The Plague Part 3: The Sickness (Darius/Solo)

"DARIUS, WAKE UP!" The herbalist screamed, desperately shaking the sleeping swordsman, who up until that moment had been enjoying a wonderful and peaceful slumber.

"Ugh...doc...go away...too...sleepy..." Darius groaned, hearing bits and pieces of Pomas scream words too scientific in nature for the mercenary to understand.

The next sensation that Darius felt was the herbalist's hand strike him. The groggy mage jolted upwards, rubbing his palm against the cheek that Dr. Pomas had just slapped. The mercenary was evidently far from pleased at being slapped, and asked incredulously, "What the hell, Pomas?"

"No time to be mad now, Darius, the animals, they're attacking the villagers!" Dr. Pomas informed, screaming the words out.

"What? Why?"

"They're infected!"

"By what?"

"The weeds!"

Darius' eyebrows furrowed before sliding off his bed, and barging out his room to see what the hell was going on. Much to his shock, even before exiting the inn, he heard screams of the townsfolk. The swordsman ran outside, and saw everyday animals seemingly covered in the purple weeds that  he and the herbalist had been researching on for the past few days.

"Jesus..." Darius let out under his breath, before charging into aid, "Requip!"

He had called upon his pocket dimension and summoned his spear, to allow some distance in between these beasts and him. Three chickens, all infected with the purple weed and had roots and leaves sprouted all around them, charged at the swordsman. Darius jumped backwards, both his hands gripped on the spear. He twirled the spear around his hands, before sliding his hands along the spear and slamming the blunt end of the spear into one chicken. Another chicken lunged at Darius, but he butterfly kicked around the infected critter, managing to stick the spear into the chicken, twisting the blade into the beast and killing it. Two were left, so Darius made short work of them, killing them easily. However, one last chicken charged at Darius from behind, but he simply spun around, and thrusting the spear through the chicken. Now stuck, Darius raised the chicken up, who was skewered by the spear, and slammed its body down into the ground, killing it.

Darius slid the corpse off and sighed, "You would've made a good dinner, damn shame."

However, as he spoke, he heard the snorts and cries of a litter of pigs not too far from him. He turned to see these pigs also infected with the plant, leaves sprouting out of their skin. They charged at Darius in unison, however, his athletic ability proved fruitful as he dove over them, dismissing his spear and replacing them with his two daggers. Darius, while the pigs were still recovering from the charge, rushed at them, launching a flurry of cuts, stabs and gashes at these beasts, ending them all with relative ease. Despite being hostile and infected, they were still pigs.

That's when another wave of beasts rushed at him, Darius didn't see it coming until the last moment where he ducked, narrowly avoiding a pack of wolves. These beasts were much more dangerous than pigs or chickens. As of that moment, only three wolves had appeared. The mage grit his teeth as two leaped at Darius, him responding in kind by stabbing one wolf mid-air then slamming it down, slashing at it three more times before the others defended its comrade. Darius bit his lip, before launching into an offensive against these beasts. He aimed at one of the wolves, the one that was already injured and repeatedly sliced at the beast fluidly, felling it in a matter of seconds.

However, when the first wolf died, the two remaining wolves let out a howl, causing four more wolves to appear. Oh shit, Darius thought, before dismissing one dagger and replacing it with his sword, now wielding a kris and a saber together. One wolf leaped to attack first, but with his enchanted blade, Darius sent a wave of magical energy at it, causing a large gash to appear on the wolf, the beast tumbling away. He took this chance to eliminate it by slashing at it repeatedly, before finishing it off by skewering its head with his saber. Realising that he was outnumbered, Darius activated his combat intuition, allowing him to predict every movement and attack that they were going to make.

Two wolves attacked in unison, but instead of getting overwhelmed, Darius sliced at the immediate place where it could reach both wolves, striking two in one blow. Another wolf leapt from behind, but the mage easily sidestepped the attacker, causing its jaws to latch onto one of its own kind. Darius then slashed at the beasts, ultimately killing the rest of the pack without a scratch on them.

That's when the bear came.

The humongous creature was covered in purple weeds and roots, mushrooms jetting out of its back and even one of the beast's eyes was covered in roots. The sight was both disgusting and terrifying, as it charged, Darius predicted its next attack and combat rolled under it, slicing at the beast with his dagger, then slicing at its hind legs with his saber. The bear roared in response, attempting to swipe at Darius to get him away, but he pivoted away easily, stabbing at the beast with his saber, and then repeatedly shanking at the beast with his dagger.

"Bleed, you fucker." Darius growled, activating his ability, and causing blood from all of the previous cuts on the bear to gush with blood. The blood loss caused the bear to become more dizzy and slow with its movements, allowing for Darius to finish the beast off by thrusting slamming the blade through the bear's skull, ending its life.

With the battle done, the requip mage recalled all his summoned weapon, and with the saber still stuck into the bear, its disappearance caused a jet of blood to spray onto the mage. He sighed, not realising that his clothes were covered in animal blood, "Dammit, I liked this shirt."

"Darius..." Dr. Pomas uttered, walking up, examining all the corpses that had been felled by the requip mage, "You saved the village, thank you."

"It's my job, doctor." Darius affirmed, "We might be way in over our heads."

"I know, that's why I'm going to ask for a friend in Crocus to help us investigate this growth, something definitely is going on," Dr. Pomas then scratched his head and said, "You might want to call on a friend for what's happening next."

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