Frostbitten Wayfarer

Zoe tried to calm herself down as she watched the swarm of flesh below her try to to claw its way up at her with a desperation she couldn’t begin to fathom. All she had to do was keep quiet, clear out the remaining zombies already here, finish off any stragglers she managed to see and then get the man back down to Gafoda.

It was a simple plan. Her explosive enchantment was probably not the best option for her current situation though, so she took a moment to set up an Archery plus Frozen Arsenal enchantment with a focus on penetrative power.

She summoned another ten projectiles and fired them off at the zombies below her before she had to stop to keep her mana high. The projectiles didn’t have as much destructive power as the explosive ones did, but she managed to take out a zombie with two or maybe three at most if she was unlucky. If she was really lucky, she could line up a shot to pierce through two zombies at once. But the swarm barely shrank even after taking out another handful of them.

More continued to funnel into the group, attracted by the guttural roars of the zombies. She shook her head and swapped back to the explosive enchantments. She had to clear out the horde before she started caring about the noise.

But she couldn’t do that as well as she wanted while she was also healing the still unconscious man next to her. She checked his leg a couple times but couldn’t bring herself to watch as flesh, blood and bone swirled around and reformed what he once had.

It was good to know she could recover limbs with it, but it was not a very pretty process and she was almost thankful there was the terrifying horde below her to distract herself with.

Or she would have been, if Restoration didn’t seem to almost perfectly match her current mana regeneration without meditation. She was getting about one more mana every three seconds, which meant that each projectile right now was costing her about three and a half minutes of mana regeneration.

It was almost a full half hour before her Restoration stopped working on the man. Every few minutes she would create a projectile and fire it off into the horde, blowing away at least one zombie and sometimes even two. But the noise of the explosions along with the zombies themselves seemed to keep up with the rate she could finish them off at.

Were it not so terrifying, it would almost have been a great way to farm experience with her skills. Though she wasn’t even sure if skills gained experience from killing things anyway. She got plenty of experience just using them while she ran to Gafoda, what would make that different to this? She was still just using her skills.

Maybe there was some bonus she couldn’t see but now wasn’t the time to think about that anyway. With the man fully healed, she was able to turn all of her mana regeneration into raw destructive power to clear away the horde.

Rather than taking three and a half minutes for each attack, she was able to recover enough after only about twelve seconds. Zoe unleashed a barrage of projectiles into the swarm below her and breathed a sigh of relief when she watched the last black skeleton be absorbed back into the ground.

There was no doubt that more would be on their way, but at this point she could take them out with less noisy attacks and in time they might even be left alone. Zoe switched her Mirror back to the piercing focused enchantment, and waited around for another thirty minutes. Another couple dozen zombies wandered over, but Zoe picked each one off as soon as they got close enough.

From her vantage point up in the tree, Zoe could still see plenty of zombies throughout the forest. She even saw more climb their way out of the ground as the dungeon created them. But the rush towards her slowed down, and Zoe let herself relax a little.

Would it be best to wait until the man recovered? She hadn’t even checked what level he was with all the commotion yet she realized, and then identified him. He was a light blue level seventeen and Zoe shook her head. What was he doing out here all alone at such a low level?

Maybe Zoe couldn’t talk, being out here alone as well. But she was much higher level and had a pretty good feeling that she had better class options, too.

Now that she got a better look at the man, he looked to be in his early thirties. Thin brown hair, with a wrinkled face. His armour, if she could call it that, was completely destroyed. The light fur was covered in dark brown stains and ripped to shreds.

She took a moment to cast Restoration on his armour, but frowned when it barely made a difference. Some of the stains disappeared and a couple of the tears were mended. But it was hardly in much better shape after.

Was it because it was supposed to be covered in stains and holes? Or was it just not recent enough for her skill? If it came from the fight he had with the zombies, then she imagined it should be recent enough, so was it already in bad shape before he came out here?

Why would he be out so deep, at such a low level, with such flimsy armour, let alone if the armour was already ripped to shreds like this? Something just didn’t make a lot of sense to her. Maybe the fight took a while and some of the damage was too long ago to be recovered?

If she waited until he woke up, then he would be able to walk himself, maybe. But what if something else happened? What if her recovery wasn’t perfect and he was still suffering from internal injuries or poison or something?

The road was maybe twenty minutes away if she took it slow while carrying him. She could take out the odd zombie without needing her hands, but if they got swarmed again then she wasn’t sure if she could climb up a tree while carrying him.

Zoe grimaced in thought. Both seemed risky. She thought back on her run over here. Really, there weren’t that many zombies in her path. There definitely were a few but never a horde like what she’d found here. Even before on the road, she never saw a swarm of them like this.

And if she looked out over the forest, she never saw a large clump of them. There were a few groups of two, and even one trio that she could see wandering around. But nothing that would be impossible for her to handle with just her magic.

She pulsed her Restoration into the man again and found that it took another few minutes before it stopped working again.

“Shit.” She said to herself. He was losing health even just sitting around here. She could keep him alive, but was the damage getting worse? How long would it last? She didn’t have enough information. She hadn’t even heard of the zombies having poison so didn’t have an antidote ready. If that even was the problem, maybe her skill just put his lungs in the wrong place or something, she had no idea.

Zoe summoned a very long whip with her Frozen arsenal, tied it around the man and then lowered him to the ground. She picked him up when she got down to the ground, and put him on her back.

If he was losing health here and she didn’t know why, she needed to get him to somebody more capable than her.

The walk back to the road was tense and reminded Zoe of her walk back to Flester after the boar attacked her. She tried to remember to take deep breaths, and let herself calm down. Panicking and freaking out was just going to tire herself out when she didn’t need that. If she stayed calm, she’d be fine. She was going to be fine, and so was the man.

There were a few zombies on the walk back, and each one she took out with a few well aimed piercing projectiles. Every few minutes she’d stop and pulse her Restoration through the man until it stopped working, and then continue on.

A few minutes before she got back to the road, she felt the man shift around on her back.

“Hmm?” Zoe felt his head lift from her shoulder and look around. “Oh, you did save me. Thank you for that.”

“It’s fine, you’re still losing health though. Are you okay? Were you poisoned?” Zoe asked the man.

“Hahaha, no I’m sorry. I have a bit of an unfortunate skill that drains my health if its above half. You don’t need to heal me, I’ll be fine. Also I can walk, you can put me down.” The man said.

Zoe put him down and breathed another sigh of relief. That might be one of the worst skills she’d ever heard of.

“Yeah I know, I know. It’s horrible. I didn’t get a chance to tell you before I passed out though. Thank you. I thought I was done for.” The man bowed to her.

“Why were you out here?" Zoe asked, and started walking back towards the road again.

“Ah it’s a long story. I grew up in Korna and always really liked the stories adventurers would share. It’s different in town, you know? Everybody’s so safe and happy. There’s the odd monster attack, but it’s good.

“I guess I was overconfident. I’ve got a bit of a defensive build going on,” The man raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "I know, I know. Losing half my health just by existing. I’ve got over two thousand right now though. Half’s pretty good, and I get a lot of damage reduction and strength from it. Not enough, though. Apparently.“ He looked at his leg.

“And so you just ran off through the forest, alone?" Zoe asked.

“Yup. Well I left Korna and came straight here. I wanted to climb the mountain, so I just started climbing up. And it was good at first. Lots of fun bashing these zombies in, really.” He sighed.

“So what happened, then? If you’re okay with talking about it.” Zoe asked.

The man laughed. “Of course I am. It’s so dull, I say. I tripped.”

“You tripped?" Zoe asked.

“Yup. I ran into a group of three and thought I could take them. And I still think I could have if nothing happened. But while I was fighting them, I tripped over a damn tree stump. Fell right to the ground, smashed my head into a rock. By the time I realized what was happening, they were already chomping on my leg.

“I tried to fight them off, but they took my leg with them. It was all I could do to pull myself up into the tree while they were distracted with their meal. And well from there, you know the rest I guess. Screamed for help and attracted even more of the damn things.” He shook his head.

Zoe just nodded her head, not sure what to respond to that.

The man laughed. “Horrible, ain’t it? What a stupid way to go that would have been.”

“You seem to be taking it well at least.” Zoe said.

The man smiled. “Of course! This is what I left for. It would have sucked if I died, but now I’ve got a great story of a brave hero rescuing me from a swarm of liches!”

“They were just zombies, you know? Not liches.” Zoe said.

The man laughed. “Maybe!”

Zoe shook her head.

“I’m Obai,” He said when they got back to the road.

“Zoe.”

“Nice to meet you, Zoe. Thank you again for saving me.” He stuck his hand out.

“Nice to meet you too. It’s what anybody would’ve done, I think.” Zoe grabbed his hand.

*Ding* Trade initiated

One [Gold Circle].

“Oh that’s fine, you don’t have to do that. I didn’t expect payment.” Zoe said.

“I insist,” Obai said. “I don’t think most would have put themselves in danger for a stranger like that. And I’d feel bad if I don’t get to show my thanks. Please.” He bowed his head.

Zoe frowned, and then accepted the trade.

*Ding* Trade accepted

Obai smiled. “Well, I’ll be heading down to the town. Should just be down this road, yes?”

Zoe nodded her head.

“Then to you I wish the best of fortunes. May you prosper and flourish amid the perils of the dungeon.” He bowed and started walking back down the trodden road.

“To you as well. But I’m gonna be heading back down too anyway. I wanna relax for a bit after that.” Zoe said.

Obai laughed. “Well, then I suppose I’ll enjoy your company for a while longer yet.”

The two carried on back down to Gafoda. There were a few zombies on the road that Zoe took out from afar, and they soon found themselves back at the large gate at the outskirts of Gafoda.

“Do you happen to know of an inn where one might stay?” Obai asked.

Zoe nodded and led him to the inn where she was staying. “It’s not very comfortable, but it’s four walls and a bed at least.”

Obai laughed. “I’d want nothing more.” He bought a room from the rough looking woman who ran the inn and then the two made their way down the cramped hallway.

“Farewell then, may you prosper and flourish.” Obai said to Zoe.

“Yeah, best of luck to you too.” Zoe said and entered her room.

It was just as cramped as she remembered. She sat down on her bed and ate one of the sandwiches she had stored and thought about the rest of the food she had in her bracelet.

If she was being honest, she wasn’t going to cook her own meals every day. The prepared dishes were convenient. She could sit down somewhere, pull out a meal and eat it. The raw ingredients were cheaper and nice to have but it’s not like she could pull out a venison steak and eat it. She’d have to cook it.

She decided it made a lot more sense to cook all of the meals and then store the finished meals than to store the raw ingredients. But it was late, she was a little tired from the rescue and the bed as rough as it was, called to her. She could spend tomorrow cooking instead.