Mark knew that he was, perhaps, driving a little too fast, but his mind was in a panic now. He needed to hurry up if he wanted to actually complete his mission this time. The system had already proved that the health bars could not be trusted.
Already one of them had died without any indication and now only two of them were left.
The HMMWV jolted around due to the uneven road which caused Alan to crash into the door or the front panel.
"Calm down Mark, slow down" Alan's panicky voice finally brought Mark back to his senses and he took a deep breath.
Right, he still had time for now.
"Sorry," Mark called out. Now that he was a little more rational, he could see the situation somewhat more calmly and realised that his panic was not helping anyone at all. Already he had gone off route which would cause them precious time and fuel on the way.
Kuo made her way into his lap and settled down, her weight a solid presence on his body. Her uneasiness was evident in their bond and the small shake of her body made him realise that something might be wrong with this place.
The setting created an eerie atmosphere all over the place.
The forest was already dense enough to make use of headlights but it did not do enough to highlight the whole place. It only did enough to illuminate a small radius in front of him, leaving the rest of the place festering in darkness.
Mark tried to highlight his senses but he was unable to actually hear anything significant, not as Kuro could. He was sure that her shivering and shaking was due to her being able to hear something.
"Mark?" Alan asked, his voice coming out much louder in the dark and quiet atmosphere of the place.
"Alan, don't be afraid" Mark tried to sound brave but he was feeling anything but brave. The earlier scare from his system along with the feeling of this place made his already nervous senses even more sensitive.
"I'm not afraid but you seem to be out of it. Do you need rest?" the other asked, his voice truly sounding calm and collected even in this kind of atmosphere. Mark admired the teen's ability to adapt and evolve under such circumstances.
Was it the youth? The ignorance? Was Mark the one who lacked the necessary skills in their situations?
"Check the map for me and guide me toward the checkpoint" the teen nodded and opened the system screen. Mark took a look at their current location on the map and thanked the gods that they were not too far away from the main pathway.
They could easily make their way back toward the main checkpoint.
"Wow, we really don't know anything about this place at all, so we?" the teen asked and it struck Mark suddenly. The reason he was so put out by everything, so paranoid all of a sudden and so hesitant to make too many moves.
He lacked information and that was making him paranoid. Ever since this situation had started and he had given the system, he was always a few steps ahead in any situation but now he was truly blind in this area.
He did not know what to expect from here and that was making him nervous.
Thankfully this was a temporary situation but this was changing his view about himself. All of a sudden, he felt like he needed to know more, to train more and prepare more. He will have a talk about this with Liam and hopefully, he will never have to face such a situation again.
The drive to the checkpoint was almost calm and disturbance-free but Kuro had not untensed at all which made him think that the danger had not passed.
Once they were right in front of the glowing orb on the screen, they looked around for anything that might serve as a checkpoint but there was nothing there but trees. Mark deposited Kuro into Alan's lap and made his way toward the tree in front of him.
One touch and he could tell that it was at the checkpoint but the system had pointed out to this tree. Was the system really corrupted in this sense?
What should they do now?
"Mark, look up" Alan shouted at him which was the only thing that saved MArk's life at that moment.
He dodged the falling body, the heavy rope-like body fell with an impact on the ground near him, almost causing him to lose his balance.
He quickly made his way toward the car in the dusty atmosphere and shut the door off. He debated whether to get out of here or to wait for the dust to settle down but the snake-like creature seemed content to ignore the HMMWV right behind him, his body wiggling on the ground in discomfort.
It was clear that it was struggling to shed its skin and was in high discomfort. It was fascinating to see such a huge creature try and shed the skin. Mark almost held his breath while Alan seemed to be lost in thoughts.
Then a shadow passed over the teen's face and he quietly stood up and took aim at the huge body with the grade-A gun Mark had given him.
The shit missed but the noise was enough to attract the attention of the snake, huge reptilian eyes looking at the smaller pair of humans and the cat inside the HMMWV. Alan once again took aim to fire but held off from the trigger.
It was a stalemate of a kind, both paired staring at each other in silence. The snake seemed to hiss all of a sudden, but the body seemed not to have moved even an inch in nature, the only thing saving it from Alan and his gun.
Kuro hissed back, her ears pinned on the back of her head, her face plastered to the front window of the car and staring directly at the reptile. From one-three staredown, it went to a one-one staredown, both animals trying to assert dominance.
Mark ould feel Kuro's annoyance but not her fear or danger so he tugged at Alan to tell him that it was alright to hold off for a bit.
Kuro almost seemed to be communicating with the other beast, their voices almost soft whisper. The aggressive feeling was negligible in the atmosphere, mostly annoyance and pride filling the space.
And then his system buzzed once again.
______________________________
Warning: Side mission conditions met - help the carp jump over the waterfall
Special reward: message keys (currently containing 1/3 for part 1), the gratitude of a divine beast, beast language guide - starter pack
Accept/ Reject
(Note: Rejection would lead to a feud between the species)
____________________
Mark almost coughed up blood when he looked at the mission statue and then looked back at the snake who seemed to be suffering right before their eyes in that pitiful creature right in front of him.
This was a divine beast, one of the strongest monsters one could find and one who could reach human intelligence. It was clear from the mission rewards that the system would be generous should he take the mission.
Not taking this mission was almost akin to suicide so of course, he was going to take it. He quickly pressed the accept key and saw the mission screen turn active.
"Should I shoot it?" Alan asked, his voice tensed up just a little. Kuro was still hissing at the snake, her displeasure at whatever they were talking about evidence and the snake reeked of amusement but also discomfort.
Mark turned toward Alan, his voice containing all the seriousness he could muster at the moment and said was as straight a voice as he could - "You see that snake over there? It's a divine beast, just like Kuro and we're going to help him"
Alan gave him a look that seemed to imply that he was still waiting for the punchline to and. Was he expecting Mark to tell him that this was all a joke and he actually needed to kill the snake.
Too bad for him because Mark was not joking at all and the other seemed to get it finally when his eyes widened just a fraction.
"You're not joking? You're serious?" Alan almost whispered, his voice faint and Mark nodded in agreement.
"As crazy as I thought it was, I'm not joking at all. Let's have a closer look at him" Mark finally exited the HMMWV again, now Kuro tugged in his arms and Alan followed suit, his weapon still held at ready.
Mark carefully approached the reptile who seemed content to stay put now, looking at him with a curious and interested gaze, his eyes following Mark's movement. Kuro seemed to let out a small hiss from time to time, her small body rubbing against him in defence and he allowed her to.
Once he was near enough to the snake, he hesitated because he genuinely had no idea what to do. The snake hissed once again and then his system beeped with a message which seemed impossible in all aspects and yet it was there.
The single line read
______________________________
Permission required: Establish communication between divine beast and the system (temporary)
______________________________
And Mark could only look on in wonder at the snake who watched him with calm, intelligent eyes.