TAKING SHELTER

So far, this day was the best day Sage had had since coming to Aran. It was not even midday yet and she had already managed to get rid that bothersome half-elf and learn one of the most useful spells ever. With [Teleport] in her possession distance was no longer a factor. The days-long distance from Nervahn to Yshta had been covered in an instant, she had managed to get information on Scions and then travelled to Trenton Highlands, all in the span of an hour.

At the moment she stood in front of the dark maw of a cave. Once upon a time a bunch of mercenaries stormed this place to rescue the kidnapped victims of nearby village. Now as she had returned to the place of her first parting with the quartet, she reinforced her previous idea that it would be the perfect place to lie low for a while.

The journey from Yshta to this cave had actually not been a one-way [Teleport]. From the capital she had first gone to Tiih; it was a city that she had not gotten the time to explore. However. The moment she stepped into the city she could not help noticing the giant posters she had seen in the capital. From the looks of it, Duke Tremas wanted to find her real bad and intended to have the whole of Ysh in on his manhunt. At this point she would not be surprised if he was thinking of extending his search to other countries.

Even so-

Those descriptions aren't much to go on, she had thought when she had first glimpsed the supposed drawing of her.

Honestly, now that she had finally parted with Kaylee she could drastically change her attire and keep Nyx out of sight. If she did that she could walk past the damned duke and his best hunt dogs and none of them would know who she was.

However, she was not one to test fate. Even by only looking at the description, there would be those who would be able to tell that it was her. Some of them, like the Scarlet Quartet, had even seen her face. She did not put it above them to tell what they knew to the duke for a couple gold coins. They were mercenaries after all.

Which was why it was better to retreat to this cave in the middle of nowhere. Here she could relax and take a good look at the tomes of the Cryptmaker. She would not leave until she had absorbed enough knowledge and improved; until she was confident enough that even if she were discovered she could effortlessly escape. This was a quiet place where she could read her books in peace, which was all she desired at the moment.

Unfortunately, even that proved unviable.

In the short two weeks that she and the mercenaries massacred the bandits who used this place as a hideout, it had been occupied once more, and by more bandits it seemed.

The first thing she noticed when she first [Teleport]ed was a man seated at the mouth of the cave. This particular vagrant wore old clothes so worn out they had probably been passed down a couple of times, their original colour clearly a thing of history. At his side was an old sword sheathed in an older scabbard. The man had ignored it enthusiastically as he smoked a herb with an unfamiliar scent in a rolled up paper. However, the moment she appeared before him he dropped the joint and jumped to his feet before finally remembering he had a sword. Then he scooped it up and unsheathed it, pointing its rusty edge in her direction.

"Who are you?" he demanded in a panicked voice. He then revealed himself as a total amateur when his eyes left her to peek back at the mouth of the cave and shout, "INTRUDER!"

She of course did not take advantage of this massive blunder. Instead she waited.

Race: Human (Human)

Physique: Grade 5

Mana: F (White)

He was not a threat. Even the way he was holding his sword was wrong. It looked more akin to how a farmer would grasp a hoe. If such a person was the lookout then the rest of them could not be too tough. Still, she cast [Shield] on herself. One could never be too careful.

"How many of you are in there?" she tried to start up a conversation.

"We are many!" the man replied viciously. "Our boss is strong. You better run away or else!"

His tone was too panicked to take seriously.

"I'll take my chances," she responded just as others burst out of the mouth of the cave.

They were a quintet, not much better dressed than their lookout. Two of them carried spears, one a sword and the remaining two had bows pointed at her. Their stats were not much different and there was only one among them who seemed to know how to grasp his weapon.

"Be careful fellas," their lookout buddy warned. "She's a witch. Saw her appear out of thin air like it was nothing."

"What are you doing here witch?" the only competent one demanded with a bow pointed in her direction. "Be gone. We don't want nothing with your kind!"

"The feeling's mutual," she responded calmly. "But I happen to covert this cave and now I find it occupied. So what do you expect me to do?"

"Find another!" someone else shouted, gripping his spear callously.

To this response she quirked up her lip, not that any of them could see it. "I have no desire to look for another cave. Considering I'm one of the people who evacuated the previous owners, I believe I have more of a claim to it than any of you do."

Her revelation seemed to take them by surprise. Their eyes widened as they stared at her in disbelief.

"You…" the competent bowman could not seem find the right words. She could almost hear creaky gears in his head turning before he finally came out with a response. "You were the one who left all those corpses here?"

"You found them here when you moved in?" she asked, surprised.

How soon after the Scarlet Quartet had whisked their recued hostages away had these guys moved in? It could not have been that long because this place was teeming with predators. They would have definitely been attracted by the days old reek of the corpses and settled here and if they had done so these guys would not be the ones she would be meeting. If these guys had marched in after that, they would not have survived. They did not look like they could take down a single wolf.

"So you guys moved in while the corpses were still fresh?" she asked, amazed. "What is wrong with you? Did you not think that the ones responsible would return?"

"I-" the competent bowman once again could not find the right words to articulate.

Fortunately, he did not need to.

"Where is the intruder?" came a commanding voice from inside the cave.

The half-dozen men outside released sighs of relief as a woman in brown leather emerged with a dozen or so men trailing her. She was stocky with olive brown skin, which accentuated her the muscles of her arms; one of which heaved a giant double-sided battle-axe on her shoulder. The confident manner in which she did so was a clear indication she was at least more competent than the rest of her companions. Her confidence though, was at odds with her height, which appeared to be only slightly more than Arletta's. All of her minions dwarfed her. A scar ran vertically on the right side of her face along a trail where her ear should have been. There was a fierce look in her dark eyes as they fell upon Sage.

"You're the intruder?" she asked redundantly.

Sage's response was to look her up and down.

Race: Half-Dwarf (Human)

Physique: Grade 4

Mana: G (Yellow)

She was not much of a threat either.

"Not gonna talk?" the woman asked. "Then you fuck outta here!" She heaved the axe from her shoulder and pointed it at Sage. "Leave all your valuables behind while you're at it."

The jeers of the men in agreement with the leader gave Sage the urge to rub her forehead. Instead, she endured it and fixed her gaze on the woman.

"Here's a counter offer. You and your minions fuck out of here while I'm still in a good mood."

They at least deserved that considering they had not attacked her on sight like many bandits surely would. Also, she was obviously not going to live in a smelly and dirty cave, so if she killed them she would have to clean up the corpses. That would be another pain on its own.

"So that's your answer," the woman was not smiling. "Okay boys… kill her!"

In the next moment more than a dozen men charged her, including those who had originally been wary. Those who remained behind nocked their arrows and fired at her. Unfortunately they were not able to penetrate her [Shield].

Sage sighed at their decision. No one ever listen to reason when it was not backed by force.

She deployed [Blight] just as the first of the bandits got into a ten metre radius of her. He immediately began to scream as moisture left his body at a visible rate, causing his body to dry up in front of his comrades' eyes. The horror of such a sight caused them all to halt, but it was too late for some of them as they were only a step away when they noticed the change. They were unable to avoid stepping into [Blight]'s sphere of influence and befell the same fate. Only seven of the charging group survived, and what they had witnessed caused them to drop their weapons.

Seeing they had no more will to fight, Sage cast her eyes on the half-dwarf, who wore a terrified expression. Without giving her a chance to react, she {Blink}ed to her side and touched her shoulder. Then she cast [Polymorph].

The downside of this 5th Order spell was that one needed to be within a metre distance to cast. It was not feasible in fights against tough opponents, though in this particular case where everyone was just short of petrified, it was perfect.

The moment she released the spell the shocked woman's eyes widened as she seemed to feel something wrong. Her body began to shrink out of her clothes, her skin turning grey, at a rate almost too fast for the eye to follow. She opened her mouth to say something, but what came out was a croak. Where there once was a woman more than a hundred and fifty centimetres tall there was now a toad about ten centimetres tall.

Sage used [Mage Hand] to levitate the transformed woman to her actual hand. Feeling the toad's slimy skin even with her gloves, she could not help the urge to react in disgust. Fortunately she was wearing a mask, so none of the bandits could see her expression. She held their [Polymorph]ed leader in front of them, invoking gasps.

"This is your last warning," she said with as with much indifference as she could muster. In actuality she wanted to throw the toad away. That icky feeling of the creature's skin sent shivers up her spine and not in a good way. She had loathed amphibians for as long as she could remember, toads most of all. "Now I will count to twenty. If you're still here I'll start chucking [Fireball]s."

"W-what about our belongings?" the competent bowman from earlier was the only one who seemed to have the courage to speak.

"One," she began counting.

They got the message. The scramble began almost immediately. Before they did though she threw their boss at one of them.

"The spell will wear off in a few minutes," she revealed.

The greater the difference in mass between what the object and what it had been changed to, the faster it would revert to its original shape. Physique also played a part as those with stronger bodies shook off negative spell effect much easier. Sage guessed the dwarf woman would regain her form in at most five minutes.

"If I see any of you again I'll turn you ants and step on you," she finished with a half-hearted threat. The recipients took it seriously though as they gasped, with the toad croaking in the literal sense. She continued on unbothered. "Now get! Two… three… four…"

By the time she reached ten they had already disappeared into the trees. She no longer payed attention to them as she felt Nyx pop out of her shadow.

"Master. I got the stuff!" he exclaimed, a little proud of himself.

"Good." She scooped him into her arms and scratched his ear, eliciting a satisfied purr from him. "Let's check out our temporary home," she muttered.

Hopefully the recently departed bandits had left something to make this place feel homely.