The sun rose once more on a sandy desert morning, my fists still a little swollen from last night. The soldier we'd captured was offered an opportunity to attack Korbin, as a sort of olive branch for them to earn some brownie points. The prisoner abused said trust, so his ribs suffered.
The intimidating muscle wasn't the role I'd preferred quite frankly. The prisoners decision to attempt in killing Korbin didn't differ from the one I'd make in his shoes. Unfortunately it was the wrong one nonetheless. Eventually, the prisoner grew more agreeable and open to our questioning. The first being the infrastructure of our dear King Nathaniel's castle he had set up at the center of his compound of a settlement.
According to the prisoner, one was permitted into the King's castle besides the Generals who oversaw the operations undergone at the 4 sections of the settlement, and the captains that accompanied them. Of course, we'd just recently killed one during the large-scale battle yesterday, leaving just 3 Generals left to deal with.
The soldiers themselves had dwindled quickly in numbers the last few days. Apparently a few scouts saw Steve and I separate from the group long before their group of 12 arrived, and had hoped the staggered overwhelming numbers would neutralize the giant serpent at our disposal. When they'd sent out over 30 soldiers our way however, our army returned and put wiped their entire force out in one swoop. They'd already expected the serpents in the sands to handle us before ever arriving, one soldier going so far as to have a memorial in the sand snakes honor hearing of its passing.
The prisoner himself got choked up recalling the serpents wake, going so far as to willingly inform us of their Sand Snake nursery set up. The General stationed in that section was dead too, leaving the remaining young snakes and their protective father serpent relatively forgotten as of late. This news wasn't in any way something I'd enjoyed hearing, outside of advantageous reasons in combat. 'Home Wrecker' wasn't a title I'd hoped to earn along my path, at least not intentionally.
Still, the news of 25 trained soldiers, 3 Generals, and 1 snake remaining was exciting for us. Korbin had to visibly cull his own excitement, knowing our official siege could finally begin underway. As a prerequisite, Cassi's armor was given a quick upgrade by Korbin, having grown out of her own set in levels. She was the first out of everyone not including Korbin and I who'd out-leveled her armor by a margin of three, a feat she of course earned rightfully on her own.
However, I couldn't help but take some credit having ushered us into more than a few circumstances that required a stronger hand to assist. Not to mention she'd be post digested spider food right now if Steve and I hadn't stumbled upon her Pylon. Still, she'd saved my ass already, and her taking on the General role rather than forcing me to do it more than repays whatever debts she may have owed to me. Especially having heard the rather Tom-friendly scheme her and Korbin hatched for our siege.
By 'Tom-friendly' I mean the plan wasn't overly complicated for once. Korbin would hold our soldiers just out of sight over the dunes west of their Pylon, while Steve and I snuck our way along the far north side of the settlement. Nathanial clearly decided their natural oasis moat was sufficient for their perimeter defenses, not expecting anything keen to water affinity would come knocking in the fucking desert anytime soon.
Once we're inside, Steve and I will immediately locate and activate whatever mechanism controls the Pylon gate. Korbin and company would then push over the dunes, cutting an angle along the southern bend to avoid head on charging into turret fire. Korbin's equipment along with Lonni's toughness and defensive prowess were vital to ensuring no serious injuries were suffered before entering their settlement.
Unfortunately we'll be fighting with a numbers disadvantage again, though by a smaller margin than yesterday's battle at the ruins. Still, they'll have one fully grown sand serpent and 3 generals with plenty of captains at their disposal.
Regardless of their units, Steve Cassi and I are to lead in clearing out as many of their top threats as quickly as possible once inside their walls. Korbin and Lonni will keep the troops in formation to both protect and efficiently clear out group fights, at least until Korbin could get to the King himself. Cassi and I would rendezvous with Korbin in the castle as soon as we could to ensure a smooth transition into power for Korbin.
While our soldiers prepared for their battle, a few sparring to warm up their muscles, I noticed Lonni sitting with his back against the gate wall. He wore this look of determination I normally only see in him during or after combat, peaking my curiosity. Walking over, he only nodded in acknowledgment as I sat beside down him.
"Hey big man, you seem awfully quiet. Everything good?" I asked, lightly jabbing his arm with my elbow. Lonni hardly reacted, his thousand yard stare remaining unbroken. He sighed before responding.
"It will be. Today will be a glorious victory, which we all will have our hands in achieving." He answered passionately. I'd never seen him so worked up verbally before, especially considering we'd yet to really lose a single battle in the first. Though, considering he's yet to look me in the eye, and put particular emphasis on 'all of us' contributing to the siege…
"…something buggin' you, champ?" I asked, already knowing the answer was yes, but not exactly what.
"Yes…may I speak of yesterdays ordeal with you freely, Tom?" Lonni asked, finally returning my gaze with a look of sincerity in place of his previous brooding.
"Lonni, you fought a bear because I told you to walk home. The least I could do is hear you call me an idiot for yesterday, it's quite alright." I said, figuring he was annoyed with my overextension nearly costing my life.
"No no, you misunderstand. The reason that could happen in the first place yesterday was because you and Steve were the only ones fit for that job. That's not fair to you, not in my eyes. We ALL need to pick up our slack, especially me." Lonni replied, his eyes drifting back into space.
"Lonni, you're our tank, buddy. To my knowledge, you've performed exactly as well as we've asked. But, if you feel you're not doing enough to your own standards, I'm certainly no one to tell you differently. I trust you though, just so we're clear." I reassured, hoping not to have an over-eager comrade fall chasing self-imposed redemption. Perunious knows I've already been there.
For the first time since I'd seen him today, Lonni let a smile form across his thin lips. He extended his hand for a handshake, which I happily obliged.
"Thanks brother." Lonni said, towering over me. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he'd only gotten taller since we'd met.
"No worries. Just don't go too crazy out there, okay? No pulling a 'Tom' until at least the next Pylon." I jokingly ordered, earning a laugh from my massive teddy bear of a friend. We ended up shooting the shit for another few minutes before Cassi asked Lonni to assist in fixing some fucked up straps on one of our soldier's armor. Lonni looked at me pleadingly, and I wasn't about to put a damper on his game. I waved him off, earning a mouthed "thank you" before hurrying over to Cassi.
Fuckin' love that goof.
We left the settlement not long after, hoping to beat the heat by shipping out early and maybe catch their guards between shifts. According to our captive, even a greedy ass King like Nathaniel believed in lunch breaks. Strange, considering how well he'd set himself up to have something so…uncharacteristic to his otherwise cold and calculated decision making. Convincing people of your false heroism enough to be a regional King within such a short span didn't sound easy without a sword.
Another 3 hour hike later, we'd reached the designated distance where Korbin and company would hang back while Steve and I flanked around to the north.
"You ready to go, buddy?" I asked Steve mentally, patting him on the side of his head.
"Hell yeah. Let's go experience-farming."
The ride along the northern edge of the dunes wasn't very long, compared to the trip up here at least. After winding around the Pylon about 20 miles out, we curved back toward their settlement. Before long, we found ourselves creeping slowly at the back end of the massive settlement. There didn't appear to be any active archers soliciting the area, allowing Steve and I to make a break for the oasis that surrounded the settlement.
Steve slipped into the crystal clear oasis with me on his back, the surprisingly potent water mana hugging around my skin like a warm embrace by the fireplace on a snowy afternoon. The original plan was for Steve to surface from the oasis, gliding high enough to get me over their 20 foot wall. Luckily, Steve found a far superior alternative toward the bottom of the oasis with his dark vision. A large naturally formed gap in the earth supporting the settlement itself was wide enough for Steve and I to wriggle through.
Having wiggled through and began swimming toward the surface on the other side, Steve and I's heads nearly broke the top of the water before a patrolling guard spooked us back under. Looking at my 30 foot feathered serpent, I knew in terms of stealth he'd done all he could.
"Head back out and meet with the others. They'll know I'm in." I said to him mentally. Steve nodded and swam back out through the natural passageway between the rocks. My incredibly high endurance and extended time under water as of late allowed for me to hold my breath a long time. This meant I felt little rush to emerge until the perfect opportunity.
I'm not exactly comfortable doing a stealth mission, which is ironic given I'm a rogue class base. To me, allocating time to hide was a trait that got me less than nowhere in life, and I wasn't going to start that shit again now. Another guard passed by, heading toward a long table full of feasting soldiers. Not seeing any other patrolmen in my area, I breached the surface.
My eyes darted across the settlement for a dry spot to regroup, settling on a group of large crates beside a ladder. The rungs led up to scaffolding that lined the northern wall toward the front gate. Seeing the guard above walking with his back to me, my body quietly rose from the water, scurrying low behind the crates.
A quick glance to the soldiers inhaling a village's worth of food for the day at their outdoor dining table confirmed I'd been undetected. With a deep breath, I looked up the scaffolding toward the soldier patrolling above. A second walked opposite to him, heading toward my direction.
Just beyond both soldiers toward the end of the scaffolding sat a lever, its color and pattern design looking strikingly similar to that of their settlement's front gate. The crates I'd hidden behind stood 10 feet high, just a few under the walkway along scaffolding above. The stacks behind and beside me made for a tight fit, which made for great leverage to shimmy up with my hands and feet on both.
My grip clasped firmly on top of the large crate, hanging completely still letting the guards above pass by. As the two patrolling the scaffolding crossed paths and continued along, I pulled myself up to the railings and quickly climbed between the thin metal bars.
The soldier walking toward the assumed gate control lever was my chosen target, knowing my secrecy was meant to be short lived in the first place. Shuffling quietly along the walkway, I'd made it within 4 feet when the patrolling soldier turned around, their eyes and mouth quickly widening as they saw me.
The guard was only able to let out a muffle whimper before choking on his own blood,
my blade pierced into their throat with a tempered Lightning Strike to avoid them alerting the other guards. The problem was, the mana dispersed violently, sending the low leveled lightly armored soldiers entire neck fragmenting over the rails with a loud POP.
Immediately the voices of angry soldiers echoed behind me as I sprinted toward the lever. It was only a few feet out, however my hand barely grabbed onto its engraved handle when the pounding steps of the second scaffolding guard crescendo'd behind me.
The soldiers lurching body shot forward a stab hurtling toward my stomach. My feet repositioned, twisting my body to avoid the soldiers short sword. Seeing I hadn't moved far enough, my blade slapped the end of his sword while wrapping my chains around it in one swift motion. A mage below sent a small sand cyclone spiraling at us both.
Rather than simply bailing on this chain catch at the hands of another pestilent mage, I lifted my blades forcing the soldiers to do the same if he wished to keeps grip on his sword. My knee exploded toward my chest before snapping out, launching the guard over the scaffolding railings. The sand cyclone ripped into his back, causing both to sputter violently to the ground 10 feet below. The moment of silence watching the guard falling made the death notification much more audible than usual.
My hand grasped back onto the lever and pulled up. A few gears rattled in the gate's mechanism, only for nothing more to occur.
What the fuck?!
Quickly peering around, I'd noticed a catwalk lining the other side of the large gate. A few soldiers were actively climbing down to pursue me. Hoping not to be up here alone longer than needed, my foot smashed into the lever's handle, snapping it from its mechanism to avoid anyone switching it closed again.
Hearing no audible response from the gate this time, I slid under the scaffolding rails, hanging from the walkway before dropping to the ground below. Three armored soldiers converged on me at the bottom just as my feet hit the ground.
I dashed toward the outside soldiers shoulder, avoiding being surrounded while parrying only one attack rather than three at once. My lead handed sword smacked away the soldier's incoming blade. My second slipped lower piercing the soldier's thigh. They stumbled, allowing my lead blade to slice across his throat. Riding the slashes momentum, my foot planted off the ground sprinting toward the catwalk. I didn't enjoy fleeing from a fight, unfortunately I had to finish the first step in my mission before enjoying the fun parts of a siege.
The catwalks ladder was quickly well occupied from top to bottom, one of the generals having clearly deduced my intentions and ordered his soldiers accordingly. Willing to test my vertical today, I ran under the catwalk, further from the ladder and directly under the second lever.
Leaping off one leg, I fired my grappling-hook at the catwalk rails, only for it to slip straight back through the gaps. My eyelids squinted in resentment at my hook as I tumbled back down to the ground. My legs nearly gave out under my weight falling bellow, multiple soldiers surrounding me at once. The Flow Strike to my incoming attackers chest breaking his armor plating and piercing to the handle of my blade returned a glimpse of my dignity after that jump.
My embarrassment subsided entirely seeing two more soldiers charge forward, leaving their positions from the catwalk ladder. Not willing to wait for the rest of their troops to coalesce and jump me, I took off at an angle to draw them away from the catwalk. Their forces clustered behind me in pursuit. Looking ahead, a few emerging soldiers blocked my path. At least they would've, had I intended to continue deeper into the settlement away from the ladder.
My foot dug into the dirt below changing direction back toward the ladder, sprinting at full speed. Only one soldier reacted quick enough to get in range for an attack at my side. My arm shot across my body activating Flow Inverse. The parry sent the soldiers blade flying from his hand, himself defenseless for the finishing blow to his eye socket. My body continued carrying me forward, removing my blade from his skull and dashing for the ladder. Not willing to eat shit on another grappling attempt, I leapt up the ladder skipping a few rungs.
I climbed a couple rungs normally before kicking hard to skip the rest. The heavily armored general that had been directing the impromptu defensive formation awaited at the edge, attempting to kick me off the catwalk with a front kick. My hand slammed into his ankle with a Flow Strike, clamping my grasp and tossing it hard into a gap between the catwalk rails.
The General's wide faced shield took up enough space on the catwalk to prevent me from sliding by. My resolve was to stab hard into his standing leg while he struggled to free the other from the railings with no hands, still gripping his mace. My twinblade slashed across his upper thigh. The General crumpled, leaving him sprawled awkwardly across the catwalk. His leg was bent and contorted unnaturally between the railings as he lay writhing in pain.
That pesky shield of the Generals still covered most of his vital organs, and the rest of the soldiers were actively closing in around the catwalk. My leg stomped hard onto the shield, using it as a platform to leap over the prone generals swinging mace from below. After doing my best frog impression mid-battle, I landed in a dead sprint toward the lever. Once I pulled the lever back, my body immediately jerked into the lever snapping it at the bottom.
Gate mechanisms shuttered in concert, ending in a chest rattling *click click* echoed throughout the settlement walls. Their large gate doors started noisily swinging out toward the desert biome. Nathaniel's General finally freed his leg, his heavy boots thumping across the catwalk beelining toward me. I grinned ear to ear before returning his aggressive charge. Stepping around his reckless shield bash, still landing no magical cuts and stabs rather than skill powered killing blows, when the sound of a man screeching in pain rang out through the settlement.
The sensation of the catwalk foundation crumbling under me and the General as the scream zoomed closer in a Doppler effect interrupted our fight. Large metal poles and shattered wooden crates crashed down around me, a few barely missing my head falling to the ground 10 feet below. The captain looked pretty banged up struggling to clamor back to his feet, the fall clearly adding to the many minor wounds I'd inflicted already.
Steve's scaly figure shot by snagging the soldier flanking me in his maw, the serpents laughter cackling in my head as he passed. The General scrambled to his feet seeing Steve fly by, swinging his mace up toward me in one motion. A simple step back sent his arm flying toward the air, my blade sliding through his ribs with a tempered Lightning Strike. The pop of mana shooting through his body sent a surging vibration down my weapon. The minuscule mana used didn't speed up the strike much, but the damage was still sufficient to finish off this level 5 General.
The sound of clashing steel took my attention back toward the gate, finding the totality of my allied troops dicing their way into the settlement. Cassi separated from the group upon making eye contact from across the settlement, head kicking one soldier and hook punching another the moment her foot hit the floor sprinting over.
"Good work! Let's find the other generals." Cassi said with a pat on my shoulder, seeing my handwork as she caught up to me.
"No clue where to look, but the gates not closing anyt-" almost on queue, the loud grinding sound of the gate mechanism closing behind our soldiers cut off my totally fair conclusion: the gate was stuck open. Given I'd made a point to break both levers controlling the gate, one catwalk being utterly destroyed, it had to be the King closing it via connection to his Pylon.
My head darted around in search of the infamous King Nathanial himself. Unfortunately there were no Kingly presences lurking in view. Fortunately, my search uncovered another General hanging back from their forces frontlines. With him stood a mage and warrior directing traffic at the front gate standing closer to the castle than the settlement entrance.
"Got one, this way!" I yelled to Cassi, sprinting across the battlefield. Our soldiers and Steve were steadily pushing them back toward their castle from the entrance, our warriors' prowess clearly overmatching the enemy's numbers advantage. Meaning there was little reason for Cassi or I to delay in sprinting straight for the next General. The mage protecting him fired out a series of small sharp stones toward us, forcing me and Cassi to separate in order to evade.
The mage foolishly chose to continue tracking me, leaving Cassi to his shielded warrior comrade and the general. The issue is, Cassi doesn't care about shields as much as I do. While my strategy might have been to find cracks in defenses through speed and deception, Cassi's was to create them through a mixture of strength and fluidity. Both being crucial in defeating a shielded combatant.
I was still dodging the rapid fire stone shards and swirling sand gusts closing distance with the Mage when Cassi ripped the shield's edge into the warrior's sword hand, slamming into his forearm. Her elbow rolled over the shield in her hand, denting the soldiers nose guard into his skull. The mages head whipped at the sound, changing targets taking aim for Cassi. The distraction afforded time to Water Step the remaining distance, stabbing through his magical spine through his mystical ribcage with both blades. No skills were needed turning my new least favorite class into a human kabob.
The General must've liked his mage more than his warrior, quickly charging me letting out a with ferocious battle roar. My blades slipped quickly from the mages back to deflect the Generals wide slashing sword, only for Cassi's foot bashing into his face interrupted his swing. She was still fighting the shielded warrior, however she must've seen an opportunity and seized it. Very water indeed.
My feet shuffled into the staggering Generals personal space, piercing my blade under his ribs. My wrist twisted my blade separating his ribcage further before ripping it back out. The General growled aggressively grasping at his bleeding side. Though, based on his dramatic wiping of his own blood across his helmet, he seemed willing to continue fighting until his dying breath. His hand remained pressed on the wound as he swung his long sword weakly. I lazily dodged to the side.
Instead of killing him immediately, I hovered around just enough to sneak a stab into the soldier fighting Cassi in the back and neck. The warrior froze in place before Cassi front kicked him in the chest, her water gauntlets morphing and transferring down her body into her foot launching him back off his feet.
Seeing Cassi's kick coming, I dodged out of the soldier's trajectory. His lifeless corpse crashed into the General, knocking heads and collapsing to the ground. Seeing no better opportunity, my twinblade quickly stabbed down into the Generals gullet a twice to finish the job.
"Last General! 3 o'cl-"
Cassi was calling out the last General, when a giant Windsor-tan snake slithered by. Its head shot forward, nearly clamping around one of our soldiers if it weren't for Steve gliding onto the tan snakes back, the beasts now coiling around each other.
"Snake first!" I yelled back to Cassi, charging at the unknown serpent trying to chomp on my boy, Steve. Cassi didn't question it, running beside me toward the fight. Steve was easily distinguishable even amidst their tangled bodies, the feathers and blue scales contrasting heavily with the other tan serpent. No doubt this had to be the depressed snake left partner and masterless at their nursery. Cassi jumped and landed a kick to the midsection of the tan snake, its open maw rearing to the sky in pain.
The snake's tail barely touched the sand before its whole body reversed down into the ground, burrowing just as fast as the sand snake I'd fought in the dunes yesterday. According to our captive, this was the father snake that usually stayed at the nursery protecting the settlement. Apparently male sand snakes had a slightly different tint, its skin a much darker brown high than the tan sands outside.
My blade had just pierced into the enemy serpent's scalp an inch before it fully submerged into the ground below. Not willing to take another snake ride underground, I pulled my blade free turning attention turned back toward the last general. The last sand snake didn't return for nearly an entire day after escaping, and I saw no reason why this one would be any different. A damn-near fatal mistake if I hadn't felt the lumping ground from under my feet, Water Stepping away from its emerging maw.
Its jaw spread wide, firing a series of rock and earthly debris in a stream, aiming for me directly. I dodged to the side, a rock clipping my face sending me stumbling laterally. Cassi ran up for another flying kick, only to get tail slapped by the sand snake, sending her bouncing off the sands.
The snake's eyes narrowed onto mine, an overwhelming sense of resentment bleeding through its stare as its tongue shot in and out of its mouth. Cassi kicked up, culling my concern for her before I charged toward the Sand snake. It stuck its head into the ground like a cold blooded ostrich before quickly ripping its head back out.
Once more, a beam of rocks unleashed from his open jaw, only I was far too close to dodge the entire stream of debris again. One stone grazed my head when Steve's bite pierced the tunnel visioned sand snake's neck. Its face froze in contorted shock, its beam of stones halted all at once. I unleashed a flurry of stabs on the paralyzed serpent. Combined with Cassi and Steve's assistance, the level 6 snake quickly succumbed to its wounds, but not before it got off a reactionary bite at Steve.
Luckily, the snake must not have been terribly venomous, as Steve only suffered a sore wound without showing signs of weakness over time. He'd mentioned something about a school of 'box jellyfish' he had to swim that made all other poisons feel like indigestion but, I didn't really care to question that now. All I knew was they sounded hilariously named, and that we needed to finish our siege so I can check out these infamous jellyfish.
The final General was 50 feet away, battling Korbin and Lonni now with both sides' soldiers clashing around them. Our forces had slowed their push through the settlement once we'd tasted some early success, the enemy unwilling to fall back into their own castle. Korbin snatched the Generals passing wrist after dodging a slash, flinging the General to the ground and stomping his face by the time Cassi, Steve and I'd arrived. Unfortunately for this poor General, all four of us quickly ripped through his armor with our attacks ending him where he lay.
By the time the Generals death notification pinned Korbin was already sprinting for the castle, shoulder checking through one of the two soldiers standing guard at the entrance way. The second followed after Korbin as they both disappeared into the castle.
"Cass, on me! Steve, you're with Lonni!!" I yelled out, leaving Steve to help clean up the remaining forces now centralized at the castle entrance near the center of the Pylon. They'd filtered quickly from all around the settlement when I was detected, with only a few civilians in the distance sprinting for the southeast corner, presumably to their living areas to hide.
Speaking of Lonni, he had a concerning amount of blood on his armor, and even more at the end of his flail. Taking this mess as 'good' news, Cassi and I chased after Korbin into the large castle truly fit for a narcissistic 'King'. It dwarved any other building within the settlement walls 4-fold.
Sprinting through the castle halls, the King's ugly mug hung wall to wall in paintings depicting acts of grand heroism as we followed the trail of his dead soldiers. The walls were a clean cut limestone, with torches every few feet illuminating the fine silk rug our tattered boots slammed into with every step. There weren't many soldiers remaining based on the lack of corpses left by Korbin to track, but we managed to follow the bloodied footprints to a spiral staircase.
The stairs winded deep underground, taking us easily 60 feet below. It opened up into a massive training facility, with a large Golden throne in the back of the giant bunker that was assuredly where our infamous King resided. There weren't any visual signs of any inhabitants, however the faint clashing of swords gave Cassi and I enough a direction to head towards.
The metallic clanging crescendoed sprinting around the training facility until we rounded a sparring arena wall, finding the assumed King a floor above watching as Korbin struggled to fend off 4 very different soldiers, all in dazzling tan and red armor. Three circled him while one was in active melee with Korbin, whose body burned bright fiery orange with his boosting skill fully activated.
The soldier in combat with Korbin's weapons also burned bright, only with old-fashioned fire covering his both swords dancing through the air. The soldiers speed was impressive, giving Korbin a bit of trouble keeping up with his flourishing attacks. Not willing to be a bystander, I exploded forward, landing a Flow Inverse with my foot on the soldiers slashing shoulder. Korbin's free fist smashed into the dual swordsman's jaw, sending him careening off the canvas.
The King looked most displeased seeing me and Cassi entered the frame. His nose scrunched in disgust as the small, frail looking King spoke in a raspy voice.
"You dare attack my land? The Chosen of the God over all that is true?! After everything I've provided this land, none will fall for your devilish lies, fiends!" The weasel of a King declared, his arched back trembling in fear.
I was moments from insulting the shit out of this dork when Cassi stepped forward with quite the gem of knowledge.
"You lie, Nathan. Your identity is no secret to my eyes. You are Nathanial, Chosen of Kinphilim, The Deluder." Cassi announced, though I had no clue how the hell she knew that.
"Kinphilim, that's a Devil." Korbin uttered under his breath, a look of realization overtaking his face. The King however, wore a look of frustration at the accusation.
"Preston, protect your King. Leave these deceivers to your fellow royal guard." The King sneered, the dual wielding soldier leaping halfway up the ladder before climbing up to his king. They both walked off while the other three began their steady approach.
A quick identify confirmed they'd all undergone a class evolution, each matching me in levels at level 6. A glance at Cassi revealed she'd reached level 5. Being 99% sure she wasn't when we left this morning, Cassi must be delaying her evolution until after the siege was complete. Meaning, she's not as strong as a level 5 ought to be right now either.
"You boys ready? These guys look decently trained." Cassi asked, getting in her fighters stance. In reality this shouldn't be too bad, having even numbers with me and Korbin should make this e-
"Nah, you two got this though. See yuh." Korbin said leaping high in the air, catching onto the walkway above where the King had scurried away with his guard. The three Kings Guards watched him run off, only to each look back at us wearing devious grins.
Fucking, Korbin.