The captain waited for Rob and Art to get in position and stood to his full height. Then in an unhurried pace, making no effort to hide, he headed toward the main gates.
It was like he became a different person before my very eyes. No, it was not some illusion or magic trick. It was the same old Takeda, just very weary, limping a bit and hunched over beneath an overloaded sack. He walked with his head down and dragging his feet.
The “people” came straight to life when they noticed the lone figure on the road. They reminded me of a school of fish simultaneously making a beeline for some bread thrown into the water. The couple at the well stopped smiling. The middle-aged woman easily, almost playfully, jumped over the fence next to “her” house. A broad-shouldered man, until then sitting carelessly on a bench next to the fence suddenly jerked his face upward and sniffed the air like an animal.
Although a minute ago I still had some miniscule doubts, they’d all just dispersed without a trace.
The village instantly came to life and started moving. The beasts forgot about camouflage and just raced toward the gates.
I forgot how to breathe. They’re about to all dogpile the captain and tear him to shreds. I wanted to get up and run over to help him, but then Rob and Art came on the scene.
They appeared from different sides right behind the brutes’ backs. The steel scouts moved with such blinding speed that their silhouettes looked blurry.
Meanwhile the captain “hobbled” up to the gates and stopped. From the top of the mound, I had a great view of the upcoming showdown. The eighteen unsuspecting blackbloods had suddenly been turned from predators to prey.
Taking advantage of the fact that the beasts had yet to sniff out the enemies behind them, Takeda threw the bag of provisions aside, pulled his curved blade from its scabbard.
The stranger’s surprising pep gave the blackblood coming his way a real fright. Strange as it was, the first swing of Takeda’s blade served as a signal to attack for both his soldiers and the enemy.
A moment later, all their snarling voices raised up over the explorer village and blended together. The blackbloods ran on the attack. Then another instant later, the snarling was joined by cries of pain, the crunching of hewn flesh and wails of disappointment.
From the distance, it looked like a hectic snarling ball of dust and dozens of appendages. But bit by bit, the bodies of vanquished blackbloods started to fall out of the ball.
Honestly, a few of them were still twitching on the ground. There one of them is crawling somewhere, dragging the bloodied innards from his cloven stomach behind him. And there, based on the clothes, is that “woman” who’d so agilely hopped over the fence. She’s trying to stand up, but it just isn’t working. One of the scouts had cut her legs off at the knee.
The blackbloods’ ranks were quickly thinning out. At first, they didn’t notice in the heat of battle, but soon enough the remaining survivors finally realized – their three opponents are not only not wounded, they aren’t even tired.
At that very moment, the self-preservation instinct kicked in for the two blackbloods still on their feet. Seemingly, their feelings of hunger and rage had been defeated – they were trying to run. But it was too late. They were not killed. Simply stunned.
By the way, it was the same two that were sweet-talking at the well just a few minutes before. They lasted longest of all in combat.
I saw the captain wiping his blade on the clothes of one of the corpses and saying something to his soldiers. They got straight to carrying out his order. Cords appeared in their hands, which they used to deftly tie up all the still living blackbloods.
Finally, Takeda turned toward me and waved a hand invitingly.
I quickly hopped to my feet and started coming. I was shivering pretty hard from all the excitement. Gorgie was walking next to me, never more than a step away.
When I got closer to the gates, my mouth immediately filled with bitter saliva. Now I can sense darkness.
“Move your butt!” Takeda snapped at me. “They aren’t long for this world!”
Dragonfly appeared in my shivering hand. Rob glanced at my knife, shook his head and turned to the commander:
“Captain! He’s gonna be poking around ‘til tomorrow morning with that hunk of steel!”
“No matter!” Takeda called back. “His beast has to improve as well. Together they’ll manage.”
I walked past the corpses on stiff legs. Shen’s countrymen were only reminiscent of people in that they had the same number of appendages. Their animal snouts are somehow reminiscent of a bat and snake at the same time. Their wide mouths are packed full of needle-like teeth. Triangular ears. Wide flat noses. Haphazardly stuffed into human clothing. I’m actually surprised. How could I ever have compared them to people? And they’re as different from Shen as a pitiful stray mutt is from a purebred hound. Master Chi’s servant was always a dapper dresser. If only I didn’t know what he really was, I’d have thought I was dealing with an aristocrat.
“These six here,” Art nodded at group of six lying apart. “Hurry.”
I didn’t feel any compassion for the beasts. The clothes they were wearing must have belonged to villagers they slayed.
After poking my knife into each of their necks, I walked aside and gave a wave to Gorgie. A second later, the system told me I’d defeated six blackbloods ranging in level from nineteen to twenty-one.
Wiping Dragonfly down with a sticky blood-soaked rag, I winced as I read the last notification.
— You have killed Blackblood (21).
— Congratulations! You receive:
— Experience essence (4200).
— Silver tablet (10).
— Monster Hunter Token (30).
― Large Orb of Darkness (2).
Almost twenty thousand esses, sixteen silver tablets, almost two hundred tokens and a dozen large orbs. Plus Gorgie got stronger. And all that with no effort on my part at all.
I noticed Takeda looking searchingly and attentively at me. Our gazes met. It was like the captain was looking through me. He understands that, by making me stronger, he is also making his job harder in the future. But in my turn, I got to see what the steel scouts could do. Or rather I caught a small glimpse. I could probably expect even bigger surprises in the future.
I also suddenly realized something: we were sizing one another up like future rivals. I no longer had any doubt – the Steel King had sentenced me to death in absentia. So that means while I’m still alive – Mee will be too. I cursed myself a thousand times for pulling him into all this crap!
“Did your reputation come up at all?” Takeda asked.
I was about to answer but wasn’t fast enough. My mouth unexpectedly filled with bitter saliva and a nasty taste of rot. I turned my head like a madman but couldn’t see a thing.
“What?!” the captain asked in surprise, knocked off course by my behavior.
“Looks like we didn’t kill all of them...” I said and threw a muckwalker shield over myself.
The captain gave a short whistle to warn the others. Rob and Art sharply drew their swords and started looking around.
The five of us were standing tensely and listening to the silence around us. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught glances of bafflement from my companions aimed at me. Neither they nor Gorgie could sense anything.
It happened just when I started to think I was mistaken...
“Well, well, well!” I heard a sing-song woman’s voice from somewhere up above. “Who’s come to pay us a visit now?”
We raised our heads simultaneously. A woman was standing on the roof of one of the buildings, legs splayed wide and arms crossed authoritatively on her chest.
Takeda and his soldiers fanned out right away and without a word. The stranger surprisingly didn’t react to that at all.
I took a closer look. Medium height. Lithe figure. Dressed like a huntress or scout. I can’t see the face under her deep hood. Her level put me in a daze! Sixty-two!
“I see you’ve slain my children!” she continued, calm as if nothing had happened.
“They were misbehaving!” Takeda decided to jump in.
“Well, now. That I understand!” the stranger nodded and asked: “You’re not from around here, are you?”
She raised her head and took a noisy breath in through her nose.
“You still smell of the sea. But you’re probably from the continent. Explorers smell different. Like sweat, blood and the dust of their beloved ancient tombs. How do you intend to pay for murdering my children?”
“Well, what do you want?” Takeda asked, wagging his blade lazily.
The stranger, resting her unseen chin on a hand, was pretending to think.
“It isn’t so easy to make up your mind on the spot,” she said with a shrug of the shoulders. “Could you perhaps give me the boy?”
I shuddered.
“What do you want with him?” the captain kept up the game.
“He’s kinda weird,” she said pensively. “I can sense a threat in him.”
I couldn’t see her eyes, but I was certain – she was staring straight at me. It was like I could feel her hunger and thirst for blood in my skin.
“Well he’s just a normal lad,” the captain laughed. “Have you seen his level yet?”
“Now that is weird,” she muttered thoughtfully. “You must have had a reason to drag a level-zero kid way out here, right? Although... This is pretty stupid chitchat! You’ll tell me everything right now! Freeze!”
— Attention! You have been subjected to mental magic!
― You have been dealt 1500 damage (blocked by Shield of Will)!
One of my mana crystals discharged fifteen hundred points in a flash.
“Now this is getting interesting,” the stranger said in surprise.
Her predatory voice was coming from no more than ten paces away. I started looking around in fear. When my gaze landed on the captain, I felt a cold sweat cover my back. Takeda was standing still as a stone statue, as were his soldiers.
Instantly realizing what happened, I took a rushed step backward. Time to run! As far as I can get from this cursed place!
I’d already turned around, fully determined to make a run for it when I suddenly saw Gorgie also frozen in place...
Chapter 25
NO, NO, NO! I raced toward my friend. He was standing with his paws splayed wide as if he was just about to bolt. Muscles tense. Raspy breathing surging from his mouth. I saw fear in his yellow animal eyes for the first time.
Fitfully grasping for the amulet, I tried to recall my harn. But nothing happened. As if mocking me, the System informed me the action was unavailable. A groan of desperation tore itself from my throat.
“So is this little beasty yours?” the stranger’s voice rang out from behind the harn. “He’s mine now.”
I jerked sharply and summoned the Ysh spirit. The transparent serpentine body suddenly wrapped around me, warding off possible attacks.
“Look at you! Just getting more and more interesting!” the stranger exclaimed happily.
Now she was standing to Gorgie’s right with her thin pale hand on his neck.
“Don’t be naughty,” she warned and asked: “Who’s the commander?”
Tensely following her every move, I jerked my head in Takeda’s direction.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Isamu Takeda,” he answered with a colorless voice. “Captain of the personal guard for his Majesty Egbert the Seventh, ruler of Fradia.”
“Oh!” she said in surprise. “The Steel King’s curs! Your ilk hasn’t come around here in quite some time! Who is the boy?”
“The last member of the dead order,” the captain answered obediently, without a shade of emotion and looking straight forward.
The stranger turned my way at once. Her head tilted to the side.
“A living hunter?” she hissed. “Curious! My sisters are gonna like to hear that! And just what are you doing here?”
“Carrying out an order from his Majesty,” the captain answered vaguely. Seems he’s trying to resist.
“Now don’t wheedle, captain!” she menaced with a finger. “What order are you carrying out? Speak! And in greater detail!”
“His Majesty ordered us to revive the order of monster hunters,” Takeda said obediently again. “The boy is to become a magister and induct the three of us.”
“Now there’s a twist!” the stranger exclaimed. “What’s gotten into your King to make him dream of reviving an ancient enemy of his great granddaddy?”
While the woman extracted information from the captain, I was feverishly thinking over what to do next. I was scrolling through every spell in my head, ready to activate them all at once just to save Gorgie at least!
“Why does he want that?” she asked directly.
“The order of mages has amassed power,” the captain answered shortly. “His Majesty needs a counterweight.”
“Smart,” the woman nodded and turned to me: “Enough said about the King, but you’re helping an enemy. What’s in it for you?”
“Do you think I had a choice?” I snapped, shifting from one foot to the other in indecision.
She tilted her head to the side again and asked thoughtfully:
“It can’t be mind control. So, is it blackmail?”
She patted the harn on his scaled back pointedly and threw back her hood.
A pale predatory face, yellow crossed eyes with vertical slits like a snake’s. Black hair gathered into a taut ponytail. Elongated ears with sharp tips. Half beast, half human.
“Do they have someone close to you?” she asked, and I noticed two sharp fangs on both her lower and upper jaws. “I can see by your eyes that I’m right. Hey, captain! Are they even still alive?”
“They are,” he answered.
“And when were you planning to bump them off?” She asked and, as if mocking, winked at me.
“After I report to his Majesty that the mission has been completed,” Takeda answered with calm deliberation.
The snake-eyed woman clicked her tongue in dismay.
“Listen, captain, enough with the ‘his majesty.’ He is no longer your King. I am your liege lady now! Got it?”
“Yes, milady,” Takeda answered obediently. He now reminded me of Shen.
The stranger’s thin lips stretched out into a predatory smile that made a chill run down my spine.
“Good boy! I’ve heard a lot from you already, but there’s still one thing I just can’t work out. Why the Bug have you come this far? Is there really not a single open portal left on your continent? Lad, what do you say?”
To be frank, despite the tense situation, I also wanted to know the answer. So I replied:
“There is one in the Stone Forest, next to the Wastes. Very soon it will cease closing and...”
“Become a Gateway,” she finished for me and, smiling, asked Takeda: “So captain, do you understand what that means? That is exactly the same way this continent was lost to your kind. Why hasn’t your little King sent all his forces and warbands out to close that portal?”
“Yes, my lady,” the captain answered. “I understand. That portal is located on orcish land. It is far from our Kingdom.”
“Wheedling again?” the yellow-eyed woman hissed menacingly. “Answer straight!”
“The orcs have invaded Fradia. The King thinks having an open portal behind their backlines will turn the Horde back. Soon the orcs will have bigger concerns than our lands.”
The stranger burst into happy laughter.
“Your King is a dunderhead! As soon as that portal becomes a Gateway, everyone on your continent will be as good as dead! But you haven’t answered my main question. Why are you here?”
“We are to make him a magister of the order,” the captain repeated.
“Answer straight!” the stranger barked out, her face instantly transforming into the horrible mask of a blackblood.
“We a
re here to search for the Tomb of the Founder.”
I was getting the impression that the captain was struggling against every single word.
“But how?!” the yellow-eyed woman exclaimed, dumbfounded. “Do you have a map?!”
The captain didn’t say a word. I’m afraid to imagine the effort that silence cost him.
“Speak!!!” the beast snarled.
The Dark Continent (Underdog Book #3): LitRPG Series Page 23