They approached fast, gliding toward them with their giant worm-shaped bodies. Their hunger was immeasurable after having been dormant for so many years after the war had taken place.
Ellias was used to fighting low-level monsters, but he was now powerless.
The ghost woman took out another weapon and threw it at his feet. The small sword was nothing too out of the ordinary. It was a starter common weapon used by their soldiers. He took it and instantly felt the excitement of holding so much power and responsibility. The incoming threat was nothing, for he had so many years of prior experience in the game. His aura changed, and once again, the air surrounding him was affected. The aura of a fighter is determined by the goal of their fighting.
She looked again in wonder at the unexpected energy coming out of him. It was intense, and it did not seem like he could control it. His energy was wild and full of untapped potential.
"Be careful when approaching them. I will shoot them and try to impair them, but you can finish them off with your sword by cutting their heads.", she said.
Ellias looked back in front of him at the human-sized giant parasites. They were somewhat scary, but he was not alone. He closed his eyes and focused his energy on completing his mission. A greener and brighter aura followed him and imbued his sword with more power.
[PASSIVE UNLOCKED - AURA OF THE GUARDIAN]
The sound of the bow striking an array of arrows woke him up from his meditative state. The extremely fast and powerful strikes quickly took down some of the foes whose bodies were convulsing on the ground, paralyzed. There were many of them, so she waited for some of the others to approach them before signaling Ellias.
She then ran in the opposite direction of Ellias, taunting the remaining enemies to her. They ignored Ellias and chased her with all their speed. They almost got to her, but with swift movements, she evaded their attacks as they rushed to bite her.
She was well experienced in using her bow and used one of her strongest abilities. She could only use it when enemies were in close range to her, and nobody else could be affected by it. Mid-air above the parasite worms, she steadied her bow, and from the arrows, an overpowering and almost maddening dark aura appeared. The strike of the aura-imbued arrow completely annihilated the creatures under her, making a giant dent in the ground. That was the power of an experienced fighter. She stood there on top of the remains of the parasites, looking with curiosity at the other side of the fight.
Ellias took that time to get close to the paralyzed ones, and with a few controlled hits of his sword, he cut right through their heads. A dark green liquid escaped the parasite's open corpses.
[QUEST COMPLETED : +100 EXP, +10 gold
[LVL 1 -> 2]
[LVL 2 -> 3]
[NEW ABILITY : STAB]
"So we really did reset our levels as well...", he thought to himself.
He looked down and saw pieces of equipment lying on the ground. These common pieces of armor were usual to encounter after killing monsters, but now that he was in the place of a character, it made more sense to be the equipment of unfortunate people killed and eaten by the parasites. He hesitated to take the stolen pieces.
The woman rushed back to him and completely changed her mood after seeing his expression. What had made him lose his passion so fast?
"Congratulations, you fought well.", she said softly.
He was still staring at the chest plate on the ground. He lifted it up and looked at her.
"Are these from your people?", he asked.
The question surprised her, and she answered yes, assuming that it was nothing too unusual.
"So death is very usual here.. How unfortunate...", he followed, "Take it back to them as a tribute for those who have died."
She remained emotionless as she took it. She did not know how to put it...
"You know we all died once already? Things have not been the same since the war, but we can't
keep mourning on the lives of those who are now gone for good. We have to keep going... No matter what."
He smiled at her as she started tearing up. She had not felt emotions like these in a while. She once again felt it, what she had felt earlier when he had first appeared.
It was the aura. It was his nature that was bound to give her back life.
She reached her hand back to him, and to her surprise, he instantly took it.
"You have done good protecting the people you care for...", he said, "You have taken so much on your shoulder, you should not have to take all of this burden by yourself!"
The only people she had known so far were the oppressed and the oppressors. The pure love of the person in front of her was something new. She suddenly hugged him.
"This probably sounds selfish, but I see that you have the power to save us...", she said, "Will you save me, Tyra, daughter of the Lionback tribe, and bring back life and joy to our territory?"