POV: WASTELAND
Tamara led the squadron of twenty soldiers from Fort Bone, her fellow adventurers close behind, the tension thick as they marched through the dense forest. Every snap of a twig made the soldiers twitch, their hands tightening around weapons. Peter’s voice cut through the quiet.
"Do you think they'll still be there?"
Tamara shook her head, her eyes scanning the treeline. “Doubt it. No bandits are dumb enough to stick around when Fort Bone’s got a reward on their heads. Five coins isn’t much, but it’s enough to make ‘em run.”
She thought of the reward, feeling a sting of disappointment. ‘Better than nothing,‘ she reminded herself.
As they trudged deeper, the uneasy quiet broke.
THWIP! CRACK!
The sound echoed like thunder as a skeleton collapsed, its skull pierced clean through by a crossbow bolt.
“What the hell?!” Peter yelped, stepping back as the underbrush rustled with movement. More skeletons than anyone had expected began to rise from the ground, their hollow eyes glowing with malevolent light.
“Form up!” Tamara shouted, pulling her own crossbow into position.
“Keep your eyes peeled!” a veteran yelled to a green recruit who was shaking so hard he might’ve dropped his mace. The kid nodded, nerves fraying.
“Got it, sir!” he stammered, gripping his weapon like a lifeline. He ducked as a skeleton swung its sharp claws toward him. Panicking, he swung his mace at its knee.
THUNK!
The skeleton staggered, bones grinding, but didn’t go down. The recruit’s eyes widened in terror as the creature raised its jagged claws, aiming for his chest. He froze, fear locking him in place.
THWIP! THWIP!
Two bolts flew out from Tamara and a nearby veteran.
CRACK! CRACK!
The skeleton’s skull shattered, its bones collapsing in a heap, mana coins spilling from the remains. The recruit let out a shaky breath.
“Keep your head on a swivel!” Tamara ordered, already lining up her next shot. She released the bolt, watching it sink deep into another skeleton’s eye socket.
CRACK!
The battlefield was filled with organized violence, veterans moving in tight formation, striking with deadly precision. The newbies were less graceful, stumbling through their fear, but learning fast. The air filled with the sound of steel clashing against bone, and the eerie scraping of claws against armor.
“Watch it, rookie!” a veteran growled as a skeleton came too close to one of the newer recruits. The veteran swung a sword, decapitating the skeleton in one clean stroke.
CRACK!
The recruit blinked, nodding gratefully, but there was no time to thank him as more undead surged forward.
Tamara ducked low as a skeleton lunged for her, its claws just missing her head. She rolled, kicking it hard in the ribs, sending it staggering back. “You’re gonna have to try harder than that,” she muttered, reloading her crossbow with swift, practiced movements.
THWIP!
CRACK!
Another skeleton down. She grinned to herself, adrenaline flooding her veins.
“Let’s bag a bunch of bones!” one of the adventurers joked as he swung his sword, taking down another skeleton.
The veterans fought like a well-oiled machine, guiding the newbies through the battle. One veteran raised his shield to block a skeleton’s wild swing and glanced at the recruit next to him. “Now’s your chance, kid!”
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The recruit, emboldened, swung his mace with all his might, smashing through the skeleton’s skull.
CRACK!
“Got him!” he shouted, a grin spreading across his face.
But his victory was short-lived as three more skeletons crept up from behind. His eyes went wide with panic.
“Behind you!” Tamara shouted, firing a bolt that whizzed past the recruit’s ear and hit one of the skeletons square in the chest.
THWIP!
CRACK!
A soldier next to him deflected the second skeleton’s attack with his shield, and another crossbow bolt flew from a veteran, taking down the last one. The recruit’s face flushed with relief as he looked back at Tamara.
“Thanks, miss!” he yelled, wiping sweat from his brow.
The fight dragged on, but the squadron had the upper hand. The newbies, no longer as scared, were gaining confidence, each swing of their weapons more decisive. The veterans guided them through, covering their backs when needed but letting them earn their kills.
The forest fell quiet as the last skeleton crumbled, mana coins clinking against the forest floor. The soldiers panted, catching their breath, but a few of them started to chuckle.
“Well, that was a workout,” one veteran smirked, wiping bone fragments from his blade. “But we showed ‘em, didn’t we?”
The adventurers laughed, gathering up the scattered mana coins. Tamara slung her crossbow over her shoulder, her lips curling into a small, satisfied smile.
“Not bad,” she said, her voice light with amusement. “Not bad at all.”
One of the veterans drank some water and said,
“Not bad for a walk in the woods. Huh.”
The new recruits were getting into their groove.
After the fight, the squadron gathered around, collecting their loot from the fallen skeletons. Mana coins jingled as they filled pouches, the soldiers checking for anything valuable among the remains. A few of the recruits were sitting on the ground, wincing as one of the medics hurriedly bandaged their minor wounds.
“That was a lot harder than I thought it’d be,” one of the recruits admitted, his breath still heavy from the fight.
“Don’t worry, kid,” Peter chuckled, giving him a pat on the back. “It gets easier after this. And hey, look at it this way—think of all the mana coins you’re making.”
The recruit gave a wry grin, rubbing his sore arm. “I guess… in the army, we don’t get to keep as many as you adventurers do. We get paid a salary, some bonuses but then well, we still gotta pay our taxes.”
Tamara overheard and smirked, shaking her head. “Hey, we pay our taxes too, thanks to that system-enforced contract. You’re not the only one getting shorted.”
The recruit’s eyes widened, and he sat up a little straighter. “Sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean—just, well, a lot of our loot goes straight back into the army’s coffers. We don’t get to keep much for ourselves.”
‘Glad I’m not part of the army,‘ Tamara thought, running her hand over her crossbow. ‘Taxes are bad enough here.‘
Atlas had reduced taxes for the adventurers down to 10% of whatever they collected through the system-bound contracts, a mercy compared to other places. Fort Bone was flourishing now, and the Empire didn’t need to take every single coin from their pockets. Adventurers made more than soldiers, but they traded those earnings against a regular salary and the safety of numbers.
Once they had packed up the loot, the squadron pressed on, continuing their hunt for the bandits. The deeper they ventured into the wilderness, the more skeletons they encountered.
“There are a lot more skeletons than last time, aren’t there?” one of the soldiers remarked, swinging his sword to take down yet another one.
Another soldier, a veteran, nodded grimly. “Yeah. We all know what happened to the main army last time they went out. That was a bloodbath. I’m lucky to have survived that one.”
The recruits, still green and wide-eyed from the earlier battle, exchanged nervous glances. These skeletons were bad enough—what they didn’t know was that these were just the stragglers, the leftovers that had wandered off from the main horde. They hadn’t seen real horror yet.
Five hours passed as they trekked through the dense forest. The constant hiking and the occasional skeleton ambush had worn them down. The recruits’ feet ached, and even the veterans started showing signs of fatigue.
“Night’s coming soon,” Alex said, glancing at the darkening sky. “Should we get the wards up?”
Tamara nodded. “Yeah, good idea. Let’s set up the demon dog wards and settle in for the night.”
They quickly arranged their portable wards, a series of small, carved wooden planks that interconnected, designed to keep the demon dogs at bay. Once the wards were in place, the soldiers relaxed, finally able to rest.
Peter sifted through the loot, pulling out various pieces of armor and coins. “Hey, we’ve got some decent stuff here. Anyone want this leftover skeleton armor? One of them was actually armored pretty well.”
Alex glanced over, unimpressed. “Nah, that’s level one junk. My gear’s already level two. Plus, it’ll be a pain in the ass to fix all those little cracks.”
One of the recruits perked up. “If you don’t mind, I’ll take it. I can toss you a few coins for it.”
Tamara stepped in before Alex could respond. “No need to pay. It’s better than what you’re wearing, anyway.” She glanced at the recruit’s worn-down bone-crafted armor, barely holding together in some places. The skeleton’s armor was a step up from that, at least.
The recruit smiled, grateful. “Thanks, miss. This’ll help a lot.”
She nodded, watching as he eagerly tried on the new gear. The Empire is expanding, but not everyone’s fully armored yet. Still, we’ll get there.‘
The night went by, and the demon dogs, attracted by the mana, tried to get through the wards. Fortunately for the adventurers and the soldiers, the wards were intact. After slamming into the warded circle a few times, the dogs gave up and just kept an eye on the circle of the protected campsite. They were hoping somebody would come out, maybe something would happen. But luckily for the group, nothing did. Taking turns on watch, making sure nobody attacked them, the adventurers fell into an exhausted sleep.