I kept writing after finishing the last chapter and then I felt like finishing this one? Schedules are for people who know how to time. I should just wait until next week and be like "Oh I just finished this chapter in time", but you're worth more than that. You're worth a chapter being posted much earlier than any of us expected. Hooray. 

I'm still an amateur trying to improve my ability as a writer so I know there are things my story lacks. I've had the plot of part one mostly developed for a while now, so  I know where I'm going with that, I just need to work on character relations for now as people have suggested. Thanks for all the support and suggestions.

Please enjoy.

Chapter 21: Alone and Outnumbered

Frost jogged around the chaos zone looking for the adventurers who had come to slay "demons" as he hopped through portals and roamed the passageways. Originally he had planned to try and kill them all, but as he cooled his head, he realized that he might be able to convince them of the truth and have them help him out. It was a long shot, but if he could increase his chances of saving lives even a little bit, then it would be worth the effort. He was pessimistic about gaining allies at this point, but if he was lucky enough, his plan would work and no one would have to die. He was even prepared and somewhat expecting to sacrifice himself to complete the quest if necessary, due to the relatively low penalty of dying when compared to the eternal death of an NPC.

He was beginning to worry that they had passed him at some point when he checked the safer side passages. The worst possible situation would have been that the adventurers lost their way and ended up on the same path as Seraya and the fairies who wouldn't see it coming and would be slaughtered. His mind flooded with thoughts from the past week, which was such a short time, but felt so long, filled with memories of the fairies and their antics. He wondered they were scared as they ran away, leaving their homes behind for plan that they knew nothing about and might not even work. They trusted him with their lives, and he wasn't entirely certain that he was capable of shouldering that burden.

He worried about Dale, who always asked him to protect the others, willing to give up anything for their safety. His heart ached at the idea that little Shar, who always asked him to get things off the top shelf, would come to any harm. Keerie, Mulk, and Talm only ever wanted to dance and play, while Frey, Drop and, Seave were shy, taking a little longer than the others to get used to Frost. He knew each of them by name, knew their separate personalities, and what made them different from each other. They looked similar to each other, but Frost could recognize the small differences that distinguished them from one another, and he loved each and every one of them. Frost started to breath more heavily,scared that he might never see them again, and it would be entirely his fault for leaving them undefended. 

He shook his head and denied the possibility of them being caught, to calm himself, not allowing himself to think such dark thoughts. If he was lucky, they had managed to find their way into one of the deadly side passages, losing at least one of their members and hopefully more. There was a single portal that led to the edge of a cliff with only two feet of ledge so that if you were in a rush, you would almost certainly fall to your death. Frost stepped through another portal on the "main" pathway and realized that no such misfortune had befallen the hunters. Across a long hallway, players were stepping through a portal one at a time, carrying torches because they couldn't have known that the portals themselves lit the hallways with a magical light. He sighed in relief, waiting for them to finish exiting the green, swirling portal and counting ten of them in total.

At that moment they were all approximately half-way to the center of the chaos zone where the fairies lived. Frost and the other players were on the straightest path there, while Seraya and the fairies went the long way around. Effectively, Frost only needed to stall them exactly where they were as long as possible so that he could escape and leave them trapped in the maze of portals and pathways that made up the area. He started walking towards them slowly, even sheathing his sword to show that he meant them no ill. They quickly spotted him and drew their weapons in preparation for a fight, so he stopped moving towards them and held his hands up at shoulder height.

They had a short conversation about what to do, and decided that they would talk to him, walking slowly forward, still on guard in case it was an ambush. They had him outnumbered ten to one, but that could change instantly if he had allies waiting in the portals nearby and had a way to contact them. He waited, appearing calm, but was actually very nervous, seeing them up close with weapons drawn. He scanned their faces, unable to see any of their names except Sena. He tilted his head in confusion when he realized that he could see one of their names and it wasn't in red letters above her head. In turn, a few of them gasped in surprise at his mask once they were close enough to recognize what it was.

"It's you, the wolf mask," a pretty fox girl said, taking a step forward as if she wanted to run over and shake his hand, or maybe cut him in half. It was hard to tell the intentions of individuals when trying to pay attention to ten different people at the same time.

"Yes." He considered, only briefly, trying to speak in archaic English again, but eliminated the thought before it was complete. He had no use for such an idiotic attempt to hide his identity as Frost.

"Long time no see." Sena spoke. She was a rogue wearing dark brown, form fitting leather equipment, and Frost had to admit it looked good on her. She smiled knowingly as she leaned on her shoulder against one of the walls. Her allies all turned to stare at her in surprise upon hearing that she had met the most famous NPC among players.

They bombarded her with questions until Frost finally remembered where he had seen her. "Ah. You're the murderer I saw with the ones named Tiger and Claw. The first time I met them at least. You're lucky you weren't there when I met them a second time." Murderer was the term non player characters used to describe dark players, or players that killed innocent people.

Once again, some of her allies questioned Sena about her being a player killer in the past. She just shook off their questions and deflected the attention back to Frost. "What are you doing here, Frost?"

He was too careful and focused to fall for such a simple trap, so he waited a few seconds before responding. "Are you perhaps referring to me? Do you always give strange nicknames to people based upon where you met them?"

She pouted, "I heard that your name was Frost, and you were really a player, but I guess that really was just a made up rumor after all."

"I'm glad you asked why I'm here. I'm here to stop you from making a terrible mistake that you will regret for the rest of your lives." He was intentionally beating around the bush, trying to waste time, but also trying to avoid the suspicion that he was doing just that.

"What do you mean?" a tall, well-built man standing in front of the party asked. He looked like the no-nonsense type of person who liked to be in control just so no one else was screwing it up. 

'Probably the party leader.' "You're the one in charge of this group?"

He looked around at his companions before frowning at Frost and replying. "Sort of. We don't really have a team leader."

"It doesn't really matter who's in charge. I must stop you from killing the ones you perceive as demons."

The adventurer party immediately raised their weapons, not willing to back down from a profitable quest involving killing monsters. Before they could do anything rash, Frost held up a hand to stop them. "What you're doing is evil."

"You just said it yourself," a female paladin said, exasperatedly from behind her shield, "we're hunting demons." 

"No, you're not. You're hunting cursed children and a woman who appear as demons."

"Can you prove it?" the fox girl asked.

"No. I'm not sure if the curse will break for you the same as it did for me, and I can't trust any of you enough to bring you to them. The only thing I can do is ask you to wait a week. By that time, the curse will be lifted and all will be able to see them for what they truly are."

"This bastard is trying to run out our timer. He knows we only have a week left to complete the quest and he's trying to make us fail." This came from a big guy standing near the back of the group.

"What? No, I don't..." Frost tried to explain that he didn't know, but the man didn't want to hear it.

"Shut up, this is bullshit, he's just wasting our time."

"And you're trying to murder children. They're offering you what? Gold?" Frost was annoyed with the rude man in the back who was probably some type of fighter or barbarian type character. "You would slaughter children for gold?" Frost practically snarled at the large man.

He chuckled, "Are you accusing me of being a murderer? Do you know who I am? My name is Grud the berserker, and I think I'm done listening to you." Grud pulled a pair of half-moon axes from his belt as he stepped forward, pushing everyone else aside on his way to Frost. "Duel me. If you win, I'll consider giving up on the quest, but if I win, you have to take us to your demon buddies." He grinned confidently, taking a fighting stance as if Frost didn't really have any other option. Stepping in front of his allies put the torches at his back and the edge of his shadow near Frost's feet.

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Frost could tell that the man wasn't going to give up, and the duel could help him to accomplish his goal of stalling them in the tunnels, so he decided to accept. He crouched down and touched the ground in front of him, trying not to smile, and failing as he stood back up. "I accept your duel, but my friends are not demons," he growled as he pulled out his sword. He began to calculate the best way to take out someone like grud who probably had a lot of health and would also hit really hard. He smirked, knowing that his speed alone was already an effective counter to the big oaf. As long as he wasn't cornered, he had the advantage, especially since he had already tethered Grud's shadow.

The rogue girl let out a shout of excitement and sat down on a stone that used to be part of the ceiling. "I'm not sure if this is gonna be really quick, or a good long fight, but it's gonna be awesome either way. Pay attention folks, you might just learn something."

"Ha! Thanks for the praise, Sena." Grud stood up a little straighter, more confident. He wasn't going to waste this chance to show off in front of the girls. "I didn't know you thought so highly of me."

"Uh huh. I meant watch him," she said it as if talking to Grud bored her while she pointed at Frost. She smiled at Frost and gestured with one hand for them to get back to their duel.

Grud turned back to Frost, irritated that Sena was practically cheering for the enemy and telling him that he was going to lose. He used the anger to fuel his will to fight as he activated berserker abilities that increased his physical stats. Frost in turn activated some of his own abilities, both his body and his sword becoming coated in inky darkness. The shadow energy forming on his body turned into armor while Grud let out a roar and began to charge. Frost stood his ground unblinking and relaxed, not even raising his sword to defend himself.

"You wanted this."

Grud yelled as he brought his axes down on Frost, aiming for his head. His weapons followed Frost's falling body all the way to the ground where they clanged harmlessly off of the stone floor. He stood up, looking around for the missing enemy, only to be impaled from behind. Grud could feel the blade tear through him as Frost used his strength to rip the blade out of his opponent's side. He turned around, swinging his axes to try and catch Frost, but he was already gone again, having shadow jumped to the other side of the large man the moment he turned around.

Frost cut him multiple times before the man could turn his considerable bulk around again. Frost was quick, and his strength was nothing to laugh at either, so he had already done a lot of damage. The berserker swung his axes wildly, forcing Frost to back off, but Frost wasn't going to let the man calm down or stop taking damage. Grud's teammates were unwittingly helping Frost with the light of their torches casting a long Grud shadow that he was using to his advantage. Frost activated shadow cutting and slammed his sword into the ground at his feet, stabbing  the shadow multiple times as Grud's temper got the best of him. He wasn't used to losing fights, especially not in such a one sided fight against a much smaller man who only had a sword.

Frost howled, an eerie sound that reverberated throughout the tunnel, summoning two slightly translucent grey wolf companions into existence. All three charged their enemy at once, while Frost decided to use only one other skill that could be visibly seen, to hide his full repertoire of abilities. He used Lightning Flash several times in succession to cut away at Grud's health while the wolves bit at his legs. Grud quickly killed the wolves, but there was nothing he could do against Frost when his speed was so much lower. His enemy having two weapons to guard with made it harder for Frost to attack, but his superior speed and skill made Grud an easy target.

Grud would still land a few hits, but they were mostly glancing blows that came at the cost of Frost getting in solid cuts. Frost was completely in control of the fight, guiding Grud's movements with false openings and feints that left Grud struggling to even act. Grud's level wasn't much higher than Frost's, and that meant that Frost was much stronger. It had been a while since Frost had fought another player, and he found the difference in combat ability to be intoxicating. The feeling of beating down an enemy that was supposed to be stronger, so easily wasn't something Frost had expected. He had intended to go all out on Grud, but he shortly realized just how unnecessary that was. He could still keep a few tricks up his sleeve in case the others wanted to fight as well.

Grud fell to his knees defeated, his health at one hit point due to being protected by the ancient magic of the duel system. Frost's sword lost it's black color a moment later and he realized that he had defeated Grud in under a minute. The other players stared in awe as Frost sheathed his sword and turned to face them in silence. Sena started clapping, bringing everyone back to their senses. They had been mesmerized by the fight, having rarely, if ever, seen such a high level fight in the game. Many of them felt that it was unfair for an NPC to be so powerful, but at the same time, they knew they could take him down if they acted as a team. One person could only do so much against a proper team.

Frost stepped past Grud, letting his hands hang non threateningly by his side, trying not to provoke any of the others into getting revenge for their defeated ally. "It's my right to kill him as the challenged party, but I have no desire to gain your wrath."

"Those were some evil looking abilities you used in that fight," their leader said warily. "Some kind of black magic was it?"

"Shadow magic, of a sort." Frost said, getting an idea that made him smile. "I serve the goddess Emiri, and my abilities are not evil."

"I don't trust him," said a man in full plate and a large heraldic crest on his breastplate. "I heard he killed fifty people in Kharz Forest.

"No way, it was more than that," Sena chimed in.

"I killed one hundred men and women." Frost admitted coldly.

The man in heavy armor drew a shining great-sword and stepped forward to confront Frost. "I would hear your name scoundrel, before I dispatch you for your crimes."

 Frost rolled his eyes. "What crimes?" Frost couldn't help but let a little bit of anger seep into his voice. "I killed to protect the innocent and prevent even more bloodshed in the future. Sometimes a sacrifice is necessary to save more lives, even if it is regrettable that lives must be lost." 

"I see what type of person you are, and I must say that I'm relieved. You see, I was concerned that we might be fighting someone with a conscience!" He gripped his sword tighter and started to cautiously close in on Frost.

Frost knew that he had lost them as the rest of them raised their weapons. "If you will not listen to reason, then perhaps you will listen to your greed. I will pay you to spare the children. They won't fight you or hurt you, no matter how threatening and dangerous they appear. I beg you, don't kill them."

"This is all just a front to protect the demons," The man in plate mail shouted. "He's one of them!" Before Frost could do anything else, the party's caster sent a large fireball in his direction. He fell to the floor to duck under it, then rolled to the side as a large sword slammed into the ground where he had been. He jumped to his feet and had to use all of his effort to avoid or parry the fox girl's attacks as she attacked him with a pair of short, heavy blades. He admired their skilled teamwork, only able to escape them due to his high agility and trained footwork. He dove into a portal, taking a cut on the leg as he started to make his escape.

Frost led them away from the direction of the fairies, all ten of them in pursuit as he controlled his pace to make sure they didn't get lost. He had intended to keep that up for a while, but Sena and the fox girl sprinted towards him the moment they entered a wide open area beyond one of the portals. The area was a field spotted with large geysers that individually spit scalding hot liquid at regular intervals. They were fast enough to catch Frost by surprise, tackling him to the ground and stabbing his limbs to nail his body into the ground. He grimaced from the pain as he sunk into the shadow realm, unable to be held down by such mundane methods.

The two stood back to back, hoping to avoid the same situation as Grud, who had been taken by surprise. The others caught up with the two, grouping up in a defensive formation to protect the casters from surprise attacks. Frost's ability to appear and disappear seemingly at will had everyone on edge as they chased him down. He rose from the ground a safe distance away, rotating his sword arm in it's socket as he shook off the pain. He glared at them, for not understanding, and for choosing to fight against him when all he wanted was to prevent bloodshed. 

Frost opened his mouth to speak, to try one more time to appeal to their sense of reason, but no words came out, and his mouth closed. He turned away from them and stepped through a portal, having done what he could to slow them down. Fighting them would only slow him down at that point, and he had somewhere important to be. They could spend the rest of their time attempting to look for demons while Frost went through with his plan to break the curse. His plan had already begun, but there was a single problem. There was only one of him, and an entire city in his way.