EFate: An MMO Story Chapter 32: The Hun

As Eric and Owin walked stealthily through the forest, skirting around fallen trees, avoiding caves and hills, and following the stars south as the morning slowly began to dawn. Eric began to wonder how he should deal with his rapidly dwindling supply of arrows. By the time he'd fought the elite wolf he'd already been down to only twelve arrows. A number having been lost either by firing them into the woods never to be seen again, or by the bodies of the monsters they'd slain, rolling over and breaking the shafts of his arrows in what seemed like one last act of defiance. Did beasts understand the concept of financial wellbeing? Eric pondered as he stared sadly at the remaining two arrows in his quiver.

Engrossed in his mourning over the loss of two silver, Eric walked straight into Owin who was holding up a hand for silence. Glaring at Eric, Owin motioned for him to get down.

"Wolves," he mouthed. Pointing to a small cave roughly a hundred meters in front of them.

"Can we sneak past?" Eric mouthed back. Owin shook his head, "Too big a detour. I'm positive that the goblins are hot on our trail. Especially after we cremated Wylls. We need to go through them."

"There are goblins on your tail?" Asked Eric incredulously. Forgetting to whisper. Owin winced and raised a finger to his lips.

"Yes. I can tell you later, for now we need to fight our way past these wolves. Judging by the size of the den there shouldn't be more than three of them," he whispered back.

Pointing to his quiver Eric held up two fingers, "I've only got two arrows left," he mouthed.

"Use your sword. You received militia training right?"

As Eric nodded uncertainly, Owin unsheathed his sword with a small schiing. "Let's go," he mouthed, creeping towards the wolves den. Nocking an arrow Eric followed along silently, staying alert for any signs of the wolves.

Approaching the cave, he could make out two wolves lying inside, gnawing on the haunch of some unidentified animal. Twenty meters from the cave entrance the forest thinned, raising his hand, Owin looked back at Eric.

"Ready?" he mouthed. Nodding in response, Eric took careful aim at the larger of the two wolves and used Charged Shot.

Schwiii! The arrow screamed through the air, as the wolves raised their heads at the noise, their ears standing up on alert. Before they could react any further the arrow embedded itself in the skull of the larger wolf. Falling to the floor dead, its ally rose to its feet letting out a mournful howl as it dashed outside of the cave towards their position. Two more howls echoed the first wolf's as behind it another pair of wolves appeared, both hard on the heels of the first wolf which was now already halfway across the clearing, headed for the bushes that concealed Eric and Owin.

With a yell, Owin charged forward, meeting the first wolf with a slash of his sword. Nocking the second and final arrow to his bow, Eric took aim at a wolf flanking Owin and loosed the arrow which sprung from his bow like a viper. Unfortunately for Eric, the wolf chose this moment to leap at Owin and the arrow hit its side instead of skewering it through the throat as he'd intended.

Spinning around Owin slashed at the injured wolf as Eric drew his sword and dashed in to help. Clumsily slas.h.i.+ng at the third wolf, Eric forced it back, allowing him to dash in and put his back against Owin's.

"What now?" he asked, holding his blade in a defensive posture.

"No other choice, we have to kill them," Owin responded grimly, das.h.i.+ng forward to strike at the injured wolf which leapt back with a snarl. Not letting up, Owin pressed the attack, raising his blade high and bringing it down upon the wolf's body. Taking advantage of this, the largest of the three wolves threw herself at Owin's exposed back, leaving the third wolf to deal with Eric.

Holding the sword in front of him, Eric watched the wolf warily. Attempting to cast his new spell, he was interrupted by a quick swipe from the wolf's paw. Abandoning his attempts to use magic, he brought the sword up into a guard position, his green eyes locked with the wolves golden ones. With a low growl, the wolf attacked, leaping towards him with fangs bared. Slas.h.i.+ng clumsily, Eric inflicted a glancing blow on the wolf who yelped but finished the leap, landing on top of him and tearing at the arm he'd brought up to defend himself. Bringing the sword up high, he stabbed at the wolf which responded by tearing even more viciously at his arm, it's paws clawing at his chest.

Unable to use magic, Eric stabbed the wolf over and over again, engaged in a fierce battle over whose healthbar would collapse first. Had Eric still been level one he may have lost, but fortunately he'd grown stronger since arriving in Nova.n.a.lba. As his sword plunged into the wolf's unprotected flank one last time, the wolf relinquished it's grasp, finally falling to the ground dead.

Turning, Eric prepared to help Owin only to realize that he was already finished his fight, as Eric watched Owin struck the wolf once with his blade causing it to retreat backwards. Not relenting, Owin performed a swift dash, his feet moving in a blur that kicked up the dirt and gra.s.s around him as his swordpoint trailed behind him. Arriving in front of the backpedaling wolf he continued his dash, bringing his sword into a strong slash as he arrived in front of the wolf, dispatching it with an enormous chop to the neck as it furiously attempted to turn and retreat.

As the wolf's head dropped lifelessly to the ground, it's body swaying briefly before joining the severed head, Owin wiped his sword on it's fur and sheathed it. Eric's mouth hung open as Owin regarded him critically.

"I thought you said you'd received militia training? Your swordwork is awful," he commented.

"I received very brief training, I literally only know how to guard and slash at a training dummy," Eric explained as he looted the wolves corpses.

Sighing, Owin motioned for Eric to hurry as they continued onwards.

"So you're telling me you don't know any sword skills? Apart from how to guard?" Owin asked incredulously. Eric spread his hands wide to show his helplessness.

"I only got half an hour of sword training. Most of my hunting has been done with a bow."

Owin sighed at this revelation, "And you don't have any arrows in your storage?"

"Do you think my quiver would be this empty if I did? These are my last two."

"Alright if you're going to be useful at all you're going to need to know at least one sword skill. We don't have time to stop though so I'm going to try and teach you as we move."

Suddenly reminded of the conversation they'd had just before the encounter with the wolves Eric jolted up, "Right! What was that you said earlier about being chased by goblins?"

"Wylls and I were tasked with scouting the recent monster movements. Yesterday we chanced upon a goblin encampment. We obtained some very valuable information after we captured and interrogated one of their sentries. But unfortunately we were discovered, we were forced to run south when we accidentally ran into that wolf. If we hadn't been in such a hurry then there's no way we would have missed the signs. Wylls would still be alive if it weren't for those d.a.m.n goblins," Owin swore with a murderous look in his eyes.

"And you saying they're still chasing us?" Eric asked, as the words left his mouth loud howls filled the forest behind them, each howl echoing another. Own flinched at the sound, looking nervously in the direction they'd travelled.

"Definitely. And Wylls' funeral pyre will have alerted them to the direction we took. They have worg mounts but luckily the forest around here is very dense. As long as we stay on the move we should be able to reach Tonbura before they catch us," Owin explained as he jumped over an enormous fallen tree. A demonic rabbit that was startled out of hiding attempted to charge him, but with a quick flash of his sword it's head was sent flying. Continuing on as if nothing had happened, Eric was forced to jog to keep up with the experienced wilderness scout. Howls occasionally reverberating through the forest behind them.

Opening his event log, he quickly checked the skills he'd gained in the fight.

[Charged Shot has levelled up to Beginner 7]

[Militia Swordsmans.h.i.+p has reached Beginner 7]

[You have received 2 Fine Goose-feathered Iron Arrows]

For the first time since arriving, his archery did not level up after the fight. Despite his charged shot striking the wolf, his skill remained at Apprentice 5. Whatever, I can figure it out later Eric thought as he dismissed the log.

As they forged southward Owin began to explain the basics of the sword skill he'd used to dispatch the final wolf. The move was essentially a slash made while das.h.i.+ng, similar in theory to Eric's Evasive Shot. One had to use the momentum of his dash to empower his attack, transferring the momentum into the sword and then using the strike to hit their enemy.

The biggest flaw with the move according to Owin was that it left the user wide open. If the strike missed or if the opponent managed to dodge then the extra momentum meant that the sword could not be brought into a guard position easily.

"Thus the trick is not to miss. Use it as a one hit kill move, or to finish off opponents who are retreating," Owin explained as Eric attempted once again to perform the footwork.

"It's difficult to do without stopping. Are you sure we don't have time to stop? I learn pretty quickly," Eric extolled but Owin stood firm. The howls had been growing steadily closer despite the breakneck pace Owin was taking through the forest. The pair had travelled the same distance in half an hour as Eric had in three, using game trails to flee southwards.

"Normally I would teach you something a little more basic like the crescent slash, but we're short on time and the goblins could catch up any second. We still have more than an hour before we arrive at Tonbura. If you weren't so useless with the sword that I suspect you'd die to any random goblin private then I wouldn't have bothered teaching you at all," Owin explained.

Cringing at this harsh evaluation of his swordwork, Eric attempted the footwork once again, only to stumble and barely catch himself before he fell. With a sigh he watched Owin moving steadily onwards in front of him, striding quickly through the forest like a man born to the woods. His gait unaffected by the many obstacles that barred their path. Hurrying after him, Eric continued to practice the attack as they travelled, though the notification to inform him that he'd learned a skill stubbornly refused to appear.

Half an hour later, Eric was exhausted. Though his footwork had improved by leaps and bounds he still failed to learn the skill. Most likely because the slash itself was lacking he a.s.sumed. His hard work however, had rewarded him with a new notification.

[Militia Swordsmans.h.i.+p has reached Beginner 8]

Despite not using the skill in combat, he'd somehow gained another level in swordsmans.h.i.+p. Clearly skills did not require difficult fights to advance, they just helped.

Fortunately, after another few minutes Owin and Eric emerged from the trees to discover the river that flowed through the forest near Tonbura village. A large clearing separated the woods here, with the river flowing gently to one side, and a small rocky hill on the other. Small brush along the ground and the remnants of a firesite gave clues to their location.

"We've reached the site of the militia's training camp. We're only a brisk fifteen minute march away from Tonbura now," Owin informed him.

Thanks to their fast pace, the goblins that Owin was worried about had still not appeared, despite the howls growing steadily louder throughout their flight. Optimistically, Eric hoped that they wouldn't appear at all. Praying that nothing would appear now that they were less than fifteen minutes from Tonbura village, Eric's hopes were shattered by three shadows that emerged from the trees to bar their path.

"Well if it isn't the player killer. This time you're going to have a talk with us, whether you like it or not," Tamira said threateningly. Behind her Alexnir and Katzy stood firm, mana swirling threateningly around Katzy's wand, warning him what would happen should he attempt to log out. Opening his mouth to explain the situation, Eric was cut off by the sound of a loud howl behind him.

"They've arrived," Owin said grimly.