Chapter 70 - Deserted

The first thing that Titus noticed was the ever-increasing number of experience points he needed to reach level seven. It wasn’t a surprise, but if things kept going up and up like they were, then before long his kills would start being worth less and less. That was, of course, until he found stronger enemies and maintained risk like he was supposed to.

Time wasn't exactly on their side though, so Titus dumped his points into his safe choices, a couple each for Constitution and Agility, four into Wisdom, and one into each of his two defences. He could then only marvel for a moment at the fact that his health had risen to a useful sixty-five, but his Mana pool had skyrocketed to fifty-three. And that meant that the fireball he'd just used to take down the hobgoblins with the help of his friends’ Mana, he could now do alone.

Before he returned his attention to the real world, Titus noticed that he no longer had the ability to learn ‘Taunt’. He didn’t know if it was normal for abilities to come and go with new levels, but he suspected that by turning it down on more than one occasion, the God of Balance could see that it just wasn’t his style. Again, he could only hope that the other two ‘Resonance’ abilities would come back in time, though he knew he really had no say in any of that. Besides he still hadn’t fully got the hang of his Mana Resonance yet either.

“The goblins!” Petra’s shout brought Titus back to the real world, and no sooner than he had tried to see what she meant, he watched as his friend blinked out of existence for just a moment, and then reappeared behind the three goblins as they tried to make their escape.

They didn’t even fight back. After seeing what the group had done to their masters, the goblins just wanted to run. But Titus knew they couldn’t be allowed to live, not after seeing him and what he could do. Petra showed the goblins no mercy, well, no mercy other than giving them a quick death of course. Blink-stepping behind each of them, she slit their throats quickly and efficiently, which was enough in all three cases to end their lives without much more to say.

You have gained 33 experience points.

XP to the next level: 175

The text faded into Titus’ vision the moment that he’d seen the last goblin hit the ground. It was surprising, not only that he’d been given some credit for the Goblins’ deaths, but also at just how many experience points he’d been given.

“Don’t forget the loot pouches,” Petra called back to Jordan and Titus as she bent down and picked the small pouches from her latest kills. Titus had actually forgotten, so the reminder was welcome. He was also happy to note that even though the hobgoblins had been seriously cremated by his fireball, their loot pouches seemed unaffected and in total contained a handful of silver coins.

“Did we all get the same?” Titus asked as he straightened his back.

“Seven silver coins,” Petra said.

“Me too, actually,” Titus said.

“And me,” Jordan confirmed.

At least they didn’t have to fight over who got what from the fallen monsters, though it raised the question of how the loot drops were decided - something they could figure out later.

“Do we want to take any of their weapons?” Titus asked, looking at the swords littering the ground.

“I doubt any of them are any good,” Jordan said. “It looks like they just take what they can get. Our stuff looks like it's much more useful, for now at least.”

“Where do you think they came from?” Titus asked.

“It’s the wilderness,” Petra said. “It’s a given that there are monsters out here.”

“Yeah,” Titus pressed. “But they’re the first ones we’ve seen since we’ve been here. They probably aren’t the only ones, are they? And don’t things like that live in clans or something?”

“What, so I look like a monster mind reader?” Petra asked. “For all I know, that could’ve just been an innocent hob family out for a pleasant stroll. But they’re dead now, and the same is going to happen to any others we find. Until we find Henderson, that is.”

“Uh, yeah,” Jordan said slowly. “About that.”

“What now?” Petra exhaled as she brought a hand up to her forehead.

“Well, we were following the only tracks we could find, right?” He said.

“Yes, as per your illustrious tracking skill,” Petra replied.

“Well now there are loads of tracks. And these hobs we just killed probably tramped around all over the place. I hate to say it, but I don’t think I can track Henderson and his hobs anymore.”

“Are you serious?” Petra almost shouted, and Titus felt the need to steer the conversation away to something more constructive before things got violent.

“If this kind of thing keeps happening,” Titus said, “then maybe we should agree now that everything we find should be shared equally. I mean, I don’t know how the God of Balance works out what everyone leaves behind, and so far, we’ve been getting a pretty even amount, but the last thing I want is for us to fall out if one of these bags has something really good in it.”

“That does sound like a good idea,” Petra said. “But if we open up one of these little bags and inside is a legendary poison dagger or something, then I want first dibs.”

“Well then how about we say weapons or armour go to who needs them the most, and the coins are shared equally then?” Jordan proposed.

There was a little more back-and-forth as the party agreed on what to do in the case of certain items that everyone could use, but in general, the principle was there, and all three were happy with the new arrangements. Of course there were no guarantees that they were going to find anything particularly useful or valuable, but now they had a system in place to deal with such occurrences before it became an issue.

“So what do we do now?” Titus asked. “If we can’t follow the hobgoblins carrying Henderson anymore, then where do we go and in what direction?”

Jordan looked around for a moment, seeming to look for something, but eventually, he shrugged and said, “Just carry on the same way, I guess. I mean if they were heading somewhere in particular, they would probably go in a straight line, and we’ve been going this way since we started, so there must be something at the end of it, right?”

At least that approach made sense, and Titus could agree that since they entered the forest, they walked a pretty straight line in one direction for the entire time that did indeed suggest that the hobgoblins were taking Henderson somewhere specific rather than just aimlessly back into the forest.

“Oh good,” Petra said. “Now we get to walk in the deadly forest but instead of following the tracks of the creatures we are supposed to catch up with and rescue a human, we get to wander around and hope for the best. Can I just remind you both that we’ve gone from seeing no monsters at all to just encountering a large group that was pretty much all above our own levels? If we didn’t have the boy wonder here with us, then we would have faced the same fight as our dear friend, Henderson.”

“Boy wonder?” Titus asked aloud, but Petra just shot him a devious grin.

“Do you have any better ideas then?” Jordan asked with a tiny amount of venom in his tone. “Do you think we should just go back and everything up until now just be a waste? Because remember if we didn’t come here at all, we wouldn’t have just gained two levels in one go. That’s the quickest I’ve increased my power since I’ve joined the Arena!”

“It could’ve been the quickest way to die since joining the Arena, too!” Petra said. “And to say to turn back is waste of time is a fallacy. It’s how gamblers argue their problem.”

“I’m not a gambler,” Jordan replied quickly, sounding a little hurt.

“I’m not calling you a gambler,” Petra replied, almost in a sigh. “And you know you really do need to learn to pick up on social nuances; everything isn’t so black-and-white.”

“Anyway,” Titus interrupted. “Shall we get going or do you two want to stand around and argue for a little bit longer? Because I mean if the monsters didn’t hear us already after the giant fireball, then maybe they’ll get a kick out of listening to you two go at each other for the hundredth time.”

Petra visibly blushed. It wasn’t something that Titus had seen her do on a regular occasion, and it made him feel bad that he had garnered such a reaction from his friend. But what he said had needed to be said, and although feeling a little embarrassed, he was pleased to have brought it out into the open.

After the somewhat heated exchange, the group continued along their path for a short while. Without saying another word, they returned to their previous positions, with Jordan hacking down any thick undergrowth or bushes that were in their way along a relatively straight path. Titus and Petra brought up the rear.

Traversing the forest did become a little easier since the small hobgoblin camp because Jordan didn’t feel the need to stop and survey possible tracks at regular occurrences. As he said, there were now multiple tracks leading off in multiple directions, and he had no way of knowing which ones he was supposed to follow.

Everything was quiet and peaceful along their resumed walk until the group came across a small gathering of goblins, which, at level five apiece, didn’t offer much in the way of resistance against Jordan's axe, Petra’s blade, or Titus' fireballs. Although Titus still carried his steel sword, he quickly became accustomed to the fact that with an increased amount of Mana, even before Jordan and Petra had lent him their own - which was quickly becoming standard practice at the first signs of battle - he barely even raised the weapon in a defensive stance. He could now see the draw of being a Spellcaster and standing behind an experienced Defender and Warrior or Rogue, who were far more likely to get up and close with the action.

Over the course of the next few hours before daylight waned once more, the group encountered no fewer than ten battles, which ranged from Level two goblins all the way up to a single level ten hobgoblin. It was strange because all of the creatures they encountered were either goblins or hobgoblins, and they saw none of the other races of beings they had seen enter the battle by the City walls. Titus thought that perhaps the area they were in was simply patrolled by these two races alone, and that the battle for the City had called for a larger and more diverse force. Either way, there was no way he could be sure, but judging by the fact that he saw nothing but goblins and hobgoblins, he felt his assumptions were probably right.

It was almost dark by the time Jordan stopped just a few paces ahead of Titus and Petra and held up an arm to make them pause. Titus readied himself for another battle and expected the usual influx of Mana from his two friends to begin as he used their own Mana pools to power his ever-expanding fireball spell, but frowned as this time the Mana wasn’t transferred.

“What is it?” Petra whispered almost incoherently. Jordan beckoned the pair forward without turning to face them.

Titus crept forward as quietly as he could manage until he stood at Jordan's shoulder and looked out at what the large Defender had seen. Then he paused as Jordan had, as he looked out at the wide-open arid, barren expanse that lay before them.

“What the hell?” Petra said as she reached her two friends, clearly as shocked as both Jordan and Titus were at what they were looking at. “Are we supposed to just keep going?” she asked. “Because once we step out onto that, there will be no hiding in the woods anymore. If there’s anything out there to see us, it’s going to see us.”

Jordan scratched his chin thoughtfully. He stared out at the barren nothingness for a long moment before looking around at Petra and giving somewhat of a pained smile.

“Have a look at the ground,” he said. Titus didn’t need any more direction than that, and stared at the ground just a couple of feet before Jordan.

It was dry and cracked and nothing more than old sunbaked mud. It looked dead, unappealing, and most of all without food. But then Titus saw what Jordan had been pointing out. Although the ground was barren and dry, it had some very clear scuff marks and the occasional footprint etched into its dusty surface. Someone had come this way recently, but more than that, all around were more footprints and scuff marks that indicated this dry desert was far from infrequently traversed. And that meant there was an end to the nothingness, even if they couldn’t see it right now.

“That doesn’t mean we won’t get eaten the moment we're seen stepping out into that nothingness,” Petra said, having seen what Jordan was pointing out too.

“Have you seen anything capable of coming close to eating the boy wonder?” Jordan asked, nodding his head towards Titus.

“Yes, plenty,” Petra said, “but I guess not out here, and not for a while. And if he keeps growing the way he has been then there will be less and less capable of eating him.” Then she added thoughtfully: “Maybe we should just kill him now before he gets too strong to stop us?”

Titus forced a look of shocked surprise onto his face and pointed to his chest.

“What did I ever do to you?” he asked.

“Well, nothing yet,” Petra replied. “But you can never be too careful, you know.”

Titus raised his sword in his left hand and held his right out, as though he was about to cast a spell. With a smile on his face, he said: “Try it.”

Petra laughed. “You know I don’t know why you carry that sword. It’s like a dog carrying around its favourite stick. It has no purpose, but the dog likes the company, like it gives it some comfort or something.”

“That doesn’t say a lot for your company, does it?” Titus shot back and lowered his sword.

“Well, you might want to keep it at hand, just for now at least,” Jordan said. “Because there’s only one way for us to go, and once we do, there’s no turning back.”