Infinite Lives

Well it’s been another week… we have had several more successful responses, and Erran continues to improve slowly.

The feeling is small but present.

Bryan stirred the stew and looked around, seeing Erran and Len chatting.

“I am definitely getting stronger; I may need to take a test, as I could be a Steel Rank now,” Erran said while smiling.

Len chuckled and responded, “Aww, our little boy is growing up.”

Bryan sighed before handing the others a bowl of stew.

His comments like that are not needed.

They each dug into the food, and Erran spoke, “I am even getting used to Bryan’s stew.”

Len nodded before he spoke, “I know what you mean; we best be careful in case we start needing garlic on everything like Bryan.”

Len and Erran both chuckled before they ate some more.

“Is it just me or is it odd how many emergencies we get?” asked Erran.

Len looked up from his food and responded, “Not really?”

Erran looked confused before he spoke again, “doesn’t it seem like the villages are always under attack?”

No, not really?

Bryan tilted his head at Erran and spoke, “No, I am not sure why you think this?”

Len responded after a small chuckle, “Well compared to guild work it could seem frequent, but very few of the things we are doing would ever be guild quests.”

Erran stopped eating and thought for a moment before replying,

“Why though?”

“We mostly put out fires, help missing people or deal with monster attacks. By the time they put a request in it would be over,” said Bryan.

Plus most the village could survive.

Erran thought for a moment before he smiled widely, “I think I get it, we are helping people who wouldn’t have been helped without us.”

Erran continued eating while humming. Len shrugged and dug into his food as well.

After a short while, one ding could be heard from Bryan’s bag.

Good, something to do.

They packed up some of the camp items and headed for the village. Once there, they met with the villagers.

Looking around, I can’t see any obvious damage.

“So what is the issue?” Bryan asked.

“We are not totally sure; our livestock keeps being attacked, but since they are in the walls… we are not sure how exactly,” said a villager.

Len shrugged, so Bryan spoke again, “Ok, we will figure out what is doing this and stop it.”

The three of them made their way over to the pens where the animals were being kept. Len and Bryan inspected the injuries and bodies off to the side.

Can’t say what caused this exactly; all of the bites and claw marks are on the animals’ backs.

I would assume what attacked them can fly.

“Whatever attacked them appears to be a flying creature,” Bryan said.

Len walked over after he had finished examining; he then spoke,

“I agree; luckily there are not too many flying monsters.”

Erran scratched his head before responding, “Not sure how you guys figured that out exactly.”

Len laughed before he spoke, “Don’t worry, boy, you will get there one day.”

“If they fly… we can’t follow a trail, so we will wait for them to come back,” Bryan stated.

They each found a place to sit down and waited for several hours, with Len and Erran occasionally talking to each other and the villagers.

As night fell and the villagers retired to their homes, the trio continued to wait.

I think I hear an odd noise…

Enhance Senses.

Flapping and some screeching noises.

Dispel.

“Something is coming; we should be ready,” Bryan stated before he stood and unsheathed his sword.

Len and Erran readied themselves as well. Looking up, Bryan could see the moon illuminating the sky until it was partially obscured by black dots.

“Not sure how you heard them before I did… humans tend to have the worst senses out of almost all races,” Len said.

Not important right now.

The creatures screeched and began diving towards the animals.

“Rock Ravens,” Len said before he began launching arrows at them.

Bryan gestured to Erran, who ran over to stand near the animals. Raising his hand, Bryan concentrated and began launching Rock Shots at the creatures that swarmed above.

Roughly forty or so… but they seem weak.

One dove towards an animal; Bryan aimed and fired a Rock Shot which went straight through the side of the creature, causing it to crash into the ground lifeless. Len, aiming upward, fired arrows in rapid succession, hitting three of them in a row.

One was diving at one of the animals, but Erran intercepted it with an upward swing of his sword, slicing it in half. This continued until the last few of them flew away into the distance.

“Well, that went well… but flying creatures are always a pain,” Len said before lightly sighing.

Erran walked over and spoke, “I am sorry I was not very helpful; I have no ranged abilities.”

Bryan shrugged at him before replying, “We are aware you don’t… it isn’t important.”

Some of the villagers came out of their houses and spoke, “Thank you, we have not seen creatures like that before.”

“They are somewhat common in the far north; Rock Ravens tend to migrate south and feed on docile animals mostly,” Len stated before he laughed.

“Sorry, you didn’t ask for a lesson in monster ecology,” Len said before laughing and wandering over to Erran.

The information is surely useful, though. They are unlikely to see them again.

After the villagers had thanked them, they began walking back towards where they camped.

“There is something about that fight that bugs me,” Erran said while looking towards Len.

“Huh, what?” Len said.

“In several fights you have shot so many arrows; in that one alone I counted at least forty you fired,” Erran said.

Len shrugged and responded, “Yeah, what is wrong with that exactly?”

“The quiver you have looks like it could only hold thirty or forty arrows?” Erran said while scratching his head.

“His quiver works similarly to my Item Box, except just for arrows. Holds close to a thousand arrows,” Bryan responded.

Pretty sure I remember that correctly.

Len tilted his head at Bryan and responded, “Did you just figure that out?”

“No, you have told me before,” Bryan replied.

Len chuckled and spoke, “I definitely didn’t… think I’d remember that.”

He definitely told me at some point… curious.

They kept walking until they got to their camp, which they set up and ate while waiting to see if another alert occurred. Bryan was sitting on a log near the fire while Erran cooked food for them.

“Well, your idea to move the camp seems to have helped,” Len said.

Agreed.

“Yes, it has improved our response times marginally,” Bryan responded.

They sat for several hours, taking turns stoking the fire or collecting firewood.

Well, it is getting late; best we go to sleep for today.

Two of them went to sleep while one kept watch until another took their place later. The next morning, once they had had breakfast, they waited again.

Should I do some hunting?

Bryan’s bag dinged eight times.

Thank God…

Bryan pulled out the map, and they packed up and set off to the village. As they reached the clearing, they could see the village in the distance.

Well, no fire or monsters… so unlikely to be something obvious.

“Wonder if they want us to find some lost sheep? Would be a weird use of the bell,” Len said before he laughed.

Erran shook his head at Len as they walked through the gate into the village.

One of the villagers approached, and Bryan spoke, “So, what is the issue that you need help with?”

“Hopefully something you can deal with quickly; three of our hunters have not returned. They are several hours late at this point,” said one of the villagers.

Erran nodded and spoke, “Don’t worry, we will do our best to find them. Which direction are they supposed to be?”

Saving people, well, this being successful tends to produce some small feeling…

The villager thanked them and pointed to the west. They walked back out of the gate, around the walls towards the west.

“So when we get there, Len will track them so we can find them,” Bryan stated.

Len shrugged before he spoke, “Sure, no problem. I am curious, though: how do you track?… you don’t have the keen senses of an elf or beastkin.”

Hmm, so they either use natural ability or do not consciously use skills for this kind of thing.

“It is not difficult, a spell that can increase either a specific sense or all of them,” Bryan said.

“Oh, that is cool… why don’t you do that all of the time?” Erran asked.

Very dumb question.

“Considering it is a spell that is likely a bad idea,” Len stated to Erran.

“He is correct; while in use, it constantly drains Mana and could potentially harm me,” Bryan said.

Erran scratched his head before he spoke, “How can seeing or hearing better hurt you?”

“My guess is those with naturally good senses adjust them naturally… but say you enhanced your hearing and suddenly a very loud noise occurred, that would hurt a lot,” Len said before he let out a light chuckle.

Len can be somewhat intuitive at times.

“Essentially, yes,” Bryan said.

They walked a short while longer until Len gestured for them to stop. Len crouched down and examined the ground for a while.

“Well, I think they passed through here… we should follow where they went,” Len said, gesturing to the north.

They walked for several minutes until they hit a clearing and Len crouched again.

“Ok, they seemed to have a fight here… but based on how the blood is, I don’t think it was a monster,” Len said.

“Did they fight each other for some reason?” Bryan asked.

Len shook his head, then spoke, “No, there are too many tracks. They ran into other people.”

Standing back up, Len walked over to another side of the clearing before he spoke again,

“Someone dragged people in this direction.”

The three of them followed the trail into the forest for another ten minutes until Len stopped abruptly.

“Well, shit… it seems we were too late,” Len said with his hand on the back of his head.

Bryan looked over and saw three bodies in a pile next to a rock. Walking over, he knelt down to inspect them.

Based on the clothes, they look like the hunters…

Various stab and cut wounds… one partially flayed… many broken bones…

Bryan stood up and sighed before speaking, “This looks like it could be that bandit from before.”

“Why do you think it is Gregor?” Erran asked.

Well, the wounds seem consistent, though they are not displayed.

“I am not sure, but this seems an excessive level of violence,” Bryan said.

Erran sighed deeply before speaking, “Fucking sucks when we can’t help people.”

Yes, it doesn’t produce the feeling when we fail.

“Len, can you continue to track those who did this?” Bryan asked.

“Yes, I can give it a go,” Len said while inspecting the boot marks.

They followed Len as he led them further into the forest. After another ten minutes of walking, Bryan’s bag suddenly dinged six times. He pulled out the map and showed it to Len.

“The village is in the direction we are going,” Len stated.

The three of them picked up the pace into a jog. After another fifteen minutes, they entered a clearing and saw smoke rising from the village.

Must be faster…

Bryan burst into a sprint and reached the village first. He ran through the gate and up to one of the villagers.

“What happened?” Bryan said before catching his breath.

Most villagers were running with water to put out the fire, but one spoke to him, “A bandit attack… they set fire to a house, killed several and took four with them when they left.”

Len and Erran came through the gate and joined Bryan by the villager.

“How long ago and what direction?” Bryan asked.

“I didn’t hit the bell when the fire happened; I didn’t until the fighting broke out.” the man said, looking at the ground.

After a few moments, the man lifted his head again and spoke, “They went to the north, I think.”

Bryan nodded and quickly headed for the gate and turned north, Len and Erran keeping up with him.

“We need to jog the whole way,” Bryan stated.

The others nodded, and all jogged into the forest with Len leading them along the trail of footprints. After five minutes, they reached a small clearing with large stones. Bodies were displayed on three of them, and on the fourth, a body with a man crouched over it.

Ok, seven bandits and the one on the rock.

Bryan gestured to the left as they approached with their weapons drawn.

Physical Enhancement.

Bryan unsheathed his sword, then dashed forward and, with two swings, cut the heads off two of the bandits. To the left of him, Len had hit three in the chest with arrows, and Erran had run through another with his sword.

The one on the rock had not even looked up from what he was doing. One bandit was panicking and tried to run into the forest; Bryan launched a fire bolt after him. The bandit was engulfed in flames.

He did not react to anything; this is odd…

Bryan walked over to the man crouched over a body on the rock.

He is trying to arrange the limbs in some way…

“Are you Gregor the butcher?” Bryan asked.

The bald man turned only his head and stared into Bryan’s eyes as he spoke,

“I find that name reductive… I would call myself Gregor the artist,” he said before continuing to arrange the body.

I do not understand this at all…

Erran stepped forward and spoke, “What the fuck are you doing to these people?”

Gregor smiled and spoke, “Ah, that is a good question… I am making my art.”

“How the fuck is this art?” Erran shouted.

Gregor leaned his head back and made eye contact with his head upside down.

“The bodies… the cuts… the red… It’s beautiful,” Gregor replied, continuing to move the body for a moment until he stood up.

Gregor ignored the weapons pointed at him and calmly walked to the middle of the rocks and looked between them.

This is illogical… what is his motivation?

“Shall I just kill him?” asked Len with his bow drawn fully.

Bryan shook his head before speaking, “Why were the hunters left in a pile?”

Gregor sighed and then spoke, “Ah, you found that failure. Those bodies were uncooperative… they would not arrange correctly.”

…bodies cannot cooperate.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!” Erran exclaimed.

Gregor turned and smiled at him before speaking, “Nothing, I am happy… these bodies arranged perfectly.”

“How could you do this to people?” Erran asked with a strained voice.

“Everything in this world kills… It’s a beautiful part of life… these people offered themselves to make the world more beautiful,” Gregor said before smiling widely.

Bryan just stared at him with his fist clenched, breathing heavily.

“I don’t really have room for you three in this piece… if you came with me, we could find somewhere else you could be displayed?” Gregor asked.

There is no logic to this…

THIS HAS TO STOP!

Physical Enhancement.

Bryan darted in front of Gregor and, while crouching, punched his right knee, followed by the left, each with a loud crunch sound. Leg bone protruded from the side of each leg, and Gregor collapsed to the ground.

Bryan walked over to his right, breathing heavily, and grabbed one arm and, with a quick motion, snapped it over his knee at the elbow; he then walked over and did the same to the other arm while Gregor screamed.

Standing over Gregor, Bryan tilted his head as he pulled out a dagger and slowly pushed it into Gregor’s stomach. Gregor coughed blood into Bryan’s face before speaking,

“Yes, make me beautiful!”

Bryan stood up and turned around, starting to walk away.

“Are you really going to leave him like that?” Erran exclaimed.

Turning around, Bryan saw Len and Erran staring at him with wide eyes. Looking over at Gregor, who was on the ground, smiling and coughing up blood while trying to shift his body.

Very true… that was not efficient…

Bryan lifted his hand towards Gregor, with his hand glowing bright red.

Gregor shouted, “No, don’t ruin the art!”

Incinerate.

With a bright flash, only scorch marks remained where Gregor was. The three of them began walking back to camp silently.

Very odd… for once they are not talking, and Len has not made any jokes…