Another Stupid Isekai

There was something calming in the everyday routine, and especially the bath. I felt relaxed and focused, but that was probably more thanks to the upcoming dangerous battle.

After I was done, a summoned the shadows, and as usually filled them with provisions. When I was done, I noticed that all my friends gathered in this early morning hours, to send me off. There was Martin, and Hailwic, Hatta, and Amit, Boris with Irina. She had a baby in her hands. There was Will, Nil, and Nobuo. Even Aisha came. I had no idea who told them all, but they knew. They stood in a half-circle next to the device, with a gentle breeze caressing their hair and clothes.

- Morning - I said.

- Good luck, return victorious - said Hatta, and he came closer, extending a hand.

I shook it and nodded.

- Don't die - said Amit, and did the same.

I shook his hand as well.

- Show them hell - said Boris, and we hugged, patting each other on the back.

- You will win - said Irina, and smiled at me.

I returned the smile. Nobuo just nodded, and I nodded back. We didn't need any words to understand each other. Martin slapped me on the shoulder. I stumbled, because of his strength and difference in weight.

- He can do it - he said with a smile. - We all know that.

Hailwic just kissed me on the cheek. I shook hands with Nil, and received another kiss on the cheek from Aisha.

- Now focus - said Will. - I want you to go there, and fuck up them all. Nobody is coming back alive, except you. Do you understand?

- Yes mom.

- Good boy - and he just hugged me tightly.

Then he also whispered to my ear:

- I will fucking kill you if you won't come back.

With that, the grand farewell came to an end. I departed, taking it slow because there was no rush. Well... There was also that part of me who didn't want to go. The part that knew how risky it all was. The part that was sad about leaving my friends.

After I passed through the gate, I killed that part and started walking properly, to not waste any more time. This had to be done, and the sooner, the better.

When I reached the forest I started to meet other hunters that were chasing goblins around. Some of them were interested in my person and kept watching as I made it deeper and deeper into the forest.

I encountered few goblins, they died because of that, and eventually reached the cave. Ki'rei were nowhere to be seen. I hanged around there for a moment, but she didn't come out, so I decided to just keep walking.

The evening was getting close when suddenly she jumped down from a tree branch in her original form.

- Hi Ki'rei.

- Hello - she replied.

- Hop on the cart.

She did as I said, and the march restarted, but she didn't change herself into a chicken. I kept looking over my shoulder at her.

- I'm staying like this - she finally said. - There is nobody around. I checked.

- Ok, fine.

- I saw you saying goodbyes to your friends. They looked sad.

- Yeah, I know. They are just worried I won't come back.

- You will - she replied with such confidence, that I ended up looking at her again.

She twisted her head to the side while looking me straight in the eyes.

- Yeah... I will.

She brought a smile to my face. I kept walking, and eventually reached the neighborhood of the cliff. We camped there.

Just like usual, we filled our stomachs, and I set up the barriers around, to alarm me if somebody would be getting closer. Then we crawled under the cart, and Ki'rei snuggled closer, to rest her head on my shoulder.

I had some problems to fell asleep, but she passed out almost immediately. I kept wondering if I'm really gonna pull that off. Killing that thing was not gonna be easy, if even possible for me, and on top of that, I wanted to keep doing it for an entire month. When I thought about it, it was so damn ridiculous that I almost laughed.

We both woke up with the sunrise and after a short meal started the preparations to depart.

I quickly killed the orcs, but the process of taking down all the carts took some time. Even with my increased strength, I couldn't do anything with the size, and things packed on those vehicles. Shadows were a bit of help, but not too much, and Ki'rey just sat on the ground, waiting until I was done. There wasn't much she could do anyway.

We traveled through the canyon rather fast, killing all the orcs on our way, and picking up the crystals. With the nightfall we camped at the nearest safe spot, just to restart our journey the next day.

With almost full another day of travel, we reached the closest campsite to the orc settlement and stopped there. After a quick dinner, I went to have a closer look at tomorrow's battleground. I ended up climbing the canyon wall, then crawling to the edge, to see how are things going there.

They looked so peaceful from there. Completely unaware of a predator lurking in the shadows, of what was going to happen tomorrow.

It was so easy to forget that they were just dolls created by the device. I caught myself having a bit of empathy towards them because of what I saw, It made me laugh a bit, quietly. This idea was completely stupid.

But It made me notice Ki'rey, lying right next to me.

- You little sneaky...

- I didn't even try. You were too focused on watching them. You should be more careful - she said with an emotionless voice.

- I'll remember that.

- Let's go back to the camp. You need to be well-rested for tomorrow.

With those words, she crawled a little back, and then moved further from the camp, to climb down the wall. I followed her, and we together came back to the safe spot.

The three days came to an end with 8 570 705 points remaining on my account, and forty-two class points.