Weathered and worn, the party moved in a formation unlike what they had become accustomed to, no longer having the leeway to defend from all sides. Mendez and the now one-armed Zhang trailed behind the three casters at each side, with Barnes heading the vanguard and Aisha just out of sight scouting ahead.
It was firmly night now, with only the stars and half a moon to light their path. The party’s pace slowed to a crawl as they were all forced to double check each step they took, wary of every shadow in the dark. None of them spoke a word. It had always been a rule to keep distractions to minimum but it had never been properly adhered to until now, the bitter taste of tragedy sapping any willingness to open their mouths.
The rogue, crouching behind a tree, raised a hand to signal Barnes, who walked to her side with vigilance. “Don’t see anything around.”
The two scoured over the clearing in the forest, large enough to make camp with a decent buffer between anything monsters could hide behind. It was hardly ideal, but they had little choice.
“Spread out. Search every tree and rock. Make sure we’re alone then we can make camp and rest up.”
The party did as ordered, peering behind bushes and poking around trees, most only tentatively at best, but Barnes let it slide without a word. A cursory search lasted only a minute before they gathered into the center and began setting up the tents in their bags. His preliminary preparations to help others who didn’t know how went to waste as the tents pitched themselves with a thought, the benefits of a magical item.
“Mendez, Zhang, Milton take first watch. Stay in the center, backs against each other. Don’t slack off. Wake the rest of us up in 4 hours.” All three seemed to have objections but none voiced them. The remaining left to their respective tents with no complaint.
“Goodnight.” Shin wished Grace, as though the events of the day hadn’t happened.
She mustered a tired smile before entering hers. Shin did the same for his, taking a seat and looking through his spatial bag to take out a half eaten brick of what looked like bread, food identify had labelled Manna, and took a bite. It had a decent savory taste, though nothing to fight over. The important part was it gave more nutrition and energy than any food available on earth, a single loaf, scarcely more than the length of his hand was enough for a full day of activity.
Unfortunately it had no effect on his mana, which in the time spent searching for a camp site had only recovered to less than a third of his maximum. Shin had spent the bulk of his mana after the fight healing Zhang and as he had expected, Treat Wounds was hardly a valuable skill. It was only able to close wounds faster, evident by the flat stump where the upper half of Monk’s forearm should be.
Equally as he expected, Barnes had allowed him to heal the monk instead of sparing a potion, all of which from the dead he had taken for himself under the excuse of rationing them efficiently. He wasn’t the type to let control slip from his fingers or waste valuable resources on someone who might not even be worth it anymore.
Speaking of control, Shin figured it wouldn’t be long now until Barnes made his move to solidify his. Shin was their only healer which was one of only two reasons the self appointed leader hadn’t acted more forcefully against him, but the second, the assumption of weakness, was lost. The shrewd military man had to have recognized that his intermediate angel was stronger than any of them. That made Shin a threat. Shin recalled the status of the dead goblin warriors he had inspected.
[Goblin Warrior (common) - Intermediate Peasant]
Strength - 49
Agility - 51
Constitution - 38
Vitality - 44
Dexterity - 47
Perception - 45
Force - 25
Spirit - 32
Control - 26
Willpower - 33
The others had been the same, exactly the same. Both were around 390 in total, more than his angels of now 312, up from the starting total of 250. Classholder type monsters seemed to be 25% up from the norm, and the goblins were leaned more to the physical side of attributes, the warriors having 10 to 15 points over his angel’s.
Although not as dangerous, the angel still unquestionably was stronger than any among them. Shin doubted he would do anything just yet, but there was no reason to get careless. Plus, he had drawn the ire of the monk, who lost an arm because of his actions, and the sword and shield warrior seemed to be growing more hostile by the hour. Such types can be irrational and unpredictable.
Still, neither of them were a threat, nor was the party as a whole for that matter. He has thinned their numbers a bit and taken care of the biggest concern in the archer. The mage’s magic might have been a problem had he not lacked the skill and mindset to wield it effectively. Everyone else could be dealt with without issue.
Prismatic splendor bloomed from his eyes and he entered a world of wondrous color. Glancing around he could make out the shape of things within the scope of a blue outline, living beings glowing distinctly. Grace laid still, already asleep it seemed. And… the rogue woman had quietly found her way into the leader’s tent. Not surprising, it was obvious she had chosen a side in the party from the start.
The three lookouts seemed on alert and doing their jobs suitably but there was no reason to. For as far as his sight went, he found no other glowing silhouettes as bright as them or the monsters they had encountered. Trees, small animals, and insects were all that accompanied them.
Shin channelled the feeling of control he had found and the spiritual brilliance was suppressed back into the still black void. He stared at his hand, slowly motioning it around, as clear as the dark of his tent allowed. Everything could be dealt with.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
---
Barnes winced under a giant bat’s piercing screech before burying his axe in its soft underbelly. The bat dropped to the ground and writhed in pain before a stomp to the head put it out of its misery, one of many whose sleep they had accidentally disturbed to the creatures’ great irritation.
But inferior tier monsters as they were, all were put down quite easily. They had a screeching attack which caused a sharp ringing in one’s ears but that was all. Their only offensive capabilities were the sharp teeth in their large mouths, which didn’t stand a chance at reaching their target before being cut down.
The giant bats didn’t seem to have much intelligence, nor even a working sense of survival, attacking the party to the last creature to no avail. They checked their surroundings before moving on without more than a few words from the leader. Such encounters had become commonplace.
Just as they were about to leave, the distinct roar of a bear accosted them, followed by the sudden sound of rustling and stampeding footsteps, putting them all back on edge. To the surprise of all, a man wielding a bow rushed out from the beyond a boulder, who stopped in his tracks. Silence followed, evident that neither side had encountered another group of players before.
That pause lasted only a moment before the ranger’s fellow members rushed out behind him, a woman in warrior’s gear and a man in equipped the same, carrying a woman in cloth. The ranger whipped around to face the direction he just came from, bow drawn at the ready.
“Help us, please!” He implored, though his voice retained some authority.
He loosed the arrow and an angry roar followed, close by. The ranger turned to ran again as the beast barrelled out from behind the rocky path. A bear, twice the size one would expect and twice as ferocious, took one glance at the increased number of enemies and roared.
“Uncommon tier!” Rogue Woman shouted, saving Shin the need to inspect the beast himself just yet.
“Brace!” Barnes bellowed to sharpen up the party.
He and Mendez moved up to confront the bear but a single thrash of its paw knocked the sword warrior a few yards away. He rose to his feet quickly but it was clear he felt that impact deeply, even from behind a shield. Another thrash had Barnes dodge back instead of blocking it, although the difference in reach and power was too great to capitalize on anything.
To the credit of the other party, the ranger peppered the bear with arrows and the two warriors rushed to reinforce the vanguard once they put the woman safely beside the party. The four warriors standing around the bear finally caused it to stand still enough for the ranger to put an arrow in one of its eyes, but not deep enough to kill. The enraged beast flailed recklessly, forcing the warriors further and further back. The erratic movement prevented the ranger from repeating his feat and any arrows that found its body didn’t penetrate its hide enough to be fatal.
“Summons!” Barnes called out.
An angel and sylph formed into existence and flew at the great bear. Shin’s angel didn’t seem to do much better than the normal warriors aside from being able to take the impact of a thrash better. Its spear drew blood but much like the arrow not deep enough to kill, at least for the torso. Shin couldn’t give his summon commands more complex than ‘protect’ or ‘attack’, otherwise he would have long told it to aim solely for the neck.
The wisp Grace summoned this time was a silvery gray, which immediately took to the air and fired out small blades of wind, drawing a splash of blood where it struck. These seemed to have more of an effect than the arrows and spear but not to a great extent.
A good amount of the bear’s fur was bloodied now and it seemed to be loosing some vigor. Under attack from all sides, it snarled and let out a deep grim roar, one that shuddered the bones. Shin felt a pull on his mind that quickly went away but it seemed the rest were affected differently. The vanguard who were right in front of the roar, seemed frozen in place, trembling. The bear thrashed out, knocking the new male warrior away like a ragdoll.
“No!” The priestess stumbled towards him, unsteady on one leg and quickly pulled out a healing potion and fed him before using her healing skill.
The bear turned to thrash at Barnes who through gritted teeth managed to raise his shield in time to weather the brunt of the attack. Hitting the ground at a bad angle knocked the wind out of him but he willed himself to shout a raspy command.
“Milton… everything!”
The mage let fireballs fly at the bear, three in quick succession, setting it ablaze. The beast roared in pain and flailed about but its focus was now turned on the fire enveloping it than its mortal foes. Arrows and wind and spear rained down on it whittling its life until it came to a smoldering stop.
As soon as the fight seemed over, the ranger and woman ran over to their fallen comrade’s side. “Derrick!”
“I’m fine…” The warrior grunted, straining himself to sit upright. “Just a little banged up.”
“Don’t move yet.” The woman in cloth scolded him.
“I’m fine.” He assured her.
Seeing there was no cause for alarm, the ranger walked over to Barnes to greet him. Dark skin with short hair, broad cleanshaven face with firm, hardened eyes no lesser than Barnes’. “Thanks. We might not have gotten away if it weren’t for your help.”
“Didn’t have much of a choice.” He jabbed back.
“Yes… I am sorry about that.”
“The rest of your party?”
“We lost two on the first day… the rest to that bear.”
“I see.” The look in Barnes’ eyes didn’t change. They had been assessing the ranger since the conversation began. “You should join us. We’ll be safer as a whole.”
The ranger seemed to understand the implication of them joining as opposed to banding together, but gave no argument. “Sounds good.”
“And the rest of your team?”
“They won’t complain. But there are eleven of us.” The ranger looked around. “Parties only fit ten.”
“Not a problem.” Barnes looked over at the silent boy eerily standing in place.
[Summon Angel has reached Lvl 3.]
‘Summon a celestial warrior to control as you command. Duration: 25 minutes. Limit: 3.’
Each level increased the duration by 5 minutes and maximum number he could have out at once by one, although anything above two didn’t matter for the moment. Shin turned his attention to the status of the fallen bear.
[Cave Bear (uncommon) - Lesser Peasant]
Strength - 83
Agility - 46
Constitution - 80
Vitality - 68
Dexterity - 44
Perception - 77
Force - 22
Spirit - 25
Control - 26
Willpower - 29
500 stat points in total, easily the most of any monster they’ve encountered so far. Over 100 more than the goblin warriors and even more heavily skewed to physical attributes, which made sense given its power and toughness but vulnerability to magic. Still, it had over twice the strength of his angel and high numbers for every other physical stat too, including agility and dexterity, which was a surprise, as it certainly didn’t move like it, aside from the swipes.
Shin reckoned body structure came into play here, meaning stats are not completely universal. Which made sense. Regardless of constitution, eyes were weaker than bones. It stands to reason that agility and dexterity applies more to some parts of the body than others.
[You have been removed from your party.]
A prompt interrupted Shin’s analysis. He glanced over at the newcomers and identified them. A ranger, two warriors, and a priest, all lesser peasant rank. Shin knew as soon as the priest woman starting healing what Barnes’ course of action would be.
As he thought this, the man in question stepped in front of his face again with an air of subdued threat. “Hand over your potions. Resources need to be pooled together and managed efficiently.” A shallow excuse, likely because he felt he didn’t need it. Shin handed over his two healing and two mana potions without resistance.
“You’ll be following along with us.”
“Sure.”
With that, Barnes took off, in the direction of the rest of the original party, probably to let them know the situation, Shin guessed. It didn’t really matter. Barnes had made his decision, which meant it was about time to act. Shin looked at the replacement ranger the party had just acquired. He had been composed and competent in the fight, a far cry from the archer they started with, meaning he was a much bigger threat.
“Him first then.”