Seeds of Discordia

Liam was both excited and concerned as he sprinted. He was excited because there were a few monsters that were considered boss monsters from the Yellow Dungeon. Last time he fought them he was handicapped due to the Stat Shatter Debuff. Now though, he didn’t have that. Not only that, but his sub-stats had grown too. He wanted to test himself against them to see how he measured up.

His concerns though tempered his excitement. While he wanted to fight these monsters with all his might, the fact they were not at full strength and were instead full of Toxo creatures while their bodies were slowly eroding due to their venom meant he wasn’t going to get the fight he was hoping for. Not that this was a good time to get a good fight in to test himself. Instead he had to test his stamina recovery and try not to get too tired fighting all of these.

To his surprise though, his stamina wasn’t draining as fast as it had when he had the debuff. He tore through a small pack of Zombified Twin Fanged Adders like they were tofu. He kept sprinting to the next group that was about to strike at a couple of citizens that were cornered. He reached them in time before the Undead snake creatures snapped forward. He yelled at them to run towards the Adventurer’s Association before ducking in time to dodge an attack from a Possessed Zombified  Static Fanged Macrovipera. He ran one of his daggers along the belly of the creature as it soared over his head, allowing a flow of blackish red liquid to rush out.

Liam snapped his head towards Roman’s direction and yelled out, “Roman! This one needs to be burned now!”

“On it!” Roman shouted as he rushed over.

Liam didn’t wait for him to reach the spot as he spotted a couple of Zombified Static Clawed Mantises start to run down the side of the building towards a couple of Beast-kin adventurers protecting a few more citizens. Liam didn’t hesitate as he pulled out a couple of his throwing daggers, aimed, and threw them.

Liam watched as the daggers struck an eye on both creatures. The sudden assault and loss of an eye caught the two undead creatures off guard and caused them to lose their footing. Liam was about to celebrate until he noticed where they were falling. They were going to fall right on top of the group of people.

“Shit!” Liam swore as he started to race over. He opened his mouth to warn them but closed it as he slowed down and watched as Artem jump right over the group with his shield leading the way, slamming into the bodies. The two falling creatures didn’t fly far, but instead landed on the creatures the adventurers were fighting.

The adventurers’ and people’s attention fell on Artem as he landed to the side of them before repositioning himself in front of them. They were both confused and surprised for two reasons. The first was they were so focused on the enemies before them they didn’t see the ones above. The second was the way Artem protected them.

The last thing they expected was someone from the Blood Thirst Plains to suddenly appear and protect them from falling enemies. They were always told that members from that race were proud and respected the strong. The only people they would even defend or protect were the young of their tribes. Anyone outside of that were left on their own.

Liam got a good look at the adventurers who stood behind Artem as he rushed over. There was three of them. Two Wolf-folk males and one Cat-folk female. They looked a little younger than he was and seemed to be as new as he was. Their armor looked dented and tattered a bit while weapons weren’t in the best condition and looked to be chipped in small areas.

The group they were protecting was a mixture of human, Beast-kin, and a couple of elves. Five people in total. They ranged from a couple of children to adults. They looked tired, ragged, and slightly injured.

“My bad!” Liam shouted as he ran up to Artem. “Thanks for the assist Artem. Nice jump too. Didn’t think you’d jump that high? Think you can give these guys a quick heal while I take these ones out really fast?”

The adventurers and people they were protecting stared open mouthed as they heard what this new guy said. They thought him to be crazy to ask a member of the Blood Thirst Plains to heal someone. No member from any of their tribes had healers. They only had some sort of innate healing abilities that gave them either health steal or self-healing. And if one, truly a strange one, somehow did have healing magic why would they heal someone outside of their tribe, let alone follow orders from someone who looked so small and weaker than he?

Artem glanced down at Liam. With a slight shake of his head he stated, “Dude, you need to keep an eye out where you’re dropping these guys. We’re not in a dungeon. This is a city.”

Liam winced. “Yeah, my bad. I was too focused on taking them down before they did a surprise attack on them.”

“I know you must be itching to kill after that…,” Artem eyed the group behind them before stopping himself and waving a hand around trying to think of the right word. “Thing you had. But make sure you get a better look around.”

Liam gave the big guy a grin. Even though they had been separate for a short amount of time, he was impressed with Artem’s social skills. He wasn’t some charismatic person who could give a heart pounding speech, but his ability to tell him that he needs to calm down and focus had increased. “I know.”

Artem gave him a brief smile before turning around and started chanting.

The group suddenly froze as they listened to the chant the Orc looking man started. At first they thought he was chanting an attack spell and got into a defensive position. However, as a warm soothing aura pulsed out from him and onto them they relaxed and looked shocked.

Their aches and pains slowly drifted away as their health started to replenish. Their shock wasn’t just from the interaction they had watched as well as the Orc turning to face them, but the fact that he really had just healed them. There was an Orc that had actual Healing magic. Something, they believed, he didn’t actually have, that he shouldn’t have.

“Th…thank you,” a Beast-kin woman from the group of people huddled together said as she stared at Artem.

Artem gave her a warm smile as he replied, “You’re welcome.” He then looked at the three adventurers and added, “The Adventurer’s Association is taking in anyone who cant defend themselves properly. Can you three escort them there?”

One of the Wolf-folks looked at him then to the people behind them before looking back at his weapon. With a determined expression he stated, “We can try our best to.”

“That’s all any of us can try and do,” Liam suddenly stated as he jogged back to them.

The group of people and adventurers looked at him and were shocked to see him coming back to them. This guy had ran over to fight the group of monsters they were having a hard time dealing with. Did he give up on fighting them? was he luring them over there to have them help him?

They looked over to where the monsters were and grew wide eyed. The group of monsters laid spread out, some with their limbs separated from their main bodies, while the others just laid there in a pool of what looked like expired blood.

“How?” the female cat-folk questioned.

“Their bodies aren’t in the best of shape. Making it easy to kill them,” Liam stated as he looked at her.

“If that’s the case then why couldn’t we kill them so easily?” one of the wolf-folk males inquired, starting to feel a bit annoyed and dejected.

Liam stared at him for a brief moment before answering, “Its because your weapons are on the cusp of being destroyed. Due to that the damage you have been dealing isn’t much.”

All three looked at their weapons. Liam could see the frustration in them as they gripped their hands tightly.

“We were on our way over to get them repaired before all of this happened,” the other Wolf-folk man said. “We haven’t been doing well in the dungeons lately and were trying to save up for a new weapon, but the prices at the shops and stalls as well as the repair shops had rose suddenly. We know this isn’t the best excuse, but…”

“If that’s the case then take these,” Liam suddenly stated after looking over the types of weapons each one used.

The two Wolf-folks and the Cat-folk stared at Liam as he pulled out a Bone crafted sword, spear, and two daggers. Holding them in his hands he tried to hand them over to the group but was stopped as one of the Wolf-folks stated, “We can’t take those. You must had paid a good amount of money to…”

“Nah, I made these,” Liam interrupted.

“What?” the cat-folk questioned.

“I made these,” Liam repeated. “You can use these as replacements.”

“Are…are you sure?” one of the Wolf-folk men questioned as he slowly reached for the Bone crafted sword.

“You might as well,” Artem joined in. “Once he makes his mind up on something there is no changing it.”

They looked at Artem who was giving them a warm genuine smile, something they weren’t used to seeing on a Blood Thirst Plains tribesman, nor ever hearing about. Their smiles they heard this race giving were nothing but blood thirsty or evil looking ones.

“Thank you,” the cat-folk woman said as she took the two bone daggers.

“No problem,” Liam said before looking at the group of people behind them. “Any of you know how to use a weapon or have any skills in them?”

The group of people looked at each other. Liam wasn’t expecting an answer from the children but was more focused on the adults. After a second had passed a tall thin red haired elf stepped forward and asked, “I have some weapon skills in Whips. Do you perhaps have a Whip weapon?”

Liam stared blankly at the woman. He wasn’t expecting someone with her physique and looks to say that, but instead of replying he looked for one of the newly made bone whips he had practiced making in his inventory.

After he found the weapon he pulled it out and said, “This is a prototype I’ve been working on so I’m not entirely sure how well it will hold up in a fight.”

The tall elf grabbed it and assessed it as she looked it over. He could hear her mutter, “The jointed areas where the whip bends are a bit stiff, the flexibility isn’t entirely the best, but it can still move like it’s supposed to…”

Liam then watched as she gripped the handle while letting the rest of the whip loosen up by her side. She then pulled her arm back before jerking it forward, allowing the whip to move and make a loud crack that reverberated in the air.

Liam kind of jumped at the sound. He wasn’t expecting it and from the corner of his eye he noticed a few other people did as well. When he tried doing that he could barely make a snap like hers. After watching her movements and hearing more loud snaps and cracks he realized her saying she had some skill in the weapon skill was probably her being modest.

The more Liam watched her practice with the whip the more he realized his thoughts wandered a bit. Thoughts of leather and chains briefly flashed through his mind before he stopped himself. He wasn’t sure why a woman like this would have this weapon skill, let alone so high, but the more she cracked that whip the more he felt it he probably shouldn’t ask what might be a personal question.

As she turned to face Liam she gave him an approving nod. “While there are some areas you could improve on to make it easier to use, it will do its job as intended. I must say, great job on the craftmanship.”

Liam shook his head. “Thank you for the input. I would be more than happy to hear what I can do to change that, but at a later time.”

The woman gave him a smile and nodded.

“Alright, you guys should be good to go now,” Liam started to say until a thought came to mind. He reached back into his inventory and gave the three adventurers two health and stamina potions. He looked at the woman with the whip and got a nod from her, understanding the silent question. She would be fighting as well. He gave her a couple of the same.

“Thank you,” the three adventurers said, still slightly unsure of all of this. “We’ll repay you for this.”

Liam waved a hand off as he looked at them. “Don’t worry about that. Focus on getting them and any people you find back to the Adventurer’s Association. Also stay alive. After that…we’ll figure something out after all that. Now go!”

The group of people and adventurers nodded before turning around and heading out. Liam turned around to see the monsters on this street were starting to thin as Blair joined and helped some of the other adventurers still fighting, kill them off. Roman was setting Undead bodies on fire as he slowly caught up to them.

After hearing what those three adventurers say about sudden price raises he took a good look at the weapon quality of the ones who were still around. Some had their weapons in great shape while others had their in really bad condition. He made a mental stock of the weapons he had in stock that he had made recently. He didn’t have a lot, but there was just enough for those currently here he could hand off to help keep them in the fight.

After helping take down the monster those adventurers were having issues with due to their weapons, Liam did what he did with the three adventurers. They were skeptical at first, but after some arguing and convincing they agreed to using the weapons.

After helping out the other adventurers and informing them of everything happening, the adventurers with fire magic helped with the burning of the bodies. They told Liam and the others that they would spread the information as they headed towards different areas of the city.

Liam started to turn and ask the other three which direction they needed to go, but as he turned a loud boom suddenly echoed. A rumble under their feet caused the four to brace themselves not to lose balance. From the volume of the noise it sounded like it was close by. Liam looked around to see if he could tell where it came from and saw dust flowing from around a corner not too far away. The building blocking the view started crumbling down, making Liam believe something had either hit the building or exploded from it. He didn’t know which it was nor what had caused it.

He started to jog that way, but then felt his blood run cold as a high pitch scream filled the air. Liam recognized the voice. he then realized where they were and started sprinting, trying to get there as fast as he could. As he turned the corner he looked for the building he knew was around and saw three people in front of it.

The front entrance to the Cats Paw-ldron was destroyed as chunks of debris blocked the half collapsed building. Farry was crouched down on one knee, blood slowly trickling down the side of his face as he gripped one of his shoulders. Abby stood terrified behind him as she let out scream after scream. Cindy stood protectively in front of the two as she stared down a few Zombified Static Clawed Mantises, a couple of zombified wolves, and a few creatures flying right above the creatures.

Liam had never seen these ones before. they looked like a mixture of fat naked red skinned imps with small protruding horns on their heads and small wings that looked to be having a hard time keeping the bodies afloat in the air.

Their situation looked dire, and Liam wanted to race over to them, but then realized that there was one more monster close by. He then realized why the monsters weren’t attacking. They were trapping the three, keeping them there for this much bigger monster to make its way over to flatten them from down the road.

The creature in question? It was a Longhorn Static Whip Beetle. Liam assumed the monster must have been the cause for the loud crashes as its long whip-like antennas cracked forward even other step, destroying any rubble or debris in its way.

“Shit!” Liam cursed. “We need to stop that thing before it kills those three!”

“We wont make it in time with our current speed!” Artem stated as he looked at the creature then at the three people.

Liam thought about what he could do to pick up speed. Anything that could either help him move faster or launch him forward. As he stared at the creature an idea popped into his mind. It was something he did when he fought the creature back in the Yellow Dungeon. He had used Gravity Force Push to give him a boost. Maybe he could use it again, not to attack the creature, but maybe use it to surprise attack the monsters that surrounded the three Cat-folks and create an opening for them to run. He just needed something to act like a springboard.

He looked around and decided to use the side of a building. He wasn’t sure if it would be sturdy enough for his intentions, but he had no other options if he wanted to reach them in time. He ran over to the wall he wanted to use, making Artem, Blair, and Roman give him a confused expression.

“What are you doing man?” Roman questioned as he watched Liam look at the wall then at something behind them.

“No time to explain,” Liam stated as he switched his daggers for a Scythe that had flower buds on the top. “Just run straight over there to help me out.”

The three looked at the weapon with both awe and puzzlement. However, their confusion only grew even more after taking in what Liam had just said. They weren’t sure what he meant by that. Blair only realized what he was trying to do as Liam started chanting a familiar spell to her.

“Hinderances and obstacles blocking my path, weighed down by the law of Gravity. Reverse and move away from me, allowing the way to be clear. By the law of Gravity, I forcibly reject you. Gravity Force Push!”

Three then watched as Liam suddenly slightly lifted off the ground and readjusted his angle by placing both feet on the wall. Not even two seconds later, Liam bent his legs and then shot off like a rocket past them and towards the monsters surrounding the three Cat-folks.

“Shit!” Roman swore with some amazement in his voice. “That’s one way to get where you’re going if you’re in a hurry. Come on. Let’s hurry and catch up. He’s going to need our help.”

Artem and Roman sprinted after him, not realizing Blair wasn’t following. She looked at Liam’s flying body and back at the wall. She then looked at the giant bug looking monster picking up speed. She then muttered, “He wont get them out in time. However, maybe…”

Liam felt the force of the air pressure pushing against him as his body shot out. he almost lost his grip on his weapon as it started slipping. He gripped as hard as he could as he tried to pushed his hands and weapon out in front of him. It was hard at first, the weapon wanting to slid back and towards him, but once he had it as far as he believed he could get it, he motioned his arms to move to the left allowing the weapon to move with the force. However right as it passed his body, Liam spun as hard as he could with the force trying to turn his whole body into a spinning top of death.

It was slow at first as he felt the force of his speed try to stop the spinning, however, with all the strength he had, he was able to make it work. It was sloppy compared to last time, but the speed his body was moving thanks to the Gravity Force Push and the spinning of his body plus the length of the scythe, Liam was able to tear through the monsters that were in his way.

He didn’t know which of the monsters he had sliced through, but he did know he caught them off guard since he didn’t feel any resistance. After cutting through so many he felt his body start to slow and descend. As soon as he felt his feet land, he wanted to stop and get a better idea of where he had landed, however, he forgot what happens when you spin too fast. Your equilibrium wasn’t balanced.

He felt his eyes spin as he moved in a drunk like fashion. He tried to regain his balance as well as stop the spinning he felt. He heard the three Cat-folks mutter his name with some confusion as he tried to regain his composure. It took him a few seconds. A few seconds that was about to spell his doom as when his vision stopped swimming was set on the massive beetle like monster almost within striking distance. He saw the familiar sparks come to life along its antennas and started to mentally curse himself as he prepared for the incoming strike. However, to his surprise the Zombified Longhorn Static Whip Beetle suddenly rocked off its feet and tipped over as Blair suddenly appeared with sudden speed and force, swinging her stone covered Battle axe in an upward vertical angle.

Liam’s jaw dropped as he watched the woman land gracefully on her feet and stared at him.

“Leave it to you to find an interesting way to use a spell,” Blair commented with a wide grin.