Chapter 81: Goldbeard the Pirate (2/2)
Vainqueur raised his head in pride, happy with the result.
Except the wave did not stop at the fleet.
As it kept going towards the harbor, threatening to devastate it, Manling Victor turned to his master in panic. “Stop it, stop it, stop it!”
“[Geomancy]!” Vainqueur raised his arms, unleashing the full might of his magic to steer away the destruction. His efforts slowed down the tsunami but failed to steer it away.
“[Demonic Arcana],” Manling Victor cast spells on his master. “[Misunderstood Genius Inspiration]!”
[Elemental] spells have been strengthened!
Your intelligence has increased by two stages!
“Seagardium Leviosa!” Vainqueur shouted, the wave bowing to his whims. By extending his arms, the dragon caused the tsunami to split in half, collapsing on itself.
Bending to his magic, the very sea kept widening. A dry pathway opened in front of the Piggybank II, revealing reefs, coral, and the remains of ships on the seafloor. Both halves of the ocean laid separated by Vainqueur’s might alone.
“Ha, it worked!” the dragon gloated, while the weresharks whistled at his seascaping. He had saved his new colony from his own spell!
“I think Your Majesty just pulled off a Moses,” Manling Victor replied, astonished by his master’s power.
Vainqueur had no idea what a Moses was, but it sounded awesome.
Congratulations! For surviving Wotan’s storm, bringing the wrath of Motha Nature on these puny pirates, improving your geomancy, and devastating an entire city-state’s military with a single spell, you earned a level in [Geomancer]!
+20 SP, +1 SKI, +1 AGI, +1 INT, +1 CHA, +1 LCK.
“Minion, I gained a level!” Vainqueur rejoiced. “You will fetch me a new [Heroic Crest] soon!”
“Your Majesty, what about the city?”
“Tell them that this Tsunami was the first plague of Vainqueur, sent to punish their sins against dragon civilization,” the wyrm declared. “The second will be the plague of fire… and I shall not need to send a third!”
In the end, after the sea had returned to normal, the crew landed on the city, whose authorities had promptly sued for peace. The crew planted Murmurin’s flag on the tallest building available, and the Empire won its first colony.
Vainqueur had opened a portal back to Murmurin with his [Golden Road], ripping space in half and allowing his minions to cross the ocean. When Jules stepped out of the portal as the first settler, the ghoul glanced around at the remains of the pirate fleet floating near the harbor, rubbed his hands, and then spoke words that would become famous.
“I can work with that.”
“You will,” Vainqueur had replied, from atop a pile of magical items which his victims had dropped into the sea. “For I henceforth rename this new conquest ‘Port Vainqueur.’ Slavery and piracy are sins in the eyes of the Elder Wyrm and shall be forbidden. One day, I shall split the sea again, and all slaves will cross the ocean floor to the promised land of Murmurin; where all minions are equal before thine eyes. Now, go, and make me money.”
And so, dragon civilization arrived in the New World, heralding the end of the golden age of slavery. Jajambe called dibs on the heads of rich slavers as payment for his services as a guide, and Vainqueur agreed so long as he led them to the Lost Hoard of Grandrake.
Seven years in a school for evil masterminds made someone numb to a lot of things.
Afterward, Victor spent an entire day recovering corpses thrown on the shores by Vainqueur's tidal wave, spraying them with blood from his [Black Grail], or helping Jules and his necromancers raise conventional undead. Vainqueur, as ever, simply toured the city in search for gold.
“Arise, my child.” Victor spilled black blood on the corpse of a pirate, his magic restoring the corpse to life… or an illusion of it. Funny how almost everyone in a pirate city was bound to Happyland.
“I’m… I’m alive…” the pirate, a rat beastkin, couldn’t believe it, as he looked up at Victor. “Are you…”
“I am not Jesus, Mithras, Death, or whatever god you were about to name,” Victor interrupted him. Why did everyone ask that? “See the scythe?”
“I was about to say Orknoob,” the man said, looking at the shipwrecks on the shore. “Is this Japan?”
The Vizier frowned. “No. No, it is not.”
“Oh.” The pirate sounded disappointed. “Can you kill me again then? Maybe it will work next time.”
Victor remained silent, before pointing a finger at a dwarf-made, rounded metallic vehicle crushing the harbor's pavement below its legs. The machine looked superficially like a cross between a tank and a spider, with a heavy cannon and loudspeakers on its back.
“CLASS AND GENDER EQUALITY SHALL BE ENFORCED!” Marbré shouted through the loudspeakers, as the machine patrolled the docks. “EMBRACE AVERAGISM OR BE ERADICATED! WE COME TO HELP!”
“Is that a car-cart?” the undead asked, before rushing at it to die again. “Sweet!”
By now, Victor had stopped caring. He just moved on with the next corpse, silently praying this one didn’t worship the Esoteric Order of the New World.
Congratulations! For being Scholomance’s valedictorian, surviving a meeting with King Wotan, helping your master control his magic, and then mass-raising an army of undead, you have earned a level in the ultra-prestigious [Weathermaker] class! You earned the [Devil Archmage I] Class Perk.
+30 HP, 10 SP, +1 STR, +1 VIT, +2 INT, +1 CHA, +2 LCK.
[Devil Archmage I]: You can learn and cast spells one tier above your current one. You can also learn and cast spells with the [Evil], [Fiend], and [Weather] traits, but only those equal or below your current tier access; if they belong to an exclusive school of magic, you count as if you met the other requirements.
So he had access to seventh tier spells? Sweet! And the stat bonus didn’t look too shabby either!
“I see that you enjoy your new class.” The goddess Camilla manifested in a puff of smoke near him, observing the harbor with interest. “I sensed a strong influx of necromancy, and I see that I underestimated it.”
Underestimate? They almost sank Jamaica! “If you could lend me a hand in raising these people, that would be great.”
“I have limits to what I can do without causing Mithras and other gods to knock on my door,” she said, and she sounded genuinely saddened by her chosen’s burden. “On the bright side, you should gain experience, although not enough for a new level.”
Victor would rather have this mess done quicker. He doubted a new level would make the difference against King Wotan.
Camilla seemed to notice his anguish and materialized a bag full of scrolls for him. “These are spells mattering to your specializations, especially [Weather],” the goddess said. “If you master them in tandem with Vainqueur’s own [Geomancer] abilities, it should give you an edge against the fairy lord.”
“About that, I have a very important question,” Victor turned dead serious. “Do the fomors have class levels?”
“I cannot say,” the goddess replied, her tone just as dreary as his. “Sablar is shrouding my sight on their activities, and his cultists have started flocking to Prydain. Which makes me worried.”
Worried enough to inform Victor directly. “Any suggestion?”
“Deliver your [Black Grail] to the high priest of the Thaoten empire, south of the Dagger Coast,” the goddess replied. “In exchange for the opportunity to study it, and upon learning that I favor both of you, he should provide help. Both to reach El Dorado, and in your war against the fomors.”
“If Vainqueur doesn’t pick a fight with Furibon on the way there.”
“The lich already reached the golden city days ago,” Camilla said, almost absentmindedly. “And I do not think he will leave it either.”