Anti-Hero: Journey Of Fear

Chapter 13 - 12: Group Dynamics

The lines clashed as men stabbed out with spears. There screams as both soldiers and prisoners died. "Archers, grab up swords and attack!" I shouted. The arrows stopped flying and the archers discarded their bows. I stood slightly back watching for any weak point in our line. I also didn't put it past someone to betray me in the heat of battle. Sure if I joined, probably five more of them would live, but even that was not worthwhile.

As the front line began to falter the soldiers watching the back changed positions to support their comrades. That was when the six flankers closed in from behind. I activated my Fear Aura, but it didn't break them unfortunately since our level difference wasn't high enough.

The fighting dragged on. I moved in only once when the soldiers looked like they would overwhelm our right side. I jumped in and slashed a soldier across the face giving the prisoners a moment to recover. The fighting continued as both sides perished one by one, until there were fifteen prisoners surrounding six soldiers in a small cl.u.s.ter.

"Charge!" I shouted and then pushed the prisoner in front of me onto a spear. As the spear dropped, I stepped in and stabbed the soldier in the face. The other prisoners rushed in and I stepped back a bit. In the end only six prisoners were left, two of them wounded. Those soldiers had put up a fight when they had seen the end coming.

We got to work looting the dead and then Ulther called out to me. I saw eight prisoners approaching, and three civilian women being pushed along as well. I turned to my group. "We are tired and worn out. Just go with the group that is coming for now and I will sort out things tomorrow, got it?" I got a bunch of tired yeses.

The group of eight reached the wagon about the time we had finished looting. "What do we have here?" The biggest and most brutish one said.

"Killing some soldiers and escaping. We got enough food to make if to Balkor if you want to join up."

"Join up, sure. Come on boys, let's help them out." We were soon moving up into the mountains. It was slow going and the wounded rested in the wagon while the prisoners joked and laughed. Ulther kept quiet as did I. The Brute clearly thought he was in charge and would probably challenge me the moment I questioned him. My SP wasn't recovering as fast as I would have liked since I didn't dare go up on the cart in case the Brute took offense to that.

We walked till mid-afternoon and then stopped at a small mountain stream. People began to spread out and take supplies off the wagon. I wanted to curse at their carelessness but refrained. I sat off to the side with Ulther who had unhitched the horses so they could rest as well. Night came and soon the Brute got a large fire going.

The three civilian women were dragged out. The Brute picked the least ugly and then started ramming her on top of a fur he had laid out. That was going to be burned, no way to sell that now. The other prisoners began to take turns with the remaining two women. All the prisoners from my original group but one refrained. I let myself lightly doze while they screwed themselves into oblivion. I made sure to note where each member of both groups were so as not to confuse them during the night.

After two hours, the women were raw and bleeding and the prisoners were collapsed asleep. I stood up and began stabbing every single prisoner through the head and neck at the same time starting with the Brute. It was swift and over in less than two minutes. I wiped my swords off and went back to where I had been dozing. "Ulther take watch, if anything so much as twitches wake me."

He nodded, and I went to sleep. He hadn't fought in the battle so I was confident he would have enough energy to keep watch.

I was shaken awake and quickly came to. "Two of them got up to piss during the night, but went back to sleep. A couple of them are stirring awake now."

"Good job, see what breakfast you can make from what hasn't been ruined." Ulther got started in gathering up fire wood. I helped gather a couple larger pieces and restarted the fire. Ulther was frying up strips of salted meat while I waited, sitting on a log next to the fire pit.

"Ahhhh!" One of the men shouted. He probably spotted the blood and the corpses. The others quickly woke up and they all started shouting.

"Silence." I said the word calmly and they all shut up. "You six fought and earned the right to the supplies, they were free loaders. Now, Ulther has prepared a lovely breakfast. So why don't you drink up at the stream and then come and eat." There was a long moment of silence.

"If any of you want your cut of the supplies you can take it and go, but the cart and horses stay with me. Oh, and I gagged and tied up the women so they wouldn't escape. After breakfast, feel free to take your turn." There were smiles at that and they all went off to the stream. They had been easy enough to tie up, exhausted from the prisoners ministrations the previous day.

"Have you been with a woman Ulther."

"…."

"Ah, well, that one was Brute's." I gestured at the tied up woman next to the corpse. He set the skillet with the fried meat on a log off to the side with some bread next to it. He went over to the woman. The prisoners had returned and began to cheer him on as he tried twice and missed before he hit his target.

The prisoners ate and had their way with the last two women and Ulther's one after he was finished. It was mid-morning and everyone was relaxed and content. "So, why don't we introduce ourselves. Name, why you were in prison, and what you want to do now. I will start. I am Kenji Shadowen. I enjoy killing people and torturing those who annoy me. I was in the prison to set you all free to piss off the Breckley family. I killed Lord Breckley, his wife, and a couple of his knights. I massacred a couple of villages and towns. I plan to travel to Balkor, sell this loot, buy a bunch of gear and then kill things." I pointed at the next man around the fire. "You."

"I am Ober Stroudsand. I was in the prison for stealing some bread. I hope to return to my family."

"Back in Breckley?" I asked and got a nod in response. "Take what you can carry and head out." He looked worried but hurried off to the wagon, quickly filling up a satchel. I kept an eye on him and pointed to the next person.

"Yalow Middleton. Couldn't pay my taxes and got sent here. No family, no farm either anymore. Don't really know what I want to do. Well I don't mind another go at one of the women."

"Go right ahead if you have the stamina." He smiled and stepped off to where the women were tied up. I pointed at the next man. "Tallow Undir. Was caught screwing an girl whose father had friends in high places. It wouldn't have been that bad, but she said I had r.a.p.ed her when asked the bitch. I wouldn't mind paying her a visit, but I am in no rush. I don't mind going with the flow."

Ober came back holding up his satchel for me to look at. "Go, if you cheated me I will find you." He nodded and sent back off towards Breckley. "You next."

"Gillow Yall. Got into a fight. Other guy is dead. Want to leave the past behind."

"Yalow, the way she is screaming through her gag did you spear her somehow?"

"All the way through." He shouted out as he took a quick breather. There was a round of chuckles. I pointed at the next man.

"Elrin, no last name. Just got rounded up as things got tough around here." I pointed at the last man.

"Geller Hart, stabbed a man who had something rude to my mother. She is probably dead now, without me to take care of her. Anyways I want to travel a bit." I pointed at Ulther.

"Ulther, I follow Kenji."

"Excellent, and perfect timing Yalow." He came back over to the group. "Any of you Travelers? I can find out easily enough." Only Elrin raised his hand hesitantly. I had used an observe as each of them took a turn.

"You have all been truthful except for Geller over here." I drew both my blades and we stood at the same time. "I hate liars. Anyone I sleep next to I have to trust. If you lie there is no trust." He drew is sword as well, but it was no contest. I batted up his blade with one of mine and then stabbed him through the heart.

He collapsed dead on the ground and I wiped my blades off on him. "Here are the rules if you come with me. I am god. That means you do what I say when I say it. You are free to speak your mind when there is an opportunity, but I have the final say in everything. If you don't like that you can leave like Ober. Also Elrin, I don't know why you decided to hide your last name of Yenrick, but it is pointless."

"Shit man, this is way too intense for me. I am heading out. Good luck." Tallow said. That just left Yalow, Gillow, and Elrin.

"I am out as well, you are insane you know that." Elrin said. I walked over to him and he began to scramble away.

"You really want to insult me." I began kicking him and he curled up.

"Logout." He whispered.

"This is why I hate Travelers, always escaping. Yalow, cut off all his clothes. Gillow start packing up this camp. Anything useful off the corpses, chuck the bodies into the fire pit. Ulther sort out the wagon, we are leaving here shortly." They all got to work without a question. It was good to be in charge.

Tallow came back. "No hard feelings?" I held out a hand and he handed over the satchel. A quick check showed he hadn't taken an entire stack of money, just basic things to survive and a couple of silver.

"Go, and good luck." I handed back the satchel and he ran off. Yalow dragged over the n.a.k.e.d auto pilot of Elrin.

"Tie him up and toss him in the cart. Make sure he pisses first, I don't want a mess. Also have the women wash up and then tie them back up. If they resist, kill one of them slowly." He visibly gulped but I ignored it. I then went to help Gillow sort through the corpses. In half an hour, the corpses were burning and we were all packed up. I had Gillow and Yalow ride up in the cart while Ulther and I walked.

"So both of you know, I am a Traveler."

"We kind of guessed." Yalow muttered.

"Either of you know how to use a bow?"

"I do." Yalow said.

"Perfect, you will train with the bows we have. Gillow, you seem more like a strongman. You get the hammer the priest had. We will train every night and exercise every morning. Also, either of you know how to read or write?" There was silence, stupid educational system. "Then writing lessons as well. For now, let's go through the alphabet. Ulther?"

As they recited the alphabet with Ulther I went to clear out my backlog of status screens for the last twenty four hours. The cart was slow up the winding mountain trail, but at least the path was smooth enough for me to do this.

Ambidexterious-4

Tactics-1

Medium Conditioning-3

Stealth-4

Fear Aura <Active Skill>-2

Run for the hills!

LvL 1: All LvL -50 will feel uncomfortable around you

LvL 2: All LvL -10 will feel uncomfortable around you

Cost: 1 MP per Minute, 1 SP per Minute

Deception-5 MAX

Misdirection-1

Observe <Active Skill>-3

You like looking at the world around you

LvL 1: Learn the Name and LvL of target

LvL 2: Learn the strongest stat of target

LvL 3: Learn HP/SP/MP of target

Cost: 10 MP

Leadership-1

Raid of North Salrin Mine-1 MAX

Freedom!

+10 Fate

+2% Charisma

+2% Luck

NOTIFICAITON

You may now view your HP/SP/MP count on your status bars

Experience

+6000 1 +10 LvL

+150 1 +1 LvL

+82 2 -2 LvL

Yeah, fear aura went up and was actually useful. Observe going up probably unlocked my own ability to see me stats. I quickly entered the Options and changed the setting to show a count over the bars that hovered in the corner of my vision.

HP: 8423.15 / 9101

MP: 11.23 / 106

SP: 987.56 / 1378.46

Maybe there was some sort of blood magic I could use instead of MP? It would be nice to compare my stats to my enemies. The sheer cost of Observe to my total MP pool was killing me. The experience gain was shit, since I did almost no fighting. No party system, I let out a long sigh at that. The thing that really pissed me off was the raid title or status. Charisma and Luck, the only two things I had not put any points into. I was kind of lucky and swayed people to my side, but I was also intelligent, wise, cunning, and held my own during the fights. Whomever assigned these bonuses was evil, very evil.

We stopped at mid-day and we ate. Yalow had another go at one of the women we had tied up in the back of the cart. I had him move her to a slab of rock first, no need to mess up our supplies. I checked the springs on the wagon and while they were compressed quite a bit they seemed to be holding together.

We set off again. As we walked I discussed math with my two new companions. While they could count up to one hundred, they were slow in their sums. That was about the extent of their skill. I didn't want idiots following me around.

We then dragged Elrin out of the cart. "Is there anything you two won't do?" I asked Yalow and Gillow. "It is okay, I just want to know now."

"Um, I don't really like guys you know." I let out a small sigh.

"Not exactly what I meant but okay. No sleeping with guys. You Gillow?"

"Kids."

"Yeah, kids." Yalow looked at Ulther who scowled.

"Anything else?" They both shook their heads. "Excellent. I will try to avoid the kids then in respect of how both of you feel and won't ask you to sleep with guys Yalow." There was a small chuckle at that. "Now we eat some fresh meat. Ulther you work on gathering up some wood along with Gillow. Yalow you can start skinning. Better the meat is fresh." There was a moment of silence before horror dawned on both of them.

"But, uh…" Yalow stammered.

"Get to work. Tie off the leg to stop the blood and then cut it off. I like my meat sliced thinly and well cooked." Yalow snapped his mouth shut and got a piece of rope. I watched as he tied off Elrin's leg tightly to stop the blood flow. He then pulled out his sword and hacked it off in five strikes. After that he cleaned off his blade and got to work with a knife tossing strips of meat into the skillet I had set nearby. I carried Elrin back to the cart and dumped him with the women.

Soon enough the fire was built up and the meat cooking. Ulther had gotten a very small packet of salt back in Breckley which he used to season the meat. We tossed the bone and unusable bits of flesh into the fire where it was burnt away. Once the meat was cooked we each wrapped up a couple of pieces in bread and ate. I carefully watched the others expressions. Yalow was hesitant at first but quickly devoured his. Gillow just kept his same calm expression and munched away.

Cannibal went up by one and my fate jumped up by about six from that one percentage point. I wouldn't be making this a regular occurrence, but I wanted to test how far I could push these two. I had Gillow clean up while Ulther spent some time with one of the women. I grabbed one of the women for myself. She was fairly worn, but had recovered a bit during the day. Gillow took the last one, at least he wasn't a complete robot.

I set watches, Yalow first, then Ulther, then me, and finally Gillow. I had Ulther stay up during Yalow's watch and I stayed up during Gillow's. The only thing they did was toss more wood on the fire when it got too low, but other than that there were no issues.

The next day we set off again. The road was getting worse as it narrowed and large rocks lay in the path. I had Ulther take a turn driving the wagon while Yalow stayed at the rear and Gillow and I took the front. Gillow was quiet, but I could respect that. The strong silent type, I just had to be careful on what motivated him. I was tempted to strike up a conversation but knew that sometimes walking in silence was far better for opening a dialogue between men.

Yallow liked women well enough if the pounding of flesh in the morning was anything to go by. I guess that was how he worked out all the frustration from yesterday's events. As we walked along I noticed group of people traveling our direction on the far mountain. Probably a larger caravan along the same route. I spotted six carts and at least thirty men.

"We are going to find a place to pull the cart off and then the other group pass us. Unfortunately we have to dispose of Elrin and the women. Gillow take care of that. Yalow help Ulther." I worked with Gillow to cut women's throats and toss them in a rocky crevice. We tossed Elrin on top of their corpses alive. That would slow down his comeback by a day or two at least.

By mid-day the other caravan reached us. I had Yalow and Gillow hide with bows behind some nearby rocks out of sight. A more well-dressed looking mercenary on a horse came over. "Hello there, may the Eight bless your travels." I said. My hat and wig were on, which would hopefully disguise me well enough.

"Hey there, a bit lonely out here for just two of you."

"Well there is trouble in Breckley and me and my grandson were hoping for a fresh start." The mercenary looked over at Ulther and then back at me.

"Hmm, well be careful. There are golems and other monsters in these mountains. Things tend to get worse from this point on."

"Thank you for the advice. I wish you all a safe trip."

"You too old man, yah!" He shook his reigns and his horse fell in line with the rest of the caravan as they passed by. A couple of them looked at us, but they were disciplined enough to leave the talking to their leader. I watched them move away and we waited for five minutes looking for any stragglers or a return ambush. Thankfully they appeared to be what they looked like. A mercenary outfit hired to guard a trade caravan. We had a small meal and then set out again. I had been tempted to attack the caravan, but that was too high risk, even a night attack. Also the people in Balkor might recognize the goods or the wagons which would cause further issues.

Also more wagons would be a lot harder to defend with the small group I had with me. The more people I had the harder it would be to keep control. Ulther seemed to vary between sullen and manic, probably all the teenage hormones and stress. Whenever I was near him I would pat him on the head our put a hand on his shoulder.

At first he had tensed, but now he relaxed whenever I did it. At meals, I made sure to sit next to him and would pull him into leaning against me. Now he did these things naturally. The problem was he made a good body guard, but not a good second in command. He was too young and didn't have the presence to command respect. Well a second could wait until the group got larger. For now I was top dog and everyone was below me.

We stopped for the night at a small mountain stream. Based on the amount of horse shit, I figured this was where the caravan had spent the night. I set up the watch rotation again, but slept until it was my turn.

We continued the following day a bit more on edge after Yalow had spotted a rusty sword off to the side of the road. The road was also rougher as it curved through the peaks. Just before mid-day we came upon a large boulder lying in the middle of the road. The moment I saw that I shouted, "Attack!" Ulther stopped the wagon, Yalow began stringing his bow, and Gillow hefted the war hammer. Behind the large boulder stepped a large creature that appeared to be made from the same grey rock as the mountain.

If it wasn't for the two black orbs near the top, it could have easily blended in. "Observe."

Hardened Rock Golem

LvL: 96

Strongest Stat: Constitution

HP: 19235

MP: 123

SP: 2501

That was not good. I drew a single blade and moved forward. "Ulther work on a chant to increase Gillow's strength. Yalow aim for the black orbs. Gillow back me up, I will take point." The creature lumbered forward like a small horizontal avalanche. I darted in, "Power slash!" I called out and struck the creature on its leg. The Fey Blade held but I could feel the vibrations back up through my arms. I forced my legs to move not taking the time to look at the damage I caused.

A loud boom came from where I had just been standing. Gillow darted by me swinging the war hammer. I turned around and looked back. Where I had hit the golem a good chunk of rock had been chipped away. Ulther struck the large arm that had just hit the ground with a resounding crack. The rock shattered slightly but held together.

An arrow shot out and struck just to the side of one of the black obs. The golem twisted slightly in surprise from the attack as Gillow retreated. I heard Ulther finish the chant and hold both arms towards Gillow.

I glanced and saw a faint glow surrounding him. Yes, Ulther had finally succeeded. Probably all the learning I was having him do helped push his stats into Intelligence and Wisdom. Unfortunately he looked exhausted, probably used up all of his MP giving out that boost. I darted back in making sure not to get smashed over attacking.

After three close misses Gillow moved in and smashed the war hammer down on the same spot as before. The rock shattered and a number of pieces fell away. The golem spun rapidly bringing its other arm to smash Gillow. I pushed myself as fast as I could go and tackled him out of the way. I felt the stone arm graze my foot as we tumbled over the rocky path.

I pulled myself free from Gillow and drew my second sword. My first one had been dropped as I had made my tackle. An arrow flew out and struck the golem in its eye, sight rock? It shattered and the golem began swinging wildly about. We all moved back, Ulther had already been backing up the wagon after his chant completed.

After a minute the golem stopped thrashing about and turned towards us. Yalow let another arrow go but the golem shifted slightly causing the arrow to miss the one uncracked black rock. I raced forward, I had one shot at this. I saw the golem swing down at me and stopped as fast as I could. The rock arm slammed down in front of me, blasting me with dust and debris. The creature was at least twelve feet tall and only one vulnerable spot.

I leapt up on the arm and began racing up. I think the golem couldn't believe anyone would do such a thing since it hesitated for an entire second. Low Dexterity for the win. "Power slash!" I then slammed my blade as hard as I could into the remaining black orb. It shattered under the blow and my blade bit into the rock slightly.

The golem swung its arm up, but I was already leaping off the back of the creature. I hit the ground and rolled to break my fall and was already dashing towards my first blade. I heard the strike of a hammer and turned around. Gillow had landed a blow on the creature and had retreated once again. It thrashed around and every half minute or so Gillow would move in and smash the thing as hard as he could. After the fifth time it finally stopped moving.

I called out for everyone to wait and rest for a bit while we kept an eye on it. Since I didn't deliver the killing blow I wouldn't be able to tell if it was dead or not unless I used Observe. With my MP as low as it was, I really wanted to avoid that. Thankfully after a minute it began to fall apart. Whatever force that was holding the golem together had been lost.

"Shit, that was scary." Yalow said.

"Good job all of you. Great shot Yalow. Nice hammer work Gillow. Congratulations Ulther on performing a successful chant." I had gone up to him and rubbed his head at the last comment. He gave me a small smile.

"You too Kenji. I mean you were like a whirlwind. I thought you were going to get it for sure." Yalow exclaimed.

"Thanks for the save." Gillow said. I gave him a nod.

***

TheLordBreckley: My ghost will haunt you, whooooooo

HellzFirez666: BURN THE GHOST!

UltimataSecret: Prison break, omg

HatMan: I love how he let everyone else go first

PedoBear9000: In chess you send the pawns first

Ramponator: Hopefully I would rate as a rook at least

GODHAXLOL: PROTECT THE HORSEY WAGON!

6996: Someone has a horse fetish

HatMan: Better than some other fetishes