The forest grew darker with every passing moment, its dense canopy blocking out the faint silver glow of the moon. Maggie's worry gnawed at her like a persistent thorn. Merle, the youngest and most gifted of their group, had not returned. At sixteen, Merle was a prodigy, a 7th-tier Archimage, but raw talent didn't always translate to survival instinct, especially when her combat sense was lacking. Maggie replayed Merle's last words: she had gone to patrol the opposite direction of Trina to ensure no more surprises. That had been hours ago.
The camp was quiet, save for the soft crackling of the fire. Harold and Edward, both visibly fatigued from their earlier battle with the forest specter, sat resting, while Trina had just returned with a fresh game for dinner. However, Maggie couldn't bring herself to focus on food. She approached Harold, her voice low but urgent.
"Merle hasn't come back," she said.
Harold straightened immediately, the exhaustion in his eyes giving way to concern. Without hesitation, he split the party into two search groups. He and Maggie would take the eastern side of the forest while Trina and Edward scoured the western edge.
They needed a way to communicate so Maggie cast a spell called whispers of the wind on all of them a spell hat allowed communication with each other within a certain radius.
Maggie's breath was heavy as she and Harold moved through the dense forest, the chirping of crickets and distant howls setting an ominous tone. She felt it before she saw it-a faint pulse of familiar mana. Her heart sank when her eyes caught the glimmer of Merle's purple necklace, now stained with blood. Merle never went anywhere without it.
Harold knelt beside the stone, examining it with a grim expression. "An intelligent monster," he muttered. "It must've wounded her and taken her."
Maggie didn't waste a second. She knelt, closing her eyes as she prepared a spell she had learned a while ago-Specific Mana Search. Focusing, she blocked her mana pathways and absorbed the lingering energy from the stone. Slowly, she forced that mana outward into the forest. After several agonizing moments, a faint resonance returned, pulling her attention toward a cave in the distance. But the mana signature was weakening rapidly.
"Let's move," she said, her voice tight with urgency.
Before proceeding, Maggie cast Whispers of the Wind again, carrying a message to Trina and Edward. They were informed to rendezvous at the cave.
The entrance to the cave loomed ahead, shadowed and foreboding. Two hulking figures stood guard-hobgoblins. Their grotesque forms were lit by the faint glow of the moon, muscles rippling beneath their mottled green skin. Harold didn't hesitate. With a burst of mana, he activated his signature sword art, Quick Slash. His figure blurred as he moved with the speed of a flash step. A single clean stroke sent both hobgoblins' heads rolling to the ground.
Maggie's jaw tightened as she watched. A single hobgoblin was considered a B-class threat, requiring an entire C-class adventurer team to defeat. Yet Harold had dispatched two in seconds.
Trina and Edward arrived shortly after, their expressions grim as they took in the scene. With no time to waste, the group devised a plan. Harold and Edward would take the vanguard, Trina would guard the rear, and Maggie would stay at the center, focusing on locating Merle. Fire magic was strictly prohibited; the cave's enclosed space made suffocation a real danger.
As they delved into the cave, the overwhelming darkness swallowed them. Maggie considered her options and decided to use Mana Track, a recent invention of Merle's. By tracking the mana she had lent to Merle earlier, Maggie could pinpoint her location without compromising her ability to cast defensive spells.
The faint signal led them deeper into the cave, but something felt off. Harold performed a general mana search, yet no presences appeared nearby. Suddenly, Maggie's connection to Merle's mana vanished, replaced by a powerful surge deeper within the cave.
"Let's move!" Harold barked, his tone sharp.
The group surged forward but was soon blocked by another hobgoblin. This one carried a staff, its headpiece glowing faintly. Maggie's sharp eyes caught the crystal embedded in it-a Moon Crystal, a rare and potent artifact capable of reflecting magic. That explained why their earlier searches had failed.
Before the creature could react, Harold dashed forward with another flash step. The hobgoblin's headless body slumped to the ground as its staff clattered to the stone floor.
They pressed on, the tunnels growing narrower and the air colder. Goblins began to swarm them in increasing numbers, their shrieks echoing off the walls. Edward and Harold tore through them with brutal swings, while Trina's precision slashes struck down those that slipped past. Maggie focused on her mana connection, feeling it grow stronger as they neared the source.
The chamber opened into a horrifying scene. A horde of hobgoblins surrounded a group of dazed women, their eyes vacant under a confusion spell. Merle lay among them, her usually vibrant aura flickering faintly. Some of the women were already stripped of their dignity, and rage boiled in Maggie's chest.
Before anyone could act, one of the women sprang to her feet, her body emitting a violent aura. Frothing at the mouth, she charged the hobgoblins with a feral intensity. Harold recognized the signs-a berserker skill. The woman tore through the hobgoblins with inhuman strength, her sword carving arcs of death.
Harold's sharp eyes caught the mage hobgoblin controlling the spell, its staff made of demonite. Without hesitation, he moved, his blade cleaving the creature's head from its shoulders. The confusion spell broke instantly, and the dazed women began to recover, though the berserker knight showed no signs of slowing.
With terrifying strength, the knight overpowered the hobgoblin king, her blade shattering his armor and sinking deep into his chest. As the beast fell, her eyes turned to the group. Her rage unbridled, she charged at Harold, her bloodlust unchecked.
Harold met her attack head-on but used Mana Cut, his blade slicing through her aura and severing her mana flow. She collapsed, unconscious but alive.
Merle, now awake, stumbled toward them, her face pale but determined. "I found... lunallium," she said weakly, holding up a glowing chunk of ore. Despite her exhaustion, her eyes sparkled with excitement. "We'll come back for it later… after we finish this mission."
Maggie stepped forward, holding out the blood-streaked amethyst necklace. Its gemstone gleamed faintly under the cave's dim light. "Here," Maggie said softly. "You lost this."
Merle's eyes widened as she took the necklace, her fingers curling around it as though it were a lifeline. "My good luck charm…" she murmured, her voice thick with emotion. Tears brimmed in her eyes, but a smile broke through her exhaustion. "We're reunited again."
Maggie's lips twitched into a rare chuckle, a sliver of warmth in the cold chamber. She gestured toward the fallen hobgoblin mage and its shattered staff. "There's also demonite from that mage hobgoblin. Seems we've got more than just your charm back."
"Demonite?" Merle's fatigue seemed to momentarily vanish, her scholarly curiosity igniting like a flame. She rushed over to inspect the remnants, her hands trembling with excitement as she examined the fractured staff. "This is excellent study material! And look here-" She crouched to pick up a shard glinting near the staff's base, her voice rising with awe. "Crystallized lunallium. The famous Moon Crystal…"
Maggie allowed herself a small smile of relief as she watched Merle indulge the spoils. Merle was safe. For now, that was enough.