The Adventurers Known As Desolation Act I

Chapter 5

In the northwest part of the Darkwood Forest, a party of six adventurers arrived at a stone building that housed the soldiers. Only an eerie silence hovered over the area. The building was the barracks that once housed 10 men as they trained inside the forest.

"Well, then guys, time to begin our investigation."

"Syki . . . The place really is abandoned."

"Yes. We are here to investigate the soldiers that were housed in this barrack. The cause of the disappearance is still unknown. The reports estimate that the building has been abandoned for about twenty-two days now, we need to look really carefully for any clues on their whereabouts. Be very vigilant and cover the area thoroughly. We will split up into partners of two, Erien and I will search the west side of the building, Lylia and Meli will explore inside the building, and Norma and Berym will cover the north side of the building."

Syki gave her orders and the rest of the party immediately moved to complete them. The party of adventurers split up and started the investigation.

                             **************

    Lylia and Meli entered the building, slowly opening the massive wooden double door, they began to look around for clues. They first entered through the mess hall. A long wooden table with ten chairs greeted the girls. The table had a spoiled meal served on a wooden bowl seemingly untouched. Though now the worms had begun eating away at the spoiled lunch. The chairs around the table were disorganized as if the men left in a hurry.

"Lylia. Seems like the soldiers left in a panic. By the look of this setting, it must've happened around their meal time."

"Y-yeah, your right Meli. I was looking forward to some bread and cheese but this horrible stench is just awful! It's killing my appetite. "

The girls began to walk further into the building entering a hallway seemingly leading toward the sleeping quarters of the men. When they arrived at the end of the poorly lit hallway, they spotted a door. Perhaps because they were adventurers with experience or maybe a gut feeling? But Lylia and Meli readied themselves in case someone or something was on the other side of the door. Meli slowly opened the door, peeking inside. The room had two beds on each side overall nothing looked out of the ordinary. After carefully inspecting all five rooms the girls had no luck finding any clues. They reached a sixth room that was used as an armory. The armory was empty, all of the swords and equipment were gone. The eerie atmosphere hung over the building as the girls pressed forward neither couldn't put their finger on it but something was off. They returned back to where they had started and headed towards a door on the right. The two girls readied themselves and quickly swung the door open. Inside the closet was the body of a man, blood covered the stone walls and floor. A strong stench of rotting flesh quickly filled the girl's nose. Lylia let out a big scream as she laid eyes on the bloody mess that filled the closet room. Meli was taken aback and gasped unintentionally, both girls recovered mentally and began to inspect the body. Twisted, stabbed, and smashed, the reason why there was so much blood on the floor was that simple. The body received a lot of trauma that led to the man's horrific and painful death.

"What could've caused this Meli?"

"I don't know but the body is clearly one of the missing soldiers."

Lylia and Meli wrapped up their investigation and closed the closet door. They then exited the building, still keeping a sharp eye around their surroundings to spot any other clues they might have missed along the way. The girls searched the outside of the building and discovered three giant footprints on the west part of the building. Roughly around 80cm X 80cm, the footprints were massive only belonging to an unknown three-legged beast. Meli prepared her bow and launched a flare bomb into the air to let the others know that something important was found. The flare brightly exploded in the sky into a green glowing fireball. Meli sat on a log nearby to wait until the others arrive, taking out a cloth from her pack containing food rations. Meli then made an invitational gesture to Lylia to join her. Lylia declined Meli's offer. The newly discovered body was still fresh on her mind. How Meli could seemingly eat after what they found inside the building? Baffled Lylia.

                           **************

Syki and Erien walked west in search of clues. Erien walked proudly beside Syki, it was his chance to show off his skill to Syki. They entered a dense grove of trees, only a 10 meters radius around the barracks had been cleared of trees and vegetation. The trees were tall and very thick making it very hard to see ahead of them. They slowly walk while looking for anything that led them to the disappeared men.

"S-Syki listen . . . When we get back to blackthorn, can we go out for a drink? or maybe something to eat?"

"Huh? Yeah sure, I'll treat everyone when we get back."

Syki was focused hard on the task, she had heard Erien but she hadn't processed his words carefully. Erien had something different in mind when he boldly asked Syki out. He had developed a crush on Syki since joining the party three months ago. Hearing what Syki said made him a bit depressed but even going out with everyone made him happy as long as he was with Syki. After walking for around 10 minutes into the Grove of trees they finally found evidence of people.

"A battle shield..."

Syki whispered under her breath. The shield had major damage and was also stained with blood. Though the blood looked like black ink by now. Syki concluded that at least one of the missing men would be dead from the sheer amount of blood that was evident around the area. Erien unsheathed his dagger and flipped the shield over with it, revealing a severed hand still holding onto the shield's strap. Erien fell on the ground, breaking away from the crouching position he had adopted earlier when inspecting the found shield. Syki let out a small gasp at the discovery of the severed limb. Small drops of blood followed further into the trees, leading away from the shield on the ground and leading further into the trees.

"I guess we have to go further in."

Syki whispered. As they followed the trail of blood, they came into a clearing, the ground soaked in blood along with a powerful stench that pierced the nose. Scattered everywhere along the ground were swords, shields, and pieces of armor but the bodies were nowhere to be found. Syki walked near the scene where most likely a hard-fought battle had taken place and keenly inspected one of the shields that littered the ground, concluding that the sigil painted on the shield belonged to that house Baylor of Blackthorn. A sword with blackthorns that entangled the blade was of house Baylor no doubt.

"Syki . . . The missing soldiers are probably dead."

"Yes . . . But what in the world would defeat ten men in such a way? Also, why haven't we found any bodies? Besides the severed arm we found earlier and the blood-soaked ground around us, we don't have much evidence to support the claim."

     Syki and Erien suddenly felt an enormous pressure coming from the opposite side from where they were standing. In the shadows near the tree line, they could see a humanoid outline staring back at them with a piercing gaze. The shadow began to walk towards them slowly, coming out of the thick tree grove and into the clearing towards Syki and Erien.

"A person? Could it be the one responsible for the death of the soldiers? Erien! Stand on guard!

The stranger walked calmly towards them, giving off an immense pressure that made Syki's body react instinctively. Syki had more battle experience, she was particularly sensitive to the pressure of enemies especially when they harbored malice towards her, she could even sense the blood lust that a killing intent would give. This was a particular characteristic a lot of monsters or lower demi-humans would give off when such creatures wanted to attack and kill. Smarter foes such as humans or higher demi-humans would control such bloodlust to avoid being detected. This reminded Syki of the time her father trained her to hide her bloodlust by hunting lowgers in the plains where she grew up. Lowgers were four-legged creatures that had incredibly big horns that grew out similar to tree branches, most people hunted them for their hide and their incredibly tasting meat. At first, it surprised Syki the ability of such prey to detect such feelings as bloodlust even when she was far away. Eventually, she learned to control her bloodlust and was able to hunt lowgers without them detecting her and running away. Syki even learned to detect bloodlust when she would witness predators stalking prey in the wild.

        The stranger had bronze-colored armor that covered his whole body. The helmet had its bevor closed, making it impossible to see facial features. As the armored stranger got closer, Erien began to sense fear for the first time since signing up as an adventurer.

Erien hadn't yet learned to detect someone's killing intent but his skin was covered in goosebumps as the man got closer. Suddenly, the armored stranger stopped, reaching for his head from the sides, then lifting his helmet up revealing a face that looked non-human. The man held his helmet carefully tucked between his arm and body. The bronze-armored stranger had pale skin similar to a corpse, short-cut blond hair, and red eyes with wholly blacked-out pupils. The man looked to be in his late twenties with a height of 189cm tall and a moderate body build.

"What do we have here? More test subjects for the master, though I wish there were more of you. No matter, you'll just have to do it for now."

"Who are you? Did you kill the soldiers?"

Syki yelled loudly at the strange man. Though the man just smiled back in response. His grin was impossibly wide, almost reaching from ear to ear. Erien turned to look at Syki he had never seen Syki with her current expression. Her eyes wide opened with not so much as a single blink. Erien felt cold water sliding down his cheek until it reached his neck and into his armor. Erien had started to sweat in fear. His body was reacting on pure instinct, something that had never happened before, not even when he saw a dark minotaur near the northern woods when he was out hunting as a child. Dark minotaurs are feared beasts that would stomp your limbs to prevent escape and then devour you alive, you'd feel every bite until you died.               With lightning speed, the man launched incredibly fast toward them. The man's right arm was in such a way it resembled a blade. He pointed said blade at Syki aiming for her arm. When the bronze man almost reached Syki, Erien jumped in front of Syki with his dagger drawn, colliding it with the stranger's hand creating a sound that could only be created when iron hit iron.

"Syki Run and warn the others! I-I'll buy you some time!"

Syki nodded in response and retreated into the tree grove, she had to warn the other at any cost. Running as fast as she could towards the barracks where the others were.

"Who was that man? And why is he so powerful!?"

   Syki thought. She started to get lost in her thought in search of an answer. Syki knew, that the only way to defeat the bronze man was to regroup with the others, only then did they have a shot at beating the stranger. As Syki continued to run at top speed all the while thinking hard for an answer, she heard a bang above the sky and faintly saw a green light forming a circle. Meli! Syki knew the signal came from Meli and so she headed towards it at full speed.

The strange man was less than one centimeter away from Erien's dagger. The man had stopped just before making contact with Erien with a kick to the abdomen, both men stared each other eye to eye. Erien had readied for the impact but the man had stopped his kick just before striking Erien's dagger. It was on purpose!

       The bronze man smiled once more, recovering his pose into the original calm attitude he had earlier as he approached Syki and Erien for the first time.

"You got it my way human, With your level I don't need my blade arm."

"Got in your way!? Of course, I did! I wouldn't let you put one finger on Syki, you bastard!"

      The smile on the man slowly began to reside, becoming a dark frown. The man's eyes had anger in them and his bloodlust had shot up. Before Erien realized it, the man had grabbed Erien's arm and with incredible strength, the bronze man began to squeeze Erien's arm, forcing Erien to drop the dagger he was holding. Erien tried to free himself from the monstrous grip but he couldn't. No matter how much power Erien tried to gain he just couldn't make the stranger to loosen his grip. A loud screech could be heard coming out from the now panicking Erien as he flailed around. Erien had tried kicking, scratching, biting, and punching at the bronze man's hand that griped Erien's arm to no success. Erien's arm started to crack as the immense grip began to break his bones. It was a horrible sound that seemed to last an eternity to Erien.

"Make it stop! Make it stop!! Make it stop!!! MaKe iT sToP!! MAkE iT StOp!! MAKE IT STOP!!!"

The man lifted Erien's arm upwards bending and crushing it until the last bone cracked. Erien had begun screaming at the top of his lungs, the pain was just too much for anyone to handle.

Erien's arm now looked like a soggy sack of meat, it had begun to turn purple and had become limp. Suddenly a bronze mass in the form of a fist slammed into Erien's abdomen with rapid speed. The punch had caused the air to escape from Erien's lungs leaving him gasping for air. The man began to punch repeatedly into Erien's abdomen, and the iron studs in Erien's armor began to fall to the ground creating a sound of falling coins. When the punching spree seized Erien was thrown to the ground. Erien had started to cough out blood and the pain was so intense that he had started to go unconscious. The punches had been so strong they had caused the armor in Erien's abdomen to break.

" I can't let you sleep now, can I."

Said the bronze man. The stranger walked up to where Erien was now laying and stomped Erien's left ankle crushing the bone flat. Erien screamed as loud as he could possibly scream the immense pain was causing his vision to fade away when he heard a loud noise in the distance, Erien saw a green sphere in the sky.

"Syki...I...lo...v..."

Those were Eriens last words, words meant to be heard by Syki but could not. A sudden impact hit Erien in the forehead. His skull broke inwards, causing both of his eyes to pop out of place. Blackness took over Erien's vision and he became unconscious.

The bronze man kicked Erien sending him flying until hitting a large tree causing the pink mist to spray everywhere. The impact was so strong that Erien's body completely folded in on itself like an accordion. Every bone in Erien's body had been completely crushed.

" That form suits you well like the meager insect you are. Now then, where did your insect friend go?"

                           **************

Syki finally arrived at the barracks building, still trying to regain her breath after running nonstop at top speed.  She began desperately screaming at Lylia and Meli who were sitting on a log.

"M-Meli...Lylia...Stranger...Bronze...Armor...Strong!" Said Syki while catching her breath.

"We have to leave as fast as we can!"

Meli and Lylia were startled and rapidly stood on their feet. looking towards the incoming Syki. Norma and Berym stepped out of the tree grove to the north and calmly approached Lylia and Meli they didn't see Syki who was resting on the log while looking frightened and panicked. The girls explained the situation to Norma and Berym. The shocking news left them speechless for a while. Berym got up and readied his battle axe, looking towards the tree groves to the west, expecting to see a running Erien coming out of the trees.

"Syki what do we do? Are we just going to abandon Erien?"

Said Berym.

"No one said we were going to abandon him! We are just coming up with a plan to rescue him."

Said Norma.

"Yes, Norma is right! Coming up with a plan to rescue Erien is our priority!"

Said Meli.

Syki regained her composure for a moment.

"No! We have to run away! He's too strong for us to defeat! We must report this at all costs!"

Pleaded the frightened Syki.

"What!? Are you telling us to abandon Erien?"

Said Berym.

"Maybe someone cast mind manipulation magic? I'll cast courage to counter it."

Said Lylia.

     Then a sudden pressure made them all freeze. The familiar feeling made Syki's heart sink, knowing that if the strange man had followed her, Erien was most likely dead. Soon a silhouette appeared out of the tree grove, carrying a severed head in his right hand. The party gasped as soon as they saw the severed head and realized it was Erien's head.

"You bastard!! You'll pay for this!!"

Berym yelled at the stranger who was holding his fellow party member's head. Without warning, Meli launched a barrage of arrows toward the man. To finish the battle as soon as possible was the best option. The arrows hit the man but they couldn't penetrate the bronze armor and fell broken to the ground.

"Tsk . . . I hate it when my arrows don't pierce, Soaring Ruo!"

Meli activated her magic and her war bow began to glow in green light. Meli started her assault again this time the arrows shrouded in a green magic flame. The stranger threw Erien's head to intercept some of Meli's incoming arrows. The severed head struck by some of the magic arrows soon melted by the green fire, leaving no sign it ever existed. The green flame on the arrows had the ability to burn extremely hot causing even bone to melt. The man blocked the rest of the incoming arrows by repelling them with his sword. The sword had also begun to melt from the green flame. Norma threw one of her daggers toward an opening in the bronze man's defense. While the stranger was busy blocking Meli's arrows, his lowered guard caused Norma's incoming dagger to pierce him in the abdomen. Though it seemed like a direct hit, it turned out to be the dagger bending inward because of the impact of the man's bronze armor. Syki and Lylia prepared their blades, Lylia with her twin Dual swords, and Syki with her two-handed sword. Syki's sword turned blue as she called out a chant, while Lylia's sword engulfed in a red flame. The man charged at the adventures with the intent to kill, preparing his arm to strike anyone who got in the way. Syki met the strike with her sword then Lylia Began a barrage of attacks with her dual swords

"Twin Fire!"

Yelled Lylia.

The man received a full impact of attacks from Lylia's flame-engulfed swords. While Lylia had the stranger busy with her attacks, Berym attacked the man from behind with a strong swing of his battle axe. The bronze man's body began to glow, black as a night without a moon, and the light emanating from the man's armor oozed evil. Berym's axe hit the man in the back but the impact didn't cut through as it should. Using the surprise to his advantage, the man swung his left arm backward coming into contact with Berym's upper arm near his left shoulder. Berym started to fly from the impact and landed hard on the ground. Norma struck the ground with her sword creating a shock wave speeding toward the man. The shock wave sent the man flying backward slamming into a tree.

"Berym! are you okay?"

Asked a concerned Norma.

"Y-Yes . . . My left arm is broken though, thanks for sending him flying."

"My shock wave spell should buy us some time, anyways, let me heal your broken arm. Greater Heal!"

Norma's spell immediately healed Berym's broken arm. Meli started her campaign against the man that was sent flying. The arrows she launched now had a black flame that glowed with a green outline. She moved as quickly as lightning, launching many arrows toward the man. A cloud of dust lifted with the attack, and the sound of trees demolishing under the arrow attack could be heard.

"Meli that's enough! We need to see if the arrows hit him! It's hard to tell with the dust."

Upon receiving Syki's order, Meli ceased her attack. Without anyone noticing the sudden impact, Meli was hit from her right side and flew towards the building nearby. The speed of the attack left Syki and Lylia at a loss for words. Norma had finished healing Berym and turned to see the stranger standing on the spot where Meli had just been.

"My my. . . What an annoying little elf. Let's see, who's next!"

"No . . . Meli! What did you do to Meli!? You monster!"

"Where are my manners? Dear, Dear I had forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Alvren of the chaos rank nine. I don't have anything against you lot, I guess you could call it wrong place wrong time."

"Alvren?"

Said Syki.

". . . Of the chaos?

Said Norma.

"rank nine?"

Said Berym.

Norma regained her composure and dashed towards Meli. Meli was on the floor struggling to sit up, she had blood running from her forehead and occasionally coughed out some blood. Broken ribs added to her pain. Norma arrived beside Meli and cast Greater heal as fast as she could. Meli regained control of her body and sat up, while still in pain from the hit she was able to stand up. Both Meli and Norma looked towards Syki, Lylia, and Berym, which were standing around 15 meters away talking with the man with Alvren. Without any provocation, Alvren dashed towards Lylia and clashed with both of her swords. Lylia had barely had enough time to manage to block Alvren's attack. At the same time, Syki and Berym launched attacks on Alvren without hesitation. Alvren broke Lylia's defense striking a blow to her abdomen and immediately following with a  kick on the side of her shoulder sending her flying in the direction where Norma and Meli stood. Syki and Berym attacked with no success, Alvren's armor reflected any attack that they managed to land. Berym decided to strike Alvren's waist with a swing that would easily chop down a tree in an attempt to cut him in half. Alvren reflected Berym's attack with a simple yet powerful swing of his fist. Syki realized that Alvren was not an enemy they could defeat. Syki quickly called out Ice bringer and soon her sword radiated a blue light along a cold bone-chilling vapor. Syki's sword had changed its form. With a single strong strike that took almost all of her strength, she hit Alvren in the torso. Vapor filled the area around Alvren. The strike produced a shock wave strong enough to reach Norma, Meli, and Lylia.

"Berym! We have to run! We don't stand a chance against this guy!"

Syki yelled.

Syki and Berym ran towards the girls that had spectated Syki's attack. Norma had finished healing both Meli and Lylia and as if reading Syki's mind, she had led both girls east attempting to escape Alvren. The party of adventurers ran east until they reached the tree line. They proceeded into the trees and ran further east. After running for 15 minutes they reached the end of the tree line and immediately saw people harvesting Beel flowers. They had similar matching armor though one was a female and the other male.

                            **************

        Alvren had been frozen in place, his bronze armor was covered in a thick layer of ice that was created the moment Syki's magic sword strike hit him. For 15 minutes he stood frozen in place. Then, tremendous pressure began leaking out of the frozen Alvren. The ice around Alvren exploded flying and striking the trees around causing pieces of bark and even branches to fly off. The flying ice had so much force that it even chopped some trees down. Alvren had broken free and stood expressionless looking to the east.

"I think I've played around enough with these humans. Time to get serious and end this little game I've started. I could have broken the ice about 10 seconds after that woman landed her sword strike but I was so impressed by her Ice magic that I lost my guard for a little while. I Give her a 15-minute head start. That was my reward for showing me such rare magic. I didn't expect all of them to run away from me. Let's see . . . East, was it?"

Alvren deliberated.

Alvren made a dashing stance as if preparing for the start of a sprinting competition. At an incredibly high speed, Alvren sped towards the direction that Syki and her part fled to. In the blink of an eye Alvren reached the tree line and kept running until a few minutes later he reached the end of the tree line to the sight of a meadow full of flowers but what certainly caught his eye were the people looking back at him.