My blood run cold.
The system can hear my thoughts, wouldn't it be able to....mess with my thoughts.
I look at the others, they look normal, shaken but with their normal quirks and personality, like normal people, do they feel this too?
What if the system can do that? Could... I even do something against it? How do I stop a omniscient like system to mess with my mind? Is it even? Am I being paranoid? Is it something else? Another magicky shit.
Fueled by the fear of being manipulated, my eyes glance toward the first system notification that appeared when we entered the door.
[Welcome to the guardian tutorial challenge!]
[A family of shielded boar claimed this area, and they don't seem happy about your intrusion. Get rid of the threats on your life and protect you and your team!]
I try to bring the binary again. It doesn't come...
Does this system, can mess wit-! Then I stop.
My spear reappear in front of my belly, still bloody, I grip it, my blood start boiling again.
"Ludger?" I turn around and start walking toward the hole, being careful not to fall because of the trail of blood everywhere, I turn my head and look straight at annie that just said my name "take your weapon out" I turn my head and glance at everyone as I continue my way "take all of your weapons out"
See? My narration is always useful, always, I knew I was forgeting something, I knew it.
Balrow take his shield in his hand and strap it again as he look at me with a gaze that ask a thousand questions, malfoy trying to clean his sword on the bloody fur give me a single glance I don't fully see as I keep walking. Jenna already has her arrow on her bowstring but she still don't understand.
Understandable, a lot of information can get out of your head after getting into a death fight.
I keep walking until I reach the other part of the hole, the grip on my spear light, I turn around and look under me, the blood trail, then my eyes pass over the confused face of my party and...the dead body of the boar.
My grip on my spear get tighter, way tighter.
I told you, my narration is useful, huh, that's why I was favorising retreat over fighting, even if the boar could pass through the hole with some effort.
I point at the side on the left of the wall "malfoy, get there and ready your sword, pierce when you get the opportunity"
bloody spear show my back, a bit on my right. "Jenna, stay behind and ready your bow, take shots when you can"
Malfoy frown and sigh walking where I indicated, Jenna using her brain do the same, I point at the place in front of the hole and balrow talk before I do "I will protect"
Then I point at the middle where I am, and annie blink multiples times her mind barely working "come here and hit when you can, we have a family to finish"
I wanted to retreat outside the wall because two of these beasts couldn't pass through at the same time, that's why.
Her mind finally working, she take her bloody dagger and walk forward at the spot I showed.
I walk forward to the right side of the wall, ready to spike any more of those pathetic beasts whenever they come, resting here for a second, I look at balrow as he look forward toward the cave.
A big slippery trail of blood under him, something slippery enough that it could easily make him fall in the middle of a block.
Then he'll get trempled, and without our tank annie, traumatized by the sight of a man getting transformed into litteral paste would freeze and she'll get pummeled and crushed too.
I can see it, like with the goblins.
When annie is well and well dead the boar will be already deep into the safe zone, flanking us.
And then, it's the end.
Jenna unable to do anything at close distance will be sniped first, she won't be able to dodge anything, she's not skilled nor athletic enough to compensate, she'll get thrown around like a ragdoll.
As jenna get utterly destroyed, more will start pouring in, me and malfoy will try to stop them, we will hurt the first one that enter, but we won't be able to stop their advance if we don't want to get crushed.
So we'll move, a new injured one will be in the safe zone, then another will move in, we'll try to take care of it.
Maybe seperate and take one both, but, that's useless, soon enough more and more will pour out on both side, and we'll have the same fate.
I see it.
There are variables of course, what if there is only two of them? Two can be a family right? Or what if there are dozens of them? Dozens can be a family right?
But I can't afford them a lot of thoughts, after all, who know when the rest will come back from their little abandoned cave, if I'm in the middle of planning while one of those boar come crashing on the door, I'll be the first to fly away in a mess of broken limbs.
Tsk.
I look at annie, and again, I'm glad I used all I had at my disposition and gathered ressources.
With a single thoughts I take out some piece of fabric, a lot of them, tents breaking for the win.
Malfoy give me a look as I take a lot of them out, I look back at him and throw him some, I throw some at mousy too and I wonder if I should throw some at legolas...
No.
I go down on the ground but not before pushing the badass grandpa forward a bit, I give him a small piece of clothes and say "legolas. Badass grandpa, look out for the boar and tell us when they come. Use this to clean your shoes, malfoy mousy" I wipe the bloody floor as fast as I can
"Help me before balrow fall down while he shield us"
Mousy come on the ground and get to work as malfoy let a knee down with a sigh, time to work, I can see balrow getting rid of the blood on his shoes as jenna look out for any sign of life.
I keep wiping, it's a meh job, but it's better than before at least.
Taking out more in my stock of clothes, I take more and more out in front of the shocked eyes of annie and malfoy.
Probably wondering what kind of crazy guy take that much cloth from tents of dead goblins, and bed of dead goblins and....look, I'm saving their ass here, they better be grateful.
I slam all the clothes I gave to the weakest member of our party, mousy
"You will try to hit the boar with stones or your dagger. When you can't or there is too much blood on the ground, you will take those out of your inventory and try your best to clean everything"
I don't wait to hear her answer and get up.
"Something moving" I hear Jenna talk first as I look above balrow head to see what's happening.
A low pig-like sound resonate in the cave first, as the sound of some hooves slowly coming in front of the cave reach my ears.
In front of me lightened by the sun, a monster, big, brown, pig like with defensives tusks slowly reveal itself from the side of the cave, galloping forward smelling the ground.
Then it stop, in the middle of the hole, lifting it's head to look at us and it's decesaed companion.
Behind it, letting out the same sounds and almost same entrance if in a more lazy way, it walk toward it's frozen friend, and just like it, it freeze.
Another one, coming from the left this time rush in like an excited puppy before freezing just the same.
My hand on my spear tighten, my veins pop, I feel my wrist trembling because of how hard I grip my spear.
Th-!THIS PATHETIC FLAB OF MEAT DARE!?