章 43: The Butcher

Archer flew towards the blood smell, seeing black smoke coming from beyond a small hill. Flapping his wings even harder to fly faster towards the smoke, when he got closer, his Aura-Detector went off.

Warning him enemies were everywhere when he arrived, he was hovering over a small village.

He saw people running about trying to put out fires, and others were fighting off cannibals. ''Fucking hell, give me a break already.''

Archer saw a group of ten running towards a family of four, a mother and father with two little girls.

When he spotted them, he Blinked to them, blocking their path to the family. He used his claws and tail to attack the group, quickly impaling one with his tail while cutting down two.

As he threw the bodies to the side, Archer looked at the remaining seven cannibals and smiled.

He stood in the center of the battlefield. Suddenly, a dozen black bolts appeared after he cast Element Bolts using the Darkness element.

They started to swirl around him. The eerie sight of these black bolts floating around him sent chills down the spines of everyone who witnessed it.

Archer's eyes glimmered as he raised his hand, and the black bolts shot off in all directions, hitting his adversaries with deadly accuracy.

Bolts filled with sinister energy crackled with power, pulsing with an ominous glow, causing the ground to shake as they hit their targets, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

The creepiness of these floating, black bolts was only intensified by the terror they unleashed.

It was as though they were directed by some malevolent force that sought to annihilate anything in their path.

As they continued to strike, Archer knew his enemies were no match for these creepy blasts.

After killing the surrounding cannibals, he looked around, noticing the fires getting worse. ''Something needs to be done.''

He stood in the middle of the burning village, watching in horror as the conflagration threatened to devour everything in its path.

The panicked villagers ran around frantically, trying to stamp out the flames with buckets of water and whatever materials they could find.

Without a second thought, Archer sprang into action. With one powerful beat of his wings, he lifted himself high into the air, under the eyes of every villager.

Archer was hovering above the village. He closed his eyes, feeling the heat on his skin, and opened them again, concentrating on what must be done.

With another beat of his wings, he summoned a powerful gust of wind that blew the flames back from one of the particularly hard-hit houses.

The flames subsided momentarily, allowing the villagers to pour water onto the building, quelling the fire.

With the villager's help, he flew from house to house, using his wings to put out the flames as the villagers tackled the smaller fires.

After an hour of flying around, he was tired. He dismissed his Draconic Form and collapsed on the grass outside the village, and the people were running around fixing and cleaning things.

While Archer lay there, he heard footsteps and looked up to see the family he had saved approaching him.

The family stepped forward as the father spoke. ''Thank you for saving my family, if not for you, we'd be gone.''

He looked down at the man. ''Glad I could help.''

When the man heard his reply, he smiled as he introduced himself. ''I'm Ralf; this is my wife, Brie, and my two beautiful daughters, Harena and Marena.''

Ralf introduced his family, he was an average-looking man with black hair and blue eyes, short, and stocky.

His wife was a red-headed woman with brown eyes and was pretty, but his two daughters were the spitting image of their mother but with their father's blue eyes.

''I'm Archer.''

The whole family smiled while the two little girls stepped forward and looked at him. They looked a little bit younger than him.

They came up to him with eyes full of wonder. The family looked at him with wide eyes, taking in the sight of his four horns and beautiful violet eyes, and then the two girls looked around at the smoldering ruins. "Why did you save our village?"

One of the girls asked in a small voice, her eyes full of confusion. It was Herena who asked the first question.

Archer looked at the girls, his face softening at the sight of them. "Because it was the right thing to do,"

The other girl, Merena, tugged on his sleeve, her eyes sparkling as she spoke. "But why did you save us?"

He smiled at the girl, looked at both girls, and answered. "Because you're not any less important than anyone else. Everyone deserves a chance to live in peace and safety."

The two little girls looked up at him in awe, their eyes shining. Herena spoke before her sister. ''So you're a hero?''

When he heard that, he coughed as he looked at the red-haired girl. ''No, I'm not a hero; I did it because I wanted to.''

The girls were still happy; their parents joined the three, but another villager came running up to them just as they arrived. ''They have taken a few families when they left. We cannot find them.''

Archer heard this and jumped up as he asked the man. ''Take me to their homes.''

The man looked at the boy skeptically, but Ralf spoke up before he could say anything. ''Take him, Derald.''

They spent the next hour going house to house, and all five families were taken. Derald left once they left the last house.

After smelling the items, Archer started smelling the air and instantly got a hit heading north towards The Howling Jungle.

''Draconis.''

His dragon features instantly appeared as he took off, heading towards the north.

Flying northwards, Archer kept an eye out for the cannibals; after hours of searching, he started getting tired.

Descending to the ground to get some rest, as he did, the scent he was after hit his nose, so he decided to follow it for a while.

After another couple more hours of walking, he came across a massive run-down village hidden deep in the jungle. ''Must be the cannibals home.''

Archer jumped into the trees and walked closer like a white-haired ninja. He stopped not far from the edge of the village and started watching.

Noticing an old wooden shack that had human scent emanating from it. Archer decided that he needed to get closer, so he cast Blink.

Archer landed outside and looked around. He could tell there were over a dozen humans locked inside.

He wouldn't free them until every cannibal was dead. Activating his Aura-Detector as he scanned the rundown village.

He was flooded with pings, alerting him to numerous enemies around him. Three cannibals were close, so Archer Blinked toward them and took their heads off before they could even react.

The cannibal's headless bodies dropped to the ground. More and more cannibals appeared and attacked.

He started casting spells, Plasma Shots, Void Blasts, Fireballs, and Eldritch Blasts, taking out many, but they still tried swarming him.

Archer finally had enough and cast Call Lightning. Standing in the center of the village, his wings unfurled behind him as lightning crackled in the clouds above.

He had a fierce look in his eyes. He raised his arms, channeling the storm's power through his body. With a sudden flash of light, Archer cast a violet lightning bolt, streaking towards the village.

The ground shook as the lightning struck, setting the surrounding area ablaze with violet and white light bursts.

His hair whipped around his face as he continued to call down lightning. Thunder rumbled in the distance, shaking the very earth beneath his feet.

As the storm raged on, he remained focused on his task, his strength unwavering. With each bolt of lightning, he felt a small sense of satisfaction, knowing he had the power to destroy anything he wanted.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the lightning began to abate, and Archer saw the burnt-dead bodies of the cannibals.

He jumped up and started flying around the village, searching for more targets; he found over a dozen cannibals running into the jungle, trying to escape.

Archer sped after them with a big smile on his face as he laughed manically and as his bloodlust kicked in.

''HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.''

'Draconis.'

Summoning his claws and teeth. The cannibals heard the crazy laughter of the boy flying after them.

Archer landed in front of them to cut off their escape route; he went to work and started slashing, stabbing, and even bit a cannibal that jumped towards him and caught him off guard.

He danced through the cannibals, slaying them left and right under the afternoon sun.

Archer dropped the remaining enemy to the floor, blood spurting everywhere, covering him as he stood there relishing in the kills.

Before long, he came out of his stupor and cast Cleanse on himself to get rid of the blood; Archer went around collecting the twelve hearts and storing them in his Item Box.

He decided to loot the village before releasing the captured villagers. He unsummoned his claws and teeth as he descended.