The dim blue light of the stone revealed body after body. They were in varying stages of decay. The majority of them were skeletons, but an uncomfortable number of them were still somewhat fresh. The whole ground was covered in a reddish hue.

Marcel retched. He couldn’t help it, and vomited in the corner. He wanted to leave the room, wanted nothing so much as to get as far and as quickly away as possible. When his contract started vibrating.

He pulled it out, scared to look at it. He followed it, until it stopped in front of a body, blinking once. Marcel swallowed. The body looked fresh, decay hadn’t even started setting in, but it was so disfigured he couldn’t tell its gender or its age. It could’ve been anything from a young girl to another old man.

He reached forward tentatively and unclasped the small chain it was wearing. It was cold to the touch. Marcel pocketed it and turned to go.

As he made his steps through the chamber he felt numb. He hadn’t walked far into it, but it still felt like he was passing endless rows of dead bodies until he was finally back in the centaurs office. The stench still didn’t leave his nose.

As he continued his walk outside the numbness slowly faded, thawing away and revealing a compressed hot coal underneath. So many bodies. So many bodies.

He had been suspicious when he saw the adventuring gear in the entrance of the cave, all the armor and weapons thrown around. But when he saw the assortment of bodies he felt sick.

There was fury in him now. He couldn’t let that continue. How could he simply go back, hand the contract back and continue. More people would die here.

The little voice that cautioned him, that spoke to him about foolishness was war in the background, buried beneath rage and disgust. He muted it even more.

He walked at a crisp pace now. Every now and then there was a soft crunching underneath his boot. The weirdly formed stones he had avoided on his way in for fear of being discovered. He didn’t care now.

He stepped out of the cave onto the clearing. During his excursion orange had exploded across the sky, painting the world in dusk. The centaur still seemed to be dozing off.

Now approaching from that angle Marcel could see the giant trident strung across the beast's back. It was made out of bronze, its three spikes screaming danger. It made Marcel's spear look like a silly childs toy.

As he got closer he could also see the creature's muscles more clearly. The tightly packed bundles of flesh rising and falling underneath its fur, its human upper body and arms that seemed powerful enough to tear him apart.

He had no idea what level that monster might be. No idea how many leagues its power and strength were beyond him. It was foolish. But the image of the dead bodies came back to mind.

Marcel gripped his spear, activated his [Thrust] ability, and slammed it into the beast's torso. His weapon sunk into the beast's hard flesh, and suddenly all chaos broke loose.

A few moments later Marcel ran as hard as he could. Things had turned completely south after he had attacked the sleeping centaur. The beast had frightened itself with a giant cry, forcing Marcel away. He had barely managed to land another two strikes to its legs, before he had to jump away from a lazy swing of the beast's arms that would’ve knocked his head off.

The centaur flared its aura. It crashed over Marcel washing away his trance. It encompassed and suffocated him. Suddenly he felt very very small again. The beast casted its gaze upon him, and in Marcel’s mind there was nothing else but running.

So their chase through the thick forest began. Marcel’s legs were pumping as hard as they could. He used every ounce of Strength, Dexterity and Endurance that he had.

The only reason he had been able to stay at least somewhat ahead of the centaur, was because of its injured hind leg. Still there was no doubt in his mind that the beast would soon catch up to him.

He couldn’t escape. Even if all his foolish bravado had been washed away when the centaur had truly faced him and he crashed back down to reality, he knew he needed to fight. He wanted to do it on his terms though.

The centaur came closer and closer. Marcel barely made it back to familiar territory in time and jumped through the thick foliage.

He landed in cold crisp water. It encompassed him and cleared his mind.

He looked back to the miny cliff and saw the centaur looking at him uncertainly. For one split second Marcel hoped the beast wouldn’t dare to follow him. Maybe it couldn’t swim.

That hope was mercilessly crushed though when the beast jumped down with a mighty leap. It landed on top of the water, sending waves crashing around, and stayed stuck to the surface of the lake.

Marcel couldn’t believe his eyes. The centaur was walking on the water. The thing fixed him with a dangerous smile. It didn’t speak. Even the outcry from when he had attacked it had barely seemed human. Despite its appearance, nothing about the beast had even seemed remotely human to Marcel until now.

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Nothing apart from its smile now.

He looked at the centaur approaching him, there was confidence in its expression, glee almost. This broke something inside of Marcel’s determination, but he quickly rebuilt it. This was his element now.

His [Rhea’s Boon] skill had already kicked in. He felt more alert and fresh than he had the whole day. The little background hunger he had was gone, as was the pain from all the cuts he had gotten from running through the jungle like a madman.

He used his [Minor Water Manipulation] skill. He hadn’t used that in the longest time, putting it of as nothing but a mere party trick without much use. But right now it felt like the small stream itself was whispering to him. He followed his instinct and activated the skill, imbuing it with a mental image of what he wanted.

The water around him followed that command. He was lifted up out of the water and rose clear of the surface. It was like the water carried him.

Then it closed underneath him, and he found it firm to his step. Suddenly he was standing on top of the water too. The centaur looked surprised, and it was Marcel’s turn to throw back a smile.

Then he charged the beast. It’s surprise turned into shock to see Marcel, the believed easy prey, fight back so suddenly. Marcel used that moment and stabbed with his spear towards the beast's torso.

It brushed his attack away with a lazy sweep of its trident, and butted the end into Marcel’s chest. The force of it was crazy and he was thrown backwards a few meters.

He recovered quickly, the pain still echoing. He forced it away. That was when their fight started in earnest.

[Rhea’s Boon] luckily still worked even when he was above water. Because even with his [Heightening] skill working alongside the aqua boost, Marcel had trouble to match the centaur.

In the first few exchanges he had made the mistake of fighting the thing head on, but the sheer force of the beast had simply pushed him back, if not thrown him around. Had they fought anywhere else the beast surely would've capitalized on these situations, but even if it was able to walk on top of the water, it still didn’t seem confident around it.

Together with the fact that Marcel’s first few attacks seemed to have had some effect in slowing the beast down, that was the only reason he was even able to confront it head on. And still he was losing.

Their fight continued playing out in small skirmishes. The centaur was proceeding towards him like an unstoppable bulwark. Marcel was constantly on the back foot, sometimes darting in for a few quick strikes, but always on the retreat.

If he wanted to land he had to use all the tricks he had. He had to feint, and dodge and attack in quick flurries to land at least a few small scratches on the monster. And even then he had to immediately disengage again, every time only barely managing to avoid the giant trident surging towards him. He didn’t even manage to activate his thrust skill a lot of the time, not wanting to slow down his engagements.

The few cuts didn’t make the centaur pause though. It continued forwards in slow but steady steps.

He had to go for more serious attacks.

Marcel rushed forward. He feinted low, projecting an attack at the centaurs legs. In response a fist flew out, ready to catch a ducking Marcel. He sidestepped to avoid it, and activated his [Thrust] skill. His spear surged forward aimed straight at the centaurs head. All the power of his skill is embedded in it. The beast simply moved it out of the way, making it miss and catching Marcel’s arm.

He held an iron grip on it. Marcel tried to shake him off, but the thing was too strong. A snap was heard and sharp pain shot up his head. He had to drop his spear. He saw stars suddenly. The centaur causally lifted him and threw him through the air.

He sailed half a dozen meters and landed at the bank of the stream with a sickening crunch. Every breath came with waves of fire emanating in his chest. He tried rightening himself, stützing himself on his left arm. But his arm gave in, the pain punching his gut and he almost puked.

He laid there on the floor, barely able to keep his thoughts clear. He felt the taste of blood in his mouth. Metallic and warm. Stars danced across his vision as he saw the approaching monster.

The thing was slowly moving in from his left. It strode with the certain confidence of a won fight. There was victory in its step. Marcel barely managed to hurl himself to the water.

The thing stood behind him, staring down at him with an expressionless face. Marcel reached out his hand towards the water, and in a desperate attempt, pushed all his mana into his [Aqua restoration] skill.

Energy surged through him like at the first night when he was stabbed it was like the clean water of the stream sprang into his pores and healed him.

He barely managed to roll around and avoid the descending trident. It hammered into the floor where his head had been only a few seconds prior.

The centaur looked surprised. Even more so when the point of Marcel's spear was suddenly sticking in his throat.

The centaur exploded into a fearsome cry of horse noises. It neighed and trampled. Its hands reached and removed the spear, but a splashing fountain of blood erupted. The thing only panicked more

All Marcel could do was curl together and weather the stampeding death throes of the centaur. He closed his eyes and hoped. Desperate cries of the centaur rang through, and what was only a moment or two, seemed to stretch like eternity for Marcel.

When finally it was over, his mana was almost completely empty. His [Aqua Restoration] skill was working overtime just to keep him alive. He slowly propped himself up. His wrist still pained, but it was only an echo compared to what it had been before.

He looked over at the centaur. The creature had collapsed next to him. Some blood was still seeping out of its neck and the dozens of small wounds it had accumulated in their battle. The whole floor was drenched in a small sea of crimson that flowed all the way over to Marcel, covering him in the centaurs still warm lifeblood.

He got up to his shaky knees and walked over to the centaurs trident. Marcel laid his hands upon it. There was a warmth to the weapon, it almost sang to him. It was still stuck in the floor where it had planned to skewer him like a chicken, and it took Marcel a few tries to unearth the oversized weapon.

When he finally held it in his hands, he was surprised how light it was. He thought about keeping it, but found it slightly unwieldy in its size. Still he walked over to the centaur, trident firmly gripped in his hands, and brought it down onto the beast's head.

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