An hour or so later we reached the third pocket and it had more kobolds, 6 to be exact.

God damn it can’t it be something less human-like?

Leo blasts through the middle as always, I take the left, and Nona takes the right.

The rhythm game was simple enough, a couple lines and beats; I could finish this without having to use any mana…

I finished the Impact incantation I held in my mouth before Leo’s charge, and went it in.

The closest kobold saw my charge and responded with its own, it outstretched its left arm hoping to grasp for a part of my body to restrain me and beat me down.

It was fast too, but all I needed to do was follow the golden lines and not get hit, I dashed to its right side facing the right arm of its body holding the club.

Yeah this is a good spot; it isn’t in a position where it can swing its fastest or strongest towards my direction. It possible that he could rotate and use the centrifugal force to backhand me, but shifting from a sprint to a spin will take a moment to position its feet, and that moment is all I need.

The kobold slams its heel down and turns, still using its left hand in hopes to stop my movement, but that entire motion also took a moment, my dagger had already reached the golden beat. Originally the golden beat was a spot around its armpit, but after it turned the area was right where its heart was.

Impact.

To comprehend an incantation of any style, first one has to memorize the words by heart. The next step is to know how the flow of mana should go, for the elementary Impact one just has to lead their mana to their weapon, simple enough, but practice is needed so that one can do this as fluidly as taking a shit. The final part is interpreting the incantation, one’s interpretation will empower the mana in the sword to take on the properties of the intended incantation, or it’ll be a dud and you’d have wasted you mana like you wasted your money buying the lottery. Anyway the basic is to empathize with the incantation some way and understand its meaning, simple enough for an adult like me. What I got was a dude living their last day and they want to shine and make it so that their life had a lasting impact, therefore they destroyed mountain and made their very own landmark for the world to see. And two arms mean they only had two strikes simple enough. The reason why kids don’t get it early is because they really don’t understand the concept of death or desire yet, but I don’t really know.

Apparently Leo has deeper understanding of the incantation; his interpretation was that the person in it didn’t just want to live eternally though their work, it was that he wanted to make that whole mountain range his, marking his territory I guess. That’s some really alpha shit right there, taking up that much real estate is going to drive up price in the area! Anyway it’s not my interpretation even if I can comprehend it, I can’t feel it in my gut to bankrupt the government. But I guess it’s more what the person intended, seeing how strong Leo is whenever he uses it, but still even if the incantation is twice or trice as effective, he’s still a monster with his innate strength.

Either way I don’t need that much power, just enough to beat the opponent.

The kobold flew, there was no resistance, no recoil, no feeling. I guess that my arm strength is a bit stronger, or maybe it’s because last time I used this the opponent was a Kobold Leader, or maybe it’s the new Varvara empowered dagger I have, but anyway there’s no resistance like last time.

The kobold I just killed flew, and then it hit the one behind it, which makes things much simpler.

It was staggered from the impact of its dead ally, so I didn’t even need to use the rhythm game I just went in and stabbed right where its heart was.

Impact.

That kobold flew too, the ones on my side were dead, can’t even feel happy, I guess I’m relieved that I’m alive but that’s it.

I looked over to my right and Nona was done fighting too.

…Yeah I’m a pussy, but that feeling of invading another living thing with metal is disgusting I don’t want to feel that again.

We wiped out another group, probably the in-laws of the last guys we killed, but can’t think too much about that it’s bad for the health.

We went into the pocket and found some more shiny stuff, polished rock, coins, pieces of glass, and other stuff that makes one go “pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny.”

We found a small gauntlet and gave it to Nona, since she was our strongest line of defense we gave it to her to keep our front line standing even if just for a second more.

…

We continued on in this fashion for the next couple of hours keeping a steady pace, looking ahead for the next pocket so we could get the initiative.

Move forward, scout a head, spot a pocket, get ourselves ready, lure them out, attack, win, take the loot, and rest to recover mana, rinse and repeat.

Well since I’m in a think-a-tive mood right now I might as well go over the concept of mana too.

Most people in this world are sponges, mana is the water inside our sponges, the sponge can only hold a finite amount of water, and to clean the dishes people have to learn how to most efficiently. A battle starts with one sponge full of water, it hard to recover mana in battle, so most swordsmen learn to use their sponge efficiently in conjunction to their water. After the battle though it just takes a bit of time to catch their breath and go back into battle, with a sponge full of water again.

Mages on the other hand are like hoses; they just shoot tons of high pressure water at the dishes and soak em until they’re clean. Also mages and swordsmen are exclusive, since mages have so much mana most can’t control it when they try to channel an incantation. I remember Tall bro giving us a lecture about a desperate mage who was cornered and tried to use an elementary incantation -- the end result was that he blew off both his arms on recoil.

So in summary swordsmen are sponges that use the best use of their sponge to clean their dishes, while mages are hoses that just wash everything off with excess water. I’m an awesome teacher right! Give me my PHD I’ll start giving lectures right now, and getting laid with all my students. *sigh* killing is such a downer.

Anyways 10 pockets later, and the back line still hasn’t seen any work.

We found more shiny shit and coins, and some misc. pieces of equipment, most were too big so we just threw it on the sled. The only other things of use we found we some knifes; I got them since I’m the only one who can use them with the Revolution style.

Whelp it’s been 13 pockets and the sun is starting to go down, the party agreed to do one more pocket and then call it a day.

…

This is pretty weird, normally the distance form one pocket to the next isn’t that far, but we’ve been walking for over an hour now.

The sun had already gone down and visibility was 3 or 4 meters, and that was only thanks to the moonlight.

“Stop.”

A small, but harsh voice came from behind us – it was Kurara.

She and the brothers had already taken off the rope that tied them to the sled and started charging their wands with magic, Yegor took out his sword and went up to us.

“A Big one is coming.”

She casted an elementary fire spell and 20 wisps of flame line both sides of the path, each a meter from each other, providing viability for meters.

Everyone had started to get into the agreed on formation in case of Big one: Yegor, Nona, and I took Vanguard; Leo took Mid-guard and was already chanting; Nona and Yefim were watching the battle field waiting for any changes.

I don’t know how Kurara knows, but there’s a silent agreement in the party that everyone is hiding something, and we’ll just sweep this incident under that rug too. All that matters is that we can trust Kurara’s judgement.

A Howl.

“GIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIIIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Fuck, that's one hell of a howl.

Kurara manipulated one of the farthest wisps to move forward.

One meter…

Two meters….

Three meters...

Four meters…

Five meters…

Six meters…

Seven meters…

Eight meters…

Nine meters…

Ten meters…

Eleven meters…

Twelv… THERE IT IS.

It’s a huge fucking quadruped, it has giant ass antlers, two sets of them like scissors on each side of its head, it’s fucking reindeer.

Fuckin hell, it ate the wisp, and started charging, I can hear it, It’s fucking loud. Fuck(I need new curse words) that thing was like 2 meters tall and god knows how long. Holy shit can we stand a charge form that thing?!

It’s entered the 10 meter range we can see it now, ETA 2 seconds.

Me and Yegor charged the giant reindeer with elementary Impact incantations cladding our swords, our job is to throw it off and give Nona the initiative to lock down its advance.

Fuck that thing is fast.

We jumped and slashed forward, if we held our ground against that charge, we’d become Evil can Evil # 2 and 3, breaking our legs and every other bone in our body.

Impact.

Crack.

Fuck! I whited out of a second there, wait where the hell am I?

Aghghhh my arm I hurts!!! My arm aghhgh!!!!!!!!!!

Fuck this hurts, this fucking hurts AGHGH.

Hahahahahha, Ok calm down hyperventilating is only going to make things worse.

I bit my lip hard, I can taste the metallic flavor as if I just a licked a rusty hammer.

Ok what’s the situation?

Yegor’s been blown 4 meters to my right, after taking the thing head on we were blown off.

Yefim is currently casting a heal on Yegor, ok I’m after him, holy shit this hurts so much, I’m not going to look at it, looking at it is only going to make things worse.

Nona is in melee with the thing, good, we threw the thing off enough to the point where it lost most it’s momentum.

Nona has two swords, right now one is sheathed, and she’s using both hands to manage the sword entangled in the things antlers. Her intermediate Suppression incantation works like a debuff, as long as her sword is in contact with the enemy the enemy’s movements are dulled and her own movement is and perceptions are increased. Tthe reindeer lifts its hoof and tries to stomp at Nona, but she unsheathes her second sword and attacks the upraised leg, it backs off and Nona presses on.

So far so good, during this whole exchange Kurara peppers the bastard with quick shots of fireballs. The smell of cooked flesh permeates the air, but the reindeer doesn’t look too hampered, I hope that the fireballs are doing something.

Leo is keeping an eye on the situation, in the best case scenario Nona will hold the thing off and hopefully Nona’s DPS will chip away at its life until it dies. If Leo just jumps in rashly he might get hurt or throw Nona off, so he just observing waiting for his cue. If Nona gets into a bad situation Leo’s job is to tip the scale back.

Nona continues her dance with the reindeer, but loses her footing a rock, and is forced to retreat; the reindeer takes this chance and charges her. Leo comes in from its side and swipes.

CLANG!

“GIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIIIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Sparks fly, the reindeer screams in pain, Leo get blown off just like us earlier, the reindeer’s antlers on its left side were broken to pieces. Leo’s arm is shivering, but it still in a decent shape, unlike whatever I’m like right now, hey Yefim can I get some healing too?

Nope Priority goes to Leo, well of course our formation relies on him, I’m just going to wait here with my god forsaken arm. Hurry the hell up this hurts!!!!

Nona has the advantage now and is pushing the reindeer, and Kurara’s constant peppering is starting to shows its effects, the reindeer has lost a lot of its previous vigor and flinches every time it gets hit.

Finally Yefim starts to heal me.

“Fucking took you long enough”

He just gives me a smile and goes

“Sorry, sorry, priority you know, don’t blame me.”

“Yeah, Yeah.”

Alright, I feel like a 10 dollar bill now, not in the best condition, but I’m able again.

Right arm ½ check, left arm ¾ check, let’s go back in.

I held the my dagger in my hands and faced the Reindeer about to go back in, but the second I looked at it, my head was assaulted him lines, and lines, and beats, and drags, and spins, and holy fucking shit the difficulty of my rhythm game went from easy, to insane.

I can barely see shit now, I close my left eye.

And now the lines are transparent but holy shit, I wouldn’t even know where to start if I wanted to kill this thing using my rhythm game.

Yegor and I stand in wait, when Nona pushes the thing one more time we’ll go in and slash away at it with the left over hit of the last impact incantation.

Nona continues, keeping the reindeer at bay with both arms on her sword entangled in its antlers, keeping it still while Kurara keeps on shooting the thing down. It was getting pissed off and attacked Nona again, she repeated the dance and unsheathed her other sword aimed for the joint connecting its leg to its body. It was really piss off, but still backed off.

Now.

We rush in, and Nona lets us pass her and hit the torso body thing whatever biology term you use to say the body of a quadruped.

Impact, Recoil.

Shit I cut deep, and felt a few bones breaking, but I couldn’t cut further than that, Yegor looks the same and our swords are stuck in this hunk of junk.

“GIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIIIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Boom tossed aside like rag dolls.

…

I don’t know what happened after that but I think the battle was over by the time I came to.

“GIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIIIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHH“GIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIIIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“GIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIIIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHIIHAHHIHIHIHHHII……………………………………………………………………………………..”

Apparently Leo dealt the finishing blow after it was distracted with us.

We got ourselves healed up, we took the antlers and burned the body (Zombies are scary, common sense 101 burn the dead or they become zombies due to mana or some shit) after that we dragged our tired bodies to Reindeer’s pocket.

And our loot for that mini-boss battle…. Nada. I guess when you’re a quadruped you don’t really carry stuff around with you, what a letdown.

And thus we treated ourselves to a nice camp fire and shit soup. It tasted…. Ehh I’d give it a 2 out of 4 stars, it’s ok, I’ve had worse.

…

On night shift today is me and Nona. Sitting next to the campfire situated near the mouth of the pocket, we had a bit of soup to keep us awake.

Nona started talking to me in the fire lit darkness.

“Was this your first time killing another living being?”

I couldn’t get any intonation from her voice, just a coolness that didn’t let any emotion out.

“Not my first time killing, something, but my first time feeling that I killed something, I guess…”

Was what I replied to her.

“I see, if you feel troubled tell us, you can’t keep silent the fact whether or not you can keep going. If you don’t tell us something may happen, if you tell us then we can plan for it, understand?”

Wow how cool and logical, I can feel my self swooning over how cool she is. But yeah I can’t let the group be in danger because I can’t keep up or something like that.

“…”

I didn’t know what to say.

“It’s ok, you’ll get used to it, just don’t think about it, know that if you don’t kill them that will all die because we have already angered them, and they will not let us go.”

“Ok”

“Good, thank you for listening”

Huh, she thanked me for listening to her, what’s up with that, isn’t this supposed to be something like a parent lecturing her son or something?

Wait is she treating me like an equal human being? Holy shit this is a moment to frame, I DID IT MOMMMY GET THE CAMERA!!!! I’ve actually communicated with another human being without being a snarky piece of shit!

…

We continued the night talking about battle, how to coordinate better, and where to find left overs, and what to do with it. It was a good night.

Author's notes: Grammar point-outs, missing words, and the such are always welcome and encouraged, I feel like a 3$ bill IRL so yeah not that good, so I don't trust my proofreading right now.