Jamis and Felecia guided three bears into the clearing just outside their army’s camp. There was a cliff with a large cave there. They’d been using it to store supplies but now it would serve as the bear den. The smallest of the bears was as big as two plow horses her shoulder six feet off the ground. The sleuth of bears followed Jamis like dogs their eyes trained on him in wide-eyed adoration.
Dire Bear Sow, Gifted- beast/dire-bear, Mortal, Rank: 55
Dire Bear Sow, Gifted- beast/dire-bear, Mortal, Rank: 55
The two females were both dire bears. They were large and imposing but their abilities were all physical and most parties of mortal ranked gifted could easily handle one. The male bear Jamis had found was a different story.
Ghostfur Bear Boar, Gifted- beast/ghostfur-bear, Mortal, Rank 67
Its fur was pure white like a polar bear, but pale blue stripes ran along its spine and legs and its eyes were a pale blue. Its abilities made it much more dangerous it wasn’t just a larger more powerful version of a bear. Its more magical abilities would let it carve up an unprepared group of adventures who came across it.
“How long will it take you to make the army?” Guinevere asked.
“They’ve already mated,” Felecia said. “Their gestation thanks to my abilities will only be about three days, they’ll be ready to mate again directly afterward, and the cubs will take about six days to reach adulthood.”
“Bears have around one to three cubs per litter,” Jamis said.
“But my ability Fertile Blessing always ensures the maximum possible number of infants are born at a time so we’ll always be getting three cubs per litter,” Felecia said.
“So, we’re looking at around fifty-four bears to use in a month?” Helen asked.
“Hopefully even more if I can find more gifted or even regular bears in the forest,” Jamis said. “I know they’re out there, but I don’t have any abilities that would help me locate them.”
“A month is a long time,” Guinevere said frowning. “I’m still not sure why we haven’t received a counterattack or raid by the Warlord. All accounts of the Warlord in the past would have them already attacking us at this point.”
“Perhaps this one is a coward,” Felrick said with a grin.
“The goddess of War and Conquest is many things,” Guinevere said. “But she has never picked a Champion who has shied away from combat and getting blood on their hands. I feel like the Warlord is preparing something and we just aren’t aware of it yet.”
“You’re just worried because we haven’t been able to get any proper scouting reports on the Warlord’s forces,” Helen said.
“Speaking of that there is something I’ve been planning,” Guinevere said meeting Helen’s eyes. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about it, but I would need to do so in private.”
“I was about to go on a hunt with Felrick and Torvin,” Helen said.
“It can wait until tomorrow night,” Guinevere said.
“Then I look forward to hearing it,” Helen said. “Hopefully the Warlord will just stay put in his Fortress for now.”
---
The light of the sun hit my face and its rays made me open my eyes squinting against the bright light. I sat up and cracked my neck. I ate a breakfast of some travel rations; it consisted of a biscuit so dry it would have given Pop-Eyes a run for its money and some jerky. I washed it down with river water, stretched, cracked my neck, and rolled my shoulders. Putting my cloak back on I started running. My feet hit the water of the river as I sped across it. I didn’t get to use the water running feature of Heightened Speed very often, but I always appreciated the opportunity to bust it out.
It took less than a minute to cross the river and soon my boots crunched down into sand and mud before I hit the forest trails again. I continued running west; the mountains were a long way off and even with my incredible speed it would still take me one to two days to get there if I didn’t get into any fights and ran the whole time.
As I moved, I scanned the area for plants. I saw some Red Yarrow and Cauter Fennel, I picked some, but I already had jars of the stuff. I kept moving as fast as I could leaping tree logs ten feet in diameter and teleporting across gorges ravines. My boots hit the ground twigs snapping underfoot as I pounded down forest trails. The trees grew taller and taller and moved away from the pines towards more birch, beech, and oaks. The boughs of the oaks spread over me, and my boots crunched on acorns the size of my fist.
I sensed the creature before seeing it. I jerked to a stop my feet leaving furrows in the soft dirt as my momentum plowed through it. I was being watched by something different than the base forest creatures.
I rolled to the side as a storm of objects impacted the ground around me. I caught one with my telekinesis and looked at the acorn with surprise. I looked up at the branches but couldn’t see my attacker. I dodged again as a dozen more acorns shot in from behind me.
“What the hell is this thing?” I asked myself. I whirled around but was still unable to catch sight of the creature.
Next time when the barrage of acorns impacted, I turned and teleported up into the trees landing on the bough of an oak.
“Bestial Senses,” I said activating my seldom-used ability.
Sounds and smells hit me almost driving me to my knees with their intensity. I teleported ten feet up and acorns whizzed underneath me. I caught the scent of my attacker and began the chase. Thanks to my Duelist’s Ring my feet were able to easily keep contact with the tree limb as I pursued my attacker.
I teleported forward, ducked another volley of acorns, and came face-to-face with my attacker. A giant, fat, squirrel.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said with exasperation.
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Shadow Squirrel, Gifted- beast/shadow-squirrel, Veteran, Rank: 250
The squirrel’s cheeks bulged then like a machine gun it began launching fist-sized accords. I turned incorporeal and the acorns passed through me doing no damage. I swung my clubs at its head ready for a quick kill.
Everything went black and my clubs swung through empty air. I froze looking about even my Foresight showing me only inky blackness. A trio of objects impacted me in the back, and I stumbled forward feeling my left foot hang over empty space. I jumped out spreading my arms wide as I fell through the air. I had to see a location to teleport, so my only option was to trust to luck. I kept falling only breaking out of the impenetrable darkness when I was twenty feet from the ground.
I teleported to the ground but that only moved my momentum in a different direction, and I rolled across the ground before slamming my back into a tree. A barrage of acorns hit me again. I grabbed them with my telekinesis and threw them back. I let out a hundred spearheads and let them go like flechettes to shred the tree branches above.
A black shadow scampered down the tree and another volley of acorns buzzed through the air before everything was plunged into darkness again. I closed my eyes abandoning all attempts to see my enemy; I breathed in fixing their location in my mind via scent. I charged the location my foot caught something, but I powered through only stumbling a little. I targeted the spot with my spearheads, and they homed in on the squirrel.
A maddening chittering split the air. Its sound was like nails on a chalkboard and I became dizzy for a moment. I responded by releasing Helheim’s Scream, the otherworldly sound shook the air. Forest creatures around me that had gone into hiding dropped dead as the Soul damage instantly killed their weaker bodies.
I moved forward again and threw my clubs. I heard a snarl of pain and my mouth curled in a savage grin. In a second, I was next to the squirrel.
“Hell’s Talons,” I said.
I slashed out at the squirrel, but it dodged and rolled under both attacks. I continued a mad frenzy at the squirrel but unlike most of the creatures I’d hunted who’d been much larger than me and easy enough to hit this creature was roughly my size. Its smaller frame and agile maneuvers let it avoid my berserk attacks.
Despite the power, it gave me I forced myself to calm somewhat reining in my ravenous rage. It was like holding onto the leash of a rabid dog, but I pulled back enough to give myself clearer thought. My attacks pulled in my swipes becoming tighter and more focused. The squirrel disappeared in front of me emerging directly behind me. I lashed out with a back kick my heel striking it in its snout. While I was surprised by the attack, I used the opportunity to turn and slash my talons across its throat.
The shadow squirrel collapsed its boding twitching as its brain tried to keep giving it orders to move. Eventually, it stopped moving its blood pooling across the dirt and fallen leaves.
125 Rank points gained.
Blood and Souls (Repeatable): Kill 10,240 monsters or humanoids. Current Progress 237 out of 10,240. When you complete this quest, you will gain 2,048 Rank Points, and the next quest will require double the amount to be completed but will award double the rank points.
I breathed out heavily leashing and harnessing my ever-present anger locking it back in its cage. It took about two minutes to get my emotions back to normal, but I eventually breathed out a collected breath.
The darkness was gone, and I looked down at the squirrel the size of a large mastiff. I hadn’t been in any real danger the entire fight; it didn’t appear to have any attacks that could have harmed me in my Phantom Form, but it had been slippery, and its aura of darkness had been a counter to both my teleportation and Foresight.
I bent and took out a skinning knife. I removed the shadow squirrel’s skin.
Shadow Squirrel Hide: Rarity: Uncommon, Hardness: 8. Taken from the hide of Shadow Squirrel this hide possesses some of the abilities of its owner blending into darkness and shadow easier. Requires an item of hardness 8 or higher to damage it.
It was nothing special, but I shoved it in my storage pouch anyway; maybe someone else would have a use for it or I’d find a way to use it later. I oriented myself to the west and took off running again. I kept running for about four more hours. Eventually, I stopped as the sun was going low. I could see in the dark, so I wasn’t really bound to a day-night cycle, but the habit was still there, and I needed to rest.
I used the spells I’d learned from Syvia and Elgen the Enchanter. I didn’t detect any more Gifted creatures in my vicinity, but I did detect several deposits of gems and veins of metal. I used compressed earth in various locations. I left round tunnels like some giant work as I collected a few pounds of various uncommon stones and piles of gems as well as a few hundred pounds of unprocessed ore.
I compressed some bars over one of the entrances to the tunnels to keep out most creatures while I slept. I moved to the back and stretched out on the smooth stone. Using my cloak as a pillow I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
----
Arthur stood across from the enemy general. A circle had been formed around them by both sides as the two prepared for the duel. Their armies were of equal sizes, and they had met in the center of the field to discuss terms. Neither of course had been prepared to surrender but they also didn’t want to risk the lives of hundreds of their men. Instead, they had decided to follow the old ways.
The two leaders of the armies would fight each other in the place of their armies and the winner would take all.
“I’m surprised you agreed to a duel with me,” Arthur said.
“The lives of my men are important to me,” Barron Balazar said. “Besides victory is not assured for you.”
Arthur grinned; he wore no helmet so his opponent could easily see his cocky smile.
“That’s where you’re wrong, I am the Duelist. Any one-on-one fight with me has already been decided,” Arthur said confidently.
He sprung forward and Barron Balazar barely raised his shield in time. The metal of the shield screamed as Excalibur bit down through it sheering off half the shield in one strike. Balazar rolled under Arthur’s follow-up attack his mace swinging for Arthur’s knee as he went past. Arthur neatly side-stepped years of drilling in his footwork making his movements perfect with no effort wasted or extra movement or energy expended.
Balazar tossed aside his ruined shield. He ducked the next attack from Excalibur.
“Unbreakable,” Balazar said activating his next ability.
Arthurs brought his sword down in a heavy overhand strike. Balazar deflected the sword with the haft of his mace as he stepped through Arthur’s guard and headbutted him. The enchanted steel of the Barron’s helmet impacted Arthur’s face and a snap could be heard as he broke his nose.
Arthur staggered back guarding his face and Balazar pressed the attack a rapid series of strikes hitting Arthur in his breastplate. Balazar used every ability he had but despite what he threw out he couldn’t break through or pierce Arthur’s armor. Arthur retaliates his attack whistling through the air, Balazar barely blocked this time, and the force was so great he was sent off his feet.
“My breastplate is a rank V artifact,” Arthur snarled his normally clear and regal voice distorted by his broken nose. “You really thought your enchanted weapon can break through it?”
Arthur jumped forward bringing Excalibur down. It met the haft of the mace again and the two strained until Balazar kicked out at Arthur’s knee knocking his leg out from under him. Arthur went down to one knee and Balazar rolled out from under him. Arthur shot back to his feet and lashed out with a kick of his own sending Balazar staggering. Swing Excalibur one-handed he struck Balazar’s mace, the effect on the mace had worn off and Excalibur cut through its shaft removing the head of the mace. Balazar was left on one knee holding up a useless stick now.
“Enough,” Arthur said a wave of healing energy coursing through him as he activated Restoring Spirit his broken nose resetting and his voice clearing. “You are beaten, surrender and you will be taken prisoner to wait out this war.”
Balazar tossed aside the handle of his broken weapon. He raised his chin meeting Arthur’s eyes. “I won’t surrender to you Prince. I am beaten but I will not dishonor my king by giving you a bloodless victory.”
“Your death will be meaningless,” Arthur said meeting Balazar’s eyes hesitantly.
Balazar spat out at Arthur’s feet. “This war was started by you, if you don’t have the stomach to do what you’ll have to take our land then turn around and go home now. You are not welcome here Princeling, you may have wone here, but you will find no friends of Camelot in Dracon.”
Arthur nodded, raised Excalibur, and swung down.