Mike’s disappointment was immeasurable and his day was ruined. He moped at the meager little hammer his hours of effort had made. He set it down, surprised for a moment as the hammer disappeared as soon as it left contact with him. He stared at the spot where hours of his work suddenly and without warning had stopped existing. He was about to take his anger out on another tree, when he felt the hammer within his soul once more.
Taking his hand off of the actual hammer on his back, he felt exhaustion flood into his body. He collapsed into a pile on top of the tree he was perched on, the hours of no rest catching up to him at last. His constitution could only put off his bodily needs for so long.
__________
6 hours later, before the sun had risen, Mike shot up from his sleep with a start. He calmed down as he realized he had fallen asleep. It wasn't a nice, satisfying sleep, but instead was the coma-like sleep that you get from being too tired to enjoy the rest. He was hungry, not starving, but could certainly go for a burger. He hopped down from the tree, planning on cooking the meat from the wolves, which probably wasn't a good idea due to the night of sitting in the open they were subject to, when he noticed them gone.
“Damn it, again?” Mike said, frustrated at all the freeloading little shits this planet seemed to now have. He looked for a blood trail that would indicate the direction the scavengers had gone, and much like last time this had happened, he found more than one. Picking one at random, he ran forward. Having already decided that whatever had taken his kills needed to die, he pulled out his hammer while he ran. After not long of running faster than a galloping horse, he spotted a clearing where the suspected thieves were. He held his hammer behind him, ready to swing it, transferring all his momentum into a powerful swing to destroy anything in its path.
He made it to the opening, already swinging at the nearest creature he saw when he stopped, his hammer less than a foot from the face of the terrified looking man in front of him. Sheepishly lowering his hammer, he tried giving the best apology he could think of before all the archers, mages, and warriors around him tried to retaliate.
“Uh, sorry about that. I thought you were a freeloading animal. No hard feelings?”
__________
Jonas looked at the man in front of him, who had nearly caved in his skull. He tried saying something, but struggled to get a word out after brushing so close to death. He was the highest leveled individual in the entire 30 person group they had, level 4 in his class already, and even he hadn’t been able to react to the sheer speed of the hammer wielding maniac.
The man tried explaining himself, and Jonas wasn't sure if what he was hearing was an excuse or an apology. What the hell did he even mean by “freeloading animal”. He stood there, still pale when another of his group, one of the archers, spoke up.
__________
“Who are you, and why the hell are you so fast?” Mike heard the question come from one of the archers in a surprisingly high pitched feminine voice.
“Must be a rogue with that speed.” Another said, a mage this time. The group seemed to tense at this, before the first archer chimed in, disproving the notion.
“Can't be, why would he be wielding a hammer?” she said.
“What is that gaudy armor he is wearing?” Someone in the back of the group asked. Mike shot a stare that could have killed in the direction of the offending voice, causing all who stood in that general area to pale.
“Let's start with the important things first.” The man that Mike had nearly killed chimed in, seeming to have finally gotten his voice back. “My name is Jonas, may I ask who you are, and what level you are.”
“My name is Mike, and my level is four.” Mike said, opting to go with the level of his race in an attempt to stop the rising tensions in the group around him. Jonas looked back at the archer, and the archer spoke.
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“He isn’t lying, my identify skill lets me know he is level 4.” she said.
“Oh, you have the identify skill too?” Mike asked, not even thinking of how his sudden words would put a few of the more jumpy people on edge even more. The archer ignored him, continuing his report.
“That is his race level, which means his class is level 8 or 9, or he has a similarly leveled profession.”
Jonas gave a questioning look at Mike, asking the obvious question without a word.
“My class is at 5, and my profession is at 4.” Mike said, complying with man's wishes. The arrows and spells pointing in his direction certainly helped with his cooperation. One man in the back, seemingly getting impatient, shouted out to the group.
“Just fire at him, he clearly isn’t here with good intentions.” The annoying voice that made the order was followed by 2 archers and 2 mages letting their attacks loose. Mike, knowing his maul wouldn't be fast enough, summoned his soul hammer into his hand and swiped away the two spells with it. The arrows fired stuck into his armor, not even penetrating all the way to his skin. Another volley looked ready to be loose when Jonas calmed them down, chastising the man who had yelled. Mike was going to have to remember the man who had essentially ordered his death.
After everyone relaxed, and was told to put their weapons down, Mike was introduced to a few of the people around the group. None of them had a race level above three, but it was clear that most didn't have a profession. One person that Mike was introduced to stuck out more than the rest.
“Name’s Aaron. I’m the one and only healer of the group.” The man said. The introduction of the man surprised Mike, both due to the fact that he was the only healer, and his physique. He was tall, a good bit over 6 feet. He had muscles, lots of them. He looked as if he could pick up and throw one of the many trees in the forest around them.
“Healer, not a warrior?” Mike asked, genuinely curious why such a massive man wouldn’t want to fight head on.
“Hell no I'm not a warrior, just because I look like one doesn’t mean I want to get in the face of those terrifying creatures out here.” The man was clearly scared of the creatures in question, paling slightly as he stared into the forest around them.
“It’s just a few wolves, nothing that scary.” Mike said, wondering why the man was so scared of the canines. They were larger than before the system, but nothing to be horrified by. The man and Jonas both looked at him, seeming confused for a moment.
“I’m not talking about no damn wolves, I’m talking about the night panthers. Those things are the real danger of this forest.”
“Night stalkers?” Mike asked.
“You haven’t seen any?” Jonas asked, “Wow, you must be crazy lucky, or just very imperceptive. They are everywhere at night. The only way we have been able to fend them off was with fire, as they seem scared of it.”
“How many have you all been able to kill?” Mike asked, wanting as much information as he could get on this apparently dangerous threat. Jonas grimaced before answering.
“None, they always run just before we can pin them down and finish them off. We already lost 5 people in the past few nights, we can't keep up at this rate. They are slaughtering us.” Hearing the hopelessness in the man's voice, Mike came to a decision, ready to help.
“Why don't I stay here for the night? I'm sure that with my help, we could fend them off well enough to not lose anyone tonight.” Jonas looked up at him, hope in his eyes.
“How confident are you in fighting them?” He asked.
“Well, I’m not sure at the moment, I would need to see them myself.” Mike responded.
“Then tonight, you can see them. I’m sure with you here we can fight them off. They usually appear just past sunset, right as it gets just barely too dark for anyone but our archers to see effectively.” As Jonas finished, Aaron cut in once more.
“Please, if we can get to a point where we don’t need to worry about them, that would keep the group from falling into further despair than we already have. As the healer, I have gotten time to talk to everyone while healing them, and from what I have heard so far, people aren’t too far off from giving up completely.”
Seeing the massive man almost tremble while talking about the horrors the group had experienced in just 2 days solidified in Mikes mind that he needed to get involved. Mike and the group walked for a few hours, finding another alpha wolf den. Mike quickly dispatched the leader, with others taking care of the smaller wolves. They hunkered down, setting up campfires they could use to protect themselves from the Monsters. Several of the archers tried tying dry leaves to their arrows to be able to set them ablaze.
Eventually, night came. Mike felt anticipation for the fight, and was excited for the fight. He didn't dare share his feelings with those around them, as not a single other person in the group seemed eager for the coming conflict. They all stayed standing, getting ready to fend off any potential dangers, when the first of the night stalkers made its presence known.
It was a panther, which really didn't fit with the forest they were in. It almost seemed to pull the darkness in around it, harder to see than Mike felt it should be. Mike identified the panther, letting his excitement slip as he saw the level.
“Oh hell yeah. Come get some, kitty.” he muttered.
*Night Stalker (Level 9)*