Free Web NovelChapter 55: Finally the Sighting
After his conversation with the local Priest, Victor walked back to Agocester Village.
He wished he could have convinced Priest Eadric to finance a mission with church funds to encourage other hunters to hunt the Gravisk Demon, but Eadric made it clear that he couldn’t do it without concrete proof that it was a demon. freewebnoveℓ.com
As Gravisk wasn’t a freed demon, but a sealed one, he wasn’t necessarily causing problems directly, at least not problems like a normal demon.
The big problem was that Gravisk’s aura was expanding more and more as his seal became weaker, so his influence over the supernatural was expanding.
This left Victor with few options for resolving the situation.
Victor could go to Kozáni, talk to Kyrillos, call in a few favors and get some help, but without another penny in his pocket it would be impossible to pay a coachman to take him there, and the same would be true if he tried to hire some hunters on his own.
As Victor approached the village, wondering what to do next, he noticed an unusual commotion. Groups of people were gathering in anxious and worried shouts in the center of the main square.
Intrigued, Victor approached to see what was going on, and Clovis, the woodcutter Victor had talked to in the other version of this day, was standing holding his ax in front of the statue of the Elban Hero and shouting something.
"I mean it! Listen to what I’m saying, there are dozens of undead in the Evergreen Forest, they’re very close to Agocester! We can’t stay here!" Clovis shouted.
Panic quickly spread among the inhabitants. Murmurs of fear and uncertainty filled the square.
"What? Undead? Like, zombies?"
"No, that can’t be true."
"It’s very difficult for undead to accumulate, especially in Agocester. What are you talking about, woodcutter?"
"That’s it! There’s no dungeon around here!"
"Clovis, are you lying?!"
"Of course I’m not lying, guys!" Clovis put a hand to his chest. "I saw it with my own eyes when I got just a little bit closer to Evergreen Forest!"
Some citizens looked at Clovis suspiciously and others were genuinely afraid of what might be happening, but were still too confused to act on their own.
Victor felt a knot forming in his stomach at the sight of all the confusion, because he more than believed Clovis, he knew that Clovis was most likely right. While he was gathering information and analyzing, the zombies and skeletoids in the forest advanced, probably because Gravisk’s aura had also expanded. It was like Elban’s spirit said, with every passing second, Gravisk was getting closer to breaking free and his dominance was growing. frёewebnoѵēl.com
As the chaos intensified, Clovis’ voice was lost among the shouts and questions from both the ordinary citizens of Agocester Village and the few hunters present, wanting to understand the situation.
It was then that an imposing figure suddenly appeared in the square, drawing people away from the crowd with his mere presence and thus creating a way through. It was Stavenger, the Master of the Local Branch of the Hunters’ Association. His steady gaze brought a momentary sense of calm to the panicked crowd.
"Silence!" ordered Stavenger in his powerful voice as he stood beside Clovis. His commanding presence and the authority emanating from him caused literally everyone to stop and look at him. "What’s going on here?"
Clovis, still a little shaken by the villagers’ tumultuous reaction, quickly explained the situation. "Undead, Master Stavenger! They’re approaching the village. We have to prepare for the worst!"
Stavenger listened attentively and saw that Clovis looked very frightened indeed.
"How many? What kind?"
"I don’t know, forty, maybe fifty. Most of them Skeletoids, but there were also zombies. They were slightly scattered, but there were a lot of them."
On hearing about zombies, the crowd became even more alarmed than before, because zombies could turn other humans into zombies, but Stavenger soon resumed his efforts to calm them down.
"Don’t panic. We need action, not chaos. All hunters, gather immediately at the Association’s headquarters. We’ll organize an effective defense."
Stavenger’s firm and sure command calmed the villagers. The murmurs died down immediately.
"Ordinary villagers should go to their homes and lock all the doors. Warn everyone who isn’t here about the danger and instruct them to do the same. If everyone stays at home, they’ll be safe."
Stavenger’s orders were clear, and the citizens followed without question.
Victor joined the other hunters and followed the Branch Master to the headquarters of the Hunters’ Association.
The association’s building stood in the center of the village, a sturdy structure made of dark wood, with the Association’s insignia emblazoned on a plaque next to the façade.
When they got there, Stavenger ordered the doors to be locked and everyone to gather in the main living room. The room was large, with a trio of sofas and a fireplace. A heavy atmosphere hung over the room until Stavenger returned.
"Colleagues, we are facing a real and imminent threat. If the Undead are approaching Agocester, it is our duty to protect this village and its inhabitants at all costs. Therefore, I will be five bronze coins for every undead that is killed tonight."
At that moment, the cheers went up all at once and the hunters raised their fists in celebration. Winning five bronze coins for every single undead was not something you saw every day.
"We know we are few, but we are the only ones with the skill and courage to face this situation." Stavenger closed his fist tightly and raised it too.
In the room, there were only eight hunters, including Victor. Two of them looked like archers, the others warriors and there was only one mage, the same woman Victor had seen reading a book when he went to pick up the Blights’ mission that morning.
This mage had lilac hair, round glasses and a calm expression on her face, in fact, she almost looked sleepy.
With so few hunters present, it was a silent consensus that by now either the other hunters were dead or had left the village.
Suddenly, a hunter with an ax on his back raised his hand. "What could have attracted so many undead to the area? It’s not common for them to accumulate so much, especially in a specific part of the forest."
Stavenger agreed, crossed his arms and replied: "Agostecer is normally a peaceful village. Being between two big cities, many hunters pass through here every week and eliminate all kinds of monsters. However, even in such a peaceful place, much worse things can hide than the monsters we’re used to."
At that moment, Stavenger’s eyes caught sight of Victor, who was at the back of the room, arms crossed and leaning against a wall.
"Anyway, right now we should concentrate on eliminating as many undead as we can. Our numbers are small and..."
Stavenger was in the middle of explaining the strategy when a scream ripped through the air, coming from outside the Hunters’ Association headquarters and interrupting him.
The sound instantly silenced everyone present.
The Branch Master interrupted his speech, his serious face showing concern.
"What was that?" he muttered to himself, before quickly heading for the door of the main hall.
The hunters followed him closely, their hands already moving to the weapons they carried with them.
As they hurried out of the building, a chaotic scene unfolded before their eyes. A woman, with a basket of strawberries and a child clutched tightly in her arms, was running desperately down the main street of the village with tears in her eyes, but it was clear that the woman wasn’t just screaming in fear, there was pain in her voice, because an arrow was stuck in her right shoulder.
From the end of the main street, the glowing eyes of a skeletoid in archer’s robes were noticed by Victor and this monster seemed about to release yet another arrow.
Victor felt a wave of determination run through his body. Without hesitation, he launched himself into action, and he looked like a blur in everyone’s eyes. In an instant, he was off the steps of the association building and between the skeletoid and the monster’s target, just in time to break the arrow into two pieces.
The woman with the child on her lap fell to the ground when she saw the huge Victor standing in front of her, also leaving her basket with strawberries so red.
"Are you all right?" asked Victor, crouching down next to the woman.
Her face blushed slightly and she nodded, at a loss for words.
However, skeletoids weren’t even aware enough to get frustrated. Seeing a new target in front of him, he prepared to fire another arrow. However, before he could release the bowstring, a burst of fire erupted from inside the Hunters’ Association and flew towards the monster.
The fire bore down on the skeletoid, engulfing it in flames and turning it into ashes within seconds.
When the hunters turned to see who had done this, the purple-haired mage yawned and said:
"Aren’t you going to... move?" Her speech was so slurred, but it sounded more like laziness than anything.
