The guild hall was bustling. It felt like a celebration as noise erupted from every area.
It wasn't joy in the air. It was tension
Eldenreach was a small mountain-side town based in the furthest reaches of the North one could inhabit. With a population of a few thousand, it naturally meant the sheer number of adventurers it had available was low, mid-fifties, maybe lower.
Hanitz had called all the available Adventurers in the town. They were all packed shoulder to shoulder in the hall.
As tension built, tempers began to flare.
Shouting was echoed across the hall, but you couldn't make out what was being said.
A thud began approaching the door beside the guide counter.
Thud, Thud, Thud
It creaked open.
A giant crouched his way through.
The room went silent.
Hanitz stood there for a moment, staring. If this is all we got, thank the Angels, it's only a C- rank monster.
Hanitz composed himself for a moment. "We have a situation, a C-rank monster has been spotted up in the mountains. The adventurers we have available are all in this room." He bellowed.
"Given the situation and the lack of C-rank or higher adventurers we have."
"We need to be careful."
"The two parties with C-rank adventurers will be going to hunt the monsters. The rest of you will be stationed around the outside of the walls. Making sure nothing makes it through"
"Tess, Gilbert, follow me"
Two adventurers skuttled through the crowd and followed Hanitz to a table on the other side of the hall.
The atmosphere in the guild had calmed down. Still tense, but nobody wanted to upset Hanitz, so tempers were kept in check.
"Both of you sit."
"The lesser Vampire was seen east of the goat's path. If you go through the rear exit of Eldenreach and follow the open forest. At the fork, take the right exit. Follow the path up until the first rock face. It's nesting in a small cave along the rock face".
Tess and Gilbert stared at Hantiz, memorising every word.
"Lesser Vampires are weak but tricky. If they sense they can't win, they will flee."
"Over a short period, they are quick, the movement and attacks are basic and predictable unless they ambush you. This is why I'm sending both parties.
"If it flees, follow it, it will run out of stamina quickly"
"Any questions?"
Gilbert sat back a little in his chair. "If we chase it, we can't guarantee where it will go". He said confidently.
"Gabriel's at the goat's path now. The only other monsters in the area are two Ironstingers nesting there." Hanitz replied
Gilbert scoffed. "That Demon's more likely to hunt us than the monsters"
"You've sent him after two Ironstingers? He's only F-rank" Tess added to the conversation
Hanitz sighed. That b*stard could wipe out everyone here. Haha if he had time to prepare. Even I would find it a struggle if he turned on me.
He took a deep breath "Gabriel's fine. He's more experienced than most of the adventurers here"
"Leave when the bells chime five times. Until then, get everything ready.
Tess nodded in agreement.
Gilbert scoffed as he stood up and walked away.
…
Gabriel walked through the rear gates, leaving Eldenreach. He didn't go into the forrest straight away.
Instead, he turned left and proceeded across the forest line.
Eldenreach had two natural entrances to the forest leading to the mountain. The middle entrance. That was in front of the rear gates and the eastern entrance, which led straight to the right-hand side of the mountain.
Gabriel was heading to the man-made entrance on the western side of the forest bank.
This entrance led straight onto the goat's path. This way, he could avoid clashing head-on with the ironstingers.
He entered the western entrance.
Gabriel was slowly walking forward, each step. Snap, Snap, Snap twigs and frozen leaves breaking beneath his boot. The path to the goat's path was roughly 600 strides from the western entrance.
He scanned the area. Green and brown leaves from the trees were covered in a thick layer of white frost. Each breath he took looked like steam coming from a hot soup.
As he got further into the forest, the visibility lessened as a thick fog swept through. This didn't affect Gabriel's vision.
He trained for countless hours back in the order in low-visibility environments. Training his eyes as well as his body.
Gabriel stopped suddenly.
He sniffed the air.
The smell was heavy. It reminded him of meat being left out for too long on a hot day.
A dead body.
He sniffed again
Died yesterday, maybe the day before
He continued forward.
I'll let Hanitz know when I return
His focus came back instantly, scanning and searching the area, taking on small, cautious steps at a time.
Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding,
The chimes echoed through the forest. By the time they reached Gabriel's ears, he could barely make them out.
Gabriel began quickening his pace.
He soon approached a steep rock face.
The Ironstingers are just to the east.
He began climbing the rockface. The Northern weather meant that one slip in concentration, and he'd fall right off.
In fluid motion, he was placing one hand and one foot on small ridges in the rocks, pulling himself up, then using the other hand and foot to stabilise. Gabriel repeated this action until he reached the top.
He had reached four meters of stable ground. In front of him was another rock face to climb if he wished to go further up the mountain.
But he didn't. He slowly got down onto his belly and dragged himself to the right, towards the rock edge.
He reached the edge and looked down.
This was the goat's path
The goat's path was shaped like a bowl.
Rock wall boxed it in on all sides, with ridges running around the edge, half a metre wide at most.
Too narrow for a man.
Only a goat would risk climbing them.
A gap in the rock wall led back towards the forest. That was the only way in or out.
The ground was soft, thin grass frozen in places where the sun hadn't reached.
Directly opposite the forest, towards the edge of the rock wall, was disturbed earth.
They've burrowed underground.
I'll have to wait.
Gabriel watched the disturbed ground. He didn't want to climb down into the bowl as the Ironstinger would feel the vibrations and attack.
He withdrew from the edge of the rocks and sat upright, crossing his legs. He removed the wolfsbane and nightshade mixture from his potions belt.
He took a sword from his back. The one on the right. He placed the blade resting on his legs, so it didn't touch the rocks beneath him, and put the potion bottle on the ground beside him.
After a brief wait in silence, for an unknown period of time. He began to hear sounds coming from the bowl.
First, it was the sound of the earth shifting.
Then it was a low metallic growl.
Gabriel paused for a moment. Stopping his breathing so he could hear more clearly.
He picked up the bottle.
Pulled the cork out and began spreading the liquid contents across his sword.
He unsheathed his other sword and began dragging himself back towards the edge of the cliff, with both swords in his hand and the empty bottle.
Gabriel looked down over the cliff edge.
He saw two creatures the size of a horse. Black as midnight. They had overlapping scales on their body acting as armour. Their thick, hooked stinger, poised to strike.
Gabriel took in a deep breath and threw the empty bottle towards the wall next to the forest entrance.
Smash! The sound echoed in the bowl.
The ironstingers turned instinctively towards the noise.
Gabriel, who had already got to his feet, jumped from the top of the rock face he was standing on.
Gliding through the air with his swords in attack position.
As he closed in on the rear Ironstinger he leaned forward and thrust his blade deep into the section just below the scorpion's neck, where the plates separated. And pulled the blade out in one swift motion.
Using the momentum from jumping at such speed and leaning forward.
He shifted his weight forward even more and landed onto the frosty ground on his shoulder. He used his athleticism to thrust himself forward and roll to his feet.
The rear Ironstinger fell to the ground.
Sensing the ground being disturbed, the second Ironstinger turned to him and reactively thrust its stinger towards Gabriel's face.
Gabriel used the sword in his left hand to block the stinger and swung down with the sword in his right.
The stinger spun through the air and fell to the ground.
The beast began to screech.
Its body violently shaking left to right.
Gabriel lifted his left sword and turned it parallel in front of his body.
Four of his fingers opened on his hilt. The sword was still balanced in his hand on his thumb.
His eyes began to glow menacingly.
He clenched his fist shut tight against the hilt.
"Hold!"
Red smoke seeped from his fist, sluggish and heavy, wrapping around the Ironstinger like a living thing.
The creature froze mid-screech.
Gabriel quickly stepped to its side, raising his right sword above his head.
Slashing down with all his might.
The sword cracked through the armour and neck alike.
Its head slumped to the ground. Whilst the red haze held its body upright.
Gabriel's eyes began to dim.
The air thickened, still humming from what he'd just done.
"Righteousness begets cruelty".
He sheathed his swords.
The Ironstinger's body fell to the ground.
A warm liquid began flowing from Gabriel's nose, he raised his hand to wipe it. Looking at the crimson fluid.
My limit is still once, he sighed.
He wiped his hands on his trousers and glanced towards the dead beasts.
I need to take its stingers.
Gabriel began walking towards the rear Ironstinger.
The sound of trees snapping reverberated around the bowl. Gabriel turned to his right. His hand instinctively reached towards his sword.
Gabriel's eyes caught a glimpse of what was barrelling towards him.
It was a beautiful woman with long hair tied up. The armour over her chest had 2 claw marks scraping from one side to the other. Her tunic was covered in blood with rips above the chest plate going from the front of the shoulder through to the back.
Underneath the ripped tunic were two deep gashes that followed the rips around to the back.
The young lady continued on a collision course towards Gaabriel with panic in her eyes.
Just making it through the entrance to the Goat's path.
She tripped just as she crossed the threshold. Landing face-first into the icy ground.
Gabriel's face remained still.
He removed his hand from his hilt and slowly walked towards the woman.
She began using her own strength to roll over.
Gabriel approached.
As their eyes met, she muttered, "There were t…" and fell unconscious.