Ambush

True to his word, Zane had many of the guild members explain their crafts to Kurai as they marched toward their destination, and it often allowed him to forget that they were marching towards a battle that may or may not kill many of the people he now knew.

In the end, it was found that he was absolutely hopeless at cooking and trading, passably proficient at blacksmithing although he lacked the true strength and technique required for it, but good at scouting and hunting with a bow, which was something he'd often done with his uncle before the man passed away while he was in high school.

This at least meant that he was able to do his part and they would often trade with the other guilds whenever they needed supplies as true hunters were in short supply according to Zane.

At first, Kurai had thought that the man was merely exaggerating, but then Hozumi explained that, although most people in the guilds were able to hunt after spotting an animal, most were not able to identify whether there was something in the area based on the hints left behind while tracking prey so they basically ended up simply searching for something to hunt, which could take days, whereas a true hunter could track down their pray in mere hours.

During this time Kurai also realized that he felt more familiar with a dagger in his hand than a sword, but his class refused to allow him to equip a dagger to use for anything other than gutting and skinning his kills.

Which was something he would really complain about if he ever got out of the game and had the time to write a review on it.

Seven days passed relatively quickly as he split his time between hunting for the guild and training in basic martial arts with Satoru.

Unfortunately, most of the actions seemed to clash with his class and he was forced to try and integrate it with sword techniques.

Luckily, he learned enough to discover that Satoru had been correct about him being one of those that cultivated better by doing a standard set of movements while simply focusing on the feeling of his own body and the energy around him as he went through the steps.

It was still hard most days since he'd never done anything even remotely similar, but he soon found that the times he spent suddenly feeling like he'd 'woken up' while doing the movements, were slowly increasing.

By the eighth day, they reached a strange-looking mountain range that seemed to stretch for miles as far as the eye could see, and it was only when they were led into an old abandoned village in a clearing that Kurai realized that they had arrived.

Though something bothered him about it as he glanced at the tracks in the dirt.

'Hadn't the king mentioned that they'd attacked the villages? They wouldn't have simply gone back into the mountain, would they? Or had we somehow missed them…'

He watched as the king frowned at the devastation before them, but they didn't have any time to look for survivors as a warning shout pierced the air and they were suddenly surrounded by echoing warnings from the other guilds as they discovered that the army they were looking for had them completely surrounded.

The necklace around his neck warmed and he glanced down in shock as a shield slipped into his hand. He looked down and found that the necklace had disappeared, but he didn't get any more time to think about it as he heard a whistling sound heading towards him and he instinctively brought the shield up, only for an arrow to bounce off it.

A hand suddenly snaked out and grabbed his arm before he could react and the next moment, he found himself in the middle of a formation that his guild had formed.

Zane released his arm and parried an attack, "You don't have any fighting experience yet so stay in the middle for now and learn. That other attack of yours cannot be used without possibly injuring some of our own so your job will be to defend Sayra, our healer."

Kurai nodded as a feeling of relief swept through him, though it was short-lived as he saw that even Hozumi had joined the fight.

Minutes turned to hours and Kurai felt his consciousness waver by the time the fighting finally died down and each side retreated to heal their wounded.

It was strange, but logically the game would have to give the players time to rest or they would face lawsuits in the form of not allowing the players to log out and eat for days on end.

Sayra had done an amazing job of healing up their wounded and so far they hadn't lost anyone yet, but Kurai could see that she was dead on her feet so it wasn't a surprise when another woman quickly gave her something to eat before allowing her to rest by her side.

The rest of the guild quickly divided themselves between those that were dead on their feet, and those that could stand to be awake for a little while longer to stand guard.

Kurai himself was flanked by Satoru and Zane as he entered the forest to hunt despite how tired he was.

He hadn't done anything in the battle except to deflect a few arrows and block a few attacks so he knew he wouldn't be able to rest until he did something to contribute.

Neither Satoru nor Zane understood his reasoning when they tried to send him into one of the newly erected tents to rest only to be told the same, but neither was going to let him hunt alone once he made his intentions clear.

Hozumi had simply shook her head with an amused, but tired grin before she excused herself and entered a tent.

Their company turned out to be a good thing as they happened upon a whole herd of large tailless deer and Kurai expertly managed to put down four of them before they could disappear into the bushes like the rest once they heard the distressed cry as the first deer fell.

Unlike meat portions used in food, whole animals couldn't be placed in an inventory, and knowing that they were in the middle of a war, it would be unwise to gut and skin the animals on the spot like he usually would.

As they walked back with their loads, Kurai turned to Zane, "You mentioned monster attacks earlier, why haven't we seen any even though we've been outside the city for almost a week and a half?"

Zane looked at him in surprise at the question, "Do you know the origin of monsters?"

Kurai truthfully shook his head and the man hefted the deer more comfortably onto his shoulders as he watched the path ahead of them.

They were almost back at camp.

He was silent for a while and Kurai almost thought that he wouldn't get an answer, but then the man turned his head to look at him again, "They started appearing around the same time the portals to the abyss did. So far we've discovered that it is the energy of the abyss itself that corrupted normal animals and once mutated they were able to afflict those around them."

Kurai frowned as he remember the words that had been on the wall, but he didn't voice them yet, "Hozumi mentioned that you haven't found an abyss yet, so how do you know what it does and how it feels?"

Zane looked taken aback for a moment before he laughed, "While it is true that we haven't found an abyss to study yet, most of us in the guild have either had encounters with an abyss or we've been indirectly influenced by one in some way. The monsters are still out there though, they travel in packs and attack without any rhyme or reason. Though there have been far fewer sightings in the part of the land as of late."

It made sense, but that didn't explain Satoru's explicit hate for the abyss.

The other man must have noticed his gaze and picked up on his thoughts because he sighed and pulled up one of his sleeves to reveal a strange flame-like black scar, "My village was destroyed by an abyss when I was about seven years old. It twisted the people around me into hideous beings, but for some reason, I was unaffected except for this scar that refuses to go away."

The man fell silent and Kurai gazed at his feet.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that the people in the village had either been killed or that they had possibly killed each other.

He glanced at the sleeve-covered arm in thought.

'Something about that scar feels familiar.'

As he turned to ask Zane a bit more, he swallowed his words as he realized that they'd already made it back to camp and those with a cooking specialty were already waiting for them.

Kurai wanted to protest when they offered to gut and skin the deer as well, but Zane shook his head and pushed him towards one of the tents, "You rest. They can take it from here and they will call us once they are done."

They were already entering the tent when Kurai noticed that Satoru had joined them as well.

The man in question smiled at his confusion, "It seems you haven't realized it yet, but due to your encounter in the Heart-weighing chamber, even if you didn't tell us exactly what occurred yet, the guild itself has recognized you as its heir and as the second-in-command, it is my duty to make sure that you are guarded at all times."

Kurai felt his shoulders droop slightly as he realized that they were merely there because they had to be, but then Zane snorted in laughter, "Yeah, right. Duty-bound or not, you wouldn't do something if you didn't want to."

Satoru's grin didn't let up as he playfully shoved Zane, "At least I have an excuse. As Guildmaster, aren't you supposed to be checking in on the rest of the squads right about now?"

Zane let out another laugh, "And miss out on getting to know my nephew a bit better? Not on your life."

Kurai froze and looked at the man with wide eyes while Zane's grin only became wider, "I doubt that your mother knew about me, given that I was exiled from the clan for not having the right energy type just after she was born, but news travels fast if you know the right people so I kept tabs on her and then you after you were born."

His face grew somber as he moved to take a seat on one of the crates.

Satoru copied Zane with the same grim expression, but Kurai didn't move from where he still stood, which caused the cultivator to lean forward before pulling him down to sit between them.

Kurai didn't know what to say, but it didn't matter because Zane gave him a light nudge with his arm, "I'm sorry I didn't get there in time. At the time I thought you'd been killed along with them…imagine my surprise when a certain Inn-owner contacted me to tell me you were still alive while I was out on a mission and then I return just in time to find that you'd already been accepted by the Heart-weighing chamber."

The younger man was surprised to find that his uncle seemed to be extremely happy about it and he looked to Satoru who merely smirked, "Basically he is happy that you are alive, and now that we know the guild has an heir, the old ladies in the guild can stop harping on him to get married."

The image of a bunch of little old ladies crowing around the large man had him grinning and Zane frowned playfully as he noticed Kurai's amusement at his predicament, "Don't worry, you will soon get to experience it first-hand."

Kurai's face immediately morphed into a look of horror and both men laughed before Zane pushed himself up with his hands on his knees before he held out a hand to Kurai, "Come on, as nice as this is, we need to grab some sleep. The sooner we can finish this war, the sooner we can all head back to Seradeihn to give you and your friend, Hozumi, a proper guild welcome."

Kurai nodded and lay down on one of the open beds.

It wasn't long before he was passed out completely, barely aware of the two men who took turns to guard the tent as Lin appeared in front of him with a troubled look on her face.