CH5.4: Counting The Herd

Wild horses ran through a river bucking and playing, while the unicorns were more sedate and snobbish. The elves had clearly spoiled them. Nightmare stamped her hooves on the ground and flicked her mane, clearly trying to catch Vincent in the eye. She turned a side eye to him and whinnied. Other horses got excited and shared the cry. Vincent used his presence, feeling an energy normally contained within him reach out and spread wide until it became frail. He forced it back in until he was comfortable and held it there.

At that point, he didn't quite know what to do. He could feel them within his presence, especially Nightmare; after giving her a name, she seemed to ping off his presence. She felt like a little bundle of electricity dripping in shadows. The others were harder to determine.

Vincent searched through some forums and read through something called projection. It wasn't the cool; I cast sword bullet projections from fate; no, he could project feelings to those touching his presence. So much lamer than blasting swords like a machine gun from an unlimited world of history's best-remembered and embellished murder weapons. That would have been great and not exactly what he needed. If he could fire swords, then all problems would be full of holes.

He pushed out feelings, not the dirty ones or those better left buried until he was alone and watching sad movies. Nope, they were more like come with me for food and fun. Vincent projected his love of riding Nightmare, and his happy unicorn grunted in fondness. That let him know he was on the right track. She was getting some pills when they were available.

Some unicorns approached, jealous of the love between a man and their awesome unicorn. Nightmare was huge, faster than a racehorse, and magic; what's not to like. Their envy allowed him to sell his feelings much easier. The normal horses came over following the unicorns, and then the entire herd seemed interested. Vincent turned to Nightmare, who happily swished her tail and preened as she led the herd back toward camp.

The sun was in the middle of the sky, and he hadn't been ambushed. Vincent tried not to send any strange feelings through his presence and tightened it around the unicorns as much as possible. He had a blanket that transferred his feelings, but the further it spread, the thinner the connection. Fortunately, the envious big boss mares and stallions came in close, and he felt one bite him.

Vincent glared at the stallion grinding its teeth and trying to bite a chunk out of the barbarian's leg. Nightmare kicked at the stallion, driving the brute with the pointy horn off. He was sure to have a bruise, but the pills had made him too tough to bite a chunk out of for an Uber horse. That was a definite improvement.

When the camp came in sight, Vincent was happy it wasn't burned down. Hector was a great guy, and Vincent had already picked out which unicorn would be the elf's. The bastard stallion who bit him would have the pleasure of being broken.

"Would you like it if someone rode you? This isn't the way of Deus; the sky god would be ashamed of these heretics." A loud elf yelled. "Riding is slavery. Don't be a human." More musical elf voices called out.

He put on his go-pro and quickly set up his Livestream while the druidesses repeated their chant.

A line of elves and men in their early teens to late thirties lined up to enter the camp. An elf wearing armor ran up to him, and one of the young unicorns shot forward, horn aimed to take out the recruit. Vincent snapped his presence with a sense of discouragement at the unicorn, and it stumbled before slowly turning back to the herd.

"Thanks, captain. I'm glad your back; we have a problem." Vincent stared up at a group of mostly peaceful protesting female elves.

One turned to him, and then it was like a domino effect. The elves gave him disapproving looks before marching together. Vincent sighed and took out some rope. Cordage and the know-how to tie a proper knot for a lasso were extremely useful.

Roots twirled around the druid, becoming a lance that extended from her hand. Vincent assumed her goal was to jab him off of Nightmare's back. It was a mistake. The druids moved in a mob, practically foaming at the mouth as they converged on Vincent.

He dismounted as the hoplites white knights took the lead, and the druidesses pulled back to let them attack him first.

Challenge 7 Timelimit 10min

Complete: Route the enemy mob

Rewards

5 C Red Pills

Complete: Take them down before any druidesses can run away.

Reward

5 C Blue Pills

Complete: Give Druidesses to your men

Reward

1 C White Pill Raise Meaning and Management. Those who eat the white pill can damage spiritual entities, and their forces will become more organized.

Vincent punched through the line, grabbed one of the druidesses, and hog-tied her on the spot. Then he grabbed the leafy shirt of a druidess and ripped it off her exposing her breasts. The white knights returned in time for him to free his bow. He jumped high in the air, and from that point, Vincent shot arrows through the legs of white knights.

The barbarian landed lightly like he was using wires and continued to shoot until nearly 200 white knight cucks were pinned to the ground. Some were armored in bronze plate, while others wore bronze pots and pans strapped with leather. A druidess ran for it, and Nightmare ran the woman down.

He walked through the small army of druidesses, holding them back with pure intimidation.

"The unicorns are clearly on your side; perhaps we have misinterpreted the situation." A druidess said while the runner screamed while Nightmare chased her back to the group.

"Good; now that all of you are together, I can count," Vincent said.