Riley's blade flew up, slashing at a hound's neck. Blood splattered against his skin before he moved to the next. Every small movement radiated an agonizing pain which clouded his mind.
'Crap Crap Crap Crap!'
His blade sliced the air, barely missing another hound's neck. Instead, he stumbled forward, back exposed. Riley braced himself for a furious slash. But none came.
Looking back, he could see Lucy had blocked the attack with her spear, driving back the beast.
Yara and Dari were pushing back the relentless attacks while protecting Richard. And as for the old man himself? Every few seconds an arrow whistled through the air, piercing eyes and skulls with terrifying speeds.
'We might…have a chance!'
Riley pushed himself up, already regretting picking a fight with this absurd amount of nightmare creatures. But the time for complaining was over, he had to make sure he survived. That his new friends survived.
He lunged forward, pushing past the pain, his blade gliding through the hounds with ease.
[You have slain a dormant monster, Hounds of the Progenitor.]
The wind picked up pace, its push urging Riley's blade to find the next creature and slice it's throat, spraying blood over the ground.
Its teeth scratched the blade, spark of light illuminating the dark wasteland.
He turned his blade, slicing through its creature's maw and hearing the soft whisper of the spell once more.
[You have slain a dormant monster, Hounds of the Progenitor.]
But something gnawed at him. Things were going well, they were managing to hold their own against the large group of nightmare creatures. And that was the issue entirely.
Things never went well in the Dream Realm.
He allowed himself a few seconds to glance around. A part of him expected to see a titanic macabre being in the distance, biding its time or even taking pleasure in watching the sleepers struggle. But there was no such thing, at least that Riley could see.
"Ghhh-"
He brought the blade up against his arm to protect against the hound's headbutt. Trails of mud were left behind as he skidded farther from the battlefield.
Another creature jumped with its fangs bared. But that too was blocked, driving him even further back.
The waves were growing louder by the second, and the loud whistling of the wind had turned deafening.
At last, he could feel it. The bitterly cold embrace of the gusts that swept over the dark sea. His feet brushed the edge of the water. Riley didn't need the lantern to know that he was cornered.
'The hounds…One on one is manageable….but this is really unfair.'
A shiver ran down his spine as the incomprehensible wail of an ancient and decrepit being stirred below his feet. A sliver of liquid slithered into his core.
Dread Core: [15/1000]
'Will that be enough to make it back?'
It had to be.
Quickly, he summoned the lantern and bathed the world in light. The creatures dared not move, trembling at the sight of the flame.
Riley trudged as fast as he could with his wound. The other four turned their heads to face him.
'It seems they were able to kill them all without me.'
An arrow whistled by his head, trimming a few hairs along its path. It struck a creature's head with a dull thunck.
"Nice shot!"
Riley tripped on a stone, stumbling to his knees. Lucy darted to his side to support him up.
Dari flashed forward, stabbing the air where a hound had leapt toward. The blade simply slid inside, vanquishing it.
Now, only one hound had remained. The mutts together were unintelligent, simply tackling an opponent with sheer numbers. But alone? They were much more strategic.
And so, it ran away with its tail swaying in the wind.
'Something tells me this isn't the last time we will be facing hounds.'
He sighed with relief, allowing himself to let the exhaustion take over.
Riley's stomach grumbled, and it seemed like it wasn't the only one. Yara had flushed red and Lucy was already cutting up the corpses and harvesting the soul shards.
Richard and Dari were working on starting a fire using the wooden stick quiver.
For some strange reason, despite the pain and bleeding, he enjoyed this. With one hand on the knee, he propped himself up again, wandering closely to Lucy.
"You know we can collect the soul shards later right? Eating would fuel us for what is to come along with any emergencies."
Lucy looked up at him, slightly peeved, but had no real retort.
She started cutting the flesh with the tip of her spear.
======
Richard and Dari had managed to light the fire. Riley and Lucy harvested the meat while Yara kept watch in case anything dared wander too closely.
Their little system worked, the meat was cooked and in the end nothing attacked.
Shadows danced in their proximity as the flames roared, crackling in the night.
Yara asked about ghost stories but no one seemed interested in making a scary situation worse.
Lucy had offered to give some brief stories about her and her classmates. Typical silly highschool gossip about how one of her friends got cheated on while another couldn't decide what sort of makeup brand to buy next.
Riley however was only half paying attention. A red string connected several plans in his head while also making sure to design some questions for the inevitable meeting of his favourite characters.
He sighed. His gaze wandered over the teammates that have aided him this far. A moment of peace filled his heart, but it was quickly replaced by dread.
'The thugs from the castle...what if they also wish to head for the mountains.'
Despite having looked around in great detail, he couldn't find signs of any life. Both creature and human alike.
'I'll just have to be extra careful. However the question is, do we venture down into the underworld to pass through the mountains? Or do we head over?'
He spent the night thinking about it, offering to keep first watch.
He flicked through his runes again, trying to properly understand them. But nothing special was sticking out to him, at least, no plan he hasn't already thought of.
'That's right, the optimal route is still over the mountains.'
And finally, it was time for their leader to sleep too.