Making their way back using the same route would have been easy for Ember, but for the sake of efficiency and because of the low supply, Merida took the lead, compromising between the shortest route back to resupply and the most direct way back home. The travel plane was to reach the Flathead Reservation through the forest, then aim for Missoula, following the road leading the way back home.
Proximity Request
You have entered the territory of a lone [Crazed Ironquills Giant North American Porcupine].
This monster poses a threat to the environment and needs to be terminated.
Difficulty: Medium
Reward: 1 spell coin
The notification came out of nowhere, and before she could even read it thoroughly, she could not help but ask:
'Did you receive it too?'
Yes!
"Mary, did you get the system notification?" Ember asked again for the girl's sake.
"The monster killing one? Yeah, I was reading it." Mary responded. "It offered me a beginner-tier alchemical recipe. What about you?"
"The system promised me what I wanted the most: a ranged spellstrike guidebook. Ember?"
'A mere spell coin. Why do your rewards sound way cooler than mine?' Ember whined.
What's your difficulty rate?
Merida asked, and she replied immediately:
'Medium'
Mine is hard. And so should Mary's one be.
You get less cause the system evaluates it should be easier for you. That Porcupine is probably also Novice Tier.
Ember also noticed that the system wasn't asking for her consent this time.
'So... Am I the only one hesitant about this?' She asked.
"I don't want to force anyone, but I want that guidebook. Mary?"
"The system said I don't have the specialization to use that recipe." The girl said, a bit disappointed," But it would help me tier up. So maybe I should hurry up and learn alchemy too? If you can help me with that, I'm all in."
"I would gladly help you," Merida responded before tempering, "It's Ember who needs convincing."
And so Mary sighed before glancing at her.
"Ember, please? I don't want to be mean and blame you for anything, but I'm already feeling down. Can you please do this for me?"
It was a low blow, but the girl did not have to say more. Ember knew she already failed the girl while tracking her father and felt guilty about it. So she felt like she had to make it up for Mary and that I wasn't nearly enough. But it would have to make do for now.
'Okay, I will do it.' She grumbled before sniffing around and taking the lead.
★☆★
The giant Porcupine had not been hard to trace. Its magical signature, and iron quills, were everywhere around the forest, the sign growing more evident as they got closer.
Obviously, with all those sharp quills stuck deep in those trees, it got some kind of magical high-speed shooting power. You should find some safe place to sleep and attack at a distance in spirit form. And I should do the tanking and keep it distracted.
'What about Mary?' Ember asked.
"Mary? How do you feel about providing covering fire from a safe distance?" Merida questioned, "Don't get me wrong. I'm going to use my illusion to get it to focus solely on me. You should be fine. But just in case..."
"Is ten meters okay?" The girl answered.
Merida paused to think it through, looking intently at pincushioned trees.
"No way to know for sure. You should assume the worst and take cover."
The young girl only nodded to mark her agreement before Ember split from the rest and the group and went searching for an abandoned burrow. She did not like that way of doing things, but given her spell list and their current target, it was probably for the better.
That crazed porcupine had killed many animals, so finding an unoccupied den was easier than it should have been at that time of the year. She found a place under tree roots, and after confirming it was indeed safe, she settled down.
'Going for a nap. See you after the fight," She said to the doll through their link.
So far, she never had been able to talk to Merida while sleeping and had no reason to assume that spell would allow her to do so.
Okay. I'm still searching for that monster. I will use my illusions and wait for you to engage.
Since Ember had tiered up, Merida's illusions had gotten slightly stronger through their link and had become their go-to primary defense, while they respectively did their part with close and ranged combat. But this time, that strategy was flipped around as it would be Merida doing the close combat with Touch of Decay while she would be attacking with her mind alone.
The anxiety kept her awake longer than she should have.
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★☆★
In her spirit form, Ember felt like a ghost. She was no different than that Air Elemental, as she was fully incorporeal.
And yet, her 'body' responded to her as usual. She could run. She could jump. She could bark. And she could smell the magic around her just fine. Only the entire world around her looked lifeless: immobile, drained of natural colors, sounds, and smells. Only the magic remained, and so she quickly spotted the porcupine, like a lighthouse in an ocean of emptiness.
Merida assured her she would wait for her to engage the monster, but seems like she got no choice. The crazed animal was already trashing around, shooting its quills in wide cone attacks at the dimmer, less defined shapes of the girl and doll.
The two were doing their best to stall time but were slowly retreating.
So Ember did not take the time to think twice about the monster's armored back. She activated Nerve Snap, bite at the monster's neck, and refused to let go as she encountered resistance for the first time since her Dream Wandering activated.
Quills flew madly in her approximate direction but passed through her 'body' harmlessly. Yet Ember chose to let go, repositioned, and went for a second attack on its rear this time. The creature lost control of both its rear legs and collapsed momentarily. But it was enough of a window for Merida to return to the offensive with Touch of Decay, willingly impaling her hands to wreak havoc on the poor thing's innards.
Timing her next bite, then letting the doll time to flee, she then fell into a rhythm. Embrr would attack twice, then Merida, then her again, rinse and repeat, with the occasional ice needles coming from Mary at offbeat once every few seconds to confuse the beast.
Ember could tell that, contrary to the Air Elemental, her Nerve Snap was doing little to no damage. But the creature was feeling the pain all the same, which kept it distracted long enough for her companions to do the actual damage. Merida especially had learned a lot despite having no new offensive cantrip to show for it, and her Touch of Decay was a lot stronger than Ember remembered it.
Or maybe it was her point of view that changed radically as she could now see the magic inside the creature getting poisoned with every touch and turning back against its user. It was devastating and truly a wonder that this monster could still stand and fight. But she guessed its name wasn't for show.
It could somehow absorb some of the damage and transform it into kinetic magic to boost its own quills attacks, though Ember was uncertain if it used Mana, Ether, or both. Merida would be able to tell her, but as she had guessed, she would be on her own until she woke up.
Then, after thirty use of Nerve Snap, fatigue finally quicked in, and she had to retreat.
Getting back to her body, she woke up and activated Startle Awake, rushing back toward the battle and empowering her last spell for later use. The girl and doll were already back to struggling when she finally made it.
'Tell the girl to look the other way and cover her ears. I'm going to try something crazy,' She warned as she got closer.
She heard Merida yell something before she activated Contagious Yamning right before the badly beaten but still kicking monster and played it would work. And she felt the creature try to resist, but she came even closer to hit the beast full force with her Soothing Presence.
The sedative spell and her calming talent did the trick, and the creature fell to the ground, triggering another salve of her quills, one hitting Ember straight into the right shoulder before it finally gave in to its forced sleep.
'Merida, I don't care if you have to go through magic fatigue ten times over... just do your job and Touch of Decay this creature's brain until we are sure it will never wake up.' She ordered.
It will be my pleasure.
The living puppet replied as she walked to the monster with a vengeful look on her face, as she resembled a cross between a doll and a pincushion at this very moment. The creature started shaking in her sleep but could not do anything to fight the onslaught. Until it finally stopped breathing.
And yet, the creature had barely any visible injuries, blood loss, or broken bones. It just looked like it just went for a nap and forgot how to breathe. It was scary. More so than the dead summoner and dead people in the streets. It just gave Ember a new sense of her own mortality. Because she actively participated in killing that creature, and contrary to the Air Elemental, it left a corpse behind it after its death.
Not that she did not know about that. She had dreamed of it countless times, hunting for food with her pack. But it was different this time. She had deliberately taken a life. And it was neither for food nor revenge. She just did it because she could, and the system, and her companions, asked for it.
It enlightened her to the fact that maybe, one day, she would be the one mercilessly slaughtered to a system request.
If it might make you feel better, it was not just any monster but a crazed one.
It grew beyond what its mind could withstand, grew crazy, and killed every creature it encountered on sight.
'Can I ever grow into something like this?' Ember asked, unimpressed at Merida's cheering skills.
With your lack of ambition, probably never. You have to deliberately go over your own limits or get into hazardous places to trigger monsterification. Chances are never zero, but they are so low that it would be beyond unlucky.
'So you are saying this animal did that to itself?' Ember asked again, dubitative.
Out of desperation, fear, greed, or even lust... You are underestimating your fellow sentients craving for power, which you are still surprisingly lacking. Only a select few have the potential to go that far, and even fewer choose to follow through but still: the journey to greatness is a slippery slope.
It definitely didn't help ease her mind, and Ember decided to keep her thoughts to herself.
She looked at the little girl, lost in her own thought, with a smile on her face. The system rewards were indeed quite good at distracting oneself from the gruesome reality.
But now, Ember knew. And she hoped she would never forget.
★☆★
Going back on track on their journey home, they finally reach the place Merida had called the Flathead Reservation. Which looked exactly like any human settlements Ember had visited, except those ones were smaller and surprisingly intact.
The people there only stopped them to ask them about the news of the outside world and offered them to resupply in exchange for the same old paper money that everyone used before they all went crazy and decided it did not hold value anymore.
Ember did not need to be a genius to deduct those people were pretty isolated, despite being so kind and welcoming.
And they were about to leave when a boy running from elsewhere screamed something to the men that changed their attitude entirely. One second, they were smiling and waving goodbye. The next, they were chasing after them and got Mary and Merida before Ember could even react.
She had just started growling, threatening the men to get her companions released, when the boy talked again in a language that Merida understood:
"Release the girl and the doll. They are not important. Grandpa only wants to talk to the dog."
One man let go of the little girl, but another holding on to Merida did not respond in kind, restraining her even more.
"I will hold on to that one for now. That dog doesn't talk, and she did the talking for the three of them." He observed.
And Ember decided to bark some more in response until he conceded the point:
"Well, maybe that dog IS talkative, but I don't speak dog."
"Sorry for my uncle's manners," the boy said to the doll, "Would you be so kind as to come with us? Grandpa is a bit odd, but you will be compensated for your time."
Ember noticed that the boy's emotions did not match his behavior. He was worried, desperate, and a bit fearful, with a bit of reverence every time he mentioned his "Grandpa."
Noted. This grandpa is most probably this community elder and everyone else 'Grandpa,' regardless of blood, just as this boy called that man "Uncle." I will prepare an escape route just in case but let's go with it for now.
'Agreed,' Ember barked one last time.
"Ember will go to that meeting of her own free will." Merida translated before adding to the man still holding her tightly, "Though I would appreciate going with her on my own two legs."
The boy just nodded and turned around, letting Ember follow him.
Soon after the man confirmed it was not some sort of ruse, Merida got released and ran after the both of them while Mary was offered some free cookies, which smelled divinely good. Ember kept in mind to ask for her share later and fully concentrated on the boy.
Which she realized through its smell was not a boy at all. However, she had no idea what else to call it.