CHAPTER 17: The Words ‘Best Friend’ Become Redefined...
I woke up the next morning to Arthur nudging my chin with his nose and following it up with a sneaky lick to the cheek.
I wiped my face and had a nice stretch.
The forge was already roaring, I walked over to greet the boys.
Jared saw me get up and dropped his hammer to meet me halfway. Without any warning the boy embraced me in a tight hug.
“Thanks bruh. I don’t think we said it enough yesterday.”
“Hi. It’s all good, uh, no worries.” Eli was at the bench behind Jared, he looked up to see the awkward expression on my face as I patted the boys back.
Eli walked over to save me, slapping both of us on the back then tugged at Jared’s shoulder.
“Nah, you saved my no, our lives bruh. Seriously.”
“Alright, you’re making him all awkward and shit,” Eli said chuckling.
“Ha, Oh, you can tell?” After sharing a laugh I looked back to Jared, “It’s nothing though, any decent person would have done the same. How’s the forge, how are the nails coming along?”
Jared ran back to the side of the work bench, quickly returning with a box loaded with nails, “Check it out! We made this bunch yesterday.”
I looked over the nails, they were much better quality than I anticipated, “These look great, Good job.”
“Come check this.” Eli said walking me over to the bench.
He held up little steel arrow tips, explaining how Roger gave him the measurements and asked the 2 boys to make a bunch. The one finished arrow he showed me was extremely sharp. I grabbed a finished arrowhead and stored it in my inventory to read the description and I was flabbergasted by what I read.
Steel Arrowhead of the Fam – 1 – Weapon Crafting Material – Rare – +17 Piercing Damage, 10% Bleed Chance—Handcrafted by two bros: Slay Fam.
I removed the arrowhead, more confused than ever about this system.
Anger started building on my face then Jared spoke, “Sorry bruh, we should have asked you before making anything else.”
I took a deep breath to cool my head when I realized what he said, “No you’re fine! Do whatever you guys want with the materials here, it’s nothing you did. Have you tried examining the item? It’s like the system thinks this is a fucking joke. I think the arrowheads came out amazing, they’re a rare item. Actually, after seeing this I’m hoping you’ll help me make a couple items later.”
“No, I didn’t know the system registered items we made, I thought it was just monster items or whatever.” Eli said grabbing the arrow and staring at it.
Jared pulled my attention by striking the anvil as I spoke, “Yeah, neither did I... I thought it would show as a crafting material, I didn’t expect it to say all that.”
I looked back to Eli, his face was filled with confusion and fear. He handed the arrow to Jared.
Jared’s was just as perplexed. He turned to Eli, “So... is it listening to us? How the fuck bruh?”
“I don’t know... It has to be right?” Eli asked.
“What are you two getting at?” I asked.
Eli explained, “When we were making the arrowhead, we were joking about what the system would call them, if they had a name. Jared said it would be something like steel arrowhead of the fam.”
Jared followed up, “Then he said, Slay Fam.”
“What the shit? That’s new.” I thought about the possibilities, “Everyone thinks this is the Rapture or some sort of religious thing... It’s not that I’m against religion but some of the shit we’ve all seen makes me think differently. I don’t know, they did say hell would come to Earth. Regardless—you guys will be safe here.”
They looked at each other unsure what to say, it was clear they indeed thought this was the rapture.
I refuse to believe this is the end of time.
It’s not the last days of man.
This is a war though, we just don’t know all of our enemies yet.
Jared went back to the forge to finish the current batch of nails. I told Eli my plans to leave tomorrow morning and where I would be heading. He thought Jared would be bummed but understanding. I still had to do some crafting, they both agreed on a time to help me get started.
I walked out to see the same woman cooking breakfast for everyone. She had some left over small beast meat that looked to be dehydrated via smoke. Next to the fire, she had a smoker made out of scrap metal.
I popped over to talk with the cook, Arthur tailed me.
She offered us a ton of food but all I wanted was some of that jerky looking stuff. She gave us a decent amount of meat but I knew we didn’t have that much to go around so I put some of it back.
Arthur wasn’t one to turn down food but after a scolding look he capitulated, taking only what he needed and leaving the rest.
The cook was Sheryl, she didn’t have any family in the area but one of her friends who was a waitress at her restaurant was here with her, I think her name was Bobbi. It was nice to know that not everyone was completely alone.
I scooted back to the barn and grabbed a pencil and a small piece of wood that I used to make a list of items to scavenge for. A notebook or just paper being the first item on the list.
We continued through camp stopping to greet everyone. There was a group of women who were taking care of the bulk of young children and babies. I spoke with them for a while and realized we needed a ton of shit. We finished going around to all f the shelters and realized we hadn’t seen Roger anywhere.
Once finished with the list we returned to the barn to make sure we didn’t somehow pass Roger unknowingly.
I grabbed one of the gloves at the worktable that I saw Roger wearing the previous night and stored it. We walked around the meadow once more to be safe then went up the hill to find Mina meditating.
She was sitting lotus as we approached, “Hey, sorry to bother. Uh, have you seen Roger this morning? Older guy, scrawny, faded out Cubbies hat.”
Without moving or opening her eyes she responded, “I know Roger, we talked about him last night. But No, I haven’t seen him. I’ll be heading out later today so I just wanted to say… Thank you for the help yesterday. This thing you’re building here, it’s special.”
Awkwardly standing above her I said, “Right, we did… I’m not building anything. Well, I did build shelters for the women and children, but, I’m not building anything, uh, metaphorically. Me and Arthur are leaving for Southern Vermont tomorrow. I just wanted to make sure they were set here before heading out. I couldn’t leave all of these women and children without anywhere to lay their heads at night.”
There was a long pause then Mina spoke, “I see, that’s very kind. Good lu—“
I accidentally interrupted her, “Would you want to travel with us? Safety in numbers and all that. We just need the day to get supplies for the women and children, then we can leave tomorrow morning. How far South do you have to go?”
“I need to go much further than that. My father works in Quantico.” She said.
“Virginia… Damn, that is far.”
“Yeah, he’s a Warrant Officer at the base, trains marines. If anyone knows what’s going on in the world and could answer questions, he would know where to start.”
“When we aren’t fighting the human eating monsters we can train, but I respect whatever you decide to do and won’t push it.” I knew Arthur and I would be fine by ourselves. I just think it’s smarter to travel with a group. Especially after what we’ve seen.
She looked visibly upset as she stopped her meditation, “I’m sorry. I wish I could, but... I just can’t.”
“That’s fine, really! Don’t sweat it, just be safe and remember the forms I showed you.” I joked trying to lighten her spirit. “Do you need anything for your trip or have any requests? We’re running into town after I find Roger.”
“Hmm… I guess if you can find any... Beef jerky? But don’t go out of your way, and thanks again.”
“If you want jerky, run down to the fire pit next to the barn. One of the women is a chef, I gave her some meat that she smoked overnight with some sort of marinade. It’s out of this world! I’ll keep my eyes open while I’m out though! Let us know before you leave so we can make sure you’re well supplied!” I reached out my hand to shake hers then we left so she could meditate.
I removed the glove from my inventory and held it out to Arthur, “I know you’re not trained for this but you are a dog... Plus, you understand complete English now, sooo. Can you smell Roger on this glove and follow his scent?”
Arthur sniffed at the glove, after a moment he looked to the woods past camp and gave me a single bark to let me know he caught the scent.
“Good boy. Let’s try this tracking thing then!”
We picked up the pace reaching the bottom of the hill then crossing through camp with a few good morning pleasantries to some kids who were playing tag in the field. As we jogged Arthur sniffed the air then turned his head to the ground, each time correcting our trajectory and seeming to take less time to adjust.
We moved through the heavy brush and dense forest with relative ease, without our increased stats it would have taken forever to get through or around everything.
I took note of the new alien plant life growing, odd trees that looked like Pine but were as big as a redwood. A vibrant medley of flowers sprouted from vines that ascended the trees. Glowing mushrooms straight out of a fantasy landscape littered the forest floor. Even the moss was different, appearing a deep aqua color at first glance, it seemed to crawl up the giant trees toward the sky, if either of us moved too close the color shifted to a light turquoise and we moved away, just in case.
If the world wasn’t in disrepair, I would love to just hang out by a random river and try to learn about all of these new wondrous plants, but for now, it’s a far off dream.
It wasn’t long until Arthur signaled to stop, I could tell something was wrong as he backed away and ducked down, so I followed suit.
After a moment I heard footsteps moving our direction. Then I heard Roger scream.
“VOLDRIX! SHOW YOURSELF HARMONIZER!” His voice was full of false determination, fear and something else.
It sounded wrong, like he had a filter on his voice or extra vocal chords laid over each other that created…
Dissonance.
With my Intelligence stat making the act of remembering things I’ve learned much easier, I knew the dissonance I heard was an augmented fourth, also known as the devil’s interval. It’s a Tritone that spans 3 whole tones.
There has to be more to this.
I slowly rose as Roger walked past, he was a few yards away. I could tell something was wrong with his eyes as he walked by. He didn’t look like himself.
Arthur stayed low to the ground, ready to strike as he crept in the tall brush to my right. I signaled Arthur to stay then stepped into the open.
“Hey Roger,” I spoke softly so I didn’t spook him.
“No! Stay away!” He turned around and screamed as he loosed the arrow from his bow, then reached back to grab another from his quiver.
Arthur pounced to decapitate the man.
I yelled to stop him but my voice was choked off and raspy, “Arth-NO!”
The arrow struck me right above my clavicle and went straight through my neck.
I closed the short distance between us, cutting off Arthur before he killed him and stopping Roger before he could nock another arrow.
I reached out, grasping the older man on the side of each arm, pressing them still to his side. He tried to move but the 32 stat points newly assigned made the act impossible.
I fought through the pain and blood in my throat to yell, “Rog-er! H-ey! S-nap out f it! Y-ou’re safe!”
I watched as he fought with this ailment, it clearly effected his head and he was in the middle of a hallucination.
He muttered something about harmonizing and something called Voldrix as his eyes cleared and he came back to reality, staring at my neck.
“What the—What happened to… Shit kid, hold still you’ll be okay.” Roger said, confusion turning to clarity as he realized what he did and tried to get me to sit down so he could figure out how to apply aid.
“I’m f-ine, just a sc-Koff-koff-ratch... Harmonizer? And, Vold-Koff-rix? If you, can re-member, tell me what you c-KOFF-can.” I gargled the words out through coughing fits as blood ran from my mouth. I gripped the arrow and yanked it out with a spurt of blood, my health dropped quite a bit, “Ahh, shhit!”
I continued as Roger sat down, silently attempting to gather his thoughts. My voice came back after drinking the potion Arthur dropped in front of me, “Did you ever meet or see this guy when you were at the store? Are they monsters we need to hunt down before leaving?”
“Yeah, I saw ‘em but not at the store, while I was sleepin’... I came out to the woods to get some sleep because the sound of this illness scared me. I didn’t know what would happen or I wouldn’t have even followed y’all to camp.” He was upset with himself, and was quivering as he continued, “Voldrix, The Harmonizer... He’s the big brother of Maldrix. He’s one of them Demons of the Fourth. I don’t know how I know this junk. He appeared in my dream or, whatever the hell just happened. He was huntin’ me.”
“Shit. Good news that he isn’t here anyways. Do you know where he is or what he wants?”
“Uh, well... He wants you. Dead... Ya know, ‘cause ya killed his little sister, Maldrix ’r whatever. He’s still in Hell from what I can remember. He’s the second, but.”
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“There’s a third, isn’t there,” I said thinking, Tritone. Three whole assholes.
The man froze, fear and dread dyed his skin pale, “Yeah kid... The Lord of the Fourth Realm of Hell, Kaeldrix the Flesh Smith. I don’t understand how I know this flickin’ crap.”
“Well, they’re not here so fuck ‘em. I’ll see them when it’s time. Don’t worry about it.” I said, not fully understanding the extent of his condition.
“It’s like I’m there but I’m also, here. Bah, it’s confusing, I fell asleep but I woke up right after. I was in the same spot where I passed out, I could walk around the woods and see everything, but it was different.” He paced nervously as he continued, “It was like hell was here somehow, the world was tinted this amethyst color and it was cloudy. Other planets littered the sky, the stars were so bright they lit the whole forest. One planet stood out. It was so close and so big that it took up most of the sky, it looked like a cerulean version of Saturn. Only it was shattered, split from the top to the center. Looked like someone hit it with a giant Axe. Screams came at me from every direction. All I could do at first was cry. But I followed the loudest screams. That’s when I came to the river. Instead of a mountain on the other side like it is here, it was a barren rock wasteland littered with debris. In the distance, I saw the two of ‘em standing by a mountain of disgust.” Roger said, now shaking in shear terror.
“Slow down. You’re all good. I’m going to figure out this status effect today and get you and the others taken care of. Shit, the others have it as well.” I rushed to my feet, “Hey Buck, I need you to run back to camp, Find Zack, Eli, and Jared. Keep them awake until we catch up.” Arthur could get through the thick forest faster than we could and I didn’t want to leave Roger alone after what he went through so I stayed to walk him to camp.
“Woof!” Arthur took off full speed, his feet thundering away through the woods.
Roger grabbed my wrist, “Wait, I need’a finish.”
“You can tell me while we move, we need to get back.” I freed myself of his grip.
With a nod of the head he followed. To save time I removed the iron dagger and used it to cut the thick plant life out of our way as we moved.
“You need to know what they look like so you can run if you ever see them, they know you’re leaving here somehow and they know where you’re going.”
My heart skipped as his words set in.
My parents.
I started moving faster, “Alright tell me what you saw and what they said now!”
“The rocky waste that I saw. The debris, it was actually bodies. They were squirming on the ground, barely alive. They were the inhabitants of that planet. Their pained screams are still ringin’ in my head.”
“I’m sorry Roger, I really need to know what they said though.” I reiterated.
“Kaeldrix knew as soon as I set eyes on him, his voice was booming and deep. When he spoke it was in a different language but somehow I knew what he was saying. He told me that I failed to protect his sister and for that, I would suffer the fate of the dissonant. There was a man split in half, his innards dragged behind him as he crawled to me, he spoke another language that I didn’t understand, but I still knew what he was sayin’... Run...”He paused to regain his composure.
“Right before I spun around to leave Voldrix appeared. He was right in front of me on the other side of the river, he crushed that mans head as he stepped forward. It was nothin’ to him. I ran. But before I got away I heard both of ‘em say, The one who killed our sister will suffer.” Roger followed closely through the thick brush. I cut through it with one Mana fueled slice after another.
“You said they knew where I was headed?”
“As I ran, Voldrix stalked me. The fricker, he was always right behind me out of sight, tauntin’ me. He said you were leavin’ the camp so we would die soon enough. Then said he would meet you in Bennington. Is that true? That where yer headin?” Roger asked, receiving a moment of silence.
“Tell me what they look like.”
“Shit, I’m sorry young un.” He took an apprehensive breath before continuing, “Kaeldrix was far off but looked to be ‘bout 75 feet tall. Upper half like a man, long dark hair. Legs like a spider, maybe a scorpion. His skin was ashy midnight black. He was working at a forge. The forge… It was made outta people. He grabbed bodies off the ground and smashed ‘em with his hammer, he somehow molded them into an axe head, every time the hammer came down screams echoed across the valley, from everyone.”
“And Voldrix?”
“Not as big, but still tall as a small house, maybe 15 feet? It sounded like his voice came at me from every direction. He was shaped like a normal human but his head was stretched out. Like Maldrix, he was made completely from other bodies, but not human, they were whatever people was on that planet. They had a light purple skin, some pale blue and most had dark hair with eyes that were slanted almost vertically, Voldrix was the same way only his mouth was wider, it went from one side to the other and opened both horizontally and vertically.” Roger described the two to the best of his ability adding, “He said Maldrix wasn’t fully formed yet and that’s the only reason we’re alive. They sent her here in a basic form with an army of shudderlings who was meant to evolve her, to her true form. They use locals as fuel and mass. I think that Forge created the both of ‘em.”
“God Dammit... Fuck these things.” Anxiety rose in my chest as I pushed harder through the forest, speeding to a jog with Roger barely keeping up.
How the hell did they know where I was going. I only told Mina and...
Shit.
They must be able to see through the dissonant somehow, I told Eli where I was going.
We reached the meadow, in the distance we could see a confrontation at the front of the barn. I took off, leaving Roger behind.
Amy stood beside Arthur with Taylor, “What’s going on?!” I hollered as I approached shouting voices, all targeted at my dog.
One of the women answered, “Your crazy dog locked the three boys in the barn. They’re screaming and he wont let us go in! You need to put that thing down NOW!”
My fist clenched but I contained the anger, instead choosing to say, “If that THING wasn’t here, you would all be dead! So watch your fuckin’ mouth!”
The lady looked at me shocked, I guess they hadn’t seen this side of me so they all looked shocked, but like I said, I don’t like anything or anyone fucking with my dog.
“Back up!” I yelled walking up next to Arthur, “What’s going on Bud?”
“Woof woof woof!” He answered.
He started drawing in the dirt in front of the barn again. He sketched a stick figure with a bow and arrow, Roger. Then rapidly drew 3 other stick figures in a barn then circled the sketch of Roger.
“Everyone move back! The men have a status effect of some sort. They hallucinate and can be dangerous. Arthur brought them all to the barn by MY request and they must’ve lost control.”
Roger caught up and stayed outside to explain what happened to him and what he unknowingly did to me. I had Arthur stay outside until I knocked on the door to let him know it was safe to open.
I stepped into the barn.
I heard movement and screaming in the crafting area.
I opened the door to see complete mayhem.
Zack was in the back corner under the woodworking bench, his knees were cuddled up to his chest as he ran a hand planer over his face laughing maniacally. Eli and Jared were fighting, Eli had a straight peen hammer that he used to crush the hand and knee of Jared. While Jared stabbed a red hot iron rod into Eli’s mid section.
They were all beat to hell.
I dashed forward, knocking Eli and Jared out cold with two quick strikes to the ear. Then ran to Zack who was in the most awkward position.
I locked down his struggling arms as he screamed and laughed, saying I was going to die.
I kicked off the wall of the barn and we both tumbled into the middle of the room.
“Sorry for this bud.” I hit the boy in the temple with a right cross.
I could have woke them all up but that would only worsen the pain for them.
I ran to the door, knocking while screaming at the same time “Potions!? Do we have any Potions?!” The door opened, I didn’t receive an answer.
“Does anyone have a potion?” I asked again, covered in blood from the boys.
I was met by scared silence.
I saw a figure closing in.
“The one we saved for camp, here. Who needs it?” Mina said jogging to remove the potion from a cupboard inside the barn.
I led her into the back, “Shit, I don’t think that will be enough but it should even them out so they don’t bleed out while I get more.”
She looked around at the gore, “Jesus, what happened in here?”
“The status effect they have. I figured out what it is.” I held each boy up as Mina split the potion into thirds.
“We need to separate them and tie them up. We can bandage the wounds while you go out.” Mina said as I got to work.
After tying them up some of the women, including Amy and Taylor, offered to help watch over them and get clean bandages on the wounds.
I was getting ready to move out, double checking my inventory, “Sorry if I scared any of you, but it had to be done. Plus, that one woman is kind of a dick.”
“No you’re right, she is.” Taylor said smiling.
“Taylor, Watch your mouth!” Amy said while cutting bandages.
Taylor looked at her mother defensively, “I didn’t even say anything!”
Amy cracked a cheeky grin, “You were thinking it.”
Taylor just made a noise of disgust as I looked to a patiently waiting pup sitting off to the side of the room, “Arthur, let’s go kill some shit.”
Mina jogged up, “I’m coming.”
Roger was waiting outside the barn and before we left he stopped us for a moment.
“Here, hope this helps. The items I was working on last night. I made ‘em wit’cha in mind.” Roger said first removing a bow with a quiver full of handmade arrows.
“Shit Roger, thanks!” I said reaching for the bow. I placed it into my inventory to read the stats then removed it.
Bow of Hope—1—Legendary— +22 Piercing Damage, +10% Increased Attack Speed, +4% Life Steal—Grants Skill: Dead Eye—This bow was made with the hope that one day the person who wields it will help cleanse evil from the planet.
Roger then handed me something that made my face light up. An ancient weapon that I’ve seen one person use in one of those survival TV Shows when I was younger. I always wanted to try using one.
I took the Atlatl with a smile, placing it into my inventory.
Wrath—1—Unique—+33 Piercing Damage, +10% Increased Attack Speed—Can be used as Blunt Weapon, +16 Blunt Damage, 30% Chance to Knockback—Grants Skill: Destructive Impact—This Atlatl was created with thoughts of destruction fueling the creators mind.
[Destructive Impact (Fire)—Uncommon—Level 1—Mana Cost: 35— +30% Explosive Damage Added To Ranged Attack, Projectiles explode on impact dealing extra damage to armor with each blast]
The Atlatl is a slightly curved piece of wood with a notch carved into the tip to lay a javelin in.
This little piece of wood was still a work of art. The weapon was hand carved and the wood Roger used was definitely from the new variety of trees as the warm cherry color and dark black grain that ran through it was definitely alien to me.
It looked like he used the remaining demon cord from the spool to wind around the handle. It looked the same as what I saw last night and what was on the bow, only the colors inside the black cord changed from the earthly tones to that of an explosive red, orange and yellow.
“Mina, can you shoot a bow?” I asked, as I wasn’t a good shot with one and had no formal training.
She kept her reply short, “Yes.”
“Here,” I handed her the bow along with the quiver of arrows, turning to Roger and thanking him for the incredible boon.
He handed me a stack of handmade javelins that I added to my inventory.
Steel Tipped Javelin of the Fam—20—Rare— +20 Damage, 15% Chance to Bleed, 10% Chance to Knockback—Slay Fam.
I was still confused but just laughed at the Javelins. The boys obviously helped with the tips, which were just a bigger version of what they showed me earlier.
Maybe the system goes off of who’s creating the item, maybe it adds their personality to the items?
The two weapons Roger created read of hope and wrath, the only emotions he showed before today. It seems he somehow poured those emotions into these weapons.
The three of us started off but before we got too far Roger hollered, “One more thing, hold your horses!”
He walked up to Arthur and removed what looked like the 3 pieces of chitin worked into one solid piece of armor, for a dog. I reached my senses out trying to see the specs of the armor but Arthur picked it up and apparently he has an inventory as well. The item disappeared for a moment.
Arthur’s tail began to wag as the armor appeared on him, “Woof Woof Woof!”
“That means thank you.” I said looking Arthur over.
My dog looked like a real bad ass now. His tail was still wagging, the perfect form fitting armor covered him from his head to his butt.
The polished chitin took on a cool blue metallic finish. Leather was fitted to the inside, held to the chitin with rivets. The piece that went up to his head covered his neck perfectly and even sported a small plated hood with 2 holes cut out that fit over his ears for extra protection. It wasn’t so bulky as to slow him down, in fact it looked to be really comfortable based on the way he took it out for a test drive as soon as he had it equipped.
“Ah shit... Thanks man, that means the world to me that you would take the time to make that for him.” My words full of joy and thanks, my dogs safety was the main thing that mattered to me. I had to ask, “How did you do all of this in one night? That’s a crazy amount of work from the look of it.”
“Kid in there, Zack. He helped out a lot, along with the two other goofballs. Zack said he wanted to help everyone and also pay you back somehow. Nice kid. Plus, we all got somethin’ called a profession which helps speed the process. I’m a Wood Worker, Zack is something called a Scrap Enthusiast, Eli and Jared are both Smiths.” Roger explained to my excitement.
“Awesome, I owe you all... Let’s go get some potions and get those kids feeling better, then we’ll figure out this Dissonant shit.”
Arthur led the way, I told him to take us to the nearest mob. We followed closely behind, pushing our speed and stamina to the max as we rushed through the woods past the town line.
The first group we stumbled on was another Spriggan ambush, they were all Level 10 and 11, made up of multiple classes, or evolution’s as the system calls it.
There were 2 Twisted Spriggan Sentries, they were overgrown slow moving tanks that took a while to beat down thanks to their retributive spells that returned damage whenever we tried to take them out. They had the ability to expand portions of their body faster than the others. They used that grow speed and mass to cover their allies and reflect our damage back.
These stick men, or women, were fighting much smarter than before. It was staggering how much.
The second class were the Twisted Spriggan Skirmishers, 3 total.
They were the fastest Spriggans I’d fought thus far so they had my full attention. A whip covered in thorns extended from their arms as they moved gracefully and attacked from all angles.
While I kept the attention of the skirmishers and sentries by playing tank with no armor, Mina was sneaking behind the skirmishers with her new daggers, one was the Rondel I gave Taylor and the other looked to be an old handcrafted blade.
She picked them off one by one until they were gone. Arthur changed course to work on the Sentries while I traded with him to take out the remaining enemies.
The last Spriggan was a Beastmaster. He controlled two of the Mutated Neighborhood Mutts that had evolved into something called “Neighborhood Watchdogs”. The system tagged them as “tamed beast”.
They were faster and much more dangerous than their counter parts, with a body made out of hard muscle and weighing over 50 lbs heavier. Their claws sliced through flesh with ease. I had to believe my bones were some how strengthened thanks to my stats, otherwise I would have no arms or legs left after the fight.
Mina dropped back as I switched out Blood Lust after leaving each enemy gushing blood. Using my Necrotic Mace, I laid into the 3 monsters one after the other.
Every other hit left the watchdogs hemorrhaging darkened blood across the forest floor. The cuts turned an infected greenish black that spread further across their bodies as the fight dragged on.
Arthur had one of the Sentries ripped into pieces and was working on the last, his armor holding up great and showing no sign of wear.
I changed for staff letting Mana explode from my core, the power transferring to the staff.
I focused the attack between the two watchdogs at the Beastmaster as arrows rained from the sky.
The wind infused strike was timed perfectly, traveling out to slice the Beastmaster in half at the waist. Mina let loose 4 arrows in a matter of seconds dropping both of the Mutts before they could reach me.
I looked over to see if Arthur needed assistance but I was reminded that he is the real tough guy here. His back paws plunged into the legs of the Sentry as his front guardian claws dug through the monsters chest.
He reached his head into the thick wooden chest cavity and ripped out the core then chomped down, completely shattering the wannabe softball.
“Shit, good boy! Loot?” I asked as I reached down to loot the 2 watchdogs and Beastmaster.
“I got one!” Mina yelled after looting the Skirmishers.
“Woof!” Arthur said with a nod, I’m assuming he had one as well.
I finished looting 2 more potions from the Beastmaster who dropped another throw away weapon. A Crude Steel Mace that didn’t compare to my Necrotic Mace, “Alright let’s get back. Arthur lead the way!”
The Neighborhood Watchdogs provided multiple slabs of beast meat and beast leather. I would have to look later to see if I could make anything useful with it.
We ran back full speed. Each handing over one potion then I gave the extra potion to Amy so it was here for emergencies. While I had her attention I pulled her and Roger outside to talk.
“Thanks for helping guys. I have to put someone in charge of the safe zone before I leave. I can nominate 2 Mayors and I trust you two. So, what do you think?”
Roger answered first, “I can’t be in charge of anything. Not in the condition I’m in. I agree with making her Mayor though, we talked more while you were gone and I met her kids. We need good people, smart people like her in charge.”
Amy cut in, “I don’t have any experience running a town.”
“It’s not like before, you’ll get a notification if someone enters the zone so you can keep everyone safe and get people together to go see if it’s someone you want to invite into the camp or not. You’ll get the list of rules or whatever if you accept. Which I hope you will, I think this is the best way to keep all of the kids safe, your own and the others.”
“Okay, I’ll do it if Roger does. Using the mother in me to do your deeds and run your town?” Amy said the last part mocking a disapproving tone.
“Of course,” I said smiling and turning to Roger, “If we can clear these status effects will you think about it? I think I have to be in town when I designate someone for Mayor.”
Roger mulled it over in his head before speaking up, “If you manage to clear this crap up, I’ll think about it. I’ll always help everyone I can but I don’t know about the title.”
“Okay, good ‘nuff for now. I’m going to run to town and look for supplies. Arthur will be coming with me, Mina will be up on the hill, I’m sure she’ll help if you need anything. I have an idea to clear the dissonance, I’ll be back in a couple hours.” I said then whistled for Arthur.
We made a quick stop to donate the beast meat and empty the inventory then we set off on our shopping expedition.