Between us, we put the present body to rest. Thankfully, this one did not try to talk to me or lull me into sharing the shallow grave with it. What was meant to be a solemn moment for their group had been tainted by the unknown. Where and how had Clive’s corpse gone from where it was left?
We hadn’t seen anything during our watch. The bodies were out our of line of sight anyway, but we had decent visuals on part of the road. I just didn’t see the reasoning why. Stolen for the necromancer? Maybe he had a skill that worked after death. There were parts of our fights in the first area that painted it to be something grim in my mind.
While the trio paid their respects, I brought up the list that Quinn had gotten and read it from the System.
[Party One - went west in the daytime]
[Dwarf male, gray hair, beard]
[Male, black leathers, twin blades]
[Female, red skin, magic user - fire??]
[Ranger, black hair]
[Healer, plant based]
[Party Two - vanished in the night]
[Female paladin, silver armor]
[Male spellcaster, red hair, robes, defensive magic]
[Male thief, ranged weapons?]
[Female spellcaster, purple skin, black hair]
[??? not sure, maybe another caster]
I worked my jaw, briefly intrigued at how the System also translated our written words, not just spoken. A soft jab from Ren took me from my musings.
“Any thoughts?”
As much as I would have liked to have a concise point to share, I shook my head. “We’ll get them to the bridge and then have a meeting.” A small pang of panic rose up through me before I realized she was holding my hand. Nothing as intimate as our fingers intertwining, but she was clasped on like a radiant anchor.
We had seen enough death—and caused plenty ourselves—but burying those we were allied with always brought back the… humanity in us, for lack of a better word.
With one last sigh, Fiona turned to us. “Let’s head out. The day is long, but we shouldn’t stagnate.”
I nodded, and as one, we started to make our way to the road. Ren relinquished her grip on my hand, but gave me a neutral glance before moving up to walk beside the fighter. A soft enough expression compared to the default. It settled some of my thoughts. Time to focus.
Time to open those boxes.
By now, I had become somewhat proficient at seeing what would be useful for me based on the suffix or prefix the System gave items. As such, it was easy to knock away the notifications for things I didn’t care for, and focus only on the things I would use.
[Arcane Necklace] [+3 Int, +5% Magic Damage]
[Leggings of the Trickster] [+3 Int, +2 Dex]
[Spear of Luck] [+3 Luck]
[Crossbow+] [+2 Dex, Empty Socket]
[Plain Ring+] [Empty Socket]
It seemed the upgraded equipment meant that the item had sockets. The Spear was a straight up upgrade to my previous one, and the crossbow would be handy for when a shot really counted. If I could get a gemstone to put in there that had Luck or Dexterity, then that’d be really nice. I didn’t equip the Plain Ring+, but in seeing it was inlaid with a bright blue spiral of something, I had to keep it aside for… reasons.
The rest of the items weren’t useful for me - some I would put toward the rest of the Party as some point when it would be less rude to talk shop. I caught Quinn looking at me as I closed down my Inventory.
“There is something more to your skill-set, isn’t there?” His eyebrow was raised, but there was no judgement on his expression.
I nodded. Perhaps he had seen the purple eyes, or clocked our demon talk when we had found the dead watch. “I can summon demons. You would have seen the bird last night.”
“Demons?” He tilted his head and looked up ahead at the rest along the road. “That is certainly an odd… theme.”
“It’s a long story.” Well, not that long. “There was a second Max that came through the portal at the same time. We are the merged result.”
“Ah.” He didn’t seem convinced.
“The other me was a Demon Hunter with a demonic patron who fought demons in Hell.”
He grimaced. Maybe it was the fact I had said demon too many times in the same sentence. “I’m not a superstitious man, Max, but perhaps that is a reason why you have so much trouble with conflict.”
It was hardly my fault the Crimson Shadow was here. If you excluded the point where Ren and I had pushed the Lady off of the starter island and allowed her to gain whatever Class ability had boosted her through the land corrupting people. Aside from that, I welcomed peace.
“Perhaps,” I said, diplomatically. “Just a heads up though, for when we get into an actual fight.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“You don’t consider the zombies to have been an actual fight?”
Wolf nudged himself in between us. “Max means against Players. That is where he excels.”
I was briefly speechless at the random compliment from the bear, but also had to pause my train of thought to consider what that implied. Truthfully, I got the most use out of my Inventory manipulation when faced against other Players. They were just more of a challenge than System-created Monsters were. I needed to be on my best form.
“It’s not pleasant,” I concluded, if only so I didn’t sound insane. “But it feels like I am geared to deal with problem Players.”
Quinn grunted. “There’s a story I heard that gets passed around here. A Player with a skill that increased their damage by a certain amount until they made their next attack - if they lost a duel.” He raised up a finger. “You may assume he would just appreciate a good bounce-back ability, and duels don’t really come up as often as the System would think, right?”
I nodded along.
“But no. No hubris too great. He had a better plan. He would lose as many duels as possible. Hundreds, if not thousands - if he could find the chance. Stacking the bonus way beyond the intended limit.” He rubbed at his eyepatch. “The fool intended to punch the ground and destroy the System once he got powerful enough.”
My brow furrowed. “Is this person you?”
“Heaven’s no.” He smiled. “The Player died when his opponent went a little too far with the duel.”
Wolf looked up at him. “So he spent his whole time here getting beaten up and then died?”
Quinn shrugged. “If the tale is even true. My point was one of caution. Do not bite the hands that feed.”
I was willing to concede that he might have something of a point. Whether that would stop me on my path was… well, no. I wasn’t about to stop pushing my Inventory and magic bullshit to the limits, System be damned. Perhaps that would come around and make me regret the choice in the future.
“My question is,” I began, changing the subject. “How did you catch the apple while still asleep?”
He turned his good eye to me, a twinkle within it. “You are not the only favored child of the System.”
“Can you catch arrows?” My eyes narrowed.
Quinn grinned, but didn’t answer. I bet he could. That seemed unfair, for reasons I couldn’t think of right now. We’d have to do some practice when we had more downtime - although, attacking him with arrows might not be the best look if it wasn’t a guaranteed science.
We fell into a silence as we continued on, past the fields where the Wildfolk were, and getting closer to that first small village we had cleared. Ren was in low conversation with Fiona, and it was nice to see them getting along again. Magnus was leading at the front. He had been near silent since the attack last night, but seemed keen to act as guardian for the rest of us. Ruby was beside the fighter, and Wolf continued to stick between us at the back.
It did feel like we had a long day ahead of us. Having to head back west after this toward the Quests and Dungeon Quinn intended on helping us through. A couple of easier levels wouldn’t go amiss, though. The more power we could grab onto, the better.
To our left, the village we had freed. Now the System-created villagers moved around, doing their set daily tasks, making it look lively and… normal. It comforted me that we had achieved something with that bloodshed, although I wondered what Fiona and her Party had intended to do if they came upon our corpses with the Crimson Shadows the victors. An odd thought, but the simple answer would be they’d turn tail.
Now we just had to pass over the crest of the hill, the horizon already glimmering sea and the edges of the forest surrounding the first town. The group ahead of us paused at the pinnacle before the path weaved downward toward the bridge, and us three at the back caught up.
Immediately, my stomach sunk as quickly as my body temperature dropped.
We had found Clive, at least.
His body was propped up like a flag at the top of a wooden pole, planted in front of the bridge. He was facing away from us, however. Toward anyone intending on making the journey across from the first area.
Five figures stood around him, now noticing us with some surprise in their eyes. Red hand-prints on their heads aside, they were clearly the group who had left in the night. Betrayers.
They didn’t know they were already dead.
“Motherfuckers!” Fiona seethed, stepping forward.
I held a hand out to stop her, earning the ire of both her and Magnus.
“Why stop me?” Her jaw was clenched, but she now trusted me enough not to ignore my order to hold. “There’s only five of them.”
“Believe me,” I said calmly. “We will kill them, but we have the advantage here.”
“The road is trapped,” Ren added.
The fighter and lion-man settled, trying to scour the pathway for what the elf may have seen. I had felt there was something off, but didn’t know for sure. Now that we had been spotted, one of them had cast a barrier spell. A manner of thick wall made of magical energy. We had the high ground, so that was probably a good bet if they didn’t want to get picked off my ranged attacks.
“What’s your plan, Max?” Ruby asked. She looked even more tired now, and not too keen to get involved in the potential fight. They weren’t much for Player on Player violence.
I rubbed at my forehead, trying to keep the cold side of me from taking over. “The area is too open. They’d see my dove going in. Quinn?”
“Might damage the bridge.” He had drawn a crossbow, and was staring down at the group with intense focus.
We couldn’t have that. Dropping myself behind them would be a good plan if they didn’t expect it, but seeing me coming would be a short trip to getting stabbed in the face. One of my least favorite places to invite stabbings.
“Looks like two of them are holding the barrier up,” Ren said, an arrow already up to her bow. “Might not be able to wait it out.”
"Another meal too far away,” Wolf grumbled.
I considered our options. This was taking up valuable leveling time, and had annoyed me that we bumped into the traitors so soon. How short-lived their self-serving interests were. Why the first port of call of the Shadows seemed to be to hang corpses around in hopes of scaring people away, I did not know. Perhaps those with fear in their hearts were easier to turn.
Quinn put his hand on my arm, and I realized I had been wavering. My eyes felt warm, and I figured I was learning the tells for when they were glowing. After a brief nod of thanks to the fencer, I turned to the angry fighter and her group.
“There is something I can do… but you will not like it.”
Fiona scowled. “Do anything you need. As long as they die.”
I ran my tongue across my lips as I withdrew a card into my hand. “I’ll hold you to that.” With a nod to Ren, she readied an arrow.
Hopefully Clive would forgive me, too.