A wrong expectation

Lifting the curtain to the tent and peeking inside, Kathariel turned around and let it fall back. Her face was pale, even more so than normal for the lovely looking elf.

Looking towards Jay while slightly shaking her head she directed her eyes onto her last remaining soldier.

"You should stay outside and watch out for enemies. There might be some coming back and we didn't encounter a chief or other leaders until now..." K.

"Is it that bad?" Jay whispered as he walked past her and was about to pull the curtain to the side.

Kathariel grabbed his shoulder and signaled him to wait while hinting towards her subordinate.

The moment the female soldier had turned around and gained a little distance, the Lieutenant answered Jay's question.

"Even in war-regions, I haven't seen something like this. This is sick... be prepared!" K.

Getting slightly anxious from Kathariel's words, Jay pushed the curtain to the side and looked inside.

It was true the sight was not something for delicately-tempered people, but he had seen worse until now.

Inside the tent lay two human women and four Gnolls that seemed to be females. Of the two human women, one was missing her arms and legs, while the other one looked pregnant. The same applied to the Gnolls laying down nearly motionless, even as Jay peeked inside.

Turning to the small elf who had come to his side as he held open the curtain, Jay asked her what she was going to do.

"First off let's get rid of those Gnolls. Then we will see to what's next..." K.

Taking out his Wingblade, Jay went inside the tent and took care of the Gnolls. Each died to a stab in the heart by his blade, while Kathariel went over to the two human women.

While the pregnant woman begged to be freed from her bindings, the other just stared at the female elf.

"...kill....k-....kill me...plea-se....." was all she was able to stammer.

Looking at her state, nude and without her limbs, only covered by a shabby blanket, she probably got defiled by those beasts more than once.

Jay had no idea what to do, he just pitied the woman that looked no older than thirty.

It was Kathariel that took the initiative. After she guided the other women out to her subordinate soldier, she went back inside while Jay was still hesitating.

Without wait she unsheathed her shortsword and ended the womans life with a stab through her neck.

"Was there no other option?" J.

"And what would that be?" K.

"I don't know... Ain't there no way to heal her limbs or some kind of prostetics?" J.

"Yeah, both is possible, at least that's told... But even if you find a healer capable of it or use artificial limbs, it's extremely costly. That's not something an average Adventurer or soldier could afford.... And what about her mind?" K.

"It's just..." J.

"Yeah, it's hard. That's where Adventurers are very different from soldiers..." K.

"Still with that?" J.

"It's true though... But it also show's you have a good heart at least. I already had to do similar things in war before..." K.

With this she left the tent to look after the two women waiting outside. Jay stepped next to the dead woman and plugged the item they were looking for out of the ground.

Like he had guessed there was another totem inside this camp. Storing it inside his inventory, Jay left the tent as well.

Taking a deep breath of fresh air, or at least air that was less smelly, he walked over to where the women were waiting.

The air in the camp had gotten filled with the smell of blood and smoke from the burning tents that fell prey to his lightning fist.

That's what his system called his invented spell.

"You know, there is one thing bugging me." J.

"Oh, and what is it this time?" K.

"Don't you also miss some chief or leader for a camp this big? There has to be one in the vicinity..." J.

"...Now that you mention it, I had thought of the same before. But why would it be away?" K.

"Maybe it's hunting?" J.

"H-hunting w-what?" Soldier

""Adventurers!"" J./K.

Looking at each other, Kathariel and Jay knew what they had to do.

Their plan was to send the two other women back towards the garrison first. After guiding them to the river in the east which they crossed and proceeded along the other shore, Jay and the Lieutenant ran back to the camp.

***

Quest:

'Close by Gnolls' cleared!

1500 XP

***

***

Quest:

Close by Gnolls (2)

Object:

Defeat the Gnoll-Chief

***

Their mobility was way higher than the others, even if those had been in top condition, so the trip back didn't take that long.

Back in the camp they checked if anything had changed. To their relief, the leader didn't come back, meaning it still was on the hunt and at least not all adventurers dead.

With the river in sight to the south and not much distance to the east, the two fighters went towards the north-west.

After crawling through thick undergrowth and encountering another patrol, they arrived at another clearing.

The moment they stepped on the grassy expanse with a big hill they heard the sounds of fighting.

Rushing onward they spotted a truly massive Gnoll fighting a group of three Adventurers. The three men were on the loosing side, with the two vanguards bearing heavy wounds and barely holding on.

The one in the back with a bow looked pretty fine, but that was only until the others would fall.

On their way over towards the Adventurers, they saw a fresh corpse that was nearly split in half.

Barely into reach, Jay used his [Analyze] on the men and the towering Gnoll. While the Adventurers were nothing special and barely level 12, the monsters name somehow rang a bell to Jay.

__________

Hogger [lvl. 18 (Elite)]

(Gnoll)

HP 1140/1265 Mana 0/0

[Vicious Slice]

[Rushing Charge]

__________

While the Gnolls level and skills didn't look that high, the small golden note behind it's level was something new to Jay. He was about to ask Kathariel what that meant, but the woman had readied her bow and was firing arrows on the monster.

To his surprise though, she missed.

Jay had seen her precision as she, whenever she used her simple bow, shot straight into her targets forehead.

But this Hogger had anticipated the shot and dodged it, while at the same time taking down one of the Adventurers attacking him.

While yelling "back down" on top of his lungs, Jay casted his arcane missiles with both hands. It was his only homing spell at this point, and he was hoping for it to hit.

While the last remaining vanguard did just as Jay said and backed down, the archer of their group kept shooting.

The same applied to Kathariel, but she was focused on covering the retreating Adventurer as she had understood the Gnoll could dodge most of her shots.

Shooting his spells, Jay saw the monster squinting its eyes. They had closed the distance while casting and shooting arrows respectively and were only about 20 yards away.

At this close of a distance, Jay was pretty sure his spell would hit.

And it did.

But only the first one.

Jumping to the side as the arcane missile was coming in, the monster hadn't thought it would be homing.

The spell redirected itself and hit its shoulder that was protected by a big plated shoulder-guard. Though it got destroyed by the attack, it still protected the Gnoll from a lethal hit.

As it knew the spell was homing, the monster took off for a run. Going on all fours like a wild beast, it charged at the archer that was furthest away. One of it's skills seemed to boost the charge and Hogger could even get some distance to the second arcane missile that was coming for him.

With eyes wide and horror written on his face, the Adventurer saw the impeding doom rushing towards him, not able to dodge anymore.

But contrary to his expectation, there came no impact.

The Gnoll simply leaped over him.

Everyone stared in shock at the action the Gnoll had taken.

Understanding that the spell was homing, it used a skill meant for attacking to gain some distance and then used on of the adventurers as meat shield, grabbing him from behind.

As the arcane missile struck and bore a hole in the chest of said adventurer, Hogger simply dispatched of him and rushed towards the treeline.

Even the hastily constructed earth wall and rain of arrows didn't hinder its escape.

Rushing for the archer in hopes to heal him, Jay knelt down besides him even though he in truth knew it was hopeless.

He had even already received the experience points for a kill. After trying to activate his healing skills and none of them worked, Jay looked at his log and confirmed it.

'Kaien was killed by friendly fire (920 Dmg)' was written in red letters on Jay's log.

He couldn't help but keep staring at it.

Some seconds later, Kathariel and the last Adventurer arrived by Jay's side. She ordered the Adventurer to leave for the east and follow the river like her soldiers had done.

With the Chief fled to the north-west and most of those monsters killed, they were hoping for this route to be clear.

"We need to catch that big Gnoll. That one is way to strong! And don't worry about the friendly fire, it won't flag you as murderer..." K.

"What, you think that's the problem here? That Gnoll... its probably so agile because it's an elite monster, right?" J.

"An elite? How would you know?" K.

"So you know what that means?" J.

"Tsk, you don't even know that? Elites are even rarer than named monsters, and way stronger and tougher. ...and by a lot that is." K.

Picking up the fallen Adventurers bow and quiver, Jay got to his feet.

The last living adventurer of this group had already left and was entering the undergrowth as Jay saw the elfs disapproving expression.

"What is it?" J.

"...Another thing that differentiates a soldier from a Adventurer. You guys have no problem taking a dead's belongings, huh?" K.

"I don't hear any refusal... It's not like the dead have a use for the equipment." J.

"And what about their relatives? They could get at least a memento or if it's worth something, a compensation..." K.

"Yeah, and who would come out here and fetch it, other than some Gnolls? Friendly fire is okay for you but taking their stuff is a no go? That's not logical at all..." J.

Ignoring her baffled look, Jay went towards where Hogger had vanished.

The elf clearly has had a bad experience with Adventurers, that much was clear to Jay, but what kind of, he had no idea. To show her disapproving that open, something serious must have happened.

Crawling through the undergrowth they kept looking for paw prints and traces to track down the fled Gnoll.

Of course it was Kathariel that found a trail and they followed it as silent as possible.

Suddenly Jay's intuition rang alarm.

Signaling her to duck down, he activated his hide skill.

Looking around he found it.

The monster they were looking for was crouching on a fallen tree meters above them in not even ten yards distance. Signaling the Lieutenant where to look at, she readied her bow.

Just as they had readied, the Gnoll revealed itself with a creepy laughter and activated his rush. Like a furry cannonball it shot down from the tree, closing in on Kathariel.

The elf couldn't do anything else but dodge, though she was slightly late.

To her luck, Jay had already prepared a spell and himself for the rushing charge.

The earth-wall that suddenly formed in the Gnolls flight path decelerated it pretty unceremonious.

Jay was sure the impact could be heard even in a miles distance.

Using the short gap he had gotten from the monsters crash, Jay prepared another spell. Rushing in from the right, Jay punched straight at the just standing up Hogger.

The impact from his real all out punch, boosted by mana and loaded by lightning magic resulted in a furball shooting away and crashing into the next tree trunk where static shocks unloaded.

During those few seconds it took Jay to block the Gnoll and save Kathariel, she didn't even move an inch.

Only as the smell of burned meat and fur hung in the air, Jay walked towards the big hyena-like monster that still hung on the tree some feet over the ground, did she come back to her senses and readied her bow again.

Two simultaneous arrows from her affixed Hogger's forelimbs to the trunk so he couldn't retaliate.

Taking out his Wingblade and enhancing it with fire magic, Jay beheaded the Gnoll with one swift slash. It's big spiky collar dropped to the ground with a loud bump.

Jay was going to store it in his inventory when he spotted an engraved 'property of T.F.' inside the collar.

"You... thank you. You really are no normal Adventurer, right?" K.

"Hmm? ...but I am a normal Adventurer. You're welcome by the way..." J.

"Your strength is not anything to call normal though!" K.

"We should head back and report. Along the river or straight north-east?" J.

"We will take the direct route and clear out possible leftovers. Their strength is too much for this region." K.

"Sounds good." J.

On the way through the forest and towards the road, they encountered another three patrols. Together they made short work of them and after a short while they arrived at the main road.

Just as Kathariel was about to dash forward, Jay summoned his black horse.

The small elf was absolutely startled as he reached a hand down to her.

"Want me to give you a ride?" J.

It was the first time he saw her loosing her stern expression and even getting a slight blush. She still took the offer and seated herself behind Jay.

A smile formed on Jay's lips as her attitude seemed to slowly soften, and to something else he felt on his back that was soft.

And it felt bigger than expected...