Elsewhere

The Legion’s healers were able to get Aurelia’s arm sorted out in short order, not even slowing down the pace of the march. It was not long after that when Baslin excitedly addressed the pair.

“Duke, Duke, Duke! Did you bring back the troll corpses for me? There are so many things that could be made from them!” He bounced excitedly, his eyes darting between the pair.

“Sorry, they got all burnt up and we left them there.” Duke conceded.

“Where are they? I can still use them, he asked, his eyes sparking still.

Duke didn’t hesitate and simply TELEPORTED Baslin to the dead trolls. Aurelia stared at him and then realized what must have happened. “You TELEPORTED him to the troll corpses, didn’t you?”

Duke smiled smugly. “Yep. Sure did. I’ll fetch him back in a bit.”

Aurelia burst out in laughter at Duke’s antics. “You really just TELEPORTED an Archmage into the middle of a pile of troll corpses. And you haven’t even had a second thought about it at all?”

“Why not? Baslin gets the monster corpses he wants, and we get a bit more time together without interruptions.” Duke nearly slapped himself for phrasing it that way, not because of any disrespect towards Baslin but rather because he just invited the universe to throw all sorts of interruptions his way.

Aurelia noticed the look on his face and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Did you not just hear what I said? Now we are going to be interrupted for the rest of the day. It’s just-“

“Your Grace, General? The scouts have reported movement in the trees. We haven’t managed to actually see what’s moving around, but whatever it is, there’s a lot of them. At least 30, maybe more.”

Duke sighed. He tried to suppress it, but utterly failed. “And why haven’t the scouts pursued to get better information?”

“Your Grace, it would take most of the scouts to pursue these elusive presences and it would open the Legion up to potential ambush.” The leader of the scouts responded. Duke was not sure he remembered the man’s name or even his title in the Legion. The more he thought about it, he was sure that he had never been told either. For that reason, he came up with a title of his own.

“Solid logic, Scoutmaster. Aurelia, break off a Century to investigate. I’ll take overwatch for them. If more are needed, I’ll whisper for reinforcements. Otherwise, keep the Legion marching. We still have a few hours before we need to make camp.” Duke issued commands, confident that they would be obeyed.

Aurelia chuckled and replied. “Master of the Hunt, Terry. No, excuse me…Scoutmaster Terry, redeploy your scouts, avoiding the current disturbance. Be vigilant as this distraction could very well be a setup for traps and ambushes.”

“Yes, General.” He saluted and departed to redeploy the scouts.

When he got far enough away Aurelia turned to Duke. “So, you have decided to re-title roles within my Legion.”

“Actually, I don’t think I ever knew his title and it seemed appropriate. He is the master of the scouts, right?” Duke replied, hiding his smile.

“He is, but since that title seems to bring you some particular humor, I am concerned that you just made a joke out of the man. No, correct that. I am not concerned. I am certain and we will pick this conversation up with another one tonight. Take care of my Century or I will be very cross at you this evening. And you had better know what I mean by that.”

Duke smiled. “Yeah. I got it. Message received in full. Now send that Century out so I can keep an eye on them. And you might want to tag the Centurian with your ALL FOR ONE Ability while you are at it.”

“Very cross.” She responded as she called over the lead Century’s Centurian.

Duke sighed inwardly. Sometimes, I just gotta learn to keep my damned mouth shut. He took to the air as the Centurian got his orders from Aurelia. He rose upwards and overhead as the Century broke off and headed for the area the scouts had indicated. To Duke, it just looked like normal woods – nothing special. Still, he followed them, preparing to engage if needed, keeping his Jewel of Whispers ready to relay anything he spotted.

The scouts had indicated that the disturbances were some distance away from the road, so the Century picked it way through the forest, doing its best to stay as a cohesive whole. The FORMATION Ability was less able to handle travelling through the forest. Perhaps if the Legion as a whole leveled it up to the next rank it would, but few had it above the Novice rank at this point. There was a quiet running bet amongst the Legionnaires that they would collectively hit the Initiate rank on the way back home. The pool had become quite organized and was now down to the hour of the particular day. The pot itself, was up to nearly 50,000 gold and the Centurian who had taken it upon herself to oversee the pool was debating whether to make it even more granular as there were likely going to be hundreds of winners splitting the pot if she kept it down to only the hour.

Duke kept above the Century, mostly alert. He was confident that the soldiers could handle most any threat that came along which unconsciously gave his mind permission to wander. It did not take much for him to start thinking about the coming battle. He wanted to scout forward and see the state of the city or at least what was waiting for the Legion, but he also didn’t want to tip off Chopie that he was still in the fight. Baslin had told him that there was a good chance that Chopie would know where his phylactery was and since it was in Duke’s INVENTORY, he didn’t want to get close to the city until it was time.

His thoughts were interrupted by an otherworldly shout of a single, angry word “Destroyer!”

Duke refocused his attention downwards to where the shout had come from. He saw the Legion come to a halt as a lone figure stared up at Duke with such palpable enmity the very air seemed to still in fear.

The creature glaring up at him stood tall, its regal bearing shining despite the heat of its anger projected at Duke. Its skin was reminiscent of the bark of ancient trees, adorned with vibrant, mossy patterns that seem to shift and change as Duke watched. Eyes like pools of molten emerald burned with an intense, fierce glow, reflecting the fury that poured out from within. It roared at Duke, “I can taste your soul. You are the one who destroyed the forest! You destroyed the creatures that inhabited its beauty! You destroyed the fey folk that lived here and protected it! You, Harbinger of Death, shall see your power removed and your life snuffed out by my retribution!

Before Duke could react, a wave of power washed out from the being, flashing over him and the Century alike. A notification flashed into his vision unbidden.

*** You have been affected by RETRIBUTIVE SUPPRESSION. All Abilities, Skills, Spells, and similar qualities have been reduced in power by three full ranks. ***

Duke felt the weakness flow through him as he crashed down to the forest floor, his FLIGHT Ability completely suppressed. What in the actual fuck was that! He bounced off a few tree limbs on his way down, hitting the ground a few meters in front of the Legion. With the brief glimpse he got of the situation as he desperately tried to control his descent it seemed that the entire Century was shaken by the creature’s magic. Even still, they drew their weapons and readied for the coming fight.

Duke could hear the creature casually stepping in his direction. It was not the normal sound of footsteps, but more like the sound of a breeze through the trees. He could also tell the creature was taking its time in its approach which gave him time to scramble to his feet. He turned his attention to the approaching creature, noting that it stood just over three meters tall. Why is everything so damned big in this forest? That’s what she said. Seriously? THAT is what is going through my head at a time like this?

“Ok, green eyes. That was a nice trick, but you got things a bit backwards here. I regrew the entire forest after the undead army came through and destroyed everything in its path. You can verify that one with Gaiathia as she is the one who tasked me with doing it. No back off before I have to do something drastic!”

“Take your punishment like a good little human and I will spare the lives of these other humans.” It gestured to the Century that was moving into an arc formation to attack and contain the forest creature.

Duke growled back at the creature. “You have no idea who you are fucking with. You think you have cut me off from my power and think you can threaten me and mine. And then get away with it? You are about to learn the harsh lesson that you don’t fuck with the Duke!”

He had not planned it, but his shout had been the impetus for the Century to act. They flowed around him, attacking the sylvan creature with terrible enthusiasm. It did not seem impressed as sword blows were no more effective against its bark-like skin as they would be against a mountain. The sword strikes had some strength behind them but no technique at all. Duke understood immediately, realizing that the Legionnaires likely didn’t have combat skills above the Initiate rank. He joined the fight himself.

Duke launched himself at the creature summoning his Tonfa from his INVENTORY only to find that he couldn’t access them at all. His Ability was only at the Initiate rank and was completely suppressed. His fist struck the creature at an odd angle, having expected to strike with the weapon. He felt his bones strain but luckily they did not break. The creature did not seem impressed with his attack either.

“It seems that ‘The Duke’ is completely ineffectual. Shame. I was hoping to get the satisfaction of you at least putting up a fight.” It swept its arms around itself with a complete spin of its body, sending Legionnaires flying through the air along with Duke.

Duke picked up a sword dropped by a Legionnaire, cursed, and then dropped it. The fucking thing burnt me! Goddamned sword god curse! He mentally scrambled for options while Legionnaires continued to ineffectually throw themselves at the creature. OK, I have eight Abilities that aren’t completely suppressed. RESTORE isn’t going to help here. DUNGEON SENSE and MENTAL FORTITUDE are probably useless too. ARMOR SKIN is helping a bit but TELEPORTATION, REGENERATION, LIGHTNING, and OVERCHANNEL still leave me with options beyond picking up a rock and trying to bash my way through its skull. I still have all my Mana so I can still pour it into LIGHTNING. Might as well give it a try.

Duke shouted a single order before engaging the creature again. “Legionnaires! Return to the Legion. The suppression field is too much for you. I will handle this one by myself.” He hated to send them back as the experience from beating this thing could be huge. But the consideration that they were completely in the way and likely would die pointlessly in the fight is what forced him into the decision.

Like the professionals they were, the Legionnaires broke off their engagement over the next few seconds, reforming their ranks and limping their way back through the forest. Meanwhile, Duke had taken to punching the creature with LIGHTNING enshrouded fists. He still had his full Strength and the added kick of his go-to attack Ability seemed to finally have some effect on the creature.

“How can this be? I suppressed you. You can’t have any Abilities left to use.” The creature changed to actively trying to attack Duke. Its entire body became covered with long, sharp thorns and it attempted to slam him to the ground.

Duke fought back with his LIGHTNING-enhanced fists but despite his phenomenal strength, he seemed to be holding the creature off at best. He was getting cut up by the creature’s thorns and barbs as well. His REGENERATION was still working, but at a significantly diminished capacity. In short, he was losing the fight. Slowly, but steadily the creature was wearing him down and he was not recovering fast enough to keep up. He decided to change his approach.

As he was slammed to the forest floor once again, Duke pulled his LIGHTNING from his fists and channeled his Mana into his ARMOR SKIN. Immediately, he felt his skin harden and become more protective. His skin was nowhere near as tough as he had made it when clearing the final room of the dungeon as he just couldn’t channel that much Mana with the two Abilities reduced to Novice ranks. But still, he smiled as he realized that it might be enough. The thorns were barely scratching him at all now and his REGENERATION was starting to slowly gain ground over the slight injuries.

The only problem was that he could barely hurt the creature, if at all. Its bark-like skin absorbed his punches and kicks too well. They were now in a stalemate with neither able to really hurt the other, but they still tried, slamming blows into each other as they knocked each other around the forest. Duke grunted in frustration as yet another blow had little effect.

Duke decided to try something a bit different as they continued to struggle, something he had rarely done before – talk his opponent out of the fight. “You know, I’m not your enemy. I am not the great evil you think I am – I am the one who rebuilt the forest.” He received no response from the creature as it continued to attack him. “OK, not getting through that way, then how about this tack? I can keep this up for days? How long will your suppression last? An hour? Six? What do you think is going to happen then?” Duke focused his full Psyche on the creature as he spoke, doing his best to push the concept across with the force of his personality.

For the first time in the roughly hour the two had been fighting, the creature paused. Duke graciously took a step backwards, still ready to react to a blow but not re-initiating combat. They both looked around themselves to see the devastated forest around them. The creature looked around at the destruction with its glowing eyes dimming.

“Yes, this destruction. All of it is your fault.” Duke declared. “You chose this fight. You chose this location. You refused to see what even the goddess of nature saw – I am a force for restoration even more than I am a force for destruction. You now have a choice to make. Continue this pointless fight that you will eventually lose, give up the fight and walk away, or drop your suppression and watch as I RESTORE this forest before your very eyes. The choice is yours.”

The creature looked at him incredulously. Duke’s XENOGLOSSIA was unaffected by the suppression, and he could read the creature’s emotions in its body language. It was confused and had no idea what to do now. Duke continued, “So you are probably just now realizing that you were completely wrong about the situation and even the outcome of this fight. I, personally, have no idea who or really what you are but I’m willing to let this whole attack go since you really didn’t hurt me or anyone I care about seriously. What do you say? Let’s have a chat and figure things out.”

Duke saw the creature resign itself a moment before his Abilities were restored. He did not hesitate and activated a 10,000 Mana RESTORE. The shattered forest around them rapidly rebuilt itself as the creature gaped in amazement. “There, isn’t that better? I am called Duke. You happen to have a name?”

The creature looked at Duke, paused for several seconds, and then replied. “I am known as Nornsyl. I am the Spirit of this Forest. And it would appear that the Goddess confirms your words. I owe you and yours an apology. I sought to protect the forest from destruction but even though I smell your magic in the recent destruction, I smell it even more in the regrowth and renewal of it all. I will make amends in some way. The Goddess instructs me to do so.”

“OK, first off, let’s not get the goddess too involved here. Our business is our business. Let’s head back to the others as they are likely concerned about the outcome of our little tussle. Once there, we can figure things out.” Duke didn’t look back as he headed for the Legion. His DUNGEON SENSE confirmed that Nornsyl was following him if a bit tentatively.