I wished away the system messages that cluttered my vision. I was still lying under the heavy corpse of the bear monster. The feeling of its slack, open mouth against my torso wasn’t pleasant, at all. I shifted my body slightly so that the blunt tip of the spear wouldn’t press against my ribs. Doing the best I could in such an awkward situation, I tried to push and move out from under it.

It was not easy, especially with the jelly like flesh of the creature, no longer taut and firm after its death. Regardless, I was very motivated to get free. When I finally managed to bring one arm out, I felt hands gripping it and pulling me out. Johann and Noah worked with another guy to pull me from under the creature and before long I was taking long gulps of air to try and purge the stench from my nose. It would have worked better if I wasn’t covered in the creature's blood, but there wasn’t much I could do besides blowing my nose and trying to purge the smell, or get used to it.

The situation didn’t seem any less tense than when we were fighting. I took stock of my surroundings as I crouched and recovered myself. Our group was packed rather tightly between Maccurach and the barricade. He, on the other hand, seemed relaxed and amused as he quietly stared at me. A smile creeping on his lips. His people were scattered. A couple of them taking care of a guy that had been injured in the fight and was sitting with his back against a part of the barricade. I stood up and moved to the slowly evaporating body of the bear. I pulled my spear with both hands, bringing the rest of it through the wound that killed the creature.

“Did you all see that?” Maccurach said to his people while pointing at me. “That’s how you fucking fight! That was amazing. You blew my mind, my friend!”

“I don’t think I need to tell you this, but I will nonetheless.” I said. “We are not friends, and you are not welcome here.”

“That’s not nice of you, Leo.” He clicked his tongue. “And here I thought we had become brothers in arms or something. Bonded through shed blood, yeh?”

Maccurach spread his arms and waited for some form of response from me, but I just stood there, staring at him. People like him liked the audience and confrontation. There was nothing to be gained out of engaging with him and his banter. Giving him the silent treatment was the best way to throw him off, that or beating the shit out of him. We had the advantage in numbers, but I knew if things devolved into a brawl, he would end up seriously injuring some of our people.

I was still divided if I really cared about them or not, and I was trying my best to be the bigger person and actually care about them. But in the end, I knew that Noah and Ani wouldn’t be able to handle someone like him if they were targeted, so that was enough of a reason for me to try and avoid an outright fight with him. This was a shit sandwich no matter how I looked at it. Not fighting him now would just be delaying the inevitable and hoping he would die in the hands of some creature.

We all listened to his ramblings in silent disdain. I don’t know if everyone was quiet for the same reason, but Johann seemed to have realized the same thing as I did. We waited while he loudly proclaimed the rules of our new reality. How this place gave strength to the brave and worthy. How only the strong were deserving and everyone else should be grateful. He walked left and right, eyes wide and bloodshot, and shouted at the top of his lungs until he was hoarse.

“Who is this clown?” Sarah spoke beside me.

I had been distracted by his theatrics and didn’t realize when she arrived. Ani stood beside her with an unreadable expression. Interrupted in his monologue, Maccurach didn’t seem upset, his smile grew wider and wild.

“I am the one who brings death.” Maccurach declared with arms opened wide. “I am the one who rides the nightmare. I am the one who welcomes the darkness. You can call me Maccurach. And whom might you be, warrior?”

“What the fuck is this clown talking about, Leo?” Sarah raised an eyebrow. “If you are all that, then I, am the one who will knock you the fuck out if you don’t shut up.”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Maccurach's eyes bore into me as he pointed to Sarah. “That is the right attitude. Fierce and savage. That is how you all should be. That will make it all the better when I break you.”

Sarah’s eyes grew cold and the hand that was resting at her side quickly found its way to the pommel of her sword. But before she could make a move, Ani’s hand stopped her. The women exchanged a quick look, and Sarah calmed down after a deep breath.

“You.” Maccurach pointed to Ani. “Are no fun.”

As Sarah and Maccurach were having their verbal altercation, the people from the other side had finally started arriving at the commotion. Including the people from the inside. I didn’t see when, but at some point Ciara had found her way beside the guy from the other group that was bleeding on our barricade. She was giving the people there some direction and applying pressure on his wound. Maccurach seemed to have missed it as well, engrossed in his own head, but when he realized what was happening something deeply disturbing crossed his face.

“Hey! HEY!” He shouted as he walked towards Ciara. “What the fuck do you think you are doing, bitch? He is mine! MINE! Get the fuck out!”

The sight of him walking with haste towards Ciara was enough to bring almost everyone on our side into motion. Most of the crowd started yelling, while the ones in the front, Sarah, Johann, Noah and I, moved to intercept him. Ciara didn’t stop what she was doing, pointedly ignoring the man while continuing to treat the wounded man. The people from Maccurach’s team backed off as he approached. He reached her before we could intercept, given how close he was we would have had to sprint towards her, and no one wanted to make him more jumpy.

“I said back the fuck off!” He screamed while raising his sword towards her. “I told you he is mine, you fucking bitch. What the fuck you think you are doing?”

We all started talking on top of each other. Different messages, but all trying to dissuade him from doing something stupid. We all approached him until he glanced at us and I knew in no uncertain terms that he would cut her head off before we could stop him. Noah aimed an arrow at him in close range, but he didn’t seem to care.

“I am treating him.” Ciara said coldly. “I don’t care who he is.”

“Treating him?” Maccurach scoffed. “For what? People who can’t handle themselves will only die. Why are you wasting your time on him? Let me help make this clear for you.”

I knew he was fast, I had seen him fight, but his explosiveness was not something just born out of inflated stats from the system, there was practice to it. I obviously didn’t know his background, but violence had been a large part of whatever he did. He swung his long Asian sword without hesitation. Blood and brain splattered across Ciara’s face as his sword buried itself deep in the injured man’s head. Noah didn’t release his arrow and we didn’t react, not fast enough to have stopped him anyway. It could easily have been Ciara’s head.

Sarah was the first one of us to react, lunging at Ciara and pushing her away from him. The women fell together, but Sarah quickly found her feet under her as she carried the shocked women away from Maccurach. I moved a moment later than Sarah, putting myself in front of them, as she pulled Ciara away. As if something finally snapped everyone out of their shock, people exploded in motion. Mostly, they just shouted at Maccurach. Johann and Noah went to check on Ciara together with Sarah, but we knew her only damage had been psychological.

Maccurach just stared at the people shouting at him, expressing their rage and repulse for his action. Mostly they called him monster, psychopath, murderer, and so on. I knew that feeling outraged at him would benefit no one but the man himself. I kept my calm as best as I possibly could while levelling my spear at him. He didn’t seem to care, or even acknowledge it. I realized he wasn’t really staring at people, but had the glassy eye people had when reading something from the system.

Maccurach shook and moaned. He faltered in his feet for a brief moment as he seemed to come back to the reality surrounding him. He looked around, as if confused, then turned to me with the creepiest self satisfying smile I had ever seen.

“Oh, that was good…” He almost whispered.

“Did you just?” I asked in utter disbelief.

“Hm?” He finally seemed to realize I was even there. “Oh, most definitely.” He finished as he massaged his crotch in front of me.

I was completely flabbergasted as he took a deep breath and let out a long and sharp shout of excitement.

“Wooooooh! That was fucking amazing! Levelling up is amazing, isn’t it?”