-???-
"Hmmm... I wonder where that book is? It should have returned a while ago, but the fact that it hasn't done so, shows it is probably in the hands of one of the Sin Generals. I wonder then when are they going to come back..." A hooded man was pacing back and forth in front of an empty pedestal. The room was actually a windowless brick room with a couple of torches for light and a lot of rune circles engraved on every inch of the walls, floor and ceiling. As the hooded man was pacing back and forth, another man entered the room from one of the runes while using it as a portal. The man looked like a tall man with long black hair, black eyes and was wearing a black nightgown and when he saw the man, he asked emotionlessly:
"What is the problem Shade?"
"Oh! Sin General Heiran. I bow belo-" Just as the man named Shade was going to bow, he was stopped from the man that was called Heiran.
"Just tell me the problem and cut the riff raff. I already feel irked by another stupid dream of mine and anything useless you do will just set the fuse off." Heiran said with an angry voice.
"The Book has gone missing yet again." Shade said emotionlessly.
At that moment, Heiran took a deep breath in and out, trying to calm himself down and said with an annoyed voice:
"So? One of us will come back and place it here. What's the problem with that?"
"The problem is that it has been already 3 days by now and none of the Sin Generals have returned with the Book in hand." Shade said slightly afraid.
That piece of information left Heiran slightly speechless and tried to sort through the possible scenarios for that. After a bit of thinking, he asked calmly:
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"No one. Hence I never opened my mouth because I believed that it would have come back sooner or later." Shade answered back calmly.
"Tsk. Another illegal retainer. Get the Shadows and give them this top-priority mission. Get all the information you can get and locate the illegal retainer and the Book." Heiran said angrily before he left the room through one of the rooms. After he had left, he was in an extremely dark room, but he knew the outlines of the room and the furniture like the back of his hand. After that, he laid down on his bed and said to himself annoyed:
"Uhhh... What a way to start this stupid week and here I thought that things were looking nice for once."
...
"And behind door number 22 is... another Jellyfish." Soren said with anticipation before he was filled with dissapointment. The day was getting close to its end and he never came into contact with any Tier 2 monsters and he was in a pretty foul mood now.
"Uhhh... Why aren't there any tier 2 monsters nearby. I know that this a pretty low level area, bu since it's a low level area, it should have enough tier 2 monsters to last for all eternity." Soren said angrily after sitting on a nearby rock.
"Kyuu~..." Lavenza also looked pretty tired from this entire situation so she was in a slightly mood as well.
"Do you think we are doing anything wrong right now Lavenza? Because I swear to whatever god is listening to us, he is definitely making things harder us. I don't expect to find Crystal Chargers easily, but I would have expected at least a Ravaged Wolf or a Mer-Hobgoblin by now, at least a couple of times. I just hate this kind karma of whatever you are desperately looking for, doesn't appear and whatever you don't have as top priority, it is as common as water." Soren ranted angrily for a while.
After sitting for a bit, Soren decided to set up the tent and the campfire wuth the fire stones and call it early for the night. He knew he could take the risk with night hunts, but it was possible to run into Tier 3 monsters and those were way out of his league right now. While he was eating some beef jerky with Lavenza, he decided to increase the resting time, because he would hunt at the night and make he would snatch himself a tier 2 monster, even if it was the last thing he would do.
"Tonight, Lavenza we will increase the amount of time we will rest, but the lookout will last longer as well. I'll take first watch again so rest well." Soren said after sitting near the campfire. Lavenza was the one to rest inside the tent first and after she entered, Soren sat down near the campfire and keep watch. He wasn't looking forward to this lookout, so he was hoping that nothing would appear for this night. There was the occasional rustle in the bushes and a couple slimes appeared, but he just scared them away with some fake out attacks.
After around six hours worth of biring lookout and nerve-inducing rustling, it was Soren's turn to rest after an extremely long day of searching for any tier 2 monster. Lavenza's shift was very similar as well, just no slimes entering the campsite this time. After around 6 as well, Soren got up and saw Lavenza just practising her magic a bit by trying to conjure another move.
"Good morning Lavenza." Soren said fully rested.
"Kyuu~!" Lavenza was suprised by Soren and the water from the spell, dropped on the sand. She was a bit angry because Soren interupted her, but she wasn't making much progress herself so she didn't hold it for him for long. After the duo ate their breakfast cookies, they made their way back into the hunt of a tier 2 monster. Because they started later than usual, they didn't have as much daylight as yesterday, so it didn't more than a few hours to get to night time.
Once night time came, Soren was the one to propose as usual.
"Time to start the night hunt Lavenza. This time though, it won't be like the coral forest that was east of Crystalia City. This time, there are going to be a variety of monsters coming out and it is probable for Tier 3 monsters to appear, so let's stick to slow and carefully and engage only when it's necessary." Soren said to Lavenza seriously.
"Kyuu~." Lavenza nodded to Soren's plan.
With the dark blanket covering the forest, the duo started their night hunt in the forest. This time though, they went slower than usual, since swimming normally, could result in accidentally bumping on a monster that is out of their league. The amount of monsters has dropped significantly as well, without many Slimes, Jellyfish or Mer-Goblins, but that means that the chance for Tier 2 monsters has significantly increased, so it was only a matter of time for a Mer-Hobgoblin or a Crystal Charger to appear.
After around an hour of searching, their luck finally started to turn up a bit with the apperance of a Crystal Charger. The Charger itself was very similar to the way the book described its appearance, a bunny with a fish tail that covered half its body and a blue crystal horn on its head. Soren remembered as well that this monster won't hesitate to attack if it is cornered, so keeping up his guard constantly was the only the two of them would have a chance at killing it.
And so the battle started with Soren brandishing his sword towards the unsuspecting Crystal Charger. The Charger was suprised by the sudden attack, so it managed to dodge the attack, but it did get cut a bit on its side. The monster saw its opponents and didn't hesitate to take down the attackers quickly and it's horn started glowing once its charge started. Soren was very cautious of the attack, so he was ready to block with mana walls and dodge at the same time.
Once the Charger got close, Soren casted quickly a couple of mana walls and got ready to dodge to thr side. The monster actually broke through the mana walls, but it had lost a significant amount of momentum, so Soren not only dodged easily to the side, but he also managed to get a hit in, although said hit not being very deep or serious.
After that first exchange, the two of them managed to get a good grasp on each others level of power and were ready to initiate a second exchange, but just as Soren was going to ready himself for said second exchange, suddenly his hands showed shining shields and his body suddenly charged on its own and went behind Lavenza. In the next second, a knife suddenly appeared and stabbed Soren and cut his arm a bit.
Both Soren, Lavenza, the Charger and even the attacker were suprised by this sudden change of events. Soren and Lavenza were suprised by the fact that their attacker not only nearly scored a lethal sneak attack on Lavenza, but they were also suprised to see a short green merman with a knife and some black clothes to cover itself. The Charger was suprised was suprised by the sudden turn of event and the moment it saw the reason for said change, its eyes were red with fury. As for the Mer-Hobgoblin assialant, it was suprised that its sneak attack didn't work, even though it made sure that it woild go off without a hitch.
"Tsk. Cheapskate." Soren said angrily at the Mer-Hobgoblin.
"Grrr...Meddler..." The Mer-Hobgoblin said with an annoyed expression on his face as well.
"Hisss..." The Charger was furious with the Monster that interrupted its battle.
"Kyuu~..." Lavenza was scared, but she was also close to snapping at this monster.
"Guess I found which Tier 2 monster will be my advancement level up." Soren said furiously while looking at the Mer-Hobgoblin, before the battle starts.