Chapter 6: Hey, I met a girl!

Chapter 6: Hey, I met a girl!

Ardale smelled the bodies long before she saw them. The night sky made seeing any rising smoke difficult, but that was no obstacle to her sharp nose. It stank of burning meat. It wasn't game meat either, neither venison nor fowl. This was a stench shed only ever scented in war, when shed personally witnessed entire cities being put to the torch. It was the scent of burning human flesh.

Alerted, Ardale began to run. She was a lithe, beautiful girl, who kept her dark hair tied back in a practical ponytail, dressed in protective black traveling leathers and a short cloak that kept her comfortable and warm when she had to spend long hours in the wilderness. She'd spent the day carefully traversing the monster filled Duskan Woods, also known as The Darkened Forest, and now night had fallen over it, saturating her surroundings in eerie darkness. Nothing she couldnt handle, of course.

She was the best.

Ardale was what was commonly known as a Reclaimer. For the right amount of money, she risked her life seeking lost knowledge of the world and selling it to the highest bidder. Her profession was often derided as mere treasure hunting or scavenging, but she could care less about the heated words of jealous losers who couldnt match her skills. Let their envious tongues waggle while she happily counted her gold.This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

Her mission this night was an interesting one. Shed been contracted by the famous Aureum Order on a mission to locate two missing reclaimers who had originally been hired to investigate the Duskan woods in search of a suspected dungeon. Ardale normally eschewed search and rescue quests; rescuing hostages always involved dealing with lowly criminals or getting immersed in politics, and really, who had time for that nonsense?

Also, rescuing foolish reclaimers who had gotten in over their heads was simply beneath her. Reclamation was a dangerous business that quickly sorted the wheat from the chaff. The attrition rate for beginners was staggering. As it should be. That was what allowed a proven veteran like Ardale to name her price.

Still, adding a possible dungeon to the mix was enough to make this worth her time. Dungeons were areas of the world that had somehow become infected with reality warping void magic that terraformed them into gateways to other realities. Each one was unique and filled with dangerous aetheric beings and monsters. But they were also troves of extremely rare knowledge and artifacts. Conquering dungeons was a surefire path to fortune and fame; the profits that could be mined from discovering one were considerable.

With that in mind, Ardale took the job. If the glory of discovering a dungeon should go to anyone, it may as well be her.

Ardale was familiar with the missing reclaimers shed been sent to find. Mayhew and Amanda Barrow, a husband-and-wife team shed come across on more than a few jobs. Not rank amateurs, but not exactly on her level either. Few were. But they were capable of doing somewhat respectable work. Honestly, though, theyd been the very definition of middling, working-class talent. How had a pair of pluggers like them discovered the location of a dungeon? It boggled the mind.

As Ardale came closer to the source of the scent, she heard laughter. It was harsh, guttural, bestial. Could the throats of men produce so repugnant a sound? How could laughter be so repulsive? Her flesh crawled just to hear it, as though the filthy noise was coating her skin in vile mucilage. Cautioned now to slow her approach, Ardale decided to observe from the cover of a large tree, where she wouldnt easily be seen. A terrible sight greeted her.

There were monstrous-looking figures surrounding a poorly constructed cooking fire: ugly and misshapen gray shapes with slumped shoulders. Shed seen their like before, and an intense loathing for them quickly roiled up from deep within her. It was what some might call the Arachnid Effect. The encounter with something so fundamentally opposed to your idea of what should be, that you cannot help but wish it extinguished at once.

Exterminated.

Ardale hated these things. She knew them to be a wrongness in her world; something the creators had never intended.

Filthy bastards, she thought to herself. The Barrows have been taken by the Skarn.

With that recognition came a terrible thought: I hope they had time to kill themselves.

It was unlikely. The Skarn were vicious creatures, feared for their sadistic urges. Torture and things worse than torture, were what they inflicted upon those unfortunate enough to fall into their grasp. Although the temple taught its believers that none of the mortal races were completely evil, and all were deserving of salvation, the Skarn fought hard to dispel that optimistic notion. Everything they did was deviltry; they did not deserve to exist.

The proof of it lay in what had been done to the Barrows. From her hiding place, Ardale soon saw a pair of bodies beside the fire. From the size of the first one, she knew it had been Mayhew. Hed been a hardworking man in his middle years, used to a life of toil, but always quick to laugh. Hed been strong too, a powerful figure who towered over smaller men. Confident, and kind, there was little in the world he feared. Now, he was nothing more than a mound of unknitted skin and muscle. Pieces of him had been torn away and were now being cooked by his slavering murderers.

When death claimed him, his eyes had been wide open. His expression wasterrible. But that was nothing compared to the attention the Skarn had paid his wife. The sight of Amanda Barleys body broke something inside Ardales mind.

This was an unkind world, she knew. The weak were often preyed upon, and "justice" was often decided by who drew their sword faster or lied more convincingly. But even knowing that, Ardale rebelled against the horror set before her eyes. This was wrong. No, worse than wrong, This. Was. OFFENSIVE. No one deserved to die like this, not even rivals in business.

Worst of all was the delight these smiling killers took in their deeds. They had ransacked the Barleys belongings and were now dancing happily before their campfire, as if they were rejoicing in the very act of erasing their victims existence. Their joy was poisonous to her.

Murderous anger flooded Ardales heart, and although she ordinarily disdained such intense feelings, she was now lost in a blinding red rage. She was going to kill each one of those bastards. She only regretted she couldnt do it as slowly and painfully as they deserved. Oh, to hear that laughter changed into screams! To put her hand beneath the breast of one and smile at his helplessness, as she slowly crushed his heart...

The dry rustling of leaves caught her ear and snapped her attention back from her fantasy. Ardale spun to her left and saw a Skarn standing ten paces away, grinning at her. Hed crept up on her while shed been distracted by her thoughts. That was embarrassing.

Ardale hated feeling embarrassed.

The light of the campfire was reflected in the Skarns yellowed eyes, and it colored his irises red. His gray, lumpy skin looked like an outer layer of sediment, while his oversized limbs and scrawny torso gave him a stick-like appearance of frailty that belied the terrible strength she knew his kind possessed. His needle-sharp teeth completed the horrid image, as he happily ran his tongue against their tips, dribbling blood over his black lips, uncaring in the least of the injury he caused himself.

In his left hand, he held a rusted sword with a pitted blade. In his right hand, he heldhimself. An erect stump of pustule encrusted rot that slowly grew more erect the closer he stepped to the girl.

Okay, you first! Ardale thought with a snarl.

Before the monster could act on his obscene ardor, Ardale raised an open palm towards him and cast [Wind Spear] which thrust a penetrating burst of condensed air straight into his eye. The Skarn squealed, first in surprise, then in pain. As it did, Ardale quickly closed the distance between them and ran one of her daggers across his throat, a vicious slash from right to left that swiftly transformed the monsters screams into bloody gurgling. Not satisfied, not nearly satisfied, Ardale drew her other blade and jammed it deeply into the Skarns neck before giving it a vigorous twist. Then she pulled it out and brought both of her weapons down repeatedly, relishing the thrill of dominating a lesser thing.

This was good. This was right. This was fun.

This was living!

It had been a while since shed last killed anyone. Not that she counted this appalling mockery of life as a person. Ardale much preferred completing her missions cleanly when she could. It always felt strange having to do otherwise. Strange, but not unpleasant. Some people needed to die; That was just a fact.

Her satisfaction in her kill was interrupted by alarmed shouting coming towards her. The Skarns howls had drawn the attention of his allies. That was good. She was warmed up now.

The fools came rushing at her, roaring with hate and need. They saw an attractive woman standing in the dark over their mutilated brother and raced to her, heedless of her blades. They werent particularly interested in avenging him, so much as hurting her. There was nothing the skarn enjoyed as much as destroying that which was beautiful. The sight of her filled them with glee. Until she began filling them with steel.

Because I think youre lying. From the sight of you, youve been out here for ages. Doing what, I wonder?

Hey, I feel like we got off on the wrong start! Uh, do you want me to apologize again?

Are you going to answer my question? Ardale asked mildly.

I told you; I was walking my dogs!

Then where are they?

Heh, funny you should ask.

Multiple low-pitched growls came to Ardales ears as she realized to her chagrin that shed been surrounded. Six large and dangerous looking wolf-like monsters now stood around her, baring their teeth in warning.

Ardale relaxed her hands and took a deep breath to still her pounding heart. Dogs, the idiot had said. These werent dogs, they were a pack of Dire-Fangs! It made no sense, Dire-Fangs were ferociously independent and were far likelier to eat a man than obey him. Who was this boy? It was time to find out!

One of the main secrets to Ardales success as a Reclaimer besides her relentless physical and magical training, was her unique gift. She possessed the skill: [Discerning Eye]. It was an extremely rare, highly coveted B-ranked ability that granted her instant knowledge about anything or anyone she turned it towards.

It had saved her life many times over the years by letting her know which battles to avoid, and which battles she could win. It had also made her quite a bit of money by alerting her to when supposedly rare items of power were little more than manufactured fakes, or when supposed pieces of scrap were in reality incredibly valuable finds.

With the eye, she had knowledge, and knowledge was always power.

Name: Morrison Cobb

Race: Human

Level: 3

Alignment: Neutral Good.

Attack: 20

Mana: 0/0

Skills: Wood-cutting.

Threat Assessment: Minimal.

Oh, for gods sake, Ardale thought uncharitably to herself. The Dire-Fangs themselves were only level five. Nothing here was a threat to her. She put her hands on her hips irritably and pointed a finger at the boy.

Call them off kid, or Im collecting their pelts. Damn it, wasting my time with this crap, she muttered.

Huh? the boy asked, confused.

I said call them off! Look, Im on a job here, and Ive got no time to play with a local weirdo. How did some woodcutting yokel like you get this far into these woods without getting eaten by something? Youre a lot luckier than you look, Morrison.

Who? he asked with what seemed like sincere confusion. Ardale wasnt buying it.

Drop the act, already! Howd you tame these Dire-Fangs anyway? I know you dont have a beast taming skill. Let me guess, you stole them from their mother when they were still pups! Only scrubs resort to kidnapping babies.

Hey! I only did that once and I gave her back when I got paiderr, what now?

Whatever, I dont care! Take my warning though, boy: There are skarn running wild in this forest, and if they find you, theyre going to make you their bride. Take your little pack and get lost. Dont bother thanking me, just leave while you still can.

Ardale stepped closer to Morrison and gave him a final discerning look before saying:

By the way, what kind of a woodcutter travels this far into a forest and forgets his axe? Maybe you should seek a different profession? Just a thought.

With that said, Ardale pushed past Morrison and continued on her way.

Long after she left, Morrison could only scratch his head in bewilderment and say:

Huh?"