World Of Karik: A Game Of Villains 20 Fire And Sword

One could've easily gotten carried away and too relaxed after such an obvious success. I failed to activate my Cure Wounds two times in a row, and after being hit by the monster's paw, I was almost sent to my tombstone. After that, I realized that it was time for a break. My endurance, however, increased by two more points, and I almost regretted having to leave the swamp and the violent, roaring creature. The spikes that were holding it in place suddenly disappeared once I was about fifty yards away. Another piece of interesting information… That's good... I don't have to worry about the Ghoul… I will be long gone by the time it gets to the edge of the swamp...

As it turned out, they were dissatisfied with my absence at the base. Andrei gestured me to follow him for a face to face conversation.

"Vasily," he started once we came to the water, "Tell me where you've been."

"In the forest," I said. "I asked Olga to tell the others."

"She did," the leader looked strict enough. "But still, due to new circ.u.mstances, I would recommend you to go easy on the initiative."

I never thought that my absence would spoil Andrei's mood this much. I looked at him trying to understand what had happened.

"You see, we've already lost a few men," he went on. "The Reaper could come back any time. And then what? Do you want to die for real?"

"I'm sorry, Andrei, it won't happen again," I said. It brought me a couple of points of deception. Really, did he buy it so quickly? That's strange enough….

"Sorry for pulling you away like this," the leader suddenly softened. "A lot has happened at once, you know? Igor dying, Lera leaving…"

"Of course, I understand," I nodded. But honestly, I didn't. If you're going to be a leader, take responsibility for the fate of those who trusted you up to the very end. And if you want consolation, go deep into the forest howl at the moon. It's a pity that such things are not to be said out loud.

"We'll be training the newcomers tomorrow," Andrei changed the subject. "I think you should come with us—after all, you've lost five whole levels…"

Suddenly he went silent. Looking at me, he contemplated things.

"Right!" Andrei said quietly, so that I was the only one who could hear him. "That's why you went into the woods, isn't? You wanted to try and follow Igor's example? Any progress for now?"

"Yes," I answered and confidently looked straight into his eyes, so hard that he eventually looked away. "A little bit, but it worked."

"Maybe we should all try that," Andrei thought out loud. "Let me think about it until tomorrow night… We'll discuss it after the hike. For now, we should include the newcomers into our plans."

"Wait." His shrewdness didn't sit well with me, but I couldn't hide my desire for not to leveling-up. I didn't want to end the conversation with a discussion about my secrets. I would prefer a more neutral topic. One question had been tormenting me all day. "What about Fox's tombstone?"

"It's not here; we checked it the moment you told us what happened." I even slightly admired Andrei for doing so. "Looks like she took it when she proved that she could kill herself."

Well, sound enough. However, Andrei didn't consider one thing—who asked her to do it and eventually gave her this opportunity. I was starting to thinking that Igor was ubiquitous.

Andrei stared into nothing for a little while and then turned and walked to the cave. I lingered for a bit and then followed him.

Morning came quickly, and our commanders announced the reveille formation.

"Everyone here?" Andrei said, looking around. "Perfect. The newly arrived Dasha and Vadim are going on their first training campaign."

"Well, finally!" the Archer snorted.

"Stop talking!" Alexander snapped. The girl immediately fell silent, and Andrei continued.

"Alex, Vasily and I will accompany them. Valentin Petrovich, Mikhail and Semyon will find some food, and Dmitri, Suren and Olga will stay at the base."

For a moment I thought that Petrovich and the Major looked at each other. Were they planning something? It was unlikely… Still, a lot of twists had happened lately. Petrovich wouldn't get involved into it. Perhaps I could discuss this issue with Andrei in the evening; he had proved himself reliable and sane, and I would like to feel safe in the base. Other people's intrigues did not contribute to this goal at all.

Having made the decision, I calmed down and wondered how and where would those get food? Were they going on a hunt? Only then did I realize that I've never thought about where the food was coming from. The only thing I knew was that it was scarce, and that the most delicious stuff came from a distant forest.

I glanced at Suren. The guy changed for the worse. Losing an arm had seemingly brought him down quite a bit. Keeping silent, he stared at nothing.

"Go!" Alexander commanded, and the five of us moved toward the cemetery where our first trial fight took place not so long ago.

"Alex," I remembered that he was never the one to refuse a chat. "Listen, are Petrovich and the guys going to the distant forest?"

"Where?" he asked, confused. "No, there's a place not far from here—it's pretty dangerous, but you can get food there."

"A warehouse?" I asked incredulously.

"No," Alexander shook his head. "A plain of sorts. Moose graze there sometimes, and wild boars happen to come there from time to time. So if they're lucky, we'll have meat for dinner tonight."

The guy smiled dreamily.

"And if they're not lucky?" I asked.

"Predators hunt there, too," he said. "And they are almost all above level 20."

"Got it," I nodded.

Talking about meat made my mouth water involuntarily. I wasn't picky, of course, but still… One couldn't endure long on porridge and soups alone. I hope they get really lucky.

Soon we arrived to our destination. Andrei immediately gave instructions to the Archer and the fatty.

"Andrei, is there a place I could train on my own here?" I asked. Given our conversation yesterday, it shouldn't have been a problem.

"Just don't go too far," he said. It was nice that I didn't have to make anything up. I could work on my thing even though I was close to everyone.

Promising that I would be within earshot, I went in search of monsters that could be used as my training dummies. Some sixty feet away I came across an incredibly slow walking dead. Its clumsiness made it an almost perfect opponent for me. However, I decided not to be distracted by it. It was too close. Others could possibly see my unusual training. A little further ahead I found a level six, disgustingly putrid Caterpillar, level six.

Stone Spikes

It immediately ran into the spikes and got, soaking the soil with an abundance of some unpleasant, adhesive substance that was oozing from its wounds. I activated Cure and immediately cast a Curse, just like I had done in the battle with the Ghoul. I once again ended up with the Fatigue status effect. It took me seven tries to do what I had intended to do, but it was worth it. Let's go!