If it was someone they intended to hurt and then healed afterward, it was a different story. The Ten Realms wasn’t like a video game in that respect; it seemed to read everyone’s intentions instead of making judgements based on its settings.
Right now, Erik was increasing his ability in hand-to-hand; because he didn’t use it against anyone or anything, he didn’t gain any Experience.
This was like how Rugrat had studied different smithing manuals and information that they had collected in the Beast Mountains. Once he had access to a smithy and gained a basic understanding, his skill had shot upward.
It was like when someone took a class: they would learn tons of information, but it was only at the end when there was a test would they get a final grade on it. The test could also show them what they didn’t understand and draw attention to those areas so that they might do better in later tests.
“All right, let’s see what you’ve got,” Erik said.
Rugrat fired an arrow as Erik fought back, the two of them using the other to hone their skills.
***
Unseen by them both was Glosil and Sergeant Niemm. They had been checking on the different patrols and checking on the village. When they returned to the barracks, they stood at the entrance of the barracks, watching as Erik used his fists to fight against Rugrat’s rain of arrows. They moved almost too fast to be seen with the human eye and Rugrat’s speed at drawing and firing had reached an unreal level.
Glosil and Niemm didn’t say a thing, stock-still as they watched the two.
Niemm realized something, his heart shaking. “Are they smiling?”
Glosil nodded. “For some people, proving their skill and improving it—there is nothing greater in the Ten Realms. It looks like Erik and Rugrat are pitting their skills up against each other, using the other to improve while also showing off their abilities. To them, there is the threat of damage, but it allows them to get as close to a real fight as possible without a fatal threat.”
“Why do I have the feeling that we haven’t seen their full capabilities yet?” Niemm asked.
The two of them watched as Erik started to hit more and more of the arrows out of the air, his fists actually making contact with them now as the shafts exploded.
Erik let out a laugh, working harder to make the arrows explode.
Rugrat continued to move, making it harder for Erik to dodge or stop the arrows. The two of them started to reveal more of their abilities, creating a terrifying display.
Rugrat showed no signs of stopping.
Erik started to adjust the amount of power he put out as the fight continued on. His attacks were concentrated and gauged, looking to use just enough power to destroy the arrows and move his body instead of wasting it all in a few explosive movements.
Glosil watched as Erik’s speed decreased, but his movements flowed from one to the next, turning graceful and making him seem like a tree in the wind instead of a shield turning to face the enemy.
Rugrat’s movements became cleaner and had less wasted effort to increase the speed that he could fire. He even started firing without aiming, using different techniques to alter the arrows’ path so that they were harder to defend against.
Occasionally an arrow would hit Erik, or Erik would destroy an arrow.
Rugrat paused some time later, the two of them breathing heavily now. Rugrat had reached for another arrow but there weren’t any left.
“Again!” Erik said. Even as he was breathing heavy, there was a fire in his eyes, a look of excitement.
Rugrat pulled out another quiver. He took a second and then started firing at Erik, faster than before. It was as if they had surpassed their previous limits! In the face of challenging each other, they wanted to fight as much as possible.
Niemm and Glosil looked to each other with bitter expressions. They had thought that their fighting strength wasn’t bad, but seeing these two, they felt that they had a long way to go.
Who would be insane enough to fire arrows at their friend? Or try to destroy them in the air and then laugh about it? Are our training methods just not that good? Niemm kept watching, unconsciously moving his hands and altering his stance to try to gain an understanding of their movements and learn from their fight.
***
Blaze felt something was wrong. He sat up in his bed as a notification screen appeared in front of his vision.
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Oathbreaker
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Lord Salyn has broken his oath and no longer swears to protect and care for Alva Village.
Alva Village is now a free village.
==========
Blaze looked at the information. “He broke his oath, removing Alva Village from his protection, but he sent Erik and Rugrat? That doesn’t make sense.”
Chapter: Who Are You?
Erik and Rugrat were left sweating and panting as Rugrat lowered his bow, looking around at the barracks that had tens of arrows lying around.
“Well, this is going to suck to clean up,” Rugrat said.
“Just like cleaning up brass on the range.” Erik started to pick up the arrows. A few of them were still serviceable, but most of them were useless. “Talking about rounds, you made any more advancements with the bullet engraving?”
“I’ve got a lot of theory and I’ve made some simple enchantments on arrowheads. I think that it would be possible for me to put it on bullets as well. I don’t know what it would do to them and I don’t want to have to pull apart our good rounds to experiment on them,” Rugrat said. “When we get the extra rounds from the cache, I’ll have to do some trials.”
“What can the enchanted arrows do?” Erik asked.
“Increased piercing, basically the same effect you had on your arrows. Then I’ve got silence and stun, though I’ve focused on the first as the silence and stun ones are only really good against people.”
The two of them continued to clean up the barracks. Niemm and Glosil entered some time later. Seeing them at work and not wanting to be pulled into it, the two of them sped up and went to their rooms.
“Were they watching us training?” Rugrat asked.
“What does it matter if they did or didn’t?” Erik asked.
Rugrat shrugged. Erik made a good point.
“You’ve got to stop favoring that back foot. I know you broke it ten years ago but time to get over it. You’re still jumpy on it and we both know that it’s been totally healed by now,” Rugrat said.
The two of them started to critique each other and offer advice, even if the other didn’t want it. If they knew their failures, then they could find a way to fix it.
***
Blaze didn’t sleep much that night, his mind filled with questions. He waited out front of the Village Hall.
Erik and Rugrat appeared before the sun was coming up.
“Blaze, is there a problem?” Erik asked as they saw him waiting for them.
“I wanted to ask you,” Blaze looked at them both, knowing that his next words might change everything that he knew about them, “who sent you?”
Erik and Rugrat looked to each other and then back to Blaze.
“I know that it wasn’t Lord Salyn. Last night, when I was sleeping, I got a notification. He broke his oath and left us to fend for ourselves.” Blaze couldn’t hold back the anger in his voice.
“Let’s take a seat,” Erik said. They moved to what had been Blaze’s office, sitting on the chairs there.
“We’re not from Lord Salyn. To be honest, we were teleported here. We don’t know why or even how, or what the purpose of us being here is. We entered the village knowing that you would be attacked by a beast horde and that there would be five waves of the beast horde attacking the village. Other than Niemm, you were the first person we met from Alva Village. The rest you know,” Erik said.
Blaze was quiet for some time. Neither Erik nor Rugrat could read his thoughts.
&nbs
p; “Are you only helping us because of the trial?” Blaze asked.
He saw the look of pain on Erik and Rugrat’s expressions before they shook their heads in the negative.
Blaze felt guilt for asking such a question after seeing all the time and resources they had put into Alva Village, but it was a question that had to be asked.
“Salyn, that spineless fuck,” Blaze growled. “He was the one who told me not to tell the people and to wait for reinforcements. Did he just want to make sure that the entire village was destroyed so that he wouldn’t have to deal with the refugees?” Blaze slammed his hand into the desk. He didn’t control his strength, breaking it.
It was some time before Rugrat cleared his throat. “So, just like want to know—we cool, man?”
Erik looked up at the ceiling, letting out a sigh as a part of his soul seemed to leave him before looking at Rugrat.
“Not like you weren’t thinking it. We just going to all sit here and mourn the death of a crappy old desk?” Rugrat pointed at the remains on the ground. “’Twas a valiant desk, but it will also be valiant firewood.”
“We’re good,” Blaze said. “If it wasn’t for you two, we wouldn’t be ready for the beast horde. We’d all be cooped up and not know what was coming. We sure as hell wouldn’t have archers and heavy infantry, or defensive lines,” Blaze said, the other two focusing on him. “You might not be the help that I asked for, but you’re the ones who came and did everything in your power for Alva Village. I wouldn’t be able to kick you out of the city.” Blaze let out a humorless laugh, his eyes serious. “You lead, I’ll follow. I swear on the Ten Realms.”
Power appeared in the room as screens appeared in front of Erik and Rugrat.
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Blaze Steel has sworn to follow you into battle as long as he agrees to your orders. If he does not agree with your orders, then this oath will be annulled.
If he breaks his oath, then the Ten Realms will punish him.
==========
“I swear on the Ten Realms that I will not break faith with you. I will do my best for the greater good of Alva Village. I swear on the Ten Realms,” Erik said.
“Beat me to it,” Rugrat complained as the power of the Ten Realms was activated once again.
Blaze seemed to relax, returning to his normal personality as Erik and Rugrat both made oaths to him, backed by the Ten Realms.
“What do you want to tell the people?” Erik put the decision in Blaze’s hands; he was the lord of the village, after all.
Blaze let out a heavy sigh. The decision wasn’t to be taken lightly. “If I tell them, there might be problems in the battle that is to come. We don’t need more confusion and people’s minds wandering in the fight. Once the battle is over, then we can let them know,” Blaze said.
Erik and Rugrat nodded, accepting his decision.
“Well, time for some damn food then!” Rugrat said.
***
Storbon was working with the people who were part of the QRF. They all lived together and unlike the heavy infantry or the sharpshooters, they didn’t go home every night; they lived in the barracks.
They had personal lessons from Glosil, Blaze, Rugrat, and Erik. They also had access to dozens of foundational manuals on all different kinds of skills.
They patrolled the village and hunted down the beasts, but the rest of the day they trained, fighting one another, working in the different industries of Alva Village to increase their skills. All of them pushed themselves to the limit.
“Have you noticed how much Alva has grown in just two weeks?” Storbon asked Yao Meng.
Meng let out a short laugh as they walked the village walls. “Yeah, I don’t think that any of the nearby villages have the same strength as us now. A city where the citizens are on average level seven, the trained fighting forces around level ten, sergeants at eleven. Captain Blaze and Glosil are fourteen and twelve, though Erik and Rugrat are thirteen and fifteen.”
“The amount of resources that they’ve used on us to raise us up to eleven and twelve, surely Erik and Rugrat could have increased their own level by leaps and bounds,” Storbon said.
The two of them fell into a silence as they continued to patrol the wall.
“Yeah, they’re nothing like I would think people at higher levels would be. Those stronger figures are always hoarding their resources and not wanting to share with others, only caring about their own path.” Meng’s voice had a hint of anger.
“Well, now we’re those people,” Storbon said.
“Yeah, never thought that I would be able to make it to level ten so I can ascend to the Second Realm,” Meng said honestly.
Storbon paused as his eyes thinned. The morning sun was coming up soon but something seemed to make him wary.
Meng looked to his friend and then scanned the distance. “You see something?” Meng asked after a few seconds, gripping his crossbow tighter.
Storbon shushed him and pointed where he heard noises from.
There was a rustling at the edges of the defensive area. It had been built up; the first three lines had been completed and the last line was being worked on. It would take a few more days until it was completed.
A squeal cut through the night. The two raised their crossbows, ready to fire at the noise.
Storbon could see that one of the boars that had been in the forest had charged out and impaled itself on one of the defensive spikes.
The squeal led to the rest of the litter rushing out of the forest as wolves that must have been chasing them let out howls.
Meng grabbed his whistle and blew on it.
Across the village, people woke up with dread in their hearts.
People pulled on their clothes and grabbed their weapons, heading to their different rally points. They had been trained continuously over the last two weeks; for them, it was imprinted on their minds.
The archery with their sharpshooter component moved to the walls as the heavy infantry formed up at the village square, ready to be deployed to the walls and bolster them as was needed.
***
Erik and Rugrat were having breakfast in the village square when they heard the whistle. They pulled their weapons from their storage rings, rushing off in different directions: Erik toward where the whistle was coming from, Rugrat to the Village Hall and the watchtower that had been put on the top of it.
From there, he could look over the entirety of Alva Village and see the defensive works beyond.
Erik was halfway to the wall when Rugrat contacted him, Blaze, and Glosil.
“Looks like we’ve got some coming in from the south side, a couple litters of pigs and wolves chasing them. Fifty pigs, twenty wolves—looks like more are coming. I can’t see much in this low light.”
“Everyone do what we trained; have the heavy infantry and QRF ready to move out. Rugrat, you’re in charge of placement. Glosil, I want you watching the north. If they come in from another direction, I want to know,” Erik said.
“Understood,” Rugrat said.
“On my way,” Glosil said.
I hope that we’re ready for this, Erik thought. It looked like the beast horde had come early. It was the eleventh day since they had reached Alva Village.
Chapter: First Wave
Erik reached the wall. With two large jumps, he was at the top, looking out over the layered defenses and the first wave. The boars had grown from a mere fifty to some two hundred. Wolves poured out from the forest. Smelling the blood from the boars, the half-starved beasts were sent into a frenzy.
Alva Village had spent their time thinning out the numbers of boars. It was one of the reasons that they had been able to quickly raise their level. It had also led to the wolves and other beasts finding that they didn’t have enough food to eat.
Erik looked over the wall at the incoming boars. There wasn’t anything he could do but watch; they were out of crossbow range at this point.
Instead of focusing on the boars that had appeared, he looked into the forest and looked to see whether there were any more boars coming out of the trees.
Storbon and Yao Meng ran over to Erik, their crossbows ready.
Erik glanced over at them and then continued to look over the battlefield.
“What do you want us to do, sir?” Storbon asked. The two of them saluted.
“No need to salute now that the battle has started. If the enemy saw that, then they would look to kill me to screw up our chain of command,” Erik said in a calm voice as he studied how the boars were running into the first layer of defenses and the traps.
They ran forward blindly, stepping on top of the flimsy coverings and dropping into the spike-filled pit. Squeals came from the pits as the wolves behind them weren’t able to stop themselves and fell in as well.
“Yes, sir,” Storbon said.
“Report to the sergeants of the archery groups. Make sure that they know the situation. I want to have them spaced out along the wall and make sure that they keep an eye out for any other breaks in the tree line,” Erik said.
“Sir!” Storbon and Yao Meng said at the same time, stopping themselves from saluting at the last minute. They turned on their heels and rushed off to meet the archery groups that were moving up to the wall.
Erik contacted Rugrat. “How are things looking from up there?”
“I’ve got clear sight all around the village. We’ve got waves coming in from several different directions. If north was the twelve o’clock, we’ve got groups coming in from the five till eight movement, at the one to two. I’ve pushed out the first group of archers, and held back eight groups. I’ve got the cooks making up food. They’ll feed the people who are holding in the village square. As we rotate people out, we can get them fed,” Rugrat said.
“Sounds good to me. I—” Erik didn’t get out his next word as there was a howl from within the forest. A massive wolf walked out of the trees. Around him were all different kinds of elites. Their eyes were on the boars but they showed greater intelligence than the first group that had rushed forward.
The Two Week Curse Page 40