The head of the Osm Clan sat in his office, in his favorite chair, brooding darkly over the current problems with his children. If Nika had seen this office, her eyes would have popped out in surprise. The Clan Head had always been a progressive man, both magically and technologically. He often spoke with isekai arrivals from various worlds and always took note of new ideas with potential. For example, the chair he sat on was custom-designed based on stories from one such isekai man – Fyodor. In his world, people were more like invalids, sitting too much. Any inhabitant of Laira hearing about that world would grimace with disgust and walk away, but the Clan Head took note of several new ideas and, with great difficulty, convinced the clan's craftsmen to create this "gamer chair" for him – as Fyodor called it. Or the room's lighting system, using not one lamp but multiple small ceiling-mounted lights.
But now Emil had no mood to enjoy his office's interior – his beloved daughter had disappeared. At birth, the gods had blessed him. He had a sharp and inquisitive mind, was born the main heir of a great clan, possessed excellent magical potential, and even as a warrior, he succeeded. Under his rule, the clan prospered and rose to a new level. But as is known – again, from isekai people – nature rests on the children of geniuses.
His eldest sons were idiots, without false modesty – utter imbeciles. His daughters were mostly sex-obsessed animals, jumping on every cock they saw, whether from sentient or non-sentient beings. In general, lustfulness among female system-users was normal, but clans taught their children restraint – yet with his daughters, he'd missed that window, and when he came to his senses, it was too late to re-educate them.
Of all his children, only his third son, Turiy, and his youngest daughter, Lisa, gave him hope. And even they had managed to disappoint him in recent years. First, his daughter ran off with some cocky warrior; then his son managed to make an enemy of a potentially very powerful female system-user. He'd kept his finger on the pulse, knew exactly where his daughter was hiding, and waited for her to come to her senses and beg forgiveness from her old man. But two days ago, his beloved daughter vanished – left the village, and with whom? With the very enemy of the clan his son had made.
There was a knock at the office door, and after an invitation, a man entered. His face was utterly unremarkable – you'd see him and immediately forget him. He was so plain and gray that to a knowledgeable person, that was already a red flag.
"Any news of Lisa? Were you able to pick up a trail?"
"No trace, sir. She walked along the road from the fishermen's village with another girl, then according to tracks, they split up. She turned toward the clan nest, and the girl headed toward Djer. After 127 steps, the girl vanished; the young mistress vanished after 458 steps. We searched the entire area, went into the forest almost to the forbidden zones, but found nothing. Our land is locked down – no one can enter or exit without our knowledge. No results yet."
"And the forbidden lands – I take it you didn't even try to enter?"
"Sir, even if they went there, they're already…"
"Enough. Intensify the search with all available resources. What about those idiots? Stirring trouble again?"
"The alchemist and his team are preparing a sabotage against a caravan leaving in ten days."
"Let them raid – no big loss."
Another factor the clever Clan Head used to his advantage – once upon a time, he'd fucked and killed some commoner's wife, and her husband held a grudge, sabotaging the clan here and there. They'd long known everything about him, but there was a catch – as mentioned, under his rule, the clan had grown prosperous, which went against the plans of the Emperor and the other great clans. So he allowed the enemy – whom he'd essentially created – to weaken him, while he handled his own affairs more covertly. This prevented the other clans from uniting against him, dulling their vigilance. And now, when his life's work was on the final sprint, when he was just a hair away from splitting his lands from the Empire, his daughter disappeared – his most beloved child, on whom he'd had so many plans. And his heart was very uneasy.
I left the cabin at noon and walked for an hour – then I met them. Terror of the Night, Level 17. They were the kin of that cat I'd once met in the woods while hunting the hunters. They surrounded me slowly, lazily. In their yellow eyes, I saw no animal desires – no hunger, no hunting urge, not even bloodlust. I saw only my sentence. I must have unknowingly entered their territory, and they had passed judgment on the foolish human. Running was pointless – I couldn't escape them. I'd have to fight. The only question was how. First, I drew my short sword from its sheath on my back.
I began circulating internal ki to boost my strength and speed. The first attacked from behind – I'd seen these cats' habits before and expected it. If I lunged backward, I'd impale the beast on my blade and get stuck – no time to turn and slash. I abruptly dropped into a crouch, letting the beast sail over my head. Simultaneously, another charged from the right – I slashed at its hind leg and took an awkward step back, firing a Dark Arrow at the side-attacker. The spell hit it like a concrete wall – they either had magic immunity or immunity to dark magic specifically. Either way, things looked bad.
I backflipped into a stance. Instinct told me two more were creeping up from behind, while the limping first one and a second approached from the front. I needed to change position – among the trees, they'd get me sooner or later. But there was only forest – nowhere to go. Running wasn't an option – I might be faster on flat ground, but in thick woods, not a chance. Thank the gods I'd taken two Intelligence perks for accelerated thinking – I analyzed the situation in a split second.
What did I know about these cats? 90% sure they were nocturnal predators. Though it was day, I'd likely entered some forbidden zone – maybe their offspring were nearby, which was why they attacked in force. Magic immunity, incredible speed, and a non-animal sharp intelligence. No visible weak spots – no natural armor, but you'd have to hit them first. If only I could stun them somehow – if I had Flashbang, I'd be set.
Wait – what's the difference between a standard Lightbug rune and... these kittens likely had light-sensitive eyes. If I saturated a standard rune with massive mana, it would just dissipate harmlessly – no explosion. I'd tested that while making mines. But if I added a Compression rune – only that wouldn't work for light; I'd need Reflection and Concentration runes until they ran out of mana. No more thinking – I had one shot, and I'd have to build it mid-combat.
The first to attack was the one from the front-left – lunging for my throat. Simultaneously, one from behind went for my leg, and the other behind aimed for my arm. Coordinated. I dodged the first by leaning left, aiming for the head of the one attacking my leg – this also avoided the paw aimed at my arm. My sword went into its head, killing it instantly, and I vaulted over its corpse. Pain seared my shoulder – the throat-aimer must have raked my shoulder with its hind paw. A few more seconds and the mine would be ready – but the limping one I'd forgotten was already lunging. I barely had time to meet it with my dagger, drawn mid-jump. The dagger went into its neck from below; the cat roared, collapsing onto me with its considerable weight. Now it was fifty-fifty – if the stun didn't work, I was dead.
And then I simply blacked out – from pain. Though my head was shielded by the dead cat's carcass, most of my body was exposed. The mine worked differently than expected – a concentrated burst of radiation fried every exposed part of my body to a crisp. The last thing I saw was my arm charred to charcoal – then I passed out from shock.
I woke to pain. The air reeked of charcoal, with a faint note of burnt meat, but mostly charcoal. The pain was horrific – I could only wheeze for the first few minutes. My mouth was a desert, tears streaming. I couldn't feel my right arm or legs at all. First, I cast Minor Heal ten times until my mana bottomed out. I had no ki left. I could only see the sky above; the charred beast's carcass pressed on my chest. Ten casts brought almost no relief. I needed to replenish mana. There was no shadow ki in the air – as if the light had destroyed it all. I had to survive until evening, but for now, I could refill mana. I tried to enter a meditative state, but the pain was too intense. Everything hurt. What bothered me most was the "dryness" in my body – as if all the liquid had evaporated.
In forty minutes, I regained 43 mana. First, I cast a water-gathering spell – concentrating was hard, but I barely managed to form the rune weave and pour in all my mana. I brought the resulting golf-ball-sized sphere to my lips and nearly passed out trying to part my lips – they were burned too. Half the water spilled, but some I swallowed. For two hours, whenever I had 20 mana, I cast Minor Heal.
Dusk began to fall – shadow ki appeared in the air, but so faint I barely noticed it. When I got used to the pain, I entered a meditative state, and mana regenerated much faster. In an hour, I'd filled half my mana bar – 1200 points. I was afraid to look at my health bar, but I checked anyway.
Health: 30/1800
Mana: 1200/2400
Energy: 14/6300
Energy was clear – it was my shadow ki, so it wouldn't fill anytime soon in this place. With all 1200 mana, I kept casting Minor Heal until I raised it to level 4. At some point, I realized I was ravenous – my stomach felt like acid and razors. Struggling and groaning in pain, I dragged the cat carcass closer to my mouth. Meat is meat. The fur was all burnt, and the flesh on top was charred – I bit into it and tore strips of meat. I could move one arm, barely. Spitting out coals and constantly casting water from the air, I swallowed about two kilograms of meat. Then I cast Minor Heal again. When mana dropped to 100, I entered Mage Meditation. I stayed that way for four hours and fully replenished my reserves.
My right arm and legs were just bones; half my torso was covered in fourth-degree burns. Soon, hunger would outweigh fear of this place, and local beasts would come while I lay like a vegetable. I needed to build a shelter. Using earth runes, I started building a ring of boulders around me – it was clumsy. All night, I built a 70-centimeter-high mound of stones and had no idea how to cover the top. I had no suitable spells or earth-working skills like the late Lisa's. No matter how I tried, the spell created perfectly round stones. Inside this basin, I summoned plenty of water – the forest was damp, except for the "oasis" I'd created. Let the burnt body absorb moisture – this wouldn't work on an ordinary human, but I'd long ceased to be one; a cultivator's or mage's body wasn't entirely physical.
I finished the cat carcass overnight. Using controlled wind, I dragged two more carcasses closer and started eating them. My perfect-metabolism body digested everything. I began feeling pain in my right arm – it was regenerating. Ki had reached 60 units. Health topped 100; death was no longer imminent – unless I got eaten by those cursed cats again. In the morning, a smart idea came: unlike earth, water was more obedient. Using a couple runes, I covered my shelter with several long slabs of ice. I'd have to renew the freezing rune several times a day, but at least small predators couldn't reach me – I was in a house.
I lay there for a couple days, gnawing all three cat carcasses. My legs felt like hotspots of pain; both arms nearly recovered, and I could even move them. Ki slowly regenerated. I spent all my time meditating or casting healing. Minor Heal reached level 8.
Time to think about getting out of this forest. I was still on the Terror of the Night's territory – though night was their time, I had maximum stealth then. That evening, I melted the ice roof and tried to stand. My legs obeyed poorly; I had no clothes left. I found my bag under another cat's corpse – strange that no one had touched the bodies; animals must have instinctively avoided the scent of burnt fur. Grunting, I picked up the bag – inside was a health potion. I drank it – not a huge help, but it eased things a little. It took ten minutes to find my weapons. Then I began creeping toward the forest's edge. Thank the gods there was no mirror here – I was afraid to imagine what I looked like.
By the next day, I reached the edge of the forest. After walking a few kilometers down the road, I met a group of guys with heavy bags on their shoulders – returning from the city to their village. The first one to notice me spat in disgust, then pointed. One said something, gesturing at me, and they started laughing. It hurt to move; my bag strap dug into my shoulder, and the hilt of my sword was visible.
"Hey, ugly – why suffer? We can see living hurts you. Give us your bag, and we'll put you out of your misery painlessly."
Honestly, even if they'd just spat on me, I'd have had neither strength nor desire to respond – just young idiots, always plenty of those. But they wanted to rob and kill me. I was furious. His buddies probably didn't even see me move – the next moment, they saw my sword's tip sticking out of his skull and my hand at his mouth. Then the slaughter began. Not that I'm proud – I killed almost all of them, leaving two alive. I ordered them to strip their friends, from clothes to bundles, and carry everything into the forest. Deepening 200 meters, I bound their hands and cast Charm on each three times. Their eyes burned with lust – they lunged at me. Fifteen minutes earlier they'd nearly vomited at the sight of me – now they attacked. One tore off his pants and shoved his cock into my mouth; the other positioned himself behind and shoved his cock into my pussy. They fucked me for a couple hours – I kept casting Charm on them. Eventually, they had no strength left. After one more orgasm, I beheaded them both.
The bundles contained spices, some mechanical parts, and most importantly – fabric. From the fabric, I crafted a long tunic and a light hooded cloak. From the corpses' belts, I made sheaths for my sword and dagger. The cloak was dark blue and completely covered my face. They had no cash, but I had my own – a couple gold.
I took what I needed from the peasants' bundles and continued toward Djer.