Not exactly.

I pulled away from the body, panting heavily. That guy had been one hell of a fighter. I'd even gained enough Class XP from the battle to level up again. Old Shoes was a nice perk.

The magic hiding him from me faded as he died, and I saw that he hadn't even been human. He was a dwarf. That explained some of the awkwardness in my attempts to grapple with him.

My entire body hurt sharply. I decided I should consider using armor of some kind of I was going to pick fights with seasoned adventurers. Of course, the home of such a seasoned adventurer was bound to be full of valuables. Some of which may even prove useful to me. I performed a quick check of his body and found a few vials of what were obviously healing potion. I took them and drank them immediately.

Health 51/53
Mana 78/90

Damage Resistance: 00:23:40

Fortunately, my damaged tentacles did begin to grow back, but I wouldn't have full use of them for a while. I could probably speed it up with my own healing magic, but I wanted to conserve mana. The fight with the adventurer had not been exactly quiet. People may have heard. He had a shield amulet around his neck that had probably been a focus for the barrier he'd used to survive my smite. Maybe it even generated the shield; I didn't know. I took it in case I could find a use for it.

I found his crossbows and the blade he'd used against me. All very high quality. I piled them on the bed. But as tempting as it was to ransack the place, I needed to stay focused. It wasn't until I saw the wedding ring on the dwarf's hand that I had even considered the possibility that the house wasn't empty. Cursing myself for my foolishness, I turned to investigate the rest of the house.

It was empty, but had the look of a quickly evacuated place. Perhaps that was due to the dwarf's haste in rising to deal with an intruder, but I knew better. There had been a female here. A human female. The bed reeked of her. She had been there very recently but was now gone. Escaped. Probably when I'd first entered the house, but definitely before the fight had ended.

I heard a commotion outside and moved to the window. People were gathering. It was a sloppy mess of villagers carrying random items. No proper weapons or armor among them. Except one woman held a silver staff with a holy symbol at the top.

The priest.

The priest was a woman. That changed things. I cursed the villager for giving me such poor intelligence about this place, but this was a welcome development.

She was younger than I'd have expected—barely pushing thirty, if that—and she was gorgeous. I had to have her. I didn't care if I had to kill the entire village. I needed her in my collection. Everything about her appealed to me. Her golden hair; her full-figured, likely virgin body; the righteous aura spilling off of her... I ached to corrupt her, to bring her to her knees and watch her beg to serve Melanoche instead of whatever misguided god she'd curried favor with.

I'd never felt such a lust; I was going to do unspeakable things to that priest.

I quickly considered my options: It was likely now or never.

If I fled the village they would discover the trail of corpses and captives I'd left behind and they would militarize quickly, sending for help from their local regent. Even my isolated cabin would not be safe, then.

They may have already begun searching the houses, but I suspected they were largely focused on the house I was in. Still, the clock was ticking.

If I hid in the house, they would eventually come inside. But my mobility would be hindered, and that priest would be impossible to fight if she were allowed to hide behind a wall of human shields. I'd want to meet her in the open. It was fortunate that she wasn't inside her church. That place would be a veritable fortress to me.

The longer I waited, the better organized they would be to deal with me. I didn't know how much of the fight the adventurer's wife had seen, if any, so I wasn't sure if they knew what they were up against. I may have had an edge, there. But did I have anything else? I took stock of my resources and smiled.

I had a whole arsenal in that house, including the Class level and three points of Light just waiting for me to put to use. I certainly couldn't forget those; those would be critical to my plan.

I was going to do it. It was time to kill a whole village.