The night passed peacefully, leaving the group with a fair bit of energy to spend. Veronica awoke, the light from the window temporarily stunned her.

  “Sleep well?” Cardinal asked, looking down from his bunk bed as his head tested in his palm.

  “I don’t really sleep, remember,” Veronica said in response.

  Bike had already been awake and interjected, “Actually, zombie and vampire undead do require sleep, just not as much as living beings,” He said assuredly. His knowledge as a non-offworlder proved to be useful, especially for a lore skipper like Veronica.

  “Your lore skipping strikes again!” Cardinal said as he jumped down from his bunk.

  Veronica nodded as she stood up as well. “You guys ready to leave?” she asked.

  Puzzlingly, Bike asked, “Already? The sun hasn’t finished rising yet.”

  “Good,” Cardinal started, “We have the advantage of leaving before the inn gets too busy,” he said as he finished up the last of his packing.

  “That makes sense,” Bike said.

  The group finished their packing and headed out the doorway, thanking the Inn Master and making their way to the path leading to Wistgardia. The path was naturally decorated with pink, blue, and green flowers, greatly contrasting the unnatural presence of padded gravel.

  Cardinal walked in front of the group with his map, followed by Bike who walked with Veronica behind him.

  “You’re in a hurry,” Veronica said to Cardinal.

  “Shouldn’t we all be?” Cardinal asked as he eyed the map and the oncoming forest.

  “I agree with Cardinal,” Bike said as he quickly picked up pace.

  Veronica shrugged as she followed in the same fashion, “I guess he’s right,” she said to herself. They walked for a good few minutes, before a yell was heard.

  “You damn thief!”

  “What?” Veronica said, puzzled as she stopped walking.

  “What was-” Bike started.

  “It was nothing!” Cardinal said before picking up his pace. “We should get going!”

  “Uh, sure,” Veronica said as Bike and her continued onward.

  After an hour of walking, the group came to a sign in the road.

  “A great stopping point,” Cardinal said as he emptied out his bag and started counting. “One, ten. Yep! Thirty!”

  “You stole the money back?” Veronica asked.

  “Duh,” Cardinal said while standing back up, putting the money in his bag.

  Bike put his balled hands onto his waist and pouted, “You shouldn’t steal!”

  Cardinal laughed before putting his coin bag in his larger sack, “Who cares? Us solving this issue with the war will make his business boom!”

  “Maybe,” Bike said.

  “I don’t care,” Veronica said as she walked past the pair. “If we are going to get to Wistgardia, we need to do it as soon as possible. I want answers, and I don’t feel like waiting around.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Cardinal said as he took the map out and went back in front.

  “Morale boost!” Bike said as he punched the air.

  “This guy,” Cardinal said under his breath as he began reading the directions to himself.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  They followed the path that had led them to a more damaged part of the road.

  “No more road for us,” Cardinal said as he used his hand as a visor, seeing the end of the road.”

  “I think there are more concerning things to focus on,” Veronica said while pointing to the damaged road. It looked unnaturally disheveled. The bricks weren’t consistently scattered, nothing that erosion would have caused.

  “You’re right,” Bike said.

  “So, what now?” Cardinal asked as he pondered.

  “Follow the trail of destruction, probably,” Veronica suggested.

  “I second that,” Bike said.

  Cardinal found debris that strayed further from the road. Veronica and Cardinal tailed behind; they had no idea what had happened, but it didn’t bode well. After a few minutes of tracking stray debris, they came to an open clearing.

  “We have nothing, I swear!” A man yelled in terror.

  “Huh?” Veronica ducked behind some bushes, peeking out to see what was happening.

  Bike and Cardinal followed, also peeking out safely.

  “He’ll get you guys too,” a voice said.

  “What?” the group said in unison.

  “That guy, the leader of those bandits who’s holding that guy up- He’s going to kill him and steal his belongings.”

  The three looked up, seeing the sight of an Elf in Archer Class attire.

  “You scared the shit out of us!” Cardinal said in an angry whispering voice.

  “Yeah, introduction first next time?” Veronica said.

  “A new ally!” Bike said cheeringly, in a whisper voice too.

  The Elf waited before she responded, brushing through her blonde-pink pigtails with her hand. “That’s a bit of a reach,” she said.

  Before she could respond, the man started pleading again.

  “Please, I won’t tell anyone you’re here, in fact- I can bring more people to rob!”

  They turned to the man.

  Swish!

  {-100}

  The numbers appeared again- Veronica knew what that meant. An instance of damage had been done, leaving a small trail of green. The man slumped over, causing the standing man to turn, now visibly accompanied by two other alert allies.

  “Bastard of a man,’ The Elf said. It had been made clear to them that she was the one who killed the man.

  “Well, hiding is out of the question,” Cardinal said.

  “Definitely,” Veronica added.

  Bike was still in shock from what had happened, but he nodded and started moving along.

  “Do that again,” Cardinal said to The Elf. She nodded, taking her bow and pulling a strong shot.

  The bandit man began to glow, within the same moment the bow was fired, he moved out of the way. “Nice try!” he yelled arrogantly. Before he could do his own attack, one of Cardinal’s daggers had nearly reached his head, only missing because his ally knocked it away.

  “Summon Skeleton!” Veronica yelled as 4 skeletons rose from the ground, rushing towards the man and his group.

  Bike stood on guard in case healing was needed. The group was now in the center of the action, there the man stood with his serrated sword in hand, clad in barbarian attire. On his sides stood two men, one in Mage Class attire and one in lesser quality Archer Class attire.

  The man grinned, “Oh, I know for a fact you motherfuckers have a lot of shit to steal!”

  “Wait a minute!” Cardinal said as his eyes widened, “I know this guy!”

  Veronica was at first confused, before her eyes soon followed the same pattern. It was a notable Goblet of Lacritia Tubeyou creator- VanKnightx.

  “I can’t believe you recognized my alt account!” The man said as his grin grew wider and more unsettling.

  “Alt account?” Bike said puzzlingly.

  Cardinal readied his dagger and took a speed potion out of his pocket, “Not important right now, all you need to know is this guy is a creep.”

  Cardinal drank the potion as he ran, running toward VanKnight and slashing at him.

  “Get the hell back!” the Bandit Archer yelled while shooting an arrow spray at Cardinal.

  [-34]

  She saw Cardinal take damage, at the same time as VanKnight!

  “He Cardinal, he’s a Barbarian Class! He gets stronger the lower he is in health!” Veronica yelled. She only knew this because she joked that she would kill him in-game one day. VanKnight was a notable player who was banned for misconduct. A friend of his posted his alt account a few days before the Holy War Update.

  VanKnight smiled as Veronica sent a skeleton to cover Cardinal, giving room for Bike to heal him. There was no bleed that time.

  “Thanks,” Cardinal said as he readied his daggers again. “Veronica,” he said while looking at her.

  She stayed attentive while also being open to his words, making sure she had enough mana for anything.

  Cardinal eyed the mage, “That mage has a water build, that would explain the sudden erosion damage on the road!”

  The realization hit Veronica, she didn’t have to worry about fire magic! She nodded and quickly gathered her mana to summon 4 more skeletons.

  “Good eye, but it won’t save you!” The mage yelled as he shot a blast of water towards the defending skeleton. Quickly, Cardinal got on his feet and rushed the mage, being overwhelmed by light blasts from Bike, and dagger slashes from Cardinal.

  Bike landed a blast!

  Fwoom!

  [-10]

  Cardinal landed a slash!

  Clank!!

  [-20]

  Before their combo continued, The Archer and VanKnight stepped in, The Bandit Archer shooting away Veronica’s newer skeletons, followed by VanKnight swinging his sword to back up The Mage.

  “That’s Enough!” VanKnight yelled as he started glowing red, activating a skill.

  {-700}

  ‘Shit!” Veronica said. “Bike, Cardinal- Get back!”

  The sound echoed throughout the battle zone!

  {-400}

  Cardinal had been hit. He held his arm as the blood started trailing out of his right arm.

  {Are you fucking kidding me! Again?” He yelled in frustration.

  “Well, after I kill you, I’ll kill your friends and keep the Hot Elf Girl for myself!” Vanknight said as he started to laugh,” Suddenly- Cardinal dashed forward and unleashed a flurry on him.

  Clash! Clink! Clink!

  [-30 -30 -30 -30 -30 -30]

  “Augh!” VanKnight yelled as the final stab sent him to the ground, dead.

  “What?” The mage yelled before the last two skeletons tore him apart. “Please stop! I’m sorry! Please!” his yelling was ended in a quick-

  Swish!

  [-100]

  An arrow landed right in his forehead, leaving his mouth agape as his life faded with the skeletons dispersal.

  “I’m getting the fuck out of here!” the Bandit Archer yelled as he started running.

  “Not if I have anything to say about it!” The Elven Archer tailed him, jumping from tree to tree before letting out a long shot. It struck him in the leg, causing him to tumble to the ground. As he crawled he pulled up chunks of earth, all to no avail.

  Swish!

  Another arrow had landed in his back, followed by the crunch of the Elven Archer landing on him, finishing him off with another arrow.

  “Good riddance,” She said as she flicked the leaves out of her hair.