Sneaking through the village was relatively easy, if not sweat-inducing due to the hazards that could be hiding behind every piece of debris or within the destroyed buildings. Tenn the Rogue had kept a few houses ahead of the main party as he was making sure the roads and skies were clear, whereas the others were giving quick glances into nearby buildings to check for survivors or silversteines lying in wait.

Seven houses were checked, three survivors were found, any wounds they did have were healed by Marcus with his Healer’s Caress quickly. Since the party couldn’t do too many backtracking missions, the survivors were gathered into the elder’s building to huddle together in better safety, waiting to be escorted to the roads later.

Logan couldn’t help but wonder how, so close to the capital city, settlements could get attacked like this without a more immediate response. Were the guards meant to protect only the capital? Were monsters just left to adventurers to deal with? For that matter, were the monarchy classed and viewed classless issues as non-important details in everyday life? His head was a tumble-drier of questions and theories but now wasn’t the time.

Reaching what they assumed to be the tracks of the elder, they could get a better look at what his current state may be. The road had signs of combat all across it, from burn marks to cracks in the earth from possible Wall altered spells. Blood trails led to a larger building, possibly a storage house or shop, and with the amount of blood on display, it was going to be a close call to if the elder still lived inside.

Since the bodies of the silversteines dissipated on death it was hard to say how many the elder had killed, at a guess it was probably three. A certain crater within a nearby building most certainly showed the falling demise of a spirit beast landing on top of it. Snapping his fingers, Logan’s Echo Radar couldn’t search the houses too accurately, but it seemed as though the coast was clear.

Linking up together, Logan informed the team, “I can’t sense any foes with my magic, though the walls make it difficult.”

“I can’t hear or see any either”, Tenn added.

“Alright, let’s check that storage shack for the elder, the blood makes me worried and any extra time may spell his death”, Kreya decreed.

The party confirmed the plan, continuing their stalking about the village streets to the sides of the doorway. Placing his ear to the door as normal, Tenn noted he didn’t hear anything from inside. With the normal order of Kreya opening the door the party started their entrance, not before Logan called out.

“Stop!” he whispered in an almost-talking volume.

Following his command, the group were motionless as if any further movement would spell their own demise.

“There’s a trap, right there”, Logan continued, pointing at a red circle with arcane runes all across it just half a foot ahead of where Tenn was standing.

The circle was still, but not very well hidden, but Logan’s Trapfinding skill alongside his magical background made it plainly obvious. He had read about this type of alteration before but hadn’t learnt it himself. It essentially held the charge of a spell placed within it, and once triggered would cast it on the foe who set it off.

“Damn, that was close. Thanks, Logan”, Tenn spoke as he knelt to the circle.

Pulling out what looked to be a compass normally used alongside a protractor, Tenn jabbed one compass arm into the edge of the circle to which it vibrated slightly. Taking out some green-coloured dust, he sprinkled it onto the side where he had pierced and proceeded to stab the other end of the compass into the circle’s runes where the dust was sprinkled. The circle continued to vibrate as if it were becoming unstable.

With a swift motion, Tenn rotated the first part of the compass on the floor to make a full circle cut into the wooden floor. As the compass rotated, the trap shrunk continuously until it eventually faded and dissipated away as the circle was complete.

“That’s that, keep an eye out for others, Logan, I’ll do the same”, Tenn continued as he retrieved the compass from the wooden floorboards.

After the trap was dealt with, the party were able to enter the entrance hall to get a better look inside. It was well maintained, if not for the blood smears across the brown wooden floorboards leading to the next room. A small lighter-brown wood counter saw more damage as a large circle had been exploded into it and through the other side.

A few corpses were strewn across the floor, with similar claw and bite wounds, though one had their entire arm missing. Most seemed to have died from blood loss, or the adrenaline merely allowing them a few seconds of life to find shelter before dropping. Neither Logan nor Tenn could spot any more traps set up within this room, which left only one door to investigate.

With final checks to make sure none yet lived, the party moved to the next door, Tenn inspecting it for any signs of life. Raising his hand slowly, he listened intently.

“Slow breathing, injured, old. Must be him.”

Kreya motioned to have the team move away from the door, knocking on it three times to await a response. Thankfully, no explosion or magical barrage came through the wooden barrier, instead, a muffled cry that could only be interpreted as “help” was heard.

Opening the door and entering, the party saw it to be a larger storeroom that connected to side rooms that were probably the same. Tall stacks of crates, lines of barrels, torn-open sacks of food. The place was a mess of blood and rummaging, setting a backdrop to the elderly man leaning at the far wall whose blood trail left him gaunt and pale.

Looking over him, he seemed to be in his late 60s to 70s. Long white hair was clumped from sweat and blood over his shoulders. Weary blue eyes glistened as they stared at the party, wincing whenever he moved. His robes would have been a fine array of blues and greys, if not for the tear marks across it and a large patch of blood on his right hip that he was gripping tightly.

Laying next to the elder was a staff that had been snapped in two, a billowy yellow smoke emanating from the broken edge as it leaked mana into the air. Using Identification on the elder revealed him to be level 12, his MP much lower than anticipated at 3/13, and his HP barely keeping him alive at 4/83. Whatever his curse was, it definitely cut his spellcasting abilities harshly.

“Help, my wound festers, I cannot… stand”, the man’s words were just as wispy as the smoke beside him, croaky from either phlegm or blood in his throat.

Kreya and Marcus both slid to the sides of the elder, the leader asking him for information as the Devout tended to the wounds.

“Elder O'en, it is good to see you safe. We’ve been sent by the G-Hall to secure the village and save the villagers.”

“Good, able-bodied adventurers, what is left is safe”, the elder replied, croaking and coughing as the healing provided by Marcus allowed him to speak better.

“Do you know the numbers of the survivors and the monsters? We’ve rescued twenty-three villagers and dealt with five silversteines thus far.”

Wincing in pain, the healing lights of Marcus seemed to disturb the elder, Logan could see its effects were diminished but not the reason why. Turning to his allies, Marcus addressed them.

“It’s been too long between the wound and heals, it’s infected. My magic can only close wounds, refigure the flesh, and soothe pain, not what he is suffering from. He’s stable but won’t be too fast on his feet”, turning to face Logan the Devout continued, “mind if we use some of our red cartton on him?”

“Go for it, he needs it more than us right now.”

Answering with a smile, Marcus plucked a portion of their red healing herbs from their communal bag-inventory and chewed on them. A few seconds of mastication led to a sludge similar to that of chewed gum, pulling up the elder’s tunic revealed a large gash in his side that would have gone to the bone if not for Marcus’s previous healing. The green, yellow, and black skin was then coated in the red sludge of herbs.

The elder winced in pain as the herb stung his wounds, but he was all too happy to receive the much-needed healing. Tenn and Iimi had begun to investigate the room further as Kreya, Logan, and Marcus tended to O’en.

Sitting up straighter, the elder spoke, “The attack was horrendous, I cannot fathom the reason behind it. So close to the capital too, where were our helpers two days prior?”

“The goblin forces to the south grow larger by the day, defence is key right now. The quest came into the hall quickly but most people were busy or away on goblin business. I just barely gained a mage to help in time”, Kreya responded as her gaze met Logan’s when mentioning him.

“I suppose I didn’t really give her much time to explain, though she was quite rude when she brought it to me”, Logan thought to himself.

“Then I shall thank Mose for sending protectors of his fields.”

Thinking on his reading, Logan remembered Mose as another deity.

Mose, the Foreman of Harvests and one from above. His sign is that of a corncob with one side being an ear of wheat. A benevolent deity that watches over farms, fields, and orchards, bestowing bountiful harvests onto those that pray towards him. Generally gifted the best of the harvest by attaching it to an ooran and sending it skywards, Mose is often deaf to those that forget to pay reverence to him.

“As to your earlier question, including myself, twenty-four seems the right number for survivors. Many were butchered in the streets, fields, and nearby forests when the attack started. If you’re here to eradicate the beasts, I was able to count fifteen in total before hiding away, possibly eight remain if that is the case. Aside from the ones I was able to kill, I diverted more to the east.”

“Eight is probably too many for today, Logan how’re the spells?” Kreya asked as she helped the elder to his feet to sit at a more comfy crate.

“If it’s going to be groups, looking at two more Lightning Cascades”, Logan responded, keeping his true number of spells hidden.

Right now Logan had four more Lightning spells and one Lightning Cascade, with his periapt of mana he could gain 2 MP to spend on either two Lightning or one Lightning Cascade.

“So, six is the most I’d like to face in one confrontation. Hmm. We could try and find singular foes in the houses and use the bait tomorrow to flush out the last remnants, with a Wind Wall you could move the scent further”, Kreya continued with a strained facial expression as she planned out their actions.

Logan hadn’t thought of combining the two, though since this had to do with forming of plans and wit it would come down to Wisdom more than Intelligence. Logan easily understood the theories of using his wind-based magic to push scents around due to his intelligence, he could calculate but putting it into practice in a sensible manner or being the most efficient with what he had at hand fell more into the Wisdom bracket.

Was it wise to duel-force Logan into joining this quest though? Logan could have easily declined if he didn’t care about how others saw him. He could have acted poorly within the quest as a way to get back the person who forced it onto him. Kreya could have very well known all about duels and used it to strong-arm a solution to Moella’s troubles, the village wouldn’t last long under the threat of monsters.

Many paths were open to Kreya, just as many were closed due to the goblin forces southwards alongside other external situations. Logan was easy pickings due to having used spells in the assessment, naive to the rules of the city, and essentially a newcomer. He still felt anger towards Kreya, but after seeing the reasons behind everything his head was awash with different ideals.

The quick shunting of wood against a wall snapped Logan out of his calculating daze, looking around he saw that his fellows had found some food amongst the storehouse to help the other villagers.

“We’re going to escort O'en to the elder building, then I’ll take the survivors back to the roadside for the carriage rides. You lot make a few rounds to check for silversteines in the village and note their locations and numbers”, Kreya ordered once more as she aided the elder on her shoulder.

The party gave a mix of “okay” and “got it” replies, checking their gear as well as receiving another round of Clean micks from Logan to aid their Stealth to the elder’s building.

Unlike the previous jaunts through the village, this one had cause for alarm. A jet burst of wind above alerted the party to dart to nearby building walls to hide away, the sound giving them just enough time to hide. Checking above them, the group spotted a group of four silversteines flying westwards. With them came several gusts of wind as they darted the skylines.

The sounds of crashing clay, explosions of the Spirit Blasts, and roars of the silversteines were accompanied by the screams of a man and woman that were under attack. Hastening away from their cover, Kreya ordered the team forward as she shouted at O'en to hide in his building. The team accompanied her without question, even if Logan was off-put at the thought of facing four at once.

“Logan, Cascade a trio and Lightning the other! Keep the villagers safe!” Kreya called out behind her.

“Will do”, Logan shouted back.

It wasn’t long before the party saw the torrents of claws and fangs digging at a half-destroyed building, whimpering and screaming from within showing the terror of the villagers hiding inside.

“Lightning Cascade!” Logan chanted, his arm becoming a mass of lightning strikes and arcs. Throwing his arm forwards the dance of light leapt through the air to the closest silversteine and pranced to two more nearby beasts, surrounding them all in the daggers of electricity.

With three large crashes to the floor, the spirit beasts writhed in agony for a few seconds before the party were able to jump into action with their own attacks. As Logan was aiming his next spell, the remaining silversteine shot into the air, its wind swirls sparkling a blue light as it morphed its elemental mastery into a new form. Crackling of electrical currents could be heard above as the foe changed from using the air to using lightning energies.

Thinking it was the silversteine’s Element Phase skill, Logan was unsure of what to anticipate. Hoping he could still deal some pain to the foe he continued his following spell, “Lightning Shot”, he called out, shooting an array of lightning strikes to the beast.

Just as they used the air to move previously, the lightning-phased silversteine used lightning to travel, turning portions of its body into shifting lightning arms as it coursed through the lines of electricity to appear before Logan at breakneck speeds. Landing on the Spellthief with such momentum had Logan smashed and dragged across the dirt path away from the combat. His arms were grappled by the first set of forearms, his hands by the second pair, saliva and blood dripped from the maw of the silversteine onto his clothing.

“Guy-” Logan began to shout for help.

Before his cry could finish, the silversteine snapped its jaw around Logan’s shoulder as it dug deep into the pinned adventurer, tearing through his clothing into his flesh as parts were torn from his body. Kicking upwards, Logan landed a few good hits into the stomach of the silversteine but it wasn’t enough to push the beast off.

“Gaia Shot!” Was all that Logan could hear in the distance, the tail end of a spellcasting that came from his ally, Marcus. A large shard of earth ploughed into the side of the silversteine who kept its prey pinned.

Following up was a massive mace strike to the beast’s face, forcing it to relinquish its dinner.

“Get the fuck off him!” Kreya called out, as she continued with a follow-up smash.

A blast of flames came from Celsius who had caught back up to his master, though Tenn and Iimi were still dealing with the silversteines on the floor near the building.

Reeling from the attacks, the silversteine took to the skies once again, Kreya moving to block the fallen Logan from further attacks with her shield raised high.

“Get up, we may need another spell against them.”

“Right. Thanks”, Logan replied as he stood back up.

Given some time to analyse the battlefield, he saw that this group of foes were all level 9, having dealt a few blows to his allies further away. The one that had attacked him was down to 2/92 HP, whereas Logan was taken down to 52/88 HP.

Darting in the air, the wounded silversteine began to charge for a volley of Spirit Blasts, Kreya commanding Logan to stay behind her and crouch down. The white-flame balls formed quickly and were rained down onto the quartet. Marcus took cover behind a building, whereas Celsius was nicked by one attack for 19 damage and dissipated.

Four follow-up blasts hit into Kreya’s shield, the impact sending shockwaves around the steel of her shield. Cracks started to form over her protection as it was close to being destroyed.

Kreya was about to issue more commands, but was stopped as when she peeked over her shield she saw the thrown knives of Tenn hit the skyward foe that was not focused on him. The final attacks led the silversteine to its final fall to the floor, creating a sizable crater with its body in the mud.

Checking over her comrades, she saw the silversteines in the back had been dealt with finally, their tactics on the floor without the aid of the wind making them much easier to deal with.

Turning to face Logan, she held out a hand to help him stand up. “That’s why we needed a mage, if we were to all get pinned like that we’d be grilled meat.”

Taking her hand, Logan stood tall. “Would have been nice to get asked, rather than bludgeoned into coming.”

Looking at Logan for a few seconds, Kreya averted her gaze as the Spellthief noticed a hint of guilt. “Sorry, time constraints didn’t exactly let me be nice about it.”

Before their conversation could continue, the rest of the party gathered back up, confirming their kills. Logan could have told them the same, as the experience numbers started to fly above the corpses and several windows appeared after such.

“Level up! Gain: 8 HP, +1 Str, +2 Agi, +1 Con, +2 Int, +1 Wis, +1 Cha. You have 1 attribute point to spend”, the first window explained, with Logan doing the usual addition of his free point into Intelligence.

The second window to appear informed Logan that Celsius had also levelled up, alongside noting a small shard of fiery rock in the distance to where he had been “defeated”, apparently he was still alive and would return to Logan’s soul if he was not healed, similar to how people could go to -10 before dying.

With his level, Celsius had actually recovered enough health to return with just a wave of Logan’s hand over his fiery rock, the fire elemental swirling back into life as a slightly larger fire formed.

“Ow! That was a dangerous attack to be sure. Boss! You’re back up and they’ve been all knocked down. Good work”, the energetic friend spoke.

“Thanks for the assist, keep your increase in power a secret for now by the way”, Logan replied in a hushed tone.

Celsius acknowledged with a nod and a zipping notion of darker flames across his orange maw.

Logan had to assume that either Dena had dealt enough damage to outright kill Celsius before, or made sure he couldn’t reform. The fact he died the same as people made it a much better tactic to use him as bait, as well as to aid in spell slot usage.

Returning to the party, Logan inspected his summon’s status. It seemed he had gained 1 attribute point to all of his stats except for charisma. Since it was an even level, he probably had decimals that weren’t being calculated until level 5. Now sitting at 3/22 HP and 3/4 MP, Celsius only needed another 1,900 XP to level again. Marcus wasn’t far behind, needing only 160 XP, which equated to just two more silversteines.

“Marcus, spread the healing around after we’ve confirmed the villagers' status. After that, it’s about time we take a rest”, Kreya ordered once more.

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