The rattling bones of the deceased rising from the bloodied mud hold onto her feet tightly, rising their grasp further up her leg.
These skeletons seemed to have no soul, oozing red gas from the orbs locked in their mouths and eye sockets, unlike the cold green the elf skeleton Eirdan had.
The undead creatures tilted their head sideways, as if wondering with their remaining mind what the halberdier in front of them was meaning to do in such place.
She had no security about whether the regular variant of the
Cho Jae-Hwa didn't have much choice in the matter, so she chose to take out her weapon and ready her stance. The bony hands that grabbed her from below maintained her stable, but the hesitant moves she made while pushing out with all her strength left her vulnerable to the
"For dead people, they are too strong... My leg doesn't move and if I can't get away then I'm going to get hit!"
A click of her tongue was immediately stopped for a gasp of surprise to emerge from her lack of breath as an old arrow pierces her shoulder.
Such attack did not cause a lot of damage since her armor did not let it sink too deep, but her own fragility surprised her.
As long as she could not move, not matter how much she ducked or swerved to the sides, she would be hit with an arrow or other attacks that targeted areas she could not see or defend.
Bringing the shaft of her halberd in front of her, the blade from the bony warrior's sword is blocked from going further and another arrow pierces a few millimeters of her armor.
HEALTH: 168/180
"Even if the damage is not that much, at this rate I'm going to be killed first...!"
With an impulse forward with her arms, she is able to push the enemy in front of her away, but the problematic hands that surged from the ground and grabbed her feet remained.
Jae-Hwa relentlessly smashes the end of her weapon against them, attempting to crush the fingers into dust while not hurting herself and keeping her attention on the surroundings.
Surprising her own instincts and efforts, despite each bone being nearly smashed into dust, an otherworldly grasp remains to stop her from running away. As if the hand still remained invisible to the eye, it kept her in place and slowly reconstructed itself, bone by bone.
I can't identify it! So it's not a monster!?
Preoccupied, the Halberdier looked around in search for an answer while deflecting and dodging the attacks of the warrior in front of her.
When a dubious slash cut her arm or an arrow pierced the back of her body, not only her health but also her mental suffered for she hurried and became more impatient.
In the midst of her several glances, she catches the hand of a skeleton waving around, emanating some kind of energy from its fingertips, similar to how a skill is used.
Pushing the
"It's you...!"
Having her doubts confirmed, Cho Jae-Hwa grabs her weapon by the shaft, similar to a throwing spear and in rage launches it straight to the center of the enemy, analyzing it as her body falls to the ground, now freed and ready to move.
—ENEMY———————————————
ENEMY NAME: Skeleton Operator
HEALTH: 87/100
SKILLS:
"You can heal, attack and trap me with the hands that you call roots... You're so disgusting and dangerous that I can't just leave you alone like that!"
Leaping forward, she grabs the halberd stuck into the ribs of the enemy, bringing it up with her as well.
Remembering the dangers around her as well, her eyes look back to reveal the archer readying its bow and shoot an arrow.
From the back of her mind, letting the battle instinct take over for some important seconds, Jae-Hwa rotates her torso, allowing her legs to follow the movement and by presenting her weapon in front of her body, she uses the skeleton skewered as a shield to sustain the damage.
The remaining enemies look around at each other as if distressed by what just happened.
"I was wrong. It seems even monsters know it's bad to attack allies, it seems you still have a soul somewhere. But for now..."
She pushes the corpse around until it is high in the air and hastily slams it down on the muddy grass of the ground.
"I apologize in advance but that soul, that core is too dangerous for me, so I hope you don't mind me destroying it!"
With an enraged expression, she breaks through the bones and chops the middle of her enemy's body using the axe head of the halberd in her hands, cutting the core in half.
—CONGRATULATIONS————————
+ 55 EXP
CREDITS: +10
Before the short woman could even have the slightest moment to celebrate, more skeletons started to rupture the dirt and arise from it. Several warriors and archers, even one operator was in the backlines of what was starting to become a small army.
"..." Even she did not want to leave, running away was something that was normally out of question for her, but against this many numbers and the risk of becoming stuck like before was too dangerous. Above all, she didn't want to make the same mistake.
"I guess there's no other choice!"
With a click of her tongue, she stored her weapon in the inventory and started to run towards the forest so feared by many.
Upon travelling somewhat deep into the
"Lady Luck sure doesn't like me. That being said, how am I even supposed to continue the quest? He said that Medea's sister should be somewhere in here, but even if I'm not that deep, I can't find anything that could be part of a quest."
Lost in a somewhat loud thought, there was not much to do besides from wandering around with her eyes for an answer. If she had went any deeper in the woods, there was a chance to find the Howling Den's hideout with no guarantee that it was safe, but she also couldn't just stay there and wait for a monster to appear.
As she waited, however, something surprised her.
"Help! Someone help!" Echoed through the trees, an eerie voice in pain carried by the wind. Such terror in the sound was enough to lift the halberdier up from her seat and ready her weapon, wary of what might be coming.
The plea for help continued repeating itself, mostly the same words with some variation but all of them reproduced the agony of near death.
Jae-Hwa blindly ran towards the sound's direction until the fourth scream when her feet stopped and her mind started to understand.
As strange as it was, it was true someone was screaming, but not only was it always with the same interval between screams, they way they sounded was exactly the same. Instead of stuttering or getting out of breath from hyperventilation or fatigue, or something similar, the voice of a young woman shouting for help never changed.
Additionally, there were no sounds of battle, no matter how close she got to it. Normally, there should be sounds of people grunting, weapons hitting something or communication between allies, but there was none of that, especially when the screaming was so loud now that she had approached.
A few steps further and a dense mist starts covering her vision ahead, followed by the foul stench of blood.
If this is what I think it is, I almost rushed into death to save someone I don't even know.
No matter who it may be, my life is more important to me, but I almost risked it...
As she walked carefully this time, eventually she reached a clearing where both the mist and the putrid stench of blood became stronger. To her left, a human figure was waving their hands to the sky, with the mouth open wide as the silhouette depicted and after some instants started the screaming she had been hearing.
The structure resembled a child, with thin limbs and a small body overall, but the height their head was showing was far from the normal height even an adult can manage in their lifetime.
"Is that a child? No, it can't be..."
Walking further ahead and something under the halberdier's foot cracks. Neither a stick nor a plant, but crunchy orange vines that had started to become old. Even if it was hard to see, she was close enough to notice a pile of bodies in the leafy ground with their blood dried by countless of those vines, causing their skin to be invaded by a green stain.
The child she had seen was merely a corpse, being lifted high in the air by an agglomerate of plants and again, vines, that pierced her body and controlled her limbs.
What should have been a happy child one day was now a naked being with eyes completely white, several flower buds throughout her skin and a drooling mouth that never seemed to close.
Disgusted with this image burned into her head, Jae-Hwa analyzes the little girl in hopes that she can still be somehow saved.
—ENEMY———————————————
ENEMY NAME: Man-Eating Alraune
HEALTH: 60/60
SKILLS:
"So she completely became a monster— No, it's more right to say that the monster killed her."
A strange tingling sensation ran all over the halberdier's body, causing a light headache as she looked towards the multiple dead.
When taking the enemy's health into consideration, it should be somewhat easy to deal with, since those with less health tend to be weaker than the average monster for the current domain.
However, not only it keeps sending a threatening aura when she approaches it, the amount of bodies is absurdly high.
It must lure people towards it by controlling the bodies and then... If I was less careful, the same fate would probably also happen to me.
Relieving her emotions with a deep breath, Cho Jae-Hwa considers her options. Using fire with Ignis Fatuus' temporary skill was a possibility if she wasn't surrounded by flammable material, so it would do more harm than good. The only options she had left was to cut it as hard as possible using her newly obtained skill
A step forward and the count started in her mind.
Three, two, one... Go!
With a leap, Jae-Hwa ran away from the covers of the trees and bushes, straight towards the little child being controlled.
Multiple whip-like plants obstruct her path, aiming for her feet or body. Those she could, were evaded, while the others were cut, but slowly one by one slowed her path.
Eventually it reached a point where she was forced to stop her movements and focus on protecting herself.
Every attack was as heavy as a truck, or so it felt like, although they were unexpectedly easy and soft to destroy.
"My normal speed won't be enough." She uttered to herself, letting her body be engulfed by the light orange energy of her skills. Moments after, if any outsider were present, it was as if her whole body was vibrating, becoming one with the ominous surroundings until it eventually disappears with a gust of wind.
The combination of
As Jae-Hwa did circles around it, cutting its vines and thorns, the controlled child wails in pain even though the enemy's health hadn't lowered a single point.
When she had stopped her movement, still invisible, Jae-Hwa's eyes twitched in response to the voice in front of her, halting her movements.
The entrapped child struggled to move her right arm, raising it towards the clouds that kept pouring rain uncontrollably. From the corner of the little girl's eye was a tear, going down from her cheeks painfully slow. A whisper, coming from the inner of her remaining soul and escaping through the corners of her mouth, pleaded one last time.
"Mo...mmy. Please... Help!"
The last help was so high pitched and sufferable that she could barely finish. A putrid flavor overflowed the halberdier's mouth but was quickly overlooked by the anger that pushed her to bite her under lip and bleed until her eyes seemed to get a hint of red in them.
The girl couldn't be older than eight years old, so the whole situation only made her boil even more upon finding out that although there wasn't any way out, the child was still somewhat alive.
SYSTEM!
Was all she could think about, blaming the system that operates the dungeon and let something like this happen while letting rage take over and cancel the
With tears starting to appear in her eyes, Jae-Hwa raises her halberd for the Alraune to see and panic, sending vines that just barely graze her waist.
Tears appear in the corners of the fighter's eyes, streaming down like a fountain.
As energy light engulfs her weapon, she swings her weapon down in a vertical crescent motion, using the skill
"Disappear from my sight, you damn parasite!"
Along with the girl's body that finally had a tiny smile in her last moments, the enemy was cut in half and shortly after burst into particles.
—CONGRATULATIONS————————
+ 35 EXP
CREDITS: +8
Jae-Hwa quickly dismissed the notification with her hand, not wanting to look at the system for now.
Calm down. This is inevitable. There will be more, so get used to it.
While breathing as calmly as she could, trying to calm her heart from beating so hard, she kept repeating mantras in her mind, attempting to convince herself to be more prepared for the future.
In the midst of a deep breath, a corpse appears under what used to be a
Worried, Jae-Hwa searches around for enemies, but despite her shout last time being loud enough for enemies to notice, not even one seemed to be around. The surrounding zone was perfectly secure, even if for only some minutes.
With enough care to not damage the body any further, she reaches for the envelope and opens it, right after noticing the seal with the marking of a crown and two crossed swords. For now, it would be best to not think too hard about it, or so she thought and proceeded to read the contents.
[Dear sister, how fare thee well? I was so worried about you not coming back to me that I had enough time for some fun with my betrothed.
Oh, you thought he was safe in the castle did you not?
Hmm? What's that? You thought I was gone? You thought you had killed me, your cute little stepsister? Thankfully I can still trust my potion brewing.
Not that it matters now.
If the one reading this is not my half-sister Medea Traditor, then know this: she is a skank.
Well, I knew this ever since the day we met each other as family, but I have to admit, she went over my assumptions.
She seduced the prince and then went for the king behind the queen's back, how deplorable. Apparently she is the bastard child of a fallen kingdom so she was treated worse than a slave, or so she says.
Regardless of her upbringings, we laughed and had fun together for some months, to the point where I thought I would be the evil one, but to her it seemed like it didn't matter... No, it's safer to say that our moments together were overshadowed by her weird understanding of love for the prince.
The way she saw it was as if that man was her whole world, so every time he confessed or wished for something, even without meaning it, she did whatever was needed to make it true.
It's probably because he was the one who found and saved her in the dungeons of the castle she used to live in.
Regardless of everything, it is not an excuse to do such vile things, but honestly love is a dangerous weapon.
If you want to know the rest, go to the cemetery up north and use the key that I put in
Now, if the one reading this is my sister... You really thought you could get rid of me? What, were you scared I would take your man? Did you forget I was engaged to him before you were found?
You tried to get it out of your head once you learned the prince was out of your hands, so you convinced both my father and the king to adopt you into my family, to receive some family love... But even if I was into letting other women have their way with my man, I would have expected some self-restraint.
I was supposed to be the bad one, but you outdid me first. Way to go, sis! I hope you liked my present as well and... The corpse of your dear, dear love along with this letter.
Love, Circes ᡣ𐭩 ]
Jae-Hwa handled the paper with confusion, crushing the side that her fingers were placed.
There was no doubt, the letter was associated with the main quest, but it didn't give any relevant information about the Domain Ruler. If anything, with the way it is written, it made it seem like Medea's stepsister, Circes, was just as dangerous if not more, especially with how playful she wrote despite the fact that she should have died, apparently.
With a deep sigh, Jae-Hwa grabbed the key from the corpse's pocket and stored it in her inventory.
—NOTIFICATION———————————
A QUEST WAS UPDATED
"It looks like I only need the chest now, but..."
She looks back at what used to be an alraune and the image of the little girl suffering surges on her mind, her gaze adverting for a moment.
"...I will leave that for another day. I need to rest."
The rain had not stopped. Somehow, the paper was also perfectly dry, but the cold and wet sensation in her body remained.
Above everything else, what Cho Jae-Hwa had decided that she needed now was to return to Carsenia and have a good night's rest.
—CURRENT STATS——————————
PLAYER NAME: CHO JAE-HWA
LEVEL: 8 <121/360 EXP>
BLESSING: Phantasmagoria
TITLE: Giant Slayer
HEALTH: 136/180
DAMAGE: 49 (+28) // DEFENSE: 41 (+15) // ENERGY: 30/55
WEAPON: Ceremonial Nanite Halberd
ARMOR: Reinforced Hunter's Garb
ACTIVE SKILLS:
PASSIVE SKILLS:
CREDITS: 115