After spending all day yesterday training I was ready to start our mission in twenty minutes. Gerard gathered The Shadow Squad at the gate of the city. Gerard gave us a quick rundown of our duty, "Your main goal is the safety of Lady Charlotte Fralwea. You may encounter bandits and monsters on your journey. It will take approximately three days to reach the border and hand her over to the Unon knight order. Your objective for today is to make it through the entry point of the Horstos woods. The halfway point is a town called Grimevale.".
Monsters were rarely heard of during these peaceful days. When abilities started spreading through everyone in the world, monsters were hunted relentlessly until most of them went extinct. Only four types of monsters remain in Foract. The Nightspawn is a seven foot tall shadow that only appears at night but the only way to injure it is sunlight. The Corpsescreamer is half a human body that crawls through the woods and when it screams it summons undead to its aid. The Soulfang is a four and a half foot tall dog that is pitch black with glowing eyes and fangs. And finally the Grievehood, a six foot tall skeleton in a cloak that has blood flowing from its eye sockets, it also wields a scythe that is soaked in its blood. The wounds inflicted will take ten times as long to heal.
Gerard continued, "If you ever have to travel at night make sure you have a light nearby at all times. The Nightspawn has never been killed and is extremely dangerous. The Grievehood will only attack if you look directly where its eyes should be. And the Corpsescreamer and the Soulfang are only extremely dangerous if there are more than one of them.".
He finished his speech and a carriage pulled up next to us. A pretty lady with short red hair stepped out of the carriage and introduced herself, "My name is Charlotte Fralwea. I am counting on your squad to protect me on the way to Unon.".
She gave a short introduction and got straight back into her carriage. Gathering the Shadow Squad we mounted the horses Gerard had waiting outside the gate. Forming around the carriage it was Arrion and Fumiko in the back. Mina and Josento were on either side matching the door. Takino, Yukiko and Emilia were in front of the carriage while I was a little further ahead. It took us five hours to reach the forest. Stopping outside the entrance to the forest I stopped and got off my horse motioning for the others to stop.
Stopping the carriage in its tracks I strolled back towards Josento. I told him, "I'm gonna check the first hundred yards for monsters.".
Running back towards the forest the first twenty yards were clear but after that there were at least twenty Soulfangs wandering around. Returning to the group I reported the information. Deciding the best course of action Lady Charlotte said, "Just go through them.".
As she wished I mounted my horse and took a closer position to the carriage. Moving forward we kept a close eye on the foliage on each side of the path. About fifty yards into the forest a Soulfang was starting to cross the road. We were making too much noise and it noticed us. It let out a soul rending howl and one by one you could hear more howls slowly resonating with the first. I ordered everyone off their horses and in defensive formation. We surrounded the carriage and prepared for combat.
In the forest around us we could see faint blue glows moving closer to us. Arrion and Fumiko had already formed their elemental armor. Joesnto had brought out tonfas and poured electricity through them to the point they were glowing. I started vibrating my sword trying to get the sound as high as possible. At a certain point the sound disappeared and the Soulfangs started shaking their heads violently. I ordered Arrion and Fumiko to start throwing fire and ice spears at the dogs. They took out ten of them before the dogs suddenly ran away terrified. Listening closely I heard shuffling heading straight toward the carriage from the woods.
We all turned to face the noise. Josento threw a lightning bolt towards it. Illuminating the forest it flew over a figure wearing a cloak and dragging a scythe. I told everyone, "Keep your eyes down. We need to leave immediately.".
I looked around and Emilia was staring straight at the Grievehood like she was in a trance. Noticing this I gathered speed and ran towards the monster drawing my sword and swung as hard as I could. The Grievehood dodged. I felt despair in my gut as I returned to the rest of the group. The monster was staring at me. The intense pits of darkness leaking blood were traumatizing to look at. I announced, "It can react to my speed. Hit it with all you got.".
Everyone instantly looked terrified but following my order Arrion, Fumiko, and Josento threw constant lances toward the monster. Emelia was sending small metal balls at high speeds toward the skeleton. Mina, Takino and I rushed in. Mina threw a punch as hard as she could while Takino disappeared. The Grievehood swung its scythe from the right. I blocked but my arms were instantly in pain. The amount of strength it has is insane for a skeleton. I kept blocking the scythe as everyone pelted it with attacks. I missed one of his attacks and its scythe dug four inches into my side.
Mina finally made full contact with its skull and shattered it. Mina broke the scythes handle in half while Josento got out his med kit and started wrapping gauze around the scythe blade and my torso. Arrion picked me up and rushed me to the carriage and ripped open the door. The last thing I remember was being sat inside the carriage.