Chapter 96 (Patreon)

Chapter 96

Riven’s recovery was a little longer than any of them had expected.  He slept far into the mid afternoon of the next day, and the others let him do it without interruption.  Athela was able to hunt down and carry back a deer, and Fay went out to collect some berries and nuts.  Meanwhile Dr. Brass stayed with the two elf girls.  If something was to attack them they’d be sure to wake Riven up, but otherwise the amount of power he’d expended over the past few days was enormous.  There was even a huge scar left in the forest that was still smoking trails of remnant crimson mana a ways off the next day from where he’d blasted that cyclops, with many of them agreeing it was overkill.

Night was falling again in a brilliant array of orange hues on the horizon, and Riven finally woke up to the sound of laughter and joking amidst the others.  Azmoth had reappeared as well after paying the blood price of 30,000 Elysium coins for a resummoning, with a chunk of the coins they’d collected at the hospital disappearing into thin air, and the huge demon was being taught how to play rock paper scissors by Fay.  The succubus had to repeatedly correct him, laughing at his joyous outbursts whenever he falsely thought he’d won.  When Fay was asked where she’d learned the game herself - she stated that she’d had an opportunity to study Riven’s culture upon integration just like Athela had.  To an extent, anyway.

Riven rubbed his eyes with a yawn, stomach growling while he rolled over to watch the pair.  He then lifted himself up off the pile of small blankets they’d taken from the hospital.  He was beginning to get hungry again, not just for blood this time either.  This didn’t surprise him at all, considering he’d likely been asleep a long time if he was seeing another sunset - but despite this he was still a little concerned about a constant food source concerning mortal blood.  He didn’t know where he was going to get it without basically kidnapping someone or creating a mind-slave thrall, and his appetite was voracious.  Funnily enough it was the first thing he thought of while sitting up, and those thoughts immediately centered on the people at the prison they’d scouted out with that teenager’s mapping ability in the basement of the hospital.  If there were truly some bad people there that he could pick off and put into a cage of some sort to feed off of regularly, that’d be far more preferable than trying to suck the blood of random and innocent people for survival purposes.

He’d have to make this trip to the elf village a fast one.

“Hey!” Ethel’s voice brought him out of his thoughts on hunger, and he blinked with a friendly smile when the elf hobbled over to sit next to him.  “How are you feeling?!”

Her brilliant grin caught him off guard and he couldn’t help but stare for a second before rubbing his eyes and yawning.  “Great!  How’s your arm?”

She flipped her long blonde hair over to one side and held up the bandaged stump.  “Not great, but I’ll live.  Thanks to you anyways.  Are you hungry?  You’ve been sleeping for almost an entire day now.”

She reached over to her side, producing a slab of cooked venison wrapped in a large leaf akin to pine leaves, but with tiny ridges instead of a smooth edge.

Riven’s stomach audibly rumbled and he gave an apologetic glance over to Ethel before taking the slab of venison, at which she just smiled.  Biting into the meat without any reservations, he groaned - feeling the medium-well texture and flavor of it coating his taste buds with warm deliciousness.

“My god.  Thank you.”

Ethel head-bobbed over to the arachnoid demoness who was lounging in a hammock made from webbing.  “Thank Athela!  She’s the one who caught it.  I’m glad to see you’re feeling better though!”

“As am I!” Fay called out from next to Dr. Brass - who was drawing pictures in the dirt with a stick he’d found.  She gave Riven a thumbs up and a large grin, spreading her bat-like wings out to either side.  “You ready to go soon!?  The rest of us have been waiting FOREVER for you to get your beauty sleep!”

“Yeah, Fay, well at least I don’t snore like you do.”

Fay’s jaw dropped, and Athela burst into laughter.  “I DO NOT SNORE!”

“Athela, does Fay snore?”

“Like a big ol’ hog squeal.  Sounds a lot like HRREEEEEEE with each wheeze-snore she makes.”

*SMACK*

“OWWW!!  Hey, Hey-HEY!  FAY, YOU PUT THAT DOWN RIGHT NOW!”

Riven rolled his eyes in amusement and continued to eat the venison, ignoring the two demons as Fay chased Athela around with a stick whacking her repeatedly.  Despite the shit-talking, they were obviously having a good time and laughing about the whole ordeal.  It was good to see Fay getting along with Athela so easily and so quickly, because in Riven’s opinion - Athela could use some girl friends.  Azmoth was great, but he wasn’t much of a talker and he was still a lot younger than anyone else here despite his size.

Ethel remained sitting nearby, occasionally smirking at the two demons and otherwise shooting Riven hesitant glances while he ate.  It was obvious she wanted to talk about something with him, but her awkwardness didn’t help things and she was slowly starting to turn a shade of red while she fidgeted.

Well, she may be nervous.  She’d come a long ways since screaming in horror when first seeing him, and he knew his charisma stat certainly didn’t help things either.

Riven raised an eyebrow, swallowed another bite, and cleared his throat.  “Are you excited to get home soon?”

Ethel shot Senna a look and gestured her way, happy to continue the conversation instead of mull around in silence.  “Senna is a bit more excited than I am, but yes.  I’ll be happy to be home too.”

Her words were a little less than convincing, and Riven was more than just a bit confused by the way her facial expression and body language changed.  She was wrapping her good arm around her knees and resting her jaw on top, looking at the ground with a suddenly far-away gaze of uncertainty.

He put the venison down, wrapping it up in the leaf to make sure it didn’t get dirty.  “So… is there something you want to talk about?  You don’t look convinced.  Is everything ok?”

She let out a snort in response.  “I love my family, I want to see them.  It’s just that since the transition and merging of worlds, the leadership of the clan has been less than great to deal with.”

“How so?”

“It’s… personal stuff.  I’d rather not talk about it.”

It was obvious she wanted to talk about it.

Riven paused, then nodded.  “Well if you end up changing your mind - let me know.”

They waited another half hour and then began to collect their belongings, with Senna being especially anxious to get back.  Riven took time to call Allie through the communication orb to update his sister, and the remnants of sunset fell below the horizon as night completely encompassed the sky.  Dr. Brass, Senna, and Ethel couldn’t see very well in the dark shade of the oak trees at night, but the moonlight and starlight did help illuminate the forest for them somewhat.  It also made the snow capped mountains to their right look rather majestic and made them all feel quite small from where they were walking.  Meanwhile the demons and vampire in their group had no problem at all, navigating the darkness without missing a single step.  Dr. Brass occasionally stumbled, but the two elves were back to being carried like earlier due to their injuries.

“Should be able to see the village just over this next hill!” Senna exclaimed excitedly after seeing a wooden marking post and pointing to it.  “That marks the outer boundary of our patrols!”

“Patrols?  Are they going to attack us if they see us?”

“They’ll see Ethel and I too, it’ll be fine!”

Riven was skeptical.  “... I sure hope so.  What’s your home like?”

Ethel was the one to answer, exaggeratedly moving her arms about while Riven princess-carried the injured girl through the forest.  “We set up next to a lake!  It’s a bit different than our old village, most of our belongings were lost in the merging but we kept some of them.  The clan is in the process of building a new home for ourselves again, and most of our people stuck together through the transition… thankfully.  Some people never showed up after their tutorials, but a lot of clan completed their tutorials or didn’t have tutorials at all and were paired together.  We used our shamans to grow homes right out of the trees with magic, or at least we’ve started the process… but haven’t completely finished yet because our amount of shamans is limited.  A lot of us are still in tents or small easy-to-make cabins.”

Riven nodded thoughtfully without a reply.  He only hoped they wouldn’t attack on sight.

They traveled up a long slope for a couple miles after that.  There were thicker trees in this area and scattered boulders dotting the forest, and they finally crested the next hill after the wooden stake for a marker was passed.  Finally coming to the top, they looked out  into the southeast where Senna had said her village would be.  However, as they all gathered, Senna let out a gasp… and Ethel stifled a cry of her own.

Maybe a mile from where they were now was more or less a clearing.  The trees were still present, but were both larger in size and thinned in number.  A glistening lake surrounded by forest at the base of the mountain shimmered in the light of a burning village, and even from here they could all see that there were figures moving about with magical blasts of light exchanging between combatants.

“No!!!” Ethyl whispered in his arms, and Senna immediately began to cry.

God fucking damn it.  What a load of horse shit, could he not catch a break?!

Riven didn’t even think about it, turning to put Ethel down on the hilltop.  “Looks like this is a tale of never ending violence for me.  You three wait here and hide, we don’t know what’s there and frankly none of you are fighting capable right now.  My demons and I will handle this.”

Azmoth pushed Senna into Dr. Brass’s arms, who grunted at the exertion of holding the young woman.

Dr. Brass then began to protest.  “I can help you!  You might need me!”

Fay stifled a snort.

“You have no training and no magic.” Athela stated simply with a flick of her hair out to the side, spear-like spider limbs ripping out of her back while she began to stretch.  “You’re pretty worthless.  You shouldn’t be itching for a fight until Riven changes you and trains you.”

The comment stung the old man, but he grimaced and didn’t make an effort to reply.

Azmoth grunted his agreement, cinders beginning to light up across his obsidian plates or exposed fibery muscles, and pointed a long armored and clawed finger at the obviously anxious man.  “You will just get in way.  Stay safe here, we come back.  You fight when strong one day.”

Ethel and Senna both looked up to him with obvious emotional turmoil, and Senna managed to get out a hoarse whisper of a request.  “Please help them.  My family is there.”

Riven put his runic mask on, nodded once with crimson eyes flashing, and whirled around.  Then with a final wave he sprinted off into the night - blurring ahead with speed none of the others except Athela could match.  Fay took to the sky, blending in with the darkness above - but Riven could feel her presence there.  He was curious about how she’d fit in with their combat style, and was even a bit eager to find out.  He just wished it was under other circumstances.  Unsummoning Azmoth, he stored his larger demon in the nether realms so he could re-summon him when closer when needed and picked up the pace.

The underbrush rose to meet him and Riven plowed through it, taking out bushes or small trees that got in his way like they were nothing with a simple swing of his black, fleshy staff.  The weapon began to heat up in his hand and shimmered with shadow magic, sensing a battle at hand.

His heart grew grim when he began to hear the sounds of battle in the distance.  Part of him wondered why the village was being attacked, what reason they had for doing so, and if he was wrong for throwing himself into a pitched battle without realizing the stakes.  What if he was joining the wrong side?  What if Senna and Ethel’s people were in the wrong somehow?  What if they were all elves, and he couldn’t even tell the difference between the two groups?

This was stupid.  But he continued on anyway, with the images of the distraught elves he’d left on the hillside flashing through his mind.  He didn’t know them well, but he did know them now.  They’d asked for his help, and he was going to give it.

The light of flames began to grow closer, and the screams of civilians and combatants alike echoed around him across the trees.  Despite this, Athela began to cackle mischievously while the two of them rocketed forwards through the dark - and Riven couldn’t help but feel a flood of adrenaline and excitement coursing through him when he saw her looking like that.  His feelings of uncertainty waned and faded, and his mind became a clean-cut razor as his shard of gluttony began to howl within.

Despite the horrors that certainly awaited, he couldn’t deny the stimulating emotions he got whenever he entered these life and death struggles.  Not only that, but he was becoming damn good at winning them too.

It wasn’t much longer until they reached the village boundary.  Thankfully when the two of them finally got there it was easy to tell who was an enemy, versus those who were defending their home.

They broke out of the forest’s edge and into a clearing that only lasted for another forty yards before another thicket of trees, tents, and small cabins were clustered along the edge of a large lake.  Some of the unusually large trees had buildings built right into them as if the wood itself was being grown to someone’s specifications - creating small or even large abodes where families or stores would have been.  Many were burning though, fires eating away at the wood or cloth of the tents and numerous people lay dead along the ground or in chains.

The ones being dragged over to a central spot in the clearing were definitely elves, with heavy iron manacles around their ankles and wrists with chains connecting them at iron collars.  Many of them were bruised, bloodied and had various colors of silver, blonde, blue, and red hair with pointed ears and fair, symmetrical features.  The elves wore animal skins, furs, and clothes made of interwoven leaves with much of their skin being exposed even on the males.  Many also had the same blue tribal paints that he’d first found on Senna and Ethel.  The remaining defenders not in chains mostly wielded longbows, daggers and thin swords that looked like a cross between a longsword and a scimitar with a curve at the end.  Some of them even wielded abilities usually in the form of radiant green light that healed their allies, vines ripping out of the ground to entangle enemies, gusts of wind that billowed around their melee fighters to divert enemy attacks, or yellow elemental lightning that tore through numerous enemies at once.   The defenders were desperately outnumbered though, and a lot of those already captured were in obvious distress.  They couldn’t do much in the conditions they were in either, resorting to sobbing or crying out to loved ones and begging them to win as the remaining fighters fought back against green-skinned intruders that came in two variants.

The first of these variants were the goblins Riven was already familiar with.  There were hundreds of them, probably about three hundred of them left.  They were short, sniveling little creatures with sharp teeth and claws that stood about three or four feet tall at most.  They held little regard for their own lives, with many of them already sprawled in death across the village and the remaining ones throwing themselves ravenously at the elvish defenders.  They could usually be seen carrying small daggers or hatches and would try to swarm their enemies with numbers, quickly proving this method effective to Riven’s eyes but also ending up with many dead of their own.

The second variant of green-skinned enemies were less numerous but far larger, even larger than normal humans or the elves they were fighting.  By way of identification, these were orcs.  They were huge, muscular humanoids with bulging muscles and wore similar clothes to those of the elves in terms of the furs they wore - though they didn’t have any clothes made of leaves and substituted it for hardened leather much of the time.  They mostly had axes, broader short swords akin to a gladius, thick wooden buckler shields and shortbows that they’d use for ranged weapons.  The bigger or older the orc warrior, the more often they presented themselves with tusks - and many of them had either braided black hair that came down the back of their heads or they didn’t have any hair at all.  Of note, there were also a trio of three casters in their raiding party - shamans most likely by the way they dressed with wooden, painted face masks adorned with feathers and the gnarled staffs they used.  They too channeled healing spells, but instead of vines and lightning bolts they focused on keeping their dozens of warriors safe with buffs.  Their magics shielded their front-liners with auras of earthy brown and orange hues, deflecting many of the lightning bolts or arrows thrown at the orc attackers.

Riven only stopped a half-second to take all of this in, his mind easily sorting through it all in an instant - a feat he wouldn’t have been able to do as a normal human before the integration.  Perhaps this was because his intelligence stat had increased, or perhaps it had something to do with his vampiric evolution.  Possibly even both.  Regardless, he immediately set a plan with a wide and bloodthirsty smile on his lips underneath his runic black and red mask.  Despite helping the elves he’d semi-befriended since arriving in Panu, this was also an excuse to kill.  It was an excuse to gain levels.

But most of all it was an excuse to feed.