Vitmori POV

Despite running through the woods for nearly an hour, there were still quite a few miles for me to go until I reached the burning village. Traveling on foot alone was fairly slow, all things considered, though it's not like I could even possibly reach the speeds Legosi managed to achieve.

I did manage to get a few short bursts of speed here and there as I practiced using the speed boost manaheart users were able to use, but it took quite a lot of my focus to maintain while also running and trying to keep my balance while navigating through brush and trees. Too often I would end up just tripping and falling, which was admittedly rather frustrating since I considered myself to be rather coordinated and nimble even in my old age.

Relying on my speed without any sort of magical enhancements, I finally came to the edge of the treeline, and what I saw was much more than just a mere village. Well, I suppose if I had to consider that historically a village could be anything between a few hundred to a few thousand people, I shouldn't have been all that surprised. Perhaps I was thinking it would be more along the lines of a hamlet, now that I thought about it some more.

From where I stood, I could easily see over a hundred or so buildings, most of them appeared to be some kind of housing, though I could make out a few fields, farms, and some silos that were strewn along the edges of the village itself. There were quite a few fires clustered here and there which fed into the massive plume of smoke that filled the sky itself.

Looking around some more I spotted quite a few armed and armored raiders moving from building to building, kicking down doors before dragging people and supplies out into the open, there were signs of small fights breaking out here and there where villagers who were trying to resist their attackers. So it's likely the armored individuals are the deserters I heard about back in the fort town, though as far as I knew, they were only practicing acts of roadside banditry, not full-on raiding and pillaging settlements to this extent.

Near the center of the village was a small motte and bailey, from what I could guess the majority of the conflict was focused there as small spouts of fire erupted in that area every few minutes with arrow fire being returned down to whatever attackers were harrying the gates.

I'm... I'm not too sure where to begin or what I should even do. The scale of this whole thing is so much more than what I was initially expecting. Back in my old world, communities of thirty to fifty were the biggest I ever really had to interact with outside of the major trade or production hubs, and the number of bandits that usually attacked those places had less than half of that using hit-and-run tactics or other methods to make these sorts of battles even.

I'm used to fighting against small groups of enemies, moving silently while quickly striking multiple targets and incapacitating as many as possible while killing those I had no choice but to kill. This... this was a full-on occupation, a siege, and... I'm just one man.

It's not like I'm afraid for my life since I'm not really at risk here, but what I need right now is a plan and time; both of which I just don't have right now. Though, the longer I just sit here, the worse things are going to get.

Taking a breath for the sake of taking a breath, I start crossing through the open field between the treeline and the outskirts of the village. I made sure to stay low but moved as quickly as I could until I reached the wall of the first building, staying low I hurried through the walkways and clung to as many corners as I could, carefully peeking around edges and moving further into town once I knew the way ahead was cleared.

The one thing I noticed while making my way around is just how few dead there are, if they were just razing this village to the ground, I would have expected much more blood to have already been spilled considering just how much time has likely passed since all this started. There are splatterings of blood here and there, but from what I can gather is that they appear to be surface wounds, or at the very least whoever got hurt didn't suffer fatal injuries or lose a worrying amount of blood. So that likely means they're taking prisoners for some reason or another, but where are they keeping them?

The sounds of battle draw my attention as another spout of flames erupts into the air. An odd sense of unease starts welling up in the back of my mind as the thoughts from earlier this morning start bubbling up in my mind again. I'm strong, this I know to be true as I think of the man I used to be as a mere human. But in this world, I'm untested when it comes to having to fight a battle in a very different sense of the word than what I'm used to. Sure, I've been told I'm strong and I am likely stronger than the average person, but what does that mean?

I think it's time for me to stop thinking about it and just press forward. It's time to see what I can do and just how I stand up against others in this world. I'm all too aware of Basmori who was still in my shadow, his eyes taking in the scene around us.

I take to the rooftops, scaling one of the buildings as I take in the unfolding battle at the gates of the motte and bailey. It was... A strange sort of controlled carnage. I watched as around seventy to eighty raiders performed an odd mix of building fortifications to defend against arrow fire while going around and collecting arrows and other thrown weapons from the battlefield itself before passing them around to various archers and large-looking raiders who in turn launched the thrown weapons up at those on the walls defending the stone keep.

Here is where the brunt of the battle seems to have taken place, with the dead of all sorts strewn about in the village's main plaza that led to the drawbridge of the hilltop keep which was in the center of the village itself. The keep itself wasn't nearly as impressive as the frontier fort I had come from, but it was a considerable building that was surprisingly defendable. The soldiers who were likely fighting for the city seemed to be throwing all sorts of things down at the attackers who were trying to make their way in, and only firing arrows at the attacking raiders who were at the edges of the battle instead of at the mass of the group in the middle of the plaza.

At first, I was not sure what I was looking at, that was until I sensed an intense form of mana in the air. Looking closer, I spotted what appeared to be some kind of large, ornate box on wheels with runes and a variety of large but simple crystals which appeared to be a mix of mana batteries and a command crystal of some kind. With that in mind, I looked around again to see the arrows and spears the defending soldiers were launching and throwing were being redirected midair towards the outskirts of the battle by some kind of invisible barrier or forcefield, at which point some of the raiders would go around, gathering them up to use for themselves.

Looking around some more, I spotted at least four mages among the raiders, two of whom were going around and treating the wounded who were clustered by the magic tool that was emitting the barrier. One mage was by the emitter itself, seemingly looking it over and doing whatever needed to be done to keep the barrier stable. The final one was standing before the drawbridge itself, blasting plumes of fire against the stone, wood, and metal that made up the way into the fortified area. The scorch marks against the stone and wood were clear to me even from the rooftop I was on. As far as I can tell, the wood itself has been scorched and blackened to the point where it could practically be charcoal.

After watching a spout of fire erupt from the mage by the drawbridge, I noticed that those defending the drawbridge had their own mage who used a controlled burst of water to snuff out the flames, so at this point, it looks like this whole battle it practically a stalemate until the magic endurance match has a decided victor, one way or another.

So... What can I do about all this? How should I handle this? Movement catches my eyes and I see a raider wearing some rather light armor, leathers, a gambeson, and some pieces of metal strapped to various parts of his body along with a metal helmet on his head. He's a half-orc of some variety with gray skin, and while I'm not sure of the specifics he looks to be in his late twenties to me.

Focusing on his mind, I sense he's running through the areas where the quartermaster's troops stashed the supplies they've gathered so far. He's looking for... Alchemical supplies? Oil... flour... Some mushrooms? Even though he's not exactly sure what he's looking for, he knows where to find the stuff they took from the local alchemist's shop.

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I made sure not to stare right at him, simply stealing glances at the raider while keeping him in my periphery and focusing on everything else that was around me. While I may have been particularly sensitive in my old life, the concept that you could feel when someone was watching you was a tried and tested gut feeling that I managed to cultivate. The idea that it is now a very literal sensation for me while I'm in this puppet is not lost on me, but given that this is a world of magic where some can sense mana is cause for extra caution.

"Alright Basmori... Keep a close eye on what I'm doing next... This is how you stalk without that fancy shadow magic." I mused under my breath, crossing over to the next rooftop and quietly stalking the raider before carefully dropping down three rooftops later. I match his pace, taking a step when he takes a step while keeping a good twenty feet of space at first, though as the seconds crawled into minutes I closed the distance.

Fifteen feet, ten, five... The raider rounds the corner and I make my move, grabbing the man by the shoulder and kicking his ankles out from under him. With a fistful of gambeson, I carefully guided the man into slamming his helmeted face against a brick wall, keeping him there as I spoke in a harsh voice that came all too easily to me. "You're gonna tell me the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth... So help you god... gods."

He initially struggled against me for a moment, but when I didn't even budge against his rather considerable strength, he spoke up in a quiet whisper. "P-please.. Please don't kill m-me..."

"Where are you taking the villagers you've captured?" I asked as I quickly adjusted my grip, releasing his shoulder and grabbing the back of his neck to keep his helmet firmly against the brick.

"W-we're taking them back to our base." He explained in a frantic whisper.

That's the truth... "Why? What's the point?"

"S-slave labor... W-We need work to be done and a lot of hands to do it."

That's a lie... But he doesn't know the details for some reason. "Are you trying to occupy this village for the winter?"

He tried to shake his head and I could feel he was attempting to squirm away again by pushing off the wall since his hands were still free, though it seemed his armor around his shoulders was impeding his flexibility so he couldn't directly reach me. In response I dug my knee into his back, forcing him to bend painfully towards the wall while his knees slid out against the dirt and gravel beneath him. "Argh! Y-yes! W-we need the space! This village will be perfect for us to expand into!"

He's lying again... They're not trying to take the village, that's the whole point of that emitter, they're stalling for time. The village is useless anyway because... They got someone to poison the wells around the village and inside the bailey? "Where's this base of yours?" I asked as I dug my knee further into his back, this did cause him to lose what little balance he had left, but I managed to keep his face firmly against the brick, even if the metal of his helmet scraped and screeched for a moment at the sudden weight shift.

He panted heavily, gritting his teeth through the pain as his mind raced to give me an answer. "We're situated in the woods to the west, a cabin with a basement that is linked to an underground tunnel."

That's a rather creative and specific answer... But that's not the base, it's a mountain range further to the north, though they are using a cave system. "Thank you for your cooperation, for that, you get to run. Don't you dare look back at me." I pulled away, making sure to let him fall to the ground while I stepped back around the corner of the building.

The raider frantically scrambled to his feet, not bothering to look around as he started to run, making his way down the path as he started heading for the outskirts of the village.

Though he didn't get far as I had followed him there, and as soon as he left the village limits I reached out with my earth magic; the dirt beneath his feet cracked open wide before swallowing him up and crushing him, killing him rather quickly as a rush of energy and memories washed over me. "I said you would get to run... Not that you would get to live."

I made sure to collect his body, stashing it away as I started to form a plan. Given that these raiders are playing the long game and are not overtly trying to occupy the village but intend on taking the people and supplies, then that means I'll have time to take care of the ones doing the looting and kidnapping.

With the raider's recent memories fresh on my mind, I know that they've gathered the people and supplies around the west end of the village, from there they're slowly taking both the people and the goods to a dropoff point to the north where others are moving them to their base.

Making my way through the village, I come across lone raiders as they drag foodstuffs and other goods onto the streets to be collected later when they get the wagons again. I didn't bother taking all that much time on them, simply crushing them with the ground beneath their feet before pulling their broken bodies into my storage space and moving on.

Given all the mana and vital energy coming my way, I decided to commit to regrowing my arm once again. I stopped in some cover, watching the threads and tendrils of wood sprout from my shoulder branching out this way and that; the whole process felt rather... Alien as I watched it all shift and warp until they twisted together into what my arm should be and the illusion settled over the wood. Flexing my hand and fingers, I stood and began climbing to the rooftops again.

Before long I'm overlooking a fenced-off clearing of some kind, probably a field, filled with around thirty or so villagers all sitting in a wide circle. Men and women made up the outer ring of the group with the children having been left in the center, I could hear the quiet sobs of the children and some of the women as they begged for their families or parents. A lot of them were just stoic, doing their best to present a strong front even if they too were worried about their current situation. Some of the more battered men and women looked like guards or maybe even soldiers to me, quite a few of them were lying unconscious among the other villagers. So they took them alive instead of killing them outright for some reason? I do spot a familiar face, though it's nobody I've ever seen before... Ah! It's that catkin girl's mother... So it looks like even she got captured, but thankfully not killed. Well, at least those two will have a proper reunion if all goes well today.

Scanning the view some more, I noticed that there was a pile of bodies to the left of the group, most of them were raiders based on the colors, but there were others mixed in there as well but they all appeared to have some kind of armor and didn't look outright civilian.

Standing around them were other men and women, the raiders who were holding them captive. Counting them, there were only seven of them just standing around, eating food and drinking from barrels. They seemed to be enjoying themselves quite a bit, shooting the shit and talking about this and that. However one of the raiders who was keeping watch suddenly called out, waving at the other raiders as they seemed to clean themselves up, hiding the alcohol and food as a few wagons and carts pulled up with seven more raiders on them.

The two groups of raiders quickly coordinated as they began loading the carts and wagons with a mix of foodstuffs and villagers, but I wasn't about to let this scene play out anymore. I think it's time to do a test run on what I was planning for the group by the drawbridge.

Tul'mi POV / Catkin Innkeeper / Retired Adventurer

Tul'mi wakes for the third time in the last couple of hours, blood loss and battle fatigue weighing heavily on her body. Not for the first time today is she cursing herself for slipping up and letting herself get cornered after the guards she was working with got taken down.

With her ears perked and twitching, she watched as those foreign soldiers started rounding up more of the people and food before loading them up to take them gods know where. Shutting her eyes, she focused on her old meditation techniques and worked on doing her best to recover her manaheart and tend to her wounds where she could. If she wasn't going to be able to escape right now, then she would need to be ready to escape later when she gets the chance.

Though as her manaheart began to slowly pulse with more and more vigor, her ears suddenly caught the faint whoosh of an arrow sailing through the air. Opening her eyes and following her ears, she watched as one of the raiders got an arrow slammed through their chest and the heart before suddenly dropping.

Another arrow almost immediately followed the first, finding purchase in a man's throat as he dropped to his knees, audibly gurgling as he flailed about while trying to pull the shaft out of his neck.

The raiders quickly sprung into action, forming up and grabbing shields as they started scanning the rooftops. One even grabbed a hostage, grabbing a woman by her hair and holding her in front of him as they did their best to position themselves in the direction the arrows were coming from.

This seemingly earned an arrow through their eye which caused them to drop their hostage before collapsing in a crumpled heap.

As most of the raiders started grouping together, two broke off from the group and began running towards where the brunt of their forces were in the plaza, but they didn't get far when they were suddenly tackled by a couple of sprinting people.

She watched them go down, but in the next moment, she felt her blood run cold as she saw the sprinters raise their heads suddenly before sinking their teeth into the throats of the raiders. Her ears twitched as more movement started coming from all around them, a large brute with misshapen and oversized muscles charged the grouped-up raiders, colliding into their shields and sending them sprawling. More sprinting undead followed after as they tackled those who were still standing.

Another raider quickly broke from the group, running for the carriages before she watched as a black-skinned figure launched from a rooftop, tackling them down to the ground and using their unnaturally sharpened claws to rip and tear into the raider's flesh as the man screamed and writhed from the pain before suddenly going silent.

She could feel the panic start to set in, though as she watched the monstrous undead ignore the lone woman that was taken hostage and go for another raider, she had a hunch and decided to act on it as she stood and called out to the villagers around her. "Don't panic, those creatures are not going after us! Stay calm!"

Even when she called out to the others, she watched as one of the sprinters reacted to her, staring at her with glowing green eyes before turning away as they collectively finished off the raiders.

"You've got the right idea, it's all going to be fine." A voice called out from above.

Remaining on her feet, Tul'mi turned to look for the source of the voice as she spotted a man wrapped in raggedy black fabric drop down from a two-story building. Their eyes met and she couldn't help but involuntarily shiver at his piercing green gaze.

In the next moment, she watched as a winged black cat appeared on his shoulder, the man just flashing a bit of a smile as he reached up and scratched its throat before looking at her again. "I got your message, don't worry, I'm here to help." The man said as the sprinters and other odd-looking and monstrous undead started to gather up behind him.