Chapter 56 - Just a Spell

Down to business. The System certainly expected you want to continue to grow in power. Do Quests, level up, unlock new abilities, and travel to new locations. There were Players who had given up the rat race to varying success. Tried to settle into normal jobs or whatever closest proximity to it they could get. Some lucky ones even had the System on their side to facilitate some normality. Others were punished and flung from whatever safety they tried to shroud themselves in. Attempting to understand what the System wanted from you was to court madness.

“Max?”

“Huh?” I awoke, standing up by reflex. “Ow…” I groaned and tried to flex my back out. Morning light tried to blind me as I recovered into the waking world.

“Serves you right for falling asleep in your chair rather than being comfortable with me and Wolf.” Ren stood with arms crossed, a scowl leveled my way. “Health report?”

I blinked twice, trying to process everything.

[Health Status]
[No injury]

“Clean bill of health,” I smiled, rubbing at my eye sockets.

“Good, get packed up. We’re leaving soon.”

I let my eyes free again to see her walking off. Wolf sat beside me and I gave him a grimace. “Ren okay? She seems annoyed at me.”

“No. She is more annoyed at herself. But it is your duty to take the brunt of it until she can come to terms with it.” He looked up at me with his amber eyes.

“Is it?” I yawned.

Wolf yawned in response. “I’m certainly not going to. If you are to be her mate then-“

“Ah-ah. None of that, please.” I tried to push him away. He was very heavy. “Let’s just go murder things and not get ahead of ourselves.”

“You are both impossible.” He rolled his eyes and moved away to catch the elf up.

Having an intangible Inventory meant there wasn’t really much to pack away and everything that I did need to was a simple matter of getting close enough. So eager was I to catch up, I didn’t even flourish about as the chair, blanket, and some of my crafting things vanished into nothing.

I did a little jog to catch them up, just on the outskirts of our safe area. The cardio wasn’t necessary, but at least my head didn’t feel like cracking like an egg under the pressure.

“No funny business until we know you’re top form again,” Ren admonished me as I approached.

“Of course.” I nodded. “Everything okay?”

She opened and closed her mouth before exhaling from her nose. “Yeah. Just spent too much time in my own head last night.” She narrowed her blue eyes at me. “We’ll talk later, okay?”

“Promise?”

My persistence seemed to relax her more than annoy her further. “Promise,” she confirmed. “Now, we going for the witch?”

“Yeah. Tough magical opponent, but it’ll be useful loot. Hopefully.” Who knew with the System - we might get nothing for our efforts.

“Confirm target, burn the house down?”

“I was thinking about that.” I leaned against Wolf and crossed my arms. “We’re looking at this a little too simply.”

The bear turned his head. “How so? Small house, I could probably knock it down.”

I stretched my neck out. Spending most of the day on the wooden chair had really done me a disservice. “The witch might not be a Player, but I’ve been thinking about what I would do in their situation. Like a Dungeon.”

Ren nodded slowly. “So, traps and passive spells in the area - like that dome over the Shadows camp?”

“Exactly,” I clicked my fingers. “I might just be overthinking it - but it was on the challenge board, so is supposed to be difficult for a whole group.” My right eye twitched. “You ever think we’ll be a full Party?”

The elf shrugged, and the bear had nothing to add. At this stage, I didn’t care to add anyone else - it would just mean more voices clogging up the poor bear’s brain. But when the default was five, we were less effective as a three. Of course, that would just mean we’d need to try harder, our Class rarities might pull us through.

“So,” I continued, glazing past that train of thought and lukewarm reception. “I expect that our presence will be known as we get closer, and that we should be on guard.”

“Your suggestion is to knock on the door and see if she answers?”

System-created so I couldn’t exactly rely on my charms, however I wasn’t feeling too mentally spry, anyway. “Magic users are weakest at close range, for the most part. I feel if we engage from afar she will have more use of whatever spells she has.”

“Sounds good to me,” Wolf grinned. “Although if she tastes as bad as she smells, then my view is more neutral.”

Ren sighed and looked out into the woods, drumming her fingers on her belt. “As much as I’d like to burn it down from afar, I think you’re right. Any good witch would have protection from that, and then we’d be on the back foot. Plus, we haven’t even confirmed it’s her yet.”

The Quest just gave a vague region where she might be found. The house was within the region, but then a lot of things could be. It had also said ‘suspected witch coven’, which could mean between zero and three witches. “In the event that it’s more than one witch…” I frowned and rubbed my head. Maybe not so perfectly recovered. “I don’t know, it’s not really a nuanced encounter, is it?”

“I trust your judgement. Confirm targets and then deal with accordingly.” The elf nodded to sign off on the conversation. The die had been cast.

We started walking, and I felt better about it. Not really less achy - but the ball had been pushed down the hill and all I had to do was keep the momentum. Back to adventuring.

Ren walked up beside me. “Here, peace offering.” She held out a sandwich.

“Thanks.” I took it, realizing how hungry I was. “All is forgiven. My turn to cook tonight.”

“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow. “I look forward to that, then.”

“Temper your expectations,” I grinned in response. “Let’s just survive the day first.”

Wolf turned his head to me. “I’ll keep an eye out for any horses.”

I groaned, but was secretly thankful.

It helped to keep us in better spirits, in fact, up until the point the house came into view. A small cottage by any description, the mixture of cobbled stone walls and off-white plaster broken up by a deep brown wooden frame made it look like something from a storybook. Perhaps I was living in a storybook. Was I the main character? Maybe Wolf was. He was much stronger and looked rather dapper in his bowler hat.

Ren nudged me, and the mania fell off the shelf. Her glare of concern told me she could see me losing focus. Despite the System giving me the go ahead, my mind was still reeling from the… accident. In the real world—my real world—there wouldn’t have been a recovery from that kind of injury. At least not without months of rest, and even then, to have bounced back like I had would be unheard of. System be damned for the unrelenting violence, but a shaky thumbs up for being able to put its toys back together again after.

Thatched roof looked like it could go up in flames easy enough. With enough of a running start the whole thing could be leveled by the bear if he charged it down. More the fool us if it turned out to be the quaint home of an elderly grandma or young family trying to make a start off the grid. Although there was no grid, only violence.

“Let’s go,” I said, more to get out of my own head than wanting to get into the cauldron looming ahead.

I stopped as we entered the clearing that surrounded it. About sixty feet away. Little wisps of smoke waved from the brickwork chimney. Magic surrounded us. I could feel it. Steeped into the ground. Something odd about it - not familiar, but perhaps adjacent.

“You were right,” I murmured to the bear, “bad taste of magic here.”

Even from the outside, there was a sense of foreboding, as if the sky were darkening as we approached. Still not enough of a clue to destroy the building - it could just be cursed. I wondered briefly why I was talking myself out of the easy option. Was it part of the spell? Maybe I was just too worried about becoming like the Shadows and leave nothing but ruin in my wake.

Twenty feet away, and the door opened. We stopped.

A short figure emerged into the light. An old woman with silver hair wearing an aged yellow sundress, a circle of flowers as a belt. Simple leather sandals and a crocheted white shawl around her. A matching yellow ribbon in her hair, and a small wooden cane in her hand.

“Hello!” Her voice was cracked and shaky. “Are you adventurers? I’ve been waiting for my daughter to visit, but she has been missing for two days.”

Tension filled the air. Apprehensive, sure. But I wasn't so easily dissuaded from my gut feeling.

“How many are in your coven, witch?” I glared at her.

“What’s that, young man? I didn’t quite hear you?” She made the motion of cupping at her ear, eyes narrowing in concentration.

I ran my tongue across my teeth. “You see it?” I murmured to Ren. She returned a slow nod.

Good. I wasn’t going crazy. Perhaps rude not to ask Wolf, but I could see his fur was on end - he could smell it even if he couldn’t see it.

A smile crossed my lips, and I pulled my cloak tightly over my arm. “I said it’s chilly out. We’d be glad to help in exchange for some warmth.”

“The stove is on,” the old lady smiled. “I can make tea.”

“Delightful,” my smile widened as I started walking closer.

Her eyes narrowed, and her eyes went between all three of us. “You are nice adventurers, right?”

“No,” I said, flinging back my cape to reveal the Imp tucked under my arm. His fireball went out immediately.

Amber light obscured the witch as the attack blasted around her, the flickering of a purple shield painting the flame in a foul hue. A radiant arrow blasted from beside me and burst into the shield as the fire faded away.

“Miserable shits, you’ll pay.” The woman hissed, her appearance now a dark-robed figure with scratchy black hair, the life in her pleasant appearance now replaced with the grimace of something more evil. The arrow was embedded in her shoulder.

Wolf charged forward, blazing energy around his feet as he surged toward the small cottage.

And then, with a click of her fingers, it was gone. Or rather, we were now somewhere different.

Darkness loomed overhead. Underground. A chamber, roughly the same size as the clearing around where the cottage had been. Dimly lit by a few candles melting atop of skulls. A little too on the nose, but I admired a little cliche when it came to appearance. Tables strewn with a random assortment of jars, ingredient containers, and potion crafting apparatus.

A few skeletons chained to one wall, probably not-skeletons at one point, and if I had the time I would have pondered over whether those were captured Players or just System-dressing to set the mood. The second most important thing in this new space was the large cauldron in the center of the room, heated by a glowing fire that flickered between the expected oranges but also greens. It bubbled and steamed in a way most displeasing.

Of course, the most important thing to note was the three figures. The old lady with an arrow in her shoulder was now accompanied by two other witches. One tall and lithe, her curly ginger hair a contrast to skill that was almost green in hue. The other was portly and covered in necklaces and jewelry made of dried insect parts. Her tongue didn’t seem to know its place.

“Fresh meat!” The first cackled, as the other two began casting spells.

My feet dug into the soft earth as I tensed to move, a wide grin across my face as purple electricity arced along my arms.