Chapter 233: Oh How You've Changed

After Drake had drenched Landin and Quetz in a health potion. Something that would stay a very guarded secret between those who witnessed it under punishment of death, of course, he had brought the rest of his group away again.

A few minutes later Charlotte and Kalik Tu' found the recovering Quetz and Landin, joining up once more.

And now Drake anxiously watched them as they went through the rest of the day trying to find shelter. Eventually, they decided it was best to set up camp where it was mostly open so they could have more time to react in case a monster found them. 

Which Drake applauded since he had taken the route of just climbing up a tree back in his day.

Drake kept watch in his own small camp with the others, staying up as he noticed them set up a rotating watch. One kept guard while the other slept as best they could in the cold by their single fire.

He also made sure to watch over Clotho and Atropos who had been with him instead of the other group for now. Sah Ul' stayed up with him keeping him company, doing her best to also watch the two while practicing her own aura control.

"I do not understand how the Patriarch has gained such aura control to this extent as to watch the children from such a distance…" she grumbled struggling to spread out her aura.

Drake smiled, "I have a lot of titles that increase my aura strength after the tutorial, so it helps. And with my race upgrade the skill was upgraded quite a bit," he said honestly.

Through the night they talked while Drake watched over everyone, his Elements taking care of the stronger monsters in the area while the night teetered on.

He and Sah Ul' had become closer over the past few days after their fight. He didn't withhold as much information about his time in the tutorial and about his skills to her. Leaning into trusting her. And she in turn did the same, expressing herself more. Her speech became more casual, although she still continued to call him Patriarch instead of by his first name.

The dawn finally pierced the night and the snow-capped trees, rays of glimmering white rousing the kids in both camps.

It was now the second day and Drake was honestly excited to see how the kids did. And it didn't take long before monsters found them.

At this point now that they were together and his Elementals had fought throughout the night he allowed them to retire, letting lose the rest of the monsters in the area. This also gave passage to any person who had been barred from entering the previous day.

He tensed slightly at the thought but he wanted to take Sah Ul's advice to heart and trust in them to perform.

And oh was he not disappointed.

The first monster to find them right after waking, forced the kids to their feet instantly. From Drake's aura sense, it seemed to be some sort of large wolf almost as tall as them at the shoulder while still on all fours.

But one of the kids took charge quickly. He could see someone pointing while seemingly giving out orders.

This is actually incredibly good training for me now that I think about it… Drake thought.

While watching with his aura. Totally not like a sick pervert, more like a doting parent. Drake had something dawn on him. His aura allowed him to feel living presences through it and with some concentration they became more and more detailed. Not to the extent he could tell minute body features or facial features, but good enough to zero in on other things such as mana fluctuations.

Drake was adept with mana control, whether it was a result of his training or skills, or even possibly the combination of the two it frankly didn't matter to him at the moment. The ability allowed him to also become mana sensitive and through it, he was able to begin picking up on not only the skills and spells being used, but each person's unique signature.

It was still early and he had to focus intently to make it work for the moment but it was an interesting turn of events.

I wonder if this is why the effect of my aura consumes buffs? Would it work better if I was able to identify those skills without the help of the skill…?

He pushed the thought back for now, needing to focus back on the kids.

However, he had missed the fight while lost in his thoughts. The monster dead in less than the span of a few seconds.

"Susmaryosep, those kids are little monsters…" Drake whistled loudly.

"Ow!" Atropos winced next to him, covering her ears, her brother doing the same and growling from his bedroll on the ground.

Drake looked over at the twins, both having their hands over their drooping ears.

"Oh, my bad," he chuckled wryly.

"It is fine, Lord Drake," smiled Atropos, giving a cheeky grin.

"Y-you were joking…?" he ventured.

She gave a small stick of her tongue as Drake looked at her brother, who was looking into the distance with despondent eyes.

Oh, she roped him into making a joke, huh… Drake laughed in his head.

"W-was it good?" Atropos asked hesitantly, "We have also watched some of the magic images from the TV with the others and thought it would make for a gag…"

Clotho pressed his head into his bedroll, making a large X with his arms above his head.

Drake chuckled slightly, unable to keep himself from finding humor in the clear dichotomy of Clotho's usual stoic and emotional face and his now more expressive gestures.

"Let's just say it's passable," Drake shrugged, turning his attention back to the other group.

Just as quickly as they had defeated the monster, they were assaulted by a group of new monsters it seemed.

Were there really this many monsters in this area…? Well, they should have a rough time getting through the next few days but that's exactly what we came here for.

Drake focused on his aura sense to see the fight, a small grin tugging at his lips.

"I can't wait to see how you've all grown…"

—--------------

Charlotte rushed forward, Kalik already engaged with two wolf-like monsters. She moved with speed unlike she ever had before, hew new stats from leveling up the previous day of non-stop fighting propelling her with new confidence.

She charged to the left of Kalik, whistling as she passed, her spear glowing in a red sheen while she reared it backward.

"Power through force! Heavy Blow!"

Charlotte's spear surged from her hand, finding its new home in the side of the wolf on Kalik's left, blood spurting from the wound as it wailed in pain.

A moment later another wolf leapt out from the snow-covered bushes, its jowls curved back into a menacing snarl only for it to buck backward an arrow slamming into its right eye.

Charlotte looked over her shoulder with a grin on her face, a colorful avian giving a joyful chirp and whistling back as she knocked another arrow.

Before they knew it more wolves crept out from the trees and bushes, drawn by the blood and noise.

"Good, more of them!" Landin roared as he shot past Charlotte, lightly tapping her shoulder, his hand bathed in a white glow.

"You're supposed to be a healer!" she yelled as she ran after him, leaving Kalik to deal with the last of the initial wolves.

"It's a heal over time and I gave you one didn't I?" Landin shot back, his hands beginning to give off an eerie dark purple light.

"I am what ails you!" he shouted, ducking a swipe from one of the monstrous wolves as he slid into the snow on his backside, his hand tracing the chest of the wolf, the dark purple inky mana slowly sinking into the beast's fur. 

A moment later the wolf howled in agony, another wolf from the new group jumping in an attempt to pounce right on Landin who had skidded to a stop.

Charlotte sped forward, propping her spear up right at its landing point, skewering the monster on her spear.

She heaved it to the side and gave a hand to help Landin up, "You're welcome," she sighed.

"Do I really have to say thanks? How many times have we saved each other over the last day? But if we're keeping count…" he smiled.

"Fine, I get it, we won't count."

"Yeah, 'cause I'd win," Landin grinned.

The sound of an arrow tore through the air embedding itself into the side of another wolf skulking out just a silver past a tree tumbling to its side and flailing in pain.

"No, she would," Charlotte laughed, giving a wave back to Quetz.

Quetz gave a bright chirp and whistle before pulling another arrow from her quiver on her waist.

A roar came a moment after, an ax spinning right in between Charlotte and Landin, finishing off the wolf Quetz had impaled with her arrow. Kalik was not far behind grunting his dissatisfaction at the pair.

"I guess we've talked for too long…" Charlotte said, gripping her spear with both hands and following after Kalik.

"He's just grumpy like usual," Lanin shrugged.

After several more minutes of somewhat chaotic fighting, the group of four had triumphed over the wolf packs.

"I-I count at least thirty…" Landin huffed, slumping to the floor on his backside leaning against his arms.

"Y-yeah," Charlotte gasped, holding onto dear life against her spear to prevent herself from falling in a pool of blood and viscera next to her.

Kalik cleaned his ax blades against the fur on his thigh, giving a grunt while Quetz glided down next to them, slinging her bow across her back with a few high-pitched whistles.

"Looks like we're the only ones who are out of breath…" Charlotte frowned.

"Yeah well, I don't have any stamina, I've been holding off on using as many free points as I can for the class upgrade… At least that's my excuse for how difficult these fights have been. Isn't it a bit crazy how many monsters there are? If we were alone we would be done for," Landin said, falling back into the snow, not caring to sit up anymore.

Charlotte gave a thoughtful expression, her face scrunching up slightly.

"It just goes to show how much of a gap there is between us now and where we want to be…" she mumbled.

Landin raised his mace into the air, giving a sigh, "I mean, Drake isn't really the kind of person I want to compare myself to… These wolves are only levels 5 to 7 and are all about the same level now. But him…?" Landin said, sitting back up and pulling his knees in, "He's killing monsters almost a whole 10 levels above him and with a Rank advantage. And you know what is the most insane part about it?"

Charlotte shook her head, "No what?"

Landin held up his hands, "Do you know how experience usually works in games?" he asked.

"Not really, I've always just been studying and taking care of Brodie. They've never interested me," she answered.

"Gah! Another person who doesn't appreciate the art!"

"You sound like Drake," she scoffed.

"He just says what we're all thinking," Landin said.

"Who is we?"

"Oh, you know… Anyway! In games, killing monsters of your level usually gives decent experience. Killing a few of them will score you a level. But with higher monsters, because of the level difference, there is usually a much higher experience reward," Landin explained, "There are some games I know that have penalties for killing too high level of monsters to prevent power leveling, but that don't really seem to be the case with this system. And what have you noticed with Drake's level?"

Charlotte's brow raised as she shifted her weight onto another foot.

"He hasn't leveled up much even though he's been killing monsters for days and a lot of them are E-Rank… Just how much experience do you need at his level?" she answered.

Landin shook his head, "I think that has some to do with it, but I'm pretty sure it's more to do with his dual classes. He said he needed a lot more experience than normal right?"

Charlotte nodded.

"Well, I think what's happening is he simply doesn't have enough high-quality monsters around to level properly. Remember when he said he was in the tutorial for three months? But he wants us to basically get more than half the average in just five days. That tells me either he is crazy, has some sort of distorted view of what experience is, or…" Landin said trailing off.

"Or?" Charlotte asked.

"Or he is desperate to make a core group of people very strong very quickly for some reason."

Charlotte didn't respond, letting the silence speak for itself as they both thought on Landin's words. Quetz and Kalik Tu' surveyed the area in turns as the other checked the monsters for dropped skill stones.

"Oh there's people here?" a voice said coming out of the woods.

Charlotte, Landin, Kalik, and Quetz all drew their weapons at once.

From behind a tree, a man and several other hooded figures stepped out.

The man's face was a pale unhealthy gray and his eyes a dull red as he smiled showing off two enlarged canines.

"What do you want?" Charlotte said, pointing her spear tip at him, getting in front of both Quetz and Landin, Kalik doing the same next to her, both his axes drawn.

"Whoa whoa whoa little lady!" the man said placidly, "We were just out questing and heard fighting. There were some really strong Elementals around earlier keeping people out, but now they are gone so we came back to look around. No need to be aggressive."

Charlotte lowered her spear only a few degrees, but she stayed extremely cautious of the man and his group.

She heard Landin pre-chant a spell behind her, his hands under his armor to hide the glow of his spell the best he could.

"Then you can go, we don't want any trouble. We are just trying to level," Charlotte told him, hoping he would just leave.

"Oh..?" the man said, suddenly interested more as he leaned forward his eyes glowing, "Level 6? You're all below level 10…" he smiled.

An identity skill?! They're all above level 10 then, we have to run! Charlotte screamed internally.

She tried her best to stay calm, giving a quick whistle before answering.

"And? What does that matter? We're all here trying to get stronger to fight against the monsters. If you don't have anything else, please leave."

Her whistle alerted Kalik and Quetz. Quetz backed up slowly. But Kalik growled, his grip on his axes giving a creaking sound as they tightened.

Damn it Kalik…

The man sneered raising his chin, "That's no way to talk to your superiors, you are all so delectable though…" he said slowly as if savoring the words as he licked his lips, "Take them."

Charlotte's eyes widened as soon as his words left his lips. But the group of three hooded men behind the pale man shot forward before she could even react, one speeding past her and taking Quetz hostage.

Quetz's arm was pulled behind her into an arm lock as the man took his other arm and placed it around her throat in a chokehold.

"Oh no you don't! Don't you touch her!" Lanin yelled his dark purple-lit hand arcing and touching the man's head, a moment later the man screamed in pain falling backward.

Charlotte's mind raced as her eyes wildly tried to take in the position of the other two.

Kalik gave a grunt next to her and her head snapped to him only to see him long enough to be thrown backward, a hooded man replacing Kalik's position with his arm extended in a punch.

She ground her teeth and thrusted her spear forward. But the man easily dodged her attack, letting it pass him by then striking down with his hand to break the spear in half.

Charlotte cursed but lurched forward only barely dodging the man's follow-up chop to her throat, his hand passing over her head with a red line visible in the aftermath.

Threads of her auburn hair fell in front of her face but she had to ignore it as she lunged, tumbling forward as she grabbed the two pieces of her broken weapon.

She whipped around trying to orient herself as the sound of an arrow cut through the air past her. Charlotte grinned the arrow a few inches from his face before she frowned.

A shield of dark gray deflected the arrow just a few centimeters from the hooded man's face.

The man gave a toothy-fanged grin from behind the shield.

"Kalik!" Charlotte shouted, pointing to the last of the three and apparent healer-type class.

An ax whizzed past her, a snarl followed by Kalik rushing after the weapon.

She heard a grunt behind her and turned, throwing her weight onto her back foot before she even saw what was going on.

Charlotte knew it was Landin and she needed to help him, he was their only shot at getting through this with his healing.

A few steps into her charge she saw Landin on his back, the man who had Quetz now on top of him, his hood drawn back revealing a slightly disfigured and burnt face.

"You little shit! Ital be a loss but bringing back three will just have to do!" the man shouted holding Landin down as he pulled a knife from a holster on his back.

Charlotte felt something hit her back leg and an intense searing pain shot up it. But she clenched down on her jaw.

"Power through force! Heavy Blow!" she screamed, throwing the broken shaft of her spear forward at the back of the head of the man on top of Landin.

"Jerry!" someone shouted from behind her.

The man on top of Landin turned back but not before he brought down his knife, a scream and fountain of blood erupting from Landin's face. But Charlotte caught the last glimpse of her thrown weapon making contact with the man's face.

But Charlotte couldn't even scream before she dropped to the floor, the pain in her leg surmounting any thought of getting to Landin to help him further.

She turned on her back the man who had been shielded on her in an instant.

Charlotte screamed as she thrusted her broken spear at the man encroaching on her desperately.

The man grinned with mirth, "Just come quietly you little bitch! It's over!"

But just as he was reaching forward to grab her, another arrow, this time covered in a green light pierced into the man's neck, blood and spittle spilling onto Charlotte. This time there was no shield to help the man and he was caught off guard.

Charlotte gave a primal guttural scream as she gripped her broken spear tackling the man as her leg dragged on the snow-covered ground behind her.

She only saw red.

Charlotte brought the spear tip down on the man. Once, twice, and once more. She began screaming as she continued to strike him in the chest, face, and anywhere else she could as she gave heaped gasps.

Until someone grabbed her hand.

She swung around her hand raised ready to strike whoever had grabbed her, but it was a familiar face instead.

"That's enough. It's over Charlotte."

Standing there with a solemn expression was Drake. He was finally there.

She had almost forgotten that he was near. The day and a half of fighting weren't long, but to her, it felt like weeks. One fight to the next, each one tipping on the edge of a knife just like he said. Then these people. These people had tried to kill them or take them for something worse.

And I had… I killed… Charlotte thought, her face softening from the fierce scowl to one of relief then to finally a weeping sob.

"D-Drake!! I-I…." she cried.

"It's alright, I know. I'm sorry that you had to go through this…" Drake said, pulling her into a hug, ignoring that she was covered head to toe in blood.

Charlotte continued to sob but made out a question, "W-where are the rest? Is… Is everyone else alright?!" she asked, pushing him away slightly as she looked around.

Landin was on the ground sitting as he nursed his eye with one hand. Quetz kneeled down next to him, a concerned look on her face.

"He's going to be fine, he just got cut up a bit," Drake said.

Charlotte looked in the other direction and nearly stumbled to the side.

In the other direction, the last healer was on the ground split in two down the middle and the last man that had ordered for their capture was being held in the air by a very angry-looking Sah Ul' with her two-handed obsidian ax bathed in fresh blood.

Kalik was on the ground behind her unconscious, but she didn't miss the pool of blood under his right hand.

"We got here just when you four couldn't handle it anymore… I'm sorry but we had to let you do as much as you could. This won't be the end of this type of thing. Kalik lost his hand, but I have one charge left of the healing core, so he will be fine. You all did good. I… I can't express how sorry… or proud I am of you all for getting through this," Drake said, the remorse in his voice evident.

Charlotte's legs gave out and Drake scooped her up before she fell, letting her down on the ground next to Landin and away from the blood and gore of the fight with both the wolves and the vampires.

She began calming down and took an offered potion from Drake to heal her leg that had been struck by the man she killed. The bones had been broken in several places making it unsightly to look at.

Charlotte grimaced and itched at the leg as it healed but sighed finally once it was done.

"I'm going to have a nice chat with Mr. Cullen, you four rest up alright? There's going to be harder things still once you have," Drake said evenly, turning and walking toward Sah Ul'.

"That can't actually be that guy's name," Landin scoffed from next to Charlotte.

"Probably not," Charlotte laughed wryly as she turned her head in his direction, spotting Quetz next to him.

Behind Quetz the twins finally came into view, both looking at the carnage with even stares. Atropos somehow surveyed the area despite her eyes being closed and Clotho staying within arm's length of his sister.

Atropos caught Charlotte's gaze and gave a nod. Charlotte reciprocated and turned to her notifications.

[You have killed Norris Grunnum Level 11] [Experience earned]

[Congratulations! You are now Warrior Level 7] [14 Free Points have been awarded]

[Congratulations! You are now Warrior Level 8] [14 Free Points have been awarded]

She also saw a new title that hadn't been there before but she could only look at it with a distant expression.

[Murderer]