Anti-Hero: Journey Of Fear

I saw more farmers out in the fields in front of me. I moved my horse off the road and made my way over. "A moment of your time good farmer." The three men nearby looked up and the nearest one came over. "What do you want?" He grumbled out.

"Are there monsters are around here?" I asked.

"Maybe up in the forest, but Lord Breckley keeps things pretty safe around here." That meant patrols, and soldiers were probably pretty common, good. I slammed the poker down on his head. There was a loud crack and the man crumpled to the ground.

"Hey, why did you hurt Samual!" One of the other men shouted. They rushed at me with pitchforks and other farm implements. Spinning the horse I smashed another farmer's face and he went down. My horse began to panic as the last farmer drove a pitchfork into its c.h.e.s.t. It reared up and slammed a hoof down on the offending farmer knocking him to the ground.

I looked around and four more were closing in. They closed in from the front and my right. I urged my mount forward with a vicious kick in the sides. With a burst of speed my horse cantered forward. I managed to graze one of the farmers but he didn't go down. Getting my mount under control I spun about and delivered a well-timed blow to the crook of a neck of another opponent.

The farmer's head titled at a wired angle and he went down. My arm was getting tired so I switched to my left. That only helped for a short bit as I took down another farmer. Unfortunately another two had just shown up making it four to one. My horse wasn't doing too well either.

I backed away and there was a moment of silence as both sides caught their breath and contemplated their next move. I pulled out my dagger and threw it. It hit at an angle on one of their legs, but it was the shock value I wanted. I leapt off the horse and darted forward. The animal was a bloody mess anyways and wasn't responding. I drove the poker through a surly looking brute. Unfortunately he grabbed onto it as he collapsed to the ground depriving me of my main weapon.

I was exhausted and there were still three opponents left. I grabbed up a pitchfork on the ground. A terrible weapon but it would have to do. I threw it and impaled another farmer in the c.h.e.s.t. I guess they weren't used to throwing their farm implements, thank goodness. If they had been they could have easily won this fight. I retreated back and hastily picked up another pitchfork as the two remaining farmers advanced.

I strafed around and put one farmer between me and his co-worker. He lunged in an attempt to skewer me. I batted the attack to the side and counter lunged plunging the pitchfork into his c.h.e.s.t. The farmer went down with a groan. The last one turned to run but I had already pulled the pitchfork out of his companion. I threw the pitchfork and struck his legs tripping him up.

I was sweating and exhausted, but there was still work to do. I went around and made sure to kill each and every farmer that was still alive. I then searched through the corpses for anything. I found a satchel, and ten copper coins in a small pouch on one of them. I took the money and put my bag of bread in the satchel. I also reclaimed my bloody poker and knife. First I cut off the cleaner sections of clothes to use as bandages and wraps going forward. Next I began to cut open the corpses making a mess.

I looked up at the sun and held up my hand to the horizon for a nifty trick to tell time without a clock. Each finger between the horizon and the sun was fifteen minutes until sunset. I had about an hour and fifteen minutes of sunlight left. I took the second horse and began making my way through the fields leaving clear muddy hoof prints.

Piercing Weapons-1

Stright through

LvL 1: You understand the basics of piercing weapons

Throwing-1

Zing!

LvL 1: You understand the basics of throwing

Light Conditioning-1

Death sprints are fun

LvL 1: You understand the basics of light conditioning

Basic Biology-2

Death sprints are fun

LvL 1: You understand the basics of light basic biology

LvL 2: You understand the theory behind basic biology

Murderer-11

Your soul is tainted

+1 Fate per LvL

Depraved-2

You are a demon in human flesh

+1 Fate per LvL

Army of One-1

Who needs help

+1% Constitution per LvL

+1% Luck per LvL

Enemy of the People-1

A mad dog to be put down

-1% Charisma per LvL

Experience

+24000 4 +10 LvL

+7710 2 +9 LvL

+7710 3 +7 LvL

You are level 11

Quest-Medium

The Gods

Learn about the gods of the land

+100 EXP

Accept (Yes/No)

STATUS

Name Kenji Shadowen

Level 11

Constitution 5.05

Strength 5

Dexterity 30

Endurance 5

Wisdom 5

Intelligence 5

Charisma 0

Luck 0

Fate 13

Remaining Points 18

Experience gains were plummeting as the level difference became closer and closer. So no farming weak farmers. I smiled at my over the top pun. My Fate was increasing incredibly quickly which also concerned me. Well the more the better, I was destined for greatness anyways. I dumped ten points into Dexterity, five into Endurance, and then the last three I tossed onto Constitution. I had run out of energy too quickly in that fight.

I didn't feel any different, but it was hard to tell. I looked at my skills. They would probably have to be a higher level if I was going to get a benefit from them. Still no magic skills unfortunately. "Fireball," I whispered and waved my hand. Nothing happened and I let out a small sigh. I also accepted the quest. At some point it would be more worthwhile to do quests than kill people…not. I chuckled to myself at my brilliant sense of humor and the roll I was on.

I came to a small stream at the edge of the fields with a forest on the other side. I got off the horse at the edge of the stream and slapped its rear. The animal darted across the water and into the woods. Hopefully that would throw off any pursuers. I then carefully made my way on the stone and not the mud and took a drink from the river. I felt a hundred times better. Holy crap, I needed to take a piss. The realism was astounding.

Putting my personal monster away I began to circle back through the half grown fields towards the houses from before. It took quite a bit of time and it was almost dark. I saw at least fifty farmers with torches and pitchforks and also ten soldiers. There was a knight on a massive horse. The animal didn't sag and was covered with metal plates. Definitely a warhorse.

I snuck around the crowd to the back of the barn.

Stealth-1

You find comfort in darkness

LvL 1: You understand the basics of stealth

I closed the screen out. There was a large wood pile next to the barn. I climbed up it carefully and then onto the straw roof. I made my way to the far edge and listened in on the proceedings.

"…we are going to form groups of ten with two of my men per group." The knight had taken charge of the proceedings. "Hurry up!" He shouted. The farmers quickly formed groups and the knight directed two of his men to each group. "You are group one, two, three, four, and five." He pointed at the various groups. "Group one will come with me, we will follow the monster's trail. Group two will head up the road. Group three and four will check the fields, stay in shouting range of the soldiers. Group five will check the village and surrounding area. Meet back here at dawn. Let's go, the eight will decide our fate!" Everyone quickly began to disperse with the soldiers giving out orders.

I noticed the soldiers had short swords and shields. They wore blue uniforms with a fish emblem stitched on it. That was probably Lord Brackley's symbol. There was a large rafter under me so I settled down onto it and pulled straw over myself. I also wrapped a piece of cloth around my nose and mouth so I wouldn't sneeze. With my straw hat helping me blend in and the dark color of my robe I wasn't worried about being spotted.

I dozed off during the night waking up a couple times as people checked the barn. I woke up before dawn. I focused on meditating and trying to find my magic while I waited for all the groups to return. As I lay on the barn roof completely still people began to slowly return in small groups here and there. I bit down to stop myself from yawning as I waited and stared at the people.

Meditate <Active Skill>-1

You are on the path to enlightenment

LvL 1: +100% MP Regen

Cost: Cannot Move

Observe <Active Skill>-1

You like looking at the world around you

LvL 1: Learn the Name and LvL of target

Cost: 10 MP

NOTIFICATION

By unlocking an active skill you have unlocked your HP/SP/MP bars in the 'Options'

Thank god, finally. Unfortunately I was stuck and could only whisper, "Close" to remove the screens. I stared at one of the soldiers and whispered, "Observe." Above his head in bright blue letters showed me his name and level.

Terry Umpton

LvL 37

I did a villager next.

Garth Steadfast

LvL 18

Next I did one of the kids I saw standing around. He looked about eight or ten.

Thomas Steadfast

LvL 6

The farmers probably got their levels from easy quests, while the soldiers killed things. The system probably auto-distributed their points, which wasn't surprising. I saw the knight coming back and checked out his level.

Sir Willos Stormblade of Brackley

LvL 107

Oh my god. He was a monster. I stared at his horse to see if the skill would work on animals.

Thunder

LvL 57

The stupid horse was a higher level than me and the soldiers. That really pissed me off. I quickly crushed any thoughts of fighting these impossibly leveled beings. "Meditate." I figured I might as well work on the skill while I lay hidden.

"Listen up, we tracked the demon to the Greenwood but the trail disappeared. I have dispatched two of my men to go bring a bring a-"

"Hey is there anything I can help with?" A young lady, with clothes that were way too tight came strolling into the group completely oblivious to the situation. Sir Willos spun towards her and I saw a hand on his blade.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I am Trixy Maidenheim. I wondered if this is a quest or an event."

"What city do you hail from?"

"Um, well I am new here." People began to whisper about demons. Two middle aged men walked in, both with blue jeans and t-shirts.

"Hey what is going on here?"

"Is this an event?"

"SILENCE!" Sir Willos boomed.

"Soldiers arrest this trespassers and take them back to Breckley. Put them to questioning. If they refuse harsher measures are allowed."

"Hey you can't do this." The woman yelled when soldiers grabbed her.

"What kind of game is this?!" One of the men shouted.

The last guy took a swing at one of the soldiers. The soldier went down but Sir Willos was behind the man in an instant on his horse. With one swing of his blade the man lost his head in a spray of blood. He pulled out a cloth and wiped his blade before sheathing it. There was a stunned silence from everyone. "The law and order of Lord Breckley shall be enforced. Send word to the garrison that too many strangers have appeared and to question any unknown person heavily and hold them for questioning." The shocked faces on the two surviving players was hilarious.

The girl broke down into tears as the soldiers began leading her away which was even funnier. "People of Willhelm, I will be leaving five of my men to watch the village in the coming days. Please treat them well. I swear that I will do my utmost to protect the people of this land. The eight will decide their fate!" There was a cheer from the crowd. He stared around the area before leaving and I could feel the cold gaze of his eyes sweep over my position. Thankfully he didn't see me. I was attached to my head.

He then turned and left the town, catching up with his men escorting the prisoners. So five soldiers and fifty villagers to slaughter, so much juicy experience. Souring relations between the players and the local NPCs was just a wonderful bonus. I carefully watched which buildings the soldiers went to.

Deception-1

Who done it?

LvL 1: You understand the basics of deception

"Logout." I whispered.

LOGOUT

You will be placed on auto pilot while gone. Please dictate instructions.

"Remain in place, meditate, do not speak or make noise, and do not move. Sleeping is allowed."

LOGOUT

Instructions confirmed. You are now logging out..

Everything faded away and I was once again back in my tower. I quickly went to my editing floor and began splicing and cutting the video I had taken. In less than an hour the video was done and released out to my adoring fans.

I then checked up any information that had been released. There wasn't much. Apparently MP regenerated incredibly slowly. Players had been randomly dropped throughout the world. There was a lot of shock over the level of pain and the level of realism. Unfortunately there was no world map, no stats, nothing concrete. I let out a sigh. I would be doing my own investigation it appeared.

My first video was going over well. Based on the comments I received everyone was being sent to legal Bob first before entering the game now. That made me smile. I checked the status of my physical body and all was well, the capsule was working fine. Well time for some more murder and mayhem. I went back down my tower and through the portal.

Everything faded back in and I was still in the same location. Not much time had passed, perfect. I carefully watch the movements of people throughout the village. There was one soldier walking about. They were probably taking shifts. I watched his patrol route and he did eventually pass the back of the barn. That made me grin.

Making sure no one was looking my way. I moved backwards slowly and then made my way back across the barn's roof in a crouched position. I reached the back of the barn and looked out. There were more fields, but I didn't see anyone working in them at the moment. Unfortunately they were growing some leafy plant which was still quite small and wouldn't provide cover for what I had in mind. I also noted that the only domesticated animal I had seen were horses. I hated dogs, well wild dogs. A well trained attack dog that obeyed my every whim was always nice.

I had wanted one growing up, but they were incredibly expensive. Keeping one in my atrium was kind of silly. Maybe I would find a pet in game. A dragon or Cthulhu would be worthy to have me as a master. Time to focus, I needed to get more levels.

I looked down at the wood pile and there were three rows of logs stacked up against the back of the barn. That might work. I waited pressed against the roof until the soldier began to walk past the back of the barn once more looking around.

I had taken the time to set my HP, SP, and MP bars in the bottom of my vision. "Observe", I whispered. My MP plummeted from six tenths full to a bit over half full.

Redder Unsel

LvL 28

As he passed by I leapt off the roof and slammed the iron poker onto his helmet, leaving a large dent in the leather. He crumpled. I then proceeded to drag him over to the wood pile. I got to work moving logs from the second row until there was a depression that was out of sight. I then stripped Redder of his canteen, sword and sheathe, whetstone, satchel with jerky, and a money pouch with twenty seven copper. I also began to strip him of his clothes and change. Stripping someone who is unconscious is a pain. Thankfully the head wound wasn't bleeding that much. I decided to leave the shield with the corpse. While incredibly useful, I wanted to focus on speed, and nothing has more style than duel wielding.

After what felt like an hour, but probably closer to ten minutes I was dressed in a blue tunic with leather arm and leg guards. I also had a metal studded leather skirt. I dragged the body into the depression in the wood pile and then covered him up with a number of logs leaving the iron poker with him and the shield. I took my outfit and put it in the satchel and had the hat attached to the satchel since I was wearing his leather cap. I kept my original sandals.

I took a deep breath and began munching on a piece of jerky as I distributed the next three stat points I had gained from a level up. They all went into strength since I was starting to feel weighed down by everything I was carrying.

I drew out the sword and said, "Observe." Nothing happened, probably needed identify or something like that. I sheathed the blade and I made my way through the village of Willhelm to one of the houses I knew the soldiers were resting in. I opened up the door. The interior was dark but I spotted a soldier asleep on a bed. A woman was also asleep on one nearby. Tricky, but doable. I raised up my short sword and stabbed down through the soldier's throat and the bed in one smooth motion. I placed my hand over his mouth but it wasn't necessary. After a couple of quick spasms he was dead.

I withdrew my blade and went over to the woman I repeated the process. I only got 761 experience from her with a five level difference. The amount was decreasing dramatically based on relative level. I filled up my satchel with bread and jerky. I also threw my old robe into the fire pit and took a peasant outfit. I found eleven copper in a money pouch on the soldier bringing my total up to forty eight. I had a mouthful of bread and some more water. I had to keep my energy up, murder and mayhem is tiring work.

That was how I spent the day. I killed all three remaining soldiers in their sleep and eleven more peasants. The late night they spent searching for me was coming back to bite them in the a.s.s. The experience was dropping off exponentially, with a three level difference only giving me 338 experience. The one child I killed only gave me two experience for being nine levels below mine. I brought up Constitution and Strength to ten and put the last five points into Dexterity raising it up to forty five.

As I was patrolling the town waiting for people to return a rider came through town. The blue and the fish symbol made me figure he was some sort of official messenger. "I come with a message from Lord Breckley. All foreigners are to be detained for questioning. If they resist they are to be put to the sword. Any trouble here?"

"Nothing to report. Everyone else is dosing off from last night's search. So who are these strange people?"

"No one is talking, but Lord Breckley is mobilizing everyone. I also heard the Church of Eight has received some sort or prophecy speaking of travelers coming from a distant land."

"Are they dangerous? I know one killed a bunch of people around here yesterday."

"Not so much, but be careful. Hopefully I can make two more towns before nightfall to check on things. Be sure to pass all that along." The messenger took off in a cloud of dust. A bunch of farmers were coming back to the village after seeing the messenger and it was late in the afternoon. I was counting twenty three people. Luckily I had a trap prepared. After I had killed everyone in the village I had dressed up one of the villagers in my robe and move them into the barn.

I also found a jar of oil and spread that on the barn's sides with a striker ready in my satchel. "Listen, we managed to kill the demon. I moved it into the barn." I shouted to the growing crowd. Everyone began making their way into the barn. I kept my head down but thankfully people seemed to buy my deception. When most of the people were in the barn with only three left outside a shout went up.

I stabbed the person near the entrance and then slammed the door shut. The other two people let out a cry and backed away. I moved over a large log in front of the door I had leaned up against the barn earlier. The two villagers rushed me. Unarmed villagers versus me with a sword was a lost cause. They fell to the ground bleeding and screaming. There was banging on the door and I knew it wouldn't hold. I quickly used the striker and set the barn on fire.

The fire quickly spread over the dry wood and straw roof spurred on by the oil. The screams tripled in volume and I heard more banging on the door. I stepped into area in front of the barn waiting. The door soon gave way and a crowd of people pushed their way out side along with a billowing cloud of smoke. I had two blades, one in each hand and rushed into the crowd stabbing and cutting.

I didn't allow myself to stand still to let the villagers grapple me. With the smoke inhalation most of them were dizzy and were easy to make short work of. One after another I killed the villagers. When the last person fell trying to hold their guts inside of them I dropped my blades and collapsed to my knees exhausted.

I took a long drink of water from my canteen and poured it over my face. Next I stripped out of my clothes and returned to where I had hidden my satchel. I quickly put on large peasant clothes with a Brackley uniform underneath. I then began making my way towards Brackley down the road.

Cutting Weapons-2

Light Conditioning-2

Deception-3

Who done it?

LvL 1: You understand the basics of deception

LvL 2: You understand the theory behind deception

LvL 3: You understand the limits of deception, +1% Intelligence

Murderer-50

Depraved-5

Army of One-2

Enemy of the People-3

Massacre of Willhelm-1 MAX

What about the children?

Permanent state of war now exists between you and the House of Breckley

+10 Fate

+1% Constitution

+1% Strength

+1% Dexterity

+1% Endurance

Experience

+2028 4 +4 LvL

+2366 7 +3 LvL

+1125 5 +2 LvL

+750 5 +1 LvL

+200 2 0 LvL

+41 1 -2 LvL

You are level 16

STATE OF WAR WITH THE HOUSE OF BRECKLEY

You have declared war upon Lord Breckley by massacring his people.

You are to be killed on sight by any soldiers.

A bounty will be issued for you.

Allies may be called to assist.

Upstanding citizens will run from you.

The state of war cannot be ended unless by agreement of both parties or destruction of faction

That is not good. Definitely not good. "Quests."

QUESTS

Easy Start of Journey

Medium The Gods

COMPLETED

Easy 1

Medium 0

There was no way to cancel the stupid quests. I continued walking to the city of Breckley in the distance. I had my large straw hat on and kept my head down. The peasants I passed gave me a look, but ignored me. The soldiers and messengers passed by barely spared me a glance. I had two swords in my satchel along with all the food and money I had collected.

I placed my three points into Dexterity and then reviewed my status.

STATUS

Name Kenji Shadowen

Level 16

Constitution 10.3

Strength 10.1

Dexterity 48.48

Endurance 10.1

Wisdom 5

Intelligence 5.05

Charisma 0

Luck 0

Fate 65

I had hundred and fifteen coppers and enough jerky and bread for about a week. The only reason I was headed towards Breckley was it would be the last thing they would be expecting. If I could somehow kill Lord Breckley I would probably get some sort of bonus status. Night was falling but I kept walking towards the city. I saw the guards close the main gates but I wasn't too worried.

I went off into the fields and began circling my way around. I also took out both my swords and strapped them around my waist. The walls appeared to extend out to the cliffs on this side of the city. I was about to circle around to the other side when I heard movement nearby. I crouched down and saw three people whispering to each other and pointing at the wall.

I stayed and watched as they approached the wall. Suddenly soldiers were all around them. They had been in pits covered with wood planks and slabs of grass. Simple but effective. Two of the people were killed as they squealed like pigs while the last one was taken away towards the gate in the wall. The two corpses were put up on stakes. The rest of the soldiers got back under cover.

I will say this, Lord Breckley does not mess about. Getting into the city was going to be next to impossible. There was a good thirty feet of plain grass between the fields and the walls. Probably littered with stake pits and other traps. The walls themselves were about three stories tall, very smooth so next to impossible to climb. They extended to the very edge of the cliff face and I figured there was something similar on the other side of the city. Soldiers were alert and set up to ambush and they were patrolling the top of the wall if their silhouettes were anything to go by. The fact that they didn't use torches up on the wall in order to keep their night vision was what really impressed me. I began to carefully move away from the wall and followed the coast line away from Breckley.

It was a clear night and I enjoyed looking up at the vast expanse of stars in the sky as I walked along. I needed a place to rest. I looked over the cliff face and saw a ledge down and off to the side. I went over there and climbed down. It was big enough and had rocks between me and the sea so I didn't feel like I was going to roll off. I went to sleep.

***

Ramponator: The blood, he made it rain!

Sliceman23: That was amazing, I tried to do the same thing but got taken down

UltimataSecret: High dexterity is risky. Notice how the stamina bar was very low for most of that

Hellzor37: Endurance is the best way, so I can run run run away to fight another day

HolyMan: You are all sick freaks

Ramponator: Thanks

HolyMan: I am going to find Kenji and feed him to a troll piece by piece

Ticklebot: Not very holy is that?

Sliceman23: Don't feed the trolls, our lord will wash away his sins with the rain of blood

***

"Tanaki Kurasmi you are fired for giving Rain of Blood a Broadcasting License. Clean out your desk within an hour."