblivion and such has been restored and they are now capable of manually escaping Clockwork City to Oblivion and also capable to Conjure the Daedra and the Undead of Oblivion.
With this, a whole new league of possibilities was opened. Laaneth used specialty magic (Conjuration) and spammed a score of Frost Atronaches left and right. Those brutish and colossal golems of ice didn't spare any Abomination and destroyed all they could touch, such as the terrifying power of a conjuration Master.
"We are coming to your aid, outlanders!"
And amidst the heat of battle and from the insides of the Brass Fortress, multiple men and women in brass and white attires started to flood the battle between Jon's Factotums and Mecinar's Abominations, targeting Mecinar's horrendous creations.
"The Clockwork Apostles?" Swims-at-Night looked at the unexpected reinforcements and smiled with glee, "I am not the heroic sort but damn, this thing has its moments."
"Don't stop. We need to uproot those fuckers before more of them are created." Galyn, the leader of the Clockwork Apostles, shouted at his comrades as he led a powerful charge.
This all happened while Kota, who didn't shift into his Dragon persona, was fighting a desperate fight against a single Abomination before a Clockwork Apostle fell in the fight and his weapons rolled to Kota. Seeing this advanced Clockwork Arquebus, Kota held it up and immersed himself in its marvelous firepower.
At this point, an Elite Abomination spotted Kota and charged towards him with its blade aiming to rip the petite Argonian apart. In retaliation, Kota aimed the arquebus at the Abomination and took one shot at it but he didn't expect the explosive recoil and barely grazed it. The Abomination staggered but it was too close to Kota to give up now and its mind was remodeled into that of a killing machine.
Kota felt like he wasn't going to survive this but in a blue flash, Ram interrupted the Abomination and killed it with his blue lightning blade.
Seeing how far those two oddballs came together, they started to develop some sort of comradery from which a new technique was developed. It only needed Kota to ask for it.
"I need… to get to high ground… in order to shoot better." Kota said.
"Mobile shooting… compatible?" Ram asked.
"I guess so." Kota replied.
Ram then turned around and left his back open for Kota. This invitation was for Kota to hop on Ram's shoulder since one was a small Argonian and the other was a large Factotum. Kota didn't hesitate and climbed up before attaching himself to Ram and readying his arquebus.
Ram then did Kota something incredible, he handed him the gatling cannon. Just as Kota held it, his eyes brightened up, widened, and a new air started to flow around him. With a confident smile, he sneered and aimed the gatling cannon forward.
"Huhuhu! Cheers, mate! This is what I call fair dinkum awesome!" Kota said in a voice that appeared very different, "Let's blast the heads of those bloody wankers, shall we?"
At this moment, Ram started slicing and dicing while Juan, Kota's maniac persona, focused on spraying the bullets with extreme prejudice.
***
(Part 2)
Meanwhile, in the Pavilion of Artifice, Nefertiti suddenly dashed towards Jon and jumped while transforming into her human form to crash into his face.
"What, girl?" Jon asked.
"The shadow is open, hooman!" She replied.
Jon looked at her and a smile formed on his face slowly.
"Come out, you idiots!" Jon called with a wide grin.
To this call, the shadow beneath him expanded and many figures started to emerge from that darkness. The first was a gigantic warrior armored in bone samurai armor and swords, Odokuro of Wrath. The second was a black horse that looked like a walking dark ghost with eight legs rather than four, Sleipnir of Greed. The third was a translucent woman with great beauty and nothing to cover her sinful curves, Venus of Lust. The fourth was a black floating Dragon Priestess with a red-eyed ornate skull for a head, Potema of Envy. The fifth was a creature of gore and blood that made anything made by Mecinar look bearable, Gluttony. And last but not least, the sixth was a staff that rose in front of Jon and rested dearly in his hand, Pride.
Jon and his Sin Artifacts, which were hiding in the Shadow Dimension for protection, were finally reunited and ready to wreak havoc. Jon stood up and snapped his finger to return them all to his ring. He then called out one item, a long polearm with a spearhead, an axe head, and a hammerhead.
The infamous halberd that the Dragonborn uses to hunt Dragons, the unenchanted yet nigh-indestructible weapon, Cliffhanger.
Jon held that weapon and headed towards the middle lane.
Meanwhile in the enemy stronghold, a sudden shift of momentum happened when some elite enemies started to emerge.
Coming from the back of the enemy lines, the Clockwork Titan, the White Factotum, and the Pale Factotum all seem to have been repaired after being called back by Mecinar. They launched an attack against the group of champions and the Clockwork Apostles which showed how much those three were terrifyingly strong and their power together was multiplied and supported greatly.
"No! Why are they here!" Galyn, the Clockwork Apostle, shouted in a fearful tone.
"Galyn, who are those?" Laaneth asked as she tried to stop the Clockwork Titan with her Atroanch but they were all being pushed back.
"These are…"
Just as Galyn was about to reveal the identity of Mecinar's three champions, a strange feeling covered the battlefield. It started with a ground tremor that was felt vividly even in this heated battle. What came next was something unexpected.
< Your Team has destroyed a Turret! >
Those who saw the message couldn't pinpoint its cause but just some seconds later, another message followed.
< Your Team has destroyed a Turret! >
The turret defense line guarding the middle lane, which was already abandoned, was destroyed so badly that a cloud of dust blocked the view of that area.
The parts of the destroyed turret came flying from the direction of the Mechanical Foundry where the middle route led and as something started to break the place apart, the ground started to shake with every single tremor caused by the culprit of that ruckus just now.
It was safe to say that the Abominations, those senseless mishmashes of flesh and machine, have grown a survival instinct towards what was coming from the Mechanical Foundry and even the ones that came from there were actually escaping.
One of the Elite Abominations, which was a towering giant, was suddenly split into two vertical halves when a black ebony weapon descended from upward and split it off.
< You have slain an Enemy! >
The weapon was dragged away and as the tower Abomination's halves fell aside in synchrony, the culprit was revealed.
He was wearing the Lord's Mail and a Nordic steel helmet of ancient designs. His blue eyes, red hair, and pale skin were the only things that were visible of him when he approached the battle slowly.
To his allies, this was the most powerful existence that would dominate the field. To his enemies, this was a menace and their reactions to him were surprising.
The Abominations appeared as if they have awakened a survival instinct, the Factotums seemed to be considering him a commander, and the Clockwork Apostles were threatened and taken by his existence, but the strangest reaction so far was that of the Two Elite Factotums that are White and Pale as well as the Clockwork Titan.
Those three in particular seemed to have gone silent and stopped talking altogether. They were always complaining about Sotha Sil, praying to Sotha Sil, or cursing Sotha Sil. Right now they seem to have forgotten about Seht all at once.
They saw someone they recognized, a Nord warrior with a great weapon resting on his shoulder, marching towards them in fire and smoke while stomping on brass as if it was grass and forming a river of blood wherever he steps.
Their mortal enemy, their people's enemy, their home's enemy, their oppressor, their conqueror, their slayer.
"Zu'u lost bo fah hin klov ahrk Zu'u fent kriin hi us hin rah!"
The Nord spoke an alien tongue but the more he spoke, the more the world started to tighten and the more suffocating it felt even for the lungless machines.
It is him, no doubt about it.
It is the Walking Legend.
"The King of Nords!" The Pale Factotum spoke.
"The Gray Shadow King!" The White Factotum spoke.
"Wulfharth!" The Clockwork Titan spoke.
Only one man they knew was arrogant enough to speak not in the tongue of man or mer, but only in the tongue that would make the world shake.
Ysmir Wulfharth.
The man who just boldly said that he will slay them all and offer their heads to their Gods for mockery.
In this situation, the three Historical Factotums returned to their minds for mere moments but it was suddenly replaced with frenzy, murderous frenzy. Not by the malicious control of Mecinar but by the will of the three to fight, to rumble, to kill their mortal enemy.
Their surroundings turned to the vision of Red Mountain Vvardenfell where those three once stood to keep the King of Nords from approaching Nerevar the Hortator and Dumac Dwarf-King.
This was the moment they fell, the moment they died to the man's murderous weapon, the moment they finally get to rewrite in history.
"Wulfharth?" But the voice they heard was cold… so cold like the long winter.
"Almost." It continued.
And then all the soldiers they have amassed to buy time for Lord Nerevar. Time to convince the Dwarves to stop their folly.
The man flew towards them and he shredded their soldiers with Blade and Voice. He was the storm, if the storm was a man who shatters them and breaks their limbs and hearts.
< Killing Spree! >
The Champions of the Ashlands and the Lords of the Velothi Mountains fell to him nonstop.
< Rampage! >
He spared none, he killed those he can reach with his great weapon and those he can't reach with his storm words.
< Dominating! >
He raged through their ranks and started laughing as he killed more and more.
< Unstoppable! >
He towered over them the same way he towered over his enemies through history, the same way he killed the Aldmer at the front of the armies of man, the same way he slew the Wild Elves of the Heartlands till his hair became red, the same way he conquered the Snow Elves of Skyrim until they were eaten by the Dwarves.
< Godlike! >
And when he killed all their armies, he stopped in front of the three and they all could see him. If not Wulfharth, then who else is that?
And as they wanted to buy just a single second, their metallic limbs failed them and they crumbled apart against his mighty weapon.
< Legendary! >
He raised his hand and just before the three mechanical things would be withdrawn away, he used Telekinesis and ripped the Black Soul Gems from their chests.
"NO!"
At the sight of that, Galyn, the leader of the Clockwork Apostles, shouted and ran towards Jon hoping for him to spare those Soul Gems but Glymet held him from doing so.
"Those are… the Saints! Let me save them! I beg of you!" Galyn cried.
"Don't! He'll kill you." Glymet was worried since the Jon Dare he sees at the moment is beyond any that he knows.
There was no lightheartedness here, he came for destruction and destruction is what he is committing. This is a man who would strike and the world would strike with him, one of fate, a champion with destiny just like how he was.
As Jon held the three Black Soul Gems in one hand, he spoke one word.
"Gluttony!"
His words caused the messy monster of blood and gore to emerge from his shadow, a monster like none other.
"Eat!"
And Jon fed the three souls of the Dunmer Saints to Gluttony. Saint Felms the Bold, Saint Llothis the Pious, Saint Olms the Just. After thousands of years in an artificial state of immortality, Jon sacrificed the three Dunmer Saints to his Gluttony.
And for the first time, Gluttony evolved and came to possess a body of its own, a body that is as large as Wrath, as sick as Greed, and as ghostly as Lust and Envy. It was bipedal yet its arms were almost reaching the ground and its head was crowned with bloody red tree branches that looked like antlers.
This monster was once a leeching root from a Briarheart Tree, which Jon was once imprisoned with, and it leeched on him like a parasite for long, causing him the hardest time of his life. It evolved to Blood Aether, a spiritual parasite that fed on anything living and in the end, it became a monster beyond any Abomination created by Mecinar, a perfect Abomination if words were to give it justice.
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[Gluttony] < Briarheart Vampiric Parasite >
Vampiric Gore Servant
Briar Grove
Wendigo [NEW • Personification of Gluttony]
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A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel ⬅️
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