The Path of Ascension 2: A LitRPG Adventure

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His louder, more practical side was tired of the deaths and golem attacks and was just happy that they were gone. That reality concerned him a little. He was worried that this conflict and recent events were changing him.

It was making him hard and uncaring.

After a few minutes, they got the group of Tier 4s geared up with their previous belongings and the loot that the traitors had accumulated. The resources heavily implied that they had sold many groups before this one.

These people were nothing more than opportunists and rapists who sold out scores of humans. That fact didn’t exactly help ease the conflict in his mind. They were bad people, but Matt didn’t feel like the right person to be passing judgment.

I just don’t know what’s right anymore. They were evil and deserved punishment, but there’s no civilization here. Camilla’s right. We can’t leave people like this alive. I just need to be careful that we don’t go too far.

Seeing that they weren’t going to be escorted back to the camp, the Tier 4s panicked and begged them to stay. They eventually quieted down when they heard that there was a larger group being attacked.

Both parties quickly got on their way, and as they ran, Matt noticed that the others kept a little more distance from Camilla. Feeling that was wrong, he moved closer to the woman in solidarity. He wouldn’t have made the same choice as her, but he understood her reasoning and couldn’t fault her.

She seemed surprised at his approach, and at his nod, sent him a message.

‘I didn’t expect you to agree with my decision.’

‘No, I don’t. But I recognize that it was necessary. I wouldn’t have chosen to do the same, but I can’t say that you were wrong either. Even before I saw what they did to the woman.’

There was a long pause where the only sound was the crunch of leaves and pounding of feet.

‘I’m not surprised you feel that way. You’re sheltered and haven’t seen the less savory side of the Empire. Let alone humanity as a whole.’

Matt wanted to refute that but couldn’t. It was mostly true. The orphanage was hard, but they were taken care of and kept separate from most of the hardships that had overtaken the city for the first year or so after the rift breaks. He never saw people sell each other to monsters. So, he admitted it.

‘Will you help with a problem in the camp, then?’

He was taken aback. He didn’t know there was a problem in the camp.

‘What problem?’

‘One of the Tier 6s in the group that’s staying to protect the camp is extorting the lower Tiers.’

Matt was surprised by her message, but it seemed like a somewhat minor matter.

‘So, we report it. It can be easily solved.’

Camilla laughed beside him.

‘They’re a part of the group that the prince sent. And what she’s extorting isn’t monetary or material. She wants s*x. And she’s threatening people with shoving them out of the rift they retreat into.’

‘How did you find out? She’d be stupid to speak out before entering the rift with the lower Tiers.’

‘I don’t know why she’s showing her hand now, but she’s been careful thus far. I only overheard because I got a little too close to a tent and caught a bit of her conversation with someone.’

The weight on Matt’s shoulders increased, along with the churning in his stomach.

‘I take it, you have proof?’

Camilla’s reply was a recording of the encounter, and it was damning. The woman was whispering to a weeping man that if he didn’t do everything she said, she would shove him out of the rift and leave him to the golems.

The voice was unmistakable. Camilla had waited outside with a clear view of the tent’s entrance, and watched the woman exit. There was little room for it to be called bedroom play as a panicked and weepy man came out of the tent a few minutes later.

That hurt as well. Matt and their party had been the ones to rescue that particular Tier 4. But now, it seemed they had only rescued the man from one bad situation and inserted him into another.

Trying to reach out for an answer that didn’t involve murdering someone, he asked, ‘This is damning evidence, and we can take it to Juni. They’re both part of the prince’s party, but the lower Tiers would riot if this went unpunished.’

When he didn’t receive a response, Matt shot a look at Camilla as she ran next to him.

‘I’m afraid that if we press the claim, they’ll underplay it. It’s better to just remove her quietly and be done with it.’

‘No! Camilla, if we get everyone here on board, we can press the matter. They can’t ignore us. We’re half of the best offensive power that the camp has. We aren’t judges and we aren’t vigilantes. The law is there for a reason.’ Before he sent it, he swallowed and firmed his will, adding, ‘If Juni doesn’t fix the problem, we can make a move then.’

He didn’t get a message in return, just a nod.

Not long afterwards, they caught up with the group of survivors that they were sent to rescue.

They were being harried by a mix of spiders and humanoid golems. Matt and the melee fighters moved in and started cutting down the golems attempting to encircle the group.

Thankfully, none were the flying types, and the mages on Matt’s flying sword were able to reinforce the group. Eventually, the golems realized that they were outmatched, and retreated.

With efficiency born of repetition, they pulled out slings from their spatial bags and got the wounded loaded up. They were stacked two to a stretcher. The golems had been trying to capture more than kill, so they aimed for the Tier 4s’ legs, to slow the group down as a whole. It led to a lot of wounded, but few of them mortally so.

The few healthy Tier 5s was given the task of carrying the wounded. At Tier 5, the weight was negligible, the size of the load was the problem. It made for awkward travel in the forest, and the better fighters needed their hands free.

The mages in the sky used their altitude to scout their surroundings and were able to trigger a spider golem ambush before the rescue operation ran into it. That led to a fighting retreat, but with the rescue team’s combat ability, they only lost one of the survivors. He tripped in the rush to escape the spiders and was too slow to get to his feet.