We walked around for a bit, familiarizing ourselves with the environment, so far we hadn't encountered any obstacles. It seemed peaceful for the most part which did bring a sense of uneasiness for a few.
It was possible this angstful feeling came from the understanding that it's very peaceful until it all goes south.
After some hours of walking we sat down to relax, offing our bags as well.
Alaric chose to hydrate while Rosemarie made notes of areas we had passed by, it wouldn't be easy to do this since all we saw were thick trees and shrubbery. Still, her meticulous personality would help us get by.
Belitha and I were lending our aid to Laia, she sprained her ankle a bit. That was the initial reason for stopping to regain our strength.
As we resumed our ambulation a huge bug-like creature uttered a crackling noise but it was concealed by multiple branches.
Still the sound caught Laiaʼs attention and as she stared at the mass of branches, the bug creeped out with it's bright green eyes. She immediately screamed and pulled away, as such I found her in my arms.
"Are you okay!? I've got you.." ensuring her there was no need to be scared, a few weeks ago she'd landed the finishing blow on Zerstörung. Which I do regret to a small extent. Who knows what skills I'd have acquired if I was the one to have finished him off.
"Now it's on!" Alaric mentioned.
"Looks like we found our first monster.." said Belitha in liken to his words.
Before any of us were aware, something unexpected happened.
Rosemarie's intense gaze was directed towards the monster in the frame, indicating that her attention was firmly fixed on it. From the furthest point away from the creature, she quickly and precisely leapt towards it with the speed of a bullet.
Upon impact, the place was filled with a deafening silence.
In a split second, the creature had been cut in two, leaving us all in a state of shock. The scene was depicted in a grainy black and white, except for the monster's blood which was a vivid red.
The slash from her blade was so clean only a small drop of blood stained the cutting edge. As expected from someone training for the rookie bracket in the magic sword tournament.
"Holy crap!" the look on Alaricʼs face was priceless, "Cut in half with one strike?" Laia commented whilst wrapped in between my arms.
"Amazing.." Belitha gave her remark after having barely witnessed most of what occurred, it happened in a blur.
Belitha may have been good at magic but physicals was something Rosemarie excelled in. I learnt that the hard way.
"Great job.."
She inserted her sword back into its protective covering, "Thanks, shall we?" she didn't let the praises linger.
As we pushed on, to our luck we found a scroll, the person who'd noticed this was Belitha. She'd been doing her best to observe the forest.
It was very easy to miss the scroll, but be that as it may we found it.
"Great! Let's bag it!" Alaric was the first to react.
"We did it you guys.." Belitha implied.
"Yeah, I agree.." who wouldn't?
On the flipside, Dilbertʼs team didn't seem to be having much luck, "Is this the right way?" said one of them.
"It should be... I guess," so unsure of themselves, "Looks like it to me."
As they all conversed Dilbert could only mildly smile. He didn't want to make a mountain out of a molehill, they'd find their way in one manner or the other.
A good leader was one who followed. So he preferred understanding the views everyone had before making any decisions.
Nightfall...
Thanks to Alaricʼs wide knowledge of the forest we were able to make fire for warmth.
We could easily have used magic to create said warmth by making more powerful flames but he insisted he be the one to handle this area.
Training to be a Hunter/Adventurer he had to get used to being in situations where the answer wasn't simply the use of magicubes.
On second thought, even with his vast mana pool he wasn't practical when it came to magic.
We all sat around the fire in our respectful positions of comfort.
"We're progressing better than I'd expected.." Rosemarie said with three scrolls in hand.
We'd found that much; they weren't so easy to come by.
"All thanks to you, you were impressive back there." I referred back to how she easily dispatched of the creature.
"Very true, your combat abilities are remarkable, and Alaricʼs wealth of survival methods is just as impressive." even Belitha had something to say about their performance so far.
I hadn't done much, or rather I'd chosen not to.
Before now I've been doing a poor job of keeping my abilities under wraps but it was imperative I improved at it.
With a light punch to his shoulder I said "I'd expect nothing less from a member of the Alpha male society.."
"Ha! I may have stumbled upon some muscle building and survival textbooks when I was younger, this situation is nothing new to me.." Alaric said.
That explains a lot now.
"Strange how you haven't been doing much Nyx, I expected more.." Rose uttered with a playful tone.
My face said one thing but my mind another, 'Crap she's seen through my playing the background character, I thought it was full proof..'
[>> Uh-huh, sure.. <<] even Scentia knew it was nowhere near smart.
A high-pitched, silly laugh "You're something else Mister Nyx.." Rose said in response to my silence, I knew if I spoke I'd verbally crap myself.
"I could say the same about you... I didn't expect the eldest daughter of House Lunette to converse so freely with someone like me.. It is a bit strange."
Her demeanor became one of less expressive facial features "I'm not really big on the nobility stuff, people just assume I am after because I'm from House Lunette.."
Lowering her head she muttered something that was inaudible to most, "They assume I have to be the best because of the name I was born under, and all my hardwork becomes me not doing the best I should." a common problem many children from a powerful bloodline face.
"Um.. Rose... are you okay?" Laia couldn't help but ask. She noticed her emotional state was less composed.
"It's fine, Laia. I just prefer simplicity in friendship than having my own classmates adore me, that's why I chose to be with you guys."
And Laia followed up with a slightly squeaky voice "I'm happy you feel that way Rose."
Concomitantly, "For sure!" both Belitha and Rose remarked.
They were both alike in many ways. It depended on how one chose to view them.
"We should get some rest... It's getting a bit late." Alaric knew we had to conserve our strength for tomorrow which was his reason for suggesting that.
No one was against it and to support his statement we all brought out our cot and set it gently for a good night's rest.
We weren't complacent. We all took turns taking watch and the first to do this was in fact Alaric who did longer time than any one of us.
It was very easy to tell that he was ambitious about contributing to this exercise. It was within his field of expertise so why wouldn't he be?
The next day...
We'd only just gotten up when we heard a scream, this immediately got us on alert as to where the sound was coming from.
It wouldn't take much for mana or wild sense to catch the sound clearly enough that it'd be like seismic vision for me, but the idea was to put as little effort as possible.
Nevertheless, Alaric was quick to catch the sound and went on ahead of us.
He ran briskly, proof that his physicals were indeed impressive. He was so quick we wondered if he'd used enhancements.
"Al, wait up!" I tried to call him back so we could handle it as a team.
"I'm sorry guys, someone's in danger! I have to act!"
He arrived at the location of the scream and saw Dilbertʼs team in a heap of trouble. It was a Blackulus Spider.
His teammates were already ensnared in its force field-like energy webs. It was from them the screams came but Dilbert still did his best to put up a fight.
Still and all, the fact that it had used its energy webs to form a hexagonal net-like construct that repelled physical attacks directed at its front made for a hard time.
"Mister Filum, help is on the way!"
Alaric unsheathed his sword and powered forward running at an inconquerable speed.
The energy webbing from the spinneret at the caudal tip of its abdomen went into rapid fire. But quickly enough, we can see the lad dodging in between these electrifying projectiles with precise and lightning-fast sidesteps that made him an untouchable force.
His legs gathered force precursor to a powerful leap that sent him five meters above the Blackulus Spider.
Even mid-air as he spun rapidly like a ball on descent, he could alter his directions by a minor degree to support evading the aerial attempts of the creature.
Unfolding and with his blade placed forward only one energy web projectile had grazed him by the cheek before he'd driven his blade into the head of the spider.
Right after, he withdrew his sword and performed an acrobatic feat of rotating his body 360 degrees in the backward direction. He landed just in front of Dilbert.
Around that time the spider laid flat on the ground, it was impressively bested.
Wiping the blood off his sword by a clean stroke through the air he tucked it back into its sheath.
"Hey, you okay?" Alaric asked Dilbert.
Although he was shocked by this impressive show of speed and attack power he acknowledged his question with a nod, "Thank you.." he said.
"Hey!"
We finally arrived only to see the problem had been resolved.
"What is that thing?" Belitha asked.
"It's enormous!" Laia implied.
I'd already engaged a number of this creature in the dungeon so seeing it here didn't stir up anything other than nostalgia.
Although this one was much bigger than the ones I'd fought against, maybe because it's had a lot of prey to consume.
"This is the monster that attacked Mister Filum and his party." Alaric gave us a quick rundown.
Dilbertʼs party rudely complained that we help them out of the webs which prompted us to shift our focus to them. It was in fact tiresome but I had chosen to do it simply because of it was a friend's team.
"Did you kill this thing all by yourself?" Rosemarie was the one asking.
"Yeah why?" Alaric casually stated.
"I see.." she felt a bit of suspicion, maybe Alaric had some strength he had yet to demonstrate.
Lurking in the shadows, an individual in a black cloak uttered a chant.
"Demos nedro phila.."
This spell was a powerful and ancient one, used to enhance an animal's physical abilities.
It drew on the natural power of both the animal and the demon, creating a unique and powerful effect. The results of this spell could vary greatly, depending on the animal it was used on and the power of the caster.
It was a spell that required a great deal of skill and knowledge, and was to be used with caution.
With the right caster and the right animal, this spell could be a great boon, granting the animal enhanced strength, speed, and agility.
A demonization spell. This worsened the situation. The creature underwent a transmogrification.
The creature described had a rather alarming appearance.
Its reddish-silver body was shiny and muscular, and its lower legs and arms were covered with olive colored hair. It had four sharp, tan-colored claws on each extremity, and six short spider legs on its ribs.
Furthermore, small spikes adorned its shoulder and thighs, and a mane and flipped up hair came out of its neck. Its red eyes were unsettling, as were the four small spider legs coming out of the back of its head.
Its big mouth revealed red gums and a line of tan teeth, which I found to be quite disturbing. All in all, I found the creature to be quite off-putting.
"That's not good!" said Alaric.
It had become a rank A+ monster from a simple demonization, who was responsible for this action? The hooded figure; Vania Croft.