Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

The corrupted forest now razed to the ground had nothing left, neither living nor dead. And it was all done by a single group led by a mighty barbarian, although only to a certain point as she'd already returned home to her children.

"So killing a keeper made us stronger, huh?" Breaking the silence as everyone sat around the campfire in the dark, Raven glanced across everyone's face, all of whom seemed downed by one thing or the other.

Their mind drained by what they'd done, how many horrors they'd killed. Their tricks, their invasions inside their heads, had left them in a state where they felt like something was missing from within. Their optimism, their joy, was stripped completely, replaced by the mind-numbing instinct to kill monsters without showing them any mercy.

"I feel like the month just flew by," spoke Mel, her face glowing amber under the light of the flickering flames. Pushing the coal with a stick, her eyes were locked in front, looking at nothing. "Like we'd just taken off from the city on this stupid journey."

Everyone felt the same, and they were drained from fighting every day against some abomination of nature. The cure? Fighting some more as it flooded them with adrenaline and made them stop thinking about what they were doing. The corroding blood of the horrors, their howling screams, that's what brought them to comfort these days–something that every veteran of war experiences in their earlier days.

They knew they had to find a way to crawl out of the dark space, but how would they do it? There was no one there to guide them any longer. Helga had her kids, and even when she was there training them, having overcome that stage herself long ago, she would just tell them to get over it.

'We need something fun to do, something to make us feel like we're alive again.' Being the leader, Raven knew that the morale of his group was at an all-time low, especially since they always lived in a city where there was something different they could do every day. 'But…'

Looking over to Erika and then at Amedith, Raven couldn't shake the feeling that the relationship between the two had soured. They avoided each other like the other person didn't exist, and the hero especially didn't even want to talk to anyone other than Mel recently.

'The only reason I can think of is that Erika told him about what happened to me, Rose, and the two girls.

I doubt Amedith would believe it though, so does he think she's just lying to piss him off for some reason.' Nothing felt clear for the time being, which only made Raven wonder if he should just use the upgraded gift from the goddess to change everyone's mood and even rewrite some of the foul memories from this month and even before.

As for Aria, she would drain herself to the point of falling asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, she didn't seem as bothered as the rest, but somehow she too seemed like she was slipping away. The group was falling out from dispute and a lack of motivation and interest to keep going, and if that remained despite their training they would grow lazy both in mind and body.

"We're going to the swarm tomorrow," sitting upright, Raven took a deep sigh and continued. "Anything you guys wanna do before we move on to the next stage of our journey? The kingdom after this isn't exactly friendly with ours, so we might just have an army ready to greet us at their gates."

The question lingered in the air for a while, yet nobody answered. They were far too drained and even in their heads, their minds were racking up new ways to kill the horrors they'd already slaughtered a hundred times. Killing was all they were doing, and so killing was all they could think of.

Thankfully, however, resistant to psychosis and being charmed as being part fae, Raven could still think straight.

"Sure then," getting up on his feet, Raven looked around everyone's faces again before announcing the most absurd thing he could think of at the moment. "I'll be heading for the succubus's maze with Mino, heard they've started giving out massages that cleanses your tired soul from within."

Looking over to Mino who was sitting beside him, he offered her a hand and she quickly took it with a smile.

'A massage?' At first, although everyone was intrigued by the idea, knowing the place they all knew what would come alongside it. But then Raven spoke up again.

"Alright you guys can stay here and eat monster meat, Mino and I will enjoy the VIP room with snacks and barbecue," having heard it all from a messenger from the Mistress back in Athenia, he'd wanted to check out the new extensions either way.

'Snacks? And…actual good meat?' Holding sticks with burnt monster meat in their hands, every single one of the party members wanted to jump up. After selling the rare resources from the corrupted forest, they had enough money for a feast or two as well as yet another upgrade to their equipment.

And yet, sitting in the dark they were all roasting meat that they intentionally burned so it wouldn't taste as sour.

"UGHH! Fuck this, I'm coming!" Throwing her stick into the flame, Aria was the first to get up.

Walking up close to Raven, she grabbed him by the shoulder so he could teleport her as well. With one person in his bag, Raven turned to the other. Still reluctant about the idea even though their bellies were growling for something flavorful, they didn't wanna move, but after only a few seconds, Erika got up as well.

"I…I think I'm losing weight eating this stuff, so…" Being true to herself since Asmodia's residence in her mind, the priestess didn't want to lose her supple curves, especially those big breasts of hers. "I'll come too but just for the food!"

Still holding onto her innocence ever so often, the priestess made sure nobody got her intentions confused.

"What about you two? We have enough money to burn the Boartooth and build a new one, so don't leave the gold for your corpse in case we die the next day," unable to hold herself, Mel jumped up on her feet as well.

"We're coming!" She exclaimed.

But reminded of his last visit there, and the way he got tortured in the balls, Amedith wasn't too keen on another stay.

"You're coming too, right?" Looking back at her reluctant partner, Mel offered him a hand but he didn't seem to wanna take it. However, not wanting to leave him behind, Mel grabbed his hand on her own and pulled him up on his feet.

Leaning closer to his ears, she whispered.

"Are you still mad at me?" She asked, having already been confronted about what Erika had revealed to him. "Look I'll make it up for you, I'll do anything just come with us, okay?"

Her apology, however, only stoked the flames of hatred. Not just for her, but Raven, Erika, and even Aria who'd helped the mage do what he did.

"I'm just tired, you guys can go," faking a smile, Amedith jerked his hand out of Mel's grip and began making his way back to his tent.

The elf wanted to rush right after him, but before that could happen she felt a light under her feet and pressure on her shoulders. The scenery before her soon disappeared, and what lay in front of her now was the familiar interior of the Boartooth and Moxy cleaning up some tables.

'Fuck…' While the scene brought a smile to everyone else's face, the expressions on Mel's face dropped completely.