Chapter 11: Ashes of Despair

After riding all night, the Guild caravan arrived at Wailing Wetlands. It was a macabre place, a swamp where the very earth seemed to exhale a hot vapor of organic matter. The trees were withered and contorted amidst a dark mire, their twisted branches with dark green leaves pointing towards the cloudy sky. A dense fog permeated the entire area due to the high ground temperature, carrying with it the stench of rotting vegetation. The silence was unique, so oppressive that it was broken only by the distant croaking of unknown creatures and the incessant dripping of moisture condensing on the withered leaves.

The caravan, made up of about twenty people, advanced with extreme caution. Some Neumonds were experienced, their weapons and armor worn, displaying scars from countless battles. The younger ones, on the other hand, tried to imitate the veterans' serenity, but their apprehensive looks and the fingers that nervously gripped and released their weapons betrayed their anxiety.

Leo felt the effects of his recent injuries. Despite being healed, his chest ached as he walked beside Liam. The smiling blacksmith, once so excited about his first mission, now observed everything with a mixture of fascination and dread.

"This wasn't quite how I imagined it," Liam whispered, his voice almost inaudible. His hand tightly gripped the peculiar crossbow sling he had brought.

"You get used to it," Leo replied, his voice darker than he intended.

"Will we find many gnolls?" Liam asked, his voice wavering slightly.

"Probably," Leo answered. "But we have many Equalizers... Stay close and try not to make any dumb choices." He gave Liam a thumbs up, trying to bring him confidence, which he didn't entirely feel.

Trying to lighten the mood, he said, "And try not to shoot me accidentally with that thing," he added, pointing to the crossbow-sling with a wry smile.

As they were talking, one of the incursion's scouts returned, his face tense and sweaty. "Sir," he addressed a burly man with a scar across his left eye, the leader of the incursion. "We found fresh tracks. A large group of gnolls. They are moving fast and seem to be concentrating to the east."

Christopher, the leader, frowned, his one good eye narrowed in concern. "To the east? That's strange. They should be gathering near the ruins, to the north." He pondered for a moment, polishing the pommel of his sword as if it would help clear his thoughts. "Attention!" His voice echoed through the swamp, silencing even the distant croaking. "Change of plans. We're going to split up. A small group will come with me to investigate the movement to the east. The rest will continue north as planned. Stay on high alert. These gnolls are cunning and are acting stealthily."

Leo felt a shiver run down his spine, a bad feeling settling in his throat. Something was wrong. He looked at Liam, who didn't understand the situation, his eyes fixed on the leader.

"You," the leader pointed at Leo, his contemptuous gaze analyzing him from head to toe, "and you, the boy with the strange weapon. Come with me. We need someone agile to scout the area, and your friend seems to know how to sniff out trouble." He referred to Leo, who felt something was amiss.

Leo and Liam exchanged a surprised look. Before Leo could protest, the leader turned and started walking east, followed by five other Neumonds.

"I'll watch your back," Liam whispered, trying to sound confident as he adjusted the grip of his crossbow sling. Leo noticed a slight tremor in his hands.

Reluctantly, Leo nodded, a fake smile appearing on his lips. "I know." He didn't have the time or energy to explain that a slingshot, however ingenious, wasn't capable of killing a bunch of gnolls. At most, it could provide support.

They soon followed the smaller group, moving away from the main caravan.

As they went deeper into the swampy vegetation, the sense of danger intensified. The fog was extremely dense, the air seemed heavier, the sounds more muffled, and the shadows deeper. Leo felt his survival instinct screaming in his mind, warning him of imminent danger—the same feeling he had felt against the Leirion boar. Every noise and every movement in the shadows made him tense and alert.

Suddenly, a deathly silence fell over the swamp. Even the animal sounds ceased. Leo stopped abruptly, his hand tightening on the hilt of one of his swords. "Something's wrong. It's coming!" he whispered, his voice barely audible in the oppressive quiet.

The next moment, the ambush began. Gnolls emerged from the fog like spirits taking shape, growling and howling, their weapons and armor from ancient warriors gleaming menacingly in the dim light that penetrated the canopy. There were eight of them, surrounding them like a prepared trap, a hunting pack.

"Ambush!" shouted one of the Neumonds in the group, drawing his sword.

The fight was swift and brutal. Leo quickly focused and entered maximum ELEV. He fought with all his ferocity from the start, his swords spinning in a whirlwind of steel. He danced through the fog, delivering accurate blows. He felt fear, anger, and a rush of adrenaline in his veins. He was so quick that he did not even know he had it. He dodged blows and attacked back with deadly accuracy. Every movement was calculated beforehand; every thrust was an act of pure survival; his eyes were clouded with focus.

Liam, positioned behind Leo, fired projectiles with his crossbow sling. The metal balls whizzed through the air, hitting the gnolls with surprising force. One of them howled when a ball hit its eye, giving Leo an opening to attack. Liam saw that Leo was different; getting close to him would even be dangerous.

A gnoll, its snout foaming with rage, charged at Leonard, wielding a spiked club. Leo rolled to the side, feeling the wind of the blow pass close to his face. In a fluid motion, he got up and plunged one of his swords into the creature's chest, which let out a guttural howl before falling lifeless.

Liam continued to help Leo, but his inexperience was evident. He struggled with his footing on the battlefield, tripping over roots and narrowly dodging attacks from the gnoll archers.

Still, he shot with determination, his metal bullets finding their targets with an accuracy born from his ability to find flaws. He managed to land some critical hits, hitting another gnoll squarely in the head—PING!—sparks flew with a flash of light, destroying its helmet and knocking it down with a thud.

One of the gnolls, seeing Leo's group dominating the battle, let out a guttural roar and threw a burning torch towards a tangle of dry vines. The fire grew very quickly, making a wall of flames that separated Leo and Liam from the rest of the group. The crackle of the flames muffled the sounds of battle; the heat was intense, and the smoke was bitter and infiltrated their lungs. Panic tried to overtake Leo as he lost his intense focus, but he forced himself to focus by taking a deep breath.

"Liam! We have to get out of here!" Leo shouted, coughing from the smoke, his eyes stinging, his vision blurred by the smoke and fog.

They fought amidst the flames, but both they and the gnolls were hampered; everyone was practically blind. They made their way with great difficulty through the remaining gnolls, pushing them into the fire. It was hard to breathe because of the smoke and the oppressive heat. Leo could feel the sweat trickling down his face, combining with the fire's soot and the blood of his adversaries. The smell of burning flesh and fur, a horrible mixture of gnoll hide and burning vegetation, permeated the air.

One by one, the gnolls fell. Liam, with his adrenaline pumping, managed to take down one that was approaching Leo from behind, hitting it squarely with a shot to the neck, right on the spine, at the critical point where the armor was lacking.

Only one remained, a fat gnoll with a ring in its snout and a look of pure fury at seeing his companions die. He charged at Leo with an upward attack, wielding a rusty, time-worn club. Leo defended himself with both swords crossed, but the impact threw him 3 yards back, causing him to fall hard to the ground.

The pain exploded in his shoulder, and he felt something dislocate. Before he could recover, the gnoll advanced and was on top of him, ready to strike his head.

But then a sharp sound cut through the air, followed by a sharp metallic clang. The gnoll staggered, a dart-shaped bullet embedded in its forehead. It fell to its knees, the life draining from its eyes.

Leo looked up and saw Liam, his crossbow-sling still smoking at the tip, his face stained with soot, and an expression of pure terror.

"I think... I got him," Liam stammered, his voice trembling, barely believing what he had done. "It was my secret weapon," he concluded, his eyes wide.

For a moment, a tense silence settled. They had won. They looked at each other in relief and disbelief, exhausted, wounded, and covered in soot. Leo started to thank Liam, but the words froze in his throat.

Emerging from the flames, silhouetted in the shadows, completely ignoring the fire, a gnoll appeared. But this one was different. Measuring 3 yards or more, with armor made of bones and twisted metal and a war axe that seemed to weigh a ton. His eyes shone with cruel intelligence, and a low growl escaped his lips, revealing sharp, yellowed fangs. A named Elite Gnoll. It was Fleshripper, the terrible...

A Gnoll Elite with terrifying ferocity. The beast threw its double battle axe with all its might, spinning it in the air with a disturbing whoosh of wind. Liam, still perplexed by the happiness and surprise of helping Leo, didn't even have time to react.

Leo's mind swiftly accelerated, ELEV exerting all its strength; he observed the axe spinning in slow motion, the fire's reflection dancing on the edge, and his gaze calculated the axe's trajectory, already knowing its destination. He felt his soul freezing in panic. He knew another smile would be stolen from him.

It was all over in 0.3 seconds. The axe cut through the air and hit the young blacksmith squarely, impaling him on a nearby tree. The sound was wet and dull Liam's body went limp and lifeless; he didn't even suffer; it was insta-death, the huge axe embedded in his chest, half of his body almost severed. His feet were still shaking because the axe tore apart his spine. Blood cascaded down, his glazed eyes staring into the void in Leonard's direction, as if he still couldn't believe what had happened.

"NOOOOOO!" Leo's scream echoed through the swamp, a lament of pure agony and fury, lost in the air, muffled by the sound of fire and Fleshripper's growl. Wailing Wetlands was Fleshripper's home.

Time seemed to stop. A chill coursed through Leo's spine. The image of Liam's body, impaled and almost cut in half, was etched in his mind, an indelible mark of horror and guilt. He had failed. He had dragged Liam to death, thinking that a team of two inexperienced people would work. "I'm a monster, a failure," he thought, as he felt tears welling up in his eyes.

Fleshripper looked at Leo, a cruel smile spreading across his snout. He advanced towards the tree to retrieve his axe. As he did so, Liam's body fell limply to the ground. He pointed the axe at Leonard, then licked one of the edges with Liam's blood. It was a macabre spectacle.

Leo closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. The image of Mia, smiling with her dimple, invaded his mind, and then the memory of his mother's smile. "I failed you, but I'll be there soon," he thought, a lone tear rolling down his face, before getting lost amidst the soot and dried blood.

Evelyn was searching for the caravan that had left earlier. She had been delayed, completing a final mission and reporting to her clan.

"Where did they go?" she wondered as she arrived at Wailing Wetlands. She rode as fast as she could. After a few minutes of following fresh tracks, a peculiar smell reached her nostrils. "Fire?" She quickly dismounted and climbed a tree. Fire was unusual in Wailing Wetlands.

A huge blaze was visible in the distance. She hurried back to her horse and galloped towards the firelight. "Please be on time," she pleaded.

As she neared the blaze, she heard a loud crash, the sound of a weapon hitting wood. Then, a voice filled with pain and agony reached her ears. "NOOOOOO!"

Desperate, Evelyn leaped from her horse and activated her ELEV. With a burst of speed, she soared through the air, her silhouette a dark angel against the flames. She saw Leonard lying on the ground, a hulking gnoll standing over him, ready to strike.

But the blow never came. Instead, Leo heard a sharp grunt, followed by a heavy thud. He opened his eyes to see a female figure somersaulting behind Fleshripper.

It was Evelyn.

She was enveloped in an aura of power, her eyes blazing with an almost supernatural intensity. In her hands, she held two daggers that seemed to crackle with energy.

Without a word, Evelyn attacked, her daggers a blur of motion. Fleshripper barely had time to react. She dodged the axe blow, spun around him, and plunged one of her daggers into the side of his neck. The gnoll let out a roar of pain.

Evelyn's wrist was swiftly grabbed by the Elite Gnoll, who then viciously twisted it. The air echoed with a sickening crack, and Evelyn let out a cry of agony and dropped one of her weapons. The gnoll took advantage of the situation and swung his axe downward, aiming to split Evelyn in two.

Evelyn directed all of her energy into her free hand, forming a concentrated blade of shadow, and stabbed the gnoll in the knee. The impact was immediately felt. With a roar of pain, the Elite Gnoll's body fell apart as the energy from the shadow blade ate up its knee. In seconds, the creature crumbled, defeated but not dead.

She took advantage of the beast's suffering and turned to Leo; her face tried to show determination, but her eyes were filled with pain. "We have to go," she said urgently. She grabbed his arm and dragged him into the burning forest, towards her horse. Leo, dazed, wounded, and burdened by Liam's death, struggled to keep up.

As they ran, Leo returned his gaze to Liam's lifeless body, which had been consumed by the fire. A searing pain tore through his chest, a combination of grief, guilt, and newfound rage.

He needed to stay alive. For Liam. For Mia. For his parents. He had to get stronger. He had to avenge them. And he was willing to do it at any cost. The flame of vengeance, now ignited in his heart, burned brighter than the flames around him.