Chapter 103

One thing I didn't account for when riding today was how annoying my new sword was going to be in its ill-fitting sheath. The sword wasn't a perfect fit for it obviously but that hadn't bothered me until I was riding Nikka. The stupid sword on my belt was jiggling constantly. The noise alone was starting to become unbearable.

The first few bells of our journey today had been more of the same, endless fields with not much on the horizon. That started to change when for the first time since our trip had started we began to see traffic on the road. One of the front uuna riders was signaled to go scout forward and check on the caravan up ahead, make sure they weren't any kind of threat. The words we got back were pretty concerning. Refugees.

When the caravan finally started to cross paths with us it told a grim story. There were six carts fully loaded with people, mostly women and young children, they each carried maybe a single bag each. Many of them had even less. Following behind them was a trail of people stretching out even farther, all the more concerning because this stretch of road was not clear of monsters. There were several adventurers mixed in among them but they wouldn't be equipped to deal with something like the stream stalker we ran into not long ago. I assume they were actually there for protection rather than being refugees themselves because they looked more prepared with weapons and equipment. Unlike Tarklin's group, most of them had mismatched armor and a wider range of levels, which led me to believe they weren't normally together, save a few here or there that looked like typical party members.

A few of the more opportunistic adventurers tried to link up with us, sell themselves into our company as mercenaries, some of the women in the carts even offered themselves up as slaves. I had to look away multiple times, worried about what circumstances would lead them to prefer being the slaves to our group of adventurers and merchants rather than try their chances in the next town. Though knowing about what had happened there, perhaps it was the safer bet for these people to make. What a morbid thought. How many of those people would be picked up by the Tamin church, ready to be reprogramed into loyal servants for their church when they were at their most vulnerable, at their lowest. I just turned away from them, too afraid to watch them pass.

The next group we passed probably shouldn't have been any kind of surprise. Blue and white flags and people in robes passed us along the road. Another group of Tamin church paladins and priestesses traveled to the town we came from, likely looking to track down more demon summoners. A few looked my way but none of them did anything. The only one of them that stood out to me was an older-looking man, tired and rough looking from what I could tell through what little he left uncovered. He stared right at me as we passed one another, I could see the faint miasma of demons that clung to him. A demon-hunter. He passed quietly, probably inspecting the miasma that clung to me as I had him.

We crossed through smaller villages here and there. Most of them intact, though those had a heavier than usual guard presence. Others were completely burned to the ground. These smaller villages were like ghost towns, completely deserted and destroyed, like a fire had run through them. Despite all of that I didn't notice any bodies, neither burned in the fires nor lying on the side of the road like I would have expected. I hope that meant that they had joined up with one of the caravans we passed, either heading to where we came from or towards the capital and not that they had been taken as some kind of ritual sacrifice for the demons.

I took a deep breath to clear my thoughts.

The closer we got to the city Fae had come from, the worse things were starting to look. Normally we would stop for lunch at some point but it seemed pretty clear from the way the other adventurers were acting that it wouldn't be in the cards today. All of the adventurers, especially the ones riding the uunas, were on high alert. Despite all of the dark thoughts that were brought about by everything, I was too. It's a good thing that I had been paying attention because I was the one to spot the archer this time. He standing on the roof of a building in one of these ghost towns waiting for our caravan to get just a little bit closer.

"ATTACK!" I yelled as I pulled on Nikka's reins. The giant animal leaped out of the way and turned toward the direction the arrow had come from in an instant. As soon as I tugged the reins she reacted instantly, as if she had been on edge this entire time as well. She was a smart creature, she probably had been.

I activated [Coin Flip] and flipped it in his direction. It exploded into a cloud of ash that frankly did much more harm than good, totally missing and disrupting our view of him. I cursed to myself as I rode Nikka behind one of the carts for cover. I quickly took a look at the surroundings. A large gust of wind blew the ash away revealing two more archers standing on the roof next to the first one. Morrigan, wherever she was, decided to put her new magic to work. A long but thin slab of dirt pulled up from the ground and blocked the archers from that angle. Fortunately, there weren't any other buildings around that would give them another good vantage point. Unfortunately, what came next was a rush of melee fighters.

People ran out with long pikes, trying to catch the uunas with them. None were near me, but the ones that were attacked were clearly pissed off by it. The chained spears that the riders usually carried returned, the riders nimbly threw them at their assailants before even one could get in range to hurt their mounts. One of the riders had missed but Tarklin appeared out of nowhere and cut the pike in half with his sword. A rather surprising feat considering the sword he carried looked more like a rapier than a broadsword.

The road we were fighting on had burned buildings on one side and Morrigan's stone slab on the other. I drew my sword, more comfortable with that than the throwing spears the other riders used. Nikka and I ran up to some of the other fighters that began to trickle in through the alleys between the buildings. I took a swipe at a man as I flew by. The force of the slash threw the man on his back but he quickly got up after. The other uuna riders were moving again, despite the environment being cramped, the uunas were quick and agile, able to leap around and dodge attacks without getting caught up on the carriages or the other uunas that pulled them. The uunas that pulled the carriages and carts were surprisingly calm, they seemingly just laid down and waited for the battle to finish.

I got a weird feeling, only to turn around and see one of the archers from earlier turn a corner. I pulled the reins but wasn't quick enough this time, an arrow dug deep in the shoulder of Nikka as she turned. Nikka roared for the first time since I've been around the creatures and the guy who shot the arrow looked like he shit himself.

The human man tried to draw another arrow but Nikka was on the man in a flash, her large mouth ripped his head off in only a moment. I was rather disgusted to see the man get torn apart but I quickly regained my bearings, I didn't have time to process anything like that yet. Nikka circled the building, revealing a second shocked-looking archer, this time a demi with dog ears and a second human still standing on the roof.

Without even prompting, Nikka pounced on the second one as I cast [Blackjack] at the one on the roof. A pair of cards materialized in my hand but I didn't even bother looking at them before tossing them in his direction. Rather than limply falling to the ground like I halfway feared, the cards sped forward and exploded into a 6 and an 8. I thought jokingly about wanting to hit on a hand like that. While the attack wasn't the best-case scenario in damage, it did plenty and destroyed the roof the guy was standing on. I sobered up a little when I got the kill notification.

[You have killed a Game Hunter level 18][Karmic energy increases by 326]

I was shocked at how high the amount of Karmic Energy I got from him was. I hadn't seen the need to check the karma of the people I was fighting but this guy gave me almost as much karma as the level 40 fencer I fought yesterday. How does that work? I shook the thought off and rejoined the group. Many of the adventurers were still on alert and watching our surroundings but the battle was over now. I felt sick from taking another life.

"Lilith!" I looked over to see Tarklin waving at me, I led Nikka over to him. Nikka was now walking without the use of her front right leg but it was only noticeable because her gait was a bit less smooth than normal.

Tarklin frowned and looked at the arrow. "Nikka got hit, that's a shame." He turned to me. "Did you get the archers?"

"Yeah, Nikka here took out two of them, I took out the last one. I only saw three on the building."

"Good, I only saw the three of them as well and there aren't any other good vantage points. We have probably dealt with everyone then." He turned his attention to Nikka again. "Bella is a nature healer, do you know how well her healing works on animals?"

I shook my head. "You'd have to ask her."

"Sure, give me a moment." Tarklin strode away and I took the opportunity to get off the saddle and have Nikka lie down. I glanced around and noticed that all of the people that attacked us were dead now, heavily outmatched by the adventurers that they attacked. The archer that I killed was merely a Game Hunter, not even a real combat class from the sound of it. It made it all the stranger that the kill gave me so much more karmic energy than the low level one yesterday, was it tied to their negative karma directly? I waited for about a quarter-bell before Tarklin came back.

I looked up at the two. "Is anyone else hurt?"

Bella smiled. "A few were but nothing serious. I've already healed all the others." She stepped to Nikka's side and pointed to the arrow. "That's going to need to come out before I can heal her."

As if the uuna understood us she got up and growled making Bella back away with her arms raised.

"Shhhhh." I patted Nikka on the other shoulder and got her to focus back on me. "We're going to pull it out and heal you. No need to be worried alright? Relax and trust me Nikka." She visibly calmed as I spoke to her and cautiously laid back down.

Bella approached again and examined the arrow, careful not to touch it. "You're going to have to pull it directly back, we can't push it through from this angle. The barbs will tear the flesh when you pull it out but I can heal it okay after. Are you sure the uuna won't attack you? I'm much less confident I can reattach a head..." She said glancing at the uuna's now blood-covered mouth.

I looked at Nikka and touched her big feline head. "This is going to hurt but afterward it will feel better. I'll be quick and then Bella will heal you right after." The uuna just looked at me, there were no expressions to read but it turned away from me and dug its claws into the dirt.

I wrapped my fingers around the arrow shaft and made sure I had a good grip before yanking the arrow out with my 70 strength. The uuna roared again and for a split second, I thought I was about to die. That never came, instead, it licked the wound a few times before lying back down.

Bella took this as her cue to step forward and put her hand against Nikka's shoulder to channel her magic. The wound healed rather fast, much faster than a lot of people she healed. It made me think to do something I never had before, I checked Nikka's Karma. My eyes widened at the result, it was near 4000, it was the second highest karma I've seen since I got the ability. Only Raksha'va's was higher.

A large tongue brought me out of my thoughts as Nikka clearly appreciated the healing. She followed up by licking Bella's head next, making her giggle.

Tarklin smiled warmly. "It's rather hard to earn this kind of affection from an uuna. She's thanking you, uunas are deceptively intelligent. I hope this proves it if you thought otherwise."

Tarklin turned around as if to walk away before stopping and looking over his shoulder. "Lilith, will you follow me real quick? I want to ask you something. Grab Nikka's reins, we'll hand her off to one of the handlers, it's time for you to rotate out anyway."

I patted Bella on the shoulder. "Thanks Bella, I'll catch up with you in a bit." I grabbed Nikka's reins and headed off after him.