Strength And Survival

"We'll set out as soon as the situation here is stable." Morris spoke patiently, "Freya, go and get Ariane. I'm sure she'll be able to help the most injured ones."

Freya nodded before going to fetch the healer. As she left, the elder continued to utter words of appreciation in his weak voice. The rest of the patients also thanked the giant man. Morris continued to humbly gather information of the people present.

'You are hopeless, little girl.' Artium impatient voice echoed in her head. 'As you waste your time helping these fools. The vampires will be preparing a stronger force to hunt you down. Do you think you can afford to dawdle with your strength?'

His cruel words continued to haunt her. Although Art had been indifferent to the rest of the world in their time together, his voice now held a certain malice when he spoke of these villagers. Freya had to remind herself that although she felt that she knew him well, it had been barely a week since their first meeting and she knew next to nothing about him.

'I once asked my mother what is strength?' Freya began to tell a tale. 'Can you guess what she answered?'

When Art remained silent for a while, Freya continued, "She answered that strength is the ability to help the weak without fear of consequence. Only the truly strong can risk to help other and not care."

'Wise words, but misguided.' Art replied, 'While it's true the strong do not have to fear consequences, but that also doesn't mean it's the same for the ones they help. Sooner or later the people they helped will face the consequences in one form or the other.'

'The strong cannot protect them forever.' The Ancient mage continued, 'The only way to ensure survival in this unfair world is to gain strength for oneself, because not all strong people are so virtuous. In this world, the strong would rather use the weak than help.'

'Be that as it may.' Freya replied in a huff, 'I will help them as long as possible. I will do my best to follow my mother's guidance. They are the only things that I have left of her and I'm not going to forget them.'

'Very well, do as you like, you stubborn girl.' Art sighed. 'Help these weaklings as much as you like, but also focus on your training. After all, as per your mother's teachings, you can't afford to help them if you are not truly strong.'

Freya nodded as finally her team came into view. She quickly ran forward to Ariane and delivering the captain's order. Ariane followed after her as she led her to the Infirmary tent. Freya bid her farewell before leaving to help in the reconstruction.

In the center of the village, the villagers and soldiers were busy constructing a large wooden hall. Upon asking, Freya discovered it was a large shelter for all elderly men and women that were too weak to do any labor and could barely survive the cold nights in the tents,

Freya quickly went to work and began to lift and place large wooden logs. Her current strength had reached 40 after completing the daily quests, just the day before yesterday. After reaching 40, the quest no longer provided any strength stat points, but only stamina. She guessed it would completely stop after her stamina also reached 40. Regardless, she was easily able to lift wooden blocks that would need three soldiers to lift.

Her addition exponentially increased the speed of construction as by the end of the afternoon, the building was three fourth to completion. While Freya could continue to work, the rest of the worker could no longer continue and they had to stop for the day.

After they were done, the villagers expressed their gratitude towards her as she left. She returned to the spot where the caravan had set camp. Her team had also just returned from securing the village perimeter and Ariane from healing the wounded. They five of them gathered in a tent to give their reports to Morris.

"I have secured the village sides by placing hidden traps along the unprotected sides." Maria reported with a clam voice, "If any bandits or beasts try to attack, they will surely be surprised."

"I have stationed a group of soldiers on all the roads entering the village and set up a shift schedule." Alex informed the captain, "All roads shall be safe for now."

"The wounded have been treated to the best of my abilities. None of them are in mortal danger any longer." Ariane recounted her task, "They will all recover with time."

"I helped with construction work." Freya began to speak, "The shelter for the most elderly should be done by tomorrow."

"Excellent!" Morris exclaimed, "I'm very happy that all of you contributed in your own ways. The village should be stable by tomorrow. I will leave a small regiment of soldiers and a cart of supplies to make sure it remains the same."

"The rest of the soldiers will travel to other affected villages and towns nearby with supplies." The redhead continued, "Tomorrow, our team and the mercenary unit will travel southwest towards a town named Havenfall. I have reasons to believe that it's going to be the Orcs' next target. We cannot let those bastards take any more innocent life."

The feelings of anger were evident in all the ones present. The Orcs were known as cruel race, but the bastards hadn't even spared children, taking them as slaves. Their eyes were filled with conviction to eliminate the Orc group once and for all.

"I want all of you ready to move as swiftly as possible." The large man ordered with the air of a lord, "Without the soldiers and the supply carts, we can reach the town faster, giving us more time to prepare for the attack. Now go and prepare."

The four adventurers stood and took their leave. As they left the tent, Maria spoke to Freya, "Are up for some training? I can use a stress releaser."

Freya gave a small laugh before answering, "I'm sorry but I'd like to train in private tonight."

"Suit yourself." Maria shrugged as she left with the other two team members.

Freya quickly found herself a secluded spot away from any prying eyes at the north-eastern edge of the village and pulled down a long piece of cloth on the ground. She opened the wrapped up object to reveal the demonic sword that lay inside.

A decently long, straight, thin blade made of a dark gray metal that emitted a malicious aura. Its edges razor sharp as if it would cut the very hands that tried to wield it. It handles wrapped in a dark brown leather, most likely from a powerful magic beast, if the other materials were anything to go by. The pommel decorated with a pristine dark metal star that could crush bones like twigs. The guard was just as beautifully crafted as the handle, intricate patterns that surrounded a dark purple gem, the size of a grape, embedded in its center.

It was most likely a soul gem containing a demonic soul. After all, no ordinary soul gem could power a demonic sword. Two small runes, expertly carved into the blade near the hilt, emitted an ominous purple glow. The aura of the sword alone was enough to put fear in the hearts of mortal men.

Freya took her hand forward, once more trying to grab the sword, but another pulse of ominous purple energy erupted from the gem, as if warning her away. This time, however, Freya didn't stop and forcefully grabbed the handle.

Crack!

The purple energy immediately rushed into Freya's hand and into her mana channels as if it possessed a mind of its own. The energy clashed with her mana and began to corrode it. Freya's throbbed in pain and she felt as if lava was running through her veins instead of bloods. Her hand began to shiver but she put her other hand around it, stopping it from letting go of the sword.

[Warning! Dangerous levels of Miasma detected in the body!]

[Immediately eject it from the body, or mana channels will be permanently destroyed.]

Even the system warned against the poisonous energy. Freya immediately focused all her mana into her hands, trying to force out dangerous energy without letting go of the sword. Unfortunately for her, her pain increased even more with this action. Her veins thickened and turned purple, and her skin turned sickly pale. Her stomach tried to upturn its contents but she held it down. Even her bones began to form small cracks due to the destructive clash of the ominous purple energy named Miasma and the white harmonious energy of Mana inside her body.

'That's only going to make it worse.' Art commented as he saw her channeling even more mana into her hands. 'Leave your mana to me and focus on holding the sword.'

Freya did as told and quickly relinquished the control of her man to the Ancient mage inside her head. And immediately the rebellious mana that was destroying its host body a moment ago, became obedient like a puppy. The powerful mage, displaying his absolute control of mana, dividing her mana into two streams. One focused on repairing the damage to her body caused by its clash with Miasma, and the other stream became a precise scalpel that began to discipline the demonic energy of Miasma that was running rampant in her body.