Chương 21: Eyes On The Sky

Ch. 21: Eyes On The Sky Billy's brass knuckles slammed into the second to last gnoll's chest. The gnoll soldier coughed blood as he fell backward. He twitched once more before his body went limp. There was one gnoll alive, left bleeding and injured. Billy approached him and pulled him up by the scruff of the soldier's armor.

"You speak English?" The guttural howls the gnoll spoke meant nothing to Billy but I could understand them.

"Please kill me," He said.

"Do you speak English!?" He shook the gnoll"I must die in combat" The gnoll growled, "Or she will hurt my family." It washed over Billy, hearing nothing of the creature's pleas, "I don't think many in these parts speak English."

"Should we let him go?" Kayla asked. Franz spoke up, "It would be better to take him as a prisoner."

"Please," The poor sap continued, "The Desert Queen shows no patience for insubordination. Please."

"Can we shut this guy's howling up? He's going to call attention," Franz said. I slid down the dune with my knife in my hand. I walked over to Billy holding the bleeding gnoll. My dagger's eye crinkled with glee and the dialogue box on my screen said. Good. Blood. I pulled his head back and stabbed him right in the neck, feeding my dagger.

"Hey!" Franz yelled.

"Woah!" Kayla said, "I know you're eager but we were having a discussion about it." Billy nodded his head and said, "It's okay. Good show, Drake. I like the initiative." He dropped the carcass on the ground.

"Should we continue?" Billy asked. Kaya nodded and then said, "Be careful. I don't want you getting too hurt." I nodded and placed the blade back in my holster.

"Totally, Kayla. But you know the reason I came on this thing was to get my hands on some stronger enemies."

"Yeah," Kayla said, "I get you." My eyes went up to the top of the temple. She had disappeared. The one the gnoll called 'The Desert Queen.' As we walked up the short hill, I said to Billy, "So you're touched by Bruto, right? How is being the champ of the minotaur god?"

"It's amazing! He's the one who gave me the brass knuckles. His followers don't really get a lot of magic power so he likes to choose martial artists and dancers to be his followers."

"What do those brass knuckles do?" I asked. He lifted them up and stared at them.

"They're called Knuckle Claws. They convert bludgeoning damage into piercing damage. They basically turn my fists into blades."

"Wow. Combined with your strength, that's a powerful combo."

"Exactly! Let's get our weapons up, everyone. We're approaching the temple." The temple towered above us. There were no guards on post. George approached the door to examine it.

"I think it's a simple barricade. Billy, let's you and I knock it down."

"On it," Billy said. Kayla placed the dog ears of her victims into her knapsack.

"How much money have you made?" I asked Kayla.

"Huh? I don't really check until after the raid is done."

"How much would you guess?" I asked.

"Uhh, I don't know. Maybe 2 or 3 grand?"

"Man, that's life-changing money. There's no way that I could even become a Charlie," I said, "Not as long as I'm an NPC." Kayla patted me on the back and said, "If you do a good job, maybe some god will hear about it." Stolen novel; please report. Billy and George took turns one by one slamming their feet on the door to loosen the barricade.

"You do this full time?" I asked her.

"I'm able to do champ work full time because of the brand deals on the side from socials. I'm teaming up with a brand manager to talk about what we could do for…" She took a deep breath, "For the Slay Queen brand."

"Hmmm," I thought, "I would do a lot of humiliating stuff for money. Calling myself the 'Slay Queen' wouldn't even rank the top 20. She smiled and said, "I guess there's worse names. What about you? What called you to this? The greater good?"

"What's the greater good ever done for me? No. 800 dollars a day plus bonuses. Let's me keep my head above water for my sister's payments. Obviously I don't normally work everyday so I work at a coffee shop as well."

"Your sister's payments?"

"She's in the hospital. I saw her right before we left for this." Franz had gotten in between Billy and George, stomping his feet on the door as well. The door finally fell off the hinges. I turned to her before we walked in and said, "For what it's worth, I'm glad the world knows you as the Slay Queen. Makes me feel a bit special getting to call you Kayla." She smiled. We all entered, the front entrance was empty.

"No guards posted up either," I said aloud. Billy nodded, "Maybe those were just bandits. Using Anubis' banner. Maybe there are no armies and all we have to deal with is the core." I knew that wasn't true. But if I alerted them to Anubis' presence, we'd be taken off this trip immediately. I kept the info to myself. We found the core in short order. It seemed the temple was made of some long hallways and smaller rooms that wrapped around the outside of a much larger center room.

It was a wide open space with four double doors, each on one side of the room. Above the doors were balconies which held pews on each side. Our attention was drawn to the center, where a big gaping hole had the softest glow emanating from it. We approached slowly, heads swiveling between each of the entrances. We got to the center and looked down. The hole welled deep, miles deep. The giant snake stuck at the bottom looked up at us, aggressive but as helpless as a garter snake from its far off position.

"Well," Billy said, "That means there's more than just the guards here. Maybe they use the snake to feed prisoners." I didn't want to reveal that I'd seen Anubis, but I could offer up what I knew.

"I looked around the temple with the binoculars. There were definitely people. I think… we were meant to find this place. I think enemies are going to come." Billy dropped to his knee and wrapped his knuckles on the stone ground then placed his hand flat on the surface, "You're right. We've got tangos coming."

"How many?" Kayla asked.

"Lots. Looks like a firefight. Fuck. This is not a good spot for that," Billy said.

"Should we still try to kill the core?" Kayla asked. He shook his head.

"Once everyone's dead, sure. But if we jump down there with all this heat, we'll be in an even worse position." Billy commanded everyone to draw their weapons and form a diamond formation around me. I could see Franz gripping the handle of his axe tightly. I whispered in his ear, "Did you get in trouble for bailing?"

"I gave the order to retreat," Franz said, "You were there. You don't remember?"

"Really, Franz? You're really trying to gaslight me?"

"Just be happy you didn't die in that sacrifice." For this, I brought my voice even lower, to barely audible, "How much did you know? When you and Spiros had your little talk before everything went to shit, you knew what was coiming. How much did you know?" The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. His eyes had a hollow look as he gripped his axe tighter and repeated, "I gave the order to retreat."

"Oh. I get it. You're not lying to me." I said as I held my knife up, I didn't whisper that part. Billy turned to both of us and hushed us. First came the wasps. A humming sound caused swarms of wasps to enter through the four doors on the second balcony.

"Let's get some fire power in here. George, let's light them up." Mansa, the Salamander God, lent George the gift of fire. He wrapped himself in his arms. His body grew red and when he opened his arms, a band of fire escaped and lashed at the approaching swarm. A blot of insects fell dead.

"Great job, George! Keep it going!" Billy cheered. George lashed at the swarms again and again, but they approached quickly. I saw that everybody was busy keeping their eyes in the sky. This was an opportunity to subtly turn the battles. I cast Firebreath. I then released them in little spurts timed with George's attacks. My mana quickly recharged back to 100% from the blood my knife had held earlier. All the blood from my knife's vial drained. Those burps of firebreath had dwindled the numbers to few.

I have run dry. There were only a few stragglers left from the swarm. Billy yelled, "George! Hang back! Kayla, Franz, and I will take the last few." Billy moved gracefully for his size. His legs, endowed by the power of the minotaur, let him leap into the air and punch a bug. It splattered and the force of the punch carried into the next three bugs. As he dropped, he interlocked his fingers and slammed into another bug as well. Franz' great axe lit on fire and he swung it, taking out some wasps as well.

Kayla used her giant hammer like a fly swatter. They finished the swarm.

"Regroup!" Billy yelled. They came up around me, but this time Franz was between me and the pit. Gnoll Rangers entered the same doors as the wasps and brought their weapons out. They all lit their arrows on the torches on the walls and set off a wave of fire toward us.

"This one's yours Kayla," Billy said. Kayla pulled from my side and stepped forward. I looked behind me. We could hear the hissing coming from the depths below. Kayla yelled, "Gust of wind!" Spectral wings appeared and blew, creating a gust that blotted the fires and diverted the arrows.

"Anyone shot?" Billy asked. George lifted his hand, "Scratched but I'm still going." Before I could affirm that I was fine, I felt a sharp tug from behind and I was suddenly falling. I looked up and saw Franz staring down at me as my body hurled down toward the giant snake below.