Chapter 26: An Unsurprising Ambush

Of the over thirty people who had fought, only six survived, and none of them had done so unscathed.

He could so vividly remember standing there, chest heaving, surrounded by the injured, the dead, and the sheltered. Those living statues; safe and cozy inside their impenetrable shields while friends and strangers fought for their lives.

Kain thought he might just understand the Skillit kid – Durante. His name was Durante, but he preferred Dan, and he’d survived.

Back in his oceanfront home, Kain stood in the early morning light. To anyone watching, he might have looked calm, relaxed. He finished his coffee, rinsed the cup, left it in the sink, then paused. Returning to the sink he washed and dried it properly. If he was going to be around Scarlet again it was best he re-form habits early.

He was supposed to go out today with ‘nobody calls me Vince’ Sombra – the dagger man who was in fact a vet – and the war-hammer wielder ‘Rajveer but everyone calls me Raj’.

They’d formed something of a group. Shared trauma, maybe? They’d had agreed they’d go out and do some ‘beach cleanup’ as Sombra described their monster hunting plans.

He didn’t want to cancel those plans, even if his mind had been in a haze during the battle’s aftermath.

Was he really going to drop everything because of a single text? If she was free to send messages and make plans, it couldn’t be that urgent. Could it?

While the death and injury toll was mounting, he was just grateful the power was still on, water still ran, and most importantly, the internet was still working. Though reportedly things had been getting spotty in some places, the world hadn’t fully collapsed.

Sure, things weren’t good, but there were people working on that. Groups like his, only they were doing ‘park’ or ‘city’ cleanups. Now he had to decide whether this message would derail that.

She hadn’t given a timeline, but he knew she meant now. Or yesterday, if possible.

He sat at the table, phone in hand, and questions mounting. How did she know Raj, and why did she want him to bring her. Who was this Rui kid, and did she realize how far out of the way they’d have to go to get him? What did she mean by ‘competent individuals’, and why couldn’t he bring any of these people to the house? Mostly, though, he wanted to know what had happened to her that she’d even consider reaching out to him?

Kane sighed and placed his phone face down on the table. He was going to go. He knew he was. He just needed to work out the logistics. He picked his phone back up.

“Hey Kain,” called Dan. Skillit kid was yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes with one hand and holding the cast iron pan in the other as he padded into the kitchen wearing Kain’s too big, borrowed clothes.

The kid’s arm was in a makeshift sling, and the side of his face was bruised badly enough that the discolouration was visible on his rich, ochre skin.

“Sleep alright?” Kain asked.

“Your guest suite is insane, bro. Is your bed made of clouds?” The kid asked as he slumped into a chair. “This whole house. Dude, you’re loaded,” he grinned, then winced.

“Thanks?” Kane replied.

“Anyway, thanks for letting me crash after…” He cleared his throat, and by mutual agreement, neither of them mentioned the day before. “I made some gains though,” he said. “You get a chance to allocate your FS?”

Kain had not in fact done that. At that thought he opened his stat sheet and got to work.

Name: Kathain Bourne
Level: 5
Tier: 0
Stats Per Level (SPL):

• Base 2
• Titles 1

Free Stats (FS): 8

Titles:

• A Cut Above (+1 SPL): Assist in killing a creature over Level 5 that is at least double your level. This title is upgradable.

Traits:

• Steady Mind: Your mind remains steady.

Stats:

• Strength: 6 -> 7
• Dexterity: 4 -> 5
• Vitality: 7 ->8
• Perception: 5
• Intelligence: 6
• Willpower: 5 -> 6
• Mana: 3 -> 4

Skills:

• Swordsmanship (T1): Active. A Skill that assists with basic proficiency when using swords.

Absently, he wondered what his sister’s sheet might look like. She wasn’t the kind of person to fight fist to fist. Without the mixed fortune of mortal peril, he doubted she was anywhere close.

<-…->

A metal fox was trying very hard to eat Scarlet’s face. At least, that’s what she assumed it was doing from the violent growling and snarling held back only by the length of her cane and the adrenaline that must have been boosting her stats. Only a few meters away lay the bodies of three other fox corpses.

To the surprise of no one, they’d tried to ambush her and Maus. To the surprise of the foxes, she’d been able to sense it in time to prepare. Unfortunately, being able to sense it didn’t mean they were able to avoid it. She was quite sure taking the initiative was the only reason she and Maus had survived until this point.

So now here she was, fighting literal tooth and nail against a magic wielding fox. How did she end up like this?

A few hours before the ambush Scarlet had set off in the location of the tower. She’d given up on trying to move with any sense of stealth through the dense underbrush. It was nearly impossible to muffle her presence when so many plants were just so crunchy. She had no other way to explain the way the grass seemed to grind against the soles of her boots rather than cushioning her footfalls, or how the leaves clattered to the ground instead of drifting. When brushing past foliage, branches would crackle as they bent, like their joints were popping. It was disturbing.

Scarlet found the whole place bizarre. She imagined this might be what it would feel like to have a bad trip on psychedelics.

With the forest basically announcing her presence she’d given up on trying to sneak. Instead, she’d found something of a game trail to follow, though even calling it that was generous. She stayed as quiet as she reasonably could and pushed her senses to the limits to compensate for the conspicuousness of her movements.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She pulled up her current objectives.

[Phase One Objective: Obtain the Key…]

[Sub-Quest 1: Uncover the History of the Vulpian Empire]
[Time Limit: End of Phase 1]

So, if she were understanding this correctly, in order to complete the quest Scarlet would need to complete a history lesson before she ‘obtained the key’. Whatever that meant.

If she wanted to learn the history of this Vulpian Empire, the best source of information would be first-person accounts backed up by corroborating evidence. Barring that, multiple historical records from as many possible perspectives as she could get would be ideal. In fact, while first-person accounts and proof would be the most reliable in helping her learn the facts, understanding would come from the context which she was more likely to find in books.

Hopefully, the giant, tower-like structure had what she was looking for, because she really didn’t have any clue where to go if it didn’t. The huge landmark was the only thing breaking up the monotony of the forest. Maybe it had a library?

Besides, Scarlet wasn’t really into the idea of meeting actual people. Her experience thus far with living beings post-integration had not been positive. Maus being the exception of course.

Especially when it came to fights, she didn’t like her chances against a being with the capacity for both complex thought and strategy. So far, she’d been fighting creatures that, while strong, weren’t necessarily inclined to strategize or refine their combat prowess. She just wasn’t yet ready to face something that had both strategy and strength.

To be fair, that was part of the reason she’d entered this portal. To learn, to train, to try and bring her body to a level where it wasn’t actively hindering her. And to gain experience. Scarlet would never be a frontliner, but she at least needed to be able to defend herself.

As though her thoughts were prophetic, she felt something at the edge of her sensory range. No, not just one something, multiple somethings. These were definitely life signatures. She had felt something like it from the bat when she’d first received her Mana Sense. But more than that, she could feel the way the energy around them was shifting. It was like her Mana Sense was acting as an amplifier for her other senses.