Touch of Fate

Chapter 152: A Silent Scream

Mike advanced boldly down the corridor, stopping only to kill the occasional goblin or Goblin Warrior that threw itself at him in a berserk fury. The whooping hoots they issued were being translated as inarticulate howls by his Communication Magic. He didn't have a lot of experience to draw upon concerning the typical habits of the goblin species, but he was fairly certain that this was unusual behavior.

He'd actually tried talking with the first few of the creatures which he'd run across, more out of curiosity than anything else. However, they were even less communicative than animals or insects. It was almost as if their cognitive functions had been impaired in some manner.

When the spear wielder named Ophelia explained that the evolved Vargul seemed to be controlling the goblins somehow, it actually made a lot of sense. Vampires were often attributed powers related to mind control in literature, so it wasn't a far stretch to imagine that it was capable of such a thing. It wasn't really clear how the creature was managing to do so, but he figured that a little bit of investigation was in order.

Shooting a glance back at the fearful adventurers who were following his lead, Mike wondered what he should do with them. While the clear leader of the group, Ophelia, seemed like a halfway decent fighter, and the one called Ethan wasn't bad either, the other two were practically useless. If it came down to a fight, they would be more of a liability than anything. Not for the first time, he considered simply leaving them, dealing with the rest of the enemies, and then coming back once it was clear.

However, there was no guarantee that other groups of goblins might not attack them from behind while he was busy dealing with the Vargul. A part of him wondered why he'd suddenly become responsible for babysitting the group, especially since they were adventurers, and therefore should understand the risks. His benevolent side won out in the end, and he resigned himself to expending energy to make sure they didn't die in the coming fight.

After a few minutes of descending deeper into the darkness, the makeshift tunnel opened up into a large natural cavern. Mike was having flash backs to last few times he'd been in a similar situation.

[I know I asked for an interesting life, but that seems to include a lot more dank caves than I had originally anticipated. I'm going to need to make sure to bring that up to that goddess the next time I see her.]

The chamber was littered with discarded bones, but otherwise was strangely clean. It seemed whatever nested here was concerned with keeping the area tidy. In a odd recreation of his first experience fighting a Vargul, there was a crumpled form along one wall.

"Morgan!" Ophelia called, rushing over to the prone figure along with the silent Ethan. Whatever bond they held with the man evidently overcoming their fear.

Mike looked up, expecting to see the monstrous bat creature hanging from the ceiling, but it wasn't there. "Huh."

"Ah! I don't think he's breathing. Sir Mage, what do we do?" Ophelia yelled from her position near the fallen adventurer.

Mike scanned the room, but didn't see any sign of the monster, and didn't detect any hostile intent, although that had been proving a slightly unreliable lately, so he kept his guard up. Looking back at the two adventurers who had remained behind, he motioned for them to follow, and started cautiously walking towards Morgan's body.

He was fully expecting an attack while they were moving, but nothing had happened by the time he'd joined Ophelia and Ethan. Keeping his focus on the two exits to the chamber, Mike took a quick glance at Morgan and concluded that he was dead.

The grey haired man, who looked to be in his early fifties, was covered in minor wounds, that spoke of a desperate fight against terrible odds, but were not necessarily lethal. However, something had torn a section of his throat out. Judging from the fact that blood was no longer flowing from any of his injuries, it was clear that the senior adventurer's heart was no longer beating.

Knowing that the newbies wouldn't accept that pronunciation without some degree of ceremony, he went through motions of healing and even attempted to force some mana into Morgan's body, but accomplished nothing.

"I'm sorry. He's gone." Mike whispered softly to the man's students.

Ophelia's face twisted in anguish and guilt, tears already streaming down her face as she started to sob uncontrollably. "W-we should have stayed with him. If he had someone to watch his back...."

Ethan and Lonnie broke down as well, sobbing like children. Ruby on the other hand simply collapsed to her knees, a blank look on her face. She was evidently in shock.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but we should get moving. I'll guide you out before coming back and taking care of the rest." On one hand, Mike could sympathize with their grief, but on the other, he was acutely aware that they were still deep inside the lair of a powerful monster that could tear these newbies apart with ease. Mourning could wait.

"We're not leaving him, not again!" Ophelia spoke emphatically between sobs. It seemed to be a sentiment shared by Lonnie and Ethan.

Knowing that arguing would accomplish little with their current emotional state, Mike acquiesced. "Alright, but you will need to carry him. I need to be ready in case our enemy shows up."

He turned to Ruby, who was still staring blankly at Morgan's corpse, and sighed internally. This kind of trauma would be difficult to recover from. In his old world this kind of thing would have meant years of therapy, at the very least. However, he didn't know what the state of the mental health industry was like in this one. Even though it was really his concern, he felt some degree of responsibility to the beastman after saving her life.

He knelt down besides the woman, "Come on. Let's get you out of here for now. We can figure out your next move-"

A sudden blast of intense hostility cut him off, and he whirled to face it. A wave of invisible energy surged through the area, nearly driving him to his knees as he developed as splitting headache almost instantly. The adventurers all cried out in pain, holding their ears as if to block out some inaudible sound.

The Vargul had silently approached from one of the exits while they were distracted. He wasn't sure if had been biding its time for the best moment to strike, or had gotten lucky, but it had hit them right when they were most vulnerable.

The creature very much resembled the one he'd fought before, looking like a grotesquely overgrown bat that walked on its folded wings. However, this one's eyes gleamed with a cunning intelligence that clearly separated it from his previous enemy. As Mike looked at it, he could see the muscles of its neck and mouth contracting in a strange manner, almost as if it were speaking soundlessly.

While he was trying to overcome the pain in his head, he took a moment to use Appraise.

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Penelope

Age: 28

Race: Vampire (Vargul)

Class: Greater Vargul

Title: Manipulator

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For a moment, he was taken aback at the thought of this terrible monster being named Penelope. It was so completely unexpected that he nearly gave in to the pressure on his mind, he now realized had been building somewhere behind his eyes. He suspected that Vargul was using some kind of supersonic frequency in an effort to disable him.

Steeling his willpower, he straightened and affixed his gaze on the creature. Penelope or not, the Vargul was dangerous, and had likely been responsible for several other deaths, judging from the number of humanoid bones littering the room. He needed to do something about it, quickly.

Marshaling his mana, he prepared to incinerate the beast, but noticed that the newbies had stopped screaming. He took a moment to glance behind him, and saw all four of them staring blankly at the Vargul. As he watched, they turned towards him, faces twisting in snarls of rage.

Sighing internally again, Mike sent a wave of mana into the surrounding stone, causing it to flow up and over the adventurer's bodies, trapping them in place but leaving their faces exposed. He then mumbled a quick chant and chucked a fireball at the monster.

It tried to dodge, but he made sure to detonate it as soon as it was close. The creature screeched in pain, evidently stopping whatever supersonic effect it had been creating. His headache cleared up immediately, which was an immense relief.

Judging from the angry and futile twisting the newbies were doing in their current stone prisons, however, they were still affected by the Vargul's ability.

[I guess this explains the goblins' strange behavior. I can probably cure it, but I wonder how it functions. Some kind of magically empowered vocal hypnosis?]

He walked over to the monster which was feebly trying to drag itself or rather herself away from him. Positioning himself in front of her path of escape, Mike addressed Penelope the bat monster. "It's been awhile since I've seen one of your kind, but I don't recall Varguls having this kind of ability. Are you perhaps, unique?'

The creature looked up at him, a mixture of pain and shock clear even through its bestial features. She spoke in a deep, raspy voice. "You have bested me mage. I know not where you come from or why you are here, but I recognize a true monster when I see one. Kill me, and let's be done with it."

He gave a dark laugh. "An interesting turn of phrase. So be it, I will play the monster."