There was battles throughout the city as various mbers of the 'Fingers' made moves against the guards and the various other warriors that resided in Bascra, keeping them from reaching the libraries that were built in the center of the city, surrounded by everything else as a defensive asure for sothing they viewed as important.
But also, the further we ran into the city, the older the architecture got as we made our way into the original city of Bascra, and it really did feel rather cinematic as we rushed through the streets and leapt past the various civilian dressed rogues brandishing knives and short swords as they entangled themselves with the law.
"There seems to be quite a few of these 'Fingers' around here; how big is this organization? Surely they can't be that big inside of a country like this? I an, the Sultana and you Death Jackals... how have they been able to avoid being stamped out completely over the years?"
Hera clicked her tongue softly at my words, the Death Jackal not sparing a glance as she leapt past and took the spot at the front, guiding us in whilst a few other Death Jackal's rushed behind us, keeping us inside their ring of protection as best they could.
It was Anput who responded, the Jackalkin Begum chuckling softly as she answered "The reason there are so many is simple; most of the criminal gangs end up being absorbed into the Finger's eventually, and so we have a single giant entity of cri instead of a myriad of smaller entities. The other reason for them being here still is because they are like cockroaches; impossible to kill completely since their leaders are so damn hard to find, and with their leaders still alive, more idiots choose cri over actual labor and an honest life." "So the leaders are too elusive and the people too stupid to realize they are being used as fodder. Fun. A recipe that knows no bounds at all for how irritating it could be; still though, are they just not that much of a problem in total, or is it just that difficult to try and find them?"
"Yes."
That was all Anput gave as she batted aside one of the dozen needles that shot towards us, the Death Jackals deflecting the others before they could reach us and using their magics to slingshot them back, catching so of the Finger's by surprise and dropping them to the ground as they were given a taste of their own poisons, sothing that Leone was becoming keen to tell us about.
"Did you know that they utilize so sort of scorpion venom to create a far more dangerous toxin that doesn't actually need a scratch to deal damage to you? It's a sort of paralytic venom that they amplified with other herbs to turn it from a venom into a poison; sothing that only needs minimal contact instead to get rid of their opponents temporarily, and sothing that is rather painful too if it is allowed to fester."
"All I'm hearing is these are so an pricks that are getting what's coming to them. Nice to know; Kat, are you interested in making use of these poisons or venoms or whatever the hell they are? I wouldn't mind a live demonstration..."
That made roll my eyes as I didn't give the Demoness a reply, though when Leone happily said "I wouldn't mind that at all! It'd be fun to try and guess the herbs they used from a live demonstration; perhaps I could even reverse engineer it or concoct the antidote in front of them to have so practice?" we all couldn't help but raise a brow as we looked at the Vampire curiously.
"What? These people are willing to harm innocents for no reason, even going so far as to endanger helpless won and children with their violence. They deserve it, especially since they deploy a concoction like this in crowded spaces."
"I always forget how weirdly benevolent and caring you can be, Leone... it doesn't usually match with the rest of us, but then you get like this and you very much do match the rest of us..."
She just grunted and didn't reply as we continued onwards, finally making it to the center as we rushed past the various grunts and instead focused on reaching the elites of this rogue group, and as soon as we reached the large, squat buildings that had very obvious ornantation to denote their importance, we noticed instantly how many more people were here compared to the streets we had just been running through.
We were forced to notice since a myriad of guards were struggling to push back a wave of Fingers who were brandishing larger weapons than before, and as I took a closer look for a brief mont I saw that the various spears and other two handed weapons that were clearly assembled using multiple parts, which ant they had snuck into the city sohow and gathered themselves an arsenal.
There were, of course, a few warriors here and there that weren't dressed like normal civilians and instead wearing armor and wielding large blades and even making use of so advanced spells, which was causing the guards to slowly be pushed back as they tried to hold the line; as soon as we erged onto the scene, three of those said warriors beat down their opponents and rushed into the libraries, with one shouting "Drink those damn potions and buy us ti! Anyone who survives will get a noble's ransom and a Noblewoman to slake their thirst!" as they disappeared.
A brutish cheer erged amongst the rogues at the promise of money and sex, and before we could actually understand the situation and make a judgent call on what to do, a dozen of the rogues uncorked potions and downed them instantly, the murky red liquid making them shudder as they started to beco wellsprings of mana, their bodies growing larger and stronger with this influx of energy.
Muscles swelled to a new size, bones cracked beneath the pressure before healing again as they supported this new mass, wisps of mana sweated out of their reddened skin as they began to easily cut through the shields and spears of the guards, jolting us into action imdiately as we watched the first dozen guards drop to the ground, cleaved in two or missing limbs.
The damage dealt in re monts was absurd, these berserker like potions giving the Fingers a clear edge as they hacked and slashed through the guards before spinning around to face us, their weapons raised and dripping with viscera as they let out guttural roars and battlecries, not afraid at all by the black clad Jackalkin.
"Be careful with them, that potion is undeniably special... who knows how strong they are now, or if they can even keep that mana under control."
Leone's warning was enough to give Anput and Jahi montary pause, but they both just glanced at one another before rushing in behind the Death Jackals, their weapons raised as they charged into the fray and crashed into the various drugged up rogues.
Their theatrics would normally make shake my head and share a wry smile with Leone before I got to work, but seeing sothing like this really did make cautious since I had far too many mories of various berserker potions or perks that turned low level idiots into strong monsters that dealt so much damage everyone else would be sweating at the re thought of facing them.
Caution was still one of my bywords I tried to live by, so I stayed back with Leone and opened up with a support spell on both Anput and Jahi, cloaking the two warriors in both a Wind and a Water Cloak as I gave them enhanced reflexes and healing all at the sa ti, knowing that Anput's speed being heightened was unlikely to be matched whilst Jahi's strength being sped up only ant death for most people, so defense was less needed compared to their offense.
Of course I wasn't going to be conceited either, so as soon as that was up I wove together the runes for a Domain Spell that would help keep this large crowd of potioned up idiots controlled sowhat, and that was done with a very simple - yet ever effective - gale of frozen wind that buffeted directly against their face, the temperature dropping and allowing a thin layer of frost to begin creeping along their robes and gear.
With the frost being so widespread and there being a rather potent source of heat right beside , the next order of business was keeping those winds high as Leone lobbed fireballs at them, arcing them over Anput and Jahi's heads and allowing them to crash to the ground and burn everything around them, resulting in an excess amount of vapor filling the air as my frost was lted away instantly by Leone's flas.
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