The couple seemed exhausted from being chased by the giant crow. Approaching Novak with a look of gratitude, the girl was still trying to catch her breath after running for so long.
“Are you alright? That bird almost had us!”
“You were lucky to run into me. What are you two doing out here?”
The man replied with a worried gaze: “My name is Nathan, and this is Emily. We are backpackers from England.”
“I am Novak. We should find somewhere safe to talk, this forest is dangerous. Do you know if there is a town nearby?”
“We had accommodation at a hotel in Szeged,” said Emily, “but we’ve been camping in this forest for the past couple of days.”
Novak wiped the blood off his sword and put it away. He recalled that Szeged was a city in eastern Hungary, he would surely find food and supplies there.
“We can go to Szeged together, then. I can take care of the beasts if you stay close.”
Emily and Nathan seemed overjoyed at the idea. After all, the man in front of them had killed that giant bird with one strike. They wouldn’t turn away the protection of someone so strong.
The group moved along the river, towards Szeged. To their surprise, they encountered very few creatures along the way, and none of them were large enough to pose any threat to Novak. Mutant animals maintained many characteristics from their original form, the only shared trait being that they were all starved for human flesh. Therefore, it was almost impossible for a small animal like a raccoon to mutate to a strong beast above level 10 unless it managed to evolve to an elite or boss rank.
After a few hours, the group started seeing houses and signs of civilisation in the distance. Nearby, there was a hill overlooking the city. Novak considered the situation.
“We should head for that hill and scout the area. We don’t know what is happening in the city right now.”
Although they were hungry and tired, Nathan and Emily reluctantly agreed.
Soon, they were greeted by horrifying scenes. From the high ground, they could see the streets running red with blood and countless half-eaten bodies everywhere. Hundreds of mutant beasts were fighting among themselves over the prey, and there were packs of mutant dogs, wolves and other creatures roaming the city. They finally understood why they had such an easy time until then. It seemed that once the wild animals mutated, they had no more fear towards humans and decided to attack their settlements. Without a military force to hold them back, the police was far from enough to make a difference.
Emily covered her mouth and looked away from the horrifying scene.
Nathan’s was unable to blink, the spectacle imprinted in his mind forever.
To Novak’s surprise, he did not feel anything. The display was gruesome, but to him, it had a twisted sense of normality. The strong eat the weak.
“What do we do? There is no way we can go there now…”
Novak assessed the situation calmly. Nathan was right, going there would be suicide. However, they still needed to find food and shelter. Looking around, it was clear that most of the beasts from the surrounding areas were hunting in the city. While that made Szeged a danger zone, it also meant the surrounding villages would be safer. Novak could see that the river they had been following split into two, one arm going through Szeged and the other going east.
“Don’t panic, we can still find food in the surrounding areas. We’ll continue to follow the river away from Szeged.”
With little else to do as an alternative, the two followed Novak forward.
After a while, they reached the village of Deszk. As suspected, there were much fewer mutant animals in the area. As they approached the village square, they could hear loud thuds and voices. In front of the village church, there was a group of men, women and children shouting. They were covered in rags and looked thin and malnourished. They were shouting in Hungarian, so Novak could not understand them.
“Do you know what they’re saying?”
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Emily tried to listen carefully. “I only know basic conversation, but it sounds like they want to get in.”
“They seem casteless,” Nathan said with a pitying look.
The church’s wooden gates suddenly opened and two policemen walked out. They started shouting at the small crowd, and without hesitation pulled out their pistols and started firing at everyone. The people fled in multiple directions, screaming. However, the policemen did not stop, shooting some in the back. When they were done, they went back inside and closed the gates behind them.
“How horrible!” Emily cried, “even though they’re casteless, they can’t just shoot them in the back!”
“We should avoid the people inside that church, they seem dangerous.”
Emily looked at Nathan with a furious gaze, “how can you say that? Are we just going to let them get away with it?”
“Emily, they have guns! What are we going to do, talk to-“
“Both of you shut up. Someone’s coming.”
Nearby, they could hear someone shouting and running. To Novak’s surprise, they were shouting in Serbian. His curiosity piqued, he decided to investigate.
“Wait here, I’ll be back shortly.”
Novak started heading towards the noise.
“Faster, Zoran!! They’re going to catch up!”
Two scrawny children, both 12 or 13, were running for their lives. Behind them, a group of mutant dogs was giving chase.
[Level 8 – Mutant Dog]
Less ferocious than wolves, they hunt in packs and like to scavenge
“Run towards me!” Novak shouted in Serbian
The boys did not hesitate and ran towards Novak as fast as they could. Soon, he made contact with the pack of dogs. There were 4 of them, and they all seemed rabid and hungry.
With an upwards slash, Novak severed a dog’s head. Another dog attacked and bit him on his other wrist. However, his Reaper’s jacket mitigated most of the damage. Before the dog could release its bite, Novak pierced its head with the sharp hunter’s shortsword.
[You have reached level 6]
[Please Assign 2 attribute points]
The remaining two dogs were enraged and lashed at Novak, but it was no use. They posed almost no threat to him. He slashed another one down with his blade. The last dog, seeing it was alone now, fled immediately.
Novak assigned the two points to Strength and turned to the boys. They were skinny beyond belief and wore ill-fitting clothes.
“I though this was supposed to be a paradise world,” Novak thought to himself.
The boys’ expressions betrayed their awe.
“Thank you for saving us, mister!”
Novak put his blade away and crouched down. Taking some canned food from his backpack, he gave it to the boys and asked, “what are your names?”
The boys’ eyes lit up at the sight of canned meat. The older one took it without hesitation.
“My name is Sergej, and this is my little brother Zoran.”
Novak smiled at the boys. “I am not from around here, and I need some information. Do you think you can help me, Sergej and Zoran?”
The boys were already eating the food. Their mouths full, they nodded eagerly. They wanted to repay the favour any way they could.
“Why are you not in the church with everyone else?”
“Mister, you must be from really far away,” Zoran replied with a quizzical look. He pointed at the triangle branded on his wrist, “we are casteless. The people inside are all Polgars and above.”
Novak thought this was the case when he heard Nathan, but he wanted to confirm.
“What happened when the village was attacked? Do you remember anything?”
The boys showed a scared expression. “Yesterday morning, everyone heard the bells tolling in the sky, so we went outside to look. It was as if the sky tore in half and revealed a message. We never learned to read, so I don’t know what it said. Then, all the animals in people’s farms and houses started howling and turning into these things, like those dogs!”
The other boy, Zoran, continued, “there were screams and people were being ripped apart, but the policemen reacted quickly and started gathering everyone in the church. We wanted to go, but they told us to scram. We hid in an empty house after that.”
“So why were the dogs chasing you?”
“We got hungry. We saw the policemen earlier shooting their way to the village shop and grabbing supplies, so we wanted to see if there is anything left. But we didn’t even make it to the shop before those dogs chased us.”
Novak more or less understood the situation.
“Is there another shop in the village?”
Sergej replied with a downcast look, “no, that’s the only one.”
Considering his options, he needed supplies right now. He also didn’t want to leave those boys like that. Novak went over to check if the dogs dropped any loot. There was one brown pouch holding a small dagger.
[Steel Dagger I]
One-Handed Dagger
Common Item
+1 Strength
Length: 24 cm
A sharp dagger, it can pierce through the hide of normal beasts.
Since it was of no use to him, he gave it to the older brother, Sergej.
“Keep this safe and follow me, I’ll take you to the shop.”
Seeing Novak return with the two boys, Emily finally relaxed.
“Are you ok, Novak? What took you so long?”
“Had to chase off some dogs. These boys can show us the way to the shop, we can get some supplies there.”
Emily approached them with a kind look, “Are you two ok? What are your names?”
The boys gave her a wide smile, and Zoran blushed.
“Mister, what is the pretty girl saying?”
Novak laughed, replying in Serbian: "she says you’re far too young for her.”