Part Thirty-Seven

“So, they’re all Spirits?”

“Sorta? Analyze said those things were half-Spirit, half-Undead, so I don’t know if they really count as Spirits or not, but they certainly had the word ‘Dread’ in their names. I’d assume that means they’re connected.”

“Okay, but I don’t see how that means the shadow was a Dread Spirit. Why exactly do you think that?”

“It’s ‘cause my familiar reminds me of it. I’m certain that the shadow was a fully grown Dread Spirit, though I don’t have any proof. Though, it would mean that a few other things lined up as well.”

“Like?”

“Well for starters, there was all that Miasma back in Bournemouth. Dread Spirits are born from Miasma, and feed off of it to get stronger. Add in the fact that there were Undead there, and that those Thralls were half-Undead, and it paints a pretty clear picture. It’s highly likely that what we witnessed before was the process by which the shadow makes its Thralls.”

“Hm, it does make sense, and yet, I just can’t accept it. If all that is true, why did it attack us now after letting us go once? It makes no sense.”

“Yeah, that’s the part I can’t figure out. Those Thralls came from somewhere. The shadow had to have sent them after us, that’s not being questioned. But why now? It’s been nearly two weeks since then, why would it just pop up again after all this time?”

“Maybe we killed too many monsters? If all those towns with signs of Undead were places where it was producing the Thralls, it may have taken offense to us hunting so many of its materials.”

“But then, why not attack us personally? Why would it take such a roundabout method? Based on the fact that it talked to me, I would think it’s as intelligent as a human, if not moreso. I just…I feel like the more we know about this, the more questions we have.”

“Perhaps this is simply beyond our understanding? We should simply be glad we survived.”

“Maybe, maybe. But I can’t help but feel frustrated by this. I hate losing, and this feels too much like losing to me.”

After escaping the horde of Thralls, we’d decided to put a good distance between us and them. From this point on, until we were to be picked up, the idea was to not stay in any particular town for more than a few hours. Staying in one place too long could just invite another attack from the shadow. It was now clearly hostile towards us, so avoiding it for the time being was probably the best thing for us.

As such, we were heading more southwest than we’d originally planned, and at this point, we were probably about two hours from Exeter, not that we intended on going there. We’d learned our lesson about large cities. Smaller towns were better for hunting here, though I didn’t know why. It hadn’t been that way before, so I couldn’t tell what was up with that.

It is kind of weird. Even when the three of us stopped by Pittsburgh, it wasn’t any more overrun than anywhere else we’d been. But here, all the larger cities seem to be warzones. If Bristol was like that, then I’d hate to see what’s happened to London. And since that’s where the shadow is based in, I’d imagine that the city's crawling with Undead. Yep, this ain’t your run-of-the-mill apocalypse, is it?

“Is Kalia still asleep?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. She’s been out of it since we got away from the Thralls. How she’s sleeping in the truck bed I don’t know, but I’m afraid to wake her. If she’s this tired, I don’t want to detract from her rest.”

“Then let her sleep. It’s not like anything will happen right now.” uh-oh, I just jinxed myself again.

I glanced out the back window at Gwyn. He’d opened the rear window to talk to us while keeping an eye on Kalia. It kinda made me feel bad for him since it must’ve been chilly out there. And yet he didn’t complain at all. Maybe I’d switch with him in a few minutes. I was getting tired of driving, and apparently neither Alicia or Gwen knew how. Alicia I could understand, but Gwen? She was older than me, if only by a few years. Then again, maybe she just hadn’t needed to learn, not that it was all that hard.

Hehe, apocalypse driving lessons. Heheheheh, would that be like something you see in Mad Max? Or would it be closer to those Twisted Metal games? Wait, was that what they were called? I never played them, so I can’t really remember-. Wait, what the fuck!?

“Uh, where’s Regis?”

“””Huh!?”””

I’d just noticed that I hadn’t heard a rather particular sound in a while, so I’d looked around to see if he was sleeping, but I couldn’t find him. And based off the way the others reacted, they hadn’t seen him either.

“…Don’t tell me we left him behind…”

“I, uh, I think we might have. Uh, well on the bright side, I won’t need twenty pounds of jerky every day.”

“Michael, that’s a horrible thing to say! I thought he was supposed to be your friend, so why are you being so mean behind his back?” wait, is that? Oh, that little piece of…

“Sounds about right if ya ask me. That little fox was pretty gluttonous. Hell, I even caught him trying to sneak some of my food.”

“Huh. Now that you mention it, I caught him doing the same thing. Was he really a bad fox?”

“Well, he was probably a monster, so maybe? But at the end of the day, he was one of us. I just wonder if he’s alright, or if the Thralls caught him.”

“…You’re being awfully blasé about this. I thought you’d be at least a little upset that he could be dead.”

“Mn, ordinarily I would, but I happen to know he’s fine.”

“Eh? How?”

“Because he’s under your seat, looking like he’s trying to figure out how to steal some of your food.”

“KUUUU!? …Ku, kuuuu~?” you’re in trouble now, fox.

“”Wait, he was here the whole time!?””

“How’d you two do that? But yeah, he was probably there the whole time. I’m pretty sure he was playing a prank on us, but he got hungry so it failed.”

“K-ku?”

“…Hey Michael, can I throw him out the window?”

“Kuu!? Kyuuuu~!”

The second Regis heard Alicia’s threat, he came out from under the seat and climbed up into my lap to start begging for help. But unfortunately, none would be found.

“No, this is your mess to deal with. You pissed her off, so you can calm her back down again.”

“Kuuhuhuhuuuuu.”

And now there’s a teary-eyed fox clinging to me. Yep, just a normal day in what my life has become. I think I’ll hide how upset I was until I noticed him, though. I don’t want him to get a big head.

Alicia tore Regis away from me, and began lecturing him on proper conduct. This sight was actually kind of adorable, though I wasn’t sure what good it would do. After all, Regis was probably a monster. No, he most definitely is a monster. The fact that I’d seen him pop out of a shadow was proof enough for me. The only reason I hadn’t freaked out about it was because I’d kind of expected it by this point. And that Analyze still wasn’t reacting to him.

He’s probably some odd thing that doesn’t make sense to us, but is perfectly natural. At the very least, I don’t think he’s dangerous. He’s practically saved my life a few times now, and I doubt a monster would do that. A Spirit might, but a monster? I mean, can any of them think beyond their next meal? They seem pretty dumb to me. Like their instincts have taken over so much that they can’t reason-.

“WAAAAHHHHH!!! Sto-Stop the car!”

Just as I was about to mention someone switching with me, Kalia abruptly woke up and began screaming about stopping the car. Now, as someone who doesn’t enjoy being yelled at, my first instinct was to yell back and ignore her, but it just so happened that a chill went down my spine at the exact same second she yelled, so you better believe that I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could. Which is pretty damn hard.

And it was a good thing too, as a glowing, ethereal projectile flew right in front of the truck. If I hadn’t stopped, it would’ve struck us. I’d learn later that the projectile had been a kind of Mental Magic that fired a mass of sheer energy, which not only blasted the target with immense force, but also ripped away at their minds. It was unoriginally known as [Mind Destruction].

What the fuck!? Ah, magic! Damnit! I didn’t feel any mana from that! We need to get out of here!

Unfortunately, our attackers wouldn’t allow that. Arrows began to fall before I could do anything, and I heard the distinctive sound of a tire bursting. Also, an arrow came in through the window and caught me in the arm, sinking in deep, almost to the bone.

“Gah, get out of the truck! We’ll have to kill whatever it is.”

More arrows followed the first salvo, though most merely struck the metal and bounced away. But a few found there way to the windshield. If we stayed in here for too long, we’d all get caught, not to mention Kalia and Gwyn. Though on second thought, they’d already gotten out of the truck bed.

“Did anyone see what we’re dealing with? It’s too dark for me to make them out, even with Accuracy.”

“No, all I can say is that they’re probably Demi-Humans. If they’re able to launch such coordinated ambushes, then they have to be pretty disciplined too. Not at all like the rabble we’re used to. This’ll be a tough fight.”

“Hm, Alicia. Think you can light things up for us?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I can do that, heheh.” Please don’t become a pyromaniac. I don’t want to have that on my conscience too.

The second Alicia had realized what I was getting at, the most manic grin came over her as she nocked the arrow. I was a bit worried that she was going down a rather slippery slope, but I couldn’t worry about that now.

“M-m-m-Michael, let m-me heal your a-arm.”

“Uh, Kalia? Are you okay. I’ve never heard you stutter so hard before.”

“I-I’m fine. Just a b-bit shaken up.”

“…Okay, then let’s settle this. When you’re ready Alicia.”

“Got it! Bombs away~!” Yeah, it might be too late by now.

The [Fireball] infused arrow sailed through the sky, arcing beautifully to land amidst the thicket of trees across the road from us. Surprisingly, I heard a squeal of pain before the spell went off, turning the thicket into an inferno. Just as I thought that may have wrapped it up, a voice called out from amidst the flames.

“Do you really think such a paltry attack will enough to save you? Mortals can be so naïve.”

The voice, which sounded like nails on a chalkboard, was definitely looking down on us, a fact I didn’t appreciate. Also, the fact that I could understand it meant that this was no ordinary foe. I’d never heard a monster outside of a Dungeon speak in in way I could understand. So this was a pretty big deal to me.

“Submit mortals, and give unto the Lord.”

“Okay, this guy sounds like some kind of religious kook. Alicia, light him up again would ya?”

“Sure thing. I’m not submitting to anyone.”

A second Fireball soon bloomed amidst the trees, and the fire soon revealed what exactly we were up against. A large number of figures of various sizes stood around what appeared to be a blue-skinned humanoid with strangely hollow eyes. What was odd was that the other figures were all monsters I recognized, but their eyes had disappeared, becoming hollow pits. A bad feeling filled the pit of my stomach, and Analyze confirmed it.

Phantasm Puppet

Rank: D

Description: A once living thing, now hollow and lifeless. This is all that remains of a Phantasm's victim, a lifeless shell that completely obeys its killer. Unfortunately, said shell possesses all the power its former occupant possessed, making it a potentially dangerous enemy.

***

Phantasm Squire

Rank: C

Description: An Evolved Phantasm in service to a Phantasm Lord. Squires possess the ability to transform the shells left behind by their feeding into Puppets, allowing them to create armies to serve their master's aims. In addition to this, Squires also posses some degree of skill with swordplay and Mental Magic, making them fearsome foes.

Shit. Not again.