Apocalypse Healer - Path of Death-Chapter 20B2 - Fortress

David felt the tension in the air as Fortress remained silent. Zachariah’s expression soured, his hand twitching toward his blade. Surely, he wasn’t going to do that… right?

But Fortress nodded slowly, his translucent form wavering. That confirmed their suspicion—Fortress still remembered the last Cycle!

“Fuck!” Zachariah cursed, looking like he was about to erupt. Yet, against David’s expectations, the regressor’s response was surprisingly controlled. “Could you tell us anything about this ordeal, Your Excellency?”

What was that? David stared at Zachariah, watching his rampaging life signals while blood dripped from his clenched fists.

Fortress shook his head this time, and Zachariah cursed again.

“Why…?”

The Dwarven God lifted his hand, stopping the regressor with a wave of his energy.

“I don’t have time for that. You need to figure it out yourself,” Fortress bellowed, his voice domineering. “I won’t waste any more time and effort on this.”

He glanced at Torb, the domineering air no longer shrouding him. Fortress smiled vibrantly at the dwarf. The sudden shift unsettled David, sending a shiver down his spine.

“You provided me with everything I need and more. Your debt will be no more after today. As for your rewards… I agree with the seed of doubt Zachariah has planted in your mind. You will become my Prime Champion.”

David couldn’t help but keep watching Fortress. At first, it seemed like the god regarded Zachariah as an equal—maybe even with some deference—but his attitude shifted quickly. He ignored Zachariah and focused on Torb. Simultaneously, his Essence surged toward the violet Rift and seeped into the ground.

The Dwarven God’s translucent form dimmed rapidly as he distributed his Essence, and the surroundings began to tremble.

David followed the streams of Fortress’ Essence closely but couldn’t look everywhere at once. Stone walls and towers burst from the ground, surrounding the Rift, while the portal crackled loudly and expanded until it was three times its previous size. As expected, dozens of dwarves emerged from the portal, clad in thick plate armor. Their armor clattered, ringing in his ears as he watched lizards taller than warhorses step out, pulling bus-sized carriages.

“All of them are at the Peak of Bronze or already at the Silver Rank,” David blurted aloud, narrowing his eyes at the life signals unfolding before him. “But they’re stronger than most Protectors.”

The life signals didn’t tell him everything about the dwarves and their lizard mounts, but it showed enough to tell they were all connected to Fortress. Some of his Essence rooted deep in each of them. Not even Torb was like that… David glanced at his friend, then reconsidered. Torb hadn’t been like them before today. Now, however, he had been given more of Fortress’ Essence than all of them combined.

“You’re the dead one.” Fortress turned to him, his expression oddly irritated.

Dead one? David frowned deeply.

“Bereth’s youngling.” The Dwarven God laughed heartily. “Do you need help with something?”

His frown deepened, but Fortress didn’t seem to mind.

“To think I would have to listen to a god’s bullshit. That’s not something I expected to happen: not before the integration at least, “ David snickered, “I am no one’s youngling. I never accepted Bereth or Asmodeus as my Patron Gods. Though I don’t necessarily dislike them.

To be honest, he was still unsure what to think of the Pantheon or any transcendent being or organization, but he had warmed up to the thought of overly powerful beings existing.

“But since you’re already asking, I want to keep using the prehistoric Rift. Whether it’s for rampaging the Giant Tribes or to consume all the Origin Essence the Rift Core emanates. The reason shouldn’t matter to you right? Ah, and I won’t accept your Essence, so you better keep it away from me, or… ” He didn’t finish his senses but the meaning of his words was no doubt clear.

Fortress irritated him, and he finally understood why; The Dwarven God’s Essence lurked around him, rubbing his skin like a molester. However, Fortress seemed to be worse than that; his Essence was trying to seep into David’s skin.

He caught Torb’s sharp intake of breath, the silence around them deepening. He could no longer hear the clattering armor of the other dwarves.

What was wrong? David glanced around and met a sea of glares. Judging by their expressions, he must have said something outrageous.

“What’s the issue?” he muttered to Melach, who sighed, grumbling something about his attitude. David tilted his head and returned his gaze to Fortress’ translucent form, certain he had been nice enough.

But even if he had been rude… what did it matter? Fortress’ form was already on the verge of dispersing, leaving him with little to no Essence to waste on killing him. Then again, David didn’t think the Dwarven God was annoyed at him. If anything, he looked intrigued.

"Looks like the dead one is a bit fierce. A little rebel with good perception and decent growth. But is that owed to Zachariah, or..." Fortress shook his head, his expression turning more serious.

Fierce? This is me trying to be polite to someone who used my friend’s family to blackmail him! David felt like shouting, but he chose to be the bigger person and remained silent.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

However, Fortress’ tone sharpened, each word striking like a hammer. "But let’s make one thing clear. I do not care if you love or loathe me, but if you harm my people, I will hunt you down, whether the others approve or not."

"That makes no sense," he muttered, trying to figure out what kind of fixation Fortress and his believers had. Were they like chihuahuas—small and bad-tempered at the slightest provocation?

Maybe he had missed something, and Fortress was trying to make an example out of him.

Regardless, Fortress’ words carried some of his Essence, sending a shiver down David’s spine. He felt the Dwarven God’s Essence brush against him, attempting to invade his body. Quickly, he coated himself in Rend and Bloodlust, maintaining eye contact until the last traces of Fortress’ Essence flowed into Torb. He waved the god goodbye, ignoring the glares directed his way.

"I take that as a yes to entering the Rift whenever I please." He caught Torb’s beet-red face out of the corner of his eye and heard Melach mumble something about authority issues. He ignored them and dismissed his Intents.

David noticed Zachariah summoning a blade of Sword Intent—but the regressor hesitated. Then, with a slow nod, he let the energy fade and patted David’s shoulder.

"Quick thinking. That was good."

Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.

Clearing his throat, Zachariah turned to the others. "Our mission is done here. They don’t want us here anyway."

David agreed. He had no plans to stay longer than necessary, not when he was being glared at for casually talking to Fortress—when the Dwarven God was the one who had started it in the first place, which only served to irritate him further.

In any case, the dwarves would be busy for a while, building the Sanctuary, which consisted of more than just a few walls and towers. But he might have been wrong, judging by the scene before him—the stream of dwarves and bus-sized carriages showed no sign of stopping.

Zachariah sighed deeply while Melach spoke in a low, measured tone to Torb. Was he trying to calm him down?

"I will stay here and help them," Torb said in a firm tone, glaring at David. "They need me."

"That’s fine," David agreed, slowing only when the dwarf didn’t stop glaring at him. "I don’t think it’s necessary to say this, but you should understand at this point that no one in the Earthen Union has had anything to do with transcendent beings. At least, not to my knowledge. Too many things have changed in the last few weeks, and the World Awakening and your Champion Mission didn’t make things easier."

He groaned, hating that he had to explain the situation. "I think you can agree with me when I say that I do not care as much for the dwarven gods as you do. But I think it is only fair to put it into perspective."

David pointed at Melach and asked, "Do you worship the dwarven gods as much as you worship Fortress and your other gods?"

Torb was still glaring at him, but his furrowed brow and twitching fingers suggested he was mulling something over. The dwarf shook his head. "We have nothing to do with their gods."

"What about Giant Gods?" David continued, leaned closer to Zachariah, and whispered, "There are Giant Gods, right?"

The regressor nodded subtly while Torb spat on the ground, his voice filled with fury. "They shall drown in the Rivers of Xartu!”

He had no idea what the Rivers of Xartu were, but it sounded like Torb understood his point. David smiled at his friend and cleared his throat. "Since that’s established… how would you feel if a god you barely knew tried to take advantage of your friends?"

David watched as Torb’s glare wavered. Then, the dwarf’s eyes widened, as if the pieces were clicking into place.

"I… wouldn’t like that." Torb admitted.

"Exactly, and since I am from the Earthen Union, I know none of the gods. In fact, I didn’t even know they existed until the integration. Even then, it was—and still is—hard to believe that all of this truly exists." David spread his arms, gesturing at everything around him, including the horde of Xenoceratps.

"So, to put it mildly, I did not like Fortress because he basically forced you to prepare a Sanctuary for him to repay you for something you never even asked for. At least, not directly."

David still didn’t think he had done anything wrong, but the thought of losing access to the prehistoric Rift, the Dwarven Sanctuary, and more didn’t sit well with him.

Torb’s voice lost its earlier edge, and even his stance seemed more relaxed. “So… you like him now?”

David could barely suppress a laugh. “That’s what you concluded? I can’t say I hate Fortress, but I wouldn’t say I like him either. I am grateful for the power he granted you, and it’s great that we managed to establish another Sanctuary near Arc. It shouldn’t be a problem to work together to fight common enemies. But while I’m happy about your wonderful reward—since I know how much work we had to put into securing the Rift Core—you shouldn’t blindly trust everything your Patron says or does.”

Boundaries were important, especially in a close-knit relationship between a Patron God and his follower. He didn’t like the way Fortress used Torb’s family to move the dwarf like a pawn. However, Torb’s submissive nature and overreaction to a simple snarky comment directed at the Dwarven God irked him even more.

David took a slow breath, forcing himself to stay level-headed. The Earthen Union had devout believers too—ones who’d probably strike him down for speaking ill of their gods. He reminded himself that he didn’t know enough about other races’ cultures to fully grasp their relationships with their deities.

Regardless, it was irritating that Fortress could say whatever he wanted, but when David responded casually, he was treated as if he had committed a sin. Respect had to be earned, and Fortress had been in the negative until today.

“Are you coming with us?” Zachariah asked Melach. The elf’s eyes shifted from Torb to David and back before he nodded.

David sighed deeply and turned away. He hadn’t thought he’d need to justify his behavior to Torb for this long—especially after they had risked their lives helping him claim the Rift Core, securing a natural 3-Star Rift. Thinking about it, David felt his anger boiling up again. He turned away before emotions could get the better of him and started walking.

He heard footsteps behind him and felt a hand on his wrist, holding him back.

“I… I tend to forget that you’re from here. You’re strong, and you seem so used to fighting, killing, and everything… Sorry for acting up like that. We dwarves are very protective of our gods. There aren’t many of us, and it’s rare for one to attain divinity. You may not understand that yet, but while we don’t mind you speaking casually with us, dwarves don’t take kindly to seeing their gods ‘mistreated,’” Torb said, a wry smile tugging at his lips.

David raised an eyebrow but nodded. “It’s fine.”

If anything, it was a good learning experience. At least now, he knew that speaking casually to certain gods might provoke an immediate attack from their followers. While that might seem obvious, his previous experience with the gods showed that they didn’t kill easily. However, that didn’t mean their devout believers would be as restrained.

Fortress didn’t seem to mind. He only took things seriously when it involved his subordinates, David noted, making a mental note. Maybe it was time to do more research on the gods and their followers. It would definitely help him avoid situations like this… until he was strong enough to face them head-on, that is.

Torb, in the meantime, started smiling again. “Thank you for helping me.”