The morning moved swiftly as the group packed up their camp and headed out. They had been walking west, carving a path through the forest for a few hours. Regal checked his map and compass to find that their heading was spot on every time. Lloyd and the group woke up well past sunrise, so he missed the switch that Milla had made from her night form to her day form. The Firefox came sprinting back at the group with her hackles raised. Sheena shifted her hand to her daggers as she stared in the direction from where Milla came from.
“Well, it looks like we have a fight up ahead. We don’t have a good route or the time to go around, so it is time to see what you boys are made of.” Sheena said as she looked back towards Lloyd and Regal.
Regal extended his fist, and Lloyd gave it a quick bump. They both cracked their necks and headed to the front of the group.
“What are we going against?” Regal asked.
Lloyd looked over at his brother as a wave of anxiety crashed in. He hoped it wasn’t another group of humans. He wanted to avoid those fights at all costs.
Sheena took a moment before turning to face the direction they were headed. A few large, fast-moving objects came barreling down the road. “Those," Sheena said as she pointed to the enemies.
Lloyd and Regal stepped farther in front of the group and stared down the charging Corrupted.
“Triangle…” Regal started to say before he turned to Lloyd with a hint of sadness in his eyes. None of their attack formations would work with only two people.
Sheena sat next to Milla as they watched Lloyd and Regal get ready to fight. Colette stood her ground but looked at Regal. “I’ll step in and heal you guys if you need it,” Colette said.
Neither of the men turned around, both of them ready to fight. They were staring at the three massive monsters barreling towards them. The tusked pigs stood almost five feet tall and were squealing as they charged. Their Corrupted eyes were trained on the men. Instinctively, Lloyd reached back for his bow, only to find empty air. It was busted in the fight with the bandits, and Lloyd decided it was best to leave it and the quiver there. Lloyd readied his swords instead as the wild pigs rapidly closed the gap to around 50 feet. Once an extension of himself, the weapons felt unnatural in his hands. Guess it is time to combat-train my powers.
The boars crashed through small trees and shattered twigs and logs underfoot as they descended on the group. Lloyd could feel the vibrations in the ground as the boar's stomping feet approached.
Lloyd physically loosened his grip on the swords as he mentally tightened it. The tendrils wrapped themselves around the blades until they were floating in the air. The beasts were within ten feet before Lloyd shot the swords forward. One blade completely missed, driving itself deep into the soft ground; the other found its mark in the side of the boar, which turned its head at the last minute to avoid a kill shot. Lloyd felt resistance against his telekinesis as the sword pierced the animal. It didn’t go as deeply through the tough hide as Lloyd would have preferred.
One boar charged at Regal, its tusk headed straight for his stomach. The bone pierced Regal’s tunic, but it rebounded off of Regal’s skin. Both boar and human stumbled back from the impact. The boar reacted by turning its head to the side in confusion while Regal released a hearty laugh before swinging his sword.
Lloyd now had a pair of battle-scarred boars barreling down on him. One of them had the blade in its side. The Corrupted closed the gap, and Lloyd was forced to dodge. He leaped sideways, avoiding the boar with his sword as he extended his hands to it. He tried to put himself in the same headspace as when he shoved the man who was trying to cleave his head. The power surged out of him and crashed into the boar. The attack didn’t fling the animal into the air, but it shifted it enough to force it into a tree. The boar bounced off the bark as the tree forced the blade to tear out of the animal, leaving a gaping hole behind. Unfortunately, Lloyd didn’t avoid the second boar. The animal trampled on Lloyd. He yelled out in pain as the hooves punched into his chest and right arm. The animal had too much momentum, so it continued its charge for a dozen feet before it was able to turn around.
He got to his feet quickly, holding his ribs with his good arm. Suddenly, he felt a warmth wash through him as he began to mend his body. He recognized the touch of a healer, having had it done to him many times before. This time, it felt more intense and healed him much quicker. His body was back to normal before the boars even started their new attack. He turned around to see Colette a dozen feet behind him. It seems she can heal at range, sweet.
The injured boar slowly approached while its healthy companion chose to attack angrily. Lloyd quickly scanned the ground for his sword and found the bloodied blade sitting on a log. He couldn’t run there in time, and decided to reach out and grab it. His telekinesis grabbed the sword, and he mentally pulled as hard as he could. The sword came rocketing toward him. He tried to control it with his powers, but habit and instinct kicked in. He reached up and grabbed the hilt with his right and his left hand closed around the blade. The sword dug into his hand, and as he pulled it away, he saw a clean cut that was leaking blood. Almost immediately, the wound began to heat up and close, thanks to Colette's rapidly healing. Having a healer is going to be fucking awesome.
The boar lowered its head right before thrusting it toward Lloyd’s stomach. Lloyd deflected the nearly foot-long tusk at the last moment. As the hog's massive frame stumbled to the side, Lloyd shoved his blade into its spine. It squealed out in pain before turning back to face him. Its red eyes intensified, and Lloyd didn’t want to find out what abilities this creature had. His tendrils found the hilt of his blade, and he physically mimicked the motion he wanted his powers to do. He shoved the blade down to the hilt, collapsing the squealing swine to the ground.
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The second boar finally caught up and its meaty head was already thrusting toward Lloyd. He pushed out with his palms, but instead of driving the beast back, it flung Lloyd away from his foe. Lloyd luckily landed on a soft portion of the forest floor, quickly rolling to his feet as the boar dug its feet into the ground. It clawed into the grass, kicking up dirt before charging. Lloyd turned around, yet again trying to find his weapon. Never using my swords as arrows again. A slight glint gave away the position of the sword, and Lloyd ran toward it.
He scooped down to grab the blade before rolling forward. He pivoted around to see the boar was directly on his tail. He faked dodging right, and the boar bit the bait. The beast attacked as they always had, simply trying to goar their opponent. The tusk missed wide, and Lloyd focused on slashing his sword into the boar’s neck. He wrapped the tendrils of his telekinesis around the blade, adding to the power and momentum. With a loud grunt, the sword cleaved the boar’s head from its shoulders.
The head rolled on the ground as Lloyd heaved his shoulders up and down as he tried to gather his breath. His Mana reserves were dangerously low, he didn’t know how much more he could effectively use it. Lloyd quickly found that not only did Regal have time to kill the other boar, but he also plopped himself next to Sheena and Milla to watch the fight. Regal stood up smiling as he began slowly clapping, followed by Colette with a more excited and rapid clap.
“Impressive, little bro,” Regal said as he approached Lloyd.
Lloyd wiped the blood on the boar’s fur before sheathing his weapon. “Thanks for the assist.”
“No problem, I knew you had it,” Regal said as he slapped Lloyd on the shoulder.
Lloyd lowered his voice, “Stop with the little bro stuff, man. It seems like you are trying to sell it too much. You know why I lied, right?” Lloyd whispered.
“Yeah. We can talk later, but I think you made the right call,” Regal whispered before stepping away from his brother and observing the boar. “Shame we can’t eat Corrupted meat. This would be one hell of a feast.” Regal said as the women approached.
“Well, we humans can’t,” Sheena said.
Milla walked toward the men, Regal giving her a wide birth as she brushed up against Lloyd. He scratched her head and back before Milla jumped on the corpse of the Corrupted. She dug her teeth into the hide, ripping away a chunk of meat before tossing it into the air and catching it in her mouth.
“Corrupted animals can eat the meat of other Corrupted?” Regal asked.
“I’m not a fan of calling Milla Corrupted, but for all intents and purposes, yes. Since she is Altered and is an animal, she can consume them. Milla, along with all the other Corrupted on this continent, grows stronger and larger as they consume more of their own kind,” Sheena said.
Lloyd and Regal looked at each other, dumbfounded. There was never any lesson that they were taught in school about how the animals grew larger. The Kingdom just told them that they were.
Sheena chuckled as she looked at the confused men, “They can also grow by being near Manarite crystals, but most get stronger by killing other Corrupted. I’m pretty sure animals can be Omegas as well. Their breeding schedules are much faster than ours, and they appear to gain abilities much more quickly. That’s why we are losing the battle. They have the numbers and the power,” Sheena said.
“They don’t have to wait 23 years?” Lloyd asked, skimming over the way Sheena talked about 'breeding schedules' for both humans and animals.
“Doesn’t appear that way, no. I’m not sure what the exact age is, but I would wager it is closer to half that number. There are far fewer Corrupted in the East than in the West. We don’t have to worry much about that here. I can’t say the same for the other side of The Citadel. I’ve heard stories of beasts that can cleave towns. Plus, the entire environment and ecosystem is apparently Altered. There won’t be normal nature in the West,” Sheena said.
That was a lot for Lloyd to take in. Not everything was news to him, but the gravity of the situation was undoubtedly starting to sink in, especially now that he could join the Guard himself.
“How do we get stronger?” Lloyd asked.
“Same way, kill Corrupted. It is the only reason we haven’t been overrun yet. The Corrupted are strong but dumb,” Sheena said.
Milla stopped her meal to look up at Sheena and growl. Regal took a few more steps back, but Lloyd could tell it was playful.
“Oh, shut it. You know I’m not talking about you,” Sheena said toward Milla.
Milla’s body briefly turned red hot, and the meat between her fangs began to cook, along with the corpse and the grass around her. She shut off the power quickly and went back to her meal. That was awesome.
“That makes sense,” Lloyd said. He began to imagine what a more powerful version of himself would look like. He didn’t want to avoid any fights from here to The Citadel. I must get stronger.
“I would say they did fairly well, huh?” Colette asked.
“Adequate, for sure. That sword throw wasn’t too shabby, if I’m being honest. It was quite impressive that you took the full hit from the boar and didn't even get scratched. I guess all the healing will have to be sent toward Lloyd.” Sheena said.
"Good thing, I burn through a lot more Mana when I heal at a distance, but you didn't seem to get beat up so bad." Colette said.
Sheena and Milla began to take off into the forest to the right when Regal spoke up.
“Um, shouldn’t there be a road off to the left here?” Regal asked as he pulled out his map. Lloyd was also confused. He figured they would be sticking to the roads most of the way to The Citadel.
“No need. Milla has an excellent sense of direction. We will cut out a few days of travel cutting through here,” Sheena said.
Regal was staring at the map, tracing lines on the parchment. “I mean, sure. We could probably save a day or two. Honestly, maybe even three. If we head your way, we will be skipping past a town. I think Lloyd and I were looking forward to stocking up on some of our supplies. We have all those ingredients we need to sell, too.” Regal said.
Sheena looked back at Regal with a dead stare. Lloyd wouldn’t quite call it angry, but he wouldn’t call it friendly, either. Not by a long shot.
“There will be other towns. There is one after that on the road, correct?” Sheena said, standing with her hands on her hips. Or were her hands on the hilts of her daggers? Lloyd couldn’t quite tell. He had yet to see Sheena wield her daggers, but he could tell she knew how to use them.
“Yeah, like a week away with your shortcut. Look, I’m not against a little roughing it for sure, but I would like to offload a lot of the stuff that we are carrying. Plus, we need healing potions and stuff." Regal said.
“First thing, we have Colette, no potions needed if you don't needlessly get yourself injured. Secondly, holding a light bag of flowers won’t kill you, or will it? If so, tell me now. I don’t need to be traveling with someone like that.” Sheena said.
Lloyd saw an unusual crack in Regal’s otherwise calm demeanor. He seemed to gather himself before he spoke.
“No ma’am, no complaints here. After you,” Regal said, extending his hand toward the path ahead.
Sheena and Milla headed to the front of the pack while Lloyd gathered his other sword.
“You get used to her,” Colette said.
“Oh yeah?” Regal asked.
“Mostly,” Colette said with a smile before turning to follow her friend.