A Warlock's Ascent

Angela didn't know what to think about the stranger, he came out of nowhere and requested to join their party. He was covered in blood and didn't have any weapons or supplies, and yet he somehow was able to venture to the middle of Cloudhold, it sure did raise many red flags in her mind. She may have allowed him to stay there, but she had her guard up, this man was not what he say he is.

There he was, in the corner of the camp, looking around the camp, maybe he was scoping them out, trying to find out more about her party members, or maybe she was wrong. She started getting anxious just thinking about it, maybe that man and his crew were sent here, to kill her or hunt her down, after all, she did just leave her post...

She had been City Lord of Cloudhold for a very long time, she had worked very hard to make that place liveable, she literally spend a lot of her sweat and blood to make that place liveable. But all of that changed when beast tide hit.

All of the small settlements around her domain were destroyed, her city itself got to its knees, and everything that she had worked for was destroyed in a single night. And then came the Accumulation, bringing with it hordes of monsters that regularly attacked the city, killing the residents or destroying their supplies.

She was tired of all of that, she couldn't take it anymore, her duty was to protect Cloudhold, but with all these attacks, anyone could see it, the city will be reduced to nothing in a few days, and she may be able to save some people, but what would that do? She won't be City Lord anymore, as there will be no city to rule.

So she made a decision, she would leave everything behind.

She had already heard the Vecrus was supposed to be in shambles as well. And currently, that city is ruled by some level-50 Earthian, she could take over that city. It would a better alternative than to rule this dump. She had power and experience, and taking over Vecrus would be easy for her. But she would need help.

It is then she turned towards Earthians under her, she hated all of them to their core, they have so much potential, but most of them are cowards, not trying to improve themselves, just trying to live quietly as possible. They may be useless, but they did have some worth. It is then she decided to take a step that would seal her faith forever.

She used a very complex and old runic circuit and casted it on all the Earthians under her. Now, they were bound to her, they would hear her every command, otherwise, they will have to go through an excruciating amount, that could kill them. The only way to get rid of the circuit was to ascend to a level similar to or greater than the caster.

But alas they would never be able to use anyway to escape her. She formulated a plan, using Earthian she would grant access to Vecrus, and ascend to city lord position after that. These Earthians would be her alibi as well as loyal dogs that she send to scout the enemy lines. As far as Cloudhold was concerned, she had already abandoned it. And with her gone, it will fall in a few days…

Ravenshade wouldn't like that she left her post like that, especially because in absence of the domain of Cloudhold, they will be surrounded by Accumulating lands on all sides, making it a very dangerous place to live.

Her train of thought was broken when she heard a whisper from her right. "Do you think he is dangerous?" Gibbon, one of her, loyal retainers, the only Midgardian here beside her.

"Don't know." After taking a long breath she continued. "But we should be wary of his intentions. He may be a spy from Ravenshade."

"Couldn't agree more, milady… But I can see through his strength. He is not on a level that could harm us. Do you think it is a work of an artifact?"

"Don't know. But finding someone wandering in the forest, especially at this time does raise a lot of questions… Maybe he is just a scout, send here to evaluate the strength of our party."

"That is possible. I will ask Jurgen to keep an eye on him. And I was thinking, should we use Hillary's skill to scout the surrounding area."

"Do it. It might help."

After getting commands from her, Gibbon started working. He made Jurgen, an Earthian keep an eye on the stranger. Then he took discreetly took Hilliary to use her skill, Owl Familiar, to scout the area…

After an extensive search, Gibbon informed her that there was no one nearby. That man was telling the truth, he was alone. But still, for some reason, Angela could shake off the feeling that the stranger was hiding something, she didn't know what, but she trusted her gut.

The stranger hadn't done anything for the past hour, he was just sitting by the corner, looking around, but she had started losing her patience, she wanted to extract all the information out of him, either by hook or by crook. The aspect of Carlin knowing what she had done was making her very uneasy.

But it was then, something happened, as a high-ranking mage she was very sensitive to mana, and as she had been looking at the stranger for the past hour, she knew how much mana that man had. And it happened suddenly, but that man's mana increased. It was still not on the level that she could even put a scratch on her.

But the sudden increase made her realize, what that man was. The only people that could raise their mana level so suddenly are Earthian, no Midgardians have that kind of skill or power. Now she knew, what was that man's secret, he was an Earthian, there was no denying the fact.

Many questions started plaguing her mind, what was he doing here, where did he come from, is he a stray or a runaway? But that mattered only a little, her mind was at ease now, Carlin wouldn't send Earthian after her, she despises all of them like her. For such an important, she would never send an Earthian.

But still, the question remained, what that man was doing here?

***

When a blond tall man, came and sat beside him, Dave had to minimize his status menu. The man was very intimidating, standing at a height of 6 and a half feet, he was very intimidating. His cruel expression made him look like he had never smiled before.

"Hello, my name is Jurgen Müller" The man introduced himself.

"Davy…"

"Davy, nice to meet you. Would you like something to eat or drink?" He was still wary of these people so he decided to refuse anything they give him. "No thanks," he replied with the best of tone.

Jurgen smiled, then he put his hand on his shoulder "So what are you doing here, in the middle of the jungle davy?"

"Oh. I was on my way to Vecrus. As the bridge connecting Cloudhold and Vecrus is destroyed, I was going to use the back bridge."

"Ah!!, Back bridge… You are well informed."

"Thank you… so what are you guys doing here? Are you an adventurer party?"

"Yeah, we have been hunting Mountain bears and Kongs in the area, while rescuing people all over the domain."

"Oh good."

"Yeah… So were you born in Vecrus?"

"Yeah, born and raised."

"So what are you doing here?" Jurgen's insistence on knowing why he was here was sounding some alarms in his mind. Luckily he had been prepared for such a thing.

"Well, I left the city after the beast tide. I didn't want to stay under some Earthian you know, so I went to the only place that could accept me. Ravenshade" He had planned his background for this particular reason. So that no one would be suspicious of him when he would tell someone about his backstory.

"You have a problem with Earthians?"

"They are people from only who knows where. How the hell am I able to trust them?" This was the thinking of most of the people of Midgard, according to Grump, that is he replied like that. People of this world hold respect and are very loyal to their domain, so they don't usually tolerate outsiders, that is why most Midgardian hates Earthians, people of foreign cities that they know nothing about.

Jurgen didn't take his words kindly, it was pretty evident in his tone changed after that. "Then why are you going back?"

"Well, I don't know if you have heard it or not, but Ravenshade is in deep shit right now. Centaurs have come back from extinction, there is no food or water there. The conditions of Vecrus are very better then than Ravenshade. So I decided to go back."

"But aren't you worried that Earthian rule?"

"She couldn't be as bad as Carlin.'

"That is true. She would be very good when compared to Carlin, whom some people compare with Hitler."

"I don't know about that. She is not as bad as him but is she bad"

"Like Hitler?" Jurgen said in a softened tone.

"Yes, like Hitler." Without moving his head, Jurgen's eyes moved towards the campfire. He followed his eyes and saw the woman with red hair, looking at them.

"Boom pendant." Jurgen quickly said in English, then he suddenly got up, and as he did, all the camp fell silent at once. Everyone raised their weapons and pointed them at him…

For a second he couldn't understand what was happening, it was then he realized, how he fucked up. When Jurgen mentioned Hitler casually in the conversation, he went along with it, which is why he fucked up.

Earthians cannot tell anything about their world to anyone in Midgard, if they try to do so, then all the Midgardian could hear is random gibberish that does not make sense to them. But he not only heard correctly what Jurgen said but also repeated the word in the upcoming sentence. He truly fucked up.

But still, he couldn't make sense of what that man said in his last sentence.

***

Dave was on his knees, his face was badly bruised, some of his teeth were broken, he wasn't sure, but his rib cage was broken as well. Everyone in the camp had surrounded him and was glaring at him. In front of him were Jurgen and the red-haired lady that allowed him inside the camp.

"So you are an Earthian." The red-haired lady asked.

"Yes." He replied.

"What is your real name?"

"My real name is Davvy, I didn't lie about that," he said. Then the woman turned towards a small scrawny man named Gibbon. "Truth."

"Who do you work for?"

"A smuggler. Carlin kidnapped me and gave me the choice to work for her. But I didn't want to work for her. So I ran away when the beast tide hit." The woman turned around, Gibbon gave him his thumbs up, still telling the truth.

"Is that so?" Before she could continue…

AAAAAAAOOOOOOOOWWWWWW

Hearing the howling of a lone wolf, everyone got tense. All of them got up and took out their weapons.

"Werewolf." One of the men proclaimed.

"Everyone to their arms," Angela announced

"What should we do with him?" Gibbon asked

"Keep an eye on him. For now.".

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