Chapter 58

The Greek Fire landed, the green exploding. It didn’t take long. A light breeze would’ve toppled the lighthouse, and I watched as it crumbled. Demolished, tumbling down, debris falling like stone mortar.

I felt the glow of light. I grinned, even as my vision began to flash red and a notification appeared.

[Achievement unlocked: Defier of Tiamat – Defeat an elite of the Drenched.]

[Achievement unlocked: Demolitions Expert – Collapse a building to kill a mob.]

There was no time to bask in the glow, however. The army was still coming, and my health showed no signs of recovering. At this rate, I’d be dead in minutes.

I glared at the ruins of the lighthouse, hobbling away. ‘God, what a dick,’ I muttered as the city crumbled all around me.

I didn’t know where I was going. I was breathing hard. Stumbling. I’d stumbled into what looked like a shop, or the remains of one. There were still fruits, the smell of freshly baked bread, and what looked like dry fish.

Good place to die, I thought deliriously as I collapsed behind the counter. God damn it. A part of me had hoped the venom would’ve stopped, but if anything it was getting faster. 250 of my 1100 hit points left. I checked the ignored notification, bringing it up.

[Lesser Venom – You have been inflicted with lesser venom. Your hit points will continue to fall until you have taken anti-venom. This can reduce your hit points to zero.]

Reduced hit points to zero. It had a very clinical way of saying, this will kill you. I’d have to raise a developer ticket at some point. I shook my head. Focus. Anti-venom. Where the hell would I get that? Could I…

My eyes widened as I opened up my technology tab. Come on, come on… Yes! There it was, anti-venom! I clicked on it immediately. Now I could craft it. All I needed was honey and garlic.

[Hit points critical – 195]

I forced myself to my feet, searching. There were growls around me. They hadn’t given up the search, whatever those things were coming out of the ocean. Thankfully, the garlic I found, dried on one of the shelves. I seized it immediately and began searching for honey. Bread, no…carrots, no…cheese, okay maybe for later, but no…

The red across my vision was furious now. Fuck. There was not a drop of honey in this store. I searched wildly, seeing a door in the back. Not even stopping to check whether it was locked or not, I smashed through it.

[Hit points – 94]

Store room and…there! I saw what looked like an amphora, filled with… yes, honey. I wasted no time, scooping out a handful of it and mixing it with the garlic. My mind filled in the blanks, as I knew it would, combining the two components, spinning them until a tiny vial with a golden, honey-coloured liquid appeared.

[Hit points – 14]

I drank it immediately. Didn’t taste bad, actually. I breathed deeply. God, I was still sweating. But…not dead. Tentatively, I checked my hit points and sighed in relief. No longer ticking down. Slowly, bit by bit, they were climbing.

I needed a long rest, but that would require a place of safety. This city did not seem to fit that bill. Another earthquake. Something told me it wouldn’t be a city for much longer. I got to my feet, my body protesting with every step as I headed back out.

Ironclad was long gone, but that was the least of my worries. I had to escape. But how? Run to the city gates? And then what? Would that monstrous army keep chasing me? Hunt every last human?

I looked to the ocean. It seemed like the rate of their deployment was increasing. A flood of those things, one of which had practically obliterated me. I looked to the right and saw what must’ve been a dock, but it too was burning, completely overrun.

But there…to the left, a smaller dock? No, a single ship. There. My way out of this hellscape.

I didn’t bother to be stealthy about it. I wasn’t a hunter anyway, not anymore, and besides the shades and Arabu I saw seemed more content with killing whoever was nearest to give me much of a thought. I ran as fast and as far as my depleting stamina would take me. A notification pinged. Yeah, I know. I’m tired.

I ran on.

I didn’t know much about ships, but even to me this one seemed flimsy. And dirty. It was no warship, but it was made of wood and it floated, and right now that’s basically all I needed from a ship. The gangway was extended, and I walked up.

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‘I…I told you, there aren’t enough supplies for all of us!’ I heard a voice say.

‘Pull up the anchor, Cyrus. Now!’

I had entered a tense scene. The man named Cyrus was short and clearly past his best days. His beard had been oiled into a neat little twist. ‘If we leave like this, we’ll die on the seas!’

‘And if we don’t leave, the Drenched will destroy us!’ snarled one of the men. There were three of them standing over him.

‘Forget this,’ said one of the men, ‘just throw him overboard!’

‘He’s the fucking helmsman!’ said the other, ‘unless you’ve suddenly learned how to steer a ship!’

‘Now, now, gentlemen,’ said Cyrus, stumbling back. ‘Please, if you would just be reasonable…’