<~> Chapter 103Ohing I didn't at 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 stantly. The noise alone was starting to bee unbearable.

  The first few bells of our jouroday had been more of the same, endless fields with not mu the horizon. That started to ge when for the first time since our trip had started we began to see traffi the road. One of the front uuna riders was sigo go scout forward and che the caravan up ahead, make sure they weren't any kind of threat. The words we got back were pretty ing. 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 stretg out even farther, all the more ing 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 prote rather than being refugees themselves because they looked more prepared with ons and equipment. Uarklin'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 adveried to link up with us, sell themselves into our pany as meraries, some of the women in the carts even offered themselves up as sves. I had to look away multiple times, worried about what circumstances would lead them to prefer being the sves troup of adventurers and merts rather than try their ces in the own. Though knowing about what had happehere, 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 group we passed probably shouldn't have been any kind of surprise. Blue and white fgs and people in robes passed us along the road. Anroup of Tamin church padins and priestesses traveled to the town we came from, likely looking to traore 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 g to him. A demon-hunter. He passed quietly, probably iing the miasma that g to me as I had him.

  We crossed through smaller vilges here and there. Most of them intact, though those had a heavier than usual guard presehers were pletely buro the ground. These smaller vilges were like ghost towns, pletely deserted aroyed, like a fire had run through them. Despite all of that I didn't notiy bodies, her 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 e 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 ag 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 oo 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 turoward the dire the arrow had e from in an instant. As soon as I tugged the reins she reacted instantly, as if she had been on edge this eime as well. She was a smart creature, she probably had been.

  I activated [ Flip] and flipped it in his dire. 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 rge gust of wind blew the ash away revealing two more archers standing on the roof o the first one. Man, wherever she was, decided to put her new magic to work. A long but thin sb 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 anood vantage point. Unfortunately, what came 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 ohat were attacked were clearly pissed off by it. The ed spears that the riders usually carried returhe riders nimbly threw them at their assaints before even one could get in rao 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 surprisi sidering 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 Man's stone sb oher. I drew my sword, more fortable with that thahrowing spears the other riders used. Nikka and I ran up to some of the hters 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 ssh threw the man on his back but he quickly got up after. The other uuna riders were moving agaie the enviro being cramped, the uunas were quid 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 id 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 er. I pulled the reins but wasn't quiough 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 fsh, her rge mouth ripped his head off in only a moment. I was rather disgusted to see the maorn apart but I quickly regained my bearings, I didn't have time to process anything like that yet. Nikka circled the building, revealing a sed shocked-looking archer, this time a demi with dog ears and a sed human still standing on the roof.

  Without even prompting, Nikka pounced on the sed one as I cast [Bckjabsp;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 dire. 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 sario in damage, it did plenty aroyed 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][Karmiergy increases by 326]

  I was shocked at how high the amount of Karmiergy I got from him was. I hadn't seen the o 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 rejoihe group. Many of the adventurers were still o and watg 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 frht 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 turo me. "Did you get the archers?"

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

  "Good, I only saw the three of them as well and there aren't any ood vantage points. robably dealt with everyohen." He turned his attention to Nikka again. "Bel is a nature healer, do you knoell 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 gnced around and noticed that all of the people that attacked us were dead now, heavily outmatched by the advehat they attacked. The archer that I killed was merely a Game Hunter, not even a real bat css from the sound of it. It made it all the strahat the kill gave me so much more karmiergy than the low level oerday, was it tied to their ive karma directly? I waited for about a quarter-bell before Tarklin came back.

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

  Bel smiled. "A few were but nothing serious. I've already healed all the others." She stepped to Nikka's side and poio the arrow. "That's going to o e out before I heal her."

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

  "Shhhhh." I patted Nikka oher shoulder and got her to focus bae. "We're going to pull it out and heal you. o be worried alright? Rex and trust me Nikka." She visibly calmed as I spoke to her and cautiously id back down.

  Bel approached again and examihe arrow, careful not to touch it. "Yoing to have to pull it directly back, we 't push it through from this ahe barbs will tear the flesh when you pull it out but I heal it okay after. Are you sure the uuna won't attack you? I'm much less fident I reattach a head..." She said gng 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 quid then Bel will heal yht after." The uuna just looked at me, there were no expressions to read but it turned away from me and dug its cws into the dirt.

  I ed my fingers around the arrow shaft and made sure I had a good grip before yanking the arrow out with my 7th. The uuna roared again and for a split sed, I thought I was about to die. That never came, instead, it licked the wound a few times before lying back down.

  Bel took this as her cue to step forward and put her hand against Nikka's shoulder to el 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 wide the result, it was near 4000, it was the sed highest karma I've seen since I got the ability. Only Raksha'va's was higher.

  A rge tongue brought me out of my thoughts as Nikka clearly appreciated the healing. She followed up by lig Bel's head , making her giggle.

  Tarklin smiled warmly. "It's rather hard to earn this kind of affe 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 Bel on the shoulder. "Thanks Bel, I'll catch up with you in a bit." I grabbed Nikka's reins and headed off after him.

  Saine

  What a good kitty!

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