Chương 5: (5) B1 C5: Shock, but not Awe

My skill ended as I ran out of Curse Energy, but I had already seen enough. I quickly ducked lower to the bushes in hopes of hiding among the shadows. As I did so, I heard a voice coming from the direction of the nearby group.

"Dave, pass me your canteen. I'm fucking thirsty," The voice said with a coarse tone. It belonged to a woman, perhaps someone in her early thirties.

"Fuck off, Amy. You drank through the entirety of yours and Simon's! I ain't giving you shit." Another voice, this one older and belonging to a man, replied.

"I do not mind. I am not even sure why you gave me a canteen," A third voice spoke up. His voice was the most peculiar of the three, as it was like a mix between an old record player and a new smartphone speaker.

"Who gives a shit? We're only a few hours away from camp. You can last just a few more hours, right?" The first voice, Amy, replied back. I heard the snapping of twigs and branches as the group of strangers approached. The sound must've come from the closest one cutting away at the fauna with his blade.

"Fuck. Off. I'm not giving you my canteen!" The second voice, Dave, said again. Then, the movement of a bobbing branch to my left caught my attention. I quickly ducked further behind the flora I had hidden behind, only my eyes watching the treeline, as a figure stumbled into sight. He was an older man, perhaps in his forties or early fifties, with a shoulder-length head of dark hair and a beard to complement his grizzly look. He was wearing a set of leather armor and firmly grasped a steel sword in his left hand.

Both his armor and his sword had seen better days, as each was damaged by time and negligence. Following behind him was a woman. She was significantly younger than the man, only just an adult, and wore her hair in a messy bun. She was wearing a set of leather armor similar to the man's, though draped over her shoulders was a small green cloak colored like the forest around her. Her brow was covered in sweat and grime, yet she lacked the usual symptoms of exhaustion.

In her hand was a large crossbow, already loaded and waiting to be sprung. Third was a man, though he was completely unlike the first two. His skin was grey and his muscles were massive. Although he was literally made of stone, the third man was younger than the other two, almost teenager-aged, and contained within his body enough power to be on par with world-class strongmen. As for his equipment, he simply wore a pair of leather pants and used his massive maul as a walking stick.

His face was utterly expressionless, as was customary for golems, though upon his chest was a dark red jewel, similar to a garnet, that was easily triple the size of a baseball. Golems were rare, especially ones as young as the golem before me, as they were incredibly difficult to craft. Had it not been for the large gem on his chest, I would've assumed he was some sort of gargoyle. They were well known in certain lore circles, though they weren't a playable race.

While the two humans in front exclusively carried weapons of some kind, the golem also carried a rope. When he walked further into the clearing, pulling the rope with him as he did so, I paled in horror at what followed. Three women, each wearing frayed rags of cloth over their bare bodies and an iron collar around their necks, followed along with bound wrists and lowered heads.

Each of them were suffering multiple wounds across their bodies and a heavy coating of dirt that must've been collected over several weeks of captivity. One of them, in particular, had a nasty cut above her eyebrow that left half of her face covered in dried blood. As soon as they moved closer, my nose caught the scent of something sweet in the air. My eyes widened as my mouth went hot with desire.

The smell was slightly metallic and heavy, like a well-cooked steak in a fine restaurant, but it was also sweet like cake and rich like strawberries. My eyes were drawn to the woman's face as my eyes fell upon the scarlet remnants covering her brow. I felt my face heat up in anticipation at the sight as my tongue licked my lips in hunger. When the third woman stepped further into sight, she tripped and fell forward onto the dirt with a heavy thud.

The crash caught the attention of everybody around, including myself, which allowed me to pull myself from my short trance. I shrunk away from the group as I turned my attention back to the bush in horrified shock. The feeling of excitement that had been coursing through my body disappeared, as if extinguished entirely, and left me with a mind half dazed from the experience. It didn't take me long to figure out what had happened.

My body had reacted to the blood covering the woman's face, as if I were a dog begging for a treat. I held back a shiver as I realized how a simple wound had nearly hypnotized me into acting like an animal. The realization scared me more than anything else. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. While I was struggling with my newfound discovery, the woman, Amy, turned around at the noise before glaring at the fallen woman.

"Stand up!" she ordered with a sharp voice. The woman who had fallen whimpered as she tried to bring herself to her knees, but she fell back down with a pained cry. Amy sighed, then turned to the golem, "Make her stand."

"I am not supposed to touch them." The golem replied with a monotonous voice. As he spoke, the red gem upon his chest shined with each word, yet his face did not move. The voice was familiar, and I realized it must've been Simon, the teammate they were talking with only a moment prior, "They're merchandise. Any damage they receive will be taken from our paychecks."

"Do what I fucking tell you." The golem shrugged. Then, with a sharp turn, he faced the fallen woman and walked over with heavy footsteps. Once the monolith of stone was standing over the slave-woman, it grabbed onto the woman's arm with an iron-like grasp before yanking her to her feet. The woman cried in pain as she was pulled away from the ground, and though she had begun to cry, she didn't fall back down onto the dirt below.

"Let's continue," Dave, the older man, ordered. The others nodded before continuing forward. I ducked behind the bush and held my breath as they passed me, all while desperately hoping that they wouldn't realize I was there. As they moved past the clearing, I tried to recall as much as I could involving the game's graphic content. The quests in FFO had a somewhat strict family-friendly content policy. Gore and less graphic acts of destruction—such as structural damage—were considered the game's harshest content.

Even Blood King Azkazan was bordering on the game's mature content policy, even though he was an enemy only the highest level players had the chance to meet. Slavery, as I was seeing it? That was never in the game. Hells, it wasn't even mentioned in the lore. Something was wrong. Was I not in FFO? Was I merely in a world like it? The implications of that were heavy, and as I watched the group move further away from me, I slowly began to follow them.

My level was too low for a fight, but the group wasn't watching the forest very hard anyways, so I figured that I was able to follow at a distance without worrying about being caught.

"I am super fucking thirsty. Just a swig, yeah?" Amy's voice continued.

"We'll be at camp within the hour. Hold out until then," Dave sighed as he swung his sword once again. As I listened from a distance, I paid particular attention to Dave's words. I wasn't sure what sort of destination awaited me at this campsite of theirs, but I knew I'd be very glad to see it. … I followed the two slavers and golem until they finally reached their destination. During that time, I wasn't spotted once.

I wasn't sure if it was because these slavers were too low leveled, too ignorant, or if I was simply lucky. Maybe it was a combination of all three. Soon enough, though, I was forced to halt my movements when the slave camp's wooden walls came within sight. The campsite was chaotically organized, though it was large and well defended.

If I had to guess, there were maybe three hundred tents hiding behind the thick wooden walls that surrounded the camp, all bundled together within a plot of land that was about the size of a football field. Of course, I didn't see a way inside, as half a dozen watchtowers were watching the perimeter with a hawk-like focus. As the group approached the gates, I crouched low behind a bush and watched the two slavers—plus golem—drag the three slave women behind them.

"Shipment coming in!" Dave spoke with a raised voice. There was a moment of silence, during which one of the guards from the nearest watchtower appraised the group. Then, after a shout from the watchguard, the gate opened and the party of slavers quickly disappeared into the camp while dragging their slaves behind them. Now, I had to struggle with the question of what to do.

I could attack the camp—it felt like the right thing to do, morally speaking—though I knew there was no way in hell I'd survive the encounter with my current strength. My boons and skills might have been on the stronger side, but my stats themselves were so low that a child might've stood a decent chance at killing me. Then again, if I chose to ally with the camp, which I honestly didn't see happening, I wouldn't have to worry about shelter for the foreseeable future. I wasn't even sure if they would ally with me.

As I looked down at myself, I questioned whether they would even let me go if they caught me. I was, after all, a naked woman about as far from civilization as possible. I doubted these slavers worked within the law, which left me wondering if they wouldn't try to capture me as soon as they saw me. Yeah, being captured was just about the worst thing that could possibly happen to me. With no other choice, I slowly backed away and disappeared back into the forest.

I didn't know what plan I would concoct to raid the camp, but I knew my end goal was to do exactly that. For now, though, I would have to grow stronger. Daylight was only a few hours away, so my main goal was still to find some sort of shelter. Now, though, I had less time to do it.