[Alisha’s PoV]
That was close. The human sitting down on the ground like that was unexpected and caused me to hesitate about downing the alcohol. I already feel horrible because of my current hangover, I don’t want to make it worse. Crouching down, I stare at the human closely, watching for any movements that are suspicious. Seeing the serious expression on her face, I knew this would take time. The big question was why she was here, she said she wanted to help us, but I know her, she was a part of the handler group that I was in. Tapping my fingers on my thigh armour, I considered what to do. Standing behind her was Sally and Gray, who could attack her at any time, the human had no idea they were there.
Choosing my words carefully, I keep staring at her and ask “Who are you, and why are you here.”
“I am Elizabeth, I have no House. I’m a dungeon explorer and a monster hunter. I’m a traitor to Crater, I’ve come here to lend you my aid.”
“Why?”
Without hesitation, she replies “Because I want to help you. No, not just you, but Sally, Gray and all other hybrids. I was disowned from my House because I spoke up against the treatment of hybrids and wanted you all to be better treated. I saw you three as a chance at obtaining more freedom and better treatment for hybrids.”
That’s a lot to take in at once. Thinking about what she said while trying to maintain my expression I continue questioning her.
“How did you know where to find us?”
“Apart from being told so by a messenger from the council, there are obvious signs around here, like where you cook, monster corpses being dragged around and footprints leading back here.”
Frowning, I think about what she meant, was that how we were found by those other humans too? While I haven’t been here, Sally and Gray would’ve been killing monsters and cooking them in order to survive. I never thought of covering our tracks, I always thought we were well hidden. Berating myself for being overconfident in something again, I throw her a curveball, something that might catch her off guard.
“What happens at Level 15?”
“At level 15 you gain the Stats page, which shows you the grade of four stats, Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Toughness. I’m not sure on the specifics of what each one does, most people just have Fs. At level 20, Stats is updated to reflect a numeral value while the grade remains next to it. Leading theory is that the grade determines the numeral value but we don’t know enough.”
Such a thing happened at level 20? The first part matches what I have, I just have no idea about the part on level 20. Teacher Lee never mentioned anything like that…then again, Teacher Lee kept forgetting to tell me a lot unless I asked. It’s also possible she knows about getting Stats if you Class Up and is only telling a half truth. Remembering who I was talking to, a handler, I asked my next question, barely containing my anger.
“How many hybrids have you killed?”
“Sixteen, I remember each and every one of their names. I stayed with them the entire time, and I only ended their lives on their request if I couldn’t save them.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s t-true Alisha.”
Looking at Gray who just spoke up, I tilt my head in question. Looking nervous he responded “Elizabeth always t-treated me well…I’ve s-seen her sit with one of us b-before k-killing them, she was crying w-when she did.”
Surprised at this, I turn to Sally, forgetting that they were meant to be hidden just in case. Sally shrugs her shoulders, still on guard. Sally and I were under Gerald after all, but if I had to trust someone, I would trust Gray. Calming down a bit, I think about what we should do. With not much time left of the day, we still needed to hunt for food. Thinking of what to do, I turn to ask Sally “What do you think?”
“We don’t have the time, the risk is too high. Kill her.”
Turning to Gray, he opens his mouth to talk, hesitates, turns to Sally and then turns back to me. Before he could speak, Sally spoke first. “Just say what you want, Gray. I won’t hate you for it.” Looking back at Sally then to me again, he mumbles.
“I-I think we s-should give her a c-chance.”
So it’s up to me ultimately. Sighing and scratching my ear, I consider the advantages this could bring to us. Firstly, this human was strong, really strong. Easily dodging and forcing my attacks away, even if we ambushed her like I’d planned, chances are high we would have been wiped out. She’d have no reason to delay or kill us in our sleep. Another advantage is if she truly wanted to help us, we could get knowledge on a lot of things we lack, like locations of other dungeons for us to level up in. Lastly it’s possible we could get information that could help us start rescuing our comrades. We were too weak to just walk into Crater and rescue them, but if we had strength and knowledge…
The disadvantages included the fact she was strong. At any time she could easily control us, beat or kill us. That alone made the risk high. If she actually didn’t know anything, then there was no point in having her around as well. Then there is also the fact that she could just abandon us at any time, we can’t rely on her to just help us. Lastly, we have no way of knowing if the knowledge she provides is truthful and it may lead us into a trap.
I don’t have a problem with working with humans, Teacher Lee never judged me for being half monster, so maybe she is telling the truth about that. The problem was trusting someone like her, a handler. Argh, I can’t do this hungover. Rubbing my eyes, I decide to ask her one more question.
“If we told you to kill a human, would you do it?”
“No.” Frowning, I looked back at her and before I could react further she continued to say “I have no problems killing those that do you harm or intend to harm hybrids. However if you told me to kill someone innocent I would refuse. Surely you understand why.” Nodding, I agreed with her. Asking her that question was like this human asking me to cut down a fellow hybrid for no reason.
“Did you have anything to do with the massacre at Cerberus’s Domain?”
For the first time, her face faulted…she looked sad, an expression that surprised me completely. Shaking her head, she looked at me with anger in her words “I had no control over what happened that day. Gerald came up with the plan and the others went along with it. To this day I regret not stopping him. If only I did something, maybe a lot of lives could have been saved.” Staring down at her lap angrily, she takes a deep breath and faces me again, seemingly waiting for my response. Taking Alice off my head, who tilts her head at me, I nod and decide to take a risk.
“Fine. But you’ll give us all your equipment and weapons. Of course, we’ll make sure you have nothing hidden. We won’t rely on you at all. You’ll help us rescue our brethren when we’re ready, if you truly want to help us you won’t have a problem with this right?” Seeing her nod, I continue. “We also want information. If you can’t tell us something then tell us why.” Nodding again, the human says “I’m fine with that. You can bind me if needed.” Shaking my head I told her the truth “We don’t have anything strong enough to bind you. Even I could tell you were holding back earlier.” Seeing as the human, Elizabeth, simply smiled in response, I got up and looked at Sally.
“Are you fine with this?” Sally nods and puts away her sword. “I trust in you and Gray.” Looking at Gray, he also smiles and nods. “Alright, you’re walking in front, any suspicious movements and we won’t hesitate to cut you down.” With Sally pointing in a direction, we start walking with Elizabeth in front of us. Soon, we arrived at a place just outside of the rocky terrain, and I could see why they chose this location.
[Level 13 Fat Boar]
With 4 tusks pointing upwards, red skin and standing at three metres tall, it was a very big boar creature. There was a herd of them wandering around, some fighting each other and some were chasing other smaller monsters. “We usually only need one to feed us for a day.” Turning to look at Sally, who was staring at Elizabeth’s back intensely I could understand why. “We didn’t have enough room to store all of it, so we stopped making smoked meat.” Nodding, I kick up my wind while Gray also readies his hammer. “We have about an hour left, let's just kill one and take as much as we can.” Nodding to my words, Gray moves first drawing a nearby Fat Boar’s attention while I follow behind. Extending the remaining claws from my gauntlet, I found myself moving faster than before, was this because of that agility increase the armour said it gave?
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Trusting in Gray to keep the boar’s attention, I jump up high with the help of the wind at my feet and trying something I had thought of in this moment, I twirl and send a burst of air behind me, accelerating towards the ground, right above the boar who was distracted by Gray. Using the one claw on my right gauntlet, surrounding it with sharp wind with some focus, I slice down on the boar’s neck. With no resistance, I cut through easily and just as I’m about to hit the ground I send another burst of wind towards the ground and bounce back onto my feet, stumbling a bit.
[You killed Fat Boar, gained 500xp]
That was a little easier than I expected. Gray however doesn’t seem surprised and switches places with Sally. Sally hands me a sword, Elizabeth’s sword which I never considered picking up, and together we start getting as much meat as we can from it. Once our sacks were full, we quickly moved back to the river and after collecting as much wood as we could and cooking the meat we had collected, we threw the leftovers we didn’t manage to cook in another area before moving back to our cave. We took turns to watch Elizabeth, who never spoke a word the entire time but watched with interest. Keeping watch on her like this was going to be a hindrance, maybe we should’ve just killed her. Well, I made the final call, let's see where it goes.
***
Arriving back at the cave, while keeping a very close eye, or rather nose, on our surroundings to ensure there were no ambushes, we get back inside as the sun sets behind us. There really was very little time to do anything during the daylight. Looking at Elizabeth I consider the matter of having to keep watch over her. Feeling tired at the thought of it, I looked at the room we were using as storage and decided to have her stay in there, away from us. Turning to Gray I tell him “Strip her and make sure she’s got nothing concealed.”
“W-w-w-what?!” Looking at me with a really red face, I tilt my head and look at him confused. It was a simple task wasn’t it. Hearing a soft sigh from next to me, I turn to Sally who says “I’ll do it. Alisha, go work on your common sense. Gray go have a bath.” Watching as Gray nearly runs towards the pond room, I wonder what Sally means by common sense. Looking at Elizabeth, she seems amused. Seeing me looking, she smiles and hands me the two large sacks from her back. “Everything in here is for you guys. Oh, the bottles of liquid are for me though!” Taking them, I turned around to check the contents while Sally worked on going through Elizabeth’s person.
We worked in silence, and going through the sacks there were a lot of things in here. There was fabric, clothing, lanterns, a large piece of paper that was rolled up, pouches with seeds in them, books, bandages, healing potions and four bottles of amber liquid. Uncorking them, I can tell right away it was alcohol, weaker than what Teacher Lee gave me. Putting the cork in, I take another look through everything and nod, nothing in here resembles a weapon or anything that could kill us. The alcohol could be laced with poison, but we could just have her drink it to prove that it wasn’t. Well, she did say it was hers, and it’s not like we drink alcohol anyway.
Turning, I see Sally has finished and Elizabeth was wearing a light shirt and pants, with her coat and armour to the side. Nodding at me, I return the nod to Sally and look at Elizabeth.
“It’s quite dark in here isn’t it? It’s a nice place though, not cold or damp like I thought a cave would be.” Shrugging in response, I pick up a lantern and hand it to her. Watching as she tried to light it with a flint and steel, Sally walks over and sits down while I do the same next to her. As we watch Elizabeth finally light the lantern, Gray also returns. Looking at Elizabeth, I turn to the others and raise a question we needed to figure out.
“We need to find somewhere to go. We can’t be here anymore, now this one showed up. Who knows when they’ll send another lot to find us, we need to move quickly. Any ideas?”
“May I say something?” Looking at Elizabeth who interrupted us, I frown for a moment then nod. “It’ll take three weeks before they come after you again. The scroll over there is a detailed map of Crater and the explored areas, that should help find somewhere new.”
“Three weeks? Why?” Sally, looking distrustful, asks Elizabeth. Nodding, Elizabeth explains “The Elite Squad is recovering after failing to clear that mutated dungeon, Cerberus’s Domain. They need time to recover and recruit people to join the hunting squad. Because you managed to kill two members from the hunting squad and used magic, the council wants to ensure they’re successful this time.”
Frowning and not trusting those words, I turn back to Sally and Gray and continue. “We need to also be careful of not only the monsters, but of whatever left those sword marks on the trees we found when we came here the first time.”
“I nearly forgot about that.” “Same.” Sally and Gray glance at each other and comment. “We need somewhere large, but close to Crater. If we want to rescue our brethren, we can’t be out of walking distance from Crater.” Saying this, Sally puts a hand on her chin and looks down, thinking.
“You could set up smaller camps in between a new place and Crater.” Looking at Elizabeth again, I considered the idea and found no problems with it, and if our new home was far away from Crater it would be harder for the humans to hunt us down. Having temporary small bases would help with bringing those who were weaker back with us.
“I-I think we should focus on levelling f-first, we don’t know h-how strong the humans are.” Hearing Gray, I can’t fault the logic, being stronger would mean a guarantee. Looking at Elizabeth, I see her about to speak again.
“Excluding the nobles, most humans in Crater don’t level. The guards are all level 15 or higher, monster hunters and dungeon explorers range anywhere from level 10 to level 19. If we include the nobles, they can be up to level 20. No one is above level 20, however that is to my knowledge, the council or nobles may have hidden information on someone breaking through level 20. However, the nobles are a bit…complicated, it’s extremely unlikely they would come out of their district.”
Being hit by this torrent information, I start to see the reality of our situation. Handlers could be level 19, we can’t just ambush a dungeon party while they are either returning to a dungeon or Crater with that risk. And by the sounds of it, there was the possibility of a lot of level 20s in Crater itself, even if they don’t leave, if we were to invade we wouldn’t be able to put up a fight.
“Three weeks…too weak to rescue our brethren…need to find a place…the best course of action…” Muttering, I think about what we should do, so do Sally and Gray.
“How about heading to a high level dungeon? We’ve discovered quite a few, no one goes to them either since there is a high chance of death or serious injury. They’d rather exploit those weaker themselves to go into low level dungeons to ensure they don’t get hurt. If we cover our tracks when leaving here, it’ll be harder for the hunting teams to chase after us.” Looking at Elizabeth, I have to admit she has been giving good advice, even though we were being obvious in our attempt to ignore her. While the chance of this being a ploy to lure us into an ambush was low, I still had to consider this might’ve been her plan from the beginning. Perhaps seeing the suspicion on my face, Elizabeth points at the scroll behind me and says “The map shows locations on where we discovered those dungeons, I won’t give any input on where to go. I’ll go have a bath while you discuss among yourselves.” Getting up with the lantern in hand, Elizabeth moves to the pond room. Once she leaves, I grab the map and open it, spreading it on the floor. Gray puts a stone on each corner.
The map was extremely detailed. On the left side is a drawing of a city, labelled as Crater. Leading from Crater was multiple paths, each leading away. I quickly found the path to Hound Hell that was south of Crater, and tracing the path I found where we were located, to the southeast of the city. Shockingly, seeing we were closer to Crater than I thought, I looked at the river near us and the forest beyond it. The forest was marked in red, with the words “DANGER: LEVEL 20+” marked over it. With a cold sweat, I look up and in the direction where the river would be located. Sally and Gray’s faces also pale when they see the forest…we should move, the sooner the better.
Looking downstream, the location of the cave leading into the Depths of Crater Hell wasn’t there. Maybe they haven’t discovered it or they found it but never explored enough. Looking past the forest, there wasn’t anything explored in that direction either, not that we’d go that way but it appears the humans didn’t go past it. Moving away from our current location, I started looking for dungeons and found a few, one catching my attention the most.
Estimating the distance to be roughly seven to ten hours away from Crater, in the far north is a dungeon labelled “Level 15 Dimensional Dungeon, Temple of the Blood God.” Not sure on what a Blood God was, the area the dungeon was located in and the way there was around the same level. Looking at the path of travel from our current location, we’d have to travel through a swamp which was stated to have monsters at or above level 14. Past that, there was a plain that had a river running through it with the same level monsters before arriving at the location where the dungeon was, still on the plain. Looking at Sally and Gray, I point at the dungeon and suggest the location.
“It’s a good distance away, the only concern is shelter.” Saying this, Sally looks at the map again where the dungeon was located. “There is also the problem of travelling there, we can’t travel at night when the monsters come out and are active, so we need to find somewhere to hide. Since the humans got there we should have no problems ourselves.”
“W-we also have Alisha’s orb, we could s-set up a safe place at the dungeon t-to bring our kind back there.” Gray brings up a really good idea, with the distance from Crater and being located on a plain, it was easy to see attackers coming during the daylight and we could handle the monsters there with some difficulty. Sitting back, all three of us thought of the idea of heading up there.
“We should go there.” “I agree” “M-me too.” With our destination decided, I asked an important question. “Should we tell Elizabeth where we’re heading?” Thinking for a moment, Sally nods and says “There is no harm, she has nothing on her that could leave a message or tell others where we’re going, let's just not rely on her, we need to do this ourselves.” Gray and I expressed our agreement with her, this was our fight and we can’t trust Elizabeth. We could only rely on ourselves. Taking action right away, we start packing whatever little we had, planning to make camp along the way and rely on monsters to feed us as we make our way there. Leaving some meat set aside for Elizabeth, we ate and prepared for the next daylight, to head to the Temple of the Blood God.