And (N)one Shall Remain

Alissa had to admit that out of everything she had seen since she got dragged into this other world and made a [Hero] business, the most amusing thing she saw was how Joshua visibly paled and spluttered when informed to do his business in a hole dug to the side of their campsite later that night. The way he looked simultaneously offended at the very idea combined with the realization of where they were clicking together in his pampered mind was just priceless.

 

Too bad she had no camera to capture that moment and preserve it for posterity with.

 

She and Ethan on the other hand were far less bothered with the simple latrine the expedition party had set up at the corner of their campsite, warded off by Magus Drummond to keep the smell from bothering the rest, with a curtain of magic that blurred the sight for privacy. Unlike the more pampered Joshua, she and Ethan came from families that enjoyed the outdoors.

 

They went camping together with their families and friends on a regular basis, and were thus quite used to just answering nature’s call at some corner of the woods. The capital and the Royal Palace had a working system of sewers and indoor plumbing, but neither of them ever expected that to extend to places like dungeons and the like.

 

Similarly, their food and accommodations for that night was a far cry from the luxurious treatment they had been given in the Royal Palace. The food was decent enough, slices of tough but flavorful jerky paired with some hard bread and cheese, washed down with some sweet mead that had so little alcohol content that even the lightweight Joshua – who supposedly never drunk alcohol before in his life – would probably get his belly bloated before he got drunk off it.

 

Alissa and Ethan on the other hand had parents that were far more lax when it comes to the idea of drinking age and thought that the idea of kids being old enough to drive cars yet not old enough to drink was beyond silly. Both of them had their share of experiences with beer and the likes as a result and easily acclimatized to the local culture where ale, mead, or wine accompanied most meals.

 

Most of the local drinks were far lighter anyway compared to even the beers of their previous world.

 

What served as their bed for the night were simple thin bedrolls laid directly atop the hard floor of the cavern. They used their backpacks as a pillow, and slept wearing their armor for safety. Several of the guards kept watch for them, something the three young heroes were excused from. Instead they were allowed a full night’s sleep – or the best approximation they managed to get – deep in the dungeon.

 

After a quiet night – apparently some low-level Winged Scavengers approached their camp but had been dispatched quietly by the guards – the young heroes found themself woken up by Cerilla the next morning. Breakfast was already prepared, mostly the same as their dinner the previous night, but with one small addition that perked Ethan up tremendously.

 

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but If I could travel back in time and meet the senior who made crispy bacon a mainstay of breakfast in this Kingdom, I’ll fucking kiss them,” he said as he munched on the pieces of crisped bacon – roasted to a crisp with a magical flame cast by Magus Drummond – that the party brought amongst their ration with a look of bliss on his face.

 

“Gross, man,” commented Joshua with an exaggerated look from his seat across the campsite. “What if that senior was a dude?”

 

“Kiss. Them. Fucking straight frenching ‘em in the mouth, regardless,” said Ethan with a guffaw as Joshua gave a further scandalized look at his reply. Alissa just shook her head at her old friend’s antics. HE knew what really annoyed or scandalized others and loved to pick on it like someone would a nearly healed scab. “No worries, beanpole. You’re too skinny for my tastes anyway. If I have to choose a guy from this bunch we got here, Ol’ Henri would be my pick.”

 

“Huh. Never pegged you as being into older men,” commented Alissa in an exaggerated monotone from her seat next to Ethan. While Sir Inolet was a harsh taskmaster, he welcomed his pupils venting off their emotions by cursing at him to give them more focus. As such, the jesting she and Ethan did had not even fazed the old knight who kept a stoic, serious face throughout their banter. “Sir Inolet is like, what? Over three times your age? Pretty sure he’s old enough to be our grandpa.”

 

“Don’t you know, Allie? People are like wine. They get finer the longer they age,” replied Ethan with an exaggerated fawning look on his face. His expression caused some of the younger members of the expedition to break into laughs and giggles in amusement, including the Fifth Princes, and just received an eye roll from Joshua. “Besides, have you seen the guns Ol’ Henri got? He definitely keeps in shape, I can tell you that.”

 

“All right, as amusing as all this has been, you should finish your meals so we can move on,” said Magus Drummond with a slight chuckle of his own. The heroes had heard that he and Sir Inolet were old rivals, so the old Magus definitely enjoyed the heroes’ ribbing. “We have a schedule to keep after all. This is still a dungeon delve, not a guided tour of the Acklevos Caverns.”

 

“Right, Sir,” replied Ethan as he finished the rest of his breakfast in one large bite and quickly chewed it all before swallowing. He washed it down with the light mead before he patted off the crumbs that fell on his brigandine and looked at the old Magus with a more serious face. “We’re ready to continue now.”

 

“Good,” noted the old Magus as he stood up and addressed the gathered members of the expedition. For most of the previous day, the guards had done little of worth. They mostly “escorted” Joshua when the group ran into small groups of monsters for him to practice on, or stayed back to guard him when they encountered larger groups where the three heroes were made to practice their teamwork. “Because we have something different prepared for you today.”

 

“All three of you have passed your tenth level, and are each easily as capable as one of the guards we have with us, if not more, so we are moving on to a more challenging foe today,” continued the old Magus. From the fighting of the previous day, Alissa had reached the twelfth level, the highest of them all. Ethan just barely reached the eleventh after their last battle for the day, while Joshua hit the tenth shortly before that.

 

“What kind of challenge if I may ask, teacher?” asked Joshua from beside the Magus as he raised his hand.

 

“Why, we are approaching the territory of the strongest male of this colony of Scavengers, my young heroes. I imagine that will prove to be a greater challenge for you compared to the young and immature members of the colony,” replied the old mage with a smirk on his wizened face. “You three, plus two members each from the Royal and Temple guards will work together to take on the beast. Show us what you have learned so far.”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

******************************

 

After what was likely a few hours of traversing the caverns with a few minor battles in between, Alissa finally laid her eyes on the foe they were meant to take on.

 

The cavern opened up into a larger area, with many stalactites and stalagmites growing from both the floor and ceiling. Perched sideways with its legs gripping onto a large stalagmite was the alpha male of the colony, a much larger specimen – even from the distance, Alissa estimated that it was likely taller than Ethan by a good bit – that wrapped its leathery wing-arms around itself as it slept.

 

Their group for the fight had already been chosen for them. The Fifth Princess and Moira represented the Royal Guards, while two young temple guards – both amongst the seven that had killed the voidling at the summoning – named Gregorius and Bronwen batted for their side. Their formation took a more balanced setup, with Moira, Gregorius, and Joshua at the back, with their bows and crossbows, while the others hefted their weapons at the front.

 

To Alissa’s surprise the Fifth Princess hefted a massive greatsword as long as she was tall with practiced ease, and clearly had plenty of experience with the weapon. As such, they arranged it so that the princess and Ethan covered the flanks of their formation, where they could in turn flank the beast while Alissa and Bronwen occupied its attention. With their shields and long spears, they were better suited for that role, after all.

 

Carefully, the small group inched their way into the larger area. The rest of the expedition group waited near the entrance where they were close enough to render aid when needed but not too close to attract the beast’s attention by their presence. Alissa and the rest got as close as they dared to, only stopping when the great beast above seemed to stir briefly before it returned to its slumber.

 

It was noticeable how the large cavern was devoid of any other life other than the large Winged Scavenger. A glance from [Analysis]

returned its level as 35, which was a lot higher than anything they had faced so far. The highest level beast they had fought prior to that moment had been level 19s, one that Alissa took down and another that Ethan insisted on taking on solo later on the same day.

 

The group was roughly forty feet away from the great beast when they stopped, and they exchanged nods with one another. The three on the back loaded bolts and nocked arrows, while those at the front unlimbered the throwing weapons they all carried. Alissa noted that the princess brought throwing axes with her, while Bronwen had a large Pilum with a triangular tip at the end of a slender metal rod.

 

Another exchange of gestures and they all reared back and readied themselves to attack the beast. Alissa mentally counted down in her mind, and when the count reached zero, she moved into action. Her slightly raised leg stomped down on the ground as she used her whole body to power the motion of her throw. The slender Jarid left her hand and flew straight towards the creature, followed at roughly the same moment by one of Ethans, an axe from the princess, and Bronwen’s Pilum.

 

An arrow and two crossbow bolts followed a split-second later and all the projectiles reached the slumbering beast at roughly the same time, piercing through its leathery wings. Some of them even went on to pierce through the other side.

 

The Winged Scavenger’s shrill cry of pain and anger echoed through the chamber, causing small bits of rock to dislodge from the ceiling and rain down on the group. They watched as the great beast seemed to struggle for a moment, before it wrenched its wing-arms apart, creating great tears in the leathery membrane of its wing in the process.

 

Pieces of the arrows and bolts they shot at the beast fell down as its violent movement tore them apart. Even the Jarids Alissa and Ethan threw broke under the beast’s thrashing. Only Bronwen’s Pilum remained embedded in the beast’s wing, the metal shaft bent horribly.

 

Its feet released from its perch, the beast flapped its wing-arms and tried to take to the air, but failed due to the tears in its wings. It still caught itself in its fall and landed feet first, at which point it turned its large eyes at the intruders that caused its suffering and gave another shrill cry that made their heads pound. Alissa and the rest of the group had already grabbed their melee weapons by then, while the three in the rear reloaded their bows and crossbows as well.

With a great leap, the [Winged Scavenger Patriarch] was upon them.