The axe spike pierced through the metal outer layer and into alchemically treated rock. My Void Sensing still couldn’t see into the safe, so I lifted my axe to strike again.

  A knife pierced my arm, and it started to go numb.

  “I can’t let you do that,” said the void anomaly that was the Hidden Fang.

  I brought my other hand down with the axe. It was not as strong a strike, but it worked.

  I was Extracting Impurities as his knife was also poisoned. My axe was also useful one-handed. I lifted it to bring it down again, and a second knife struck that arm, and more poison started to spread.

  I was ready that time and got most of the poison early, but the blow was weak. Then I was shoved away from the safe. “I don’t want to kill you, but I will if I need to,” the Hidden Fang said. I rolled, falling into Fang Reversal, but the Hidden Fang broke away, partly because of my numb arm and partly because of his skill.

  Then the damage I had made to the safe seemed to explode as Jenna planted an arrow in it with her Powershot Skill.

  The sun seemed to go out, and a great shadow expanded rapidly over the area. I felt the alien presence with my mind and with my Spirituality. This was a Shadow Elemental, and a strong one at that. I protected my Mind with Frigid Void, and it seemed to move on.

  The spiritual feeling was one of darkness and cold, and it was totally different to me. This seemed to affect my Cosmic Aura. It was the first creature to really notice my aura, and it found it interesting. Interesting was not the right word, but I felt it spiritually tested the boundary of my aura.

  Then the sun came back, and the elemental was gone. I cast my senses out, and the Hidden Fang was with the other orcs like he had never left. Two Orcs were down, as were both Shark Mer. One of them was dead.

  The last standing human went to run when an arrow landed at his feet, and he stopped and put his hands up in surrender.

  One of the humans was dead, and the other would bleed out soon if no one helped him. The Orcs were conversing in Orcish that I couldn’t understand. I looked around, and I couldn’t see Pānihi anywhere. I suspect if the human had kept running, she wouldn’t have got past Pānihi, who was out there.

  I moved to the human who was bleeding and did the minimum to stop the arterial bleeding.

  Jenna said, “All the blades were poisoned, and the Bleeding Truth don’t have enough potions. Can you help them?” That is right, Kiri speaks Orchish.

  “Who is the worst?” I asked.

  She pointed to one of the ones on the ground, and I went over and touched her. The poison had spread. I used my senses to focus on critical organs and Extracted Impurities from them. Then I moved to the other one who was bad, and did the same.

  While I was doing that, I saw Kevin whisper to Jenna. I hope he is communicating about the Duke’s spy.

  “Anyone else?” I asked.

  “No,” said one of the large orcs, “we have potions and high enough Poison Resistance.”

  I looked at Jenna and Kevin, “Are you alright?”

  “High poison resistance and a potion,” said Jenna.

  “Didn’t get cut,” Kevin said, and he sounded quite proud of that.

  I nodded and started alternating between the two, just cleaning out their organs, then repeating. I checked my own poison levels, and the poison had dropped, and my Resistance had risen a few levels.

  I was keeping Mister Hidden Fang firmly in my senses, but he was playing a normal orc. He was probably the most dangerous person here. He moved very fast, and he was unhappy with me. I had to remember his truth-sensing ability.

  Jenna and a couple of orcs were tying up the survivors from the Chelonians. Only the two humans, as the other Chelonian, died. Only one human was conscious.

  I also watched Jenna. She went through the Chelonians' bodies. She tossed me the payment. I nodded to her. They had a lot of potions and pills with them, which we could not identify.

  The two Orcs were stable, and their bodies could now process the poisons without help. They would have higher Poison Resistance levels.

  “Does somebody want to explain what happened?” one of the large orcs said.

  “No, I don’t think we will,” Jenna said. “I appreciate your work, and I will pay your contract out now with a bonus, which was excellently done. We will not return to Jern, but the contract is completed.” She pulled out a small purse of coins and tossed it to the Orc. “The contract.” Then a smaller purse followed, “A bonus.”

  “I think we deserve an explanation,” the large orc insisted. “That was weird shit, and if it was really a monster elemental, then the Duke needs to be warned.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Feel free to warn him,” Jenna said, “but the elemental is not staying around here.”

  “You know this, how?” he asked.

  “The Duke is going to want to hear this from you personally,” the Hidden Fang said.

  “You are the Truth Sensor, Vaso,” Jenna said. “I am sure he will believe you. Plus, you have those two.” She pointed to the two surviving humans.

  The name the Hidden Fang was going by was Vaso, was it?

  “The Duke will insist, plus there is a contract out on him,” he pointed to me, “we should collect it, by taking you back to Jern.”

  “If I read the contract correctly and he burned down stone buildings, then I am pretty certain you won’t be able to make him go anywhere he doesn’t want to go,” Jenna said.

  Because I had Void Sensing, I could see Vaso’s hand near a hidden knife. I am sure no one else could see it. “You already tried to paralyse me,” I told him directly. “I nullified the poison like I did when I saved the lives of those two.” I wasn’t going to explain how I nullified it. He may know, he may not.

  I saw the looks the Orcs exchanged. I am sure Jenna demonstrating that she knew their language was hampering them, and I am also sure that the fact that I had saved their teammates' lives was on their minds.

  “The Duke will send out the Guard and his rangers,” Vaso warned.

  Jenna nodded, “Tell him we are heading to Hrothgar.” I wasn’t sure if Vaso knew Jenna was Kiri, but I would assume he did, so she was reminding him of her mother.

  Vaso said to the other Orcs, “We will spend the night in Kulle, then head back. Let's get moving.”

  We watched them collect their gear and prisoners and head down the hill in the last of the day's light. The whole event took less than half an hour.

  Kevin started loading the cart with the remaining gear. Kiri and I helped after they were out of sight. I assume Kahz and Pānihi will warn us if they are coming back.

  “I wanted to keep the safe, but maybe it should be called a prison,” Kiri said. “However, we will have to move fast. Thank you, Ivan, for breaking that open.”

  “Was that really Nyx, the Black Butcher’s elemental bond?” Kevin asked, feeling a bit star-struck again.

  “Yes, that was Nyx, and the bond is still active, which means Auntie B is alive,” Kiri said.

  “If she hadn’t been?” I asked.

  “Then we would probably be dead and the Duke would have a big problem,” Kiri said. “I am sure you got a sense of her power.”

  That sobered Kevin’s attitude.

  “I assume we are not going to Hrothgar?” I asked.

  “I would love to, but no. Nyx went east, and she will have a general idea of where Auntie B is.”

  “Won’t Nyx’s help be enough?” Kevin asked.

  “Maybe, but maybe not.” Then Kiri thought, “How did they capture Nyx? Ivan, can you open that safe and see if there is anything else in it?”

  I nodded, got my axe, and started levering the metal cover open further. Then, I started chipping at the rock mixture.

  Kevin picked up the metal and examined it, “I haven't seen anything like this before. It is probably a metal alloy mixed with their alchemy.” He picked up some of the rock-like material. “Fascinating, I am going to keep some of this and see if we can get it analysed. The formula will be worth a fortune.”

  I stopped chipping at the stone and looked at Kiri. “It is worth a fortune. The Chelonian said they were a business. Who is paying for all this?” I went back to my work.

  Kiri looked back, “That is an excellent question. The prison, the trap. It is somebody with a lot of coin and resources, possibly a nation. She royally pissed off the Empire when she freed all those slaves years ago. She is undoubtedly at the top of their hit list, but there must be more to it.”

  “You spend coin to make coin,” Kevin quoted.

  “Yeah. Revenge is a personal motivation, not a national one,” Kiri said

  “Unless the head of the nation is pissed,” Kevin said.

  Kiri shrugged, “I guess we will work it out. We will be coming against someone with a lot of resources. Are you sure you still want to come with me?”

  I shrugged, “We have already pissed off a Duke, and I am a wanted bear-kin.”

  “Yes, I’m in,” Kevin said. He looked eager. Did he want to record all this for the Lore Society or something?

  “Why?” Kiri asked. “There is a strong possibility we will all end up like Yoboc and Goldie.”

  Kevin looked serious. “Yoboc, Goldie, and Makara taught me a lot. They got me out of the Lore Society and made me who I am today. Felix too. Seriously, I seemed to learn things fast when Felix was there.” Nobody seemed to have told him about Felix’s Team Leader Skill. “I want to get to the bottom of this. I am in.”

  “Are you sure?” I said. “You should be worried about being around me.”

  “According to Kiri, Yoboc and Goldie were already dead. I am willing to trust you,” Kevin said. It seemed to me he was more trusting of Kiri’s word rather than me, but I didn’t push it. “If you are being hunted, and by extension, we are, we need to think about how they would attack without allowing you to trigger your skill.”

  “That is easy,” Kiri said, holding up her bow, “from a distance.”

  We would have to think about how to counter that.

  The safe/prison was partially open now. “The inside is hollow,” I said. I reached in for what my Void Senses could now sense. I pulled out a small Blacksteel pendant. It had a small hole drilled in one end to hold a string. It was designed to hang like a necklace.

  I passed it to Kiri: “Dad, Auntie B, and Auntie Drica all have one of these.”

  “Only them?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. Others maybe. I know Nyx likes living in Blacksteel, and she is sensitive to it. We need to move,” Kiri said. “The Bloody Truth will only stay in Kulle long enough to buy some health potions. They will try to track us while sending word to the Duke. We start by heading towards Hrothgar. I do have a question, though. How did you know the Bloody Truth was spying for the Duke, Ivan? ”

  “Vaso is the Hidden Fang.” They both stopped to look at me. I shrugged, “I saw him at the Noble meeting.”

  “You broke his stealth?” Kevin was flabbergasted. “How high is your perception?”

  “It is not about how high my perception is, but having the right skill for it,” I replied.

  “And Perception,” said Kiri.

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