Chapter 55: Moments of Righteousness

  Inside, the orphanage looked just like so many of the other places Tristan and Sophie had been lately. The most immediately obvious difference was that things here were still unbroken and untainted. Tristan hoped it would stay that way, but he had no illusions about what kind of fight this was going to be.

  Sophie’s previous description of the building’s interior proved spot on. Closing the main door behind himself, Tristan tiptoed through a small room that clearly served as a greeting space. A coat stand in the corner held only one adult-sized jacket. He wondered if it was Venom’s, though it felt too clean, unripped and unstained. Too normal. Hugging one of the walls, he moved on toward the large central room.

  There were nine children within, all gathered around two central figures.

  The taller one was a man wearing a cloak so deeply green it was nearly-black. A bow of twisted wood and a quiver full of arrows were slung across his back, though they never jiggled or rocked, even as the man gestured and spoke excitedly to the children gathered around him. The man’s face was dominated by a hooked nose and a lewd sneer, which deepened as he eyed the children around him. Then there were the scars that permanently twisted the monster’s lips.

  Though it was clear this was Venom, Tristan still used his [Identify] to gauge what he was up against.

  [Venom, Human, level 39 (tier 3) blight spitter]

  {{Defiler}}

  He immediately used [Rivalry] to reduce the damage the {Defiler} would do to him by 15%. Better not to take any chances, he thought.

  Tristan turned his attention next to the other large figure, an enormous snake, which had coiled itself around Venom’s arm and was now slinking down to the man’s hand. Its nose lifted slowly upward toward one of the boys, who couldn’t have been older than six, that was stretching out one hand with a nervous tremble. As the boy’s finger touched the scaly skin, the snake’s tongue flicked out, lightly.

  “Ow!” the boy said, yanking his hand back.

  As Tristan drew a little nearer, still hugging the outer wall just to be safe, he could see a green welt on the boy’s hand where the tongue had lashed him. Based on the way the skin was already bubbling slightly, even from such a slight contact, the tongue was clearly poisoned. Tristan used [Identify] on the massive serpent, just to see what it would reveal.

  [Ginnai, Giant Mamba, level 21 (Pet of Venom)]

  “Sorry, my little snack, sorry,” Venom cooed, barely holding back the glee he’d clearly felt at the child’s cry. “How about something a little safer then. I brought you a treat, just like I promised!”

  Then he produced a large, squirming rat from nowhere--no doubt his magical storage--and held it by the tail before the children. There were equal cries of joy and disgust, but none of the children backed away.

  By this point, Tristan had crept halfway around the room while trying to stay out of the view of the children, who had yet to notice him. Through the nearest window he could now see the tree where Sneakers was perched. He waved silently at the astral--and was surprised when it nodded its head back at him.

  He hoped that meant Sophie was almost in position.

  “Would you like to feed it to my snake?” Venom asked, extending his hand (and the struggling rat) toward the nearest girl. “Don’t be scared! I won’t let the mean rat hurt you, and my beautiful Ginnai will be so thankful.”

  The girl seemed uncertain, so Venom turned the offer to another boy instead. “This is Ginnai, you see, and she’s oh so hungry. Won’t you take pity on her? You all know how it feels to be hungry, don’t you? Wouldn’t you want someone to feed you this nice, juicy rat--if that was what you wanted? I assure you, to her, this is as good as ice cream!” He paused, then threw the rat high up in the air. “Or should I just let it go?” he asked, before catching it just a hand’s width from the floor.

  One little girl with dark hair and eyes actually raised her hand. “C-can I feed it... to your snake?”

  Venom’s grin was back in full force. “Of course, my dear, sweet child. And don’t be shy now. Take the rodent by the tail. Yes, there you go!” He brushed his hand across the girl’s, assumedly making sure her grip was secure, but Tristan saw something more in the gesture. “And don’t worry your sweet head at all. Even if my Ginnai does happen to bite you, you’ll only have to deal with the pain for a very little while! I’ll make sure you’re well taken care of, promise!”

  Tristan tightened his grip around his sword.

  Then several things seemed to happen quickly.

  The boy who had been licked by the snake tottered, slumped, and then fell to the floor. The small bubbling on his wrist had now spread up most of his arm, or at least what Tristan could see.

  That caused several of the kids, including the girl holding the rat, to gasp in concern. The rat took the opportunity to squirm out of her grasp. It twisted and fell with a shriek.

  Venom, licking his lips, said, “Oh, our little snack has fallen asleep!”

  And the snake, the clearly-poisonous (and likely venomous, considering it’s master), giant mamba, unhinged its jaw, priming its fangs and tongue as it leapt upward... but its eyes weren’t on the rat.

  Tristan lunged forward, swiftly raising his sword over his head to avoid the little ones nearby, then brought it down as hard as he could, activating [Cleaving Slash] in the process, toward the exposed body of the snake.

  He hadn’t really thought about it; he’d just reacted.

  As his massive greatsword sliced straight into the snake, it only managed to carve out a small chunk of the beast before sending it flying backward. Apparently the snake was too tanky for him to kill it in one blow.

  He could also see a 30-second timer for his [Avenger’s Stealth] buff ticking down.

  His element of surprise was gone.

  “What the fuck?!” Venom shouted as the huge snake suddenly flew off his arm, spewing blood in his wake. “What the FUCK?!” Then Venom slammed something that might have been a vial to the ground at his feet. The container shattered, and a cloud of green smoke billowed outward.

  It was all Tristan could do to hold his breath as he tried to gather and pull the remaining children away. Most of them had begun coughing and were easy enough to find. Tristan grabbed two in each arm, plus the original, bitten boy, and hurried them toward the door. None of the children really resisted, though their coughing certainly slowed things down.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Tristan held his breath for as long as he could, but even his high Endurance had limits. By the time he dropped the children at the door, his breath was spent and the smoke had nearly filled the entire area. Tristan covered his mouth with his hands, trying to limit his breathing of the gas, but he clearly didn’t do enough.

  You are now poisoned.

  You are now cursed.

  The notifications came in immediately... but other than a debuff appearing on his display, nothing else seemed to happen.

  [Defiler’s “Special” Mix] A lingering mix of afflictions caused by breathing in a Defiler’s highly toxic gas. You take periodic damage, which increases the longer you’re affected.

  Despite what the debuff said, Tristan didn’t feel the least effect from the gas. Thank the gods for my [Oozebane Greatsword], he thought, taking another breath. The moment he did, the debuff timer reset again to its starting 60 seconds, but he still felt nothing.

  From the midst of the smoke, Venom’s voice echoed out. It was tense and dripping with frustration that ramped up by the word.

  “Whoever you are, you’ve ruined our playtime! So I promise, you’re going to die a very slow, verrrrry enjoyable death. For me anyway. You’re going to give back what you’ve taken from me!”

  Tristan was torn between doing whatever he could for the children he still heard coughing, or facing the {Defiler} immediately. He went for the children. The fainted boy was right by his foot, and when Tristan hoisted him up onto his shoulder with his free hand, it was like the kid weighed nothing at all. He rushed the boy toward the door, which he kicked open in one blow. The now-cleared exit allowed the first bits of light to start filtering in through the smoke.

  Except there were no more sounds from the other children. No coughing, no crying, no sniffles seeking help.

  He hoped Sophie could rescue the rest.

  For himself, Tristan couldn’t ignore the lewd, taunting voice calling out from the green gas any longer. He turned back and gripped his sword again in both hands, praying he hadn’t lost too much of his advantage in saving that child.

  The moment he stepped back into the smoke, cruel, crazy laughter jerked its way out of the smoke. “They always come for the {Defiler} with such blessed purpose, but they never enjoy what they find! Breathe deeply, whoever you are. I hope you enjoy these last moments of righteousness, because I’ll surely enjoy what follows!” Another peel of laughter rocked the room, but as it faded, it was joined by a more subtle sound: the slithering and hissing of the giant snake.

  It was a good reminder that he wasn’t just going up against one monster in this fight, but two. He raised his sword, which gleamed as it caught what little light filtered through from the doorway behind him.

  “You want to know the best part of my gas?” Venom taunted again, his whispered words bouncing off the walls of the big, open, smoke-filled room. “It’s not the vomiting, or how it wrings you dry in practically no time at all. No, no no. It’s that I can feel everything that happens in it!”

  Not even a second later, something lunged at him from the left. The giant snake. Tristan brought his sword up, catching the fangs and flinging them away, back into the smoke, but then an arrow with a glowing green tip struck Tristan dead center of his chest.

  Suddenly, all the wind was knocked out of him, along with nearly a quarter of his health. The impact lifted him off the ground and sent him flying backward. Paired with that came another notification, telling that his breastplate’s [Tempered Spirit] had triggered.

  [Tempered Spirit (rank 2)] While wearing this armor, every 30 seconds, reduce the damage of the next hit by 50%.

  Tristan groaned as he rolled to the side and popped a health potion. His chest hurt, but he couldn’t use that as an excuse. He had to get his sword moving again: the Roving Blade was by far his best defense against an archer. And if that one arrow was any indication, Tristan needed to block everything. He had no idea what else he could do about the snake. At least it seemed like he’d be able to ignore quite a bit of Venom’s abilities, if the debuff ticking away was any indication.

  Actually, Tristan noticed that there were now two debuffs. A new one had appeared beside the first, labeled as [Decrepifying Arrow], which was supposed to be dealing even more poison damage to him periodically.

  Tristan thanked the gods both above and among them for his [Oozebane Greatsword], once again proving its worth.

  Venom’s laugh crowded the gas-filled room. “Come onnnn,” Venom called, drawing out every word as he continued. “You righteous little prick, fight me. Hit me with that big sword of yours! I’ve got so many arrows just waiting to taste your flesh!”

  With the cloud of smoke growing thinner, Tristan decided that a frontal attack might not actually be that bad of an idea. He had his greatsword moving fluidly in front of him, and it found the next three arrows Venom fired with ease, especially once Tristan was able to locate where the man had been shooting from: behind a table he’d flipped up on its side in the back of the room. But as soon as he got confident deflecting, the snake came at him from behind. Tristan didn’t hear it coming at all, and it wasn’t until the fangs bit into the back of his calf that he knew it was there at all. It burned, but only at first. The moment he swung his sword into the beast, forcing its fangs to withdraw, the pain stopped. Again, it left a debuff, this time called [Mamba’s Venom]. But just like all the other debuffs, while his sword gave him [Incorruptible], it would do no damage to him.

  Tristan took cover behind a waist-high, wooden dollhouse and checked his leg. He could see exactly where the fangs had punched through his pants, but there was none of the bubbling that he’d seen on the boy earlier. There was also no sign of the snake, which felt pretty unfair given just how big the damned thing was.

  “How are you feeling over there?” Venom asked with a cackle. “I’ve got so much more to put inside you, too, if you think you’re man enough to take it.”

  Tristan rose up again, trying to draw nearer to the table where Venom was taking shelter. The monster’s comments were obviously implying something. Tristan replied with something he hoped might provoke the man in turn. “I’m doing just fine. Kind of surprised how limp your attacks have all felt.”

  “Who the fuck are you, anyway? Most people would be screaming by now.”

  Tristan had already learned enough to expect the next arrow as he saw the man rise from his cover. He brought his sword around and lined it up perfectly.

  Then the arrow split into three.

  He could only whip his greatsword through two of them; the third nicked his side just beyond his breastplate. It burned, like all of Venom's arrows, but it didn’t hit nearly as hard as that first one in the chest had. Tristan also quickly realized the up-front damage wasn’t the point. A fourth damage-over-time debuff had appeared on his display, and all three of the others were refreshed again.

  “Did you like that little gift, boy?” Venom crooned. “I saw you only took the tip. There’s more where that came from.”

  “Doesn't matter,” Tristan called back, “Your poisons are weak.” He tried to advance again, but another charge from the snake forced him to spin his blade in place instead. At least his block led to a [Riposte], which he aimed at the same wound on the creature’s back. The snake recoiled once again, before darting away as quickly as it could. “Your snake has hurt me more than you have. But don't worry, I'll end you both.”

  Freed temporarily from the annoying snake, Tristan ran forward and swung his greatsword right through the table where Venom had just been hiding behind, but apparently the man had moved on again. Tristan still kicked the split wood away, though more accurately he sent it flying toward the snake, whose follow-up attack he’d still expected.

  The heavy wood carried the snake backward and pinned it against the wall.

  Tristan heard the twang of a bowstring before noticing an arrow planted in the ground beside him. He didn't give it much thought at first, until black sludge began to bubble up out of the ground where it rested. The tar-like gunk spurted upward, outward, even under his boots, causing them to stick to the floor. As he struggled to break free, he noticed the snake had wrestled itself free of the table and was about to spring at him again.

  Tristan was ready, and despite the reptile’s speed, he managed to pull his sword around in time to barely deflect the blow.

  “Why don’t you just stay still, little swordsman? That big sword looks so heavy, especially for such a young man. Not young enough, sadly but don’t worry--I’ll still have a bit of fun with you, once Ginnai’s had her fill!”

  Two more arrows flew at him as he continued to fight off the snake. The way the two coordinated their attacks was unlike anything Tristan had ever dealt with before. He wasn't sure he could handle both at once. He had to take one of them out, and soon.