Author Note:
I have created a patreon page. If you want to support my work, please visit it. There you could find 6 chapters in advance for patrons, but only in Spanish. Since, although I have a bunch of chapters accumulated, I still haven't translated all of them.
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You can find the character concepts here:
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Night has fallen and we are hidden behind some bushes, near the cemetery. We can already see the ghouls, thanks to some night vision potions that I bought on Ozy's recommendation. They look like a mix between a person and an animal. The face is similar to that of a human, but their gray skin and gait on all fours make it impossible to mistake them for people. There are 7 of them, and we see them digging through a grave, looking to get to the buried body.
"Sabri, I want you to, on my signal, start preparing a magic bomb. We'll start attacking when you shoot. Joseph, when the bomb hits some of them will take more damage than others, focus on the most damaged one and try to take him down, if you see that it doesn't work, shoot as many projectiles as you can into their eyes with the arrows you had soaked in the numbing poison Xelean gave you" Agustín says with a determined voice "we need them not to come all together, because, if they are as fast as our partner here says, we won't be able to defend ourselves well against them. After all, they outnumber us. Xel, that's why I'm going to need you and Azur to stay with me to defend Joseph and Sabri" he finishes explaining the combat strategy and, turning to the village chief continues "We can handle it ourselves from here. You should go home; your wife must be worried... Well, that would be the plan of action, any objections?"
"I'm not going to leave you to your fate. There's not much I can do, but this is as good a situation as any to see how rusty I am. I can't use a spear anymore, but it is not the only way to fight..." he says, flexing his cane arm and drawing a blade from its cane. What he draws isn't a sword, but it isn't a dagger either. it seems to be a hybrid between the two "And about my wife... If she had kept her mouth shut, we wouldn't be in this mess" he sighs "Putting that aside, good work leading the group! Every good group needs an intelligent leader"
"I don't think I'm the smartest of the group" Agustín says hastily, looking at Sabrina and for a millisecond at me "and I'm not the leader of this group. I'm just the best at planning strategies"
He is right. Joseph and I prefer not to waste time planning, and Sabrina dislikes the idea of combat in general, so she always refrains from commenting on how we should attack... Or almost always, considering she was the one who I take the initiative this time... Why was this time different?
"If you lead your peers, you are the leader, whether you assume it or not. There is nothing wrong with that, and you don't have to be the strongest or smartest to be one either. There is no use having a brilliant mind or brute force if you do not have abilities of leadership" says the old man calmly.
"Well! That's enough of all this talk" says Joseph, raising his voice a little more than we would like, rubbing his hands together impatiently "shall we start?"
"Yes" says Agustín, with a dry tone of voice, and turning to Sabrina, he changes to a softer tone "you can start preparing the bomb, Sabri. Let us know when you're ready and that will be the signal to start the fight"
"ok" reply Sabrina, with a tense voice.
I draw my sword and prepare, with Azur at my side in drake form. I see Joseph nock an arrow on his bow and take aim at the ghouls. Agustín looks tense, like a spring that has been tightened to the maximum. The old man is surprisingly calm, I guess that's what comes from having so much combat experience.
Sabrina tells us she's ready and, after aiming for a moment, shoots a group of three ghouls who were particularly close together. Hitting them leaves them visibly stunned. And without wasting time Joseph fires arrow after arrow at the one he decided as his target.
Hearing the blast, the remaining ghouls start howling and rush in our direction. They are incredibly fast, even faster than the boar we faced a month ago. Agustin starts yelling and hitting his shield to get his attention. It works, but only partially because although two of them are heading in his direction, the remaining two are still heading in Joseph's direction. Sabrina manages to slow one down a bit with her magic bullets, and the other one is intercepted by Azur and me.
Azur lunges for the ghoul's leg, interrupting his run and I take the opportunity to slash the beast's neck, trying to decapitate him to finish him off quickly, but my sword only leaves a superficial cut and fails to sever the head from the body. However, without letting the monster recover from the blow, I land a second blow causing the head to roll on the ground. I see Sabrina and the old man struggling with one and I rush to their aid, while Azur walks towards Agustin who is still holding two of them back with his shield.
As I run towards them, I am amazed at the skill with which the old man, despite his reduced mobility and the short range of his weapon, is managing to keep the beast at bay.
Upon arrival, I slide under one of the claws aimed at the old man and make a slash at one of the monster's front paws, cutting it off. The beast howls in pain and tries to bite me. I prepare to defend myself with my arm guard, but the old man takes the opportunity to plunge the blade deep into one of its eyes, causing the creature to rear back, still with the blade embedded in its skull, and it is finished by Sabrina's bullets.
"Thank you" I say standing up.
"Th-that's what I-should say" says the old man, with one knee on the ground, out of breath. "You should help your friend, I don't think I can move for a few moments"
I look in Agustín's direction and see that helped by Azur, he has managed to knock down one of the creatures. Which, although still alive, is being held on the ground by Azur. I go to his aid, while Sabrina, without wasting a second, begins to help Joseph keep the last three away.
As I approach, I slash at the one being held by Azur, finishing the creature off, and without stopping, I slash down on the creature Agustín is fighting. The beast turns to defend itself and Agustin uses his distraction to backhand it with his mace, dropping his shield and using both hands to slam it full force into the ghoul's head. What breaks the skull of the creature, which falls to the ground without strength.
I turn to the remaining three and see that one has already been taken down by Joseph, while the other two, with their faces covered in arrows, are having a lot of trouble getting close, due to Sabrina and Joseph's constant attacks.
Azur changes into dragon form and, shrinking in size, perched on my shoulder. I extend my left hand towards the creatures and we join in bombarding the beasts with our magic.
Sabrina shoots with two hands, forming a bullet in one hand while shooting with the other, but I don't have that level of skill yet. After a minute, we managed to take them down.
"That was fun!" I hear Joseph exclaim and immediately afterward Agustin's complaint "Is this a joke? Look how my shield turned out!"
Joseph ignores him and walks over to examine the ghouls. I see that Agustin's shield has deep claw marks on it and I shudder, thinking of what a claw that could scratch the solid block of iron that is part of the shield could have done to our body.
"Interesting creature you have there" says the old man, approaching and looking at Azur. It seems like he's caught his breath "I've never seen anything like it! Can she take other forms apart from those two? And can she use other kinds of magic?"
"No, to both questions" I reply stunned.
"Ahh... It's still amazing, would you be interested in selling it to me?" he asks, with a covetous look.
"It's not for sale!" Sabrina replies curtly, frowning at the old man before I can say anything. The thought of someone wanting to take Azur from me takes my breath away. It must have shown on my face because Sabrina says "we're done with the assignment, now the dead can rest in peace." changing the topic of the conversation "though it's a pity for the bodies that were already eaten..." and his voice trails off. So that's why she took the initiative…
"We did what we could" Agustín says, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"and it was a job well done!" exclaims the old man, slapping Agustín on the back, laughing, and looking at me he adds "especially your part, boy. Your performance in the fight was very impressive. I apologize if my questions made you uncomfortable a moment ago, it's just that I was a little excited to see something like that... you rarely see something new when you're my age and my experience"
"It's okay" I say uncomfortably and, trying to avoid returning to that topic, I ask the old man "what should we do with the bodies of the beasts?"
"They are yours, naturally, if you can take them. You should be able to store them in your storage ability" says the old man "I think they are all the monsters that were roaming here since their lair was the tombs of the cemetery that they had already emptied, and I don't see any more monsters nearby."
Hesitantly, I try to store them in my inventory and see, surprised, that they enter without problems. I guess I can store anything except living things.
"The guild will pay you a good sum for the bodies" says the old man "they are important materials, since, as you know, in the labyrinth one only takes a few things from what is defeated, while outside we can take advantage of all the body of what we hunt"
"Interesting" I murmur, and my mind begins to wander as to which method will be more effective for leveling up, fighting in the labyrinth, or outside. Since, if it works as it is with loot, you should get a lot more experience outside... I didn't get any buffs from killing these creatures, so the buffs only work in the labyrinth, though I have no proof of that. Hmm… Likewise, the difference in loot and experience matters very little if you want some consistency since outside there are not as many possibilities to fight as in the labyrinth.
"Well, let's go back to my house to tell my wife the good news. Dinner should be ready by now and there is nothing better after a good fight than a good bellyful" says the old man laughing, and we return to his house.