48 Another Village

Another gruelling week had passed. Stanis's damaged heart had now healed enough that he was treating Zelgard as a friend, and a good friend at that. He would talk a lot about his life before all of this happened. Zelgard never talked about how he had first met Yils or how they had got together but he did talk about the experiences he had on Earth and such.

His eccentricity became less weird and more interesting to Stanis as he spent time with him, Zelgard being his eternal cheerleader who he could talk behind Yils back to. He would say how Yils was so cruel and vicious and Zelgard would strangely but whole-heartedly agree.

But now wasn't time for musings about his new-found friend, rather it was fight time. Again. Stanis checked his Status:

[Stanis Volkov

Age: 18 years

Mana capacity: 51 (regeneration is capacity/4 per hour)

Level 27 (Progress to the next level is 2%)

Strength: 38 [29->33]

Dexterity: 38 [28->31]

Constitution: 39[28 ->33]

Intelligence: 35[19 -> 23]

Wisdom: 32[19 -> 22]

Tenacity: 44[25 -> 29]

Skills: Layman's Rush, Scout and Sense, Light Healing, Destructive Mana Recharge, Ice shot]

His points were still rising rapidly, and he had even gained enough experience from training that he had managed to level up once, adding both points to wisdom. He was rather surprised as he looked at the growth the rest of Humans had made in that time; it seemed they too were either learning how to train with mana or were rapidly levelling up.

It was unbeknownst to him that both his guesses were wrong, in fact the real reason why the average for Humanity had risen so much was actually because of the relocating the Hu had done for them.

The placings of the Villages had been largely random within the area and this meant that some Villages were very close to the others. Contrary to what the Hu had hoped this would mean, it instead led to fights and a lot of Humans had died due to this. Many more had died due to the stronger opponents coming down, nothing like the ones they had been fighting all this time. These two events in unison meant that only the stronger Humans had been left behind, massively upping the average.

Stanis was forced to leave behind his thoughts as his opponent clapped her hands. Yils was wearing the usual: a tight top and leather shorts. Her eyes were once again preying on Stanis. She took one step forward and an icicle the length of an arm came flying her way. Stanis was already creating another one as he drained his mana, eyes not daring to look anywhere else but on Yils.

Instead of dodging, she struck the massive icicle with her palm, crumbling it within a moment. Her face was a cold mask but Stanis could tell that she was inwardly telling him that it was useless. This surged anger inside of him as he shot multiple icicles out at once, no longer having to create them in his hands as he was now able to create them at once in the air around him.

He could currently manage three forearm length icicles at once and they shot towards Yils, although the effect was still the same as last time. In one last attempt, Stanis wracked his mind to focus on the icicles, despite the terrifying Yils walking closer every second, as three icicles began to form around him, only these kept growing past forearm length.

They were as long as a full arm, the thick end being as wide as a hand while the other end was a piercing point. His head was now aching from pushing himself but he took one extra step, causing a dangerous twist on them before shooting them out.

He stumbled backwards as he tried to regain his bearings, the icicles having drained nearly all his mana. Yils didn't employ her mana shield which would have easily broken these icicles, instead just to show their futility, she faced them defenceless. The mana flowed through her body like tidal waves as she chopped one down, kicking another one simultaneously. Both easily broke and fell to the floor but the third one carried on, stabbing her through the head.

Or at least that's what it looked like…

Stanis felt his joy die down very quickly as the icicle dropped, her forehead as flawless as before. His grand skill hadn't even managed to break through her skin…

Worse than the fear of the beating he was now going to get was the feeling of deep dismay at his failed skill. He had truly put blood, sweat and tears into training himself and yet she had just cut through his spells like butter…

He had no more time to brood upon the matter as she came flying, her leg in a wide arc as she whipped him into the ground. He had no time to react as he plummeted down, the ground itself parting as he lay in a ditch in the ground. His mind was so used to being overloaded with pain that it didn't shut down, instead he lay there suffering in pain.

Never before had he felt so much joy to feel the burning sensation in his stomach, the mana-filled water quickly getting down to work. His vision began working again as he looked the only way he could, up, to see Zelgard gently pouring water into his mouth. The water felt like it was melting his insides but that was actually a sanctuary from the pain he would have to otherwise focus on.

"Still pathetic. You got a lot of work to do if you don't want to die the second you leave this mountain" called out Yil, her voice fading away as she calmly walked back to the house.

The last thing Stanis heard before his mind finally succumbed to the pain was,

"Don't worry, you're doing just fine. Pe----

__________

Tanya shifted her hand to her hidden dagger as she walked. She felt defenceless here, far too easy of a target to pick on. Around her were a few of the strongest from Yona Village, although none of them would pick on her. Rather it was the people by the sides of the road that she was watching, after all they were in some random Village. Anyone could be hiding in the passer-bys, anyone…

One day it had been fine but then the next day their whole surroundings had changed. It wasn't the landscape that changed, no that had all stayed the same, rather it was the fact that Human and Monster camps were now where there were none before. They were currently in the closest Human Village, just a five-minute walk west of Yona Village, just over the stream and in the forest.

Tanya herself had scouted this place out and Alyona had called for peace talks between the two Villages, perhaps even a deal of some sort. They had agreed, on the term that the meeting took place in their Village and not somewhere else. This had set off trigger warnings in Tanya's head but Alyona had insisted to go anyway. Thus here the strongest of Yona Village were, escorting their leader to a meeting in enemy territory. The more she thought about it, the worse it sounded and the more trigger warnings it rang.

Perhaps the only thing stopping her from straight out drawing out her bow as she walked was the fact that the three strongest Classers were here: Caleb, Orena and David. The Zelt attack had been catastrophic, taking more than 40 lives with it, but it had also ushered forth the era of Classers. And yet despite the massive increase in Classers, these three had still remained the top, perhaps the rift between them and others only growing.

All three of them looked calm, David amiable, Orena intrigued and Caleb with a half-sneer on his face. Also with them were Ji-Yeon, who was definitely the person closest to their power, Jayesh, who had rapidly risen up the ranks during the Zelt attack, and a few other top Classers.

The group finally reached their destination as in front of them was a builder familiar to them: the Village hall. The group walked in and what awaited them were several people, several strong people. The number of people inside roughly equalled the number of people her group had brought but Tanya could tell more than anything that the ones standing outside were just rag-tags, it was these people in front of her that controlled this Village.

"Welcome to Riverbeat Village" cried out a booming voice, the noise even louder due to the echoes.

"Our pleasure" returned Alyona, unfazed by the voice.

The man who had called out showed himself, a Caucasian male who was about 6 foot. He wasn't particularly bulging with muscles but was still hench, and more than that, Tanya could tell that he was strong.

"Sorry about asking you to come all the way here, I had a scout check out your Village and so I just wanted to even the powers a bit today."

He was either talking the truth or trying to put them off guard, but Tanya couldn't tell which one.

"Your Village is quite impressive itself, no need to praise ours" responded Alyona, essentially repeating his statement back.

"Ha-ha" he chuckled, his torso heaving from the hearty laugh before coming to an instant stop, "No it isn't. That's why you're willing to come into the midst of ours and also the reason why we wanted you to do so."

<Dominance>

The skill was targeted at their enemies but Tanya's skin sure did crawl as she steeled her mind not to show any sign of weakness. The opposing Humans couldn't manage the same as they began to buckle under Orena's terrifying skill.

<Group shield>

A voice roared out from behind them, Orena's skill instantly getting countered as a man walked in through the door. He was like a copy of Caleb: massive, bulging with muscles and even had a grave countenance, the only differences being that he was white and didn't have tattoos ranging down his arms.

Orena didn't seem to take any offence at this as she stood impassive.

"Ahh. Perhaps we got off to the wrong start," said the man in front of them, "I only meant to clear the waters so that we can have a working relationship. See, the thing is we would really love to join Camps…" finished the man off, throwing Tanya off guard. If they wanted to attack, this was the perfect opportunity.

Alyona responded, "I thought as much. We would love to"…