[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 16: One Bad Apple

Even Sam had to admit that his plan wasn’t anything special. But it seemed like people needed something to do. Some sort of plan, even if it wasn’t stellar.

And so, he laid out something so simple, any of them should be able to follow it without any issue.

“Firstly,” Sam continued, “we’re going to need a watch rotation. Three people for a few hours each. They’ll be responsible for keeping the fire burning, and to make sure nothing comes up on us unaware.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Darren said. “There are a dozen people here! If we had a single person keeping watch and the fire fed, we’d need less than half of us awake for watch duty.”

“I’m sure you expect to be in the group that gets to sleep uninterrupted,” Chris sniped.

“Naturally. Why have everybody sleep deprived if only a few people are needed to keep watch?” Darren shook his head. “Listen, it’s simple math. Some of you will watch our backs, and we’ll repay the effort by being fully rested and able to guide you out of this place before that ogre kills us all.”

Sam shook his head. He should have known there’d be pushback, even on the simplest of things. Leaving was getting more appealing by the hour.

“No,” he said firmly. “We all share in the duty.” Then, inspired, he added, “Who knows, you might get some EXP or even a new skill. Nobody really knows how that stuff works, and I’m willing to bet a lot more things than killing lizards gives Experience.”

Despite a few people clearly liking Darren’s suggestion, Sam’s hint at potential free EXP and new skills triggered a greedy glint in several people’s eyes.

Sam couldn’t blame them. Nobody knew how skills or Experience really worked. The lizards hadn’t told how much EXP they granted, and there was nothing saying how much more Experience was needed to get to the next level.

And if it meant that Darren didn’t get a foothold on people, all the better.

“Three people,” Sam reiterated. “Two-hour watches each, then wake up the next three.”

“That is a lot of people,” Emmit muttered into the cowl of his cloak. “We have three Scouts. I’d imagine our Job is most suited to the task.”

“You’re right.” Sam nodded in his direction. “That’s why every group but the first should have a Scout in it. The most likely time we’ll be attacked by monsters is probably in the middle of the night, and the most likely time we’ll be attacked by people is right before waking up.”

“You really think people are just going to go full Mad Max out here?” Kale asked.

“No,” Sam admitted. Then he thought about it a moment, adding, “Not at first. People aren’t innately bloodthirsty unless there’s something mentally wrong with them. We’re a social people. We’ll likely run into a group soon, especially considering we’re all traveling away from the center of this island.”

And then, to himself, he added, it’ll take a while for the bloodthirst and cruelty to truly settle in. Time for the social barriers to break down and people to realize that they can kill somebody just because they don’t like the way they looked at them.

Who is going to stop them? There aren’t any police, no rulers to make sure the law is kept. The only law and order that exists is what we can enforce with our own power.

Sam just hoped that it took the others a lot longer than him to piece that all together. If not… they were in for a rough time.

“That isn’t to say we shouldn’t be on guard,” Sam continued. “We’d be stupid to leave ourselves defenseless. Even if we do meet up with another group, there is a good chance any alliance we form will be temporary and only last as long as it’s mutually beneficial.”

“That’s just good business,” Darren muttered. “Why keep a relationship going if it’s only one way?”

“You must be a real hit with the ladies,” Kale said with a laugh. Even Komachi laughed, which was both surprising and adorable.

Darren’s face turned deep purple, but he kept whatever he was going to say to himself. “Fine, everybody wants to go with this… this haole’s ideas? Fine by me. I can be a team player. I’ll even volunteer for the first watch.”

Kai and his sister both stared daggers at Darren, and some of the other, more socially aware, inched away from the man’s position. Sam wouldn’t have bet on Darren lasting ten minutes in Kai’s company before the end of the world.

Now, with nothing except the big muscular man’s own self-control holding him back, Sam didn’t know what he would do.

Not wanting to send Darren into a frenzy, Sam conceded that it wouldn’t be a bad thing to let him get a small win. After all, he might actually change once he started to realize that constantly negging all the time wasn’t getting anywhere.

“I’ll volunteer for first watch too,” Matt said, and was quickly joined by Lisa.

Sam shook his head, “We shouldn’t double-up on the same Job if possible. They already have a Fighter and a Mage. We need the Scouts in reserve. What about you Kai?”

The big Hawaiian glared at Sam but gave him a curt nod all the same. Darren snorted derisively, but kept his mouth shut. Which was fine by Sam.

And if Darren opened his big fat mouth and Kai decked him, all the better.

“Now, tomorrow we’ll need one of the Scouts to climb the tallest tree we can find and get the lay of the land,” Sam said. “We need to make it our absolute priority to leave the island as fast as possible. We don’t know if there are… ships or… I really don’t have the faintest idea what we’ll find. But we sure as hell won’t get off the island from the center.”

After that, it was just deciding who would be on which watch and making sure they were relatively evenly matched should something sneak up on them. It was too bad they didn’t have another Cleric and Scout, but what could you do?

“Anymore edicts, o’ great commander?” Darren quipped.

Sam rolled his eyes. “That’ll depend on what we find out tomorrow, won’t it? For now, we should get what sleep we can find. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

Lisa muttered to Emmit, “Are we going to have to walk off this island? I haven’t walked anywhere since… I don’t know!”

“Maybe we’re near the edge already,” the Scout replied hopefully. “That way, we can get out early and be far away before anything bad happens.”

While everybody found their own little area around the fire to bed down in, Sam took one of the sleeping bags for himself, and let the others draw a lottery for the other two.

Snuggled up inside the warm leather sleeping bag, Sam pulled Komachi inside and went over her spells. As it turned out, both her [Warding] and [Regen] spells said they received bonuses from Vigor and Arcane, so he recommended her to boost those stats with her bonus points.

After everything that had happened, Sam was sure he would never fall asleep again. There was so much to process. So much loss and change.

And yet… as soon as he shut his eyes, he instantly fell asleep.

***

“I don’t get why you’re taking orders from that kid,” Darren muttered, poking a stick into the fire.

He didn’t bother to look out into the dark of the forest. What was he going to find, anyway? The fire would keep away any creatures looking for a quick meal, and the scent of blood and death would scare away potential scavengers.

That’s why when you killed a spider, you left its corpse out so the others would know it was dangerous. Animals were simple, stupid creatures. Just like that filthy cat. Talking didn’t mean intelligence.

“Darren…” Matt sighed. “It’s not that simple. Nobody is taking orders. Sam has some good ideas. Would you ignore them just out of spite?”

“No,” he said eventually, feeling that was what Matt wanted. “A good leader takes all criticism and suggestions with an even hand.”

“Good. So act like the leader you want them to see you as. I know you have it in you, Darren. Take what unique lessons and knowledge you have from managing other people and apply it here. How can you get back control of the situation?”

Darren thought about that for a while. He looked up at the stupid Hawaiian, who stared off into the darkness as if he could actually see anything.

Keeping his voice low, Darren said, “Lead by example.”

“Very good, Darren.”

“So then we should check the perimeter,” Darren said loud enough for Kai to tilt his head in their direction. He didn’t look at them, though.

Darren pushed off the ground. So Sam thinks he can out level me, huh? Let’s see about that.

“Did you hear something?” Matt asked, getting to his feet.

“Yeah.” The sound of Experience points, Darren thought to himself.

Matt slowly rose, taking out his paddle-shaped wand. “All right, I’m with you. Lead on.”

Up close, Darren could see intricate designs on the flat bit of the wand. He grinned and headed off into the darkness, directly opposite the dead and mostly stripped carcasses.

There would be no creatures that way, but over here, he might come up on something that wasn’t frightened away by the dead animals.

Creeping as quietly as he could, Darren unhooked the spear from his back. He had chosen it purely because it allowed him to stay several feet away from anybody wishing to do him harm.

Let that idiot stocker use a big fuck off sword where he has to get up close and personal with every fanged beast around. Darren would be perfectly safe and behind a large shield—when he found one—and his extra-long poking stick.

If it was good enough for the Spartans, it was good enough for Darren.

“I don’t see anything,” Matt whispered. “Are you sure you saw something?”

“Trust me,” Darren said, lying through his teeth. “I saw it. Did Kai stay behind?”

“Yeah, don’t think he cared what we were doing.”

“Fine by me,” Darren said with a grin hidden in the dark. More XP for me.

It took longer than he would have thought to find a creature. Probably scared them off from all my shouting, rookie mistake.

Darren froze and held up his clenched fist to signal a stop.

Matt, having no idea what he meant, just kept walking and then stopped to stare at him in the wan moonlit night.

Hissing a sigh of annoyance at his otherwise very capable friend, Darren pointed his index and middle finger at his eyes, then flattened his hand out and motioned forward like a Navy SEAL.

Again, Matt looked dumbfounded. “What the hell are you doing, Darren?”

“I’m pointing, Matt!” He pointed like an idiot in the direction of the now moving shape.

Shapes. The single log-like shape that Darren had seen turned out to be a cocoon upon closer inspection.

The sound of dozens of skittering legs filled the dark forest, and Darren’s mind went blank with terror.

Through the dappled moonlight, he saw glossy-shelled spiders the size of small sedans descend from their hiding place among the branches of the trees.

With a scream of fright, he threw his spear at the nearest creature and, by a stroke of dumb luck, managed to score a direct hit. Matt began casting immediately, but without his spear and only weapon, Darren wasn’t about to stay put.

Without another thought for his friend, Darren turned and sprinted away as fast as his long, lanky legs would carry him. The fire would scare them off, surely. And then, as a group, they could hunt down the creepy crawlies.

Yes, that’d be it. He’d be lauded as a hero for bringing in so much XP. Matt would surely finish the one off with the spear stuck in it, and the extra XP it gave the pair would push Darren beyond Sam.

Because, seriously, giant spiders? They probably gave way more XP than boring old lizards. All he had to do was run back to camp and reap the rewards.

It was fool-proof.