In the city of Chandola:
A group of three middle-aged, cloaked figures—one female and two males—entered a small alley.
One of the three pulled out a blue crystal statue of a pigeon. The statue bore three complex symbols: a symbol resembling fire, a crown lying on top of lightning, and a cloak.
Taking a breath, he pressed the lightning crown symbol, and after a few seconds, a projection of the king of the country appeared before them. The three cloaked figures knelt to greet the king, and after receiving permission to speak, one of them rose and informed him, "We just found out that Princess Lily, along with Lady Arya, took on a guild request related to Plague spreaders and went into the forest outside Chandola. There was also a kid and a black cat with them."
The King held his head to repress an incoming headache, thinking his daughter's actions would one day make him bald. With a sigh, he asked, "Do any of you know barrier skills?"
They glanced at each other and shook their heads. All three had been assigned the task of following and eliminating any threats to the princess without being detected by her. Having a barrier skill was not a requirement for such a task.
"Alright, immediately find a reliable barrier skill user with the help of Marquise Hestia, and then follow my daughter. Avoid getting caught by her if possible, but if it's unavoidable, forget hiding and rescue her at all costs."
The three cloaked figures nodded at the command and walked out of the alley to meet the marquise.
Along the way, they encountered the marquise's butler, who informed them that Lady Hestia had arranged for a priest to go into the mist to assist Princess Lily and her group. They followed the butler and met up with the priest. After a bit of discussion, the priest and a kid named Aron agreed to join them. Together, they moved toward the mist-covered forest as quickly as possible.
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In the forest outside Chandola:
A pink-haired girl sat atop a tree, her hand outstretched as she muttered,
Immediately, the eyes of a group of forest rats lying beneath the tree turned pink, and they robotically moved toward the thick mist a few hundred meters away. Upon entering and travelling within the mist for some distance, the entire group of rats screeched, coughed up blood, and fell dead.
"I'm sorry," whispered the pink-haired girl, seeing them in that state. She looked up toward a large, eagle-like bird flying in the sky and let out a whistle.
The bird, with multiple rock-like protrusions extending from its wings and head, swooped down from the sky and landed beside the girl as soon as it heard her whistle. Standing around 6 feet tall from head to tail, with a wingspan nearly double its body length, it awaited her command.
The girl patted the giant bird's head, then climbed atop it. Once she was seated comfortably, the bird spread its wings and took off. Together, they surveyed the area for any nearby beasts.
As they searched, the girl heard a "coo-coo" sound from a blue crystal pigeon in her pocket. She took it out, and a vaguely humanoid image projected from the bird's eyes.
"What happened? More intruders?" the pink-haired girl asked, and the projected image nodded.
"Yeah, I can't sense their location right now; maybe they're under a stealth skill. Control the beasts around the mist and get ready. I'll lift the mist as soon as I locate them."
"Should I scare them like the previous group of adventurers?" the girl asked again, but the projection shook his head.
"Find and kill the combat class of the group. Scare away the rest," he instructed before the projection disappeared.
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Back in the mist:
Arya carried Lily on her back, and she held my shoulder as we moved deeper into the mist. The reason she was holding me was that my
A
These plague spreaders were entirely black with raven mask-shaped faces but with rat-like bodies. I could almost hear the cat on my shoulder screeching in horror upon seeing these rat-shaped beasts.
They floated leisurely along the borders of the mist, completely ignoring us as we walked near them.
"Hey, Lily, they're so close. Do you think they'd taste good?" Arya asked, glancing at the princess on her back. Hearing this, Lily gave her a fake smile and said, "Arya, stop trying to make me laugh. I'm fine."
"You don't look fine. You need food," Arya huffed and pouted, making all kinds of weird faces as we walked.
Since seeing the image of her mother after killing the plague spreaders, Lily had been feeling down, and Arya was trying her best to cheer her up. Normally, I'd add a lame joke or two myself, but my mood wasn't great either.
Suddenly, I felt the cat on my shoulder poke my cheek. I turned to it and felt a mental connection form between us.
'You okay, human?' the cat asked as soon as the connection was established, and I just shook my head.
Not having a proper damaging skill to help my team was really bothering me, and apparently, Systie could feel my frustration.
I told the cat what was on my mind, and it immediately started laughing and berating me.
'That's it? You were sulking because of that!? Not getting a damaging skill isn't the end of the world, human. Besides, unlike me, you'll get a good damaging skill very soon. Stop being a crybaby.'
'I wasn't crying,' I retorted, my irritation rising.
'Tch, whatever. At what level do I get this good damaging skill anyway?' I asked, and the cat said I'd get it by level 25. I was already close to level 23, so just a few more levels.
That calmed me down a bit, but honestly, I never thought lacking a damaging skill would affect me so much. I started looking around for any beast I could actually kill. The plague spreaders were out of the question because of their immunity to physical attacks, but maybe there were other beasts nearby.
Such thoughts kept me moving, but no matter how much we searched, I couldn't find any beasts other than the plague spreaders.
Looking at the cat, I asked, 'Hey Systie, what's this mist made of? Why aren't there any beasts?'
'The mist is created by a curse magic skill. Anyone who enters without using a defensive skill would die in minutes and then become a plague spreader,' the cat explained, causing me to pause.
'Wait, so as long as I don't stay in the mist for more than a minute, I'd be fine?' I asked, and it said I'd lose some health. 'Human, I know you're frustrated, but please don't do anything reckless,' the cat said, looking concerned.
Truthfully, I was tempted to step outside and look for any beasts near the mist's edge. I was pretty fast and had confidence in returning to the
We searched for another ten minutes and discovered there were over a hundred plague spreaders in the mist, with their numbers growing. Knowing we couldn't take them all down before the
Many of the beasts had already died from the mist's effects, and right before our eyes, they began transforming into plague spreaders.
My eyes widened as I saw that a few rats were still alive, though barely.
The cat screamed in terror at the sight, and, spooked by the sudden noise and all the frustration during this mission, I instinctively used
ding
An attack has been used while the user is under
You are inside the
You killed a level 18 forest rat
You leveled up to level 23
"F*ck," was the first word that came to mind as notifications filled my head. With
"Run toward the mist's edge and kill all the beasts in the way!" Lily screamed, pulling me back into the
But before we could take a few steps forward, a whole swarm of bee-shaped plague spreaders spotted us and began relentlessly attacking the
"I… I'm sorry," I said quickly, my face growing pale at the thought of someone dying because of my actions. Arya slapped my cheek, pulling me back to my senses.
"Hold your apologies for later, Junior. We need to escape now. I'm not strong enough to carry Lily and run fast, so you carry her," she said, placing Lily on my shoulders.
"Let's go," Lily said after getting comfortable on my back, and with a nod, I ran toward the mist's border.
'Human, please inform them not to kill the plague spreaders,' the cat said, projecting information about a particular skill into my mind.
Trapping-type Curse skill. An exclusive skill of summoned beasts (like the plague spreaders). Doesn't consume any MP. Activates automatically after the user's death in specific environments (like in Cursed Mist). The skill affects the killer, showing them the most impactful memories of their life. The killer will be trapped in the memory, unable to move until the projection ends.> I immediately told the others not to kill the plague spreaders, but by the time I did, Lily had already used her The mist around the dead spreaders shifted, projecting an image of Arya, her brother, and Lily sitting in a garden reading a book. Upon seeing this, Arya froze, and even though I tried to carry her, an invisible forcefield prevented me from moving her. Lily, too, was affected by the curse, leaving only Systie and me capable of movement. As if things weren't bad enough, I felt the ground tremble beneath me and heard the roars of beasts outside the mist.