Chapter 15: The Forest of Impures
The battle between the Rootgnarl Watchers and the Murkstingers was short and too embarrassing to be called a battle, really. It was like a mob of patients from a psychiatric ward had been released into the street and now street thugs with no proper education in martial arts had to stop them.
It was messy and wild, befitting brainless monsters. But nonetheless, Impures died and the goal was achieved, more or less.
The Murkstingers suffered more losses than the Rootgnarl Watchers did, but that was not to say the tree folk did not lose a lot of trunks too. They did, and it was pleasant to see.
After everything was over, the Murkstingers flew out in pursuit of the Rootgnarl Watchers. Now that the rule of the forest had been broken and the tree trunks had crossed their borders, the Murkstingers were not going to stop until they had stung every single one of those trees down.
’How satisfying.’
Kage smiled like someone who loved the taste of disaster as he jumped down from the tree. If the Impures could understand speech and were intelligent enough to understand any bit of gesture, Kage would have loved to relay to them that he had had a great time orchestrating their downfall.
He looked down at the bodies of the large insects covered in black blood. Then he lowered himself and with his knife—as if he was cutting meat—sliced off the Murkstinger’s stinger.
The stingers had a hollow space from where he cut them off, so Kage plunged the sharpened edge of his makeshift arrows in to complete them.
He picked a few more until he had gotten all his arrows and had even saved some more.
Then he ventured out of the Murkstingers’ territory. They were most likely going to come back soon—well, the few of them that were left after dealing with the Barrowspikes would come back soon—with their leader, of course.
Each leader of the territories was probably a Blights rank, so Kage was quite determined to have them all for himself, including the big bad boy of the forest that no one dared to trespass against. Albeit, that one was a more threatening Impurity that all these cheap tricks might not work against.
’I will cross that bridge when I get there... or maybe just burn the bridge down.’
Kage did not bother to run. Even though the Murkstingers would return, they would return injured and greatly diminished in numbers. He was well enough to take care of that kind of threat, no matter how presumably talentless he was supposed to be.
Instead, he rushed towards the Barrowspikes’ territory. As he ran forward, that was when Kage noticed something odd.
He frowned slightly, running at a manageable pace, but the more he went, the more he frowned. Until he finally stopped, his face twisted.
[The Wolf of the North grins wickedly, happy that your plan is not going smoothly]
[Heretic Inquisitor of Eternal Truth is concerned about what could be bothering you]
Kage squinted his eyes, looking around. He turned his head but, surprisingly, there were no signs of the Rootgnarl Watchers and Murkstingers running towards this direction.
No steps, no destroyed plants and trees, no dead Murkstingers on the path.
’Strange...’
It was as if their frenzy had taken them towards another area.
Kage, of course, had accounted for that. But they were all supposed to be scattered around. From the territory of the Murkstingers, they were supposed to spill into the forest in different directions, simply because they were in a frantic state. Erratic behavior in such states was supposed to be unpredictable, and running in a straight line as a mob was a truly smart thing to do—it was not something a bunch of scared-to-their-branches trees would do.
But that was not what he had to be worried about now. If they were not pouring to this side, then that meant Kage was going to have to deal with the Barrowspikes alone, and those other ones were going to meet their death.
He clenched his teeth.
’My... friend...’
Kage was compelled not to let the leader of the Rootgnarl Watchers die at the hands of another Impure, but right now, he couldn’t face the Impure.
Someone had certainly tampered with something—Kage was sure of that. This would most likely have caused the Impure to move faster. And the entire forest knew the movement of that thing.
The Barrowspikes would most likely now be on high alert. The Rootgnarl Watchers and Murkstingers could have been intercepted and killed—Kage did not know.
Kage smiled like a gentleman and continued walking deeper into the forest.
The forest scenery flowed into something different that made Kage aware that he was already in the Barrowspikes’ territory. The trees in this area were crooked, the lower grasses were fewer, and there were more sands and rocks.
Kage drew out an arrow, held it like a javelin as he ran freely in the Barrowspikes’ region. Then one suddenly rose from the ground, sand pouring down from its ashen body with grey bones shooting out of its back.
Kage did not look at it. As the Impure pulled itself out of the sand, he stabbed the arrow into its mouth as it opened to let out a scream. Kage tilted the arrow upward during the stab so it plunged out of the Impure’s head.
[You have slain a Stain: Barrowspike]
[The Heart Demon has progressed by 0.0001%]
Kage froze as he saw the strange letters, float in the air. A subtle frown creased his brows, but he didn’t have so much time on his hands.
Immediately, he grabbed the crooked tree and ran up it like a squirrel. The closest Barrowspike scurried over towards the fallen comrade. As it sniffed the dead Barrowspike, Kage fell on it with a stab into its skull, protruding down from its jaw.
He jumped and lunged back up, watching carefully as three more Barrowspikes made their way over.
And more of them were even coming out of the sandy earth too—muddy, sandy areas—they were beginning to plunge out.
Kage took the arrows in his hand, with narrowed eyes. He held his hand up and began to throw with astonishing cleanness and accuracy.
The arrows flew like they were coming off the strings of a bow, at a comparable speed, and impaled the Impures at their necks.
[You have slain a Stain: Barrowspike]
[The Heart Demon has progressed by 0.0001%]
[You have slain a Stain: Barrowspike]
[The Heart Demon has progressed by 0.0001%]
Kage didn’t need them to do much damage—he just needed the stingers to go in. The deadly poison of the Murkstingers was going to do the rest.
As the Impures died at a point, more scurried over towards that point and they died at that point. Kage transformed that center into a mountain of corpses.
Thanks to the stingers, the Barrowspikes were dying quickly as they all came to sniff their dead comrades.
There were still many more racing from afar, and the stench in the region had grown. The movement was also causing alertness.
Kage moved his hand to the makeshift bundle he used for the arrows but grabbed just air.
His eyes widened.
[The Wolf of the North laughs like a madman]
[Weaver of Sorrow shakes her head and cries ahead of your funeral]
Kage couldn’t blame them. Just a few hours ago, they had been so angry that he was trying to kill himself. Clearly they didn’t want him to die, but these old relics were trying to intentionally mislead him from such a conclusion... when it was rather obvious.
Kage did not know what they were expecting when he had asked them for help and they had all refused. He was pissed slightly, but he didn’t need their help over a bunch of Stains and Sullens, and one Blight.
He had it perfectly under control.
It was a miscalculation, but after living forty-five years, even though he was in the body of a fifteen-year-old, his experience was so rich. And Kage in his past life had had a unique Severance art.
He climbed down the tree, landing right beside the mountain of dead Barrowspikes.
He pulled out the arrows from about two of them and held them in both hands. Then he looked at the incoming Barrowspikes.
"You all want to dance, right?"
Kage grinned.
"Then let’s dance."
He made a swift turn and bolted away.