8 - New objective

"... Okay, so you mean to tell me you arrived in this world after dying?"

"Yeah, I guess."

After Spending the night in the woods, Tom and Lisa started moving north while filling the time with small-talk. Having just been rewarded with points for his resupply, Tom had been forced to spend about a fifth of them on Lisa to get her some proper footwear and appropriate travel gear. Having burned her old clothes, Lisa now wore leather pants, military boots from Tom's old world and a leather vest over a wool blouse as she still kept her real eyes and ears hidden as she kept her red hair freely flowing.

"... So you're undead?"

"Technically I guess."

"But you're still alive?"

"As far as I'm aware. With the shit I've been through I tend not to think deeply about those things, I could be a copy or even a complete fabrication but I don't really care."

Tom had turned into quite a simple creature as he grew older, partly due to desensitisation of fighting in multiple campaigns against his will, now that he had been given a chance to do something he wanted he didn't spend any time wondering about the finer details.

The things Tom did care about, however, was not getting ambushed by monsters.

"Contact front."

Crouching down and taking a knee, Tom peered through his scope as he focused on the strange, green-skinned bipedal creature observing him and Lisa from the top of a tree about 20 metres out with a crude looking bow.

Immediately squeezing the trigger once he had zeroed in on the target, Tom waited until he saw the corpse drop from the tree before he lowered his rifle slightly, scanning the surrounding area for more threats.

"Can I-"

"Nope."

Switching magazines as Lisa once again brought up learning how to shoot, Tom remained on standby for a bit before he popped a spare round into the magazine he had just removed from his M-909 before standing up again.

CORRUPTED_CREATURE(S)_DESTROYED

50_POINT(S)_AWARDED

END_OF_REPORT.

"But I'm so bored just walking, you're so boring."

"Yeah I am, that's because I'm busy keeping you alive."

Having cleared the surroundings and made sure the green-skinned creature was acting alone, Tom glanced at the sulking Lisa who was acting her age before breaking into a smile.

"Boredom is healthy for you."

"So you keep saying."

The deal Tom had made with Lisa was to help her move to another city after he inadvertently broke her cover in Rover, but other than that Tom had no concrete plans, for now he was just heading north through forest and wasteland, staying away from roads, fields, villages and other signs of civilisation as a precaution.

"Can't we please do something other than just walking? Do you have any interesting stories to tell?"

"... You know what, I'll show you how to use this when we stop for the night if you help me to keep an eye out for monsters, deal?"

Faced with the option of telling a girl young enough to be his great granddaughter war stories, Tom took the easy way out and avoided the subject in its entirety.

"Deal!"

Instantly taking the distraction hook, line and sinker, Lisa's face lit up in joy as she stopped hiding her ears and eyes, now intent on also helping to watch out for danger she started focusing on that and didn't keep up her spell.

"Is there a reason you keep that up all the time?"

"Yeah, I don't like being stared at. Plus being anything other than human in this country opens you up to getting attacked or kidnapped without repercussions, so I've gotten used to hiding my ears and eyes at all times."

Not really that open to broach the uncomfortable subject, Lisa nevertheless started talking as she kept watch on the surroundings.

"Then why didn't you follow the girls I rescued?"

"Because they looked at me like I was some sort of deity, I don't like that…"

Falling silent, Lisa realised she had no trouble talking with Tom about all of her inner thoughts, that revelation was slightly perplexing. Continuing to travel through the wilderness until an hour before sundown, Tom chose a place to camp out and started making preparations.

Collecting some firewood together, Tom quickly started building a fire which he lit using the firestarter which came with his bayonet.

"Great, now are you going to teach me like you promised?"

Not intent on waiting another second, Lisa immediately swarmed Tom as he was starting to prepare dinner for the pair of them.

Well, 'preparing' was a strong word when he was just summoning a pair of USIE MRE packs.

"Sure, let's get to it then… Or not, I need to get something first, one second."

Closing his eyes to focus, Tom remembered that he had unlocked a new category of firearms, finally allowing him to gain a sidearm. Given his current requirements, Tom needed something compact, with a large magazine and preferably automatic fire.

(I need a PHX-13 loaded with HPM ammunition.)

QURREY_COMPLEATE

STATUS:_AVALIBLECOST:_3000_POINTSCONFIRM_PURCHASE_Y/N?

(Yes please.)

Extending out his hands to the light which appeared in front of him, Tom grabbed the PHX-13 which he had summoned. Being a personal defence weapon, the PHX was a compact, fully automatic submachine gun which only extended about a centimetre out in front of the trigger, with a 50 round magazine inserted into the weapon by splitting it open.

"What's that? Another weapon?"

"Yeah, I figured it would be a good idea to have something more suitable for close range fighting."

Inspecting his weapon which fit almost perfectly within the length from his shoulder to his arm, Tom opened up the gun by separating the lower and upper receiver by removing the latch in the stock, making it open up like a book around a hinge at the front and allowing him to inspect the magazine which ran almost all the way down the length of the weapon, feeding into the firing mechanism near the stock.

"Okay, let's get started then, sit down here."

Patting the place next to him, Tom removed the magazine from his M-909, cycled the action to remove the chambered round before handing the empty rifle over to Lisa.

"Woah, it's heavy."

"Yeah, the stock goes into your shoulder like this, then you hold it there with your other hand to support it… Yeah that's right, now look through your scope and see what's there."

Watching Lisa settling in with the rifle as he guided her into a stable position.

"Like this?"

"Yeah, do you feel stable?"

"I-"

Before Lisa could even say anything, Tom shoved the rifle to the side, making Lisa tip over.

"No you're not. You have to be stable while shooting, shit can hit the fan at any second and that's no excuse for accidentally shooting one of your buddies in the ass."

Looking slightly perplexed for a bit while still laying on her side, Lisa eventually got back up again before responding.

"You don't have to be a dick about this."

Looking at Lisa's frustrated expression, Tom was reminded he wasn't teaching some wannabe merch like usual, but a child.

"Ah, sorry. Old habit."

Calming down significantly, Tom started teaching Lisa properly, starting with fire control.

"Then let's start with these, attached to your grip is your trigger, that's what kills things when you touch it, so keep your finger away from it unless you want to kill something. Reach up with your thumb to find your fire selector, that's the dial which decides how many bullets you fire per squeeze, single action shots once so that's good for accuracy, full auto is only good when you really need to make a statement."

"Okay…"

Playing around with the rifle for a bit, Lisa learned the bare basics before turning in for the night.

OBJECTIVE_STACK_SECONDARY_UPDATED:

NEW_SECONDARY_OBJECTIVE:_DESTROY_THE_CORRUPTED_CREATURE_DEN_NEAR_NEW_DALE.

OBJECTIVE_REWARD(S):

SA_P_CLASS_WEAPON_UNLOCK.UAV_LA_CLASS_WEAPON_UNLOCK.UAV_SUPPORT_MODULE_UNLOCK.AR_CLASS_WEAPON_UNLOCK.

END_OF_REPORT.

"Huh…"

At first light, Tom received a very strange message from his sponsor. Although he didn't have much to compare to, the rewards from this mission seemed way more generous than just a 'few' points and unlocking PDW weapons. 

But more importantly, Tom had no idea what the term 'corrupted creature' actually meant, luckily he had a subject matter expert on hand.

"Corrupted creatures? You mean monsters?"

"Yeah, sure."

After Lisa woke up, Tom brought up the subject of corrupted creatures while the pair of them were eating their USIE standard rations.

"Monsters are just that, monsters. They have a mana core in their heart that can be used for magic tools, there are tons of them everywhere and they apparently breed like rabbits no matter what kind they are, then once born they rapidly grow to where they become a problem."

"Hmm… Have you ever heard about a monster den?"

"No, but I wasn't an adventurer for that long so I might not have learned about it, or it couldn't be a thing. I guess that 3 headed bear might have had a den somewhere, but I'm guessing that's not what you're after."

(So I guess there's something else I need to figure out, I'm really lacking appropriate intel.)

While Tom was confident in his abilities, he was aware how dangerous walking into a situation blind could be. 

Therefore, he planned on spending some coin to gain information in the next town he hit.

But then, Tom's hair on the back of his neck stood on end, every single sense in his body screamed danger, but he couldn't find the threat.

"Hunker down, now."

"... What?"

"Get down, stay down."

Bringing up his rifle and making sure it was ready, Tom scanned the surroundings as Lisa finally understood he was serious and got down low. Observing the surrounding forest, Tom quickly noticed how all sound of life had seemingly disappeared along with all critters, even the sound of leaves rustling in the wind seemed to quiet down as Tom's mind flooded his body with adrenaline, raising his heart rate as he wrapped the sling of his M-909 even harder around his left hand, steading his grip as an inhuman screech was heard throughout most of the forest.

"Above!"

(Fuck! I need a different scope to track and engage air targets!)

When Tom had initially specced out his rifle, he had chosen a relatively light scope with just a rangefinder, to target something moving in 3 dimensions at speed he would need an adaptive targeting system, programmable air burst munitions and a backpack magazine with powered ammunition feeding.

Searching what he could see through the forest canopy, Tom spotted a large mass moving rapidly overhead, way too fast to target with an unmodified rifle. 

"Shit… It definitely sees us, whatever the fuck it is."

When the creature flew over, it doubled back around before starting to circle around Tom and Lisa's position.

"W-what do we do now?"

Understandably terrified of a flying monster circling then like a vulture, Lisa still kept low but had moved even closer to Tom and was clutching the hem of his leather vest.

While he considered handing Lisa his other weapon, Tom wasn't going to put a gun in the hand of a terrified child, so instead he got down on his knees to match her eye level.

"Listen here, eyes here."

"... O-okay."

"If anyone is dying today, it isn't going to be you. I made a promise, I'm getting you safely to another city safely even if it kills me."

"Okay, but how?-"

Seeing a bit of light returning to Lisa's eyes, Tom put on the most confident grin he could.

"First we outrun it, or rather I outrun it, come here."

"Wha!?-"

Before Lisa could complain too much, Tom put away his rifle and scooped her off her feet before he broke into a run, still heading north.

"Aaaa! How are you so fast!?"

"No talking please, you'll bite your tongue!"

Taking full advantage of his enhanced body, Tom took a chance to stretch his legs and really push the limits. Moving through the forest at a significantly faster speed than before, Tom looked over his shoulder to see the flying creature still circling his previous area, apparently it hadn't registered that he had moved yet.

(Now to make it as far as possible before it starts to catch up, then the fun will really begin.)

"Hold on for a little longer Lisa, we're opening up the distance!"

As trees and strobes of light from the small gaps between the forest canopy passed by Lisa's faces faster than she could register, all traces of fear somehow disappeared from her mind as she was filled with a strange sense of security, without knowing why, she trusted Tom's word.

If Tom said she would be fine, Lisa believed him.

After about 5 minutes of full speed sprinting through the forest, whatever had been circling Tom and Lisa eventually started following them as the trees and forest started growing sparser. 

(Our cover is starting to disappear… Then again, that goes both ways.)

Seeing the end of the forest in sight, Tom started preparing for what was coming. Still in control of his breathing, Tom's eyes went cold as he finally cleared the forest and entered a rocky field where he quickly spotted a place to take cover.

"Here we go Lisa, get ready for dismount!"

Having spotted a particular moss-covered boulder about a third of his height, Tom ran straight towards it and started breaking about 50 metres from it before jumping clean over it and coming to a stop on the other side where he put down Lisa.

"If anything happens I'll distract it, head north alone if I tell you!"

Getting instructions to Lisa out as fast as possible, Tom Held his breath before emptying his lungs completely and wrapping his left hand around the strap as he readied his M-909 rifle.

"Here we go…"

Steading his rifle on the boulder, Tom took aim as he took further control of his heartbeat and steadied his aim before finding a small dot in the sky which was slowly increasing in size heading towards him and Lisa.

(... What the fuck is that?)

Checking his range, then rechecking and stabilising his aim, Tom peered through the scope on his rifle to see a knight in shiny armour riding some kind of monster. While he considered asking Lisa about knights on flying monsters, time was of the essence, so Tom chose to change his plan last second.

Instead of aiming for centre mass of the beast, Tom deviated slightly as he pulled the trigger, aiming to put a round about half a metre from the knight's head, allowing them to hear the sonic boom 'snap' as it passed past them. Squeezing the trigger between two of his heartbeats, Tom quickly saw the effect as the knight banked hard to the side out of panic before peeling off the direct approach and going into a holding pattern around Tom and Lisa's position.

"That's right jackass, you better stay far, far away."

Standing up with a rifle still in hand, Tom made a very rude gesture towards the monster and knight combo before he took aim yet again.

Immediately, the knight banked to avoid yet again, this told him that the knight could see what he was doing, so he put his rifle down before extending out a free hand and pointing his finger towards the ground. Seemingly understanding his message, the knight landed a few hundred metres away and started walking towards Tom.

"That's close enough! One more step and I'll put you in the ground!"

Stopping the knight in shining armour at 10 metres, Tom raised his rifle before he started negotiating.

"Now what the fuck you want with us!?"

"... Are you the person who burned down a mansion in Rover?"

Although their face was hidden by a full face helmet, Tom could nevertheless tell from their voice that the knight was an older male, and from the way they stood that they were an experienced fighter.

"Yeah, that's me. The owner kept children and women as property and my sponsor didn't appreciate that."

"Your sponsor?"

Making sure Lisa was still behind him, Tom decided to be honest with the knight, figuring he could just smoke him if he started acting up.

"I serve the Hunt, but for your people she's called the holy Mistress of the forest."

As Tom said those words, he tried to request a resupply, doing it just enough to feel his chest heat up, this was something the knight clearly felt.

"So you're not part of the Ivory trade federation?"

"I have no idea what that even is… Now, are we going to still have a problem or are you the kind of propper soldier which doesn't harm children?"

As the knight finally caught sight of Lisa who was hiding behind Tom's back, it seemed like stopped to think for a bit before finally asking.

"So what are you doing now?"

"Heading north to clear out a monster den as commanded by my sponsor."

"So are you going to keep attacking slavers?"

"Yeah I am, do you have a problem with that?"

"... I guess not, I need to contact my superior, until then if anyone creates any trouble for you show them this."

Reaching to a small leather backpack he had attacked to his hip, the knight pulled out a metal seal which he tossed to Mike.

"With that seal you can get slaves to get rid of their slaves legally, if they don't respect the seal get in contact with city guards."

Examining the seal which seemed like a large metal coin engraved with complex patterns and symbols, Tom didn't see the point of the knight doing all this.

"Why do all this?"

"Because I don't feel like dealing with more burned down mansions and dead merchants. I'll talk to you later."

Turning on his heel, the knight went back to the half eagle, half lion mount and set off into the sky, disappearing to the east.

"Hmm… Lisa, you can let go of my vest now."

As the threat had left the area, Tom wanted to get back to moving north, but when he turned to Lisa he noticed her legs had given out.

"T-that was a gryphon knight…"

(I'm guessing that's somehow impressive…)

Cearly Lisa recognised what kind of knight Tom had just talked with, and feared them greatly. Having no idea what kind of trauma had made Lisa that afraid of knights he had never seen her like this before.