Chapter 24 I Take it Easy

“I saved you a bite,” Illia offered the last bit of her elephant ear to Crue as she walked up.

“You'll get fat eating all that junk,” he commented taking the offered treat. He didn't hesitate in shoving most of it in his mouth. He offered me the last bite, but I shook my head in refusal. It didn't take long for that bit to end up in his mouth as well.

“You'll get fat eating all those sweets,” she countered with a smile.

“You know I have an extra stomach for sweets.”

“So do cows and look how big they get,” she poked him in the ribs teasingly.

Part of me was glad I was left out of this little play. I was insecure about my weight as it was, and I'd been good in not binging on chocolate. Not that eating fried chicken was much better for the diet I wasn't really sticking too. I sighed.

“How are you feeling?” Crue came up to me and felt my forehead. Why did everyone think that was something they had to do to people? Well, he was a healer so I guess it was for medically valid reasons. Illia also got a pass, only because we were now friends. The more I thought about it, it's not like strangers would walk up and do this sort of thing. You only did it to people you felt comfortable with. That gave me the warm fuzzies, they were such kind people.

“I'm feeling fine. I don't know if it was the extra sleep, the powder you gave me, or a combination of both, but I'm really feeling fine.”

“That's good, the powder was just some fever reducer and some anti-nausea medication, so it was probably the extra rest. I was worried you were coming down with a cold. Are you sure you are ok?”

“I thought so too, maybe even the beginnings of the flu the way my body was feeling. Honestly though, I really feel fine.”

“Well, we'll take it easier today. I was thinking of heading west near the lake. That sound good?”

The lake was to the northwest of the town, but we wouldn't' be able to go all the way there in a few short hours. We would just be able to explore the woods to the south of the lake. There had been some wolves in the area yesterday. Since we were on the eastern side of the town yesterday, we never got to them.

Illia made a short stop at a stand in the square to get some fried pumpkin. Then we were on our way to the northwestern part of the forest.

So much for taking it easy. We had barely made our way a half mile into the woods before we were attacked by a pair of Red Wolves. It was alarming how close they were to the town and to the farms further south.

Crue planned on teaching us tracking again today, so had me keep the map off. The appearance of the wolves so close changed his mind.

“Eri, I need an accurate count of how many are in this 5-mile radius.”

I opened my map and checked. Most of the area he requested was taken by the town, but he had a good reason to be asking.

“There are five headed our way following the wall coming from the north,” I reported. “There is another one further west and south of us near the road, but I think someone else is taking care of it.” There had been two blue dots alongside the hostile Red Wolf dot.

“This is bad, even I know there shouldn't be this many so close to town,” Illia readied her staff and prepared for the fight. “Should we head back to the Guild and tell them?” She asked.

“We'll take care of these five, then check to see if those other people need help. We can send them into town to warn the Guild.

“Ready, here they come, follow the formation.” Crue dropped into an attack stance.

This time Crue had me back to back with him. Illia was still on long ranged attacks. Crue could handle two wolves on his own, but if asked to do five he probably wouldn't come out of it unharmed.

A thought occurred to me, we had been planning on allocating the extra Exp at dinner tonight, but right now we needed a little extra firepower.

“Illia I'm allocating some of your Exp to Lightning Magic and Static Shock.”

“Right,” Illia confirmed not taking her eyes away from the direction of the incoming threat.

I began pumping her Exp into leveling up both skills. I used the Exp she'd gained in helping kill the two previous wolves as well. When they both finally leveled up she was left with only 35 Exp.

“Crue?” I asked the question. Good thing he understood me.

“Sword skills, don't care which ones,” he said.

I sent Exp into Skull Bashing, Slicing, and Slash, I didn't think there was enough left to level up Basic Sword so I dumped most of the rest into Martial Arts. The remaining hundred or so Exp went to Basic Sword. Even if it didn't level up it might help some.

This was no time to be hoarding Exp. I leveled my Basic Sword up to level 4 and Skull Bashing to level 3. I brought my Martial Arts up to level 3 and made Stance and Smooth Movement both level 2.

I still had some Exp left, but I had run out of time to allocate it. The wolves came bursting out of the woods. They weren't trying to be subtle or stalk us. They came at us full tilt, a hundred pounds of pure malice each. Two split off and went for Illia. The other three attacked us.

“Shit,” Crue swore.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the sparks of Illia's magic. I just had to trust that she could handle it. I had my hands full.

The first wolf dove in, and I brought my sword down. I missed but managed to knock it off balance enough for my follow through to slice its foreleg.

*Skill Gain- Slicing~

Dammit not now, I didn't need the distraction.

Another wolf came in going for my ankles. I brought my sword down on its head. This time I connected with the first jab. I was able to stab through the wolf's neck. Pulling my sword back out was a bit harder since it was caught on something inside.

*Skill Gain- Piercing~

Hell, and damn. The first wolf was up again and I was still trying to pull my sword out. It also went for my ankles. I had to kick at it to prevent it from biting me. I made contact in its face, just a glancing blow, but enough to buy time to get my sword free.

It came again and just as I was turning to face it Crue was there sweeping his sword in a wide arc, cutting the side of its neck wide open. I jumped out of the way as its momentum kept it moving towards me.

Illia had been able to incapacitate one wolf but was fighting off the other wolf by smacking it with her staff if it got too close. There was something to be said about smashing somethings skull in with a large stick. She got an excellent blow in that sent the attacking wolf flying 4 feet backward.

Crue and I got to her just in time for it to recover.

“Get the one on the ground, I've got this,” Crue ordered.

He was right. Illia had been able to stun the other wolf, but it was still alive and trying to get back up. I ran over to that one and sliced at its neck like Crue did. I had to do it twice to get a deep enough cut for my satisfaction. While I wasn't looking Crue had dispatched the last wolf.

*Illia- Level Up~

*Crue- Level Up~

*You have leveled up please check your status~

Wait that was only four. Then I spotted the fifth wolf not far away from where we first started. Crue must have killed that one, then turned to help me with the other. Decent teamwork. I wasn't sure how parties usually worked, but we all came out of this with no injuries. So that was a good sign.

“Anyone injured?” Crue asked.

“My leg got a bit scratched up, but nothing major,” Illia told him. Crue immediately knelt and began to heal her, even though it was a minor injury we weren't done today.

“I'm fine,” I commented quickly going around and collecting the wolves. We didn't have time to let them bleed out today.

“The other wolf?” Crue asked from his position next to Illia.

I glanced at my map to check.

“Still alive, so are the two people fighting it.”

“We should hurry, if they haven't killed it at this point they probably aren't likely to do so without getting hurt.”

“I'm good,” Illia announced as Crue looked up at her.

“Then let's run,” Crue led the way through the woods. I only gave him some minor directions.

We came out behind the wolf attacking the young couple. Illia was the first to attack, hitting it with a shower of sparks. Crue followed up with a slice along the neck. My job was to catch the girl as she collapsed after seeing the shower of sparks.

She was hurt, her dress was torn and her arms were shredded. I immediately thought of all those wounds closing up. I brought us both down so I was cradling her in one arm and working my other hand up and down her wounded body. I wasn't being a pervert, I was trying to heal her.

The scratches and scrapes were healing just fine, but the deeper puncture wounds weren't really budging. I allocated my new Exp into Healing Hands bringing it to level 2. There we go, the puncture wounds were starting to close up.

I imagined the skin knitting together, the cells bonding, any sort of infection being killed. Go away germs, go away, I mentally recited the old hand washing song from my childhood. The girl had passed out, and I wasn't trained enough to check for internal wounds. So once I had her patched up I looked around for Crue.

He was healing someone familiar. Henry, lay on his back breathing heavily. He was looking my way. Gasping for breath. He looked even worse than the girl. I was glad Crue had taken him. I didn't think I would have been able to fix that. Crue was doing something a bit different from me. His hands weren't glowing yellow like mine but were a shade of very pale blue. His glow had been yellow with Illia. Was Henry so hurt that the color changed? That's when I recalled Crue's skill list. He was probably using his other healing skill, Healing Waters.

“I think she's OK, but when Crue is done he should look at her,” I told him. Relief flooded his face, and tears squeezed out of his closed eyes.

“He's still alive, but he's badly hurt,” Illia said from behind me. I craned my neck around to look. Tick lay there, he wasn't moving, his fur was coated in blood.

“Take her,” I said to Illia and we switched places. I did what I could to stop the bleeding and close up the wounds, but Tick still wasn't moving. He was still breathing, but not moving. His neck had been savaged. I focused as hard as I could trying to picture the anatomy of a dog. Imagining tendons knitting, clear airways, and lungs. I ran my hands over his blood-soaked fur over and over. I even pictured little red blood cells flowing in and out of his pumping heart. I tried, I really did. I just hoped it would be enough.

When I opened my eyes after focusing, I looked back at one large brown eye. Tick was awake and conscious, though still hurt enough he didn't try and move. He whined briefly at me and nudged my hand with his nose. I activated the skill again imaging some of the pain going away. I didn't want it all gone, because I didn't want the dog to get up and re-injure himself on accident. Tick let out a sigh and closed his eye again. Good boy, you're safe.

“The girl will be fine, she'll wake up soon. The boy will be OK as well, with a little time to rest. How is the dog?”

“This is the first time I've done this. I tried, but I just don't know enough to fix this completely.” I nodded to Tick. Crue understood what I meant and he gave it a shot with his blue magic.

“You did a good job considering this is the first time you've used the skill. The girl was well taken care of. I only had to fix some torn ligaments and some busted blood vessels.

“To be honest though, even I'm out of my element with animals. The fundamentals are the same, so he should live. I think he needs to be taken to Zyanthis' Temple to have our work double-checked.”

“Hear that Henry, you are all gonna live,” I call to him.

“Nice, to know,” he muttered throwing his arm over his eyes.

I stood up and went over to him. Then I knelt and glanced about, looking for his sheep.

“Henry, where are your sheep?” They weren't around as far as I could tell. Did the Red Wolf scare them off?

“Cousin's watching them. Polly and I were just goin' around visiting the neighbors with the announcements. We're getting married next spring.”

“Congratulations! I'm happy for you,” I told him sincerely.

“I was walking her back to town when the wolf attacked. Tick bought some time for us to get out our knives,” he pointed to the short bloody blade laying beside him in the grass.

“He's a good dog, you'll have to take him to the temple just to be safe.”

“I know,” he pushed himself up into a sitting position and scooted over to where his fiancé lay.

Illia had been proving Polly's head with support using her lap, but Henry moved to take her place. He began petting the girl's straight black hair. It was short and framed her narrow face rather well. As he brushed it back it started to accumulate static and it stuck to Henry's shirt.

Polly woke up after a few more minutes, and in time she was able to move around. They both agreed to inform the guards at the gate about the problem. They also would stop by the Guild and give them the message from Crue. Then they would go to the temple. Tick seemed fine but he couldn't seem to walk just then, so Henry decided to carry him all the way.

“Are there any more in the area?” Crue got right to the point as the couple left down the road.

I checked the immediate area and the path the pair were taking. Then selected Red Wolves from my toggle options and saw the map light up like Christmas.

“They should be fine, but there are a lot of wolves further west. Some to the north, but only a few to the east and south near the farms.”

“The guard will canvas the farms. Their first duty is to keep the populace safe. The Guild will send out an emergency summons. Adventurers will be combing the woods near the town. They won't turn down the chance for the extra money a Red Wolf will bring in.”

“Extra Money?” I interrupted him.

“When the population of a monster becomes too dangerous, the Guild puts out an emergency summons. Any Guild member who brings in the targeted monster gets an even higher bonus than if it were a normal quest.”

“I see,” I did see, but I felt like the adventurers had been a bit lazy if the population had gotten this bad. Well, I guess it was Crue's job to warn them it was getting worse. It was my job now too, but I had a thought.

“Where are they coming from? We were out yesterday and there wasn't near as many. They had to have come from somewhere.”

“My guess is that they are being driven south-west from the mountains. Why, I can't tell you, but we need to find out.” He went over to a patch of dirt road and drew a circle with his knife.

“This is the town,” he pointed to the circle. “Above it, we have forests and caves,” he drew little stick trees and little upside-down Cs. “Further north are the Yellow Mountains,” he drew large triangles.

“You said the east looked ok?” he asked me glancing up to confirm.

“There is a handful, but not as many as to the west.”

Crue nodded and drew more stick trees to the west of the circle, then to the north-west of that he drew a more blobby looking circle.

“The lake and the woods in between,” he pointed at each figure. “How many wolves are in this area?” He pointed to the woods in between the town and the lake. I began counting dots.

“32, but most of them are around here.” I pointed to the spot that was sort of the mid-point between where the caves began in the north and where the woods were between the town and the lake.

“How many there?” Crue asked.

“It's a bit out of my range for precise counting, but I would estimate at least twice as many.”

“There has to be something herding them south. Do you see anything on the map?”

I opened the screen for generalized monsters, not just Red Wolves. Then I had to exclude Green Apes from the list because they were everywhere.

“There are a few Cave Bears, Nurrgals, Silky Spiders, and it looks like there is a colony of Death Bees...” I trailed off. What was this brown spot? Most monsters were either green or red. I hadn't seen brown before.

“Did you find something?” Illia asked.

“I don't know...” I tried tapping on the dot hoping some information would be forthcoming.

*Unknown Monster- Monster is not recognized proceed with caution.~

“The map doesn't know what it is,” I told Crue. He already understood that any information I came across in my books automatically updated my database. So he could guess what was in the north wasn't common enough to be mentioned in my reading.

“Is your map only able to see things outside, or can it see things in the caves?” Illia asked.

“Good question,” commented Crue and looked to me for an answer.

I hadn't thought of things being able to 'hide' from the map. Though that brown marker and all those wolves hadn't been there yesterday. I probably would have spotted that many. I checked the map closer. How did I explain this to someone who wasn't familiar with the concept of computers?

“Honestly, I don't know. The map centers around me,” I used Crue's method and drew a dot in the dirt. “The range of my map only encompasses the Crystal Kingdom,” I made a large blobby outline of the kingdom. I had to shuffle around a bit on my hunches to make the scale big enough for my satisfaction. “We are here, near the eastern border, so I can't see anything over here,” I tapped the border and the area next to the Crystal Kingdom. “I'd understand if all these monsters were coming from that direction, but they're not.” I poked a bunch of holes in the dirt to the northwest.

“So the mountains aren't part of your map?” Illia asked.

“Yes and no, the border along the mountains isn't as well defined as the one to the east. So I can see some of them not all. That's not my point, though...

“The closer the area is to me, the center, the more details I am able to get from the surrounding area. Let's say I can see details about this far in my radius,” I drew a circle around my dot in the dirt. It covered most of the surrounding area but didn't touch the little dots I'd made to show the incoming wolves. “It's about ten miles out and I get precise details about what is in this area. The further out I have to look...” I drew another circle this time it covered the wolves and part of the lake and the side edge of the cave system. “I lose some of that detail. Weaker monsters like the Green Apes show up in consolidated clusters if there are more than ten in the area. Individual, non-hostile monsters won't show at all. I'm still able to set individual counts for hostile monsters within this range.”

I drew another third circle and it covered a large portion of the cave system plus the base of the closest mountain. I made a big dot where the unknown monster was. “This is the unknown monster,” I said pointing at the big dot. “The Red Wolves start consolidating in this area.” I pointed to the third outer ring then moved and pointed to the second ring. “Just like the apes do in this second area.”

“Now monsters like Cave Bears I can still see individually since they are stronger. Death Bees I can see where their nest is.

“Nurggals, and I think this gets to the point of your question Illia, I see them both as individual and as consolidated. The individual ones are obviously outside the caves. The consolidated ones are clustered around the entrances of the caves.”

“What does that mean?” She asked.

“I think I might be able to 'see',” I did air quotes around the word, “a little bit into the opening of the cave, but I don't think I'm getting any information of the monsters inside the caves.”

“So this unknown monster was probably hiding in the cave system until recently?” She asked.

“That is likely,” I agreed.

“So the further out you have to look, at the weaker monsters drop off your map, but the stronger monsters stay, is that correct?” Crue asked moving his hand over the rings I had drawn.

“That's a good summary,” I agreed.

“So we can estimate that strength of this unknown monster by how far out on your map you can see it. We know it's at least as strong as a cave bear.”

“Yes, but it could be stronger.”

“Yes, if it came from the caves. If it wandered into your third ring from the mountains or from somewhere out in this area.” I pointed to an area where I would have a fourth or fifth ring if I had kept drawing them. “It's possible that the unknown monster is too weak to pick up this far out, but since it has gotten closer to you, you are now able to see it on the map. So if it came in from here,” he pointed to that area again, “and moved in, that might be why it's only now showing up on your map.”

“That is a possibility,” I agreed. He was right. If it had been further out and had wandered into my range later I might not have picked it up yesterday.

“We can also guess that whatever it is, it's strong enough and scary enough to be driving the Red Wolves south,” he said.

“How strong would something have to be to drive the Red Wolves south?” Illia asked.

“It's just the Red Wolves, it's not any of the other monsters. So something that hunts Red Wolves?” I guessed.

“Which doesn't make much sense. It should be driving the Green Apes south too at the very least. Most everything else in that area can live in the cave system,” he sighed.

“So what do we do?” Illia asked.

“I think we should go back to town. Eri and I will have to camp overnight to get to this area and I don't have the gear for that with me,” he told her.

“Just us?” I asked.

“Illia isn't strong enough, no offense,” he offered her.

“None taken, but I don't think you two should be taking on this thing by yourselves,” she told him.

“I wasn't planning on taking it on. I think we need to assess the situation first. If we can determine what it is then we can come back and get a group at the Guild that is tailored to take it out.”

“Right, so let's split up our responsibilities for when we get back to town. Eri will go to the Guild to tell Dunbar what is happening. I will go to the guard offices and tell them the same, they need to have a heads up as well. You will go to the temple and gather up the stuff you need before you head out. Sound good?” Illia had come up with a good plan, so we both agreed.

“Then let's go. Any wolves we have to worry about on the way back?” Crue asked.

“There's one to the south about a quarter mile, we should probably get that one before it harasses some poor farmer.”

“Alright,” Crue agreed.

We all took off a light jog. We weren't sprinting like we had to reach Henry, but the running still seemed like a good idea considering the urgency.

“You know, we were very stupid yesterday,” Illia huffed as she jogged. How was is she was able to talk and run at the same time?

“How so?” Crue asked. Here was another abnormal runner. I swear I was the only one that had to maintain my breathing as I ran.

“It just occurred to me that I could 'top up' my MP,” she said.

“Whaaa,” I sort of gasped out. Damn. I looked like an idiot.

“The Party Piercing holds MP,” she tapped her stomach where her piercing would be. We had told her that was what it was called since I couldn't tell her that I was a Succuba. “If any of us would have thought of it you could have used the MP you have stored in your piercing and you probably wouldn't have gotten so sick.”

I stumbled in my run. My arms went akimbo and Crue had to steady me so I didn't fall on my face. It was just a side consideration for him, he didn't even look at me as he did it. He was giving Illia a look like 'Oh, well shit.'

“I hadn't thought of it,” he said.

Neither had I. I'd sort of forgotten that I could do it. We had told Illia it was possible, but since I hadn't actually been feeding MP into the Succuba Star it never occurred to me to try to take MP out. Leave it to her to utilize something so useful so quickly.

“Noo,” huff huff, “mmmP,” huff huff. This talking and running thing was damned hard.

“You don't have any MP in it?” She asked. She looked at me as if she were a disappointed mother.

“To be fair, other than the first time I got it, I haven't been filling mine up either,” said Crue.

“Well, you should both do it tonight before you go to bed. You might need the extra MP in the morning when you find whatever it is out there.”

“I agree, we've both been lacking about it,” he nodded.

“Omfff,” I agreed.

“You really need to work on your stamina Eri,” Illia commented. Ouch. That hit me right in the pride. No one wanted to be criticized for being wimpy by a pretty girl. Especially since on paper my stamina and agility were both higher than hers. My body just needed time to play catch up to my stats. That's it I was sticking to that diet this time. No more putting it off, no more high-calorie stews, no more fried food, no sweets I was going to really do it. Damn it, so much for taking things easy.

Name- Eri Veritas

HP 2789/2800

MP 43/85

Level- 12

Age- 18

Race/Species- (Human) Unknown

Gender- (Male) Unknown

Occupation- Surveyor of Adventurers Guild

Exp- 2384

Physical Power- 229

Stamina- 288

Defense- 364

Agility- 501

Intelligence- 103

Magic Power- 8

Metal Rain Lv 1

Lightning Magic Lv 1

Healing Hands Lv 2

Paralysis Resistance Lv 3

Mind Magic Resistance Lv 1

Skills

Staff Fighting Lv 2

Basic Sword Lv 4

Skull Bashing Lv 3

Martial Arts Lv 3

Stance Lv 2

Smooth Movement Lv 2

Archery Lv 1

Spear Lv 1

Stalking Lv 1

Scouting Lv 1

Jumping Lv 1

Running Lv 2

Pain Tolerance Lv 3

Deception Lv 2

Intimidation Lv 1

Poker Face Lv 1

Etiquette Lv 3

Dismantling Lv 1

Appraisal Lv 1

Cooking Lv 1

Leather Work Lv 1

Metal Work Lv 1

Replication Lv 1 (Lv 10 for Succuba Star only)

Rock Throwing

Slicing

Piercing

Dancing

Singing

Harvesting

Empathy

Telekinesis

Small Talk

Discretion

Party Tricks

Restraint

Alcohol Tolerance

Monster Biology

Entomology

Zoology

Botany

Special Skills

Abyss Walker

Racial Ability-

Hidden Among the Masses- 20

Stealth- 95

Party- 10

Items Equip

Inventory Bracelet

Succuba Star

Gold- 1g 4s 09c (1409c)

Blessing 1- All Map Exploration

Blessing 2- Exp Points Required by Level Up / Current Level

Blessing 3-Exp Increase X Current Level

Blessing 4- Item- Gamer Glasses

Titles- Emissary of Amoris

Devotee of Amoris

Devotee of Edomael

Oracle of Amoris

Oracle of Edomael

Prince of Dreams

Grateful Petitioner

Lover of Leaves

Enemy of Apes

Name- Crue

HP 4734/4734

MP 993/1845

Level- 29

Age-20

Human

Male

Occupation- Priest of Amoris, Surveyor of Adventurers Guild

Exp- 2250

Physical Power- 343

Stamina- 332

Defense- 217

Agility- 396

Intelligence- 232

Magic Power- 196

Water Magic Lv 4

Healing Waters Lv 3

Bubble Bomb Lv 1

Liquid Bullet Lv 1

Healing Hands Lv 1

Poison Resistance Lv 1

Skills

Basic Sword Lv 4

Skull Bashing Lv 2

Slicing Lv 3

Slash Lv 2

Martial Arts Lv 4

Stance Lv 2

Grappling Lv 1

Smooth Movement Lv 2

Blocking Lv 2

Archery Lv 4

Shooting Lv 1

Aim Lv 2

Sniping Lv 2

Stalking Lv 2

Jumping Lv 1

Running Lv 2

Scouting Lv 4

Eyes of the Hawk Lv 2

Distant View Lv 1

Telescopy Lv 1

Trap Detection Lv 2

Empathy Lv 2

Therapy Lv 1

Etiquette Lv 2

Discretion Lv 1

Mediation Lv 1

Organization Lv 1

Dismantling Lv 3

Alchemy Lv 2

Pharmacology Lv 2

Scribe Lv 1

Special Skills

Sexual Healing- 223

Items Equip

Succuba Star

Titles- Priest of Amoris

Devotee of Amoris

Oracle of Amoris

Dedicated Runner

Name- Illia Cloverheart

HP 1609/1645

MP 78/132

Level- 10

Age- 19

Race/Species- Zyanthrope- Rabbit

Gender- Female

Occupation- Yellow Springs Assistant Librarian

Exp- 1135

Physical Power- 135

Stamina- 174

Defense- 108

Agility- 226

Intelligence- 254

Magic Power- 216

Lightning Magic Lv 3

Static Shock Lv 2

Earth Magic Lv 1

Unsteady Ground Lv 1

Skills

Staff Fighting Lv 1

Skull Bashing Lv 1

Basic Knife Lv 1

Blade Work Lv 1

Archery Lv 1

Jumping Lv 3

Running Lv 2

Enhanced Hearing Lv 2

Trap Detection Lv 1

Etiquette Lv 2

Appraisal Lv 2

Scribe Lv 3

Teaching Lv 1

Cooking Lv 2

Leatherwork Lv 1

Woodwork Lv 1

Sewing Lv 1

Knitting Lv 2

Special Skills

Fertility

Beloved in the Forest

Item Equip

Party Piercing (Succuba Star)

Lightning Staff (low quality)

Titles- Devotee of Zyanthis

Cloverheart's Hope

Sheltered Child

Lover of Books

Prolific Knitter

Teacher of Children