Longma, Kirkcour Woods.
10:30 pm. 14th Banem, 1092.
"What the hell?" Kashi muttered in shock as he looked upon the battle occurring at the Longma tribe from an overhanging cliff.
The Longma tribe was located at a small clearing within the forest, but unlike other tribes, they did not have any protective walls. Furthermore, their buildings comprised of simple large tents for each family. From the hill, it appeared very much like these tents were not placed in any determined order or formation.
Anyone with the slightest intelligence could imagine what would happen to a village with such weak defenses in the event of a monster invasion. Or at least, it should have been obvious.
At the moment, Kashi had begun to doubt his own intelligence.
Hundreds of corpses littered the field below, but Kashi's sharp eyes could see that over 99% of the bodies belonged to the monster army, while the remaining 1% belonged to the daunting Longma tribe.
Kashi swallowed hard and had to resist the urge to jump into battle when he saw the Longma tribespeople. The centaur generals' descriptions did not do the magnificent tribe justice.
The Longma tribe looked like a cross between a dragon and a regular centaur. In fact, given the promiscuous nature of dragons, Kashi would not be surprised if that was, in fact, their origin.
The horse portion of the Longma tribe centaurs was robust and sturdy, protected by hardened black scales grown strategically on their backs and sides. It was no surprise then that the Blights' wood-based attacks kept breaking against the Longma tribe's bodies as they ran through the monsters.
The Longma tribe retaliated by stabbing and slicing up monsters with scythe-like bone spurs that grew at the end of tails that resembled scaled reptilian snakes.
Kashi's eyes widened as a direwolf spat out a ki-blade at a Longma tribesman. The Longma tribesman did not falter. He continued his charge and the ki-blade shattered against the dense, interlocked muscles on his broad chest. He then grabbed the direwolf with clawed, demon-like hands with fingers that were longer than Kashi's face.
The Longma tribesman roared, and his massive, scaled arms bulged as he ripped the direwolf in half. The Longma tribesman seemed to sense Kashi's gaze as he turned and looked up at the hill, giving the daeben a full view of his face.
Kashi finally understood why the other centaurs were not so accepting of this tribe. The Longma tribe indeed had more in common with monsters than they did humes. Aethir designed humes to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
This rule applied to all races, whether humans, elves, dwarves, or beast-kin. Even the drakul, after their transformation, carried a sense of security in their features.
However, it seemed like Aethir had skipped over the Longma tribe. They could not look any more monstrous if they tried. Their facial features were sharp and angular, with bone-spurs jutting out of their chin and the sides of their heads to form massive horns. Their small eyes were sunken, and their skull's bone structure made it look like they were always in a bad mood.
Couple all these traits with sharp teeth you would expect to see in monsters like tigers, and you had creatures that, without context, anyone would assume were monsters. Even worse, their fighting methods were both primitive and savage, involving tearing their opponents apart with their bare hands and tails.
The Longma tribesman could not make out Kashi's full form from so far away, so he gave up, snorted, and returned to the battle at hand. He did not care about Kashi's status. If he was a friend, good. If Kashi turned out to be an enemy, it would only mean more invaders they had to kill.
Kashi looked down upon the scattered battlefield with a grave expression. The Longma tribesmen were scattered across the small clearing, fighting several monsters on separate fronts. He could not order the archers to fire for fear of hitting the Longma tribe, nor could the cavalry charge into the crazy battlefield for fear of the same problem.
The battlefield was tiny, confined to the little clearing, and as a result, the centaurs would be forced into melee battle. However, Kashi knew that the centaurs' strength lay in their speed and power. A melee battle would be disadvantageous for the centaurs as they had a much larger frame and thus would sustain much more attacks than they could defend.
Kashi would have considered sending the centaurs if they were fully decked out in plate armor, but they were mostly naked as it stood. This was one of the primary reasons none of the centaur tribes Kashi rescued ever considered leaving their town to engage in open melee.
Furthermore, Kashi did not want to lose too many soldiers to this insane meat grinder. Kashi's fingers clenched and unclenched as he realized the optimal solution to this problem. The daeben looked at the generals by his side, grinned, and said, "Esteemed Generals, here's the plan..."
Fifteen minutes later, Casetes scratched his head and muttered as he watched Kashi and Darian charge down the slope. "How reckless."
"Indeed," Anatolia agreed, then frowned. "But I fear what this might mean for the future of our race."
"The future's still far," Balasius stated. "We can worry about that after we surpass this tribulation."
"I suppose you're right," Anatolia grudgingly replied and folded her arms across her chest as she watched Darian burst out from the neighboring trees and tear into the monster army with Kashi by his side.
BOOM!
Several monsters cried out in pain as Darian tore into the enclosure. In anticipation of the close-range battle, the warrior had traded in his spear for a massive halberd. It was one of three weapons Kashi had crafted as a present for Hektor, but he decided to gift it to Darian instead. After all, who knew how long it would take until Hektor's return? This weapon might no longer be suitable by then.
Darian's initial charge did not last long before he was forced to stop by the solid cluster of monsters. After all, he did not have the added ki from his army. However, the centaur did not care about this setback and instead swung the halberd around him with wild abandon.
The monsters cried as his ki tore them to pieces, and an angry direwolf lunged at the centaur's exposed flank.
Thwack!
Crash!
An arrow tore through the direwolf's head, and it crashed to the earth. The last thing the beast saw was the grin of the woman who sat on Darian's back.
Larsial sat atop Darian's back and protected his flanks as the warrior charged out of the beast enclosure. The strange combination was something the daeben had thought of on the spot. The centaurs were mighty warriors whose greatest weakness were their long bodies. However, this issue was easily fixed by having an archer seated on the centaur's back to clear any attackers. By not needing reins, both hands of an archer on a centaur's back were free to wield a bow and shoot down any approaching threat.
A small smile played on Larsial's face as she shot down any monsters that dare to approach Darian's flanks. As expected of that scary daeben. To think of exploiting the centaurs like this after only seeing them once.
The only downside to this formation was that she had to cover both flanks and the back at the same time. However, even this issue had been considered by Kashi.
"Reloading."
Shadow's cold voice came from behind Larsial. The cold assassin was seated on Darian with his back to Larsial's, tasked with clearing out enemies at their rear. Shadow's 'reloading' referenced the brief moments it took to equip a new set of arrows.
During those two or three seconds, Larsial had to increase her concentration to cover all angles. The same principle applied when she was close to running out of arrows. She would alert Shadow, who would then pull out some arrows to refill her ammunition.
While Darian wreaked havoc in the monster army, he could not help but look across the battlefield at a single figure who tore across the battlefield like he was in his backyard.
BOOM!
Drixlia's hardcore training showed dividends as the monstrous horse tore through the monster army with scary ease, allowing Kashi to shoot down the surrounding beasts freely. The Kashi-Drixlia combination was like an unstoppable bulldozer turret.
Nothing could stop Drixlia's charge. Its mighty hooves crushed traps laid by Blights while the ki-image around it blasted away any fools that dared to block its path. Worse yet were the hundreds of arrows that repeatedly shot out of the ki-image at speeds that surpassed human imagination.
However, none of these feats stunned the onlookers as much as the accuracy of the shots. It was one thing to launch a volley at an area. It was another for every hit to be a fatal headshot.
No one could understand how the daeben accomplished this except for the daeben himself. This was only possible because Kashi had combined the all-encompassing vision of [Mind's Eye] with the focus provided by [Keen Sense].
[Mind's Eye] was a high-level skill that provided Kashi with a 3-D view of everything around him for at least 30 meters. [Keen Sense], on the other hand, was a low-level skill used to focus on a target and thus reduce the chances of missing.
The skill's major downside was that it required its user to be stationary. When combined, [Keen Sense] focused on the monsters found by [Mind's Eye], and because Kashi was seated atop Drixlia, he passed the stationary requirement. Following this, Kashi combined [Rapid Shot] and [Multi-Shot] to produce the phenomenon where it seemed like dozens of arrows were being fired every second.
Kashi had always maintained that there were no such things as useless skills, which was why he had never been in a rush to learn the next tier of Archery Skills even though he was overqualified.
A hidden secret of King's Journey and Live no Evil was that the strongest were those who practiced the basics to the extreme and only sought out skills to complement these basic techniques. If one were to go looking for the next greatest skill, they would be forever caught up in the trap of upgrading their skills without ever exploring their true potential.
This probably played into why the Dimensional Artist class, despite how overpowered it was, only had a couple of combat skills expected to last its owner until the end of time. There were no avenues to 'upgrade' these skills into something else. If one wanted to improve the skills, they could only do so after perfectly understanding them.
Kashi grinned as he emptied several quivers worth of arrows into the monster horde. This philosophy of 'Practice Makes Might' seemed to permeate all of L.N.E's leveling mechanics. The daeben could not help but wonder if the company was trying to instill this mentality into its players.
Kashi pondered some more, then shrugged. This was not the time to debate philosophies. His eyes lit up as he spotted a member of the Longma tribe nearby. "Drix," Kashi prompted.
Drixlia did not require further explanation. It snorted then increased the speed and force of its charge in the direction of that Longma tribeswoman.
The Longma tribe females bore a striking resemblance to their male counterparts, only differing in their slightly lither frames and smoother facial features. Unlike the other centaur tribes' mares, they did not grow breasts on their torso as it bore no functional purpose. In the case of other centaur tribes, the only evolutionary goal of the female breasts was to attract potential mates' eyes.
The culture of the Longma tribe made this evolutionary trait inconsequential to them.
"[Gilgamesh!]"
BOOM!
The dreaded skill finally made an appearance.
The Longma tribeswoman looked around in confusion as a thousand arrows suddenly shot down from a mandala above her head and shot down every single monster around her.
"Catch!" Kashi called as he charged past her without so much as a word of greeting.
The Longma tribeswoman instinctively reached out her hand and caught a sword Kashi had tossed over with great effort. The 30cm thick and 170cm longsword was the weapon of choice for the Tulpar tribe, used in tandem with their shields to attack enemies.
Kashi had rounded up these powerful swords from the Tulpar army before setting off, with the intent of arming the Longma tribe. The Longma tribe was already so scary and powerful when fighting with their bare hands. What would it be like when such a force had a sword?
Boom!
That question was answered when the Longma tribeswoman sent dozens of monsters flying with the sword's first, clumsy swing. The centaur revealed a sadistic grin when she saw the effects of using a blade. She let out a roar and actively charged into the monster army, swinging left and right with reckless abandon.
Kashi sighed as he watched the rampant devastation while Drixlia made a beeline for the next Longa tribesman. 'Now, this is a race that was created for war.'
Kashi charged through the battlefield with staggering impudence, quickly blasting all monsters out of his path until he reached the side of the next Longma tribe member. Like his previous encounter, Kashi wordlessly took out a sword from his inner world and tossed it to the warrior before galloping onward.
For his part, the centaur did not bother acknowledging the daeben's presence before slicing the surrounding monsters to shreds.
Kashi pierced through the battlefield in this vein, either handing or throwing swords over to the centaurs, then letting them wreak havoc on the monster army without any significant assistance. This proved to be the best course of action, as, by the time Kashi handed out the last, one-thousandth sword, there were barely any monsters left.
This allowed Kashi, Shadow, Larsial, Darian, and the Longma tribesmen to swiftly round up and eliminate any traces of the monster army. Usually, the monsters would have run away following such massive losses, but it seemed whoever controlled them had ordered them to fight to their last breath.
An order most likely issued to ensure the centaurs suffered the most significant loss possible.
No one would have expected that it would backfire in this manner. The armed Longma tribe were like tigers that had grown wings. Their ferociousness decimated the monster army, while they only suffered minor losses.
Kashi released a sigh of relief as he watched a Longma tribesman tear the last direwolf in half with his bare hands. Finally, phase one of the plan had been completed. The particulars of phase two would largely depend on the upcoming negotiations.
Kashi's expression remained neutral as he approached the Longsma tribesman who tossed the torn carcass to the ground and glared at the daeben. "I assume you speak the common tongue?" Kashi questioned, his tone even and firm.
The Longma tribesman remained silent.
Kashi paused for a moment to consider his options. There were two classic approaches to a situation like this for every gamer. The first, and Kashi's personal favorite, was to prove your strength to the opposite party. Kashi knew he could bring a good portion of the Longma centaurs to their knees through his aura alone. The second option was to engage in a calm and rational discussion to bring the Longma tribe over to his cause.
The downside to the second option was that for warring clans like the Longma tribe, an envoy who used words to convince them to do something would be looked down upon as weak and timid.
If Kashi viewed the Longma tribe only as a capable fighting force, he would have proceeded to crush their wills and bend them to his cause. Fortunately, ever since the daeben embarked on the path of 'Uniting the Continent,' – and even more so in recent times – he had promised himself he would not treat any intelligent race differently from the rest.
A conqueror's attitude was everything. If a conqueror went around treating some races better than others, that attitude would spill over to the common people when the war finally ended. At that point, it would only be a matter of time before the oppressed race broke out in a civil war.
With all these in mind, Kashi finally came to a decision.
Boom!
The Longma tribe paled as a brutal force burst out from the daeben. The centaurs trembled as they gazed upon what seemed to be a pair of daunting eyes glaring at them from within Kashi as if daring the centaurs to question its authority. However, before the centaurs could even begin to process their fear, the pressure vanished as quickly as it came.
The Longma centaurs regarded Kashi with equal parts trepidation and respect. Only a true warrior steeped in years of bloodshed and chaos could unleash such a powerful aura.
"I'm glad I finally have your attention," Kashi said as he regarded the Longma tribesmen. "Now, may I have an audience with your chief?"
"I am he," announced a massive centaur as he walked out of the crowd. The centaur was excessively huge, towering at over 10ft tall. His voice was deep and powerful, akin to the sound of thunder.
Indeed, this much should have been expected of the chief of a warring clan. The chief judged Kashi and Drixlia through narrowed eyes, then continued, "Who are you?"
"My name's Kashi, Guild Leader of the Hopeful Maggots," Kashi replied with a stiff smile. Ah, although he'd indeed had some cool moments with the guild name, it still sounded off whenever he had to introduce the guild.
Contrary to Kashi's expectations, however, the chief only nodded and held out his arm, "Agamios Longma, chief of the Longma clan. What brings you to our lands, Kashi?"
Kashi smiled, instantly impressed by the chief's attitude. It took a special kind of mettle to look beyond the stupid-sounding name. "I've been tasked with clearing out the source of the Blight. In return, the priests of each tribe will help my horse, Drixlia, to improve its bloodline through a ritual."
Agamios looked at Drixlia and nodded. "Indeed, I sense a powerful bloodline within your mount. We, the Longma tribe, are not without grace. We shall send our priest when the time comes. You may leave us now. We must prepare for the enemy's retaliation."
Kashi shook his head. "That is not good enough. What am I to do if you end up dying from the assault? I assure you, the enemy's retaliation will be ten times worse just to prove a point."
Agamios' gaze hardened. He knew his to be true. The centaur village that was wiped out, Aethon, had suffered that fate one day after wiping out the blights in a battle. His scouts had reported that blight army that day stretched as far as the eyes could see.
Agamios knew that the number they had successfully defeated today did not amount to a third of the scout's reported figures.
However, despite the reality, Agamios was unwilling to work with the daeben. "Maybe so," Agamios admitted. "But I would rather perish alongside my brethren than be used by those who despise, fear, and hate us. I do not want the last thing my tribesmen sees to be relief on the face of their allies. I will not allow it."
"I understand how you feel, Chief Agamios, but this is not the time to uphold grudges," Darian remarked as he trotted up to Kashi's side. He regarded the chief with apologetic eyes. "I know we have wronged your tribe on several occasions. However, this is a fight for our survival. Let us work together to overcome this foe so we can work toward healing old wounds."
Agamios looked at Darian. "You must be Darian. My scouts reported you've run alongside them in the past."
"It was my honor," Darian replied with his right arm across his chest. "Akol and Vasates saved my life on numerous occasions."
"And you theirs," Agamios replied with a grunt. "However, you are one centaur. You cannot speak for the rest."
Darian opened his mouth to speak but closed it soon after. He knew Agamios' words were valid. Most centaurs saw the Longma tribe as something foreign and thus feared and despised them.
"Aren't you overthinking it?" Kashi questioned, interrupting the centaurs' discourse. "Why do you assume you are going to die? I already said I'm going to end the Blight. All you have to do is survive for two to three days alongside each other." Kashi looked to the side as Casetes, Anatolia and Balasius joined the group. "Surely you can manage that much?"
Agamios frowned. "You sound confident. What guarantee do we have that you'll defeat the Blight?"
"My Word," Kashi stated with an authority that did not brook any judgment. "The word of the Guild Leader of the Hopeful Maggots. Since I have given my word, it shall be so."
Agamios' heart shook as he stared at the daeben's majestic presence. He had never met someone smaller than him who could invoke the level of respect that was blooming in his heart. Some part of the chief's heart had begun to awaken, reflected in the quickening of his heartbeat.
Suddenly, Agamios was very intrigued. He wanted to see just how far this daeben would go. He wanted to see what he would accomplish! "Let's say I agree to your proposal to work together. What is your plan?"
Casetes, Anatolia, Balasius, and Darian paid close attention to Kashi's following words. Until now, no one had asked for the specifics of Kashi's plan. They, too, wanted to know his intentions.
Kashi looked at the expectant generals and chuckled. "The plan is simple. The centaurs will create a fortress out of the Lymar tribe to protect themselves from the Blight's retaliation. When the perpetrator of this Blight learns of your new formation, they'll be forced to send the bulk of their forces to Lymar if they want to have any shot at eradicating you. Using that opening, a small strike force comprising my team and Darian will infiltrate the headquarters, deal with the source, and save the last priest."
Agamios's eyelids twitched. "That's it? That's the extent of your plan? Four people charge into the enemy headquarters and save the day?"
Kashi chuckled. "Don't sound so surprised. Taking out high-value targets is what I do best. Others in my guild usually handle these war-like battles."
"I watched him defeat a Marilith," Darian said to assuage the generals' doubts.
This revelation shook the generals' hearts! Who did not know the Marilith? Every tribe greatly feared that monster. The few Mariliths in Kirkcour Woods lived at the top of the food chain. Anyone stupid enough to cross one of those monsters suffered a terrible end. Yet, this daeben had killed one?
"That's impossible!" Casetes was the first to voice his doubts. "Mariliths aren't something that can be killed so easily!"
"Have you ever injured the Marilith? Seen it bleed?" Kashi questioned.
"Of course, I have seen a Marlith bleed!" Casetes muttered. "But that doesn't mean—"
"If it can bleed, it can be killed," Kashi interrupted with a chuckle. "I just made it bleed more than you did."
Casetes opened his mouth to object, but Anatolia cut him off, "Assuming what you say is true. You expect us to put all our lives at risk on the off chance you succeed? What do we do if you fail?"
"Die," Kashi replied with a stern glare. His harsh reply caused Anatolia and Casetes to turn white. Both centaurs looked like they were about to explode in rage, but Kashi did not give them the satisfaction. "I do not know what impression you're under. I have put my life on the line continuously to save your tribes. Ask yourselves what would become of you if I did not come along when I did? Now, all I ask is that you put your lives on the line, the same as I am. I do not think that to be an unreasonable request."
Anatolia bit her lip then nodded. "You have a point."
Balasius folded his arms and nodded. "Plan or no plan, the best course of action for the centaur race as a whole is to band together. Otherwise, the enemy can pick us off one by one." He turned to look at Agamios. "Our tribes may have their differences, but at the end of the day, we're all centaurs. We must stand together now so our children may run freely in the future."
Agamios let out a sigh and nodded. "We will do as you have suggested for this fight." He said, then looked at Kashi. "However, I hope you take 100 hundred of my men with you."
Kashi shook his head. "The purpose of a strikeforce is to remain incognito until we reach the target. One hundred centaurs will stand out too much."
"If, as you've claimed, the mastermind sends out all his forces to attack the Lymar tribe, then he'll only have bareboned defenses remaining," Agamios brilliantly analyzed. "We can serve as a distraction to draw out the remaining forces."
Kashi eye's sparked with interest as a plan began to formulate in his mind. "True. If we smear blood and dirt on your bodies, you can pass off as a force driven by grief and hatred. This mastermind has never met me, so he should have no reason to suspect it's a trap. But, isn't a hundred warriors small? Will they be alright?"
"The Longma tribe is without equal on the battlefield," Agamios proudly stated. "We can quite easily handle this much."
Kashi nodded his assent. "In that case, please choose those who will carry out the strike mission and have the rest travel to Lymar with the rest of the centaur army." The daeben looked at Darian and grinned. "From here on out, it's the real deal. I hope you're prepared."
Darian's fingers gripped his spear with conviction. "I was born ready."