Belinda woke up shortly later, and her reunion with her brother was a bit different.
She awoke and immediately started berating Eugene for getting himself into trouble and making her come all this way to literally carry him to safety. But once she got all her words out, the two of them embraced without saying a word and held tight to one another, making their true feelings known. Lucas and his mom waited patiently to the side, unwilling to interrupt the two siblings' moment.
It was Eugene that eventually broke the silence. He stroked the back of Belinda's head and said, "Thank you for rescuing me 'Linda. Who knew my little sister was such a powerful [Mage]--I mean, [Cook]?"
Belinda sniffled and drew back. "It's [Cook], and everyone knew that. Also, you're only a couple years older than me, so stop trying to act all grand when I've seen you in diapers."
"Hah, no you haven't," Eugene denied, "but point taken. Still, you did a good job."
Eugene gestured around the clearing, at the survivors she had helped save, but rather than taking pride in the accomplishment, Belinda visibly blanched.
"I'm just glad you're okay now," she said quietly. "After this, I'm never leaving my kitchen again."
At her words, Lucas turned to look past the border of the fae circle--at the still body of the corrupted vessel that had been more than three times his level. Belinda's words rang with a certain truth: they had all been through a harrowing ordeal, and those that survived did so through little more than luck.
It wouldn't keep Lucas from pursuing the next challenge, the next adventure, or the next level, but the thought made him revisit his plan to take a break after they returned to the village. There was more to life than the danger and chaos of the last few days. It would be nice to take it slow for a while.
"What are we going to do about all the bodies," Lucas suddenly asked, startling the others out of their conversation.
"What do you mean?" Belinda asked.
Lucas gestured to the edge of the circle. "The goblins' bodies," he said. "There have to be dozens, maybe hundreds of them. Do we just...leave them here?" he shrugged.
"There isn't really much else we can do," his mother answered. "Even if all sixteen of us were conscious and able, it would be much too large of a task to bury them all, and a pyre that large would likely set the whole forest ablaze."
"What if they turn undead though? Or lure other monsters back into the valley?"
"Monsters don't turn undead, Lu," Mary reminded him, "and besides, we are much too far away from the Kigal mountains for that."
Eugene grunted in agreement and said, "True. The corpses luring other monsters nearby, however, is looking pretty likely. There's not much we can do about that." The [Warrior] seemed to have a sudden thought, and his face involuntarily contorted in a frown. "They'll make for good leveling for the surviving guards, as well as anyone else defending the village."
The village had lost a lot of its defenders to the goblins. Commander Iltani's hunting party had only left around a third of the villages' guards behind, taking around fifty people including the handful of [Hunter]s they'd brought along, and of that number, only a dozen would be returning. That left less than thirty combat-Classes to defend the entirety of thee village going forward.
Eugene certainly isn't kidding that it will make for good leveling. If we really are about to see a big jump in monster activity, it could be the challenge of a lifetime...
My leveling really slowed down after my evolution, Lucas thought, maybe I should try to get in on that. He only entertained the thought for a moment though, then willingly discarded it. He was serious about the break he'd be taking. Of course, Lucas would still defend the village if it proved necessary, but he wouldn't seek out danger to reach his next level for the time being. Besides, he was pretty sure the only monsters that tended to attack the wall were those of such low level, he'd need a thousand of them to see any increases at all.
"It's late, or perhaps really early," Mary said. "We should all try to get some more rest to be ready for tomorrow."
Eugene had been unconscious for at least the last couple days, but that wasn't really sleep, and he didn't offer up any complaint. All four of them resettled on the grass near each other, and got comfortable. Lucas took the spot between his mother and Eugene, and he must have been even more tired than he thought, because sleep took him the very moment he situated himself remotely comfortably.
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The next morning, he was roused by the first few rays of light to reach above the tree canopy. The rays shone right into his eyes and disrupted his rest, but that was a problem easily solved just by moving his forearm to block the angle. The screaming that erupted moments later, however, was not a problem so easily ignored.
Lucas shot to his feet before his mind fully came to consciousness, and because of that, it took him an unusual amount of time to make sense of the current situation. He saw flaming projectiles flying, several people stumbling around in a panic, looking for cover, and one man in particular screaming louder than the rest as he wielded a blazing shortbow. Lucas looked around for the attackers before doing anything, and it was only then that he realized there were none.
One of the surviving guards had apparently just been roused by the sunlight like he had, and the man had awoken with no idea where he was, but surrounded by the unmarred bodies of countless goblins. Even now, the guard continued to fire conjured arrow after arrow into the nearest corpse, but in his panic, he was missing more often than landing his mark.
"Stop!" Lucas yelled. "Stop--you're going to start a wildfire! They're already dead!"
Some of the others that were searching for cover froze at Lucas's words, but the man firing his bow did not. Charging the panicked idiot sounded like a good way to become a charred pincushion, so Lucas did the only other thing he could think of and ran to the small fires he was starting up.
The fae circle would likely keep everyone safe, but he didn't want to test its limits by burning down the entire forest around it.
But before he could reach cover the ten paces to the nearest burning patch of grass, a commanding voice rang out, cutting through the shouting.
"[Archer] Timothee! Stand down!"
Like a miracle, clarity returned to the pyro's eyes before he suddenly stopped shooting and snapped to attention. At the same time, all the fires were spontaneously snuffed out.
"Yes, Commander!"
Lucas would have laughed at the abrupt change in behavior if he wasn't already so incredibly frustrated. As it was, he no longer had an emergency to deal with, and he was left standing there, somewhat dumbly. With a sigh meant to relieve some of his frustration, Lucas turned to the source of the commanding voice.
Everyone was up now, and that included none other than Commander Iltani. The elderly [Warrior] had not yet risen to her feet when she barked out her command, but she did so now, and quickly looked around the circle to take stock of the situation, her eyes catching on Harry, Belinda, Mary, and Lucas.
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The previous night, Lucas had thought Iltani looked old and weak, and while healing her had helped much to combat that, she didn't look all that much better in the morning's light. What she did have now that she was missing in the night was an impressive force of presence that seemed to take control of the surroundings and firm up her stature. It was curious to see, because as far as Lucas could tell, it didn't have anything to do with mana.
"Now, who's going to debrief me on the situation?" the Commander asked.
"Urghh~ Fine, I'm up," Belinda groaned and abandoned her stubborn resolve to keep resting. The [Cook] stood up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, did her best to tame her hair a little, then glared fearlessly at the dour Commander. "At least let me start breakfast before you demand an explanation. I'm sure all of you are hungry."
Everyone tensed in expectation of Iltani's response, but Belinda just moved to an open space and started taking cooking implements out of nowhere. Faced with her sheer indifference, Commander Iltani could only nod her permission and take a seat.
"Very well, carry on," she said.
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The endless amount of kitchenware and foodstuffs Belinda could produce from thin air never ceased to amaze Lucas. The woman managed to produce a veritable feast for everyone's breakfast before it was eventually decided that they had lingered for too long, and then she packed the remains away just as mysteriously. As the food vanished, Lucas tried to make sense of what she was doing with his perception of mana, but whatever it was he perceived was entirely out of the bounds of his comprehension. He could only presume that it was the capstone Skill of her advanced evolution's Class.
Only when the entire party--consisting of the twelve survivors and Lucas's group of four--set off for the village, and after the fae circle vanished behind them, did Iltani request a debrief once more. Lucas's mother was kind enough to recount the last few days for the [Warrior] as they travelled. Largely, it was a long and uneventful journey, with very little to stave off Lucas's boredom, but boredom was a nice change of pace.
Lucas didn't pay attention to his mother's recounting. Nearly everyone else was hanging on her words, except for Harry who was instead speaking quietly to one of the survivors, so he instead paid closer attention to the sights and sounds of the forest. He remained aware enough to catch if anyone threw a question his way, however, which is how he eventually took note of how calmly the Commander was taking the recounting. That woman did not once show any measure of surprise or confusion, even to things she had no way of knowing beforehand.
It was a little uncanny, how unflappable Iltani portrayed herself, as if she were in control of even the smallest movements of her body.
Three hours after setting out from the clearing, the party had their first encounter with a monster, but it was not a goblin. If there were any survivors of that camp of monsters, they didn't see the slightest sign of them. No, the monster was something else, equally familiar to Lucas.
He was walking at the head of their procession when he heard it sniffling and scratching at the ground off to the side. The sounds grew nearer until the monster suddenly popped its head out from a bush, whereupon Lucas instinctively used [Identify].
[Skaven - level 17]
Huh. That's kind of nostalgic.
It was the same rat monster Lucas had killed so long ago, and even of a similar level--but it was could no longer be considered a serious threat to him. He was just about to step forward and quickly dispatch it when a guard spoke up behind him.
"I've got it," the man called out, and flash of heat heralded the conjuration of blazing shortbow.
I kind of already had it, but whatever.
Except the man didn't shoot at the skaven immediately, and the monster started to eye Lucas. It was clearly intimidated by the size of their party, but if the man didn't shoot soon, it would get over its fear. Lucas waited, then said, "Well? Are you getting it or not?"
"Hold on, kid. I'm trying something," the man replied testily. Lucas looked back for a moment as the conjured bow's flames began to turn slightly blue, then it happened. The skaven got over its hesitation and screeched, then it jumped, and at the same time, the guard screamed out in pain.
"AagghH!"
The moment the monster started moving, Lucas was already lunging to meet it, but a blare from [Vigilance] accompanying the guard's scream warned him to dodge to the side instead. He quickly dove out of the way just as a distorted wave of dark blue flames passed by overhead and hit the skaven midair. The monster screeched again, but different this time, and fell to the ground where it quickly stopped moving.
What the hell was that?
"What the fuck, Timothee? Are you trying to murder one of our [Healer]s?" Another one of the guards asked.
From his position on the ground, Lucas twisted his head to look back at his would-be assailant, but all he saw was a man doubled-over in pain. Something else was going on here.
"I don't think that's what this is," Lucas's mother answered the other guard's question as she approached Timothee, "move aside."
Quickly, Lucas got up and joined her, hovering back a little as she knelt before their patient. The man remained doubled-over and panting, clutching his arm's to his chest, so it was only when he drew close that Lucas got a good look at the horrific burns.
"Mom, the arms."
"I know, I see them," she said and reached forward to touch Timothee's shoulder. She pulsed healing through his body, and slowly, as the burns faded, he relaxed a little. Once the burns were fully gone, the man fell backwards and planted his butt on the ground. He looked pale, even though he should be physically healthy by now.
"What happened to him?" someone asked.
Lucas turned to look at who spoke and said, "Give us a minute. He'll be fine."
The others backed off, but from the whispered conversations that sprung up, it was clear that they were spooked. Lucas joined his mother at her side and spoke quietly. "Any idea what happened?"
"I don't know, Lu," she tossed her hands up slightly, "it looks like he did it himself, which makes absolutely no sense."
The crunch of a stick breaking under someone's foot heralded another person approaching, and Lucas was about to shoo them away, but then they spoke. "It was one of his Skills," Commander Iltani stated, "wasn't it, Timothee? It fell apart on you."
The man in question looked up at his senior and nodded. He swallowed, then opened his mouth and said, "[Combustion]. It's supposed to increase the power of my conjured weapons. Well, it still did that much, I guess."
Lucas furrowed his brow in confusion, but then shifted his attention slightly and took another look at Timothee's arms. From what they were saying...
There!
He spotted the problem and realized this might be a bigger issue than he thought. In the mana channels coinciding with the [Archer]'s arms, there was a faint bit of distortion. Almost like a fragmentation of his pathways. It wasn't something he'd seen before, but luckily it was static and not a continuous deterioration. Even if he hadn't seen it before, though, Lucas could make a pretty good guess of the damage's effect.
At Lucas's request, every one of the survivors gathered together so he could look for similar damage. They were slow to heed the request of a child, but after he explained what he found to his mother, she was able to convince them. Iltani, too, instructed everyone to line up. The old [Warrior] was extremely forthcoming on the issue, and she'd even been the first to point out the issue as well...
Something to think about for later. Lucas abandoned the thought when everyone was fully lined up and started his inspection. The results were not good. Everyone that he'd extracted corruption from had at least a bit of damage, even Eugene. There was no way of telling if it would all manifest in the same way as Timothee's had, but suddenly, for those people, using their Skills now came with a risk of serious bodily harm.
When his inspection was done, a wave of dread had overtaken the party. Commander Iltani summarized their feelings best.
"I believe the road to recovery from these events," she said, "will be a lot longer and more tenuous than we thought."
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The rest of the trip back to the village was soured by the specter that now hung over the majority of the party. Now that Skill use had become a risk for the survivors, Lucas, Harry, Belinda, and Mary took on the majority of monsters they came across in the wild. And whenever one of the others fought, they did so with only their stats supporting them. There were a number of minor injuries after any of those times that either Mary or Lucas had to take care of.
Nearly a full day after they set out from the fae circle, the party finally caught sight of the village's walls. For a moment, the dread was shrugged off and they rejoiced at the chance to see their families again. But when enough time passed for them to process what exactly they were seeing, their jovial mood quietly died.
"What happened to the walls?" one woman asked.
"They're so big..." another stated.
The party should have been too far away to see the village just yet, but something had obviously changed. Even miles out as they were now, they could easily see the stone walls peaking over the tree tops. Lucas knew Elder Falon had been fortifying the village when he'd left, but this--this was just excessive. The walls looked less like fortifications than the sides of a mountain unto themselves.
"He finally did it..." Iltani said quietly, but the party was silent enough that a number of people caught her words.
"Did what, Commander?" Eugene asked. "Do you know what's going on?"
Iltani looked over everyone and nodded. "This is Falon's work, obviously. He finally took the chance to lock the village down. It might have saved everyone, so I can't fault him too much, but we'll see how willing he is to reverse his actions now that the danger has passed."
Lucas took that ominous statement in quietly, and so did the rest. Things were changing, and the sight before them only seemed to make that realization more real. Lucas had no idea if the change would be a good thing or not, but he was sure of one thing.
"Come on, everyone," he stepped forth and continued toward the village. "It's time to head home."