"So.....that didn't really end well for you, did it Marank?" Ounder commented, who was sprawled upon the ground. His front paws twitched slightly as he flexed his claws in boredom. His back arched as he let out a yawn before putting himself back onto the floor. His gaze wandered over the lizard-like god emanating anger.

"....No. No it did not." Marank hissed, while staring at the orb in front of him in anguish, tail thumping the ground in quick, hard strokes. His claws raked against the orb, producing a harsh screech-like sound before he tore them from its surface. The orb may not have been a physical object, but that did not mean that intent couldn't produce the sound itself, when it came to the god of monsters.

"You know...", Ounder commented as he started bathing his paws. "You could've just ignored him like I do."

"That's easy for you to say." Marank turned away from the orb gesturing wildly, his scales falling off with each exaggerated movement. "He basically elevated one of yours while destroying one of mine!"

"Isn't that the way of things though? Aren't monsters meant to be destroyed and animals respected?" Ounder tilted his head, almost lost in thought upon the philosophical question. It would've taken him quite awhile to figure out, as he had long since been mentally hindered, if not for the suddenness screams of anguish coming from the other god within the cavern-like room.

"There is literally no difference between us! Honestly, I don't understand why we're two separate beings." Marank stalked over towards his bone white chair and sat down upon it, his vocal belt of emotion draining the frustration from him almost immediately. Gazing up, he could see the rock give way to bone and meat, leaking blood upon his floor. He sighed before making a note to change out the meat, for it had started to decay and start to fill the air with a noticeably pungent muster.

"No matter how much you protest, there is a difference between yours and mine. Yours revel in the suffering. Yours ache for the blood of mind and pain of being. Mine only exist to live and to enrich the lives that they live. Yours are experiments in cruelty, while mine are upon the limits of what could-"

"Yeah, I get it you blowhard. Just because we enjoy different things, that automatically means we're different gods, I get it." Marank looked irritated from the suddenness of the monologue, as he rolled his eyes, and blinked his slit eyes. He had heard this many times before, after all. And if it was one thing Marank had learned long ago, it was that patience was key towards getting what you wanted out of the world.

"I know that you know, I just need to remind myself, lest you win and combine us." Ounder looked up at the slight remission that he had let out, with his ears splayed out wide and his nose twitching. Marank had only managed to keep his blank stare for awhile, before the realization travelled along his face, managing to morph it to let slip a grin filled with gleaming pointed teeth, ready to deal out dulcet overtures of another chance to finally wear down the walls Ounder decided to put up.

"One of these days Ounder, you and I will become one. That is the day in which the fauna of the world will rejoice and be made anew in our glorious image. Only then will we be whole and complete." Ounder seemed to sigh in defeat, before he started to walk away from the malnourished throne that Marank had sat himself upon, only stopping at the entrance of the meaty cavern to turn towards Marank to let out some final words upon the situation.

"I think that we are plenty complete, apart as we are. I would rather not become like Luant." With that, Ounder bowed his head in respect, while Marank scoffed.

"Luant was a miracle, Ounder. He became more than the sum of his parts." Marank had let slip some actual respect for the conjoined god in his words, for the sentence was no lie to him. There were not many gods that had managed to join their chairs together despite the world insisting upon their separation. Even if Luant was a being that only existed for a period of a century before they were forced apart towards another counterpart, it was still an admirable goal Marank held in his heart to be one of the first to do so in such a complete manner where it was a permanent fixture, rather than a simple cycle.

"And now he only exists as a part of something I doubt HER original intentions were to become." Marank frowned only a tiny bit before his smile returned. HIs ideals were always put to the test with this. He always put aside how unwilling the glue was towards the union, for what else was she in his mind but glue. The only unfortunate part about the perpetual cycle, only meant that her chair never existed for but a second before she was brought back towards the other side of the conflict. This, however, was only a minor concern for him.

"Does that not make her better than what she used to be? Grans and Swelc can only become more with her, you know." Even if Marank was supposedly part of the Neutral faction, he couldn't help but see that the point he had put forwards wasn't even an upside within his own mind. He would rather conjoin himself with a fellow member of Neutrality than to tend towards either side of the grayscale. That is mainly why he did not try and join himself with those of likeminded personalities, for they were honestly far worse in their actions upon the world than he was with his own.

"Her original aspect was better by itself than complementing those of Good or Evil. Now he only exists within their minds, while having no control without being given some." At this, Marank did frown. He had hoped that the gods wisdom would not come back in spurts like it usually did, but he supposed he had to now contend with the clear eyed bastion for beasts in the matter of debate.

"You would be right there, Ounder. If we were to do so, knowing which of us had the stronger will would be the toss of a coin, and I doubt I'd make it through, judging by what they said the pain amounts to. Pain does not do wonders for me, as I'm sure you know." His smile, while not as face splitting as his previous one had been, was still somewhat genuine in its intentions. Marank did not actually know how well their souls could contend, given he had risen to this position while Ounder had been born in it. Even if Ounder was one of the weaker willed when it came to ambitions, its age would certainly hold some amount of advantage were they to actually try to join together.

"Yes, at least that we can agree on." Ounder's gaze wavered away from the god on his throne to look towards the still floating orb within the scrying circle, viewing only darkness and the occasional glowing of his own believers upon its surface. "By the way, did you really expect a cave-in to actually succeed in stopping them?"

"Unfortunately. That was my plan B in case Grendel did not succeed with his new status as monstrous priest. I thought maybe with his enhanced power it's death would at least trap that Newcomer within my domain. Even with it being so new to the world, I had figured it would take it awhile to get out. Then it had figured out how to cast magic and kill Grendel. Honestly, I cannot see how this could've happened. I was specifically told it had been given the sinner status, so its luck should've almost automatically led him astray. Maybe I should've sent a monstrous acolyte..." At this, Marank's ponderings caused him to clench his jaw with scaled fingers, trying to conjure an ounce of introspection within himself. However, his conjurings had led him astray once again, as only fury filled him, a price he had once been happy to pay to ascend. He sighed, bringing his eyes away from the bone white ground towards the other god within the room, noticing that they had managed to pull up a status screen.

"He indeed does. It just doesn't seem to be all that effective towards him. Maybe it will have more effect once Newcomer's effect ends, or it could just be that this new species was made with that in mind? Who's to say." Ounder's comment, while providing some modicum of hope for the monster, still had Marank filled with an ounce of uncertainty, causing his gaze to waver towards seemingly empty air. Staring hard, he willed the stone lined muscled along the wall to the side of him to burst into flame, which it soon does before growths snuff them out. He sighed, at least somewhat thankful towards Ounder's contribution, before bringing his gaze to meet the now clouded eyes of Ounder.

"You know, I have tried figuring out where this....Dave has come from. No God claims to be its maker where I've checked. That could be a lie though for all they're willing to give for one such as I. That's why I've invited you here, oh Deity of Beasts."

"I was wondering if you had brought me to laugh at your attempts. Now that I know why you want me though, I have to ask. Why me in particular? Surely you could pester Justicia into aiding you. You are technically on her side through this." Marank chuckled a bit before leaning forward, hands steeping together to rest his head upon them.

"You have a certain set of skills I need. One, in particular, that you are naturally born with: your nose."

"What would you have me sniff out? You do know I do not work for free, right?" Marank sighed before bringing up his own screen and slid something over. Even if the god of beasts was without wisdom, it did not mean he was without intelligence.

"Ahh...That's....that's a fair amount of faith. Are you sure you're able to withstand that much?" Ounder's concern was well placed, as the amount being provided towards Ounder. would have allowed for a dozen new species to be created under his influence. If this was just something that Marank was willing to throw around, that meant something else was going on here. If it were within one of his other periods of clarity, he might've even have been able to figure it out.

"Yes, yes...Now, on to the matter in which I require of you. I did some investigating of my own, something that Justicia wouldn't approve of, should she ever know. I went into her domain and looked upon her judges. I went to the place where the crime was committed, something that she would sweep under the rug from most. I could not find anything that remained, except this." Marank pulled a piece of cloth out of the air.

"This, I believe, will let us actually affect this Dave because if I think what's happening is happening," His grim facade slid away into bone filled smile. "We've got a little insurrection going on." It took Ounder a little bit to understand what exactly Marank was getting at, but when he did, his eyes widened, and the clouds seemed to part in his mind for only an instant.

"...You think that the judge wasn't killed, but hitched a ride? How do you suppose that would happen? Their law is as rigid as hers."

"I do not know. But what I do know, is if you have a smell, you can connect, and possibly remove the judge from Dave's head and finally make that thing vulnerable."

"......After so long without a potential champion, you want me to get rid of the thing that made it somewhat possible? If you hadn't given me so much, I wouldn't even consider this you know." With that, Ounder began to stalk out of the enclaves exit. One could hear his claws clacking upon stone, bone, and blood before seeing the blood's residue dissipating into the air off of his form.

"Why are you leaving? I need you for this!" Ounder looked back to see Marank glare angrily, standing atop his bone throne.

"I need time to think. If I decide no, I'll return the faith, don't worry." And with that, he exited Marank's Sanctum, and stepped into the space between domains, its soothing white tones lifting the ease of burden he had to endure from the domain of the god. HIs shoulders thanked whatever force weighed them down, as his gait regained its natural form from its hunched appearance, one could actually tell the divinity of his form, outside of the natural sensations one would get.

Ounder had a lot to think about, so he decided to slowly walk towards his domain instead of simply willing himself there. While being there was helpful and made him more comfortable, he felt that at least he had to be at least a bit uncomfortable to think this thing through. However, his musings were somewhat interrupted as he stumbled upon a specific place within that white space interspersed with those Spheres of Influence, where a certain voice penetrated his head.

"Could you quit it Naron?" Ounder addressed the voice staring into the open sp-

"I mean it Naron. I'm trying to think here. It's important."

".......This.....one.......knows, this is just doing what.....it's.....for."

"Well...if you're here, and I can actually hear you unlike usual with that appearing paper, I assume you have some advice to give?"

"......Law is calm......stagnation is......comfortable, but it is not.....exciting, not new. Not.....helpful.......One... would......suggest...letting them go, maybe make case to Justicia."

"...It's weird to hear you have an opinion. Something must be wrong."

"Not.......opinion.....simply what this....one......thought you might think up given your....proclivities..... Also, maybe because......"

"Because what?"

".....This one......does not....think.....it......should tell you specifics, but...there's been something that will occur. Something drastic that will spell the end of faith."

"The end of faith you say?"

"Souls will be destroyed. Completely. Traces gone"

"And you think....Dave, is the one to stop that?"

"He is untethered, thus not a part of the stream of possibilities. Only he could maybe change somethin----SDAnakkkhshhhhhhhhh..."

"Don't worry Naron. I know it hurts you to talk, or even express your opinions, just know that whatever it is that'll happen, I'll support them." Silence surrounded Ounder as he stared into the sky. The voice of Naron, God of History and Tellings, could no longer be heard, for Naron had been immediately returned to his rightful spot, writing the current events in painstaking detail upon his humble chair. He could, of course, take breaks with some manner of his consciousness splitting. However, at that moment in time, it had been split for far too long for doing something much too personal. So, pulling away from that domain, Ounder had begun walking back towards the unassuming sphere of influence, whose only tells were the symbols adorning them in Marank's own godscript. As Ounder walked up the shining steps towards the glowing hole-like entrance, and passed through the barrier into Marank's Sanctum, his mind could only form a whimper, like a pup's. For what he had in mind would require as much cunning as he could conjure, for one doesn't just cheat the Master of Monsters, especially when his own self had been cursed to go without wisdom in his decisions. So, with trepidation, he tread deeper and deeper. He could feel the Sanctum's influence press upon him as he returned, its slimy presence clinging to his fur.

"Marank, I've made up my mind." Whatever it was that Marank was doing upon his screen, up on his throne, was tactfully ignored, as he tore his gaze towards his guest.

"Well....what is it?" His smile gleamed, almost too wide, and one could almost see the red pooling inside of his mouth. If one were within the room, they could hear physically feel from the sound of the gnashing teeth upon the resident god's tongue, but it was of no consequence, as the answer drew his attention away from the brief respite of pain.

"I'm in."

Darkness seemed to cling to the stone of the passageway as we moved back into the caverns. I don't recall it being this dark before, but now, I might was well just plow ahead with my eyes closed. My only solace is the Kojo seems to be able to navigate and I keep my hand on his back as we move forward. Although, I'd never know if there was a hole or something. Thankfully, I can always look at my mapping skill to double check the path that we had taken earlier, and there were no holes then; so I can only hope that none have appeared in the meantime. Unfortunately, my mapping skill is also showing me a lot of red dots directly in the path ahead of us.

"Kojo", I whispered, a bit worried towards the possibility that more eye monster things were just floating out of reach. "You said that there weren't going to be any problems going back into the cave, right?"

"....Yes. Why?" I could feel Kojo's mossy hide against my hand. I squeezed it gently, keeping my eye on the slowly blinking lights upon the map/.

"Well, you know how I have magic with me? At least, I think it's magic anyway. Well, I think there's a lot of enemies ahead of us." At this, he stops, and I could almost see the swivel of his ears within the darkness, but I am not sure whether or not that is simply me hallucinating it.

"...Hearing?" I couldn't quite tell what he was asking. Maybe he was trying to make sure that I heard the same things he did. Besides the faint trickle of water further on, I can't quite...wait. Maybe I can.

"That's not really picking anything up. If I strain, I can barely hear-"

For reaching level 10 in Sharp Hearing, you have been given the choice to advance the skill, or choose another related one.

".....why? Why are you like this universe?" My please for something to at least make some modicum of sense returned. Why had I just jumped 3 levels in Sharp Hearing? Is it because of the environment? Taking away senses is known to heighten those that remain, but I didn't think it would be this much.

"What?" Kojo's exclamation reached my ears, and brought me out of the self-driven funk I'd given myself. Now's not the time for anything like that. Only when we are both safe and sound would it even be remotely time for that kind of thing. Plus, with the sounds I can now make out quite clearly...it's not going to be like that for awhile.

"Nothing buddy, don't worry about it too much. It's just me rambling. But....I think I can hear....fighting? I don't reall-" Kojo, without warning, springs forward, out of my grasp upon his back. I can hear the claw on stone as he sprints off, leaving me alone, fumbling along the path we had taken.

"Kojo! Where are yo-"

"Don't worry. I will return to you. I must make sure of something first. If it's nothing, you'll see me sooner, that much I promise." Kojo's loud bark-yell echoes around me, as its owner's source seems to fade away to a barely hearable scrap over the low rumbling din of howls and screams. And, as suddenly as it came, it's gone. Even with my max hearing skill, I can no longer hear Kojo anymore, which is strange considering I can hear the fighting. He might have his own stealth skill acting for this, or he's already there in the fight.

"...Goddamnit Kojo. You leave me here all alone. What if you get hurt, huh? What if I'm left alone again? Ever think about that!" He's gone though, and my words, no matter how angry and desperate they are, aren't going to reach him. With the echo of my last despairing shout dying away, I'm left alone in the dark. If I don't strain my hearing or activate my skill, I hear nothing except the sound of water dripping into puddles. For the first time since coming here, I feel the harsh grip of loneliness again. It had been able to set it aside, for a time, but like an old friend, it's crashed right through the window in my heart to steal out of the fridge of feelings.

So, with nothing else better to do, I walk forward. I could run, but there seems to be no need, I still can't see and running blind seems to be a sure path to injury, and Kojo promised he'd be back if it wasn't a problem. I guess while I'm walking I could deal with a couple issues. Just like Sharp Hearing, my Stealth had also reached its max at some point, given that the percentage can no longer go up, so now I have to decide whether or not to keep them or...yeah no. The choice is fairly obvious Dave, just fucking advance them.

You have chosen to advance Stealth to its next stage, Advanced Stealth.

You have chosen to advance Sharp Hearing to Keen Senses.

...Synergy found between Ability: Keen Senses and Ability: Survival Instincts

New Ability Formed: Precognition

...That's unexpected. Certainly good to have after all, but the description always helps, so I call it up....

Precognition: Lv1 [10/100 %]

Cost: (-/1 AP)

Your keen senses and survival instincts have linked to give you the ultimate edge in combat. Most warriors would kill for this skill, and some have. This skill will allow you to perceive attacks before they happen. With more levels in the skill, you can sense things earlier.

...That's neat. So...I have a spider-sense now? Cool. Probably helps a lot with other skills too. I am wondering why it has two costs listed, but I guess that's not too important right now...Walking in silence is kind of....No! Not thinking about that right now, just got to focus. Listen to the advice of the meditation. Focus on the movement of the body. Feel the pounding of feet against stone. Listen to the heart beating in time and the breath that flows through the body...Alright...Alright, I think I'm calm now. Just in time too, apparently, because I'm out of the darkness and back towards the familiar soft purple light.

I've made it back to the cavern where I ate that...fungus. Just don't think about how stupid I was, and I think I'll be fine here. Don't even consider the I can also see the glowing pillar that I woke up next to, which somehow feels like a long time ago. The pits around the cavern have grown silent, and I no longer hear the skittering that happened above my head. It is beginning to grow curiouser and curiouser...I will myself to look up, but...nothing. Not even a tiny centipede. Something's wrong here. When I was here before, the skittering was like a dull roar that undercut every other sound, even the ones coming from the pits...the pits. They're just...silent now. Everything's...completely quiet.

I can't even hear the sound of the battle that's further onward anymore. I don't know if that's just because I reset my hearing, or if that's just because the battle's over. I walk past the pillar, barely giving the glowing mushrooms there a thought, as I move past and walk along the bridge over the rocky chasm and head back into the tunnel I came from. As I get closer, I realize that, thankfully, the fighting hasn't stopped. I can hear the sound of howls, barks, yipes, and even....is that a yell? Maybe it was just the atmosphere of the cave that had changed. I shook my head trying not to dwell upon the freshly alien space as my hands begin to curl around my arms. Dealing with anxiety is not one of my strengths, and I fall to the floor, trembling and hugging myself. I need something, anything, to comfort myself. If only I had someone to talk to right now.

"You know, you could just walk away from this." I turn my ahead away from the floor to stare up. to the side of me stands a slightly transparent apparition. His appearance is much like mine, although I didn't really expect him to turn up here. Usually he shows up in my dreams or just in the mirror to talk to me sometimes. However, I do suppose that since I haven't taken my medication in a while, the symptoms were only ever going to worsen.

"Yeah..." He walks around me, before kneeling down to speak at face level, rather than talking down at me. It was the thing he was best at, was to appeal that he was at my level, even if I imagined he didn't think he was.

"With that new skill you have, unless anyone's actively searching for us, I doubt we'd even be noticed if we just snuck by the battle." He was right of course. Advanced Stealth seems like a much more important skill than its original counterpart, judging from its description. If I simply did not do anything to warrant attention, I would just not receive any. However...I'm just so tired of this...

"Sure..." He tilts his head, confused at the hesitation evident in my tone, even if my words agreed with his.

"So, why are you just standing there?" A little bit shocked, I noticed that I had managed to stop crouching on the floor. Somehow, he had managed to get me to stand up, when I just could not feel the need to. I still cannot feel the need to. And as I answer his question, something dawns on me.

"Because...Kojo might be in there." He stands back up and begins to laugh, most likely relishing within the irony of the current situation I had put myself into once again.

"The dog that you only care about for companionship? You know, if that yell you heard is from anything close to human, you can just leave him behind. Find actual companions now." I was a bit confused as to why he had decided to go the opposite direction of what he had sanctioned for before. Now he was more...cold than he was before, while I definitely was less.

"That's not fair to him." At this, his face loses all suggestion of happiness or joy, only showing anger and disgust. At myself, or my words, I simply could not tell.

"Was that fair to Beck?" The memory pains me as its brought back to the forefront of a mind, content to simply let it gather dust. Visions of a well-worn road, laughing, screaming, blood, and sirens. Those goddamn sirens.

"...That was a low blow subconscious." His eyes seem to glint off of the light, a trick he'd pulled plenty of times beforehand.

"Those are the only kind I have." He chuckled once more, as his face returned to joviality. He leans against the rock wall, giving credence towards the fact that he believed himself to have 'weight'. However, my new outlook on life had me changed from the person I had been back then. I couldn't run away again, even if I had wanted too.

"I'm going to go in there, aren't I?" He sighed to himself as he walked back towards the creeping darkness I had walked out from, and stared out towards it before turning back towards me.

"With how you've been acting lately, I wouldn't put it past you." He inspects his fingers, trying to find something in there that I simply could not figure out.

"Why are you even here then? Why are you actively trying to push me away from what I want to do?" He almost looks ashamed for a second before indignancy fills him up inside. Self-righteousness seeming to ebb and flow off of his non-material form.

"Believe it or not, I want what's best for us, and what's best for us in this situation, is to leave him behind. We don't know what's fighting down there. We don't know if it's as bad as Grendel, or as easy as a squirrel. With how the world is right now, I've thrown the delights of fancy out the window, and focused more on the pragmatic side of things. I die if you do, after all." His words ring a certain truth that I cannot argue with. If we were back on Earth, back in Cripple Creek, we could afford the luxuries of being nice. We could actually become a better person through a lot less danger towards us. Here, where physics seem to have taken a backturn, or at least hidden themselves from my purview, anything and everything could be dangerous enough to kill us. To end us. However...the past 15 years have changed me for the better, and my self-assuredness does not, and cannot fade.

"...You're right...but so am I." His face tilts a little, and the illusion almost dissipates in its entirety before it gains a shocking amount of clarity.

"...Fine. But don't say that I didn't warn you. By the way, I'd look down if I were you." I look down to what he mentioned, only to find that there is no longer a blue glow from my foot. It's completely healed now. Huh...strange. Usually, he only knows what I know. Is that an effect of me having double the will? Was he the one fixing my leg? I look up to find him gone with nary a trace of his existence. I shake my head. These are questions which I probably will never be able to answer. Now that I can see, and I've made up my mind to help Kojo or whoever else is in trouble, I start to actually walk through the caverns, only pausing to veer left or right through the winding tunnel. While I am travelling there's something that I need to take care of, that being concerns about my stat sheet.

As it stands, I've figured out everything regarding my regeneration. Thanks to my newly gained perfect recall, I can somewhat figure out how each of the regens work, with Strength, Wisdom, and Constitution being for HP, MP, and AP respectively. I also figured out why my max HP was not at the correct value before, as it seems like it takes the total amount of body parts that I have at the moment and divides them by the amount I should have. What this amounts to is roughly 6 body parts, that being my head, torso, and my arms and legs. If I lose any of them, the fraction is reduced from one, but it still makes me question on what would happen if I were to just lose my head. From how it seems to be calculated, my regeneration could end up becoming faster than anything that would cause constant ticking damage, like bleeding. However, at the moment I am far from that at this point in time. I also figured out my AP has something to do with my HP as well, basically being a conjoined value with my Strength, but as of yet, I do not know what is being used to calculate AP. My only inclination as to when I gained any more towards the max values for it is when I level up, but there are certain inconsistencies between when I get them. In other words, there's either no pattern to it, or I cannot see the logic behind it as of yet. However, my musings on my status sheet are brought out of the spotlight in my mind, when I hear something amidst the steadily louder screams, the chief among them being the most familiar, belonging to Kojo.

His was the only one that I was able to differentiate, and whether or not it was because of that still activated skill, I do not know. However, I know he is in pain, and I'll do my damnedest to not let another of my friends die on me. So, I bring myself to pump my legs more and more, becoming more and more exhausted. I push all the thoughts out of my mind, only focusing on the rhythmic pouding of my feet, the pain the feel, and the steadily lost purple light of the caverns. When I pass by a turn and join a familiar fork, I see it. The cavern that had noticeably grown brighter than I had remembered it being, and the wolves inside it, participating in something I had only ever heard of from my grandparents and history books. A battle.

Wolves are franticly biting, scratching, clawing, stretching. There are only four distinct individuals that I can tell apart within this mess of bodies. The first, who's in the center of it all, is Kojo. His moss is whipping about him like angry tentacles, grasping any wolf that comes close, and ripping it apart leaving my friend in blood, guts, and gore. Somehow, the blood seems to be absorbed by Kojo, as his moss almost seems to contain a dull red glow before it dissipates and begins heading towards his next target. The second, is a wolf with a scar across his jaw, which is the most distinguishing feature out of all of them, as it seems to crawl from his ear all the way to the bottom of his chin. If it was any deeper, I would think its face would fall of entirely. It seems to be leading the pack across the way, further towards where I woke up within this world. From the coordination that I can see, they're probably the leader of that pack I snuck through earlier, which would make them Kojo's former leader. They are currently fighting one on one with another wolf. I can't see much besides his face, because he's currently biting another wolf's neck. The third that I notice is...I don't know what it is. There's just something floating above all of them that's kind of...transparent. I can't quite tell what it is, as the form it has doesn't seem to be in the shape of anything familiar. The one thing that I can notice is its pulsating vessels, either filled with mana, judging from the swirling colors, or its just the thing's nerves. It doesn't seem to be doing anything much though within the fighting, which is noticeable in itself as almost everything within the cavern has to do with it, so I'll just head on towards the final thing that I can see. It's a person, and it's probably the closest to me.

Well, I call it a person, but I feel like there's something...off about it. It has the same general build as one, certainly the same features. It's got two legs, two arms, a head, a torso, all the bits for a standard person I'm used to. It's just...green. And it has pig ears on top of its head. So...this being a world filled with magic, it's probably an orc. It's a bit taller than me, probably by a couple feet, and it seems to be...commanding the enemy wolves. He hasn't even noticed me though. This is the perfect chance to find some form of civilization. Just...ignore the wolves, and...nah. Don't need to do that right now, do I? Kojo would walk to hell with me if he could...wouldn't he?

Now that I think about it, why did he start following me to begin with? Why did he help me? Why did he save me? I'm thankful, but...No. It's not good to doubt him. He's saved me multiple times in the past few days. Why shouldn't I give him the benefit of the doubt. Also...thinking about it, I doubt that the guy would be able to understand me. English isn't necessarily a universal language, and any of the Mandarin I do know won't matter at all. He'd probably just think that I was...a monster.

Alright, so, putting that dreary thought aside, what can I do? There's multiple combatants, and this seems more like a legit battle than the hunting skirmishes that I'm grown used to. Then again, I'm only used to hunting the one thing. The only experience I've had is fighting for my life with things trying to eat me, and there seems to be 20 times more combatants here then the few mind fucks I've tackled. Diplomacy also won't work, because I only know how wolfpseak is through Kojo and no one else, judging from their wordless cries, and I doubt that the orc will just stop because there's one person that doesn't like it. Wait...what's the first rule to any combat scenario? Always target the enemy commander. Thank you, Mr. Krep for your History of War class. So, how do I do it without anyone noticing?

Once I attack, I think that some wolves will notice and start attacking me. That is, if it's loud enough...Oh. Oh god. I think I know what I need to do. Just...decay his head at max power. God that will just...After this, I might throw up. Alright, so...[Advanced Stealth]. Only have about a few good seconds to pull this off. [Decaying Touch]. Grey mana flows over my hands, causing them to flake. Dead skin falls to the floor slowly as I sneak behind him.

Oh. He's stopped and...did his ear just twitch? Oh no. I think he noticed me. Fuck need to rush it. Dropping all pretense, and the advanced stealth, I rush forwards. I was only 10 feet away at that point. It all comes to a matter of reaction speed. If I'm faster than his muscles, then this fight is basically over. I rush forward, and time seems to slow, as my hands get closer to his head. Then they stopped. Around a blue barrier. And they're stuck in place. I try to move away to strike again, but the blue wave seems to cover over my entirety. I can't move my body at all. Shit. With that realization, the thing turns around in front of me, and I finally see it's face. Damn...it really is an orc. One that is looking at me with a pig-nosed sneer with tusks poking out of its mouth to almost spear its own head.