25: The Battle
As we travelled down the road, now surrounded by thick trees on both sides, I couldn’t help but reflect on last night. Why had the Shadow Cat stolen food? And why was everyone looking at me like it was my fault?
I was startled out of my thoughts when I looked up and saw Liane sitting there, watching me with an almost bored expression.
“Took you a solid minute to notice me. Something on your mind?” she asked with a small smile.
“Wait.. what? When did you get in here? I thought everyone had to stay on high alert?” I blurted out the questions, tumbling out in rapid fire.
Liane laughed softly. “I am on the horse—well, a decoy of me, anyway,” she explained.
“Is that why you’re always asleep on the horse?” I asked, genuinely intrigued. I’d had no idea she could make a decoy.
“Sometimes,” she admitted with a grin, “but most of the time it’s just me. It took forever to get that trick down and not fall off the horse.” Then her expression softened. “But that’s not why I’m here. I came to check up on you. How are you holding up?”
I blinked, caught completely off guard. I hadn’t spoken much with Liane before, and she’d always seemed aloof—more interested in food than people. This kind of concern from her was.. unexpected. My silence must have prompted her to keep going.
“We know people are looking at you strangely,” Liane said, leaning back in her seat, “but honestly, what happened isn’t your fault. Those beasts—especially the cats and other super-intelligent ones—do whatever they feel like, and nothing you could’ve done would change that.”
“I.. I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s just odd. Why did it follow us? Also, it killed so much last night while the buff was on it.” I mumbled the last part, but it clearly caught Liane’s attention.
“You buffed it?” she blurted out loud enough that Troy stuck his head in to see what was going on before shaking his head and turning back to the front.
“Yeah,” I said sheepishly. “It got me 8,700 experience.”
“Well, shit,” Liane replied with a laugh. “I’ll be honest, Trev, I’ve never heard of anyone buffing a beast before. I mean, sure, beast tamers can—but that’s through skills. And nobody has ever tamed a Shadow Cat.” She snorted like it was the funniest idea she’d heard all week.
“As for whether it’ll show up again.. honestly, it’s impossible to say. If it realised you buffed it? Who knows? You might never see it again in your life, or…” she trailed off with a shrug. “The minds of those cats are too hard to figure out. What matters is I want to make sure you’re okay. You’ve been through a lot this trip, and we’re barely a week in.”
“Yeah, I think I’m fine,” I said, though I wasn’t completely convinced myself. “I was just a little annoyed that everyone kept looking at me like the cat was my fault, but I guess they’re just scared.”
Our conversation was abruptly halted as a deafening screech pierced through the air, followed by Hari yelling out, “Halt! Stop the caravan immediately.” By the time I turned back to face where Liane had been sitting, she was gone.
My mind raced. We’re under attack again. It’s happening again. Don’t freeze up.
I timidly poked my head outside the wagon to see, but all I saw were all four of the adventurers at the front, all still on horses, observing something, but I couldn’t see.
Another loud screech pierced through the air, followed by a large cracking sound, almost like an explosion.
I couldn’t help but cover my ears. I saw Liane dismount from her horse and disappear. Hari was making his way back, obviously about to speak to Troy. My curiosity got the better of me. I really wanted to know what was happening.
“I’ve sent Liane to scout ahead, sir, but it sounds like there’s a battle up there. Once we know what we’re dealing with, we’ll go from there. For now, stay put,” Hari said in an all-business tone.
The sounds of battle were growing louder. A deafening screech, like that of a bird but magnified a hundredfold, made my ears ache. Alongside it came the sound of branches—no, entire trees—snapping like twigs, followed by what could only be described as explosions.
Several tense minutes passed before Liane returned. I watched her speak briefly with Hari before remounting her horse. Hari then strode back toward the wagon.
“Sir, there’s a very large Galvonson fighting a group of ancient-looking Treants. I suggest we turn back a ways and set up camp. If we involve ourselves in this fight, the likelihood of damage—or worse, loss of life—is extremely high,” Hari explained.
“But the Shadow Cat…” Troy hissed back.
“With all respect,” Hari interrupted firmly, “if that cat is still following us, there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it—whether we move forward or backward. Right now, there’s a massive battle blocking the road. If we try to pass through, we’re almost guaranteed broken wagons and casualties.”
Hari must have gotten his point across because the wagons soon turned around. I leant out the back, peering behind us in the hope of catching a glimpse of the fight. All four adventurers rode in formation at the rear while the rest of the wagons followed our lead.
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The sounds of battle still echoed through the forest—loud, violent, and relentless. I could see only brief glimpses: a massive grey-and-brown shape rising high into the air before diving back down, each descent followed by a thunderous crack. From this distance, the bird didn’t even look that large, but I knew better than to believe my eyes.
We travelled for about an hour before finally stopping. It was still early afternoon, but Hari’s decision was clear. Despite Troy’s lingering concerns, once Hari explained the risks of pushing forward, the rest of the caravan reluctantly agreed to make camp.
Not long after, another round of arguments broke out when Milo created only the smaller stone structure for our original group of ten. He told the others it was because he needed to conserve as much mana as possible in case the fight reached us.
The truth came out a few minutes later when I helped him gather firewood.
“I didn’t want them giving my friend a death stare all night,” Milo said with a chuckle. “A night outside will do them some good. Maybe your cat friend will visit them.”
I laughed—nervously. It was ridiculous to call that thing my friend, but the thought of it showing up again was enough to make my stomach twist.
While I was out collecting firewood, I ran Arcane Foraging as well. That’s when I spotted a small cluster of red flowers. They were shaped almost like tiny cups, each one glowing with a vibrant light that stood out even against the shadowed forest.
When I asked Milo about them, he only shrugged. “Never seen those before,” he admitted.
I decided not to waste the opportunity. I carefully picked the ten flowers that were there and stored them away, at least getting a name for them in the process.
Would you like to store 10x [Common] Blood Tears for 5 mana? Yes/No
“Apparently, they’re called Blood Tears,” I said after storing them.
“Oh, I’ve heard of those,” Milo replied. “That’s another alchemy ingredient, but I’ve only ever seen it dried and ground into powder. It’s one of the components for more advanced antidotes and other curative potions, though the alchemists keep the actual recipes pretty secret.”
We started heading back to camp. A large bundle of wood was floating ahead of us, neatly cut and bound by what had to be Milo’s wind magic—or at least, I assumed it was.
“They’ll know you’re not saving mana if you come back like that,” I said with a chuckle.
Milo just grinned. “Let them think what they want.”
Deciding to mix things up for dinner that night—and much to the joy of both Liane and Jen—I went with Buvul steaks again. I cut up one of the large rumps I had stored, then set a pot of tubers to boil, planning to mash them with butter and salt. To go with it, I cooked carrots and onions in butter, but this time I decided to experiment a little: I seasoned the steaks with Fire Salt to give them a nice kick, and in the carrots and onions, I added a bit of virfolium, hoping its tangy flavour would complement the dish.
Plating up the meals, I had to admit—they looked amazing. With the extra mana I had, I decided to infuse each plate individually rather than doing them in bulk like I usually did. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous that the Shadow Cat might suddenly appear and steal all the steaks, but thankfully, nothing happened.
By the time I’d spent 300 mana on six plates, I was down to my last 60. For the final four, I cheated a little and infused them all at once.
The meal turned out to be a huge success. The previously tense atmosphere lifted almost immediately—helped along by some very.. enthusiastic sounds from Liane as she ate.
“It’s lucky the cat didn’t try to steal this,” Liane said between bites. “I think I’d fight it for this steak.”
Milo burst out laughing, and even Hari cracked a smile, breaking his usual professional demeanour.
That night passed without incident. The sounds of the distant battle had faded completely, and the group seemed far more relaxed after the meal. I was also pleasantly surprised by what I learned: the buffs actually stacked—at least partially. The meal provided Minor Fire Resistance, +1 Strength, and +2 Endurance. From this, I figured the Fire Resistance came from the Fire Salts, Strength from the Buvul, and Endurance from the Virfolium.
The next morning, I cooked up a simple porridge similar to what I had made back at the temple, now that I finally had the ingredients in storage. I boiled the grain with half the milk I had, added sugar, three kinds of berries—including the purified Dilwater Berries—and finished it with a drizzle of honey before infusing it and serving it out.
Only Jen hesitated, eyeing the berries suspiciously before ultimately deciding not to make a fuss. She ate it without complaint, and apparently, this meal was another resounding success. Everyone loved the fresh berries, and there was one in particular they said they’d never tasted before, which gave the dish an incredible depth of flavour. I couldn’t help but chuckle at their reactions.
That meal came with the buffs Increased Poison Potency and Minor Poison Resistance, which actually made Liane look almost awake and excited—a rare sight this early in the morning, as she was usually half-asleep hugging her bowl. I wasn’t sure whether the buffs came from the dish as a whole or just the Dilwater Berries, especially since they were normally poisonous. More testing would definitely be needed.
Troy chose not to sit up front today, likely still wary after the fighting we’d heard on the road yesterday. As we moved out that morning, we eventually came to the site of the battle, and to say it was a scene of pure destruction would be an understatement. Broken wood and shattered branches littered the area, and here and there, I even spotted feathers.
That’s when I realised something unsettling: the bird I’d seen before was not small at all. No.. it was very much the opposite. One of the feathers was nearly the size of my leg.
Just how large was that bird?
We had to stop the caravan because the road was completely destroyed. It was going to take Milo some time to clear it, but as it turned out, most of the debris was actually Treant wood—and apparently, that stuff was worth quite a lot of money.
To my surprise, I discovered that I could store it in my storage. I had no idea how wood could possibly count as food, but I wasn’t about to question it.
After a brief discussion with Troy, Saddie, and the adventurers, I was told to store the largest pieces I could, since they’d be far too heavy to haul manually. The best part? I’d get to keep some of it, and I’d also get a cut of whatever I could carry.
It almost sounded too good to be true, but I wasn’t going to argue. I hurried around, gathering the biggest pieces and putting them into my storage. There turned out to be quite a few regular trees mixed in among the Treant wood, so it wasn’t as much as I’d initially thought—but it was still a lot. By the time I was done, I had at least two full trees’ worth stored away.
It took Milo nearly an hour to repair the road; the damage stretched on for quite a distance. But eventually, we were back on our way. Troy’s mood had improved considerably after the detour, and I had a strong suspicion why. That wood was going to fetch a small fortune—and Troy would get a large cut.
Turns out Jen had taken the feathers. She said she had a plan for them, so they were bundled together with string and stored in the back of the wagon.
“Just how big is that bird?” I asked in awe, staring at one of the massive feathers as I climbed back into my seat.
“They can get very, very large,” Milo replied. “The body of a fully grown adult would be about the size of this wagon, and the wingspan? Two wagons long—on each side.”
I blinked at him. “Could you even fight one?”
“We probably could,” Milo admitted with a shrug, “but it would be a tough fight. They spend most of it in the air, even at that size.”
I sat back, still staring at the feather. There was so much about this world I didn’t know, and so many unbelievable creatures. I hadn’t even considered the fact that this thing had just fought giant, sentient trees.. and won.
What a crazy journey this was turning out to be.