Chapter 110

Great Calamity

Abigail

Ambush. Great.

Bandits screamed as they attacked. A patched net descended upon me. In the breath of a second, I sipped from my Slow Time attribute ale. All sounds instantly pitched to a deep, grinding rumble. The world was suspended in mere moments.

I ducked out from under the net, withdrew my dagger and began plunging my knife into the hearts of bandits. One by one. And there were so many that I knew I would have to drink from my ale once more. Perhaps even a third time.

It took time and effort to clear the roads of this sort of debris. Detritus. This wasn’t a mere camp of bandits. There were many more than that. Enough to successfully perform raids on small cities. In time, Omes Arbor would have been sure to see something like that.

Not if I can help it.

I buried the blade of my dagger through another chest, straight through the heart. After the 30th bandit, I lost count. I continued to end them until I made a mistake. I lost track of time.

The world rushed back to life. The net finished its descent. Bandits fell limp to the ground. Arrows whizzed at the net. Spears followed.

I brought my Slow Time ale to my lips, but the shaft of a spear whacked through it and the bottle shattered in my hands before I could drink.

Shit.

I was thrust into battle. My simple dagger against dozens of spears, hatchets, and bent swords. With barely any time to react, I fetched my Metamorphic attribute imperial stout. I swept my dagger up the neck of the bottle. The tip of the neck broke, and the glass and cork went flying. Foam spilled over my hand. I rushed a drink and a weightless coat of stone armor ensconced me.

Spear tips clinked against my body. Arrowheads chipped at my armor. I was tackled down and piled upon. I fought madly, slashing and stabbing with all I was worth.

Buried beneath a wrestle of steel, and sweat, and blood, and death, I heard a change in the screams of bandits. They were panicking. Their war cries changed to shouting.

“Monster,” they shouted. “Beware! Monster has returned! Grab the lady! Flee!”

Bodies blocked my view. I was in a ball of flesh and I tried to slice my way free. When hands gripped my ankles, I kicked. Slashed and stabbed. They began beating me with the blunt end of their weapons. Though my armor was fiercely strong, the beatings still hurt. The impacts were heavy enough that I was going to find bruises.

I heard a cavernous roar. Screams of dying bandits. I heard flesh rip and tear apart. Something like teeth chomping through bone. Then burping and more screaming.

The hell is happening?

Something overcame the men who fought against me. They were distracted and their eyes left me for a moment too long. That mistake earned me an early escape and I was back on my feet in the next moment, slaying 5 more bandits on my way up.

Most of the bandits were running for the trees. Fleeing the horror that left absolute carnage in its wake.

What I then saw made my skin crawl.

A near deluge of blood, bones, and pulled apart bodies filled the road. A monster stood in the middle of it, punching a hand through the chest of a scrambling bandit. The monster seemed half human, half something ancient. Its eyes were large oval orbs that were far too big for its head. Its smile was wide and filled with fangs from ear to ear.

I kept my wits about me and slashed at hands that meant to grab me. I leapt clear of the bandits and had the moment to pull another Slow Time attribute beer from my inventory. I pulled the cork. Sipped. Everything slowed down and I sat to catch my breath and recover strength.

I gazed around at the carnage. My kills. The monster's kills. It had already mutilated a dozen more bandits than I’d laid waste to. I couldn’t help staring at the monster.

It was short in stature, and covered in new brown fur, as though the fur belonged to some newborn beast of the woods. It was odd, frozen in time as it was. It stood relaxed. Straight posture. Looking directly at me.

At least it was scaring the bandits off. But it wasn’t something I could keep alive. The bandits were awful enough to travelers. Without a doubt, this creature was worse.

The best thing I can do is let you kill the bandits. Bide my time. Save my energy. Then kill you.

That was the plan. I looked upon the scene again. I shivered. The bandits were frozen in action. Every one of them. My gaze flicked to the monster.

It blinked at me.

Terror flooded me.

For a moment I thought I’d lost track of time. I expected to be pitched right back into battle, but that wasn’t the case. Time was still nearly frozen.

It blinked again. Smiled at me.

My mind went blank—How was this possible?

The monster stepped toward me and my soul pressed against my spine as though looking to flee. The monster’s foot stomped through the rib cage of a bandit that was still alive. I heard the spine crush. It paused at a lunging bandit, frozen in mid-air. The monster shrugged. When it opened its mouth, its cheeks ripped apart and the bones of its jaw broke. With terrifying speed, it shoved the bandit into its shattered, stretched maw. Stuffed the whole human down its throat and chomped down with the speed of a piranha.

The belly of the monster widened. The tunic and pants it wore stretched out. The shape of the swallowed bandit could be seen through the clothes and stomach. It burped.

Then it looked at me, gestured to the frozen scene, and said, “Are you doing this?”

If I hadn’t forced myself to draw breath, I would have fainted right then and there. I rose to my feet and walked backwards.

In a burst of speed, the monster rushed through bandits, ripping them in half, dividing the men into slices with slashes of its weird claws. It circled me as it went, performing a wide loop with speed the likes of which I’d never seen before.

Not knowing what else to do, I went around stabbing bandits that were nearer to me. The monster and I worked together toward the same goal in a weird twist of fate. I kept my eyes on the monster the entire time until all that was left were the bandits that fled deeper into the woods.

I poured a libation of my Slow Time ale to end the effect. I wanted the monster to chase them off into the woods. To leave.

It didn’t chase the bandits. It slowly approached me. I withdrew a portal beer and thumbed the cork off.

The monster stopped a dozen feet from me. It sniffed.

“Are you a bandit?” It said.

“...no,” I said in a soft voice.

“Are you sure?”

“...I’m sure.”

The monster held out his half human, half bear hand. A strange red and silver fruit appeared in his palm and he took a bite out of it.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter,” it continued in a cavernous voice. “I've had more humans than I'd care to munch on, and you don't seem to be causing too much trouble."

For the next few bites of its fruit, I watched in silence.

It never stopped looking straight into my eyes.

At last it continued. “Looks like we’ve cleared the road. I’ll be on my way then.”

When it walked, its feet crushed the ground. Pebbles split and it left deep footprints. I poised my Brewer’s Portal attribute beer to my lips, ready for anything.

I cautiously stepped aside as the monster casually strode by me. Every fiber of my being screamed in warning. Fear invaded my senses. My head rang.

But the monster walked on without looking back. In the distance, it broke into a jog, and then a terrifying sprint as it plowed through the world with great calamity.