"Please, help me."
Hearing the voice, Dylan immediately woke up.
"Hey, Charles, is it my turn already- Whoa, what happened here?"
The woman walked closer. Though her fear was clear, she seemed more afraid of something else, enough to approach their group despite being a stranger. Her hair looked clammy and wet, with the scent of blood permeating her body. Yet, her clothes remained relatively clean.
Dylan immediately sprung up to action, all traces of slumber disappearing into the flood of worry. "Charles, can you explain?"
The makeshift leaf bed crinkled with his movement, and with that, Henrietta finally opened her eyes.
"You guys are noisy! Is it time already…?"
She did not seem disturbed at all. She looked up and down at the long-haired girl, and asked.
"Are we going into action again, now?"
"Okay, that speeds things up," Charles said and glanced at the newly arrived. "First things first, who are you? What happened?"
"Ah I… my name is Nora, I… I beg you, please help me, my teammates are-" the woman spoke. A closer look indicated she was holding a small wand, its length no longer than both of her knuckles. A small emerald, the size of one fingernail, decorated the wooden wand. She showed the mark on her hand, and lines of information appeared within Charles and Dylan's mind.
[Nora Lister]
[Class: Apprentice Mage]
[Strength: 32 (D)]
[Endurance: 10 (E)]
[Agility: 10 (E)]
"Okay, take a deep breath, exhale, in, out, slow down, what happened? I'm Dylan, that one is Charles, and the girl is Henrietta," Dylan said.
She followed his words, and finally, though she was still trembling, she was no longer hyperventilating. The night airs was at a decent temperature, not hot, yet not cool enough to require any more clothing than what they already wore.
"My friends… they… got captured by kobolds, I don't know what happened. Please… please help them," Nora pleaded, tears streaming down from the corner of her eyes.
"Kobolds?" Henrietta piped up. "They're here as well?"
Nora nodded, pointing at a direction in the forest. Charles looked at Henrietta and gestured at the rock, and she understood right away.
"Alright, give me a second."
She gripped the massive rock and jumped up, her quick movements kicking up the dried leaves around them, and landed right on top, observing her surroundings.
"Yes, there's a castle up there, in the north," Henrietta answered, "This could be a chance to get some points for the game,"
"Thanks for the info,"
She jumped down immediately and landed next to Nora, who took a step back in shock.
"There's a stone castle to the north, near a cliff overlooking the sea. Was that it?"
"Y-yeah, that is the one. I think it's kind of far from here; you all are the first group I saw, so… please, save my friends!"
Before Charles could say anything, Dylan decided to speak up first.
"I'd go after we rest; this might be good for us. Remember the timer, we can't exactly dilly-dally, and besides, I do want to know the reward for that bonus mission, too." Dylan said, "In the worst case, we could escape. I think we are strong enough for that, at least, and there is no penalty from escaping."
"That would probably be dangerous, though, considering what we had seen with the manticore. If an A-rank could be that strong, we probably would be in for a beating if we take an S+ rank monster. Not to mention, it's their territory, there'll be traps, twisting passages, and such. It won't be easy."
"Neither would sitting here be, though, Charles,," Dylan replied. "I agree that resting is important, but for every moment we don't get moving, we'd be losing precious time.
"Alright, that is enough debate, you two. If you are worried, why not get stronger?" Henrietta asked.
"That is not-"
"Hear me out first. Charles, can you take out the wings you got? Just the wings, no need for anything else."
Not knowing what his partner wanted, Charles decided to comply and took the two wings from his inventory. Now that he could get a closer look, the wings looked similar to a bat's, if bat wings were almost two meters long across and half a meter wide.
"Remember when it says you could consume the wings for a boost," Henrietta said. "The wings are basically from a higher-level opponent, so the boost is quite good, but if you can't keep up with hunting that, you can hunt the lower ranked monsters."
Charles smiled, "I have an idea,"
--
After waking up the next day, they decided to hunt the lower-level monsters around the area.
They were now hiding behind bushes, observing a group of monsters that looked like a one-meter tall rabbit with a pair of antlers. There were around a dozen of them, each one prancing around without a care in the world.
[Jackalope]
[Rank: C]
[Intelligence: Low]
[Details: A minor mythical creature appearing in various legends ranging from Persian to Central American. They became extinct in the ancient past, however, a few taxidermists have attempted to pass the corpses of a dead jackrabbit grafted with deer antlers as the corpse of the genuine creature. It has no special abilities, however, its speed and its powerful horns are capable of some damage.]
[Taming chance: 30% - a weaker creature that could be easily trained]
"They're not exactly a difficult creature to kill, but they could be annoying because they run so quickly, they might escape before we could kill them."
"Let's not worry about that. Are you all ready?" Charles asked.
Everyone gave him a nod in response.
"On the count of three, two, one… go!"
Dylan and Henrietta emerged from the bushes, both ready to strike, while Nora closed her eyes. A circle was forming right underneath her feet, glowing in a soft blue light and emitting a chilly aura.
[Icicle Spear – Basic]
Spears made of ice started appearing one by one, while Henrietta and Dylan had already started slaughtering the rabbit-like creatures. The shocked monsters almost immediately retaliated, attempting to dash and ram their horns onto the sudden attackers.
"Hey, come on, a little help here!"
"Ah, o-okay!" Nora said, and stopped concentrating after creating 10 spears. She pointed forward with her wand, and the spears shot forward, piercing the creatures' midsections, before killing it. Traces of frost started to appear in the area as the cold from the spears created a thin layer of ice on the ground around the corpses.
"That's more like it!"
Meanwhile, continuous notifications appeared on their minds as they killed dozens more of the creatures.
[10 points has been awarded from the rank-C creature!]
[Joint effort has been detected, and the points has been split accordingly]
[You received 3 points!]
[You received 3 points!]
[You received 3 points!]
With each kill, the points increased bit by bit, and soon after, the forest clearing was littered with corpses.
Charles took a quick glance at his sigil, and saw another notification.
[Required points for quest: 115/1000]
[Current points: 90]
"And, we're done. That wasn't too hard," Dylan said while patting the dust away from his clothes and body. While Henrietta seemed unharmed, he had gotten small nicks and scratches when he got too close, or when the jackalopes' horns almost rammed him.
Noticing Nora's gaze, Dylan shrugged, "Hey, no worries, I'll be fine."
She nodded and looked away without saying anything more.
"It's your turn, Charles," Dylan said. Charles nodded and approached one of the corpses.
[Low-Class Support – Dismantle activated]
[2 items available]
[Jackalope Antler x2]
[Jackalope Fur x1]
[Jackalope Antler]
[The horns from a jackalope, can be ground and consumed to increase speed]
[Jackalope Fur]
[The soft fur of a jackalope, can be used to create clothing that increases speed]
One by one, he activated the Dismantle skill on the corpses. Then, when he was halfway through, a loud thumping sound, similar to a rhythmic knocking, could be heard. The four looked warily at the dark forest, to the direction of the sounds.
Another jackalope emerged, however, it was thrice as big as the ones they hunted, with red eyes and protruding fangs. It roared at the four, before moving in to strike with its maw wide open.
[Almiraj]
[Rank: B]
[Intelligence: Low]
[Details: A creature mentioned in the Medieval Arabic literature. It is said that it has the power to scare any kind of wild animal, and was given to King Iskandar after he defeated a dragon. It has no special abilities; however, caution is advised due to its increased strength.]