It was with a lighter heart that Kira walked back through the trees to the waiting enduro motorcycle. She could still stand to hit something, that urge would always be there. The feeling had muted somewhat, and she found herself eager to get back to town and talk with everyone.

That feeling lasted all of the few minutes it took her to clear the trees and find her bike being pushed down the road by people. She had come back in time to find it being stolen by a pack of filthy, rag-wearing, starving survivors.

“Stop!” She shouted, her words shifting into a loud growl halfway through. There was no way she was going to allow them to steal something she had worked hard to fix and get running again.

She sprang forward, and without giving them a chance to respond or defend themselves, her fists descended. It was only right; they had offered themselves up by daring to steal something that was hers. Still, she had enough sense to hold back.

They would be black and blue, and their everything would be stiff and in pain for several days. However, they would be alive, and that was what mattered most.

It was almost more frustrating holding herself back enough that they didn’t die. When she was finished pounding on them, her blood was roiling for more. The only thing she could do was forcefully suppress it and glare at the weaklings moaning in pain on the ground.

She stomped away from them and then came back as a mean and vicious grin spread across her face. She had come up with the perfect way to get back at them and revel in a little sadistic pleasure. All while helping them.

It was perfect.

Pulling rope out of her inventory, she set about tying their hands and feet, followed by piling them together. Using more rope, she secured them into a pyramid of bodies stacked on top of each other.

The last step was retrieving several of those rolled-up plastic sleds she had stored in her inventory. They took up little space and were tougher than most people believed. If something wouldn’t fit in her inventory, then she could just place it on one or two of those and then move it. She wasn’t like Charles, the size of what she could store was limited.

She tied the pile of moaning people to a series of connected sleds, and then to the back of the bike. With that done, she hopped back on the motorcycle and inserted the key. It started with a kick of her foot, and then with a rev of the engine, they were off.

Their pain-filled moans grew as they were jostled about by the uneven road.

Kira was nice enough to keep the speed slow enough that even if something happened, they wouldn’t be badly hurt. Not that she believed that would be the case. These people had lived out in the wild for months by that point. Whether they had been part of a group initially didn’t matter, just surviving to this point proved that they were no longer normal humans.

They had leveled-up, gotten stronger, tougher. Something like road burn caused by a tumble off the plastic sleds wouldn’t kill them. If any of them were truly damaged, then Charles or the other medical students who were studying magic under him could heal them. Soon that number would grow to include the people from the temple.

There was another benefit to dragging them behind her, one that she hadn’t been expecting. Their cries of pain and nausea did what the loud roar of the motorcycle could not. It drew the monsters to her.

Her time of relaxation through intense violence had finally come, and she was not going to let any escape her this time.

She continued dragging the sled a little longer, ensuring that a large group of monsters was strung out in a line. It was perfect, having them line up like this would mostly keep her from being overwhelmed by all of them at once. It would also keep the weaker ones from fleeing once she started putting them down.

Looking back, she counted more than thirty monsters following them. Weaker goblins made up the majority of that, with gnolls and a single kobold making up the rest. It was a surprise to see the kobold out and about. They didn’t like the cold. As soon as winter descended, they had all either left for warmer climes or dug into the ground and created a communal burrow.

None of that was of any interest to her now. For her, it was simply another beast she could use to release some frustrations, nothing more.

She gave the bike one last burst of acceleration; the people being towed behind her, making more noise as a result. Then she shut it off, making sure to pocket the key, and turned towards the line of anger release materials. The bike was easy enough to start without the key, but as she had just seen a little bit before, it was enough for most people.

Her warhammer appeared in her hands as she took off running towards the goblins in the lead. That only lasted a few moments as she realized the weapon was taking them down too easily. She wanted this to last for more than the minute it would have taken with it.

Normally no one would consider doing this. They would have no idea what the monster’s levels might be and how dangerous they were.

Kira did not suffer from this particular problem, she had her ‘Identify’ ability. It was a weaker version of Charles ‘Analyze’ ability in that it didn’t give her any extra information on the monsters. It gave her their type and level, and that was it. It was more than enough.

With a quick scan of the line, she knew that taking them on one at a time would present no difficulties for her. Things might get a little dicey if they ganged up on her, but the chances of that happening were low. Even without the hammer, they would still die quickly.

It was just that this way, she could feel their flesh and bones giving way underneath her fists.

The fight, if it could even be called that lasted less than five minutes. From beginning to quick end, it was a brutal one-sided beat down.

Kira looked up at the sky when it was over and smiled, her fists unclenching as she relaxed. Happily, she set about looting the corpses, trying to get them all before the blood on her finished drying.

The blood would vanish along with the body as long as it was still wet. If it had the chance to dry though, then you were out of luck. The only way to get it out at that point was the old-fashioned way, with a bath and a fresh set of clothes. It wasn’t something she normally needed to worry about, thanks to Charles.

The semi-dried layer of multi-colored goop was a stark reminder that he wasn’t there at the moment. Not that she blamed him, she was the one who had left, without even leaving a note at that. Besides, she knew that he could open a door to wherever she was in a moment if he believed she was in danger.

He was giving her the room to work things out on her own, without trying to coddle or fix the problem for her. It was a side of him that she rather liked. He didn’t try to fix her problems for her; he understood that some things only required his silent support and nothing more.

“You, uh, feel better now?” A voice she didn’t recognize came from behind her.

Spinning around, her hammer appeared with a thought as she readied to attack them.

“Woah, hold on Kira!”

She found her brow-raising in amusement as they all raised their hands without dropping their weapons. She still didn’t recognize any of them, but from their equipment, it was easy to see they came from Dungeonville.

Remaining inwardly wary, she had the hammer reform into a bracelet and adopted a less threatening posture.

“Have you found whatever you were hunting for?” She nodded to the woman standing at the side of the group, a powerful bow made of monster bones and sinew clutched in her hand. It was a defective weapon made by the town’s bowyer; in that, it didn’t quite meet up to his expectations. It had been one of his first attempts and given away to someone hoping to unlock an archery class.

The woman nodded and withdrew a haunch of bloody meat from her inventory. “We managed to find some deer this morning and are on our way back.” She looked over at the sled full of trussed-up people. “How about you?”

“I just came out to work through some anger issues, and these nice people volunteered as bait. If you want to climb on top of the pile, I’ll bring you all back with the bike?”

They shared a look containing more than a little exasperation and amusement. Then, with a joint shrug, they stored their weapons and climbed on top of the people.