章 285: Chapter 276: Your Punishment, Is Eternity
Drake ignored Sarah's struggles and protests in his arms. They didn't have time to waste and he was simply faster than her by several degrees. He navigated the forests in the span of minutes, his legs screaming in agony every step of the way, he swore he almost heard them yell in colorful protest aagainst him.
But he was determined. Determined to find out just what happened. He didn't have much time to process it. The fact that his father-in-law who he was just coming to terms with being family was now gone still felt surreal. Sah Ul' being the strong-willed warrior woman that she was, gave very subtle indications of distress, making it all the less tangible in Drake's mind.
He couldn't imagine if one of his close family had been taken. What he would do, how he would feel. The lengths he would go to get revenge.
It was a dark place in his mind. It was something he had felt before, but couldn't place his finger on, like a papercut he wanted to but knew he couldn't scratch. It was maddening.
Drake and Sah Ul' didn't have much time to discuss what they would do outside of finding this person. Drake's speed was nearly comical as he went through the forest kicking up the remnants of snow and cutting through the fresh rain with a wind spell to keep them dry.
They arrived at the gates of ReUnite quickly and to the guards' surprise. But everyone under the employ of Natto and by extension Drake, knew his face. And before they could even check him, Natto had appeared, her face sympathetic, but calm.
"Mikhail is with the Doctor for now. We still do not have experienced healing classes and well… It is best if you speak with him," she explained.
Drake let Sah Ul' down and began walking in the direction of the Doctor's building. Natto hopped onto his shoulder.
"I take it that the business with Sandal has been taken care of based on the notification. How many should we expect?"
Drake wasn't in the mood to discuss it, but he hardly had a choice, the walk would take some time. Also, it would only help Natto prepare.
"It's in the tens of thousands. Many of them are Elves and Dwarves. Craftsmen mostly, I don't know if they are combat-oriented."
"Good, we are in dire need of craftsmen as you know. And Elves… This is certainly a blessing. Elves have a natural affinity with nature and healing. It will easily bolster our numbers and utility if, they should decide to stay."
"I don't think they have anywhere else to go. From what one of them said they were betrayed by someone in charge."
Natto nodded, "This is even better, we have the upper hand in negotiations."
Drake gave a deep sigh, "I will leave it to you, I'm in no position to be doing anything like that right now."
"No position?" Natto seemed to bristle on his shoulder, "You are the leader of this city. When are you going to start acting like it! You are in thee position! I know you and Sah Ul' are hurting right now, but you have a duty-"
Natto clamped her mouth shut, seeing Drake's even stare.
"Not now. You can chew me out all you want when I come back. These people… Those people… I am no longer sympathetic. The last of my patience, the last of my willingness to be understanding. They lost it all when I found out just who is behind it all. I will make them bend the knee. No more losing innocent lives and people I," he looked over at Sah Ul' grabbing her hand and squeezing it, "We, care about. I will make sure that everyone knows that this city, our city is not to be touched, ever again."
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
Drake, Sah Ul' and Natto entered the building, passing the front rooms and going right into Bridgette's room. On the table with his head in his hands and bandaged from head to foot was Mikhail. Bridgette a short distance away her head in a book and a cigarette burning.
"You look like you've had a rough week," Drake smiled wryly.
Mikhail's head slowly went up and he gave an empty laugh back.
"Drake…" he began, "I-I don't know what to say…"
Drake placed a hand on Mikhail's shoulder, "Start with what happened. There will be time to grieve and be angry later."
Mikhail took in a deep breath and nodded.
"Everything was going fine. The people we were escorting gave us some complaints but nothing that I wouldn't call normal for their circumstances. Rvul and the other guards led the front while my party covered the rear… There were minimal monsters along the way to our destination and things were going smoothly. But," he paused, his hands clenching around his bandages as a small red splotch began to form on them.
"I do not know if it was that woman, Marrissah. Or," he looked Drake in the eyes, "Or if it was your brother who planned it."
Drake felt his whole body tense and his legs lock up as they struggled to suddenly hold his weight.
His brother had a part in killing his father-in-law.
Mikhail continued, "We were suddenly surrounded at the edge of the forest only a few more minutes from our destination. They weren't particularly strong or high level," he gave a derisive scoff, "If anything we should have been fine even outnumbered like we were… But we didn't expect for people inside to turn on us. Our only healer, my party member Yorth… He betrayed us. Along with many of the people we were escorting, it became too chaotic. They killed everyone. They… They only left me alive to tell you what happened."
By now Drake wasn't the only one shaking with anger. Bridgette looked up from her book with a look of concern as she kept an eye on Sah Ul'. Her aura filling up the entire room.
"Do you have any idea where they are?" Drake asked.
"I can only guess," Mikhail grimaced, "They weren't high level and they have many low-level, Classless people with them. I don't think they would be able to get very far if they didn't want to put them on a death march. But they are not normal… People… People wouldn't be able to do what they did…"
"That's just it, they aren't people anymore. They might as well be monsters," Drake said coldly.
Mikhail's hand shot out and grabbed Drake's wrist, "Please. If you can, spare Yorth. I can't explain it but he wasn't himself. He would never, never, do something like this. Even if he had a good reason, I just can't see him going along with anything even close to this. Bring him back so I can speak with him, that's all I ask."
Something twigged in Drake's head at his wording, and he looked over to Natto on his shoulder.
"Could he be under some kind of spell or charm maybe?" he asked, remembering how Megan and even Marrissah had acted strangely.
Natto thought for a moment, then nodded, "It is possible, but I would not be able to tell as I have mentioned with the girl previously. I am not privy to their full status, only portions of it. You would need a very specific class that deals with ailments and the like to be sure. Perhaps one of the newly arriving Elves will have one?"
Drake nodded, "I'll do what I can, Mikhail. Yorth has helped me out plenty of times. But the rest of them…"
He left it unsaid. Even Drake wasn't sure what he was about to do when he found them.
Cutting off the conversation he turned and left, Sah Ul' quietly on his heels.
Natto excused herself as soon as they were out the door. She needed to prepare as best they could for their new arrivals in a few hours.
Drake made sure to give her all of his winnings from the competition earlier. He had placed a hefty bet on the teens at 10 to 1 odds. The look on the bookie's face when he was forced to hand over the coins and cores gave Drake a brief smile.
But it was soon gone as he and Sarah rushed out of the gate in the direction of where Mikhail and Ruvl had left earlier.
Sah Ul' did not complain this time when Drake picked her up into a carry, instead gripping him tightly around the neck, her hands quivering. She had still not looked Drake in the eyes since they heard the news, her face buried in his chest as he rushed through the forest.
It did not take long for Drake's enhanced speed to get them to where they needed to go. Even with him still in near tatters internally. It didn't matter what the backlash for what he was doing right now. He would continue until it was done. Until they received justice. Until he made up for his mistake.
Drake looked down at the forest's wet, muddy floor. Bodies of charred remains left scattered about in unspeakable conditions. He placed each and every one into his inventory as they went, Praying that Sah Ul' did not notice him doing so at their speed.
His aura spread out to find any remnants of the group that had done this. He quickly found them, there were at least a hundred people traveling through the forest ahead of them. They had not gone far, just like Mikhail said.
Stepping forward and increasing his speed, Sah Ul' and Drake found them. The moment they did, Sah Ul' leapt from his arms, her massive obsidian ax materializing in her hands as she swept through the people without remorse. Each powerful cleave accompanied by a guttural scream.
Drake let her do as she pleased, uninterested in stopping the massacre. Instead, he stepped through the people desperately trying to escape. Men and women in casual clothes, some in basic armor, and some in white robes with suns patched on their chests.
But Drake was only concerned with two people.
He quickly bound them both in shackles of ice and looked down with emotionless dead eyes.
A man with red hair that didn't even seem coherent enough to struggle. And a brown-haired, brown-eyed woman glowering back at him.
"Do you know what you've done?" Drake asked with faux calm.
Marrissah spat at him, "Of course, I know! The will of my God is the will of his followers!"
"You are a fool. My brother is no deity. No God. He is just a lost and confused man."
"No! I love him! As do all his followers! He is our salvation! He will guide us and cleanse this new world, making it a paradise for us!" Marrissah recited fanatically, "And he knows how much it hurts you…" she snickered.
Drake's hand twitched, mana beginning to leak into his tattoos as his arms began to glow gold.
"He knows the truth! You were never one of us, you threw in with these monsters! We all know how many humans you've killed!"
"Is that why he teamed up with the undead? Because he's such a pure-hearted soul?" Drake seethed back.
"A necessary evil to kill you and take this world as his own! Those filth ridden maggot bags will get theirs just like you will!" she laughed, her hands trying to force themselves from the ice shackles only to bleed, her skin sticking to the frozen cuffs, "I told him you know. I told him everything! Every day you were in the office, slaving away! The party! How we hit it off only for me to sell you out and get you fired! He laughed! He said you deserved it for what you did to him-"
Drake had to stop himself. His hand shook from restraint, just mere centimeters from Marrissah's throat.
"I have only ever loved and tried to help my brother… You don't know what you're talking about!" Drake growled, stepping back.
"Don't I?!" Marrissah laughed, "He told me exactly what to do, exactly how to get you to send me away! He wanted to hurt you, he wanted you to be confused and suffer! To run chasing your tail like the goodie little two shoes you are!"
Sah Ul' had finished killing the entirety of the group, walking up next to Drake silently. Only Yorth and Marrissah were left.
"Patriarch, I will be taking my right to vengeance," she said evenly, looking down at Marrissah and raising her ax into the air.
"You can kill me!" Marrissah smiled manically "But I've already done what I was sent here to do. I will forever be loved by my God, covered in his warm embrace as I go!"
Drake stopped Sah Ul' and she immediately looked at him with the same anger she had when they first met months ago.
He shook his head, pushing the knife wound the look made him feel in his heart. Sah Ul' wanted revenge, Drake knew that and she only looked at him that way because she thought he was stopping her.
"I'm not going to keep you from doing it. But she's right, if we kill her now she will get what she wants," Drake explained, pulling a long black pole from his inventory.
He remembered what Natto's notes had mentioned about the item.
[Small Dungeon Dimension Anchor] [F-Grade]
Anchors a Dimensional Space. Producing a Small Dungeon Anomaly.Does not provide the Monsters within the Anomaly.Anything trapped within the Anomaly space when anchored will be forever linked to it.
The item would not only link the beings inside for the entirety of the item's life span, which was timeless so long as it was not destroyed. And if the item was destroyed, anything inside would be lost with it.
This fact was what Drake planned to use against Marrissah. This and that anything killed within the dungeon, would reform and come back to life to be killed again after a set period of time based on their rank and level. She would be forced to fight, giving experience to everyone Drake sent to this dungeon for all of time, never to rest.
"This will make her pay for what she did. Forever," Drake said, his voice dripping with venom.
Sah Ul' remained silent but lowered her ax, looking at the item with hollow curiosity.
"What is that?" Marrissah asked, finally perturbed for the first time.
Drake slammed the black pole into the ground, activating the item as it split in two opening almost like a sliding door for a shimmering black negative space between the pieces.
"This is going to be your prison for the rest of time. You will never meet your false God ever again. You will never die, not in the truest sense anyway," Drake sneered, picking her up and throwing her into the spatial rift the item created.
[You wish to finalize this Dungeon Anchor?]
[Confirm?]
Drake accented and the rift began to spark, the two pieces of the pole beginning to close in on themselves.
"W-wait!" Marrissah pleaded, her voice becoming soft and gentle, "We can talk this out! Drake! Y-you wouldn't do this to me, right!?"
She tried to crawl out of the rift as it closed, desperate to escape, but Drake simply threw his heel into her chest and kicked her back in.
"You will be alone in that place for the rest of time. Your punishment for killing my people, my father. Is a lonely life for all eternity."
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