A Rattling Monster

Still present? We didn't manage to make him lose us for the last three days?

(Nope, still there. Even after he rests and make a small break, he is still on our trail. He will definitely find that we are in Ronta, I just hope his mean of detection is not enough to precisely locate us inside such a big city.)

That was what we expected, but you know very well that things are not that easy in real life.

(Except the emperor of the djinns. That was really easy to do it.)

You forget the part where a lot of guards were chasing me and you ask me to nearly commit suicide by entering the ritual.

(It worked, so I am saying it was easy. It's just you do not trust me enough.)

I trust you just the right amount, you don't have to worry about that. Let's focus back toward the real problem. I am now seeing the wall of Ronta, just like when I left it. The guards are as usual greedy and make the merchants pay an additional tax. But the city seems a lot more lively compared to when I was leaving. Maybe the fact that nearly a month has passed and the terror that I provoked has disappeared play a part. But now I am in quite a pickle. How am I supposed to discreetly get inside? Because I have no time to waste, an assassin is ready to kill me if I am too slow.

The good old technique that I used is useless, I won't be able to hide inside a caravan and don't have the time to wait for one. Climb the ramparts and hope no one sees me? If it was the night, I could do it. Oslo, will he arrive before or after dusk?

(A little bit after I would say. If he follows the same pattern he has since the beginning of the pursuit, he will do one more pause before reaching Ronta. If he doesn't do it, he will arrive before dusk.)

Ok, so the infiltration with the help of the night is canceled. And in broad day, at the sight of all the guards on the ramparts, the news of my arrival will be announced in the entire city. While before, only the mayor and some important people were aware of my existence, if I now begin to show myself to the commoners, the city will be emptied in a day. And I still need those people to increase the power of my skeletons and my spells. A potential of fifty thousand victims. That's too much to let it go.

(And if you enter inside by the sewers? It was your empire if I remember.)

Yes, but the grid is too small for me to enter… Forget it, I have an acid spell now. You are right, I was thinking with my past mind. I am now powerful enough to not care about small details like a sewer grid. And if I remember correctly, the exit of the sewer is right here.

Yes, my memory is still good. I melt the iron blocking my way and enter my former house. How many things and thoughts did I plan inside those walls? The cat trap, the orphanage, the assault on the adventurer guild. And here I am, back to the most secure place I ever was. At least, safer than the elf forest or the djinn desert. I remember my fear of the Seven Gods of Destruction. I wonder where they are now. Probably left like every other adventurer.

And I was thinking that the rat population was low. I just roam around the all city inside the sewers and find not a single rodent alive. I am fairly certain it is my fault. First, a ratman was spotted here. Then a ratman provoke chaos and destruction in the desert, killing an entire race. The poor rats were the victims of the hate toward the ratmen. But that means there is at least a patrol inside the sewers. Without someone killing the rat directly, there is no way the rodents will die. Even my poisons had a hard time killing them. So only a direct attack will do the job.

Some humans have the bravery to enter those dark sewers to hunt me? Well, allow me to retort. Where are they Oslo?

(Second corridor on your left then third on your right. Their backs will be facing you.)

Great. I follow his instruction and as he said, they have no idea that the threat they are looking for is just behind them. I see 5 humans, four guards and one magician I would say. He is not wearing the clothes of a priest and not the standard uniform of the local garrison. Maybe he is an adventurer. I can hear them whisper. They are talking about the fact that they are well paid for a job with no risk. You know, when you say that kind of sentence, you are really asking for the worst.

I slowly creep toward them, closing the distance between me and them. When I am just at less than five meters, I make a noise, to make them turn. And I must admit, I am shocked. They jumped in fear just because of the noise I made, they didn't even turn before doing it. And when they finally face me, well they are paralyzed. I help a bit on that part with a cursed wind, but to be that fearful, why did they accept that job? Even when I walk toward them, they dare not to move or even breath. I think one of them is even dead, heart attack. Oh, the [Cause Fear] has leveled up. Maybe killing someone with just fear is a way to improve the spell.

But that was not the point of my plan. I invoke skeleton number one, to prove that I am right. I order him to kill the four survivors. Even after seeing their companions get killed slowly by a bared hand skeleton, they are not moving by an inch. It is shocking at this point. After five minutes of intense effort from my loyal undead, he finally manages to end their lives. And the raise the dead gain a level. I was right, it is the number of victims, like everything else. But in my joy, I may or may not have pushed number one in the sewer. And he is not getting up anymore. So, I have now all my mana emptied because of those two spells and an assassin coming right after I regenerate that amount.

Did I make a mistake testing this?

(Honestly, I don't know, if we could just see what is the improvement of your skeleton, I could judge it. But right now, all I see his wasted time because, at a moment, the officers will notice that one patrol didn't make it back. The same day, they will launch a vast operation to find them. It is at that moment that the mayor will be warned and from what I saw, he is definitely not a stupid man. He will warn the king without delay and even maybe directly ask the help from the Church. And believe me when I say that, those knights that will be sent are not a joke. During the Portal War, I saw their power and those Krieg armors won't be able to even scratch them. When they arrived, I will tell you, and it will be the time to leave Ronta. Even if the assassin is not dealt with.)

Ok, so instead of just an assassin, I can end up with the most powerful force in this world looking for me. The forest was really nice now that I think about it. And without MP, I can't do a huge massacre. I can't poison anything, can't spread a plague. I just have an improved spell that cost me too much each time I cast it. Was not worth it.

So during hours, I just patiently waited. Of course, I reached the opposite side of the city. That way, when the assassin will arrive, he will still have to travel across the entire town to reach me. Even if I don't really know if that will slow him down, it is better than nothing. And right now, it is too late to poison the populace. The workers are coming home; merchants have stopped their business. Everyone just wants to have a good meal and then sleep. So the potential of contamination is really low.

I need to be in a great shape to face the ratman. I still have ten crystals, my only trump card. By now, the missing patrol should have been noticed. Maybe they will wait until the morning to really check, maybe not. But in the end, by dawn the next day, the mayor will act.

(He has arrived, he enters the same way you did, by the sewer. Looks like he is following you by your scent or your trail. He is following your footsteps too accurately. That means we have a problem.)

So no matter what I do or where I try to hide, he will find me. Only chaos will save me then. So chaos it will be.