Logan and Scilla followed Perkings outside the village walls, where the other hunting group and some of their fighting force was gathered in a circle.

On the ground were two men. The other was one of Logan’s men, the [Swordsman], one of their best fighters. Dr. Rosenberg was already kneeling beside him, with a block of darkmetal by his side. Logan had made sure to give their [Healer] a self-recharging Numa battery. One hand on the battery, and another on the big man’s chest, their old medicine man was making an incantation and a nasty wound was slowly knitting up.

The other corpse made Logan’s expression darken.

A prognated jaw, excessive, bulging musculature and blue thick veins crossing over the scantly clad body. The corpse had broken leather shoes on, clearly of 21st century Earth fashion.

Logan looked up to Jefferson, who was standing in the circle, arms crossed. “What happened?”

Jefferson nudged at the man beside him. “Steinberg. Tell him.”

“We were hunting a pack of those yellowhide deer. They were well rested, so the hunt took a while, but we were starting to run them down. But they ran into the thickets.”

The thickets was what the hunters and gatherers generally called the swampy area near the Faelves. There were snakes and frogs and a healing plant that they gathered from the wetlands, but generally they let the Faelves be.

“And then?” Logan said nodding towards the blue-veined corpse.”

“These things show up,” Steinberg said and spat on the creature. “Three of them. Tough as nails, fighting like rabid crackheads on fire. We skewer the two of them and snap a neck from another one, but they keep coming at us. The one with the limp head hanging clawed his way through Foraletti here. I got up and immediately brought him here and got Dr. Rosenberg.”

“Good man,” Logan said.

Jefferson nodded. “The rest of the men killed the three monsters, and we brought one here, for you to know.”

“I met these same beasts when we were delving,” Logan said. “Seems we have a new problem.”

“How do we kill them?” One of the agents asked.

“Nothing’s certain at this point,” Logan said. “But we cut the heads off two of them and they kept going. “If you open this guy up, you’ll find a couple of Numa crystals within. I think you have to damage all of the crystals for them to go limp.”

“Bastards,” Jefferson said. “It’s no easy job. They’re fast and fierce.”

Logan nodded. It was true. While Levespawn were generally dangerous, they were dumb, predictable and not entirely superhuman.

“Look at the shoes,” Logan said. Everyone’s head turned and Scilla gasped.

“No way!”

“We found glasses on one of the guys we fought,” Logan said. “I think they’re humans who have been turned.”

“Christ..” One of the agents muttered.

“Yeah,” Logan said sourly. “We need to make some kind of a martial law ruling with the village. I think it’s not safe to move about alone. Either for fear of facing these things or being captured and turned into one of these.”

“What do you think is turning people into monsters?”

Logan shook his head. “Could be poison. Could be a new trick of the Levemoth. Could even be some asshole with a class.”

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“We should find out and deal with the problem,” Jefferson said, straight forward thinker as he was.

Logan nodded. “Yeah. But the foremost priority is keeping these people safe. I will need your warriors to go with the gatherers and the fishers from now on. At least two people who could deal with a single one of these Numa zombies.

Jefferson clearly didn’t like that idea. He also harked and spat on the blue-veined creature. “Should be three of my people until they’re higher level. But it will make it hard for us to hunt. Less rest for my guys.”

“I trust you’ll figure it out.”

“I will, boss,” Jefferson muttered.

*

This whole ordeal left Logan with a sour taste in his mouth. He paced back and forth by the pond, with Freya, Kat, Balmer, Scilla and Jefferson watching him. He had gathered them there, but he wasn’t exactly sure what to say. Thus he paced.

“Ahem,” Freya said and cleared her throat. Logan turned to look at her, and she gave her an impatient look, eyebrows raised.

“There’s some bad shit going on,” Logan said.

Freya threw her head back. “Finally!”

Kat and Balmer shared a look.

Logan sighed, and searched for words in the wet clay at his feet.

[Need me to write a speech for you.]

“Screw you,” Logan whispered.

“I need to go out there and look,” Logan said and stopped pacing. “Kat and Balmer, I need you with me.”

Kat groaned but Balmer only nodded. “How long till we go?” he asked.

“Tomo—”

Logan noticed the nasty look Freya was giving him. “In two days.”

“I’ll need you to visit the Faelves, Frey,” Logan said.

She nodded. “I need to check up on our trees and pick up a few things there. I’ll tell them you said hi.”

“Can your new farmhand hold up the front with the Abac?”

“Yeah. I’ll expend some Numa to make sure he doesn’t kill them,” Freya said and everyone laughed.

After they were done, Logan continued. “Jefferson and Scilla, I need you guys to work out a routine for the [Gatherers], [Hunters], and anyone else leaving the camp for any other reason. Nobody should go alone, and there should always be someone with at least some way to fight.”

“I’ve a thought, chief,” Scilla said.

“Shoot,” Logan said.

“Could we get some camouflage or escape tools from the Faelves?”

Logan thought of that, but ultimately shook his head. “That’s a good idea, but they’re not big on tools, and even less trading them, even with us.”

[You could make tools.]

I was getting to that.

[I just want to be part of the conversation…]

Logan grumbled. “Tumor had a suggestion. I could make a set of rings that could give a camouflage or increased speed. I don’t know if I can pull off an invisibility spell, but speed and camouflage could get our guys back home safe.”

That made everyone, even Jefferson visibly excited. For all their basic comforts, they didn’t have that many tools for all the people. Logan had prioritized weapons, shelter and sanitation as far as expending Numa went. Logan wasn’t made of Numa and their Numa Fruit were limited, but what was even more limited than Numa were human lives.

[You’re a nice person, Logan.]

Shut up.

[And a prideful and touchy person.]

“I swear you’re going to drive me crazy some day…”

Logan cut in on the excited chatter. “I can’t make a ring for everyone. But I can make enough to rotate around depending on who’s going out. I’ll need you two to keep track of the rings. Let’s say I’ll give four to the gatherers and two to the fighting force. Let’s start with that and see if we need more.”

Scilla and Jefferson nodded, both smiling expectantly like kids at Christmas.

Balmer threw up a hand. Kat shook her head and pulled it down.

“Yeah?” Logan asked, trying to conceal a smirk.

“What are we going to do? Back to the ruins, or scout around?”

“Since we found some in the ruins, I think we should get back. Hopefully we can also bring back darkmetal or natural Numa.”

“Sun, you were good to me,” Kat said. “It was nice knowing ya.”

“Come on,” Logan protested.

“I’m going to get a vitamin D deficiency,” Kat said and shook her head mournfully.

“Tell me one person who has gotten so much as a cold since we got here,”

*

Eventually their tribal meeting concluded and Logan sat down on a rock to fashion the rings. He thought of the potential threat. The enemy was rabid for sure, but it was hard to say how intelligent. Camouflage might or might not work. The Faelves seemed to have some hybrid of camouflage and invisibility, which apparently kept them mostly alive against the Levespawn.

Just to make sure, first thing Logan tried was an invisibility enchantment.

[Enchantment level requirement not met]

“Yeah, yeah,” Logan muttered. He wasn’t surprised, as he had tried an invisibility [Enchantment] two levels prior. It seemed that stuff like flight and invisibility, along with invincibility, regeneration and any other god-power was locked behind very high levels.

I’ll just find a workaround. It’s more fun that way anyway.

It would be a lot less fun for the helpless gatherers of mushrooms and berries if they found themselves face to face with this new threat. Logan didn’t want them to have to do that with their proverbial pants down. This he needed to think through.

The Black Rain at least clearly heralded trouble. These things just were there, as if they were natural fauna. Logan wished he knew more about these creatures.

They’re really physical and really, really resilient. Not so smart, maybe? Do they see in the dark? Heat vision? Magnetic sense? Who the hell knows what I can get away with.

With this line of thinking, a speed enchantment on a ring would be the most straightforward answer.

Logan didn’t remember when he had last thought so diligently and never had he drilled Tumor so hard to help him theorycraft an optimal solution. He would not have his people die on him. The day was turning into dusk before Logan got even started. But despite his fatigue, he pushed through.

I will keep them safe.