44 (V) city turned to ruins
The pier city was going through another day, of the constant troubles after the walls were broken not too long ago, with it somewhat repaired now, the guards can rest easy from the outside troubles, now they just had to deal with the troublemakers!
One such guard was finally getting off of his shift heading home to get some needed rest as he was practically stumbling from how many days it has been going where he had to stay awake more than a few days thanks to the lack of guards.
While there are people being recruited.
it mostly consisted of teens and desperate kids to help support their crumbling families, with so many forced to be homeless from the large attack of the ice hero, and the recent swarm of bone fiends, no one was truly safe, what was even sadder, that included from themselves.
The suicides and mentally broken people within this city reached 100...
per hour since three days ago, their corpses filled the sewers, and nearby waters, there wasn't enough land to bury them all even after doing three layers, they lacked the materials for Cremation, and no mage was willing to use their mana for free and for such duties.
Such a depressing city it had become, to think the city that was founded by one of the heroes 300 years ago would fall to such a desolate state.
But even with all this, the dire straits had only just begun as a large crack began to form on one of the corpse-littered streets!
A bunch of hands popped out of the crack before they slammed to the ground trying to pull the owners of these limbs out.
Widening the damage done to the street until finally like water bursting out from a broken dam, tens of these monstrosities that created so much panic crawled out bringing more damage to the street gradually increasing the number of these monsters that joined the numbers of the group that were already infesting the corpses!
once they reached a suitable amount, hehe they quickly spread out attacking anyone in sight, young, old, anyone!
they spared no one!
They mostly turned their focus to the temples that stood tall, they were tasked to cause the collapse of the temples.
As well as any large buildings, the most terrible thing about it for the inhabitants of this city was that these Bone fiends were to continue to attack and lay ruin until there were only ten left of them before retreating to regrow their numbers with the bodies that littered the area that was an easy task!
Then while this was happening one group of a hundred separated themselves from the rest heading to the nearest altars for one reason.
T̷̢̡̮̙̪̤̞̥̱͈̺̯͖̙͊̑̑̍͌̓̒͘͜O̸̬͎͚̰͓͛́ ̶̲̙͎̲̺̋͐́̉͋̆̕͜ͅD̷̙͇̈E̶̖̤̜̭̗͋̉̒̆̏̅̓͊̏͋̐̈́͝͝͝Ș̶̢̈͑T̷͙̺͍̞̾͌̔̂̄̃̿̈́̀͐̓̏̿̄̕ͅͅȐ̷̛̙̜̜̫̄̾͂̾̐͌̄̋̚̕̚͠O̵̧͚̳̲̼̞̺̿͊̍͆̀̕Ỷ̵̢̠̤͖̩̺̩͓̝͓̫̦̅ ̵̧̯̦͇͕̦͔̍̄͑͛͑͒̚M̴̜̀͒̚Ợ̸́͋̿̿͘͝Ŗ̵̧͈̜̺͉̗̹̑̇͒̍͋̎̕͘͜Ē̶̡̢̞̩̯̭̪̘͈̹̲̓̎̿͛̐́̅̒͠͝ ̸̧̹̪͍̩͎̦̠̹͍̤̘͙̭̠̇̒͋̈̔̽̂̾͘̕T̴̤̘̣̍̋̐͜ͅȨ̶͔̗̙̐M̴̨̧̢̟͕̄̇͋͆̉̇̐̌̓̃̈́̌̀͑P̴̹̓́̾L̵̥͎͈̰̎͑͗̊͐̇̈́͋͝Ë̶̫̤͖̤́̀̑́̋̌̂̈͘͜͝S̴̯͉͒́̇̎̈́̈̒̋́!̶̡̨̛͕̦͙̠̅̀͊̋́̉͜!̵̺͚͉̺̦̟̖̈́ͅ!̶̥̩͕̹̣̥͚͎̮̯̯͉̮̦̓̊̓̔̕
The Gods wanted to bring so much suffering to their creator so it was only right that they do the same!
During the chaos, there are always those that sought fame even at the cost of their lives or those of others!
Some of the regular adventurers wanted to make a name for themselves, thus they made the dumbest decision...
Attacking the hole where these bone fiends were coming out of!
That was like poking a hornet's nest!
Sure that would've been a GREAT idea if they had the right amount of power and skillsets but what they did was like pouring fuel on an open flame!
Not only did they attract the batch of hundreds of them towards their group leading to a brutal and gruesome ending but also dragged the people nearby into the troubles adding to the numbers of the bone fiends that spread out bringing more chaos to the already chaotic city!
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Damn them! damn them! damn them!
This was the chant the bone fiends uttered while slaying their enemies.
The faithful followers of the gods will be damned!
The chosen saviors and champions will be damned!
The so-called gods will be damned!
This disturbing mantra was due to the momentary thoughts of the ones helping Mark, as their infectious grudges and memories played in his mind reaching the bone fiends that he had created.
Causing them to use whatever means possible to weaken the hold of the gods had on this world!
Not that he would reject the idea.
Mark was cursed by one, and they were making all of the existing champions come to hunt him down, so of course, he'll do what he can to allow a long peaceful life, be it through him or his ability!
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The sounds of a building crumbling resounded through the city, the drawven statue, that stood at the height of 10 meters, looked mighty and fierce came to life as it slammed its War hammer through one of the nearby buildings that were infested with bone fiends.
"HOW DARE MERE INSECTS DESECRATE MY GREAT VISAGE!!!"
The god of Chaos, Strength, Travel, and War made his incarnation descend before his voice boomed out in such a manner that every living creature within 100 meters exploded into bloody mists.
He cared not for his current followers nor for his believers, there was an abundant amount of selectable believers to go around, to him one of the three statues of his that helped keep his hold on the world was more important than the mortals that sought salvation!
But his appearance only spurred the bone fiends into a frenzy!
The subject of their creator's infectious hatred had made an appearance causing EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM, within the city to charge blindly towards the raging statue.
As for why the word infectious was used, their emotions and minds were one of the same, so imagine what will happen if just looking at the source of their collective hatred passed on to the others and this would repeat itself with every additional one that looked at the god?
This was the source of their fearlessness, this was the source of their tenacity, with adrenaline pumping through their bodies to the extreme and regeneration keeping their bodies together.
This horde of bone fiends was akin to thousands of berserkers that grew stronger with time until someone kills them or the source of hate was destroyed.
"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF ME!!!"
While tens of Bone fiends began climbing the statue, it managed to deliver another swing that wiped out another block of houses with hundreds of victims included.
The statue released another roar that cleared out a small portion of the attackers only to become covered by hundreds of the monsters that he detested yet craved to have under his command.
the statue looked like how a person would look if they have been covered in hundreds of bees!
He swung his war hammer wildly with one hand while the other tried to wipe off the relentless monsters that were treated no less than bug by him earlier.
Then the bone fiends that were on him all expanded in size for a mere moment before digging into the statue, their combined attack created a sonic boom that made a blast of wind.
Those on the ground were pushed away, while the statue froze in place while yelling out in disbelief.
"Th-this can't be...! there is no way that 'I' will fall to mere bugs!"
"SO BE IT, I, HANSEATH, WILL USE YOUR CORPSES TO FUEL WAR AND CHAOS!"
His words soon caused the frozen in place statue to glow ominously, everyone in the city felt that change, the inexplicable fear of death.
The drawven god no longer cared for his statue in this city, he still had two more complete ones and 7 more under construction, Hanseath wanted to create more chaos at the same time, destroy the other three temples that hasn't been completed yet.
As for the loss of possible believers?
Since he can't have them, there was no way that he'll let the other gods get a monopoly of the people within this ruined city.
Every single being within this city received a ten-second grace period to hide or run somewhere safe.
Three silhouettes took form around the statue as they diverted this upcoming attack away from a certain portion of the city.
Then when the Statue had reached its peak, an explosion made from divine energy ripped through everything in range, leaving but 1/10 of the city left as the rest were 'eaten' by an orb of pure energy.
The survivors could only gawk as the other three gods worked together to contain this attack, not to protect their believers but rather a few important children that held secrets that would make Hanseath jealous and attempt to either kill them or make them serve him instead.
the city, no, it couldn't be called that anymore, the ruins only had two powerful groups left to defend it.
The adventurers, and what remained of Hamilton's group as the man held a half-elf in his arms knelt down in frustration at his losses.
One man with a bloodied cloak snapped his cane in half from anger before heading to a luxurious carriage that was on its way to the next city.
His plans of having that clone of a female bone fiend sire a child for him was a lost cause now, her body was reduced to nothing despite his orders to move her out of the city.
Regardless, unlike most people, the man had all the time in the world thanks to a half-elf that he tricked.
Thus, it was only best to bide his time yet again.
At least the next time he comes, Lucia won't be as strong anymore~.
