"Oh yeah. I didn't mean to make it sound that way," laughed Arya, clearing Rende's doubts as he went to bed. After waiting for Rende to fall asleep Arya woke up and grabbed his Ryen pelt, dagger, and journal. "Thank you for everything," whispered Arya as he stole some food from the village's storage house.
Arya then began his journey to the north. He wasn't sure how far away Belgard was but he was willing to endure anything for his revenge. As Arya ran through the cover of the night, he realized that he was considerably faster than he was back in Calburg. "It seems my body has become more adapted to strenuous work since my time in the forest." thought Arya as he stopped to eat a snack.
"I should really consider getting a map in the next town I come across. Perhaps I should also get a cloak to play the role of a midget in the event I need to do some business with people. I doubt anyone would take me seriously if they knew I was a child." thought Arya as he took a bite from a fruit similar to an apple.
As he was finishing his snack he heard a sound coming from the distance. The screams seemed to be coming from the North. Arya would've minded his own business had it been in another direction, and he wasn't willing to make a detour because he was afraid he would get lost so he had no choice but to head in the direction of the screams.
"Of course it's in the direction I'm heading," whispered Arya, a bit angry that he couldn't just ignore the cries for help.
Arya increased his speed to get past whatever was going on when a dark figure tried attacking him. Arya's senses were sharpened to a near animal-like level ever since his days in the forest so he just barely dodged the incoming attack.
"What the!?" shouted Arya as he saw what had been screaming. A group of bodies lay on the ground mangled. The culprit seemed to be the beast in front of him, the same creature that was producing the human like screams.
It was an obscure dark figure, with long black claws. Its facial features were in the wrong places, and its body parts were at the wrong proportions as well. It had long slender arms and legs, however they were all in the wrong places. It had a large body that seemed to defy gravity as the slender legs kept the body upright, well as upright as the creature could be.
Seeing it reminded him of Rende's wife. "No way." thought Arya as he began chanting an ice spell, "Child of water, heed my call. Bring about a chill to freeze my foes.".
A beam of blue mana erupted from Arya's hands and shot at the beast. Arya's spell had strengthened due to repeated to the repeated practice he had done in the forest, however, the beast didn't seem the least bit affected by the spell.
"I don't have time for this," said Arya as he brought out his Ryen dagger and rushed at the beast. Although the beast was scary by human standards, it was nothing compared to the ferocious beasts he had to come across in the forest. Arya's fears had long been extinguished and the only thought he had was how to get rid of this obstacle as quickly as possible.
The monster moved back and swung its long arms at Arya at an incredible speed, however, Arya was expecting it. He knew that the beast wouldn't just be a sitting duck waiting to get hit, so he swung his dagger up to block the attack and chanted an ice spell once more to counterattack. This time aiming to freeze the ground directly below it to reduce its mobility.
However, not everything goes as planned. Although Arya was fast enough to react to the monster's attack, his body was still that of a weak 5-year-old, even though he was way stronger than others his age this still wasn't enough.
Also chanting a spell took too long, the monster realized Arya's intentions and quickly moved back avoiding the icy floor. Arya was being pushed into a corner, the beast seemed feral but was smart enough to react to combat situations.
"Can't you just act like you didn't see me? Look there is a whole village of delicious humans that way. If you let me go I can show you where they are." said Arya pointing to where he came from, hoping that the monster could understand reasoning as well.
Arya wasn't actually planning to sell out the villagers, but it wasn't because he had a conscience, it was more because it would be a lot of work to lead a monster that far and there was also an issue of whether it would spare him after he sold the villagers out.
Arya was dead inside, sure Rende had helped him, but if it was up to Arya he would stab Rende in the back a million times if it meant getting what he wanted.
The beast didn't listen to Arya and lunged at him for another attack. It seemed to be getting faster after every exchange, this time its speed was on par with Arya's. "What the? Are you getting faster?" shouted Arya as he just barely escaped the beast, the new clothes he had gotten from Rende torn to tatters.
"I just got these," shouted Arya as he raised his hands to chant another spell, however, the monster wouldn't let him. It lunged at him again, this time substantially faster than the last time. Arya couldn't evade the attack and decided it would be wiser to lessen the impact.
He took off his Ryen peltand placed it in front of himself, hidding the dagger behind it. The beast saw his foolish attempt at stopping it but didn't think much of it. As the beast slammed into Arya the dagger tore through the Ryen pelt and tore a hole in the monster's torso.
Arya however only suffered the blunt impact of the encounter as the monster's claws didn't seem to be able to cut through the Ryen pelt.