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Consequences
A terse silence followed the meeting between myself and the Sage – the Kadulja. So far, she was yet to attack, and so far, we were merely sizing each other up. Her spinning blades of fire had proven themselves strong enough to slice through reinforced concrete, and I had no delusions in my mind that it would fail to do the same to me.
Under different circumstances, I would have been in awe at the sheer ridiculousness of pyrokinesis, and the fact that Druids traditionally were not supposed to have such an ability. However, I was busy trying to ensure that the Kadulja and her apprentice who stood awkwardly behind her, did not decide to immediately start attacking me.
[You are facing an enemy that has previously defeated you.]
[The title {Retaliator} has come into effect.]
[You are encountering a {Mid-Tier} Opponent.]
[The title {David} has come into effect.]
The Kadulja locked her gaze upon me warily, as I did her. I knew that this fight would ultimately be decided by whoever attacked first. It was the simplest truth. With my [Herculean Strength] and [Excrutiating Toxic Bite], all I needed was to get close enough to deliver a single blow and it would be game-over. Likewise, with her pyrokinetic abilities, if she sliced through me in the same manner that she did Adolf – it would be over.
Personally, I would still prefer not fighting if it were possible. An agreement could have been made if only I could speak, but I couldn’t. I could not even try to write words or I’d risk turning them insane. Devoid of communication, devoid of the ability to speak and talk, I was nothing more than a monster that needed to be put down to them.
A shame. They would have been charmed by my humor.
“That – that staff –”
I heard Janje’s soft voice whisper.
“That’s – that’s the staff of Mudar –” her haunting voice whispered in my ear. “The Staff of Mudar. The Staff of Mudar. THE STAFF OF MUDAR! THAT TRAITOROUS STAFF!”
It was the first time I’d ever heard her get angry. Upset, yes, but not angry.
“JANJE WANTS THAT STAFF! GET JANJE THAT STAFF!”
Janje was screaming, screaming, and neither Druids seemed to notice. They can’t hear her. Somehow, only I could hear Janje’s voice. Was it because I was a masakh? A monster? Was it because I was reincarnated? Or was it something else – I didn’t know.
Momentarily, I pondered why they were yet to attack me. Why they were merely watching me with intrigue. Why the Kadulja seemed content to stare at me with revulsion and bewilderment as if attempting to solve a jigsaw puzzle left by a butcher and a serial killer. A part of me wanted to believe that she was seeing something that convinced her that I was more than just the average monster. A part of me hoped she would open her lips and ask me questions. A part of me wanted to assume she would look past my terrifying physical form and see the intelligence lurking underneath.
That part of me was called naiveté.
“[Destruction Lotus!]”
The air rapidly tinged with the smell of smoke and burning. A brutal heat existed that did not belong in the cave, and along with it, there was a thunderous crack of an object breaking the sound barrier.
“KADULJA!”
I knew the fight would be decided by whoever attacked first. I knew it and on some level, I believed the Kadulja did as well. However, I doubted she expected me to have something ranged in my arsenal. No one expected a skeleton creature with a scary sharp tail and claws to have long-ranged attacks, when it looked so clearly attuned to close-range combat.
It was why [Diamond Bullet] was so effective.
My aim was not perfect, and rather than piercing her chest as I intended, it aimed lower, piercing through the wood-like dress she wore, leaving a hole in her stomach in one end and neatly coming out the other. Jade-colored blood spat from the Kadulja’s mouth and spurt from her wound, and her fiery spinning blades sizzled into nonexistence.
MP: 3251/3600
[Diamond Bullet] cost 250MP per use. With my current available MP, I still had thirteen shots left. Hesitation was a problem that I thankfully lacked.
[The title {Merciless} has come into effect.]
[Diamond Bullet].
A cry emerged from the woman’s lips as the second crack of an object breaking the sound barrier echoed, and the bullet shattered her right shoulder. The arm wielding the staff hung limply, and the wooden apparatus dropped to the ground.
[Diamond Bullet]
Her right kneecap shattered along with the sound barrier and I discovered that Druids possessed chocolate-colored bones. They also screamed in pain as humans did, and lost their ability to stand once they were down to only one working knee.
Like humans, other Druids would come to the defense of their downed member. The apprentice reached for the Kadulja’s downed staff, rapidly slamming it against the ground.
“[Hedgerow!]”
[Diamond Bullet]
A thick foliage of sharp vines and tree-barks burst into existence as a protective covering, just as another shot of my diamond bullet pierced through it. The apprentice gave out a sharp cry as the bullet tore across her face. The growing foliage obscured the Kadulja and her apprentice, preventing me from seeing them and wasting valuable MP on blind-fire.
I rushed towards the foliage, sweeping my tail and my claws down and slicing them apart as quickly as they grew.
“[Ensnare!]”
The vines started entangling me in the manner that vines typically did. Slicing them aside only prompted more of them to keep growing, and I was forced to change tactics. [Weak Acid Secretion] and [Strong Venom Secretion] came together in my left and right hands, slamming down on the offending vines and melting them to oblivion. They broke down and thrashed like a serpent, dropping me harshly on the cave floor.
“Getting away! THE STAFF IS GETTING AWAY!”
The apprentice attempted to escape with the Kadulja down the cave’s arching passageway. Carrying the staff in one hand and trying to carry her master on her back, it was an impossible task. With a gentle shake of my head, I crouched on all fours and burst past her. Skidding to a stop, I stood before the Kadulja and apprentice as they tried to escape the cave, both of their skins began turning white.
The apprentice was bleeding. A nasty scar lay across her right eye where she’d been grazed by my diamond bullet, and the eye was closed to prevent the jade-colored blood from pouring into it. With one eye, she stood shakily against me, her master on her back, and the staff in her right hand. I had no real quarrel with the apprentice. No reason to truly fight her.
The Kadulja was a different case. It was ironic. I hadn’t started this fight. She did. Summoning her wolves and attacking me, destroying my domain, launching fireball upon fireball at me without justification or provocation, killing me and turning me into a shade, destroying Adolf –
She started this fight. I just wanted to survive, and she wouldn’t let me.
I was here, fighting for my survival, and she wouldn’t let me.
The apprentice haphazardly rose her master’s staff. I rushed her, slapping it out of her hand with my tail, and grabbed the short woman into the air with my long hands. I tossed her away and she sailed through the air like a haphazardly swung toy, slamming against the walls of the cave with a cry and dropping to the ground.
The Kadulja lay before me. Shattered knee. Shattered shoulder. Bleeding bullet wound in stomach. Breathing haphazardly, and staring up at me with a hatred in her eyes.
There were many, many reasons to kill her. I had many ways to kill her. It would be easy – too easy – to do it. But could I? Could I end a life, a potential stream of information, sustenance, wealth of knowledge, abilities and justify it?
This was not the same as killing wild animals or insects. This was killing a conscious person.
Perhaps if – if I spared her –
Wasn’t this how I died last time? Even in another world, even with all the reasons in the world, even despite having died from it – I was still attempting to spare – save – the life of someone who should be my enemy.
If the roles were reversed, would she would show me the same mercy?
I did not know.
What would happen if I let her live? Forgive and forget?
The odds of that were abysmal. Humans did not forget in general, and although she was not human, the odds were high that she lived with individuals who cared for the security of their continued lifestyle. You would not let your children wander about if you knew there was a monster outside your forest that had attacked and maimed one of your own, and you would not be at peace until you personally went and ensured the creature was gone.
If I let her live, she would come back, more prepared, more dedicated, with more animals and more backup, and with a stronger reason to eliminate me. Again, and again, and again – without end.
I could not allow that to happen.
[Diamond Bullet]
The final crack of displaced air was the signal that the battle was over. The bullet pierced a neat hole through the Kadulja’s skull. I could have done without knowing that Druid brains were a dark purple in color. I could have done without the wide-eyed expression, the fact that despite already knowing her fate, she was still surprised at the moment of her own death.
No one ever expected to die until they did.
[You have slayed the Kadulja of Final Sanctuary Dryadi Tribe]
[You have attained the title: [Sage Slayer] from the defeating a named enemy.]
[126200 Experience Points Gained]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
The title [Genocidal] has come into effect for the Species: [Druid].
[25 Genocide Points Earned]
You have completed all the requirements for the Quest: Felling Trees.
Return to the Quest Giver to Complete the Quest.
The Kadulja’s apprentice let out a choked sound that reminded me of her presence. Her gaze turned and settled on her dead master, before turning back to me. There was fear in her eyes, and there was something else. Her skin turned from green to a dry autumn brown. I did not want to, or see the need to kill her. At the same time, I did not want her to believe I would not do so if push came to shove. I picked up the staff of Mudar with my tail, hunched on all fours, and then forced myself to give out the most convincing visage I could.
She scrambled away from the cave’s narrow passageway, tripping and slipping over her own two feet as she fled. I waited, ensuring that I could no longer hear her footsteps, before standing back on my own two feet.
I dusted my palms and returned deep within the hollows of the cave, where I could hear Janje’s rapid muttering and whispering, with her voice sounding more frantic and agitated than I’d ever known.
“The staff! The staff! Masakh has the staff! Masakh must give Janje the staff!”
There was something off about Janje’s voice. Something unsettling. Still, I gestured the staff forwards, and slammed it into the ground, directly into the tarry black remnants of Adolf’s bifurcated body.
“STAFF OF MUDAR! BETRAYER! BETRAYER! JANJE WILL NOT BE OBSCURED! JANJE WILL NOT BE BANISHED! JANJE – JANJE WILL BE FREE!”
I felt the world shake. The sound of glass shattering over a thousand times, endlessly –
Chaos. That was the only word that could have been used to describe the scene before me. Chaos. Screaming noises, a cornucopia of clamors and screeches, as different colors of lights burst forth from the staff and along with it came a hundred wispy Druid souls, then a thousand souls, then more, and more, and –
And the ground rumbled and wailed. The earth cracked and shuffled. The cave squeezed upon itself, and I found myself making a hasty retreat in lieu of the sound of Janje’s senseless laughter. I burst out of the cave just as the earth became the red sea in the midst of partition by Moses. The ground fractured and each fissure expanded further like the torn pockets of a tattered beggar. The further I ran, the further I knew that running was not going to save me from the chasm engulfing everything in a bottomless pit.
Without preamble, everything stopped.
“JANJE! IS! FREE!”
Without preamble, everything exploded.
