Fates of Grenora: Return of the Night

"What-" Pierre started, then shut up when Aldrin shot him a glare.

Aldrin closed his eyes, focusing on his hearing and smell to track the shadow that spied on them. The freshly baked chocolate cake scent had moved away from them.

"When the bandits go on patrol, how many are there per group?" Aldrin asked, eyes still closed.

"About 4 or 5," Jared thought.

"We missed one then, so we need to move. Our element of surprise is no longer to our advantage," Aldrin said, standing and walking toward the scent.

"Hey! Wait up!" Jared said as he quickly picked up whatever loot was left with the help of Pierre.

"We need to hurry and finish the camp before the sun comes up or I'll be restricted to the cave," Aldrin clarified.

"Catch up when you can!" Aldrin said, using Shapechange for easier travel.

"That is so cool, kinda scary but still cool," Jared admired Aldrin's retreating form of bats.

Wondering if he could activate his predator vision as a swarm of bats, Aldrin tried it and was woefully surprised that it worked. From his vantage point in the sky, the usual glowing white silhouettes of living things caught his eye through the gaps in the trees. Internally smiling to himself, he flew straight for the bandit camp, noting how far apart the few patrols were.

Landing at the warded entrance to bandit camp, Aldrin had a realization that he did not know exactly what he was walking into. The new powers he gained had gone to his head when he heard his sister's voice in head scolding him for letting the power override any rational thought.

Sighing to himself, he stepped past the wards, alerting whoever was in the camp to his presence. The surrounding air shifted like he passed through an invisible bubble to reveal rows and rows of tents that the wards hid. A lodge with antlers above the entrance sat in the middle of the camp. Two guards stood by the entrance, their weapons directly pointed at Aldrin.

He Identified them as Level 25 Tier 2 Shield-Warriors. He guessed that their defenses might be higher than what he was ready for, judging from their class path that focused on staying alive and taking hits.

"Are you what lurks in this forest?" One guard asked.

"I am," Aldrin replied without hesitation.

Sheathing their weapons, "The boss wants to see you," the same guard answered, jerking his head to enter the lodge.

Aldrin warily stepped past them and into the lodge that was dimly lit with torches that were slotted into the wall at even distances. Taking note that it was filled to the brim with trophies and treasures taken from the people they have preyed on. A hulking brute of a man stood in the center of it all. He wore animal leathers and skins, which gave him a primal look. Matted and dirty, his shaggy blonde hair framed a face whose cold, gray-blue eyes glared daggers at Aldrin, who observed him in return. Hefting what looked like an oversized two-handed Iron Warhammer on his shoulder, he stepped forward with rippling muscles that gave no room for imagination as to what his Strength can do.

"You're the scourge of the forest?" The man's voice sounded like two stones grinding together as he eyed Aldrin up and down, his scarred mouth dropping down into a frown as he was unimpressed with Aldrin.

"I am," Aldrin replied coolly, Identifying him as a Level 34 Tier 3 Hulk-Berserker.

"Well, I'm dead as dicks," Aldrin mused to himself.

"You cost me quite a few of my men, which I don't appreciate," the hulking man said.

"What is your name so I may etch it with your blood on the outside of my lodge," He demanded, taking another threatening step towards him.

"Only if you introduce yourself first," Aldrin said, as they started to circle each other, readying themselves for the oncoming violence.

"Gýt Vamrson," He introduced himself.

"Aldrin Ravindra," Aldrin replied.

Eyes bulging at the name, "A Ravindra? Way out here? No matter, I'll send them your head." Gýt growled out.

"You didn't Identify me, did you?" A slight smirk found its way across Aldrin's lips, trying his best to exude false confidence.

"No need, there is nothing in the forest that can stand up to me," Gýt confidently replied, exploding into motion.

Faster than Aldrin thought he would be, his Supernatural Reflexes activated, slowing down Gýt's incoming strike to crawl as a timer with 14.5 seconds appeared in the corner of his vision.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Dodging out of the way, time resumed to normal as another timer had a one month cooldown on Supernatural Reflexes showed itself. A loud crash exploded right where Aldrin used to be as the door turned to dust, blowing the two guards outside a few feet away. Gýt looked around as Aldrin looked at the massive hole in the building that used to be the entrance of the lodge.

Not one to be outdone, Aldrin pulled out his steel longsword, activating Cleaving Strikes, he moved in to lash out at Gýt. His blade sank maybe two inches before Gýt turned around, his huge meaty hand grabbing Aldrin by the front of his leather armor and flinging him through the hole of the lodge. Weightlessness greeted Aldrin as he flew through the air. Shapechange saved him by turning himself into fog and pooling around the ground he was going to land at, negating the potential damage.

Reforming his body, Aldrin whipped around and ran towards Gýt. Their strikes clashed, Aldrin being the loser as the shock and vibration traveled down the sword length into his arm, causing it to go numb briefly. Pivoting on his right foot, he used the momentum of the clash to flick his blade around in a diagonal slash, causing Gýt to lean back.

Aldrin continued to apply pressure to him, knowing full well that a war hammer wasn't the best at blocking attacks. Blocking with his weapon shaft, Gýt grunted as Aldrin kept dancing around him and striking the same spot on his Great Warhammer. His Charge ability was on cooldown since he used it to open the fight.

Tired of Aldrin weaving in and out giving him small cuts, Gýt used his pushback ability, Whirlwind, his hammer taking on a mind of its own as it left his hand to spin around his body knocking Aldrin away at the unexpected ability.

"You fight well. I guess the tales of the Ravindras aren't to be exaggerated," Gýt complimented, a vicious smile forming across his scarred mouth.

Using Shapechange, he flew above him, knowing the Hulk-Berserker could not combat the ability. Reforming in midair, Aldrin plummeted towards Gýt with his sword angled in front of him. Gýt smiled at the challenge and bunched all the power into his legs as he leapt upwards towards Aldrin, surprising him at the sudden offensive. Before they clashed again, Aldrin activated Blood Rage, doubling his stats for 30 seconds and Cleaving Strikes, letting his blade take on the sickly yellow glow of the skill.

A shockwave resounded out as Gýt, and Aldrin met in the air. Bypassing Aldrin's strike, Gýt's war hammer shattered Aldrin's arm, causing him to wince as he continued to let his blade sink into the gap in between Gýt's chest piece and into his neck. Both falling to the ground with grievous wounds, Aldrin's arm slowly began to piece itself back together. Landing with a loud bang, Gýt stood looking unharmed as blood seeped from the wound on his neck. He held his hand over it as he glared daggers at Aldrin.

"It seems you're a little out of your depth," Gýt cruelly laughed as the wound in his neck regenerated, his skin taking on a reddish hue, his muscles bulging beyond their normal mass, his eyes turning from a cold blue to a seething red..

Aldrin didn't give a reply, noticing that he had 20 seconds left of Blood Rage. Unsure of how he would win this one, he debated fleeing, killing some more bandits and leveling, then coming back to take out the bandit leader. Granted, he should have done that, as once again, power had gone to his head and came back to bite him in the ass.

Unfortunately, Gýt's move prevented him from having that option, appearing before Aldrin with his war hammer already raised. Attempting to roll out of the way, Gýt's smash clipped Aldrin's ankle, turning it to mush. Screaming out in unbearable pain, Aldrin scooted away as Gýt turned his menacing gaze on him, relishing the squirming and fear on Aldrin's face.

With a grunt of pain, Aldrin Shapechanged again, fleeing the battle entirely.

"I'll find you out there and when I do, I will break every bone in your body then have one of my guys heal you when you're on the brink of death so I can do it all over again!" Gýt madly laughed at the fleeing form of Aldrin.

Looking for any source of blood as he flew as fast as he could away, he picked out a trio that were trekking back towards the bandit camp. Dropping on them from above in his bat swarm, he materialized half his body, gripping one of the panicked bandits as the beast inside of him took over, draining the bandit into a husk.

That didn't stop him as he gripped the second of the group, draining him into a husk as well. The third, however, had thrashed away with his battleaxe, hoping to hit one of the bats. With his arm and ankle healed, he reformed part of his leg, kicking the thrashing Fighter knocking him to the ground as he gasped for air. Aldrin then too, drained him, replenishing his lost reserves from the Blood Rage and from the healing.

Rolling over to his back, Aldrin let the brief brush with death settle over him, letting it humble his mind that he wasn't as strong as he thought. Replaying the moments of the battle with Gýt, he understood that while he was a match for a Tier 2 and Tier 1; he was no match for a Tier 3 yet. Using that math, he assumed he would have to get to Tier 2, or at least the middle of it, to get new abilities and stats to match. The revelation caused a sour taste to form in Aldrin's mouth, since that would lead him further down the Vampire path. Something he was loathing to even think about.

Sitting up, he needed to find Pierre and Jared before Gýt found them first. He Shapechanged, filling the night sky with his swarm of bats, looking for the two. He had found them cleaning their weapons and looting after taking out a bandit patrol. Dropping and reforming to greet them, Jared let out a small scream before realizing it was Aldrin.

"What happened?" Pierre was the first to notice the aftereffects of the battle.

"Gýt, the bandit leader, and my cockiness happened," Aldrin sheepishly said.

"So, do we need to leave the area then?" Pierre pressed.

"Probably? Or we could level some more?" Aldrin offered.

"Either way, I have to get stronger and kill him. I made the terrible mistake of thinking I could beat him and told him my name," Aldrin admitted.

Pierre and Jared blanched at the revelation.

"Yup, time to go," Jared was the first to start walking in the opposite direction.

"Jared, wait, we could level like he said," Pierre tried stopping his friend.

"He is a Tier 3 Hulk-Berserker," Aldrin added.

Wide eyed, Pierre turned around to gape at Aldrin as Jared began walking faster than before.

"And you antagonized him? And lived?!" Pierre asked in disbelief.

"Kind of?" Aldrin said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Wordlessly, Pierre followed Jared as they both did not look back to see if Aldrin was following.

"I don't have much time, the sun will be up soon. I feel it on my skin that it's almost time." Aldrin said, taking notice of the small pin pricking sensation that began to encompass him.

"Then I suggest you go back to the cave and lick your wounds and whatever else you need to do, then leave when the sun is down," Pierre shot back without looking.

"Wait, you guys are leaving?" Aldrin asked, standing up to follow them.

"We didn't sign up to be turned into paste, so yeah," Pierre spoke for them both.

"Well, I went in there by myself, but if I had you guys with me, there might have been a chance," Aldrin suggested.

Jared stopped walking to whisper something to Pierre, who listened with rapt attention. Aldrin chose not to listen in.

"Alright, we will help you take him down AFTER we get you to reach a decent level in Tier 2," Pierre turned back.

"What's the catch, though?" Aldrin warily asked.

"There is none but the treasure that is in the lodge and hopefully an item that Jared needs for one of his quests for a potential mutation class at Tier 3," Pierre explained as Jared kept a lookout.

"Those are rare, especially for a Tier 3 class," Aldrin commented on the class mutation.

"Exactly, so we are hoping that Gýt's treasures have what he needs," Pierre said.

"I can agree to those terms then," Aldrin said.

"Great! To the bat cave for plotting and scheming, then gentlemen!" Jared teased, marching off toward the cave.

Pierre groaned and ran a hand down his face at Jared's terrible joke while Aldrin chuckled as they all walked back to the cave. Hopeful that they could survive the oncoming night.