A fleeing king

From the small plaza he had been on, Jay chose to take the middle route at last. The ruins couldn't be that much bigger than what he had circled by then and he wanted to find the Gnoll's leader.

As he walked down the relatively wide road with his vision adapted, it didn't take long for him to meet the next patrol. Thanks to the darkness and his sight being better than that of the monsters, they died without even spotting him.

Only two slightly crackling arrows could be seen for a second.

Like this Jay continued for a while and got better with loading the projectiles by each shot. As he progressed through the ruins in eastern direction, Jay passed a few camps where he encountered more than two or three Gnolls.

They still posed no problem for him, even if their Level rose, but it wasn't all he found.

In some of the camps he found dead or half dead women in very bad conditions. The bellies of latter were swollen and Jay knew their chances of survival were zero. Taking a few breaths at the first time, Jay freed them of their misery after killing off the monsters first.

By the time he reached an arched passage at the end of the wide road he was on, Jay's kill count had long passed the fifty. Without halting, he walked down the passage and adjoining, surprisingly long stairs.

The area he saw then was like an Arena, with high and smooth walls to all sides and pillars along the middle path. On the opposite side he made out a balcony over a thick gate in the wall and a huge dark figure standing on it.

Jay had to pass more than half of the area for finally being able to use analyze.

__________

King Black Scar

LVL 29 (elite)

* Gnoll * Age: ? * Gender: male *

HP 13,237/13,237 * Mana 0/0

[One-handed Axes LVL 3]

[Charge LVL 3]

[Dual Wield LVL 2]

[Thrown LVL 2]

[Commanding LVL 2]

__________

Though it had about the same health as the big red one Jay had fought, he instantly knew this Gnoll was way stronger. As if to answer his thought, Black Scar howled out loud and six other Gnolls came out of the opening gate below.

As it had only been normal ones, Jay took care of the monsters with his bow and only had to dodge twice until all of them went down. But the last Gnoll hadn't hit the ground when Jay heard yet another howl from up on the balcony.

A short glance at the gate confirmed his expectation as not only four normal Gnolls but another four veterans as well had appeared there.

Not waiting for them to charge at him, Jay got rid of the first monster with a magically enhanced shot. For the second he had to step back a bit and his aim went off. By pure coincidence did it hit one of the bigger veteran Gnolls and even one-hit it.

***

Skill integrated:

(Lighning Shot LVL1)

***

Through sheer luck, his loading of arrows with lightning had turned into an ability and got integrated from his system. Like this Jay no longer had to charge the projectiles manually but could most certainly use a quick button for that. Before he could test that, he had to take care of the 6 monsters left that were trying to encircle him though.

Switching from dodging and slashing out with the bow to keeping his distance to shower them with arrows, Jay took them all down in nearly no time.

Concentrating on his latest ability, Jay fired one of his good arrows at the Gnoll King the moment it's last summoned one died. About to howl once more, it got hit at the shoulder and received some heavy damage from the surprise attack.

Even Jay was astonished he had hit it with this.

Black Scar finally jumped down from the balcony as Jay would most likely keep attacking it with those shots otherwise. The moment it touched the ground, it directly charged at Jay who had a bit of trouble dodging.

Once back on his feet, Jay hurriedly stepped back to fire an arrow and then had to dodge one of the big hatchets the Gnoll swung around. Thanks to his movement skills it was not that hard to gain some distance and soon Jay turned it into a tactic: Dodge, flee, shoot and repeat.

But after three turns, Jay's opponent suddenly adapted and without warning threw one of its weapons at him.

Ducking down at last second, he barely managed to evade it, though this way he had even more trouble when the second followed. At that point Jay understood why Black Scar had multiple of those giant hatchets in his belt...

Another problem he had to think about was that the damage he dealt with those single shots was very low. Like this Jay thought about testing something else but had to keep clear from another Charge of the Gnoll.

And just then a chance presented itself:

Concentrating on (Lightning Shot), Jay pulled the string of his bow and used a physical ability at the same time. The (Aimed Shot) he let got the next second had also gotten loaded with lightning and produced a completely different visible effect.

All he could see was a glowing white straight line from where his bow had been towards King Black Scar and on until the pillar further behind. Slight lightning crackles could be seen around it until the effect faded about three seconds later.

The sound of metal hitting the ground woke both counter-parties from their stupor as the Gnoll let slip one of it's hatchets. In the next second it clutched the place where lightning crackles still could be seen and cowered in pain. Jay had seen it's health bar drop by nearly half from this single attack, even though he was sure it had been anything but a perfect hit.

Lifting his bow again to continue the battle, Jay had to dodge yet another hatchet by jumping back behind a pillar. As he got back up, Black Scar was no longer where it had been last. Swiftly scanning his surroundings, Jay saw it jumping over the wall around the arena.

Giving it no second thought, Jay rushed after the Gnoll and climbed up thanks to a broken pillar and his [Parcours] skill.

Up on the ranks, Jay barely saw the giant Gnoll vanish behind the last ones and ran up there as well. But when he reached there, all he could see was a big shadow jumping over some roofs and mending with the darkness of the night.

His opponent had fled!

Other than that, Jay saw nearly no other movement in the ruins from there. What looked like the shine of three campfires was all that illuminated the area there, but everything else was mostly dark and only illuminated by moonlight.

Back down at the arena like area, Jay searched for the thrown hatchets and collected them. Though they didn't look too special, they had been made from some kind of monster bones.

Jay even checked the area behind the gate that still stood a bit open. Other than a bunch of killed humans, there was nothing inside aside from the object that Jay had already expected.

Another totem found it's way into his inventory and Jay started to wonder how many more of those constructions he might still find and then left the way he had come from.

After a short detour and taking care of the last places he spotted Gnolls at, he went back to where the wall had crumbled down and finally left the ruins. He had initially wanted to reach closer to the river, but in the end he settled with the open area between the mountain and the massive mountain range.

Taking in the sight in both directions for a moment and then setting up his tent between the shrubs, Jay summoned his Void to guard the area.

With everything set he went in and got to bed without even eating something. Thanks to his summon keeping watch outside, he could rest pretty good as any disturbance would have notified him via Max.

Like this it posed no problem to rest in the separate space of the tent. All Jay had to do so he really could completely relax im the future was to level up his Void Max some more.

.

.

.

Only some few hours later, the sun had barely started rising again, Jay got up and resumed his travel back to Stillwater. Like on his way to there, he used his mount again and rode down the mountain.

About two hours later he crossed the long bridge towards Stillwater and only stopped in front of the town hall.

The magistrate welcomed him back wholeheartedly and clapped Jay's shoulder, even though it was still dirty from the past battles.

Not minding it in the slightest, Solomon explained to Jay that the peddlers he and the others had saved would hold a feast to honor them this night. He had no chance to decline participating as all of them wanted to at least thank him.

Accepting to take part as well, Jay gave his report about the Ruins of Sancricity he had explored.

The result shocked the man before him, but he directly promised to relay the information to the military and inform the adjoining dukedom as well. Something like a fleeing Gnoll was by no means good, but still not as problematic as those monsters raiding peddlers.

Without further ado, Jay directly got the next quest presented:

Magistrate Solomon asked if he might have time before the feast to check the other side of the shore as a few citizens had reported sightings of Murlocs. If those monsters really dared to get this close to human settlements, they either had to be in a dire situation or have other circumstances.

Jay accepted the quest as he again had no other option. If there wasn't a chance that another of those damned totems was involved, Jay would gladly have declined. He really needed some rest after continuous battles, so he explained that he would go only after noon the earliest.

First he would go and get something to eat at the inn.

***

Quest:

Murlocs at Everstill

Object:

Check the Westbank opposite to Stillwater

***

Thinking to himself that at least his System honored his labors with some bonus XP, Jay said his farewell and left the town hall. Two minutes later he entered the Inn and directly got welcomed by Brianna.

Crossing the dining hall and reaching the bar, Jay asked her if he could have a room to rest a bit and clean himself.

The blonde Innkeeper reached him a numbered key and just when he grabbed it, held onto it and smiled. Leaning a bit forward she hinted him that she had met Alma the day before and chatted a bit.

Jay got a bad premonition but then saw her grinning sheepishly.

"Say, are you going to dig yourself in all of Stillwater's women hearts?" B.

"...not only their hearts!" J.

To Jay's surprising comment, both of then chuckled and she let go of the room key. Jay thanked her once again and went up to clean himself.

He even had enough time until lunch to rest for a bit more than an hour but in the end had to hurry not to be late.

While eating the simple made but very tasty casserole, he spotted Sybill coming down the stairs as well. Jay didn't need to waver her over as she had spotted him as well and directly walked up on him.

She had the same dish and during their meal she asked him about his trip.

After Jay told her most of what he had seen, Sybill only answered that she wouldn't have believed a story like that from anyone else, but from him it was something else. To his question about her friends condition Sybill only sighed at first.

When she saw Jay got that wrong she explained that while Mirta was all good by then, for herself the days had gotten too long. At least hey could resume their travel tomorrow after the feast.

Jay learned that they had originally been traveling back to Arathor and taken an escort request from Ortel, a small city in the Hilder Forest where they had been hunting. The monster attack had delayed them for some days, but they were still going to complete the quest.

Once she was done explaining, Jay asked her if she wanted to join in his quest of checking the other shore to what she nearly jumped in joy. They leisurely ate up, then she swiftly went to fetch her gear and notify her friend who was still resting a bit more.

Jay used that moment and paid for them both, then waited for her and they went outside together.

Thanks to his horse, the two of them reached the other shore over the bridge very soon and started to search. It took them only half an hour to find the first of the ugly monsters. While they wondered how a citizen could have spotted them this far west where Stillwater was barely visible, they continued their search.

Where there was one Murloc, there were bound to be more.

Just like they had anticipated, more and more of those fish-like creatures appeared. They all were in the range of Level twenty what posed no problem for them but was rare considering how low Murlocs were in the ranking.

On a flat plane near the western end of the lake did Jay and Sybill finally find the settlement.

It was not a big one, so killing through all of the monsters with their bows went by pretty smooth. Only for the strongest one that was a bit bigger and at level 24 did Jay reveal his (Lightning Shot) to Sybill, what really surprised her.

It was that one that guarded a slightly small looking version of a totem in the middle of the camp. Jay picked the item up and explained the gist of it to Sybill while storing it away. She was astonished that he nonchalantly explained something like this to her, but it soon dawned her that those things had probably been the reason for Jay to come to Westfield back then.

Leaving her in that believe without telling her more, Jay went on and hunted the few Murlocs that hadn't fled into the water. Sybill followed him suite and in not even five minutes they had eradicated the whole tribe. Those few that had fled would pose no threat as the totem and their tribe were gone.

Just as they had picked up their arrows again did they notice movement in the wood head on. Jay was sure he had seen the silhouette of a Gnoll there, but when they carefully got closer, there was nothing.

They even kept looking around for a bit and found paw prints of not only one monster at the spot Jay had looked at, but nothing else.

Using his summoned horse again, Jay and Sybill arrived back to Stillwater at sunset. They were barely in time and though they wanted to report to Solomon about their successful subjugation of a Murloc tribe, as well as their sighting, the man had already left for the festivities.

Walking the last distance to the inn on foot, the two of them could already hear music coming from inside...