Liam and Cindy focused on the area the voice came from. A second later, five individuals stepped out from behind the trees.
Cindy’s body tensed as Liam scanned them while they took in each feature of these people, his eyes narrowing on the one in the middle.
The two males on the outsides wore steel plated chest armor and steel plated greaves. They didn’t wear any helmets allowing their flowing blond manes to be free. The skinny tails with a pompom like look swished left to right. One held a Warhammer while the other was gripping a Battle-axe. These two were Lion-folks.
The next two inside of the Lion-folks were different. On Liam’s left was another male with wild looking long silver hair. He wore a tight sleeveless light brown leather shirt allowing his slim toned arms to move freely. The color and materials of his pants and boots matched his shirt. The daggers that were sheathed to his hip gave him a rogue like look which matched his Wolf-folk features.
The figure standing on the right was a woman wearing a dark forest green cloak. The cloak opened up some around the chest area to reveal a chest plate that only covered her breasts and a small part of the top of her stomach. In one hand was a bow and on her back was a quiver giving her an archer or ranger look.
Liam wasn’t able to tell what her hair color nor the length was due to the hood being over her head hiding all that and most of her facial features except for her golden feline eyes. He didn’t know which feline Beast-kin race she was; however, he knew she wasn’t a Cat-folk.
As impressive as those four looked, it was the one who stood in the middle that Liam was more wary of. More wary of and instantly loathed. It was a male who stood shorter than his four companions wearing much fancier armor, if Liam could call it armor. The guy just looked like a rich prick to him.
He wore a clean dark violet and navy blue jacket with golden thin metal designs around his lapel, cuffs, and outer hems. The jacket was buttoned with two golden buttons around his stomach revealing a navy blue dress shirt. A dark violet handkerchief rested in the pocket of his dress shirt. A pair of clean dark leather boots hugged his legs up to his mid-calves hiding most of his tight dark leather pants. A smooth dark wooden wand with a wolf’s head delicately carved at the bottom end rested on the man’s hip while a singular monocle sat over his left eye.
It wasn’t the way the man was dressed that spurred the irritation and slight anger that was building inside of Liam. It had nothing to do with the fact he had never met the guy. He could say he was irrational for his sudden response looking at the man while he tried to reel in his baring teeth. He didn’t know what it was with this race and why they always seemed to cause him some sort of issue. However, he really hasn’t had any good luck meeting a Weasel-folk that didn’t want to cause him trouble.
“Can you tell me how you knew where we were hiding?” the weasel-folk man questioned. “I can understand why the lass was able to get a brief glimpse that we were in the area. A decent leveled Echolocation can spot certain things some Illusion spells try to hide. Couple that with her Cat-folk race traits there was always a good chance she would spot us eventually. But you…” The weasel-folk narrowed his eyes on Liam. “From what we had gathered, you’re still a newbie…a human one at that who shouldn’t have any way of determining where we were. I was using a high Apprentice leveled Illusion spell.”
“What makes you think I don’t have the same race traits as she does?” Liam asked with a sneer on his face.
All five of the Beast-kins staring at Liam suddenly narrowed their eyes. The two Lion-folks and the Wolf-folk slightly bared their teeth at him.
“Are you saying you’re a dirty half-breed?” the Wolf-folk glowered.
“I don’t know about dirty, but I could be one. What’s it to you puppy?” Liam replied as he shifted his eyes at the man.
The wolf-folk snarled at Liam’s comment.
“What is it you want?” Cindy stated, trying to change the topic.
The weasel-folk turned his gaze towards her and responded, “We aren’t here for you, but you being here makes it easier for the one who employed us.”
“Employed you?” Cindy muttered as she gave the man a puzzling look.
“Yes, we were employed to…convince your little friend here that if he knows what’s good for him then he shall think better than to allow his recent discoveries to be free to the public,” the weasel-folk man started. “Only the elite should be privy to the benefits of the better tasting and smelling items. He would find it much better to bow down and give his services to our employer.”
“And if I were to refuse?” Liam asked already knowing the answer.
The weasel-folk gave Liam a malicious smile as he replied, “We were told that if you were to refuse then we would need to teach you how exactly this world really works until you fully understand it.”
“You can’t do this!” Cindy shouted. “You think you can just threaten him like that? If you even dare try to lay a finger on us then we will go to the authorities.”
The four beast-kins behind the weasel-folk let out a long terrifying laugh.
The sound of their laughter sent chills down Cindy’s back as they made Liam even more ticked off.
“You can go ahead and try if you’d like little kitten,” the Lion-folk holding the Warhammer stated.
“I don’t think that would be wise though,” the weasel-folk male added as he gave her a wicked grin. “You see we were also asked to pass on another message…You should stop supplying that sorry excuse of a store called Cat’s Paw-ldron with any of the products you have recently revealed. If you do not then any and all contents you have provided that are found in the store will be purged…and if you think this is some kind of a joke then don’t be surprised if any personnel within the store during the time of purge is treated like collateral to get the point across.”
Liam felt his nails dig into his palms as his hands balled into fists.
What the hell is wrong with these people? Liam thought to himself. Why are they going to such lengths? Do they want the rights to the things I discovered that badly? No…not these people…their…employer…Who is their employer?
As Liam’s mind started to buzz with the thoughts, irritation and anger started to swim throughout his body even more than when he set his eyes on the weasel-folk.
“You can’t be serious?!” Cindy shouted. “The authorities wont stand for anyone doing such…”
More laughter escaped all five of the beast-kins staring the two down.
“You’re right. They normally wouldn’t but…,” the Lion-folk with the Battleaxe started to say.
“That’s enough Grizlo,” the weasel-folk snapped.
Grizlo turned his attention onto the weasel-folk. His laughter turned into a sneer as he stared at the shorter man. “I don’t take orders from you short shit.”
“You do right now. Remember I was appointed leader for this job. Or should I tell him that you almost let your flapping gums loose?” the weasel-folk countered back.
Grizlo glowered at him, his teeth slowly baring as a growl escaped between them.
“Now, now, Dirk. I’m sure Grizlo didn’t mean that,” the hooded female said, trying to calm both men down a bit.
His eyes narrowed even more as his emotions slowly started to take hold of him. The more he listened to these guys the more pissed off he was feeling. Doing their job or not. These guys had the audacity to trail them here in a Free Roam Dungeon, claim they would not only beat them up, but also threatened to thrash Cindy’s Uncle’s store and hurt both Farry and Abbey. For what…for him to agree to work for their employer? For him to go against what he wants to do and give their employer the satisfaction of having him make these potions and Medicinal Creation items so he could sell to only select customers?
He turned to look at Cindy. He noticed two emotions strongly fighting across her face. Frustration and fear. She was frustrated that these guys threatened to hurt her uncle and little sister. She was afraid that they would come through with those threats if they didn’t get what they wanted. She slowly turned to look at Liam and he noticed a couple other things mix in with the two. Was that sadness and...a pained expression?
He had no clue why she had that saddened look on her face, but if that pained expression was for what he thought it was…then it really pissed him off.
He knew all too well what that kind of expression meant…what it could lead to. It was one that made people think about their options. Made them think about hard choices they had to make. In this situation it wasn’t hard to tell what they were.
Either not get involved and allow these people to intimidate Liam into agreeing to work for their boss or…fight back and have her family get hurt.
These thoughts created a turmoil within him as he stared into her eyes. Her confused and pleading eyes.
“So even in this world I can’t catch a break…can I?” Liam quietly muttered to himself.
His words caught the attention of everyone around them.
“What did you say?” Dirk questioned as he looked down at Liam.
Liam swiftly looked back at the short man. His emotions boiled within him. He didn’t realize it as he stared at the man, but mana had started to channel around his body as a certain spell started to build up.
With a growl Liam replied back, “You stupid fucking son of a bit…”
Before Liam could finish what he was saying, he felt a powerful blow suddenly strike him across the face. Not even a second after he was struck, Liam flew backwards. He felt his body turn with the attack before skipping twice across the ground before stopping.
“Larix!” Dirk shouted. “What are you…”
“Sinner!” Larix the wolf-folk roared. “You fucking sinner! I can smell it! I can smell it on you!”
“What the hell?!” Grizlo and the other Lion-folk shouted in disbelief.
Cindy stood there frozen. With wide eyes she turned to look at the wolf-folk who had suddenly appeared right next to her. She wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but she knew this guy was enraged.
Liam felt heat spike across his face, starting with his left cheek where he had gotten struck. Feeling disoriented, he tried to think about what had just happened. He didn’t make the first move that he could think of. He was standing there, pissed off at what was going on. He had started to say something, then the next thing he knew he was flying across the clearing with pain pounding against the left side of his mouth.
As he tried to reorient himself while slowly standing back up, he felt his Danger Sense flare back up. However, before he could defend himself or dodge whatever was coming at him, he felt another strike hit his left rib cage. As the powerful attack landed, Liam felt the side of his body curve with the blow before flying once more away from the attack.
He felt his body roll on the ground and he used the momentum to roll onto his feet. He looked around to try and see who it was attacking him, but couldn’t as his vision grew blurry and his head started to spin.
The only thing he could do was hear someone roar.
“I don’t know how you obtained that ability, but it ends here! I will right this wrong and kill you!” Larix roared.
Liam tried to focus on where the voice was coming from. It was hard since his vision was so blurry and his head swam, but he still tried his hardest to focus. That will power of his saved him as he felt his Danger Sense light up once more all over his right side. Focusing as hard as he could he dropped to his knees right as a powerful gust of air blew over his head.
“You dare dodg…,” Larix shouted before letting out a painful yelp.
Larix turned to see Cindy standing right behind him. A dagger dug right into Larix’s back. Larix could see fear in her eyes as he snarled and glared at her. Before she could fully move out of the way, Larix reached out and gripped her wrist. As he did this, he gripped one of his daggers from his hip with his free hand and drove it right into her stomach.
Cindy felt the dagger pierce her skin. The next second she felt something hot and cold rush into her. Her limbs became none responsive as whatever was coated on the guy’s dagger entered her blood stream and washed over her.
With a devilish grin, Larix gripped her wrist tighter and flung her to the side. She flew, stomach first, right into the side of the cave, the dagger digging deeper into her stomach. Blood spewed out from her mouth upon collision before she fell to the ground.
Liam’s vision had returned enough for him to see this. His eyes widened as he watched his companion fall to the ground, not moving.
“No!” Liam shouted. His attention whirled on the man as white hot rage filled him. He threw a punch, but it was useless in front of the wolf-folk as he stopped the weak punch with an open palm before driving a kick into Liam’s stomach, sending flying right next to Cindy.
Larix grinned savagely as he slowly strolled up to the two.
“Larix! What are you doing?!” Dirk shouted. “You weren’t supposed to attack him unless he put up a fight!”
“Oh he was going to,” Larix said with a vicious smile. “Even if he wasn’t going to right away. He was going to fight us. But it doesn’t matter. He needs to be killed. He needs to die!”
Grizlo, the other Lion-folk, and the hooded woman stared at Larix with horror. They weren’t sure what to do and were confused as to what had brought this savagery out from the wolf-folk.
“Dude, if this is because he is a half-breed…,” Grizlo started.
“This isn’t because of something so stupid idiot. This is something more…something so much more that even your feeble muscle headed brain cannot understand,” Larix said as he stopped right in front of Liam and Cindy. “I have to right this wrong. I have to…”
Before Larix could say anything else, several figures suddenly descended upon him. They had taken not only the man by surprise, but also everyone else because even with their heightened hearing and smelling, they didn’t notice that they had attracted the creatures that were occupying the cave.
Liam took in the sight that was happening before him. His mouth was wide open as he watched in confusion as Larix fell to the ground while a few green skinned humanoid creatures swung their clubs as hard as they could against the Wolf-folk’s head and a few more rammed their sharp wooden spears into his chest.
Larix roared with anger as he kicked and punched at these goblins, trying to get them off of him. He felt the power of the clubs swing down against his head and sides as a searing pain blossomed within him each time they pierced and pulled their wooden spears throughout his chest and legs.
Liam took in the physical appearance of the goblins that were attacking the wolf-folk. While they looked like the Feeble Forest Goblins he had fought earlier, he noticed something strange about them.
While their skin was green like the others, they had dark grey patches throughout their bodies that reminded Liam of dead skin cells. Foam frothed from their mouths as they roared and screamed. Liquid mixed with the foam and rolled down their chins and stomachs as they kept their attacks up.
This behavior seemed strange as Liam watched. As he continued to examine them he noticed their bodies would sporadically twitch and tense, almost like they were fighting muscle spasms or a form of paralysis.
One of the goblins suddenly stopped swinging their club and spewed liquid and chunks all over Larix’s face before attacking again. Larix screamed with disgust and frustration as the liquid washed over his face.
Liam assessed the closest creature.
“Diseased Feeble Forest Goblin. 123/520 HP. 50/80 MP. Level – 10.”
As Liam stared at the notification he grew confused. Before he could think of anything else, something unexplainable happened. The creature’s level rose, along with its stats.
“Diseased Feeble Forest Goblin. 110/715 HP. 50/90 MP. Level – 12.”
“What the fuck?!” Liam exclaimed.
Liam! You need to get out of there. Now! Eri suddenly shouted in Liam’s mind.
The sudden yelling sent a pounding inside his skull, making him wince.
What the hell is going on Eri? Liam asked as he slowly stood up.
I’m not sure, but something is wrong with these creatures. If you don’t get out of there something bad is going to happen! Eri shouted.
Liam didn’t need to be told twice as he reached down to try and pick Cindy up. After throwing an arm over his shoulders, he moved her away from the diseased filled monsters towards the slope he was closest to.
Liam could hear Dirk starting to shout, ordering the rest of his crew to help Larix out, but before any of them could respond they heard a loud roar escape from the mouth of the cave.
Liam felt the roar rattle his bones, causing the pain he was trying to suppress tense his limbs. After the roar had stopped he felt a light rumble. Then a second one. Then a third. It was footsteps. Something big was coming from the cave and it was coming fast.
Without thinking, Liam moved as quickly as he could over to the rocks that were on the side of the cave mouth. He tried to use the rocks to block the view of whatever was coming out of the cave from seeing both him and Cindy.
After a couple of seconds had passed a thick muscled figure, standing at least two to three feet taller than Liam, appeared behind the Diseased filled Goblins. Clear and chunky liquid drooled off this new creature, falling onto the smaller creature below it. The goblins didn’t pay attention as they continued their assault on the now helpless Larix, who was thrashing his arms and legs, trying to defend himself.
Without warning, the giant creature slapped the goblins swiftly and without holding back away to the left with one of its thick arms. It then grabbed Larix by one of the legs, lifted him high into the air and then slammed him down as hard as it could.
Liam’s eyes widened as he watched this new creature continue to lift Larix up into the air and slam back into the ground, creating a bigger hole with each impact. However, what the creature was doing wasn’t what had Liam’s eyes so wide. It was the notification that had appeared after he assessed it.
“Zombified Hobgoblin Warrior. 955/955 HP. 0/0 MP. Level – 25.”
