Soul Nomad Part #71

Part 71: Challenge

Chapter 5: Challenge

It seemed the good people of the city of Astec were itching for a fight with us. I was perfectly happy to oblige, although it turned out to be more hassle than it was worth honestly. We were greeted by some moron cow guy at the entrance to the city. And by greet I mean he and his buddies attacked us.

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Hehe. Everyone looks way strong.

...

Levin! They have a child!

I know that, idiot!
But there's no way I'll lose to a bunch of child-snatching jerkoffs!
Master Christophe!

I guess the old guy that came out is the one in charge in Astec.

Yes, sir!
But it's dangerous up here. You should head back and watch us wipe the floor with these losers!

I think they're talking about us.

Heh. Let the bitches bark.

Hohoho! God's punishment comes to you in a wave of red fury!

...

Hey mister, you're lookin' kinda pale.

Hey. Remember what happens if you slack.

Grr...!
I'm sorry. Unless I fight against you, Penn will...!

Heh. Yeah. We told Thorndyke we'd kill the little brat if he didn't play nice. I'm not sure what I'd do if he called us on it. The kid's so damn weird. But not as weird as that goddamn Sepp guy. Bastard seemed invulnerable.

Well I'm not gonna let you do that to my home, pal!
I don't have anything personal against the rest of you, but I can't spare you!
It's just bad luck that you fell in with the damn Master of Death.

He thinks this is bad luck?

Hahaha. That's funny. I'm pretty sure it's everyone else who has the shit luck.

No matter how damn hard I tried, though, he always seemed to avoid the blow. I've never seen anything like it. It was so lame.

Feinne on Soul Nomad:

We of course know Levin is really Raksha, which is why he's so hard to kill. Note that this map ends the second time you fight Levin on the map, regardless of anything else. It's super easy because all the rooms are Soldiers, the most pathetic units in the game.

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Why can't I tear him apart?

Yeah, what's his deal? I figured he was just another maggot. Maybe it's some sort of spell...?
No, I don't think that's it... Man, I just don't get it.

Heh heh heh. I can do anything I put my mind to! And you know what they say. A smart Gryphos hides its talons!
I'm a badass, and you guys are totally weaksauce! Hahaha!

That's it! Gig, gimme more power!

Hahaha. I've never seen you so pissed, kid.
Okay! Let's kick it up a notch!

...

You know what, though? Honestly, this was getting pretty lame and I was getting pretty hungry. I made the command decision to eat some delicious pancakes instead of wasting another second battling this oaf outside some loser city I'll just plow into the ground some other time.

Huh?! What the hell?
Things were just about to heat up! Man, this sucks!

I don't care. I'm hungry.

What? Hungry?! Who cares about food? You can eat later! Hey, stop! Get back there and finish those bastards!

Look! They're retreating! Master Christophe, we did it! Glory to the winners!

Grr... I... what am I doing?
I want to help Penn get away... but I just can't! Juno... everyone... I'm sorry.

Anyway, I was all ready to get my pancake on back at the village, but we got interrupted by some visitors. For once, it wasn't some hero clowns hoping for an early grave.

So, which one of you's bein' pushed around by that Master of Death?

Pushed around? Not quite.

Heh. They always say looks can be deceiving... but I never expected this.
You look like you couldn't hurt a fly. But I hear you're the nastiest coyote in the land.

Hehe, yup. Nasty, brutal, bloodthirsty, you name it. Hell, I'm the one gettin' dragged around here.
So? Who the hell are you? And why do you wanna die?

Ah, that voice...
I was hopin' I'd get to hear it.

It turns out, though, that Penn recognized the guy. This was the Sepp he'd said kidnapped him. Which makes him the engineer of some good fun, so I approve.

Oh. Hah. I thought you were a girl. But you must be that boy we took.
So this is the third time we've met. Course, the first time you were hardly a day old. Probably don't remember that.

...!
Can I ask... why you took him the first time?

Huh? Whadda you care? You got somethin' to do with him?
Okay, well, the name's Lobo. Like the kid said, I'm in charge of a little child-snatchin' outfit.
We call it the Yesterwind. Ever heard of it? Don't imagine ya have.

N-no... I haven't.

But... why did you take this child?!
You weren't... hired by the Nereids, were you?

Most of our work is independent trading, but once in a while someone asks us to do them a favor, sure.
But our client wasn't the water folk. The request came from the King of Raide himself. Both requests, I should say.

...!
Then he... I was betrayed by my own king. This whole time...
Grr...

Ah ha ha, Thorndyke devoted his life to a worm-ridden lie. Classic. Anyway, Lobo finally decided to cut to the chase.

But anyway, here's the main thing...
Everywhere I go I hear about this reaper living inside a human. You sound fun and I wanna join up. So here I am.

Ohh, a friend of evil. Sounds great! Sounds like, so nice...

Friend, huh? Last thing I need is friends. What about you, kid? You wanna take him? Or you wanna bleed him dry?

Let's take him.

Perfect. From now on, we're amigos. And now you've got a hand in every black market in the world.
*whistle*

Lobo's goons came out of the woodwork. Seems he had quite a few in hiding around the village, probably in case we said no.

These're my men. Cuthbert here keeps 'em in line. He ain't the nicest snake in the pit, but he's a damn fine worker.

I don't deal with bullshit.

See? Nice and direct. And he knows how to follow an order.

Only because I still owe you...

What about you? What are you good for?

I deal in secrets. Finding 'em and selling 'em, mostly. Anyway, go ahead. Try 'em out.

Let's dominate them all.

Heh. So that's what you call it?

Lobo had an interesting idea for me to consider.

Huh? We have dominion over a crapload of people already.

No, no. That ain't what I mean.
I mean, really controlling the world. Only someone with your power could pull it off.
Don't you think it'd be more fun to move things around and make the world how you want it? Huh, pal?

...

What the hell? He hasn't been here five minutes, and he's already trying to change how we do things?

I'm not sayin' ya gotta change. I'm just sayin' it's worth trying at least once. See if ya like it.

...

Heh. I'll take your silence as a yes.

This plan of Lobo's... Maybe it makes sense. All the time I spend asleep, I dream of a perfect world. I can envision it in my mind. Maybe it would be worthwhile to try and create it in this world. Hell, it's very nearly my DUTY to do so. I mean, I can still ball this crummy dive up and start over if it doesn't work. Lobo had an idea for a good first target.

Here, take a look at this map...
It's a backwoods place southwest of where we are now. There's a bunch of angels living there.
They move around real easy, so they can make do pretty well in the run-down buildings there.
I was thinking this could be our next target.
Some weapons were dropped there not too long ago. So they got plenty of equipment.
If we can 'convince' those flying pygmies to join us, that'd be a hell of an army, don'tcha think?

A hell of an army? Not likely.
Why would they ever join you? There's no way you could convince them.

Hah. You're that Grand Cordon, right? Not too good with subtext, are ya?