Chapter 7-202: Setting Up the Long Game (1/2)
I was in no hurry, and the servants of the Efreet were intelligent foes, having actually built up some defenses and fortifications and things to fight behind.
They did not, however, reckon with the power of modern firearms, since, unlike many would think, explosive materials were not exactly common in realms of flame, for the simple reason that they blew up there!
The American Army was plenty happy to bring along some howitzers and pummel a few walls and forts to dust from miles away for us, especially when Chain Vivic Weapon Cast on them meant the crews got full Karma for the deed and promptly Leveled.
Their hopper loads of shells also drew in Fireborn like bees to honey, and so our escorting forces got a good workout, too. Win-win all around.
We reduced the Fireborn fortifications emphatically, swarmed them, and iced them all. The Fireborn weren’t very happy about it, but we made an excellent harvest of firemetals on the side, too.
It took three days to isolate the mountain and feed tens of thousands of Fireborn and Elementals to the land en vivus. I think the Fireborn were finally starting to realize something was really, really wrong now, as this sort of slaughtering push was completely beyond their experience, and they definitely didn’t want to see black and silver, or unwhite fires, anywhere on the horizon now...
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Mystic Theurge/4, +1 to Ur-Priest Virtua Level. +1 Inquisitor Spell Known. Merge Divine/Arcane Valence IV’s. Summon Elemental Reserve Feat, kindly enhanced by Summoning Feats taking prior, basically unlimited ability to have an Elemental servant around... which, since I couldn’t get rid of it, was a bad idea to use. So, what?...
Nog Mastery/III, able to spend III Valences...
Einz finished Protection +2, would start on +3 tomorrow.
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Blighter/4 (6), +1 Charisma/Strength, to 25 and 14. Strength Mastery/5, to 15. I was now actually in great shape! I’m sure nobody noticed, uh-huh...
Another powerful Feat: Druidic Theurgist:Spells that are on both the Druidic List and a chosen Class List combine Levels when Cast.
+6 and scaling Caster Level to Wall of Fire, Dispel Magic, and various Summoning Spells on the Arcane List wasn’t bad at all... when I could Summon in a thousand years or something.
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Elemental Theurge/4, merge Druid/Arcane Valences IV. Nog Mastery/IV , now able to spend IV Valences towards gaining them Stat boosts or other Stuff. And the Sha’ir Discipline Feat, Genie Binding: Make Genie Prisons and imprison genies within them. A powerful Elemental discipline more tied to Binders than Druids, but similarly useful.
I was sure that had no relevance whatsoever to the local Firebaron in the Caldera I was about to assault...
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“BEY GARAR’AZZAR! I WOULD HAVE WORDS WITH YOU!”
The woman’s voice rang in perfect Pyric through the magma tunnels, shaking them around the tall horned figure moving hurriedly through them. His pace slowed to a crawl, and the vestigial flames around his crimson-skinned body thickened in a certain direction.
He could feel the owner of that voice looking right at him through the stone...
“... or, you know, you can keep running, and I will Feed you to the Land in mid-stride,” a gentle voice, carried on the wind, slid into his ear.
Big burning hands clenched, opening and closing, testing his courage, if he dared to run and take a step further.
He felt that gaze in the distance blink. It was cold, terrible, judgmental, and very, very ready to snuff him.
He didn’t want to believe she could reach out and kill him with her magic, but he had watched her cut down thousands of his servants and pets. That jetsilver magic and the cold it bore still made him shiver as he recalled it, and just how far it could reach, and how many and how fast it could kill, and kill, and kill...
He had never met, even heard of, a mortal spellcaster who could do such things, but he had seen his armies frozen in mid-step, not even taken seriously by that woman.
His feet were turning him around, and he was slowly walking back before he even processed that he’d made the decision.
It all hinged on one thing...
She knew his name!
That meant she had reason to learn it, and so who he was, and what he could do.
Mortal greed knew no bounds...
Bey ‘Azzar smiled weakly. From the service of one master into another. He could only hope the mortal’s greed was enough that he could leverage his power into some influence. Ever since being trapped on this world and pursued by endless cabals of mortals interested in Wishes, he had found little rest, and even coming into the service of a true Firelord, even if it was a lord of undead, had been no exception.
If that bastard of a Tal djinn hadn’t been continually Countering his Wishes, perhaps he could even have made his way home...
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His throneroom had been reworked in black ice, razor-edged in silver.
His elite guards were no longer standing before the throne frozen in place, having been shattered and now burning merrily with that unnatural unwhite fire that had consumed so many of his other servants and minions.