Chapter 13
Captured?
Like every other day, Kyle's mornings were spent in the dungeon with Gareth's party slaying monsters for cash, but during noon he'd go out into the woods with a quest or two to hunt down monsters late into the night. Thanks to his status as a member of a steel tank party, he was eligible to take on iron rank quest like these.
"Haaa!!"
*Slash!*
Although his foe this time wasn't his usual everyday foe. This time around what he faced wasn't a goblin..
"Come down already!" He roared, slashing the joints of its knees with a cut from behind as it collapsed on its knees.
The creature this time was a direct evolution of the goblin, a monster that already has surpassed the 25th level, what loomed before him was a hobgoblin. It's thick skin was darker than it's goblin companions, it was larger and even more stronger than him, but here it was on its knees as a quick slice from his blade severed it's head in a clean arc.
[You have slain a Hobgoblin.]
[You have gained 107 Experience points]
He dropped to ground, panting hard as he stared at the corpse of his foe.
'Consume...'
---
[Assimilating..]
[You have assimilated the soul of a hobgoblin...]
[You have gained enlightenment]
[Strength +2]
[Endurance +1]
---
'2 stat points huh... Nice'
A quick glance at the sky told him it was time to head back, but his thoughts were caught by a scream from nearby.
"GET BACK HERE!!!"
"STOP RUNNING YOU LITTLE BRAT!"
The screams seemed to be heading away from town which was concerning. From the looks of they were chasing something that didn't want to go back to town. His interest was piqued. He wanted to see what was being chased with such vigor.
With that he dashed towards the noise, trying to be as quiet as possible. The pursuers had chased their target to a clearing just at the edge of the forest. He stopped a few meters behind them, hiding behind the trees.
"Finally found you girly," said a burly looking man as the finally reached a boulder.
"Nowhere to run eh?" said the second man, pointing his blade at their target."
"..."
To his surprise, their target wasn't a thing, it was a person, a girl in fact. She was young, somewhere around his age with long purple hair that reached all the way down to her hips. She was cornered by the men as behind her was a cliff edge. Below it was a river, but jumping from that height was as good as asking for death. On top of that there was a blade wound on her thigh, greatly decreasing her speed. Even at that didn't show wasn't scared, or rather she didn't want to show it. She was tensed and no matter how far she ran these men were hell bent on capturing her.
She looked around find an escape route, a hint of panic drawn on her face, at least from the perception of the onlooker nearby.
'What do they want with her?...' Kael pondered as the men spoke up again, this time amongst themselves.
"Hey Altaro," the first man called out to his partner with a bit of red on hhus cheeks as he continued. "Since we're alone in the forest here can't we just–"
"Give it a rest Nord" the other cut in with a sigh. "We can't touch this one... You know how the boss always is when it comes to his merchandise right?"
"Fine, let's just get this over with."
A few meters away from their location Kael watched the scene with rage as the words echoed in his thoughts,
'Merchandise?... Those bastards are slave traders...' he thought, reaching for his sword before pausing. If he was going to help had to do it properly. Slavery was already abolished and considered a crime meaning that he wouldn't be doing anything illegal.
But that wasn't was he wanted to know right now. He needed some kind of hint as to who was pulling the strings. He looked at their weapons and then to their armor only to come up empty.
'What the?' Kael asked himself as he looked at her soul with his insight skill. Her soul was surrounded by tiny black and white spheres. Not only that but there seemed to be some kind of black chain that rounded her soul in a perfect circle.
'Strange.'
[Name: ???? ????]
All he could see was the name slot. There weren't any classes or type as he would usually see in other races and monsters respectively. And even her name was blocked out. It was almost as if something was preventing him from reading her status.
'Whats the deal with this girl?' he thought before taking a look at the slavers creeping near her. "Alright..."
*****
By this point the men were just a few steps away from her. she held her dagger and faced the men as if preparing for a fight but in reality she was looking for an escape. She wanted to be free. In one desperate attempt she looked into the woods to find the person that had been watching them ever since. Their eyes met for a moment.
Then as if the heavens heard her prayers, at first what she saw was a blur, then the head of one of her pursuers was cut off instantly, starling both she and his partner.
[You have gained +300 Experience points]
The perpetrator was young, from the looks of it. He looked weak and inexperienced. thought the second man was he pointed his sword at the threat in his way.
"Stay out of this kid." The man ordered, but Kael ignored him and faced the girl instead. His crimson red eyes locking with her grayipink eyes as he spoke to her.
"Run..."
At this point he doubted if she could even speak but he was sure she could hear him so he turned and faced his opponent.
--
[Name: Nord [Human] ]
[Class: ??? ???]
[ ?????]
--
'Damn' he cursed inwardly as his skill was practically useless here.
"Fine." Roared the man as he charged at Kael, bringing down his sword in his neck. "Have it your way!"
His swing was wild but heavy, packed with pure brute strength. Kael barely ducked it, feeling the gust of air slice past his hair.
'He's strong… can't block him head-on.'
Kael pivoted, slashing for the man's ribs—only to have his blade deflected and his footing kicked out from under him as he fell backwards, dirt scraping his palms.
This was the difference between fighting a monster and an intelligent life form. They wouldn't just see a trap and walk into it. No. They would find away around.
In this case, this man didn't just fight with the rage that clouded his eyes. He still carried his witts with him. Something that Kael never took account of.
'So this is how it feels to fight real people...' Kael mumbled internally as he backflipped to his feet, pointing his blade at the man once more.
"Youre too slow!" the slaver sneered, charging again with a thrust from his blade. Kael parried this time, but the difference in strength forced him down to one knee. His arm trembled. Sparks flew as steel ground against steel.
'Ngh...' Kael grunted as the pain washed over him. He gritted his teeth and pulled through as he felt his hands shaking.
"Damn it..."
"You should've listened, boy!" the man barked, pressing even harder.
Kael's teeth clenched his teeth a parried blow after blow, doing his best not to take any hits head on. He was at a disadvantage but he would manage. He just needed to be patient. All he needed was an opening, a flaw, a mistake.
Then he saw it. A misplaced step that caused the man to swing wider than he was supposed to. He didn't hesitate in that moment, he side stepped and kicked off the ground, and drove his shoulder into the man's lower abdomen with a loud battle cry. The slaver staggered back, losing his balance completely as he gave another misplaced swing.
Kael ducked low, slicing across the man's thigh.
"AGH!! You little—!"
The man swung down in rage again, completely ignoring his techniques. Kael didn't retreat. No, he side stepped again and dashed forward with as much speed as he could muster. The blade whistled past his ear but it didn't matter. His blade found its mark, sinking deep into the man's heart.
For a heartbeat, both froze—Kael stared up at his foe with ragged breaths as he grinned weakly. The slaver's expression on the other hand turned sour as he cursed. "Damn.... you..."
With that, he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
[You have gained 286 experience points.]
[Basic Swordsmanship has leveled up]
[You have gained the sub skill [Mana Empowering]
[You have leveled up]
[Soul Consumption is possible...]
[Would you like to consume this soul?]
[Y/N]
"Yeah" he replied weakly.
He was exhausted. He stared at the corpse again with his blank crimson eyes.
*Huff... *Huff...
'I killed a human...' it sounded strange to say. He'd only been hunting monsters up till this point so this was his first real death fight with an actual intelligent race. 'But then again, It feels... normal...'
This was clearly different from the stories he used to read with his sister. The heroes usually felt guilt whenever they killed a person. It usually felt heavy even to the readers, but right now he didn't feel any of that... He actually felt normal. He didn't puke at the sight of the corpse either which was strange.
'Could it be because of these souls?' he thought as he glanced back at the two glowing orbs of the traders.
'Consume.'
[You have assimilated the soul of a human]
[You have gained enlightenment.]
[Strength +1]
[Agility +1]
[...]
[You have gained enlightenment.]
[Dexterity +1]
[Intelligence +2]
He ignored the Increase to his stats and instead focused on the changes to his soul. It felt like something had added. It didn't really change anything. It just... added to his soul.
"This should be concerning..." he whispered.
From the corner of his eye he noticed something pink fluttering in the wind. The girl was still there. Why was she she there. He didn't even have the strength to be angry at her. She was a victim, he had to be nice.
"Hey... What are you still doing here?".
"..."
"Can't you hear me?... Geez"
She finally replied in a somewhat angelic voice. "I'm... sorry..."
At first he was kind of disappointed that she would be like the other ladies in Fairhaven. His hood had come of during the his fight earlier and the moonlight made it harder to rely on the darkness for disguise.
"Look--"
"...Could you lend me some mana for a second?"
"Huh?"