Chapter 29 – Niclos (1)
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Niclos looked sternly at the motley group he had managed to gather for his quest. Many would not return from this expedition, but that was fine with him. He would have much less Amecareth to spend from his pocket, and those who would die would have fulfilled their function as cannon fodder.

Perched on the back of a very muscular and nervous black stallion, he was not far from two meters tall, a solid build whose power could be guessed under his neat and well-tailored clothes. From his square face emanated a severe beauty and an authority that could not be discussed. His platinum blond hair, cut in a square style, reinforced the military impression he gave off, and his green eyes, although hypnotic, had a cold reflection that everyone perceived.

"Let's go! Pick up the pace! We are almost to the dragon's lair!"

In terms of dragons, he already knew it was a subspecies he would be hunting. A mountain wyvern, exactly. A real dragon wouldn't let itself be hunted, it would wipe out entire towns and devour adventurers much bigger than Niclos for breakfast.

But he hoped that hunting a wyvern would help him understand, if only a little, the complexity of dragons and their species.

For Niclos was an Incarnator. His class allowed him to transform himself entirely or partially into a creature of which he had a complete understanding. And this had almost cost him his life.

At the beginning of his adventure, he had been given an intriguing choice for his class, and he had opted for the one he believed to be the most powerful. After all, as the Emperor's protege, he had to do his best to win the gigantic gamble he was a pawn in.

For he knew of course that Neo-Life was not a game, from the beginning. He had been briefed with advanced technology to camouflage his knowledge from the controlling AI that injected consciousness into the magical dimension, and he had been convinced that it would be a walk in the park.

He had appeared in the north of Delia, at the foot of the Silver Mountains, and after choosing his race, human, and class, he set out to find weak creatures to kill so that he could monetize some equipment in the city he saw in the distance.

Stumbling upon a group of goblins, he had observed them discreetly for several days, until he was able to transform into one of them. An imperfect but sufficient transformation, which allowed him to approach and slit their throats in their sleep without any of them understanding what was going on.

As a result, he had entered the northern gate of Delia, and discovered the wonders of this sprawling city.

Very quickly, he had registered as an adventurer, wary of the strange creature that was the guild master and refusing the exchange of information that she had offered him.

Then he went on a series of simple quests to accumulate a few silver coins until he was able to equip himself.

Once this was done, after a week, he went hunting wolves, convinced that he could repeat his feat with the goblins. But it was a monstrous failure. His understanding was far from sufficient, despite many hours of observation, and he had been unmasked by the pack leader, and it was severely wounded that he returned to Delia, furious with himself.

A few weeks later, it was a different story.

As a mid-level hunter, constantly scouring the various types of monsters surrounding the capital, he had acquired a thorough knowledge of their various workings and could easily pass for any of them. Recovering useful materials from each of his victims, he had begun to accumulate a small fortune, until one day he received a message.

Well, strictly speaking, it was more of an encyclopedia than a message.

The emperor explained to him the setting up of a firewall AI system, which would prevent any future contact and any cheating. This message was accompanied by an incredible mass of knowledge, all the records that the Empire had on the Neo-Life dimension, the classes, the geographical locations, some mythical monsters.

And there was also the name of the targets. Their nicknames, at least, the ones they used in the game. They were all foals of the bet, direct competitors of Niclos who were trying to reach the same goal.

Their location was unfortunately not known, nor their race, but everything comes to those who wait.

This changed Niclos' plan of action somewhat, as he had planned to take his time to expand his influence in the city and make the most of its resources.

He decided to go hunting for a Wyvern, waiting to be able to compete with real dragons. According to the information he had, the day he could transform into one of them, his victory was assured, no one could stand in his way.

Having accumulated a lot of resources during his intense and successful hunts, he posted an announcement at the Crier's headquarters and at the Adventurers' Guild to set up an expedition. In a few days, he gathered about a hundred people, all of them attracted by the substantial gain Niclos was offering them, ignoring the fact that many of them would surely not return from this quest.

He was counting on that because he didn't have that much Amecareth to spend.

And that's where he was.

Walking on a steep mountainside path, barely wide enough for a wagon, and with no guardrail to prevent a deadly fall below.

The scouts had left ahead, exactly one day ahead of time, and so far none of them had returned to warn them of any finds.

They had already been on the road for three weeks, and two days on these steep roads that put Niclos' nerves to the test. He was not the fearful type, but there was one thing he never liked: heights.

Three people had fallen since the beginning of their ascent, and if one counted the fifteen members of the troop who had been massacred by the various creatures they had crossed on their way, the number of dead was beginning to be high, whereas they had not yet reached their objective.

Fortunately for everyone, many caves were revealed as they advanced, and they invested them to camp at night and eat, leaving at dawn under the invectives of Niclos.

In front and behind him were what he liked to call his bodyguard. They were all minor Neo-Life players who didn't know the real stakes of their mission and still believed they were in a video game. He had given them a lot of advice on how best to level up and increase their skills. And of course, he had given them five Amecareth of money in advance, to secure their loyalty.

No one would pass them by without a good reason and a thorough search, Niclos being slightly paranoid that someone might want to take his life. After all, his mentor had informed him, others might, and he hadn't been particularly discreet about his alias when he recruited in Delia. Damn guild rules.

His guard consisted of ten people, and a quartet among them had risen above the others in skill and character.

There was Kallum, a two-meter tall barbarian always walking around shirtless and undoubtedly the author of the Nessos' murder. He always had his gigantic axe in his hands, which he had nicknamed Kallia, in homage to his own name...and his sexual inclinations made him a difficult man to deal with for the female gender.

Then Dejros, an ice mage who could freeze just about anything alive, or even make ice stalactites appear under his opponents' feet. Taciturn, he spoke very little but could not stand any kind of provocation. He was extremely grateful to Niclos for all the knowledge he had shared with them, allowing him to improve greatly in his practice of magic.

Next came Palnia, a sublime woman with a deadly charm. Her weapon of choice was a poisoned dagger and she had chosen the class of assassin, sneaking into the shadows before pouncing on her defenseless prey and sending it to the kingdom of the dead. Teasing, she was constantly trying to seduce Niclos, who so far had politely refused her advances.

And finally, Aguenor. With a long sword of illogical proportions, he also knew some strengthening and healing spells that could help a whole group. His class was Knight, but his behavior was demonic. He liked to make his targets suffer, all too often human or intelligent races. He was not interested in creatures because they did not express suffering in the same way, which he did not like.

Niclos was well aware of the deeply dark character of these four individuals, and he enjoyed it immensely. All he had to do was feed their vice and allow them to express it freely so that they would be loyal to him beyond all hope. It was even the reason he had chosen them from the dozens of other players who had come forward.

The other six were somewhat more mundane characters, not worth keeping around other than their usefulness as a shield in case something went wrong.

Paul, Shena, Dabiol, Mortis, Vengal and Nior.

Respectively a Warrior, a Ranger, an Explorer, a Priest, a Thief and finally a Gunsmith.

Classes that had diverged very little compared to the basic ones that had been proposed by the interface. Compared to them, the variations of the quartet had been much more interesting, with a much higher potential.

His guards did not bother him, joking with him from time to time about the weakness of some of the people accompanying them, jokes to which he responded with a nod and a slight smile. He couldn't help but see them as anything but expendable pawns, and the King didn't mix with the pawns.

With this in mind, they traveled, for a month in total, before stumbling upon the Wyvern's lair.

When the scouts had returned, only two out of five, they had described the beast, and it seemed quite worthy of Niclos' attention, although he preferred to make up his own mind.

It was high time, because the group was starting to split up, tired from the journey, and nervous since one of the close guards had killed a cook who had joined them. It was a Nessos who had refused the salacious advances of the man, who was none other than Kallum, and she had been found the next morning, with her throat slit in her sleep and having been subjected to...sexual abuse apparently inflicted after her death.

The discontent had grown and Niclos had acted by decapitating the leader of the group, turning his arm into a wolf's paw with razor-sharp claws, a gesture that had silenced the rest of the malcontents.

He knew it would only last for a short time, but he could not weaken his inner circle in any way, no matter what they did. That's how you get deep loyalty: by accepting the vices of your lieutenants.

As a reminder, he had hung the dead man's head on his mount, and the revolving eyes and hanging tongue seemed to have added a little personal touch to this efficiency that he greatly appreciated.

He had a discussion the day after the beheading with his four main lieutenants.

"Kallum...maybe you could have held back, right? Doing what you did to that Nessos, when we're almost at the end of the line..."

"I can't help it! When I want something, I take it! That's how I work! And it's just a Nessos, not like I raped and slit the Empress's throat, right..."

Niclos swept the air with his hand and sighed, finding the problem secondary.

"No matter, what's done is done...if I wanted to see the four of you, it's to make everything clear. Once the Wyvern is killed, if we succeed of course, I'm counting on you to leave no survivors."

Palnia, the assassin with the sensual and tempting curves, advanced towards Niclos and caressed his hair with a submissive air while looking at him with her eyes of ember.

"You've already told us, Niclos...don't worry, we'll be careful in our work...and if you'd just let me do it and relax...I might have even more motivation to the task, who knows?"

The Incarnator removed his hand and glared at her.

"If you go on like this, you won't get anything Palnia! Wait until all this is over, and then maybe we can have some fun. And what I want to do is of course to get rid of the troublemakers, but intelligently. Let them enjoy themselves, butcher the beast, carry the resources to the outskirts of Delia... "

Dejros had formed a ball of frost swirling in his hand, and as if to complete Niclos' sentence, this sphere burst into a thousand pieces, imaging his words without the mage needing to say anything.

"Absolutely, Dejros..."

"What about me, Niclos? Will you let me have a little fun before you slaughter them like cattle?"

"You can organize one of your "hunts" if you want, Aguénor. As long as none of them escape and reach the capital, I have no quarrel with your...desires, whatever they may be. In the meantime, restrain yourself," he concluded, looking at Kallum with emphasis.

This one grunted, the closest form of assent he could get, he knew.

They came to a plateau, which the scouts thought would be the last stop before reaching the Wyvern's lair.

The campsites were set up, the fires were lit, and everyone took the opportunity to rest before finishing this quest that most regretted taking.

Niclos passed through the ranks, inveighing against the stragglers and organizing the preparation for the coming battle, which was to be fierce.

Two blacksmiths brought out their whetstones and perfected the weapons of the entire group. Two tailors refurbished tunics and leathers that had been damaged during the journey while the remaining cook prepared a gargantuan meal in a giant pot, doing his best to give the group a buff before the onslaught that everyone was both dreading and waiting for.

This mixed feeling of fear and anticipation projected an electric atmosphere on the camp, motivating everyone to do their best despite what had happened during the previous days. Niclos cheered on his security detail when he saw that they were preparing heavily for what was to come.

Kallum spoke as Niclos gathered them all for a final briefing before the battle ahead.

"Do we really have to wait, Niclos? We could go and do this monstrosity ourselves, couldn't we?"

Everyone looked at him with empty eyes, ignoring the suicidal remarks of the barbarian who thought that any enemy was within his reach, without any consideration for reality.

Niclos answered him calmly, but his word left no room for further discussion.

"We follow the plan, Kallum. First you let me observe the monster, then we send in the bulk of the troop, the cannon fodder, which will be used to deplete the creature's mana, and maybe even hurt it a little if the traps prepared are of any effectiveness."

Then he pointed at Dejros, continuing the explanation of his battle plan.

"Next comes the assault of Dejros, accompanied by the various offensive mages we have with us. With a little luck, we will be able to seriously wound the beast at this point. Dejros, don't drain your mana, you might need it after the hunt to get rid of the woodlice."

He looked back at Kallum and gave him a big smile.

"At that point, and only at that point, will all physical assailants be able to enter the battle. You will concentrate on the wings of the Wyvern, to prevent it from flying away, Kallum. If they are out of reach, aim for the legs or tail first. Incapacitate it as much as possible. Aguenor, you can join the party if necessary."

He then looked at the sultry black-clad assassin and nodded to her.

"Palnia, I will need you by my side. You will veil my presence while I observe the creature, and stay close to me to eliminate any potential threat. For the others, I hope the plan is understood. It is vitally important that you follow it to the letter."

Everyone nodded and the next fifteen minutes were dedicated to the details of the operation. Niclos planned the different situations that could occur, trying to exploit as much as possible all the cannon fodder he had at his disposal and that he didn't want to pay for in any case when he returned to the capital.

The scouts had done their job well, describing very accurately where the creature lived and its physical characteristics.

The Wyvern lived in a cave a few minutes away from the plateau where they were now, stationed at the entrance and enjoying the sunlight like a large, deadly lizard.

They had observed her for many hours and concluded that apart from the hunting she seemed to do every night, her behavior was fairly sedentary and contained no major irregularities.

They had five hours before the sunset, so the window of time for the assault was wide enough. The scouts had even found a promontory from which Niclos could observe the creature and keep an eye on things without putting himself in danger.

The physical description of the wyvern was sobering, and no one in their right mind would personally attack such a creature.

About ten meters long, its body really looked like a lizard's. Four powerful legs on which it seemed to move at ease, and a massive tail that could probably sweep away a dozen people in a single movement. Its body was covered with bluish scales overlapping each other and acting as a natural shield against external attacks.

Its mouth resembled that of an iguana, with two jowls hanging from the side and a tongue cut down the middle of it sticking out from time to time between the hundred or so giant, pointed fangs adorning the inside of its jaw.

If someone got caught, according to the scout, it was over for him. And he announced this with full knowledge of the facts, having seen his colleague a little too imprudent being swallowed in two mouthfuls by the reptilian creature.

Finally, the giant lizard possessed a pair of gigantic wings that allowed it to fly away to seek prey on the surrounding plateaus.

The implication was that if they hadn't gone out at night, some of them would surely be part of the Wyvern regime.

After listening in detail to the report of the scouts, Niclos decided not to change anything in the plan of action, which according to him covered all the possibilities.

So they gathered the entire troop, dividing people by skill and explaining to everyone their role in the upcoming assault.

Kallum and Dejros took command of the two battalions created, one of the melee fighters, the other of offensive mages.

Dabiol found himself at the head of a battalion of ranged attackers, a small group of about ten people. Their offensive capacity was not enormous, but it could be enough to finish off the beast or to distract it, depending on the course of the battle.

Aguenor found himself at the head of a trio of healing mages that he would direct as needed. One of them had to be in contact to use his magic, but the other two could use area spells that greatly increased the body's natural regeneration, which could be very useful if the fight dragged on.

Niclos gave the signal, reminding everyone that only he could start the assault and that they had to wait until the sunset was almost here.

So he headed for the promontory, a scout leading the way on the rocky and treacherous path in places while Palnia followed closely behind, a lecherous smile on her lips, walking lightly while Niclos had to concentrate on his steps not to fall.

They quickly arrived on the said mountain, and he could admire the view from where he was standing. Surrounded by the mountains, some of which had snow on top, the sky was cloudy and heavy as if a storm was about to break out.

Below, a large rocky plateau was in front of the entrance of a cave that was not really a cave, its entrance being at least thirty meters wide, a bluish and gigantic figure lying inside.

He could make out half of the Wyvern's body, the other half sunk into the cavity, and it was just as large and monstrous as in the scouts' reports. From where he stood, he could see the creature's body rise and fall steadily, a sign of regular breathing and deep sleep, at least if the books he had read were correct.

If not...well, we'd have to re-group in Delia, and that would take time.

Using predefined signs with his lieutenants, he signaled the various companies to move into position, which they did without delay, and with as much discretion as possible. After all, they still had three hours before sunset.

Niclos focused his attention on the Wyvern, Palnia ready to snap him out of his observational trance when the time was right.

He took in every detail he could see from where he stood. The delicate shade of the scales, the length of the legs, the slight oscillating movement of the wings while the creature moved no muscles.

But that was just the beginning. He knew that the bulk of his observation task was yet to come, when the assault would be launched.

Silence reigned for what seemed like an hour, the troop nervous to wait idly by a monster that could tear them to pieces if their timing was off.

Only a few people were active, setting net traps as close to the Wyvern as possible and moving away as soon as it was done.

When everything was in place, Palnia lightly shook Niclos' shoulder and he came out of the contemplative state he was in, glancing down, seeing that all the preparations were finished.

He raised his fist, a sign that the front line should prepare for the assault. The tension was palpable in the air as everyone held their breath, making a final prayer to the gods they believed in, thinking of the gold that awaited them when this was over.

Then Niclos lowered his arm, and it was the beginning of a long and bloody battle.

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