Expedition. (5)

Kumkani simply sprinted at this point, seeing the border and entrance to the town ahead. The sound of cars behind him being smashed into as the creatures ran after Kumkani was alarming, yet he paid it no mind and just ran. His eyes and his attention were fixed firmly ahead of him, as he could not only hear them coming from behind, but from the sides as well, snarling more and more voraciously. A spiked barricade in front of an entrance, as well as another tall fence came into view, and as the Venator reached the barricade, and as if to illustrate just how well timed his arrival was, another lightning strike struck, and showed how Kumkani was surrounded by the monstrous creatures, all snarling with their disgusting mouths wide open, with some even airborne, flying towards him leading with their mouths. The Venator himself leapt forth with all the strength his legs could muster, soaring over the barricade and across the threshold into the town. As soon as he did, he turned to see the monsters crash into some kind of barrier, which immediately lit up with Sigils and Runes, things that Kumkani immediately recognised as Magical in nature. The teeth of those monsters that had led with their mouth broke off as they smashed face first into the barrier, and all the others ran into it as well. A few of the bipedal monsters let out a frustrated, guttural wail, before turning on the weaker monsters that were injured and beginning to devour them alive.

"Holy shit." Kumkani managed between breaths, watching the savagery beyond the barrier.

The monsters seemingly couldn't see him beyond the barrier, which allowed the Venator some time to catch his breath, and pull out a bottle of water from his b ag, drinking between breaths.

"First the forest, then the road, and now this place… they're all… different. Cut off from each other – as if from different Dimensions, yet glued together forcefully. I don't have the time to ponder this properly at the moment, I'm not safe yet."

Kumkani stood up and wiped the sweat from his brow before putting the bottle back and looking around. Unlike in the forest and nuclear powerplant, it was daylight within the town, and it was bone dry. The buildings were all ruins, with it looking like the town had fallen victim to an earthquake of devastating proportions. Roads were split, cars were strewn all over the place, buildings and the roads were overgrown with crawlers and all manner of flora.

"This place may be perfect for what I'm looking to do." Kumkani said to himself as he started to move. "I need to find shelter first, then I'll be able to see if there is any Mana left in this place."

Kumkani carefully made his way through the ruined streets, avoiding sinkholes, carefully assessing the buildings, and taking note of everything he could on the go. Considering how there were creatures both in the forest and just beyond the town, the Venator was operating on the basis that this dilapidated city or town was also populated. It wasn't long until that hypothesis was proven correct, as a group of little green humanoid creatures chirped and chittered whilst emerging from an alley, prompting Kumkani to vault through a missing window of a store of some kind and hide in the shadows, watching silently. As the group moved into the middle of the street, the Venator got a good look at them, with their giant, bald craniums, long pointed noises, prominent cheekbones and chins, and large eyes. They were also shockingly skinny, looking as though their heads should affect their balance so badly that they would be at risk of toppling over, yet they were poised and stable. They held primitive weapons in their hands, and stood no taller than 1.2m tall.

'Goblins.' Kumkani thought to himself. 'They tend to be everywhere, the little fuckers.'

Two Goblins appeared to be in charge, one with a missing eye, and head misshapen from entirely too many blows, yet he looked to be older and stronger than the rest, carrying what would be a longsword in the hands of a normal human, but was a greatsword for the goblin, and a female Goblin, dressed in strange ornamental garb, holding a staff with a jewel on it. They chittered and amongst themselves, until another, equally sized group appeared from the other side of the road, dressed similarly, but in different colours. The leaders from either group pointed at each other and made a number of grunts and growls, which were easy enough to understand before the groups launched themselves at each other.

It was an absolutely brutal skirmish, with the Goblins trying in earnest to wipe each other out. What interested Kumkani the most however, was watching the two female Goblins, lobbing fireballs at each other, using their staves. The jewels on the heads of the staves were inscribed with a Rune, and ultimately, it was these Runes that decided the outcome of the skirmish, as the group that emerged first won, owing to the Rune on the second groups staff losing charge first. The group held muted celebrations, however after some chittering, grabbed their dead and left in a hurry. It was just as well, as a pack of giant wolves into the recently vacated battlefield. They made a beeline for the corpses, whilst the largest two wolves stood on the roof of a building, sniffing furiously at the air. The bigger of the two barked a few times, before leaping off the roof, with a few following after it and running in the direction of the surviving Goblins. The rest stayed back and actually picked the corpses up, as opposed to eating them on the spot, while the remaining pack leader barked more orders. A few minutes later, the other wolves returned with goblin corpses in mouth – including the female Goblin, although her staff was missing. It didn't take much longer for the wolves to clear out, corpses in mouth.

'That was… new.' Kumkani thought to himself as he gave the battlefield a little more time to settle before hopping out. 'Unless their pack is absolutely massive, those wolves took food… to keep. They may hold a level of intelligence that I've not seen that often in animals.'