63 The Thief

Cyrus landed on the ground with a heavy thud, bending his knees and rolling to avoid breaking his legs. As he righted himself he stood where the Mutilamposaurus had collapsed and Visne crawling over its fallen corpse. He quickly returned her as he didn't want her to potentially become infected by the shadow that now seemed to be leaking from its body. This bothered him as normally a shadow creature he killed would vaporize but now, but it's carcass remained intact except for the hole in his body.

Urik came up to Cyrus and looked at the boss, "Is it dead?" Cyrus didn't take his eyes off the boss to look at Urik, but he shook his head. Extending out his hand he proceeded to use the Purifying Hand blessing. His system stated that the shadow was resisting but it inevitably succumbed and was weakened enough by the power of the blessing.

[You may now devour the remaining shadow, Vexxitiz will grow in strength with this level of shadow.]

Cyrus used his Devour skill as chains of purple flames came from his hands and pierced the boss. The chains tore through the carcass as the shadow tried to leave the body but it's weakened strength was being tied down by the chains. As it had wrapped the body, the chains then retracted pulling along the shadow towards his hand. Vexxitiz hummed with delight at the sudden boost in his own strength causing the black helmet he was formed in to change shape slightly.

[Congratulations! You defeated the Mutilampousaurus and devoured the shadow inhabiting it. Rewards are being calculated.]

Cyrus then turned to Urik as the boss was now slowly dispersing like it normally should have. "We have survived the fight," he turned to see that the beasts that were covered in the plants had the masses fall off and wither to ash. "The boss really did corrupt the beasts of this world." The beasts ran quickly away as some looked around and started to graze. Like actual animals they returned to their normal ways as soon as the plants died.

With the boss defeated everyone that had survived or were conscious cheered for their victory. Urik and Cyrus returned to the fort as he returned his summons back to his shackle. However, Vexxitiz seemed to be bustling on Cyrus' head.

"Who knew the shadows have extended out to a place like this, I didn't sense the shadow at first which was odd. But as soon as it was injured and the creature it inhabited started to draw on the power of the shadows, it revealed itself." Cyrus also thought it was strange his system didn't detect the shadow when he first arrived there in the world. "However, I am now going to focus on processing this shadow's power." With that, Vexxitiz went silent and just as Hilda ran over to Cyrus.

"We did it! We survived the attack! And what was that large explosion just now? Was that…" she kept going with more questions and praises that Cyrus kind of tuned it out. He didn't exactly feel comfortable with it as he was still keeping up an image as this Renegade. But as he was tuning out of the praise from Hilda, his system gave him a notification.

[Hilda respects you greatly, Urik thinks you are worthy enough to follow into battle. Chance to recruit followers increased to 80%]

[Will you reveal yourself to have the potential to gain further trust or will you remain an enigma for them? A leader must be honest with those under him.]

Cyrus contemplated the reaction from the system, having to think on if staying hidden to his potential followers rather than open with them. He held up a hand to Hilda, "If I may speak," Hilda silenced herself quickly nodding. Cyrus approached the entrance to the fort where he saw injured soldiers, men and women who fought hard to protect it as they were sworn to do so. "I have something to say to you all!" He shouted which had every head facing him.

"You all did very well, take pride you all survived today and continue to strive for improvement. For there will always be harder enemies to face, some worse than what you've seen here!" He scanned all their faces as they turned to look at each other. He could see their confusion and concern about what he was claiming. "There is a force beyond the normal Chaos Beasts we have fought in the past. Something is stirring and it is going to become more of a threat if we as the human race do not become strong enough to defeat it."

Cyrus then looked to Urik and Hilda, "I will make sure to fight this force, but I can not do it alone. As you saw here," he gestured to the vanishing corpse of the boss, "this was no ordinary Chaos Beast, writhing inside its body was the said force I described." As he went on to talk about the beings that dwell within the darkness. How they possess people with weak wills or attempt to control powerful people.

Others among the crowd seemed to whisper amongst themselves, "Could what he is saying be true?"

"You saw what he did with those chains and what he pulled out of the boss." Another said, pointing to the Renegade.

"He helped us, why would he lie about this?" Many more whispers passed from lips to ears as Cyrus now walked towards Urik and Hilda. His stature wasn't as imposing or large as Urik, but he wanted to inspire if not encourage those around him to get stronger. "Urik, Hilda, I need to speak with you, privately." He walked towards one of the command tents and summoned Fenrir.

"Go follow the scent that was left by that creature, or send one of your wolves, you still have two that are around." Fenrir growled then turned and ran out of the fort with his wolves disappearing into the forest. Urik and Hilda watched the Renegade's summons leave and asked where they went. Cyrus didn't even turn around as he brushed aside the tent's door flap. "To follow a trail of a suspicious entity, something was watching our fight."

With that he then sat down in a chair which faced the entrance as Urik and Hilda entered after him. "What is it you wanted to discuss Renegade?" Urik asked looking at Cyrus as he seemed to be lounging in the chair. "As well as who was watching?"

Cyrus turned his gaze to Urik, "I don't know who was watching, just something was and I sent my summons to go seek it out. As for what I want to discuss with you was this," he straightened himself in the chair. "I want to ask if you'd like to follow me and help protect the human world from danger beyond the current threat of the Chaos Beasts? I am gathering followers from all over help me combat a threat that could destroy everything." Urik and Hilda looked at one another, wondering if what they heard was true.

"But that would require us to abandon our current stations," Hilda said, "What insurances do we have if we do join you and what enemies would we be facing?" Cyrus looked at Urik who had a scowl on his face, "As well as, how can we trust that you are actually in defense for humanity and not part of some dark and dastardly villain group?"

Cyrus smiled as he stood up, "Cause I want to trust you guys and I have seen what you can do. Urik your power hurts the Shadows that are the threat. Hilda, your magical knowledge and skills are some of, if not the most desired part of your experience." He snapped his fingers and caused the helmet Vexxitiz was making to disperse and return back to a dormant state. "As well as to show you that I am human and that I used to be part of a faction known as Fenrir. As I was the one who closed the Tear that affected the Fenrir Building."

Urik didn't expect to see such young man as he thought this renegade was older, at least well in his thirties. For the experience and power of Hunter was accustom with their time as being a Hunter. But right now, he saw a young man in his early 20's with ashen grey hair and with eyes that told him he had experienced much. While at the same time Hilda held her breath, as she couldn't believe this was the Renegade.

"It…" Hilda started to speak, "it would be an honor to work under someone as coordinated, strong, and…" a loud bark cut into their conversation as Cyrus walked outside to greet his summons. Vexxitiz reformed the helmet cowl for Cyrus' identity to remain a mystery to those that weren't in the tent. As he exited the tent, he saw that not only did they return with a feather, but a man as well. Urik and Hilda joined Cyrus looking down at the man who was struggling to get out from under Fenrir's foot.

"Get this mangy mutt off me!" Screamed the man, causing Fenrir to growl in a deep and menacing tone. This caused the man to go silent as he saw who he was standing in front of.

Hilda looked down at the man and scowled, "You? Of all people it was you?" She pointed out towards the man. It was Jack, the scout that was with the hunting party Urik led. His hood had fallen off and revealed his face. It seemed scarred, and damaged like he was in a fight or punished. Cyrus knelt down close to the man and held his hand out towards his body. As he did so, a new skill appeared as he was attempting to reach for an item in Jack's possession.

[Steal: Allows the user to attempt to steal an item or currency from the target. Chances of success depends if the target is distracted or not. Success rate (bonus with Dex stat): 16% or 56% when distracted]

When he saw this, a window of items on Jack's person appeared. When he saw this he quickly searched the items and found the item he was looking for, a book. But that wasn't all, there was an item that had a [???] as its name. Cyrus took that as well, but noticed that all items were received easily. When he looked at the percentage as it hovered in the upper right corner of the screen he saw it say 100% (Restrained target). Which he guessed was the easiest way to receive items.

[Skill will not increase because of restrained target. Chance of skill improving will only occur when used properly.]

This was the system telling him he couldn't cheat the system to make the skill better. But he just smiled now knowing the system itself was intelligent enough to know what he was thinking. But with that he took the two items, the book and the mysterious object. He stood up and manifested the book into his hands.

"Hilda I believe this belongs to you," Cyrus passed her the book and she took it and brought it to her chest, happy to have her research back into her possession. Hilda walked over and slapped Jack in the face before returning to the tent. Urik stepped forward and looked down at this poor excuse of a soldier of light.

"Jack Brontem, I am relieving you of service of the Radiant Dawn and here by exile you from our company. You are no longer able to return to any of our sanctuaries, nor can you receive any help from us from this day forward." With that, Urik walked back into the tent as Cyrus held onto the object that was in Jack's possession.

"H-hey! That doesn't belong to you! You don't know what that is!" Cyrus just turned and walked back towards the tent.

"And you don't know what you're dealing with or what you possess." With that Fenrir dragged Jack out of the fort and kept him from coming in. Jack didn't have his weapons as people looked at him and was disgusted by having a thief amongst them. Jack had no where to go, no one to turn to, so he left heading for the forest and back to the rift's entrance. Or so people thought.