While Liam and his guardsmen, which were considerably larger than Ethan realized at over three hundred men, discussed their path forward Ethan watched as the inhabitants of the city continued to throw themselves against the frozen slopes he created around the rock formation. While some got injured it was still multiple times better than what would have happened without his intervention.
At his feet was the bald cult leader, he still didn’t know the man’s name and he didn’t really care about it all that much if he was honest with himself. The soldier that was holding him had to let go for a while because his hand was starting to cover the man’s neck in ice. While this could be a gruesome punishment if the man turned out to be useless for now Ethan still needed the man alive and fully capable of handling his abilities. So for now it was finally time to experiment, sending five soldiers over the walls to catch a test subject, calling them that made what was about to happen a lot easier in Ethan’s mind.
Not even five minutes later they returned with a middle aged man that looked like a normal, healthy adult besides the blood red eyes, the biting and the saliva dripping from his mouth. In behavior he mirrored a rapid dog and nothing more. Ethan identified him and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
[Human - Level 89 | Master Woodcutter - Level 89 | Cultist of the Red Queen - ?]
First off, what was wrong with his level? Being Level 89 was a dream for Ethan considering the amount of stat points he would have received at that point. Especially since he theorized there could be a new class waiting for him at Level 50 as he received his last class at Level 25. Of course there could be a new class waiting at Level 100 too but that was something to think about later, he was once again going off the rails with his thoughts.
Still there was one thing that surprised him, at Level 89 the man should be as strong as multiple people especially with his class being a woodcutter, which was a physically demanding job by old world standards. Now he was held by two ice soldiers, constructs without a level to boost them as their strength relied completely on Ethan. This was curious and something he had to investigate with some of the people if they managed to get rid of their mind control. He should ask Liam about it for sure.
Ethan stepped over to the man and with a wave of his hand the ice covering his mouth vanished, the skin had turned blue while the man’s lips were of an even darker blue and he couldn’t open his mouth as it had been frozen shut. Cold eyes looked down at the man as Ethan created a spike and slammed it into the madman’s mouth, ripping his lips apart which weren’t even bleeding as the blood got too cold for even that.
The man screamed in pain and threw himself to the ground, his hands covering his mouth as he thrashed around in pain. “Fuck you! You god damn animal, fuck, are you stupid or something?!” The man screamed at him in pain, gone was his cult leader act the moment he could talk again. “Look what you’ve done to me!” The soldier grabbed the man again, holding him down so he couldn’t escape and forced his head upwards so he had to look into Ethan’s eyes. “You should look at what you did, look at that man acting like an animal because you turned him into a mindless machine following your orders.” The soldier turned the man’s head so he could look at the poor guy who was still thrashing around mindlessly.
“I helped them! I gave them purpose and stability, all of them were scared shitless. Nobody stepped up or acted like a leader. I was the bigger person and showed them a way forward!” The man growled, venom in his words as he looked at the man, his unwilling cultist. Ethan laughed bitterly. “Is this your way forward? This is slavery hidden behind religious devotion. Calling yourself their leader when you’re just the man pulling the strings. Don’t be ridiculous, instead of spouting nonsense, why don’t you tell me how we can reverse it?”
For the first time the bald guy just looked confused at Ethan. “What do you mean, reverse it?” Ethan raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? I want you to release them from the control you put them under!” The man looked even more confused. “I can’t do that?” The elf slapped him, hard, the man’s head staying locked in place because of the icy fingers holding his head.
“What about now? Can you do it now, I want you to release them. Free their minds and bodies, you’re the one in control!” The man screamed at him. “Control? Do you think that I can control this many people just with my two classes? Are you stupid? The Red Queen has control, I’m just the tool she funnels her power through. They aren’t running against this rock to free me because they like me, they’re trying to save me so their link to the queen doesn’t break. Who knows what will happen if I die? They die with me, go even more crazy or fall into a coma. Not like I care.”
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Ethan slapped the man again and walked a few steps away, pinching the bridge of his nose as he took a deep breath. “I fucking hate divine bullshit.” He mumbled and walked away from the cult leader, maybe Liam had an idea, he also really didn’t trust the bald man and his words even if he would swear they’re nothing but the truth.
He found Liam at the gate, talking to two men that wore a different looking armor than the usual guard, it might be his seconds or something like that. When Ethan approached Liam turned towards him and smiled. “Ethan, good timing, good timing indeed. We came to a decision about…why are you looking so angry?” The man raised an eyebrow and gestured for the two men to leave them alone.
“I talked to our bald friend and he said he can’t free the people of their mind control or whatever it is. He doesn’t even know what would happen if we manage it somehow. While I have some ideas I wanted to talk with you first if they’re feasible in any way or if you have come up with something while you waited for a chance to free yourself.”
Liam looked surprised at what he had to say. “Well I must admit we never really thought about what comes after if we managed to rid ourselves of this…situation. We thought killing that bald fuck would be enough but if what he said is indeed true, which I would advise you not to think, than we might have a problem.”
Ethan sighed and nodded. “I know, I know, well I’m going to try some rituals and there might be something I can do with that but, well what would it even be? Cleansing magic could be the answer or do you need like holy magic but the control comes from some form of divine influence so what the fuck do I know? What I know is that this thing is a mess and we can’t just leave them like that or who knows where they go and what they do. Even controlled like this there must be a limit for their bodies.”
Both men walked back to the courtyard where the bald man and the captured woodcutter were held in place. When Ethan saw the rabid man he asked Liam. “By the way, what’s up with their classes? Are their stats broken?” Liam looked perplexed. “What do you mean?” Ethan gestured to the Level 89 Human. “He’s weak, like surprisingly weak. Shouldn’t he have a lot more strength for his class and level. That man should be able to level this entire rock in minutes.”
For a moment Liam looked at Ethan like he was stupid before realization shone in his eyes. “You haven’t encountered any other humans before right? Classes like yours, mine or that dibshit over there…” he pointed at the cultist. “...are combat oriented, as guards that’s not our main focus but still we fight. That man over there is a woodcutter, something called a civil class back in my tutorial. That is things like farmers, crafters, scribes and so on. While doing their work they get heavy buffs but outside of that? All those stats mean literally nothing.”
“That sounds fucking stupid.” Ethan looked at him like Liam’s face was upside down. “How should they defend themselves and what purpose does it bring to get put in shackles every time you don’t work on your profession.” Liam raised two fingers and put one down. “Well first off, guards, soldiers and mercenary type classes are there to defend you in a city, in war or when you’re moving around in the world. Secondly it’s to stop crime, if you have the strength of ten bulls while cutting wood that’s great…not so great when you just cut people up in the streets with that sort of strength. Civil classes or as you might say boring classes are a core pillar of the system. They ensure growth happens in the world, they raise the cities we live in, build equipment we need and are there to uplift humanity as a whole.”
He looked at Ethan. “You and I, we’re here to smooth the way for the rest of humanity. We’re fighting focused classes. Here to help the expansion effort by killing monsters and neutralising other threats. In our wake we leave a place others can inhabit and build up.”Ethan rubbed his temples and groaned. “Why does everything need to be complicated? Well fuck, I’m gonna try some ritual work can you try to keep the people from killing themselves? I’m worried if they try it long enough some will die from a bad fall or something.”
The guard captain nodded and patted Ethan on the shoulder. “We can try but I make no promises, just ask when you need help with anything. This mess has to be resolved fast, the protection afforded to settlements is gone because we destroyed the city. I must admit I didn’t really think about that.”
“That’s just fucking great.” Ethan mumbled before he set out to work.
