Connor finally left the camp, walking along the path he was used to by now. He remembered how not long ago this place was terrifying, how the beasts, the swamp, the smell and even the people scared him, of course they would, he was a normal man at the time in a world where superhumans and magic exists.
After getting some information from Kam as he passed him, he pointed him towards the path which he should take to get to Harbor Town, it was in the complete opposite direction from where he came from.
The path was long and the forest on both sides kept Connor on his guard along the way. His new Sword out of its scabbard that hung on his waist as he held it tightly, waiting for any sneak attack.
Not long after the path started to head downwards, which was something he expected. Kam told him that the island was anything but a flat surface as mountains, hills and high grounds were common. His eyes scanned ahead of him and could faintly make out the right side of the path slowly turning into a wall beloging to a moutain while the left opened up to a cliff that led down to dense forests and trees.
"Is this a hike or something?" Connor muttered as he admired the view. The dense trees and sunlight created a beautiful image, that was until he noticed something off. In the middle of the forest down below were zones that were completly dead. The trees, the grass and even the Beasts running about avoided the area.
"What the hell is that?" In the distance Connor's eyesight could make out something moving there. Its body looked tall.. Extremely tall like a giant snake but there was no tail, its end was stuck to the ground as if it was a part of it. The head looked like an arrow head with its eyes wide open, never blinking.
AAAHH!
Connor saw the creature open its mouth wide and start screaming like a human. If he did not see the thing with his own eyes Connor would have believed that someone was in danger.
"What the fuck!" He muttered as he looked at the other dead zones in the forest. They were scattered with a wide distance between them but Connor could still faintly make out other Creatures similar to the one he saw. "Avoid those places… noted"
With a sigh he kept walking, looking around with his guard still up even with the forest next to him gone. His eyes were mostly focused on the rock wall, looking up and making sure nothing was climbing or hidden within it and occasionally would look at the drop making sure nothing climbs up and snatches him.
Fortunately, his worries hit the mark as the fourth time he looked up, a human-like face was seen peeking at him from a hole in the wall. Its eyes were milky white with pale skin.
"An undead?" Connor thought but was instantly rebuked as he saw it slowly crawl out of the hole, revealing its giant body with 8 legs. It looked like a spider with a normal human head but that changed when it screeched at Connor and its mouth opened wide, unnaturally for a human jaw to handle, the sides of its cheeks split as the mouth kept on opening until it took up to 80% of its face, teeth at the back of its throat could be seen alongside the front teeth, which looked normal.
"What in god's name is that?" Connor's eyes opened wide, starting to cast Chill Touch.
The Skeleton hand rushed towards the Creature, about to land when, to Connor's surprise, saw its head following the spell as if it could see it. "I thought it was invisible!!" He saw the Creature dodge it as the Skeleton Hand vanished into the stone wall. It looked at Connor, its head unmoving while its body started to reposition, 6 of its legs settling behind it.
WOSH!
Like a viper it suddenly jumped forward, barely giving Connor enough time to dodge. A pit appeared in the path as dirt flew everywhere, some going into Connor's eyes.
ARGH!
In that moment where he lost sight of it Connor didn't just stand there even with his eyes closed, dodging randomly, but to his misfortune a piercing pain rushed from his left shoulder as he was lifted in the air by the giant creature and was about to be flung off the cliff.
"FUCK OFF!" Connor's hand, still holding his Sword tightly stabbed into the Creature and he instantly cast Eldritch Blast using the sword. Light dimmed around the Creature's injured area for a second before it started going wild.
Connor fell on his back with a thud that made him lose his breath for a second before he quickly stood up again. "Shit!" He couldn't feel any pain from his shoulder which was not a good thing as the numbness started to slowly move along his arm, his chest and quickly spread.
Gulp!
A Grand Healing Potion was quickly gulped down by Connor alongside another purple one which tasted like rotten eggs. The numbness slowed down but didn't stop.
"I should have bought medium or grand Antidote Potions, why the fuck was I so stingy.. Fuck!" He brought out another small Antidote Potion and drank it, but the same thing happened again as the numbness only slowed down.
The Creature's tantrum started to slow down as well to Connor's horror as he saw its eyes land on him again.
SRIIIIK!
It screamed at him and started running with anger in its eyes, its killing intent even stronger.
Connor's condition was bad as his left hand was useless now, barely able to move it, becoming a hindrance as he tried to dodge while it was just swinging along with him.
BAM!
The creature's attack landed on the moutain wall and a hole appeared as stones fell. Connor cursed and quickly started casting Eldritch Blast non stop, no matter how many times the Creature dodged and tried to close the distance it would be hindered by another.
Its Screeches echoed in the area as its anger kept increasing, turning into blind rage.
Without care, it jumped in the air, sticking to the stone wall as it crawled towards him. The distance and space gave it enough time to dodge and continue its advance, making Connor sweat.
"Fuck it!" He cussed, grabbing his Sword and running in the other direction.
Along his escpae he could hear the Creature jumping down at some point and starting to chase him on the path, which was what he wanted. Fighting it as it crawled on the wall would be idiotic.
Instantly Connor turned around and started running towards it, ready to clash with it. He could feel the paralysis effect not stopping and if he continues like this he will lose all his ability to fight and become this thing's lunch.
Using his footwork Skill he dodged one of its legs as it stabbed at him and quickly returned the favor with a slash. The creature easily saw it and was about to dodge when a mystical force pulled it back towards the sword and a gash appeared on its abdomen. Dark green blood fell as it screeched again and attacked the little digestible human.
WOSH!
Connor dodged once again and repeated, landing another strike. This time activating Eldritch Blast before the sword landed and the dark ball hit the creature alongside another gash.
ASHKK!
The Human-faced Creature started wildly swinging its legs and body, but Connor jumped back, putting some distance between them before it did. He quickly started casting Chill Touch and this time it landed, before another Eldritch Blast followed.
…
Wosh!
[1 000 SE]
Connor was surprised by the amount he received, but more so when he saw something appear in his vision alongside Grim.
[Human-faced Spider: Belonging to the Archenlyte World before being swallowed by the Other World and called upon by the Ruins.
Weaknesses: Sensitive eyes - Heart located in the lower abdomen]
"What the hell is this?" Connor looked at the words that were floating in mid-air with confusion before Grim intervened.
[Eldritch Eye Activated]
"Is this my Passive?" Connor was intrigued as he read the words again. "It shows me information about the Creatures I kill? Does it perhaps save said information? And what is the Archenlyte World? What does it mean to be called upon by the Ruins?"
As usual, many questions without answers, but there was nothing he could do about it as he started healing himself. He drank 4 more Antidote Potions before the effects of the Paralysis vanished and he finally got feeling back in his arm, but it would still need more time to be completely back to normal.
Connor continued on his way after shoving the whole creature in his Inventory. He did not know what was useful and what wasn't on it and decided to take it to someone who would know.
Along the way his eyes kept moving from side to side, this time his guard was at its peak which made the journey even more tiring and troublesome. "This hike sucks" Connor walked for nearly an hour before he could finally see some smoke. The forests started to fade, turning into flat land that led to a small fenced farm. The fence was higher than 10 feet and looked fairly sturdy, but Connor knew that he could easily jump over it if he wished, which made it useful against only weak and small animals as wolf beasts could probably jump over it too.
The farm was not large, with a barn with what looked like 4 pigs outside with some chicken running around and a decent sized farmhouse with 2 small fields in front of it.
Connor expected to see the farm, as he heard of it from Kam. From what he was told this was a minor resource point belonging to the Monastery but the novices working there were friendly enough. Kam explained that the Monastery had a lot of resource points like this across the island, each cultivating, mining or manufacturing something.
"So that's the Bingleweed farm.. Kam said it's used to make a calming tea that Mages love, helping them focus on their work better" Connor watched as 4 gray robed Novices worked in the fields, 2 in each and another feeding the animals in the barn while another was just sweeping the floor in front of the farmhouse.
As he finally got close enough the Novices noticed him, but after seeing he was alone and wasn't charging at them screaming with a weapon they ignored him and got back to work. Connor walked to the old man sweeping the floor and greeted him. "Hello sir" He said with a smile.
"Hello to you too, friend" The old man had a white beard, calm but sunk in eyes and a wrinkled face. "What brings you here?" He asked with a smile.