Day 6: Upstream Patrol and the Keman Extermination
Good morning.
A faint, pleasant aroma woke me up.
I poked my head out from my personal tent and saw Sasha stirring a pot with a ladle. Ever since we parted ways with those greatsword-wielding cooks, she'd been handling most of the meals.
The others were pitching in to help.
Even the low-key porter guy was lending a hand pretty often.
"Morning."
"Good morning. Breakfast will be ready shortly."
A short distance away, our leader Senka was poring over a map, lost in thought.
Probably checking today's route.
"We heading back to Cross Point today?"
When I called out to him, Senka kept his eyes on the map and furrowed his brow.
"Maybe. Depends on how far we push the subjugation."
"Didn't we already know the targets?"
"Info gets thinner the farther north we go. Can't just comb every inch."
Hm?
Oh, right.
The unit that surveyed the riverbank in place of the diverted Armesian team had gone from north to south and reached the turnaround point. We got the intel there and now we're heading south to north—against the flow. So the farther north we go, the more time has passed since their survey, and monster positions could've shifted.
Probably.
"We'll narrow it down as we go. The absolute priority is the subhuman Keman."
"Subhumans, huh."
"Reports say they're swarming in numbers. Can't leave 'em be."
Subhuman Keman. I'd seen 'em in the docs before. The name vaguely evoked some fish-faced humanoid... so it stuck in my mind.
Gray little dudes, humanoid but they scuttle around on all fours like quadrupeds when moving.
The kind that'd obsess over rings and mutter "my precious" or some shit.
Decent strength, no magic users, but high intelligence. In groups, they use swarm tactics like a pack hunt, cornering prey.
If their numbers are swelling, yeah, no way we'd ignore that.
"Save your magic till we hit the main target today."
"Got it."
Perfect timing—I'd been itching to test the new Swordsman skill, Strong Strike.
I'll play pretend frontliner and muddle through.
We had veggie soup and black bread for breakfast, kicking off Day 6 of the mission.
Just heading north along the river today—no getting lost. But get too close to the water, and aquatic monsters might lunge out, so we stayed a bit back. Riverbanks aren't always easy walking either. We'd scout optimal paths, tweaking the route on the fly.
Even just keeping up was decent exercise. Day 6, and I was getting the hang of it... sort of.
"Hostiles ahead—Girejji."
"Take it down?"
"Yeah. Solo, and it's blocking the path."
The scout and Senka were conferring.
Spot a monster en route, and we pick evade or engage. Engage it is this time.
"Bit of a big one—stay sharp."
We crept up the designated path and spotted the reported monster.
Whoa, golem vibes. Single-eyed golem look, overall drab gray or murky green, with a flashy red orb where a human's eye would be—that's what sells it. Oozy sludge leaking from spots on its body.
Rang a bell from the Monster Codex. Magic resistance, right?
"Yoyo, hit it with a defense spell upfront."
"On it."
Firewall up.
Torabutosu and Kerusumeme charged, so I tailed 'em close. Don't rush too far ahead, or I can't shield you guys!
Weeeen... KAH!!
The Girejji's single eye flashed, and a beam speared through the firewall.
It pierced clean through but missed us. Close call—sweat city.
"A beam?!"
Didn't expect a monster with that kinda flair.
Fear the mid-river reaches.
Torabutosu kicked up at the eye from the front, creating an opening for Kerusumeme to flank rear.
Magic conservation orders, so I circled wide, slipped between 'em, and swung.
Gagiiin...
Yeah, tough. My hands went numb from the impact—ow. Tried a thrust; blade wouldn't bite.
Aimed for an ooze-leak spot and stabbed—still too hard.
Worth a shot.
(Strong Strike!)
Muttered it low to activate.
Zak! Felt the blade gouge its rocky hide a bit.
Nice.
Mixed in a few Strong Strikes to test it out.
Seems like a single-shot activation, not sustained. Boosts attack power for the next 2-3 seconds post-trigger. Like, amps the kinetic energy at impact or something.
Same swing strength and stance, different results. But oddly, no extra recoil or strain on my body.
Huh.
System mystery powers smoothing it out, probably.
After hacking away a while, the monster—surrounded and pummeled by us three—froze up. Torabutosu apparently caved its head last.
Oh. Supposed to conserve MP, but I burned some on skills... Eh, whatever. Fine.
Strong Strike had low flexibility—consistent MP cost around 1, fixed effect.
But that's fine. Straight power boost, handy skill.
"A mage shaving a Girejji's shell barehanded? What gives?"
Not barehanded, but Torabutosu—who'd pulverized it with punches—was yapping.
"Eh, it's a magic sword."
Blamed the weapon. Not a lie.
Torabutosu looked impressed.
"Makes sense—no attack bonuses, so magic weapon and MP brute force it. Smart."
"Still lags behind real frontliners, though."
Not sure if misunderstanding or what, but he bought it, so I played humble.
Keep pulling this crap, and no wonder Fraudster popped up.
Yeah.
We pushed farther north, took down a small swarm of flying rays, then broke for lunch.
Couldn't risk smells with the area unsecured. Hard bread and jerky it was.
Gets edible once you're used to it.
But it sucks all moisture from your mouth—salty as hell, body screaming for water.
MP mostly recovered, so I floated a water orb with magic and sipped. That's when Kerusumeme piped up.
"Hey, magic water tastes kinda bad, right?"
"Huh? Yeah, I guess. Used to it lately, though."
"You got used to it... Well, constant travel might force that. But it's not great for your body, y'know."
"What?!"
He explained: Old traveler lore says chugging nothing but conjured water leads to health issues. News to me.
Unknown cause, but theory: Earth walls from earth magic crumble to sand eventually—some call it "mana reversion." Sand breaks down further to raw mana, maybe. Same with water? Ingest it, reverts inside you, bad juju.
Kerusumeme's take.
Hmm.
Short-term fine, but long-term mimics dehydration? Hard to buy outright, no counter-evidence though. Fix: Mix in non-magic water occasionally. No big worry.
Good thing the off-taste kept me from over-relying on it.
Wonder if Sasha knew.
"No, my apologies... I had no travels with mages, so I was unaware."
Makes sense.
"Yeah, skills like Traveler have water ties, and those are fine. More familiar to folks."
"Huh. So Mage ain't all-powerful..."
"Course not."
Thanks to the kid Kerusumeme, I learned something key.
Gift him some magic water as thanks.
Break over—we headed for the confirmed Keman zone.
This stretch of east bank was steep—not quite cliffs, but rough terrain keeping folks away.
They'd burrowed nests everywhere, breeding up. Scouts had eyes on 'em recently; still stationary per break-time intel.
"Latest count: At least 40... could be double or more."
"Ugh..."
Firo groaned at Senka's briefing.
"We really doing this solo?"
"We can."
Senka's reply: curt.
"Basis?"
"Nests easy to hide in, hard to defend. Seize initiative, we pin 'em from high ground while flanking easy."
"..."
"Two bows, two mages. Firepower's solid. Risk is Kerusumeme."
"Wait—bows are two? With Yoyo's slave girl, that's three?"
"Factored in. I'm melee down low."
"For real...?"
"Worst case, 100. Ten apiece. Doable."
"Eh, debatable."
Brain-muscle metric for sure. But vet Senka says go, conditions must align...
"Clear outliers en route to strike point. Abort if unfeasible. Won't know till we try."
"Aye aye."
Not final yet. Firo grumbled but backed off; briefing done.
Closed on the nest: lone stragglers picked off by bows.
By dusk, we arrayed east of the nest, atop the steep slope. Scout's final: 50+ visual, unaware of us. Senka greenlit the op.
Mission's grand finale.
Flank left: Kerusumeme, Torabutosu. Right: scout and Senka.
We high-grounders would support both. How? Tsuburaka signaled commands.
Power dynamic: Senka > Torabutosu = Tsuburaka > Kerusumeme >>> Firo. Torabutosu quiet but heard; Tsuburaka trusted by Senka.
Mulling that irrelevance, I drew my sword and prepped.
High vantage: Tsuburaka, Firo, Sasha lined up—but me a step forward. Defense mage cum melee support.
Wall for the rearguard, basically. Eh, I'll lob fireballs as needed.
Tension prickled like static pre-battle. We crouched in brush for ~hour. Tsuburaka signaled go.
Bachibachi... Electricity crackled loud; Firo loosed a massive thunder orb.
I whipped up fireballs—not huge, but multiples, scattered wide.
Potshots mostly; no clue on hits.
Ignoring the chaos below, prepped Wind Wall and held.
Sasha and Tsuburaka nocked and loosed nonstop. Front-row view of arrows whizzing past.
Bored, I eyed Keman climb routes, splash-splash turning slopes to muck. Slow 'em if possible.
Below: Detour climbers hit ambushes—left/right warriors.
No mage baggage, humanoid foes easy to grapple. Torabutosu rampaged.
From up top: Kerusumeme solid—scanned surroundings, never surrounded, earth magic? snaring foes. Enemy slows a beat, he strikes. Rinse.
Right-side Senka: What the—? Dodged melee, rapid bow at close range. Occasionally sniped afar to sow chaos.
Ten each side: Zero sweat.
Snapped focus front: Nest depths—stone-armed Keman emerged, hurling rocks.
Altitude gap: Most fell short; near-misses flicked by Wind Wall. Tsuburaka picked 'em off precisely. Rock duel ended quick.
But distraction let wall-climbers close.
Quadrupedal agility—no human could match that angle. (Though this world's folks scale sheer cliffs no prob.)
"Fireball."
Simple gig: Plink climbers one by one. But numbers swelled; distance shrank.
Whack-a-mole time.
Sword ready, stood.
"Pushing forward!"
Springing Keman: Sidestepped core-twist, upward slash right after.
Muscle memory from fang-dogs—straight-line leapers. Could do blindfolded.
Nah, one eye maybe. Stylish.
"Ora!"
Reach the top, they lunge no-hesitate—easy pickings.
Mud/arrows thinned 'em; irregular spacing, timings off.
No threat.
Mole-bashed a bit, climbers ceased. Peeked down: Four encircled ~10 Keman.
"You got this!"
MP-empty cheer. Soon, Keman wiped. Peeked nest, stabbed hiders. Done?
"Easier than expected."
"...70-ish, even so. Initiative plus young ones—lucky."
Tsuburaka heaved, shoulders rising.
Sniper perch, no breather. Firo queasy—MP overuse? Sasha slumped, wiped.
Good work. Seemed tougher for everyone but me.
"Yo, Yoyo! You look fresh—get down here, help butcher and clean up!"
Shit.
Too chill, tagged for extra labor. Oh well.
Keman mats: Magic stones only. Slit throats, extract.
One per three-ish. Not spawn-fresh; nest-bred majority, sparse drops.
Not profitable. Burned/piled carcasses into nests, buried.
Credit 'em for the holes—no digging. Bad nest spot? Lit their own grave!
Wrapped as sun set. Rushed camp, boiled raisins for dinner—simple. Day 6 done.
...Was post-Feregen battle this long?
Thinking it myself. Wrapping soon.