Chapter 16: Humans

Kai froze, his posture stiffening as his face set, his mouth growing taut into a thin-lipped expression of wariness.

"Something wrong, boss?" said Ryo as he came up to Kai, putting a clawed hand on his back.

"Ryo, listen real carefully. I'm going to move out to the clearing, and I want you to stay ahead of me. If anything happens, I want you to run, alright? Dive into the water and go downstream," said Kai. His voice was hushed but forceful, his eyes indicating that he would not take no for an answer.

"O-okay, boss," said Ryo. He waved the other kappa forward, and they followed Kai as he left the cover of the forest and got back to the clearing.

Kai knew there was risk to leaving the cover. The Nue could have been watching the clearing for prey. But judging from all the circumstantial evidence he had gathered, he figured more likely than not, the Nue was simply resting and taking care of its young.

The more immediate and apparent risk was the presence of people. Four people, to be precise, spaced out evenly in the cover of bushes and branches such that Kai had never even known they were there, nor did the kappa have any clue. How long had they been there? Why were they there, following him?

He had no answers to these questions, and that made him cautious. Nobody who kept themselves hidden meant any good. That did not take a genius to figure out.

Even so, he would give a chance to these people. Talk to them. Because there was also a reason they had not attacked him yet, and hopefully, that reason meant they were not a threat.

"All of you, behind the rock," said Kai, pointing to the large rock that had the kappa den underneath it. "And remember, run if anything bad happens."

Ryo and the other kappa scurred away, huddling behind the rock but peering out to Kai to make sure he was fine.

Kai turned around to the forest and spoke. He made sure that he was near enough to the rock that he could dive behind it for cover as well. "I know the four of you are there. Cut the stalking crap. If you want to talk to me, then come out."

He clenched his fists, mentally preparing for conflict. His biomass was at 85/100, his mana at 50/100, and his essence integrity at 60%. He was not running at full power, and that concerned him, especially considering he was outnumbered.

Foliage rustled, and then one by one, people emerged into the clearing. Kai blinked his eyes, a little surprised because it had felt like ages since he had ever seen a fellow human. And these were normal looking people.

Well, aside from the weird ass clothing they had, but then again, he doubted this place had any clothing stores or tailors.

The most forward of the group was a tall, tan skinned man wearing what looked like the skin of a jaguar, the head of the beast forming a helm around the man's face while the rest of the skin billowed around his back like a cloak, revealing a bare physique muscled, toned, and tempered through scars that proved a history of battle. Bright reds and greens accentuated the faulds of fur and hardened cloth armoring his waist and legs.

Kai kept his eyes trained on the man's back where he could spot the outline of a large, wooden club covered in thick spikes of obsidian. Thankfully, the weapon was not in the man's hand, indicating no current intention to fight.

Behind the guy was a shorter, lankier dude. Bare chested as well, but mostly because it was pretty obvious he once wore long robes, but the upper half of his robes had worn away through wear and tear, and the lower half he secured with a sash of flaxen plant material.

This guy had no signs of any weapon on him.

Standing next to the skinny guy was someone with very similar build to Kai. Slightly above average height. Filled out but not hugely buff build, and wearing thick, fur lined leather pants and a vest made out of plate like green scales. Suiko scales.

He had a wooden staff in his hand that was taller than he is, the tip twisting into a hollow bulb formed by twisted segments of wood that tied back together at the end into a sharp end.

Finally, there was a woman that stood far back, looking down with her arms crossed as she took light, jittery steps, as if afraid that at any moment, something might emerge out of the wind and knock her down. She had on a black, hooded gown that covered most of her body and face, and because she looked down, Kai could only make out a few long, matted blonde strands curling out of her hood.

She did not seem to have any physical weapons on her.

But as they came into view, Kai began to worry less about their weapons and how they looked. All of them seemed insanely tired, huge dark circles under their eyes. Crows feet lined the sides of their hollow, tired stares, making them seem decades older than they were.

All of their pupils aside from the dark-skinned man's were impossibly wide, almost as large as their eyes themselves, making them hard to directly look at in a deeply uncomfortable, instinctive level, like staring into the yawning abyss of an endless fall.

"I assume you are with the Court?" asked the club wielding man. "We sent a carrier sprite out a week ago, but it is good to have a late response than none at all. Do you have a seeker with you?"

"No, I'm not with the court," said Kai. He of course had no idea about what anything this man said, and he would not pretend to know something he had zero conception of. "And I don't have a seeker with me. It looks like we don't have any business with each other. How about we go our separate ways, huh?"

"Tez, look at him," said the skinny man as he pointed a bony white finger to Kai. "Fur on his arms. Face. His eyes. Not a full human. He is Kin."

"This-," said Kai as he held up his furred arms. Small arcs of lightning crackled around them in warning. "Is a precaution. I guarantee you I'm as human as they come, but I don't know you guys, and I'm not going to risk a second without my powers active."

"I understand," said the tan guy. Or Tez as he was called. "Still, to see another mage this far into the Underbelow – you must have tried to explore the dungeon in Elysium as well. You will not survive here, I know it. Come with us.

By the Slumbering Lake, we have carved out a shelter. I can offer-,"

"Stop, Tez, you're confused." The man with the strangely shaped wooden staff spoke. He put his staff on the ground and with a finger, traced a pattern into the wood. It glowed bright green for a second before fading away. A thin green line spun around the hollow at the staff's end became visible, and when Kai followed it, he saw it connected to the back of Tez's head.

Tez nodded and grew silent. He stepped back.

"Who are you? Or more precisely, what are you?" asked the staff wielding man. His tone was not friendly. Not hostile either but bordering on it.

Kai narrowed his eyes. "Could ask the same of you guys." He activated his Sense perk, and his eyes turned pitch black, his pupils becoming bright white little dots. He quickly scanned the danger levels of each of the four.

Tez's danger level was eight.

The skinny man's was seven.

The staff wielding guy's was five.

The woman's was three.

All in all – horrendous odds for Kai if they all piled on him.

The skinny guy shrieked as he stumbled backwards, his legs trembling and his eyes widening even wider than they already were. He looked positively insane, mouth wide open and spittle frothing at his lips as he jabbed a bony finger towards Kai.

"What's wrong, David!?" said the staff toting man, urgency leeching into his voice.

"Erik, th-the void, the void!" David continued to shout, almost more to himself than to anyone, but Kai knew that the deranged man's eyes were entirely trained on him.

"What?" said Erik, the staff wielder. He tapped out the same inscription on his staff, and another glowing green thread manifested, this time attached to David's head. "Calm yourself, David, fight it. Fight the ward. Focus on my voice. On the present. David!"

David shook his head in violent surges before putting both his palms towards Kai. Sparks of bright orange lit up in front of them before forming into two squares. Within each larger square, more lines of light criss-crossed to form three by three squares, each individual block holding a glowing red letter inside of it.

Kai did not have time to react before two angry red jet streams of fire burst out from both hands, completely engulfing him in a cloud of searing heat. He covered his face as he screamed. He had always read and heard about how horrible it was to get burned, at how sometimes people died of the pain instead of the fire, and he understood it now.

The fire incinerated whatever remnants of human clothing he had on him, and it savagely feasted on his flesh, the hungry fire warping and melting skin and muscle into charred goop. But he did not fall unconscious – and immediately, he willed himself to heal.

>>>

Host restoration initiated.

Biomass level: 85>55/100

>>>

Kai gritted his teeth as his system got to work. Dead, burnt and blackened skin sloughed off of him, revealing at first pink and tender new skin that then filled in with color and more layers. His cindered hair fell off as new follicles grew out. But his injuries had been full body, and it would take a few seconds for the host restoration to finish.

"Stop! Stop!" shouted Erik as he slammed his staff into the ground, making the green thread attached to David's head even brighter.

But David did not stop. He began to move erratically, almost like he was a puppet and a higher entity had taken awkward control over his strings. His hands aimed towards Kai again.

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