Squad A

After hearing just a few more boring words from the Elder, we finally made our way outside the village, without an actual goal in mind.

Technically we had one. We wanted to find Mana and we wanted to beat One, and these goals apparently intersected for the moment. The problem was we had no idea where to find him.

We did get some sort of map from the villagers, but it was a very crude one and mostly consisted of what they could see from the village and the immediate surroundings.

“Alright… apparently we need to cut through this river,” mumbled Kai while consulting the aforementioned map. We were by now outside the discernible territory of the village, in wild, unmarked nature.

I grunted with effort from the weight on my back. Sure, it was full of essential supplies—food, water, bandages and all that stuff—but I couldn’t help but hate it.

Could I use any buff spells or something? I still couldn’t understand the principles of magic in this world, but thus far I only used spells based on what I’ve programmed into my game before.

I’d have to experiment.

However, despite many efforts to visualize things like strengthening myself or lightening the load or whatever, I wasn’t able to perform a magic like that from scratch.

So I kept suffering for about an hour.

“…Can we take a break?”

Saga’s cold look and Kai’s shaking of head told me I was asking for too much.

“Oh, come on. You can’t tell me you’re not at least a bit winded up. My whole body still hurts from yesterday,” I complained.

“Hah,” Saga muttered dismissively and continued to walk without even turning to me.

“We do have a lot of ground to cover, we can’t stop for no reason. They told us the big predators don’t usually hunt this early, either,” said Kai and continued, too.

I gritted my teeth and somehow dragged myself after them.

“Can’t we at least make a stop in some other village? There’s a ton of ‘em according to the map,” I grumbled.

“Were you even listening?” said the exasperated Kai. “The Elder already told us—it’s too dangerous. Once One hears about us, he might put up a bounty on us. The Elder said there were cases like that before… You don’t want to fight through entire villages, right?”

“That’s stupid. How fast can this news travel in such a primitive society, anyway? And besides—”

However, at that moment my words were cut off by a curious sound. Multiple sounds, even, Many.

No wolves appeared there; like Kai said, it was probably still too early for them.

Yet shapes did appear from between or on the trees, all glaring at us with hungry gazes. They were…

Rabbits.

Squirrels.

Mice.

There were some other things I didn’t know the names of. They might be creatures exclusive to this world, for all I knew.

“S-say,” I stuttered. “Have you seen any yummy vegetables around here? These things are supposed to be herbivores, right?”

“Hah, wouldn’t count on it,” said Saga, dropping her bag on the ground and raising her sword aloft.

“Probably not,” agreed Kai, doing the same with his own weapon.

“Damn.”

As if waiting for that exact moment, all those critters surged at us like a small wave from all directions. In a sense, that was even more terrifying than those large wolves.

At least with wolves you expected them to be nasty and dangerous. And sure, some furry little things could be rabid, but suddenly their claws and teeth looked extra sharp…

“Dammit!” I cussed again and tried acting in the ensuing chaos.

I assumed Saga would handle things just fine and Kai might be at a disadvantage here, but I had to worry for myself, first.

By now I pretty much mastered the light cantrip, allowing me to shoot it easily—but aiming was another matter.

The ball of light only grazed a small squirrel and hit the ground while the little ball of menace leapt right on my face.

“Ugwah!” I yelped, covering my eyes with an arm as the squirrel squeaked hard and started scratching me. I could feel something else bite my ankle from below, another from my waist, and I fell down screaming.

What a cowardly attack…

However, at least now I had a proper target. My eyes were closed, but using my free hand I pretty much grabbed the little shit rampaging on my face and invoked my cantrip from point blank.

There was a frantic squeak and a warm, icky sensation on my face as the small weight on it vanished. Blood and things I didn’t want to think about covered my face and limited my vision still, but it was still an improvement.

I kicked at a rat attached to my foot—I think it tore off some skin along with that—and shot a ray of freezing air at it, then stomped hard. I expected it to break apart like ice, but instead it was more like crushing a fruit.

I wanted to puke.

For now I kept my meal down and continued blasting the small furry bastards while standing up, but they started to overwhelm me again.

Alright, it was time for a new spell, then.

I recalled there was one for shooting lightning. Hopefully this was going to work better than my other attempts.

Fortunately, my worries were needless; the moment I focused on this thought, a jagged spear of purple light shot from my fingertips, striking off a rabid rabbit from me.

Unfortunately, there was an unintended side effect to my brilliant attack. The moment that crackle of electricity hit the rabbit, it passed to me as well.

“Urgh, gwah, dah!”

I felt myself spasming as I fell to the ground again. My fingers twitched and my body felt numb.

Great, I electrocuted myself with my own damn attack.

Why would the game have this mechanic? Oh right, it wasn’t a game anymore.

Now I was at the complete mercy of these small, horrible critters…

“Hah, what are you even doing?”

Hearing this voice from nearby, I was then sprayed by blood. Barely raising my still-numb face, I could see the aftermath of a swing made by a beautiful, curved and sharp sword—with one swipe, Saga had practically beheaded most of those torturing my body.

Another rat leapt from nearby and bit my leg, but the next moment its head was punctured by an arrow.

Now more stunned mentally than physically, I rose to a sitting position, grunting.

It was a horrible scene—everything around us was dyed with blood and viscera, covering all the pretty green. It was like a red sea of horror. I might have been too shocked to puke at the moment.

Saga ran here and there and Kai finished off the remaining stragglers until all fluffy, little creatures were exterminated.

A few moments passed without any of that horrifying squeaking. The fight was finally over.

Saga and Kai, too, were covered in blood from head to toes, and I had to imagine at least some of it belonged to them. Kai looked tired but pleased, while Saga remained poker-faced with just a few cinders still burning in her eyes.

“Hah,” said Saga. “What a lovely sight.”

She couldn’t be any further away from the truth.