In the northern region of Lymedia forest, Kuro came deeper inside the forest to search for the artifacts as it is instructed by the map.
Kuro slowly walks inside the empty green space and examines the surroundings carefully. She knows clearly that for some reason she has been separated far away from her guildmates and she has progressed further inside the deadly "No Passed zone".
But that doesn't bother Kuro a bit, she puts on a steward expression and remains calm. the only thing that is bothering her is...
"I am hungry...I want to drop out." Kuro mutters as she feels her stomach growling inside.
"Zyun..." She squishes her eyebrows a bit out of feeling irritated then an image of Zyun pops up in her mind.
"I know you are going to win it for sure if you participate. You are definitely going to have fun, haha"
"Fun? more like I want to give up already..." Kuro exclaimed in restlessness then takes a long sigh.
Kuro closes her eyes and extends her left hand. In a small fragment of time, she musters up an enormous amount of concentration. Her body starts to glow in deep blue and then releases the concentrated magic in the form of a wave traveling on all sides.
All the artifacts are infused with small mana, all this time Kuro was able to pinpoint them by using a technique called "Sonar". She releases a wave of magic from herself, where she can detect any form of magic hiding in a limited range.
As the wave diminishes after covering a huge area. Kuro slowly opens her eyes.
"So, I was right. there aren't any more artifacts in this area."
Kuro then pulls out a small wooden doll from her packet.
"Seriously why couldn't they choose a better item to refer it as an "artifact". Rather than an artifact these dolls look like cheap handmade puppets you can get for free from the flea market. I'm sure this must be Zyun's idea. And.."
Kuro suddenly takes out her whip and thrashes on the ground with a violent swing.
"I have been lured here, isn't it?... What a cheap trick. Oi, come out. I know you guys are hiding there" Kuro commands the preparators hiding in the shadows to reveal themselves in a bellowing voice.
Kuro turns back and examines the front carefully. "3.... no there are 5 of them..one being far away from the rest. Was I being lured here from the beginning a part of someone's plan?" Kuro wonders while keeping up a calm composure. "But who?"
Suddenly a wave of dissonance releases from the shadow and passes through Kuro.
"I can't move... this magic is-" Out of nowhere a huge fireball comes down at her. As the fireball reaches Kuro, it crashes with a loud explosion.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the south-eastern of the Lymedia forest, Fyo and Kazu stop running as they hear the sound of the explosion and shift their attention towards it.
"What was that," Kazu asked looking at the smoke slowly ascending in the sky.
"An explosion?" Fyo said in disbelief.
"We should go and check."
"Kazu wait!" Fyo desperately tries to stop Kazu who is about to run away.
"Why? it might be one of our guild members engaging in some fight."
" Do you want to die?" Fyo asked. "Listen in a horror story, people who go in the direction of danger are the ones who always die first."
"But this is not a horror story," Kazu said.
"Let's focus on searching the so-called artifacts. We don't have time to worry about others"
"But Fyo do you happen to know what the artifact looks like"
"No " Fyo then lifts her staff and points at Kazu with a menacing stare. "That's what I want you to concentrate on finding rather than putting us in trouble every time."
"Sorry Ma'am and Yes Ma'am." Kazu immediately obeys.
"Thanks to Howitzer, I was able to doze those damn monkeys into sleep."
"How long do you think the paralysis spell will last?"
"Maybe half a day. Should have plenty of time-"
Suddenly they hear a rampaging sound approaching them from behind.
"What is that," Kazu asked as he looked terrified at the huge dust coming towards them.
From the smoke, the Umpas Lumpas come at Fyo and Kazu with a loud screech.
Fyo and Kazu bulge their eyes out at the horrific sight coming on their way.
"RUN!" Fyo screams.
Both of them quickly find themselves running from a horde of hungry Umpas Humpas.
"Why the heck they're here so early? Fyo didn't you say the paralysis will last for half a day?!" Kazu asked Fyo as he run alongside her.
"I don't know! maybe they're resistant to paralysis" Fyo replies while keeping her eyes in the front in a frustrated voice.
"Is that even possible, for a monkey to, have it?"
"Is Umpa Humpas" Fyo corrects it. "Oh, I just remembered something really important, Umpas Humpas love human meats especially if it comes from males. Kazu go and sacrifice yourself for me"
"Don't say such horrible things while keeping a straight face."
Kazu puts a brake on his run and faces the horde of Umpas Humpas coming at him.
"I heard of this...if you took down their leader, the rest will be scattered here" Kazu said in a confident voice.
The same sentence he mentioned while he, Fanny, and Fyo were ambushed by a horde of goblins not too long back and things didn't end up nicely last time.
Cold sweats run down Fyo face as she gets reminded of a De Ja Vu. Fearing it Fyo tries to stop Kazu before he does anything stupid
"Kazu no..."
Kazu quickly opens his palm and lightning starts to sparkle. After materializing in the form of a spear. Kazu hurls the projectile at the Umpa Humpa who is leading them.
"Thunder spear!" Kazu shouts.
"No!"
The projectile lands at the chest of the Umpa Humpas and collapses on the ground from the shock.
"Yes!" Kazu shouts as he does a victory pose.
All the Umpa Humpas stop running and looks at their fallen brethren in silence for a moment. Then suddenly all the Umpa Humpas glare at Kazu with glowing red eyes and comes right at him with speed faster than ever.
"Kazu you dumb bitch!" Fyo shouts as she desperately runs away from the enlarged monkeys.
"Sorry. I thought it will work as last time"
"It never worked last time also!" Fyo slightly turns her head back. She sees that the Umpa Humpas are enlarged and have been angry greatly.
"Is my life going to end like this...GOD DAMN IT"
With Umpa Humpas chasing on their back, Kazu and Fyo go further inside the forest.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the smoke, Kuro jumps out with a few burns on her shoulders. She lands on the ground with her whip tightly gripped in her hand.
A ranged attack, it must be a wizard that specializes in casting conjure magic... that bastard is keeping a long distance from me...if only I could pinpoint-
Kuro suddenly comes out from processing her though as she sees a shadow falling on her. She lifts her face and sees an enormous iron-clad fist dropping right at her. Kuro immediately jumps outs before the attacks land upon her.
The fist ends up landing on the empty ground, its impact sunders the ground leaving a huge crack open. Before she could take a breath, Kuro finds herself already in combat with another opponent, from the front a bone masked guy in a black robe charged right at her with two sharp cutlasses.
She quickly picks up her whip by her left thigh. Mana surges on the whip as it rises up, by holding the other end of the whip by her left hand she defends herself from the cross slash.
Without wasting any time Kuro brings up her left leg and kicks right at the cheekbone of her opponent, sending him flying to the front.
"Oh goodness, this is going to take the time it seems"
From the shadow, an elderly goblin alongside a slender blindfolded orcs comes out. This blindfolded orc is the same orc who assaulted Kazu and others at the "No Passed Zone."
"Well, there is no need to be concerned, since we were informed beforehand about your strength." the old goblin declare in a cheeky voice.
"Identify yourselves fiends" Kuro commands.
"No need to trouble yourself to know us because you are about to die here!"
From the woods, a huge fireball comes right at Kuro in a tremendous speed.
Seeing the fireball Kuro lifts her whips to fend off the attack but the blindfolded quickly intercepts her with a dissonance wave.
"Ah... I can't swing it!"
As the fireballs start getting closer to her, Kuro starts to aggregate. Putting all her strength in her right hand she gets free from staggering, quickly she grasps the handle of the whip tightly and then swings vigorously at the front.
The fireball quickly diminishes out from powerful rapid whiplash swings.
"You certainly are a powerful mage, little girl. My heart pains to see such a young girl about to lose her life at this very day. But don't blame yourself for this it is just happened to be fate"
"Fate?" I never entrusted my life to something that doesn't exist nor there was a single moment thinking about it. I climbed through all the hurdles so far by living through countless nightmares and sufferings." Kuro declares.
"But right now, at this moment, that concept is about to change because your fate and rest of your minions is about to decide by me."
"What a cheeky kid, Goregrind get her!"
The armored Orc charges Kuro immediately in response to the order. Before he could land his enormous fist on Kuro, she dodges it with a graceful frontflip.
In the air, Kuro mutters "Spirit Dive 20%...".
Suddenly Prussian flare starts to eject out from her body and in an instant, Kuro's body is engulfed by a huge sphere made up of a Purrsian flare. The fire ball then lands on the ground crushing Goregrind with it.
"So here it is... A technique that has been passed only to the higher elven ranks, for generations...These Elves contract with different spirits and embody the spiritual power with them…. gradually they soon started to refer to it as Spirit dive..." The elder orc speaks out as Kuro comes out slowly from the blue flames.
Out from the flame, Kuro dressed in her elegant high elven robe comes out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spirit Dive 20%: Purrsian Dive Manifestation complete.