For about a week now, stories had been traveling throughout the common and forsaken regions, but seemed to have taken their time in getting to the royal capital or the magic squads. People going missing in the coves along the western border near and around Hapshass, where people have reported hearing strange singing in the middle of the night, as well as eerie lights moving beneath the waves. Entire fishing communities disappearing in a matter of minutes along the eastern border, coming together with a strange mist rolling in from the open ocean and reports of dragons moving inside of them and potentially being the case of both the mist and the disappearances. All of it had reached Griswold’s ears as he passed from one inn or tavern to the next, and clearly most of it was just a bunch of exaggerated stories and old wives tales told by people in passing.

Still, the fact that he had heard about these things popping up recently in various locations across both the forsaken region and the common region meant that there was likely some truth to it, which was why he had gone east first. With the festivities going on in Hapshass, he had seen various magic knights and other capable mages being gathered in the area to take part in the celebrations, meaning there were at the very least people around in case something happened. When it came to the farming communities that weren’t too far from where he was, or the fishing settlements along the shoreline, that was not the case. They were as unprotected and forgotten as they ever were, which usually worked out in their favor as trouble usually remained far away from those who had nothing to give. Clearly this time, whoever had gotten to these places had not been after any valuables.

In the past twenty four hours, Griswold had been moving along the shore, only stopping to inspect the settlement he passed by. In every location he had passed, he had smelled the same metallic scent in the air, one that was different from the puddles of blood he found. In both of the settlements he had come across, there were signs of struggle, signs of battle, and signs of death. The amounts of blood he found made it clear that people had bled out, though the fact that there were no bodies anywhere bothered him. No attempts had been made at tossing them into the ocean, sticking them inside of a fisherman’s tent somewhere or putting them into a shallow grave, meaning whatever had killed these people had either eaten them, or taken them along. For a while, he had wondered as to what he might have been looking for because of it, wondering whether or not he was searching for some kind of hungry monster or beast or not.

But that train of thought came to a grinding halt when he found footprints leading out of the village thanks to a patch of beach clay. Shocked to find so many of them, it was hard to tell exactly how many people had been here, but it was clear that they had moved from and back to the ocean after the slaughter was complete. Adding to the belief that this had been done by people was the fact that in both places, all of the food, water and beverages had been taken, which was not something a monster would do. Still stuck wondering why such a large group would maneuver along the shoreline, collecting bodies, food and water and very little else, Griswold had made his way to the third settlement in line. Or rather, he could see it from a distance. What he could also see was the large bank of fog laying in wait in a large area surrounding it, both on the side of the ocean and along the route leading further inland.

Whatever this meant, he wasn’t entirely sure, though he knew that he wouldn’t be finding out anything by just lingering. He had to get into the settlement and see what he was working with. Because the mist was still out there, there was a chance that he might still be able to find someone who could be saved, or maybe whatever had happened to the other settlements had not yet transpired here. And so, with his sword strapped to his back, Griswold began venturing towards the place, being as prepared as he could be while keeping his senses sharp. If anyone was going to be making a move here, it wouldn’t go unnoticed.

766

“That depends entirely on how well you can handle yourself in a fight, and how quickly you can process new information.”

Responding to the question given without turning around to actually acknowledge the guy standing behind him, his gaze did not leave the settlement and the fog bank that seemed to be moving ever so slightly. Having imagined that the fog would somehow cover the place and obscure it from sight, the fact that it was moving away from it made him believe that they might already have been too late. Judging by how this new arrival had asked Griswold to aid him, the fact that Griswold was already present before the guy came around might have made it more obvious for the guy to ask if he could have helped Griswold out. But he wasn’t here to argue semantics, he was here to see if there were still people around that could be saved from whatever fate awaited them inside of these strange mists. And if there was a chance this guy could actually help out with that, all the better.

“But yes, I do imagine two people can arguably accomplish more than one. Though judging by the state of the mist, there’s a good chance we’re already too late here.”

With that, he began to approach the settlement as more and more of it became properly visible. Even during the approach, it was clear to see based on blood being spattered against the side of tents and along the floor that the actual fight had already taken place. That was, if one could call it that, as whatever was responsible for these occurrences had been going along the coast for a while now and got better at what they or it did. Whereas their “opponents”, innocent fishermen, had most likely not had any idea as to what came over them when they were suddenly attacked and massacred. While a select few might have been able to put up a fight, it would soon become clear that it had most likely not mattered enough to save their own, or any other lives. Beginning his stroll across the settlement, likely followed by this new arrival, Griswold could make out clear and obvious drag marks in the bloodied sand.

Bending through his knees to get a closer look at the drag marks, he experienced mixed emotions due to the depth of the marks. Knowing well enough by now due to a lifetime of living in the great outdoors that the depth of a drag mark was caused by the weight of what was being dragged, the possibility of there being men and women, but also children being dragged down this path was a saddening thought indeed. Not bringing up this point because he might be wrong, and rather much hoped he was wrong, it was better to keep it to himself because he was already angered plenty by this thought. And it would be hard to keep his own emotions in check, which would be hard enough without having to worry about what this new guy might do once he was given this knowledge. So for the time being, it was better to just keep things to himself. Fortunately enough, by the time they encountered the first signs of life, there were no bodies in sight.

Along the outskirts of the settlements, it seemed that a bunch of strangely dressed men were working towards rounding up the last of the supplies that they could scrounge together before they would also move on out. Judging by their armor and general appearance, they were not your average bandits, even going as far as doubting these men were even from the land of Clover to begin with. Spotting tattoos in a peculiar style along what little skin these men showed, the armor itself appeared to be a mix of light leather and heavy plate in the portions where it truly mattered such as the chest, not to mention the heavy looking helmets. Based on their appearance alone, one could tell that these men were quite used to doing battle, though one of them stood out from the small group of warriors. Although covered from head to toe in tattoos, he was not wearing any armor, instead appearing more dressed in a more ceremonial fashion rather than being tactical.

Watching the motions of his hands and staff, it seemed as if this was the man that was responsible for controlling the mist, which would explain why it appeared in such a selective manner whenever a settlement was about to be wiped out. If this were to be the only one capable of doing such things, he imagined it wouldn’t be too hard for the magic squads to handle the rest, as a large force of hostile warriors should not be hard to find. However, the earlier mist he had seen that was headed further inland proved that this was most likely not the case, not unless this particular man possessed spells that covered a ridiculous range. Not yet having been noticed, Griswold turned around for the first time to look at his compatriot, finding out this guy was actually a magic knight himself. Interesting, albeit unexpected, though it did explain why the guy spoke to him the way he did, what with him having more authority than a civilian such as Griswold.

“I doubt these people are of the talking sort, so we’re better off dispatching them and looking for tracks once they’ve been dealt with. They’re clearly but a fraction of the group that is responsible for this, gathering up what little remains here before attempting to catch up with the rest.”

948 (1714)

“You know, you’re absolutely right. Getting rid of these guys would be quite beneficial to our cause. Besides…”

Before finishing his sentence, he made his way over to the nearest one of the enemies, one hand resting on the handle of his sword as he lifted it from over his shoulder. Bringing it down hard and fast as he used the momentum of someone who could move at a speed of twenty meters per second when at his natural fastest point, the blade was not held stopped by the armor one bit. The moment the blade came down on the shoulder of the raider, the time it took for it to rip all the way through him and sever his torso into two halves seemed to be within half a second and a second. Sliding through like a hot knife through butter, he did not stop there, as the first strike was merely meant to catch the invading raiders off guard, making it that much easier for him to do what he did best.

Having murdered one of the men with his blade, he had created a temporary opening through which he could freely attack the one person that was not wielding any weaponry of his own, aside from a crude staff. Revealing a sphere of solar mana he had charged up during his approach, he extended his hand, releasing the sphere at a high speed as it shot between to dumbfounded warriors and hit the caster right in the abdomen. Violently erupting in a towering inferno that caught three of the closest raiders and swallowed them up too, there were two of them left that had at this point started quaking in their boots. Likely believing they would be next to taste the cosmic flames of Griswold’s solar magic, this was in fact not going to be the case. Holding up his weapon, the two remaining men held their at the read, only to see the elven knight put his back into the holster on his back.

“These guys don't really pose much of a threat to us anyway. If you would be so kind as to root out the stragglers, I’ll do a quick bit of scouting and tracking and wait for you further up. Can’t waste too much time here with the small fry now can we.”

And with that, he just walked away from the last two warriors, who were understandably grasping for straws, not being able to make heads or tails out of what had just happened. Now, if they wanted to attack him, they could go ahead and do just that, though it seemed that for all that they were worth, they believed they were better off going after the other guy that had introduced himself as Karro. With one of the warriors cut down in place before he could even respond, three more burned to a crispy suit of armor and their mage reduced to ash, they no longer had their mist to move inside of. So even if they were to survive here and try to make their way back to the main group, there was a fair chance that someone would find them and deal with them, or get dealt with. For that matter, he was not entirely sure if Karro would be able to hold his own against two of these warriors, but chose to believe in his power.

The guy was a magic knight who had been doing his own research into the matter from the sound of things, and if there was anything he believed in to some degree, especially when it came to the royal capital, it was the belief that the wizard king of all people would know what he was doing. So if his office were to give the okay to some magic knight who wanted to look into a case such as this one, the man wouldn’t likely send someone who wouldn’t be able to hold his own against your run of the mill warriors that did not even seem to be in possession of any actual magic of their own. That said though, when his blade had run itself through the armor of one of the raiders, he felt that there was at least some magic at work there, just one that did not mean a whole lot when paired against the might of his weapon. While Karro would be left to deal with the two warriors in a way he felt fitting, Griswold would go about looking for the tracks he’d need to follow if they were to properly locate the main fighting force.

With a bit of luck, what he would be able to find out would get them that much closer to the origin of this threat, what brought them here to begin with and maybe towards finding out what might get them to go back. That said, knowing full well what things often came down to, everything was pointing to the two of them having to put every single one to death before the pillaging and slaughtering would be brought to a halt.

838 (2552)

[Exit to next Chain]