CHAPTER 80 Desperate Times Call for a Desperate Dark Lord

Keith

There were three lines of defense between Gerda's bridge and the castle, and no added difficulty from an early attack. They were ready if someone attacked today, tomorrow, or any day between now and when Keith felt he could disband the units stationed there.

As such, Henrietta and Keith left for the lizardkin village with Sithli, who'd run into the room seconds later in a full panic as news spread around the castle.

It only took them a few minutes to reach Kith Bog thanks to Gimtak's [Portal] skill.

It wasn't something Keith used very often, as the portal was Gimtak shaped and it came up to just above his knees. But desperate times called for a desperate Dark Lord crawling in front of Henrietta. Through the portal. To Kith Bog.

Keith arrived first, appearing beside the bog-beast stables. The golem that usually lived half sunken in the mud and grass there was the one who had set off alarms back at the palace.

It was not where he had left it.

The floating wooden plank streets were too damp to burn properly, but a few houses were ablaze, their thatch roofs alight and smoke billowing. Keith first ensured there were no enemies nearby.

Henrietta appeared next and stood beside him, her gaze sweeping over the village.

Sithli bolted for his home on the other side of the village.

As planned, Gimtak teleported back to the castle. They were expecting a pincer attack from Drendil's army, and Gimtak could keep them updated.

There were a few lizardkin using perks to spray water, and others carrying buckets in a line. Many had sunk into the bog with the golem to protect them and were watching with bright eyes from afar. The golem stood with them, a giant protector for those who needed it.

"My [Sword Aura] says there aren't any enemies nearby," Henrietta told him, grinding her teeth. "We can focus on putting out the fires."

Her [Quick Step] activated, and she was off. As he prepared water-based spells, Henrietta took her sword and cut a wave that arched over a house, putting out most of the flames.

"By the Great Wyrm Who Gifts Water to the World, [Rainfall]." Keith raised both arms and channeled mana into his spell.

[You have attempted to use the High Draconic Spell: Rainfall.]

[You have a 72% chance of success with a +2.5% modifier from Skill: Magic (Level 5).]

[You have succeeded. Rainfall duration = 85 minutes]

A dark haze of clouds gathered around his hands and swirled into the air. The sky rumbled with thunder, and a drizzle of rain turned into a sprinkling which turned into sheets. Cheers were muffled by the heavy deluge, but Keith sighed in relief when the fires faded out. They could have been magical flames, which would have been that much worse.

They were lucky that it was spring and the bog was full, heavy with melted winter snow. He still took careful consideration and checked the bottom of the bog over for burgeoning flames. All it took was an ember in the mulch to burn toxic fumes and deep flames.

"By the Great Wyrm Who Knows Each Primal Force, [Sense Elements]."

[You have attempted to use the Low Draconic Spell: Sense Elements. You have succeeded.]

He sighed when he found nothing but earth and wood.

"Thank you, my king. I shall report." A heavily pregnant lizardkin woman walked up to him. She bowed. "Two daysss ago, our home moved to the eastern ssside of the Great Road."

She pointed behind Keith, where he saw the telltale cobblestone in the distance. His connection to the forest was tied to his Dark Magician King title. Using the [Mind Map] perk, Keith could sense the movement of the Dark Enchanted Forest. It wasn't strong, as he'd rarely cared to cultivate or use the ability.

From what he could sense, the village had moved from just east of Lake Loria, with a path connecting close to Gerda's bridge—where he knew it had been for most of the year—to halfway between the Servalt border and the Nilheim castle.

"Lesss than an hour ago, tensss of flaming arrowsss shot at us from the road," she continued. "We initiated evacuation immediately. No one was killed, though we've lost a quarter of the village'sss infrastructure."

"I see." Keith nodded; he took off his glasses and wiped water from the lens. "Have a full report on my desk tomorrow at the latest."

He resettled his glasses and pulled a bag of five thousand gold pieces from his storage unit. "And use this to replace everything you can. Kith Bog will be exempt from one year's tax, and I should have a hundred able bodies at Kith Bog by week's end."

"Milith!" Sithli ran up to them and wrapped his arms around the pregnant woman. After carefully examining her to see if she was alright, the lizardkin turned to Keith. "Permission to ssstay and help clean up, Your Viciousnesss?"

"Permission granted."

Henrietta rejoined him then. She greeted Milith as well, reassured that the lizardkin was safe.

If Keith recalled correctly, Henrietta had visited Kith Bog that first week after moving into the castle. She had already made friends.

Ria's clothes were soaked, and her fluffy hair lay flat. Her bangs caught water droplets and dripped rain down her cheeks.

"We have to go after the ones who've done this!" his princess said with a passion and anger he'd never seen before.

"We will. Or we'll see them when they reach the castle," he told her.

She shook her head. "I want to find them before they reach the castle."

Keith nodded. Gimtak hadn't sent word, so he assumed the band of assassins were still in the forest. "Run or fly?"

"Fly."

Keith regretted leaving behind his construct wings in Gren's Keep. They were being transported to him by the army and would arrive in their own time. In the meantime, he had to fly the old-fashioned way.

He popped a mana potion to recover from the [Rainfall] spell … just in case.

He could learn from his mistakes.

Keith and Henrietta made their way to the Great Road nearby. It was out of range of Keith's [Rainfall] spell and thus clear of the downpour. He picked up Henrietta and activated his draconic [Flight] spell with no difficulty.

They found the first shoe within minutes. It was sitting beside the road, close to a holly bush. Keith sensed that the holly bush was extremely pleased with itself. The Dark Enchanted Forest didn't like fire. It was sensitive to the smog, and any controlled burning was managed very delicately by the elves. Keith couldn't imagine it took kindly to invaders lighting its home on fire without permission.

"My quest updated," Ria let him know. "There are four less assassins to defeat."

Keith continued to concentrate on flying. "Too bad; that's four less opportunities to gain experience."

They were almost to the castle when Henrietta let him know that she'd detected enemies. By that point, there were only seventy-five of the original hundred and eight targets.

The more fool they were for traveling in the forest beside the Great Road instead of on its much safer cobblestone path. It was normal, of course, for Rogue types to hide in the bushes … but not when the bushes could eat you.

Keith noted the assassins had returned en masse to the Great Road. It'd only taken losing thirty or so people.

Henrietta called out, her voice enhanced by some skill or perk to resound around the forest, "Surrender peacefully, or on my name, Princess Henrietta Doryn of Drendil, I shall end thee."

And then things got interesting.