Chapter 7: friendly fire

Back at my pond I dismounted pony. With my health back at 98% I could use my leg without any issues. My humanity had gone up to 75% and with it I breathed slowly, my pulse having grown stronger.

My mind worked better as well. I could remember why to do things more than just urges to kill. Empathy and compassion I could understand, though feeling them were another matter.

I could understand that seeing the walking corpse of the girl I had inadvertently gotten killed stirred something in me and I could understand that if I returned to a more normal state while seeing her it could go badly. Though the solution of getting rid of her felt like too much of dishonoring her and wasting resources.

A lot had happened on my first excursion. Much had booth been gained and lost when I left the relative safety of my new home. My ability to defend myself had increased many-fold with new ghouls and an actual weapon. I had unlocked a new spell and leveled both my level and my necromancy skill.

Yet even if I could feel happy right now I was fairly sure that I would not. My gains had come at the cost of the life of a child. Someone that was slain as she in fear attacked my minion. Someone that died as I stood frozen with inaction.

It was far from a foolproof or permanent solution, but I ordered the dead girl into the tunnel and ordered her to stand guard where I couldn't see her.

Remembering the honors of Valhalla I had I decided to open up the skill and see what I could afford with my 8 honors.

Looking through the things that I could afford my attention was soon caught by something I could afford.

[Gunpowder: 3 honors/100gram]

[Lead musket ball: 2 honor]

Searching more into what I couldn't afford I soon found more offers in the same vein.

[Musket: 20 honors]

[AK-47: 200 Honors]

This piqued my interest. Guns... No mere shards of bone or baseball bats. Honest to god guns! With that I could stay safe and away from dangerous things! Though I'd need quite a bit of honor for it. And for that I needed to kill things. And to do that safely I needed guns.

Suddenly I remembered the rifle the angry hunter had had at the ambush. I couldn't remember any of the zombies or the necromancer taking it. That didn't guarantee that none of them did or that it would still remain there.

Getting it would be dangerous. And fuck, I don't think I remember the path back there either. The general direction I knew and with luck I might find my way there. Though without luck I might just as well wander into the crazy bastard that made me into what I am.

I should probably wait with that decision until my full mental faculties are back. And that meant after I had slept. Though for now I decided to keep looking at the Honor of Valhalla list.

A switchblade for 5 honor soon caught my attention. A knife is always useful to have and with it I might actually get out that bone-piece from my rib-cage.

Focusing on the switchblade it soon materialized on the ground in front of me. Seemingly as if mist coalesced out of nowhere to form the knife.

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Picking up the weapon I clicked the button to flick it out of the handle. With a shick the blade sprang out in a graceful arc and halted with a jolt. Locked in place the was ready for usage.

Taking of my stained and tattered shirt I used my free hand to feel where there bone-shard was stuck. The bump was still very noticeable and I brought the knife towards my ribs. Hesitating I pricked the skin to see how bad it would feel.

A distant dull ache could be felt and I pressed the knife deeper. A small trickle of dark thick blood seeped out. The sensation was odd but manageable.

Pressing harder I soon felt the tip of the knife scrape against something hard. Bending my neck I tried to see what I was doing. But the darkness and awkward angle prevented me from making out anything useful.

Giving a mental shrug I brought up my left hand and put a finger above and under the wound, lightly pulling apart. The grip wasn't the best as the slight amount of blood that seeped out was enough to make my skin slippery.

Taking a deep breath I widened the incision. Increasing the length of the cut to maybe 8-10 centimeters. Continuing to feel with the blade the pain suddenly became noticeable and the blood started seeping out more rapidly. A pained gasp escaped me and I let go of my slippery, bloody flesh.

Swearing, a green flame flared over my bloody hand. With it the pain disappeared and the blood slowed again. Blinking in surprise I quickly put it out. I couldn't remember intentionally conjuring the flame. This development was worrying, was I losing the ability to control my powers?

I didn't want to dwell on it for too long as everything was starting to become a bit too much. Taking a firmer grip on the knife and spreading the wound with my other hand I steadied myself. Testing around with the tip of the knife I eventually managed to fit it where my rib and the bone piece met.

Jiggling the knife it slid in a bit further and the bone piece moved slightly with it.

Getting the knife into a semi-firm location I started leveraging it while still wiggling it.

Slowly I felt the piece of bone start to slide out of me until with a plop it fell out and with a slight clack landed on the ground.

Feeling with my fingers I couldn't feel any other pieces stuck in there. Just a bloody gaping hole in my body I'd very much like to close.

Sitting down, leaning against the cavern wall I decide to rest for a moment while gathering my thoughts about everything that's happened.

With a jerk I woke from a fitful sleep. Gasping I opened my eyes. With my heart beating wildly I looked around in a frantic search, of what I did not know.

Wide-eyed I looked around in the dark room. The tunnel was brighter than I remembered and the blue lichen could be seen from my position. Monstrous figures could be seen in the dim light and I froze up.

A loud rumbling from my stomach broke me from my panic and I realized that the monstrous figures were the ones I had put under my control in my excursion. Snip, snap and pony.

Sluggishly I used one of my 3 remaining honors to get another of the dark loaves of bread. Eating it with a slowness that did not reflect on my hunger.

Soon the hunger stopped gnawing at me and I put the remaining bread down. Going to the water I crouched and began drinking. It tasted a bit off. Though whether that was due to the water or something with me I could not be sure. Either way I didn't much care and kept drinking.

Having drunk my fill I stood up and wiped my mouth with the back of my arm. Shuffling to my sleeping spot I picked up my shirt and put it on. Bending down again I picked up my grimoir.

Starting to open the book I stopped when I noticed a certain pressure on my bladder. Sighing I made my way to the tunnel. How long have I been asleep? The lichen is reaching all the way down to my cavern now. Maybe if I get some points over I should try to get a timepiece.

Dragging my feet I made my way up the tunnel towards my toilet. Or more precisely, shallow hole in the ground.

The pit of my stomach fell as it felt like I had the wind punched out of me. I stopped as I saw the small figure of the girl with the ponytail. The girl that had been brutally murdered by my ghoul right in front of me.

Anguish welled up in me and threatened to overcome any semblance of control I had managed to erect. My body seemed to stop working as my mind failed to cope.

Suddenly things became easier as the horrible emotions receded and grew weaker. In my teary-eyed vision I saw a small green flame.

Quickly I dismissed it. Cutting off the flow of mana sustaining it.

I looked at the dead girl and felt a dull guilt and shame. But I could functions in my current state. The reflexive use of corpse-flame was not something I thought was safe, but for now it seemed to do some good atleast.

Moving past the ghoul I went over to my toilet corner and unzipped, extracted my member and started to relax my bladder.

A steady stream arched down into the hole as I pondered my existence. That stream soon splashed on the cavern floor and my shoes as I tried to quickly turn around with my pants around my ankles, stumbled and awkwardly got my balance back.

The source of my disarray soon appeared again as voiced could be heard echoing from the tunnel where I had had my exploration.