This is not exactly a wine cellar. If you define wine as an undestilled solution of alcohol in water derived from grapes. It fails both conditions. And then I panic and hold my breath. I just fired tear gas grenades into these rooms. I need to get out. That is, I would have needed to get out minutes ago. In fact, I should never have gone in here. Magical tear gas must be able to tell friend from foe and, even worse, on a subconcious level I knew that. That is deeply unnerving. I rather go kill some monsters.

The other auras turn out to be two auras not coming from the church’s main nave, but an auxillary building behind it. I was not going to walk into a room with two monsters in it. I conjure guns and cast magic beams corrupting reality. Those effects work at a distance. Negating that advantage voluntarily strikes me as inadvisable.

In fact, that raises a question. Should I just level the whole building? I am an artillery piece, after all. It is tempting, but what would I do if the building catches fire? I want to use this town and in addition I am not a vandal. Now, if I ever meet a herd of demon cows breathing fire, then I’ll use artillery. Though I have no interest in strolling through meadows. But that’s a question to contemplate outside combat.

I may not be a vandal, but there’s no Geneva Convention fighting monsters either. Gas warfare is all right. Plus, it worked last time. Using the enclosed nature of my enemies’ position against them looks like a good idea. I strain my senses. Scraping sounds and the auras were slightly off. A different species of rodent? That would explain why they split up into two groups.

I fire a salvo followed by my remaing two tear gas grenades at a window closed against observation by a luxurious dark curtain.

The stench is unbearable. The sudden realization whom or at that stage rather what had been forgotten when this town was evacuated did not make it better. My gas grenades are not the niece kind that lands and then releases gas. They create a puff of air of some magnitude when they go off. And I have redirected it through a broken window. Having enhanced senses can turn into a disadvantage. It’s been weeks in warm weather. I bend over and experience one of the few advantages of living on spirit coins. I don’t make it worse barfing on myself. The sound of shattering window glass and crumpling window frame call me back to the realities of combat. Can you imagine a mangy hamster or an African naked mole crossed with a gorilla? It lands right in front of me. Luckily for me, it is not bullet proof. A tail winds around my chest. The pressure is intolerable. Teleportation fails. I am dragged over the ground towards the second one. Going to full hulk mode does work and gets the tail off me, but by then it is too late. Using one hand to grab it by the throat to keep its teeth away from me and using my other hand to stab it with my magical knife leaves its clawed hand and feet free to do damage. Those claws are not exactly talons, but they have not had the benefit of a recent manicure either. And considering what they have been used for less than a minute ago, every scratch horrifies me.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I don’t know how long this has lated. Seconds probably. It seemed longer to me. The monsters dead, my subconcious decides to switch off the pain blockers. Yes, that’s a cracked rib. But I need to do something about infection. I take out a silver rank health potion and drip its content over my wounds. I can conjure a pipette if I have to. Enhanced senses have advantages, too. I can tell where the lacerations are.

I want those ugly corpses gone, so I loot them. Does it clarify the situation if I say that rainbow smoke has found a close rival. I need to get this stuff off me. I hope the inn has a bathroom.

--

It also has a backdoor. I put beverages into my inventory and sneak out of the backdoor. Slowly. A cracked rib hurts. Why don’t it take a potion? I don’t dare. One of the few things they did tell us in the boot camp was to never take potions too quickly and that overranked potions take far longer to clear.

I also chuckle and regret it, you know, cracked rib.. This fight has yielded me an Awakening Stone. The multiverse has a sense of human I appreciate in the abstract, but not as its subject. It is an Awakening Stone of the Feast.