Law of Blood- Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Chapter 4- Man vs Manticore

I quickly stowed the shotgun in my spatial storage. The noise might serve a purpose later, but not now. An arrow would serve me better. So I pulled out my enchanted bow. Sativa had given it to me when I first arrived in Olimero. It was part of the gear I had on Earth which she converted. The great thing about it was that it made arrows into explosive arrows.

Arguably with the bow, I didn’t have any need for a shotgun. There were other reasons for wanting to develop guns, not the least of which was that I wanted my deputies to be better armed. It was a hard to get away from the idea of guns having grown up in a proud NRA family.

I watched the creature alternating between sniffing around and licking the wound on its shoulder it had sustained when the larger male pushed it away. There were no signs of the madness which must have driven all these monsters into a beast wave. That told me there was more at play here than I understood. I desperately needed more knowledge if I was going to protect my family and Yonderton.

In fact, that was case since I had been dumped here. Sativa was very short on her information sharing and there hadn’t been a tutorial. Not like there was a tutorial for life on Earth, but at least you had parents who hopefully helped you learn what you needed to succeed in the world. The point though was that I was always playing from behind the eight ball.

I was tired of reacting and wanted to direct the narrative on my own. I still remembered Deputy Wilson. He had been new on the job during my second year. He was always ranting about how we needed to crack down harder on crime. Then he started making a rash of arrests.

He was suddenly the golden boy of the department. That was until his arrests all began to fall apart. It was a string of improper searches, civil rights violations, and police brutality. Soon now only was Wilson out of the department but he was facing charges himself. I stopped following the story then because I didn’t really want to think about what could happen.

Here I didn’t have to worry about defense attorneys or the 5th amendment. Here I was the law and I simply had to follow the four laws. My strength was a defining part of the law and order in Yonderton. Until a few weeks ago, I had been too weak to make that work for me, but now it was different.

If nothing else this encounter convinced me that I needed to crack down in town and be more proactive. I had to stop thinking from the constraints that the police have in the US. Immediately, I knew that could be a slippery slope, but I couldn’t turn from it. This wasn’t Earth and I was already learning to form a different kind of family, so now I had to do whatever it took to protect that family.

That started right now. I raised my bow and sighted in at the manticore. It was only a hundred feet from me but the fence was mostly hiding me and I was upwind from it as evidenced by the pungent sent of blood that the wind was carrying to me from all the slaughtered pigs.

I wanted it to get as close to me as possible. The explosive force of the arrows was magical so it didn’t make the loud sound of a gun, but I still didn’t want to draw a bunch of these monsters to me. A single one I was confident of killing, but more would began to get tricky.

Under my breath I mumbled, “That’s it. Just a little closer.”

The manticore continued moving until it was only fifty feet from me. Then it raised its head like it was sniffing the air. I didn’t know if it could make me out, but I was never gonna get a better shot than that. Even with its scraggly mane, I still had a clear shot at its exposed throat. I let the arrow fly. It streaked across the distance and hit the manticore.

A simple arrow even to the throat wouldn’t have been a insta kill. But as much as Sativa had scrimped on the truth, she hadn’t on the bow. The explosive force ripped its head clean off its body. My heightened senses heard the explosion but it was very muffled and I doubted the monsters had heard it from several hundred feet away. They were all too busy eating.

Still, I wasn’t going to be stupid, at least not any more stupid than being here in the first place. I watched for any sign that the explosion was going to draw other monsters here. Thinking about it now, I realized that the blood from the dead manticore might draw them as easily as anything, but again the wind was working in my favor for the moment.

I smiled after a few seconds. The manticore was easy enough to take out and there had even been a quick notification telling me that I earned two merits for it. That wasn’t much, but it was more than the weakest creatures in the quest. That also meant there were much more powerful monsters I would have to deal with. If I remembered correctly there were some that were worth up to twelve merits.

As I watched, it became clear that the swarm of monsters was settling down. This farm must have been enough for them to stop moving. The problem was what to do about it now. I couldn’t leave them out here, but I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I could take them on my own. It had been luck which enabled me to get one alone.

With that in mind, I determined to head back to town. I could get input from my deputies who all knew more about this world than I did. That and maybe we could raise up a militia of sorts to deal with this. It was in everyone’s interest, but it would have to be done quickly before they went to another farm. In fact, maybe I should warn adjacent farms. What I really wanted though was to head back to town. Now that the imminent danger seemed to have abated, I had a son that I wanted to meet.

Then I felt it. My senses were not expanded out to maximum capacity but I kept them heightened pretty much anytime that I wasn’t at the office. It was a drain on my ki but I could maintain it for hours maybe even a couple days. Something was moving around behind me, something big.

I didn’t want to let it sneak up on me, but I also was trying to make sure it knew where I was rather than was simply a wandering monster. Wait, make that monsters. There were three of the manticores, all smaller females. I didn’t now if they were like the lions they appeared to partially resemble, but it seemed likely these three had been pushed away from the better feeding spots and were looking for something more.

The beast wave was overwhelming together, but even spread out I was worried about what these predators might do. There was no choice but to put them down, even if they weren’t hunting me. They were about fifty feet behind me. I wracked my brain for any memories about how close predators got before they charged, but had to assume this was pretty close.

Rather than risk not being able to get my weapons out after getting off a single shot, I put my bow away. I still didn’t want to use the shotgun for fear of the noise it would make, The only reason I had asked for it was with the hope that the noise might have been used as a way to redirect the stampede, but that plan was no longer relevant.

I had my fighting stick in my right hand and my short sword in my left. Both Josie and Denne thought I needed to learn to use a longer melee weapon. Of course, they didn’t agree whether it should be a sword or an axe. Truthfully, I was becoming more used to fighting with just my body. It was the source of my power after all. That didn’t mean that I didn’t like the reach a weapon gave me though and without being sure how strong or quick these monsters were, I didn’t want to risk relying on my hands and feet.

My expanded sense of touch told me the moment that the lead manticore tensed up. I could feel it almost like my hands were running over it. The scorpion tale tensed and straightened up. Its body went rigid. Then like a bullet it streaked at me.

I only had a split second to judge it. If I had to guess it was faster than Josie, at least in a straight line, but then again when I applied ki, I was faster than either of them. The real question was whether it could dodge at that speed.

It was hard to bide my time till the last instant but I forced myself to stay still as the creature crossed the distance at full speed. Then just as it leapt into the air to pounce on me, I stood up and pivoted on one foot. It was just enough to cause the creature to miss. As I avoided the outstretched claws which sought to rend my flesh, I brought my fighting stick down on the back of its head with nearly all my strength. I was glad that Sativa had magically enhanced the fighting stick she had given me. Normal would have crumpled under the impact just as the beast’s skull caved in.

The feeling was oddly satisfying after a few weeks of training without any real danger. What I hadn’t anticipated was the way that even as gray matter leaked out of its skull it’s tail would still reflexively stab out. It caught me square in the chest and managed to punch right through my armor. Still that armor made a difference, that and my naturally tougher skin.

Pain blossomed in my chest but it wasn’t a fatal injury. I couldn’t even be bother with it as I cycle ki through my body to enhance my durability. My skin took on the toughness of stone while remaining flexible as I moved. The other two manticores came in at me from the sides as I sliced the tail which impaled me. I cut myself free with an awkward slice and then leapt backwards over the fence I had been hiding against.

That was enough to give me a moment to focus my thoughts. I didn’t need any of my special tricks for these two. I let loose a low roar of my own and charged at the closest of the manticores. It seemed shocked and hesitated for just a moment. That was all I needed as I brought my fighting stick down on its front shoulder. Bone snapped and it roared, but by that point I was so close I drove my knee up under its chin, flipping it back, while I waved my sword to keep the other one at bay.

I dodged to the left avoiding another spearing tail and came up fast to drive my sword into the chest of the third manticore. The injured one was struggling to its feet. My sword was wrenched free from my hand by the wild jerking of the beast I had just stabbed. It was as good as dead but that didn’t stop the death throes. I knocked its tail aside and stepped upon its back and I leapt toward the injured foe.

As I came down from above, it wasn’t able to respond quickly enough. A powerful blow caved in its skull while I dropped my fighting stick and caught its tail in both hands. A powerful twisting posting cracked the scorpion like shell and allowed me to rip off its stinger.

A green goop leaked from it. I imagined this would be a valuable alchemy component and my mind raced to what type of favors I might be able to get from Rava in exchange. It was good to be the sheriff for sure. Adrenaline rushed through my body and I felt the urge to keep fighting. I imagined I could take a dozen of them but knew that was battle lust speaking. Even if it were true it would have been foolish.

I mused that life on Earth would have been very different for primitive man if he could have grown to be physically stronger than the predatory beasts that make up many of our nightmares. These manticores had been mostly quiet as they likely hadn’t wanted to share the meal they thought I would be with any of the larger of their kind.

Still, if I stayed here too long eventually I would have more company. The longer I was out here, the more I could feel a slow pressure building in the back of my head. I recognized it as worry from one or more of my wives. So, no matter how much a wild part of myself longed to test myself against these beasts, I had to be smart. I was a father now and had a family to provide for.

I did spare a few minutes to take anything from the manticores which seemed like it might be valuable as an alchemical component and then I was off, running home. I sent the girls a message that I was returning. The disaster seemed to be averted, but a threat this close to my town couldn’t be tolerated. I made it clear I wanted to see my son and then we would have some planning to do.