The two men headed out, one went towards the outskirts of the village to fight off the Rath'een army while the other visited each building within the village to check if there were any signs of Rath'een infiltration. As John searched each building, he heard a scream nearby. Could there be a monster attack? He looked around, straining his ears for the location of the screams. They were coming from Gibbons's House! John unsheathed his weapons and rushed over to the house. When he got there, the young man almost retched. What lay before his eyes was old man Gibbons - the last known surviving member of the Gibbons family, his body torn apart as innards poured out. A fresh blood trail led from the body to the house.

John carefully approached the house and found that the door was open. The blood trail led inside. The young man pushed open the door, wincing at the creaking sounds that the old door made. He paused for a moment and scanned his surroundings...no movements. Raising his weapons in a defensive stance, John entered the house. He carefully checked the living room and the kitchen...nothing so far. Next, he walked towards the pantry. Suddenly, he heard a rustling behind him. With well trained reflexes, John turned towards the sound and thrust his sword forwards. This sharp attack was known as Piercing Strike - one of the skills he had learned from Daedalus. The attack pierced through the Rath'een's side, dealing forty-two damage and dropping the monster's health by almost half.

However, unexpectedly, the weakened rat was somehow able to unleash a counterattack. With a chomp, it left a bleeding mark on John's arm, plummeting his health by thirty-four. Though the damage wasn't severe compared to his 250 total health points, it was still painful. Out of anger, John kicked the Rath'een back and knocked it onto the ground. Without giving it any time to recover, the young warrior rushed forward and chopped with his sword. The sword connected with the rat-like creature's shoulder, cutting deep into its body for thirty-two damage. Then, as a follow-up, John slashed the Rath'een's throat with his dagger doing a thirteen critical hit. Blood squirted out from both wounds as the Rath'een grabbed its throat in an attempt to close the wound and prevent any leakage. It staggered a couple of times but did not fall down. Tough little bastard. John raised his sword up once more and beheaded the Rath'een, its head flew up and tumbled onto the ground some distance away. As the corpse collapsed, the young man bent over and rummaged through the corpse's belongings. Lucky! He had found sixty silver coins.

John glanced at his injured leg and noticed that the bite was shallow. He reached into his bag and grabbed some bandages, water, and alcohol. He poured the water onto the wound to wash away the blood and filth. Next, he poured the alcohol onto the wound to disinfect it. Finally, he wrapped the bandages around his injury. After tightening the knot, he tested his leg. Good...some light discomfort but that's all. This injury won't impede him as he searched for more Rath'een. After patching himself up, John continued to search the first floor. Suddenly, he heard a loud crash and a piercing shriek followed by some shuffling upstairs. There was another person here! John rushed up immediately and headed towards the noise. He kicked open the door and saw a Rath'een trying to rape a girl.

The Rath'een before him looked different from the one he killed downstairs. This one, though a level two as well, stood at three feet tall with a beefier body. It was a Rath'een Brawler! This Rath'een had on a broken, leather chest armor with wrist wraps and ankle bandages. A long bandana was tied to its head which offered little protection. When it heard John enter, it quickly pulled up its green pants and raised its guard up. The young girl had fainted on the ground, her clothes ripped. Anger swelled up in John's heart and he unleashed that anger through a fierce Piercing Strike towards the enemy. The sword pierced through, dealing forty-two damage. As he pulled back his sword, the Rath'een Brawler howled in pain and fury and swiped at him with his claws. Five scratch marks appeared on John's sword arm.

John sliced up with his old dagger, causing a shallow wound to appear on the Rath'een's face. As the brawler grabbed his face in pain, the young warrior slashed with his sword, cutting through bone and nearly splitting the Rath'een Brawler in half from shoulder to waist. However, he did not stop there. With a spin, he brought the sword down once more and completely split the monster in half. The Rath'een Brawler keeled over, the two pieces completely separated from each other as blood and bile escaped from the wounds. John kicked the corpse a bit and used his foot to lift aside the Rath'een's clothes. A glint of silver caused John to reach over and rummage through the clothes. As he withdrew from the clothes, his hand was holding a small pouch. He glanced inside and weighed the bag in his hand. About ninety silver...nice!

After killing the two Rath'een warriors, John ignored the collapsed girl and continued searching the area. He did not want to be ambushed while taking care of the girl. Once he had checked that there was no more Rath'een scum inside the house, he made his way back to the girl. When he reached the room, he saw that the girl was awake. The young girl was in her late teens or early twenties. She was staring blankly at the Rath'een corpse, her arms gathering what was left of her clothes. The young girl screamed and scrambled to a corner when she saw John walking in. John held up his hands to show that he did not mean any harm.

"Calm down lady...I don't mean you any harm. My name is John. Tell me, what is your name?"

The young girl stared at him a few more times before shakily mumbled her name, "Ellen...."

"Ellen, that's a nice name." John replied as he crouched down so that they saw each other eye-to-eye. "Why are you here? How are you related to old man Gibbons?"

"Grandpappy? You know Grandpappy? Where is he?" Ellen's eyes lit up when John asked her about old man Gibbons, which made what John was about to say next much harder.

"That.... I'm sorry."

Seeing John shake his head and sigh, Ellen figured out what had happened. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she began to softly sob. Ellen didn't understand why this had happened. She just wanted to visit her grandpappy who she only saw a few times. They were happily living together these past few days...but now, this happened. Why? Why? Why? John reached over slowly and patted Ellen's head. He reached into his bag and pulled out a shirt and a pair of pants and gave it to Ellen. He told her that he will check the perimeter of the house to see if there was any more Rath'een intruders around and that she should quickly get dressed and meet him outside. John told her that he will take her to see someone who will take care of her.

Once he got her to agree, John stood up and left the house. He walked around the perimeter of the house and searched for any clues of possible Rath'een infiltration. Luckily, there wasn't. He found the hole where the two Rath'een warriors had emerged from and covered it up. As he was just finishing with his patrol, he heard some soft footsteps behind him. He reeled around and pointed his sword at the source. It turned out to be Ellen. She shrank in fright at the sight of his sword. Realizing the situation, John retracted the sword and muttered a word of apology. Then, he led Miss Ellen to Mucky Duck Inn and asked Miss Colette to help her out. After finishing the business with Ellen, John continued to look around for any more Rath'een intruders. As he made his way north, he noticed that a man was running towards him from a distance. Upon closer look, John realized that it was the smithy. The young warrior rushed out to meet the middle-aged man.

"Hold! What seems to be the problem?" John called out.

"M-Monsters! They have taken over my forge! I managed to escape. Please help!" The smithy pleaded when he saw John's equipment and guessed that he was a warrior.

"Fine, lead the way."

John and the smithy rushed back to the forge. Upon reaching the location, John was able to see a Rath'een through the open door. The young Shadow Walker held his hand up and gestured for the smithy to wait outside while he took a look inside. Then, he unsheathed his sword and dagger and tiptoed in. Step by step he edged closer to the Rath'een, who was digging through some supplies.

SHIING!

John's dagger pierced through the air, creating a sharp sound, and made its way towards the Rath'een's head. He hoped for an instant kill. However, fate decided otherwise. Just then, the rat-like creature bent down to grab something causing John's dagger to miss. The Rath'een felt the air fluctuate above him and instinctively rolled forward. It spun around and hissed at the young warrior as if it was rude of him to attack without warning. Because John had anticipated a direct hit, he had unleashed his full force on the dagger attack. Having missed, the momentum of the attack caused the young man to stumble. This was a mistake due to inexperience and it cost him the first attack. The Rath'een jumped forward onto his arm and bit it. John winced at the pain, but luckily most of the damage was absorbed by the handwraps. He fiercely shook his arm and flung the rat-like monster off of him.

John pierced his sword and unleashed a deadly Piercing Strike that penetrated through the Rath'een. His opponent gasped in pain and collapsed onto the ground. The body twitched a little before stopping. Whew! Killed it! John walked towards the body and bent down to search its clothes for anything useful. Suddenly, the Rath'een opened its eyes and pounced on top of John, who reflexively raised his right arm to block. The Rath'een bit onto the arm as if its life depended on it. The young man roared in anger and pushed the rat-like creature into a wall, causing it loosened its bite. With its mouth open in agony, John struck with his steel sword and split the little bastard's head in half.

John wiped his brow and noticed the pouch in his hand. He had taken it from the Rath'een but wasn't able to notice it due to the sudden attack. He looked through the contents and saw that there were only three pieces of silver. Wow! What a poor scamp! Maybe there's more RICHER Rath'een elsewhere in the forge. However, just as he was about to search the forge, a roar exploded out from behind him. John turned around and saw a Rath'een Brawler bending over the Rath'een he just killed. It was...crying? Could they have been friends? Family? When the Rath'een Brawler saw him, it roared once more and wildly charged at him. On reflex, John brought up his sword and defended himself. He thrust the sword forward and dealt a forty-four damage Piercing Strike into the monster's shoulder. The width of his sword was slightly larger than the monster's shoulder and with the Piercing Strike, the young man sliced off the Rath'een Brawler's arm.

The rat-like monster reeled back in pain as it grabbed its bloodied stump. John rushed towards the Rath'een Brawler and slashed with his sword, a deep wound appeared on its chest. As it staggered back a couple of steps, a dagger appeared out of nowhere and pierced its right eye. The Rath'een Brawler shrieked in fury and sharply twisted its body. Its long, powerful tail flew past it and slammed itself into John's body. The strong Tail Whip from the monster knocked the wind out of John, causing him to lose his grip on the dagger and sending him flying into a chair. John spat out a mouthful of blood and quickly checked his health points...ugh! That last attack did forty-two damage. Good thing he still had about fifty percent left. John struggled to his feet and cautiously looked at the enemy. Lady Luck must be on his side. The Rath'een Brawler laid on the ground, barely breathing. It seemed the last attack used up all of his strength. John walked up to the monster and raised the steel sword up with both hands.

THUNK!

The steel sword beheaded the Rath'een Brawler and embedded itself slightly into the ground. John reached over and pulled his dagger out of the corpse's head. After wiping the blood away, he glanced around and searched for any other Rath'een invaders. When there weren't any more, he sheathed his dagger and walked back to the Rath'een Brawler. He bent down and inspected the body, looting it of its material possessions. There were a little over a hundred pieces of silver. Adding the coins to his ever-expanding money bag, John retrieved his sword and stepped out of the forge.

"I-Is it done?" The smithy asked as he saw John walk towards him.

"Yes. I couldn't find the hole that the little bastards crawled out of though. If you do, just fill it up." John nodded.

"Okay. Thank you so much!"

"No problem."

John waved the smithy farewell and proceeded to search the other buildings for any Rath'een intrusions. Along the way, he conducted some simple disinfection and bandaging. After he finished searching the village once, he headed back to the Training Hall. As he approached the Training Hall, he saw Daedalus outside with a bag over his shoulder.

"How's your patrolling? I see you're all scratched up, did you kill any Rath'een scum?" Daedalus waved at John as soon as he saw the young Shadow Walker.

"Yes sir. I've killed a couple of Rath'eens and Rath'een Brawlers. What about the situation outside?"

"Good job on clearing out those Rath'een bastards, John. As for the situation outside, it's getting worse. Though we managed to take out several groups of Rath'een warriors, there were still more groups than one can count. In addition, we had lost a couple of people. Did anyone die here?"

"Yes...."

"What? What happened?"

"Old man Gibbons...when I got there, he was already...." John responded, "But I was able to save his granddaughter."

"Old man Gibbons died eh?" Daedalus sighed. "That's regrettable. At least you saved his granddaughter. When this is over, I'll make sure to give him and the others a proper burial."

"But well done John. You managed to fight off a couple of Rath'een intruders and gained some valuable experience. Congratulations. You even leveled up."

"Thank you sir." John saluted. It was true that he had leveled up. He realized it while he was bandaging himself. His health had also increased significantly

"Here's five gold coins. You should go to the Glenfort Temple and buy an elixir. Though the Temple's elixirs may cost gold coins, they will bestow you incredible benefits. Go buy one quickly and return here as quickly as you can."

"Thank you sir. What will you do next?"

"I don't know young lad. The way those groups of Rath'een bastards were moving...I will not deign to imagine that they have a plan beyond pure destruction. These advances do seem to indicate greater leadership in the ranks. Before the situation gets any worse, I'm going to gather help from the adventurers."