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I lowered my body so that I can get a clean cut to these vipers, with my twin blades in hand, I sliced the vipers quite easily however their numbers are enough to keep me at bay.
Freya stabs the vipers in her area with her steel staff covering me and Astoria's back and as for Astoria, she was dodging the vipers while shooting them with her bow then picking up her arrows and reusing them again.
The trio was easily winning against the vipers but like all creatures, it was not going down without a fight.
Suddenly the vipers, even the dead ones, like a hivemind, joined together.
We decided to take the opportunity to kill as many of them as they were all joining together.
Astoria, Freya, and I quickly attacked with our respective weapons but for some reason, the viper's body was harder than ever before.
Starting as a lump of vipers, they suddenly become one giant viper made out of hundreds or even thousands of vipers, far bigger than an ogre's body.
'Where the hell did these vipers come from?!' I screamed in my head.
The giant viper suddenly bore its giant fangs at us and attacked us and a tingling sensation surged throughout my body.
I immediately dodged to the right, only getting a cut on my left shoulder by its fangs while Freya and Astoria dodged to the left. I immediately stood up and tried to slice the viper's skin but not only did it not work, some of the small vipers that were acting as the body even came out and tried to bite me.
The giant viper circled around me, ready to attack me again however the two elves were not just standing around as they began to attack as well so I readied my twin blades but quickly noticed that I losing focus.
'That gem...' Astoria was quick to notice the obvious red gem in the middle of its head and quickly shot it but of course, the giant viper reacted quickly and dodged.
Freya then noticed my condition and quickly informed us. "Its fangs inflict mana poisoning!" She screamed.
"Got it!" Astoria responded while I was only able to nod to her as I was having a hard time moving.
'Mana poisoning...since when did I have mana? or have I always had it?' I thought as I fall to one knee. Freya puts her hand lightly on my back and slowly regained my focus.
"You're overflowing with mana right now but you'll only have about 5 minutes maybe even less before you start to lose your focus again"
I nod my head and charged at the viper again and as I was doing so, I could feel my body beginning to feel extremely hot, however, I could also feel that I was slowly returning to a normal temperature so I continued to fight.
'Not like I have a choice, hopefully, this effect only last temporarily.' I thought to myself as I ran towards the giant viper.
"The red gem, Himura!" Astoria shouted.
The viper then retreated into the forest but it was obvious that it was trying to ambush us at an unexpected angle so we formed a circle, covering each other's back then suddenly, the viper attacked us from above.
Astoria quickly fired an arrow at the red gem however not only was the red gem not breaking but it also was not its weakness as she thought. "Tch, that's a command stone, it does nothing if it breaks so we have to kill the summoner to kill it meaning that the summoner is near." After quickly finishing her sentence, she quickly shot an arrow in a random direction then suddenly, a loud scream was heard from that direction. "OW FUCK, YOU FUCKING BITCH! KILL THEM ALL!!! KILL ALL OF THEM!!!" The man in a ragged robe with broken chains on his legs and arms shouts and the giant viper answered its command and reappeared again, this time from below.
Like a pillar of fire erupting a giant viper with a head of a worm suddenly appeared below them quickly transformed its head back to a viper again and tried to sink its fangs into me but thanks to my perception of death, I managed to dodge.
Astoria tries to hit the summoner again but unexpectedly another giant viper smaller than the other, erupted from the ground too but Astoria quickly dodged the attack from the smaller giant viper.
Like a hivemind, the two giant vipers managed to circle us again, and finally, the vipers managed to land a blow on me.
Noticing the tingling sensation, as if it was instinct, I rolled in front of me to dodge. "Ow fuck!" My back was sliced by the fangs in attempts to bite an entire chunk of my body however, my face only twisted in discomfort as if it was merely a scratch.
'Owwwww fuck! this hurts!!!' I screamed in pain in my mind before berating myself for such a mistake. 'Why didn't I pay attention to my surroundings?'
Freya quickly helped me up while Astoria tried to hold back the two giant vipers but eventually we were cornered. While Freya was quite mad at herself for not being able to heal me, what can she do at this point?
Looking at my back she tries to somewhat help me but eventually, she managed to take a glance at my wrist, my failed attempts.
"....." She became speechless, not knowing what to say about it.
I didn't notice her stare and focused on relaxing my body but eventually struggled because of mana poisoning taking effect again and eventually, I pointed at my pack at my waist.
"Oh right!" Freya couldn't wonder any longer about what happened to me and she quickly took stitches, bandages, and a somewhat green ointment from my pack which I got from the merchant from the adventurers guild, and then, she quickly treated me.
She was panicking at first but thanks to my expressionless face, She managed to relax and speed up the process to treat me.
Astoria on the other hand was slightly wounded with scratches and cuts while trying to occupy the two vipers. 'Shit, we might actually die here if I don't do anything but what can I do? other...than that...'
The village, burning, screams of pain, scars, couldn't protect anyone. 'No time for that now!' She shakes her head from that painful memory and Astoria quickly joined up with Freya and I.
"Freya, quickly, mana now." As Freya was finishing up her treatment, she quickly raised her hand and put it on her waist.
Astoria draws an arrow and closes her eyes to focus as I see the approaching vipers on her left but I wasn't scared in the slightest.
"Sh๊ชrฯ." Suddenly the arrowhead was enveloped by something very transparent before quickly firing it, not at the viper but the trees madman beyond the trees.
The vipers quickly attacked Astoria but before that, the vipers quickly stopped then suddenly they both became giant lumps of white vipers.
I wanted to vomit at the sight of it as the vipers quickly left. "White vipers are so weak that even those with brown insignias like yours won't have any problem dealing with them, but like goblins, their numbers can become a threat to adventurers that have a silver insignia especially if possessed or summoned," Astoria said with a sad look.
"I'll check for the summoner's body." She said as she walked in the direction where she fired.
"Right," She said while I only nod as I was more focused on my own body.
*****
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A village was burning, and the screams of pain from both adult and child reverberated throughout the night, Remembering all their screams from what tone and from who it was.
Greenhorn village burned to the ground and one child witnessed it all and even left a scar as evidence. "I want to move on, I need to," I said as I looked for the body of the summoner, I quickly found him with a giant hole in his forehead.
"It is a five-worded spell, of course, you wouldn't survive that." Sh๊ชrฯ. The greenhorn village's pride when it comes to spells, a five-word spell that sharpens an edge a thousand-fold making it pierce at almost anything however it takes a lot of mana just to cast it on a single object.
Looking at his face, he was clearly crazy with bloodshot eyes, drooling everywhere, and generally a dirty appearance.
"Well that confirms he's dead so might as well leave..." I turned around and headed back to the two
""""Ah...a survivor of greenhorn"""" I quickly turned around alerted beacause of the voice but the voice was no more, I wanted to see who or what it was but there was nothing I can do but go back while pretending nothing even happened.
After some time I headed back with the two and we were all prepared to go back to the adventurers guild.
After getting sufficient treatment, Himura stood up with the help of Freya and grabbed his jacket that he left in one of the tree branches before the fight even started, and headed back to Bellken.
I could see Himura noticing my expression, of course, he would, I had far too many questions about that voice. My face was complicated and I tried to make myself expressionless but I wasn't used to it so I only looked weird.
*****
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We returned in the afternoon and were awarded an extra 24 gold each as compensation for the misinformation but also for dealing with a cultist who actually happened to be a high priest with a pretty large bounty for committing far too many atrocious acts.
"So uh miss Astoria, you're looking pretty good this afternoon." One of the troublesome adventurers said and soon another quickly followed up. "Agreed, of course, that expected the silver-ranked adventurer known as Astoria!" The adventurers who seemed to always fight with her during the evening suddenly took a turn in their treatment with Astoria.
"You do know you guys aren't gonna get anything by buttering me up right? Because drinks are already on me tonight!!!!" She screamed throughout the guild.
""""Wooooooo!!!!! thanks, brawler archer!!!!!"""" The adventurers screamed with their attitude with her back to normal.
"Oi! what happened to miss Astoria!?" I put my hand on my forehead, done with their antics while Freya was smiling at them troubled.
'That's the adventuring life I guess.' During the party, Astoria was already getting drunk and singing with the bards while I looked at a mug full of beer in front of my table.
"Come onnnnn, just a single sip." The trio of adventurers actually no, only a drunk Alcor was trying to make me drink beer while the other two looked at him as if he was an idiot.
"You're above.....15 already aren't you?..you're allowed to drink alcohol...ya know." He's been saying the same points to get me to drink for the last 90 minutes as if he doesn't remember using or saying that reason.
I finally gave up and took a sip of beer. Alcor was absolutely happy to see me drink while Cy, Kinn, and also Freya who joined last minute signed and as if giving up also took a sip themselves.
Surprisingly, beer was quite cheap based on this world economy and it wasn't bad at all actually it was quite good.
I only sip the mug maybe drinking once in a while since I was trying to control myself but in reality, I was just trying to stay sober to stop Astoria from landing herself in jail again.
Eventually, most of the adventurers who stayed up late slept on top of the tables and chairs leaving Freya, me, and Astoria being the last ones standing left.
I lent a shoulder to Astoria to help her go to the second floor. "I'll leave Astoria to you...I can sleep in the small inn near the church of Hu." Said the slightly drunk Freya, I nod and saw her off before heading upstairs.
It was already late morning. I woke up in bed and immediately knew that Astoria left the room since both Astoria and I soon started sleeping on the same bed after some time.
Looking around, I saw my dark polo shirt and jacket taken off which embarrassed me quite a bit not knowing what happened.
But I also found out that my wound was gone.
I concluded that she called another priest or an adventurer to heal me.
"Guess I have to thank her."
Grabbing my dark polo shirt, I saw that it was fixed as if nothing ever happened. "Did Astoria do this? there's not even a trace that it was fixed." I thought to myself.
"I really have to thank her huh?" After taking a quick shower and I wore my polo shirt and jacket before meeting Astoria who was at the door. "Oh morning, how are you feeling?"
"Good, did a priest heal me?" I said in my notepad.
"Nah, just asked one of the adventurers."
"and my clothes?"
"By me, of course! I'm pretty good at fixing clothes you know, from the sewing hobby that I used to do." She said proudly.
"I see, well thank you." I wrote somewhat embarrassingly.
"Think nothing of it, I can't have you underperforming during adventures, also I haven't eaten yet, wanna grab some?" She asked as she turned around.
"Sure," I said after flipping a few pages back.
'Shame....if only I could heal then maybe I could have healed then maybe I could have helped him.' Freya thought to herself, in a dampened mood. 'Well I did lie to them somewhat but it was fun while it lasted, I wonder what I shoul-' As she was about to think about what to do next, a voice interrupted her.
"Morning Freya!" Astoria shouts and Freya with a surprised expression greets her back.
"Astoria! uh morning..." She said weakly.
"Ehhh, a bit weak but it's alright." After Astoria and I ordered our food, we sat beside Freya.
"So Freya any quest you want?" She asked like it was nothing and Freya tilts her head slightly in confusion. "Eh?"
"None?" Astoria asked.
"No just um, what are you guys doing here?" Freya was confused and Astoria also responded, confused.
"Why are you asking that? Were a party remember?" Astoria said, still confused.
"Huh? I'm not kicked out?" She asked and I started writing on my notepad. "This party is already full of problems, I personally think that we might need you besides we have a frontline archer over here."
"Pretty rich coming from you, backline warrior" We ignored each other's nicknames as if it was for someone else and looked at Freya for a response.
"I see well uhh thank you, then how about this-" She said with an unimaginable happy expression before she starts telling the quest that she found pretty interesting to both of us while eating.