Dren watched as the cocoon unraveled while he drew his blade back out of it. The corpse of the Shadow Hunter dropped free on the ground as he spoke. “Seven.” Ren stood nearby having opened a small gap in the cocoon for him to get the killing blow. Meg had emerged from the trees to stand nearby, just as silent as Ren. Neither of them seemed bothered by the shrieking of the man lying on the ground nearby. All his limbs were shattered, but he was alive. It hadn’t been hard to do, as the Bererker seemed to lack any toughness. Almost all his attributes appeared to be in vitality, giving him lots of raw health but little power. He relied on his ability to convert damage into raw attributes for himself. Of all of them, he was the one that seemed least dangerous despite his level being the highest.
Dren took his time with this one as he had the others while looting them. Once he was done he moved to stand over the still wailing man. “Where is all that bravado now?” Dren tsked as he looked down at him.
“Fuck you.” He shrieked and flopped around, his ruined limbs flailing painfully around him.
“I will remind you. You attacked us first.” Dren did leave out the fact he was en route to attack the Necropolis.
“Fuck you. You invaded us. You did this to us. You brought this fucking system to Earth.” Dren burst out laughing after the man finished shrieking out his accusation.
“I wasn’t given any more choice than you were about any of this.” Dren stated then confessed. “But I am so glad I got to come here. You natives have no idea how lucky you are to be alive during an integration. Well to have BEEN alive during one.” Dren had wanted to interrogate the man for more information about the Necropolis’s defenses and plans. But looking into the man’s eyes he knew he wouldn’t get anything more out of them. Not in the time they had left. Still, Dren had learned more than he imagined. His dagger flashed out, coated in dark energies and then the night was again returned to silence. Even the fires were burning out, leaving at most softly glowing embers.
Looking down Dren shook his head and he processed all the information he had gathered. Most of it had actually come from the Magic Shotgunner before he was killed. Meg layered more and more curses on him. Until his mind started to crumble under the weight of madness. It made it hard to get clear answers out of them. But Dren had gained enough to understand some of what was going on. Somehow the Haven Lord had survived his ambush, well mostly survived. They had become an undead skeleton. How it had happened was unclear. It was either an ability the Haven Lord had that they had used to cheat death. Or the results of an attack Dren had used. Those were the two working theories being passed around. Dren knew it wasn’t anything he had done. Well, not turning him into a living skeleton, or well an undead skeleton. ‘Hmm undead or living? What is the right way to describe that? Wait, that doesn’t matter.’ Shaking his head he reminded himself that this was more likely something that Maria had done. The question was, had she intended them to turn into a skeleton, or had that been unforeseen on her part?
Dren decided it must have been something she intended. After all, she could read the future. So the Haven Lord turning into a skeleton had been on purpose? Still, it seemed the Haven Lord was furious and wanted Dren dead because of his condition. While Maria was there helping him still. Did that mean the Haven Lord hadn’t known what was going to happen? Shaking his head he sighed, there wasn’t much time left now. He needed to get moving. Despite this ambush, he still planned to hit the Necropolis during the monster surge. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t know he was coming regardless of when he attacked.
Without hesitation, he moved down and started looting the man. His large ax was already stored away but Dren found the familiar pouch at his hip. Two of them even. More potions were added to his supplies as well as some strips of that leathery jerky Meg had with her. It was similar to the survival biscuits they had started with, only it provided a larger amount of nutrition. Perfect for a higher attribute individual. There was one last thing in there, something Dren had never seen in person but recognized regardless. Only, he couldn’t believe that it was what he thought it was, still he used identify.
Communication Cube
Dren just stared at the metal cube in his hand. His family had spent a small fortune just to use the local one to contact his brother a few times. Of all the things he had seen and even acquired since arriving on this alien world. Not even his spatial storage item, something that would cost even more than the cube, had triggered such a vivid response. This was something identical to his world, something so… normal. Without thinking he activated the item, not expecting it to actually do anything. Yet, to his surprise, a projection hovered above the cube.
Maria the Seer curtseyed just as she had the first time they met. “Hello Dren.” Her voice was calm and smooth just like he remembered.
“Hello.” Dren said as a dozen different lines rushed through his mind. All kinds of badass intense one-liners about how this was all her fault. How he was coming for them. Yet, everything had happened too suddenly. By the time his mind settled on one, it was too late. It would be less than cool to start spouting out one-liners now.
“I would like to negotiate peaceful relations between…” Maria started but was cut off by an inhuman voice.
“Peaceful? Negotiate? Fuck that. Tell that murderer to come here now. I will kill him myself.” Maria’s eyes closed and Dren’s gaze flicked past her to the robed skeleton. Then past them to a familiar young woman sitting in a chair made of bones.
Dren’s mind blanked in confusion, and again he missed his chance to say something properly awesome in response. ‘What the hell is she doing there? Why do they have her?’
Kitty was struggling in a chair of bone, her arms and legs clasped by skeletal hands and a bloody bone gagging her. Standing beside her the skeleton threw back their head and cackled. “Yes! I have your woman!”
Dren blinked and then snorted. “She isn’t my woman.”
“You can’t fool me, BOY!” Practically bellowing the Skeleton pointed a bony hand directly at him.
Dren rolled his eyes and he looked to Maria who was now wearing an expression like she smelled something foul. “Did you know he was going to turn into that when you asked me to…”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Maria cut him off. “Surrender Dren. You can not hide from us. If you try and run, Richard will find you. Make this easy on all of us.” Dren grinned, his mask shifting to reveal far too many teeth.
“What is the matter, Maria? Did you not tell him what you did?” Dren laughed at her expression, but before he could continue, the skeleton that hadn’t even stopped his own monologue finally grew annoyed at being ignored.
Wheeling around he ripped the grisly bone out of Kitty’s mouth. “Beg your lover to come save you, wench!” His tone and movements were over the top like he was acting the role of a villain.
“Fuck you! I’m not some damsel in distress that needs saving. Especially not from that dense ass.” Kitty never even glanced at the communication device. Instead, she had continued struggling, the chair shifting and bouncing as she jerked this way and that way. Suddenly, one of her legs pulled free of the bony hands grasping it. She kicked the Skeleton in the shin repeatedly, all while screaming insults at them. Dren looked on at the spectacle shocked, Maria had a strained expression on her face, and the Skeleton howled in outrage. They lunged for the woman, digging his sharp bony fingers into her cheeks. Blood welled around his pristine white bones as Kitty’s voice rose in pitch, her cries now filled with pain. Yet she wasn’t begging for help or to be released. The young woman continued hurling insults at the skeleton while continuing to kick at him wildly with her free leg.
Dren couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing. His mask still morphed into a toothy maw and his voice distorted, but there was no mistaking it. He was laughing. “If you are nice, I might save you from her. Looks like she has things well in hand.” Dren grinned at Maria even if his stomach turned. ‘She is just a native. I don’t care about natives. They are just stepping stones, all of them.’ He mentally reminded himself. ‘Besides, she was an annoyance. She teased me and mocked me.’ He snorted out loud.
Maria gave him a look that was hard to read. “You are a poor liar Dren. She came all the way here looking for you.”
Before he could respond the struggling shrieking Kitty shouted out. “I did not. Fuck that loser. Like I would ever care about some arrogant asshole!” She let out a pained shriek as the skeleton raked his fingers down her face, leaving bloody gashes down her cheeks. Enrage she kicked out wildly, causing the skeleton to lurch to the side and stumbled away.
“You little bitch! I’ll kill you.” They shrieked but Dren noticed they were struggling to keep their balance while staying out of reach of the woman’s flailing leg.
Maria let out a long sigh. “Do hurry along Dren.” Then the projection winked out.
In front of him, Meg spoke up, having watched the projection from behind. “Is that girl an alien too?”
“No. She is a native like you.” Dren said, her question helping him focus. The small bit of interest she had shown instantly vanished.
“Are you going to save her then?” Meg asked, her voice once again flat.
“No.” Dren answered right away. “I don’t care about her. I met her briefly during a monster surge. She is a loud, obnoxious, annoying girl who tried to tease and bully me relentlessly.”
Meg's eyes flashed briefly at his words, but just as quickly they glazed back over. “I see. Then you are not angry about them torturing her? You don’t care if they kill her?”
“No. I don’t care one bit.” He declared as he stored the small communication cube away in his spatial storage.
Meg nodded, her expression blank. “Then what are we going to do?”
“We are still attacking the Necropolis,” Dren announced.
“So you are going to save her?” Meg questioned.
“I am not!” Dren snapped. “I don’t care about that annoying girl. Not one bit. She is a native. An annoying native. Who was nothing but a pain in my ass the entire time I was around her.” Dren snarled. “I am just attacking the Necropolis to put an end to that woman’s meddling.”
Meg tilted her head examining him and he growled at her. “It was what I was already doing. I am not going there to save Kitty.” Meg just looked at him. “I said I am not going to save her! I’m not some hero.”
“I didn’t say you were.” Meg responded while her empty eyes pierced into him. Dren stared back at her as if daring her to say differently. “Don’t we need to be moving? If we are going to make it in time to not save the girl.”
Dren snapped. “I’m not… We just need to hurry because of the monster surge.” He pulled a statue of a lizard from his pouch. “That is all.”
Meg watched the Invader, gazing into his heart and doing her best to make sense of what she saw. She wasn’t sure if he hated this Kitty person or cared for her. It was hard to tell and that made her all the more curious to see what would happen.
As the three of them settled on the mount he started checking his system notification and an eyebrow raised. “You have another Evolotuion already Ren.” He glanced at his companion and then at the Witch, using identify on her he was surprised to see she had gone up two levels to twenty two. It was only then that he checked his own level and realized he was level eighteen. Having gone up four whole levels from that one fight.
“I told you. Killing people is the best experience.” Meg stated cooly, having correctly read the surprise in his eyes. “All the more reason to help me purge this world of filth.” Dren shook his head at her insane statement, but couldn’t argue about the experience gains.
*****
Character Status
Name: Dren Race: Human (I) Class: Profane Blade (18) Profession: Profane Acolyte: (8) Health: 6325/6325 Stamina: 6250/6250 Mana: 5750/5750 Credits: 32,698 Agility 184 Dexterity 182 Endurance 250 Intelligence 230 Spirit 196 Strength 173 Toughness 174 Vitality 253 Dungeon Competency 70% Solo Dungeon Competency 60%