Chereads / Tales of Zeroth / Chapter 4 - To Hunt a Mossgrum

Chapter 4 - To Hunt a Mossgrum

The afternoon sun shined brightly as the party of Rapl, Bok, Leena, Sevi, Alex, and Rico made their way to the carriages, while walking, Sevi groaned, "Can't we just take a dragon ride? It'll only take ten minutes," he moaned, leading to Alex to flick him, "Ow.." 

"Dragon rides are ten times more expensive, and it's just an hour's ride away by carriage, just take a nap if you get bored," Leena disclosed with a hint of annoyance, leading Sevi to stop complaining too much. 

"We can talk on our way there as well, aside from general information, I really don't know anything about you guys," Rapl beamed, anticipating the prospect of knowing these people.

When the group made their way to the carriage, their quest was simple, travel to a nearby town and neutralize an aggressive mossgrum. As the party made their way inside the carriage, Sevi immediately tried to sleep.

Alex, finally seeing her brother sleep, decided to apologize, "I'm sorry for Sevi's behavior, he's just not good with new people." 

The rest of the group were taken aback by this display, "Uhh… I mean, it's fine, he's just young and we're new," Bok answered, on his lap a sleeping Rico, but after seeing a bit of guilt on Alex's face, he decided to lighten the mood up a bit, "So who's the older one?" He asked. 

Alex's face beamed a bit as she answered Bok's question, "We're twins, well, I think we are," said Alex, intrigue showing on her face, "We were just taken in by an… orphanage, who…didn't treat us good." And as quickly as Alex's face turned bright, it sombered yet again. 

Quickly coming to the realization that they were poking at a pretty touchy subject, Leena turned to Rapl, her eyes wide as to send a signal. Rapl got it, smiling brightly he recited, "You know when I was younger I used to pull a lot of pranks, my mother, always being the more hot-headed one, would punish me by using wind to stick me to the ceiling, I would only go down with my father's begging."

Rapl laughed at this situation, but Leena realized something, "Wait, if your parents used magic in front of you, why can't you?" Leena questioned, leading Rapl to chuckle a bit.

"They never want me to learn magic, they told me that a life of battle is not a life I should live," Rapl exclaimed, still a smile on his face as he looked to the sky, "If they were still alive, I know full well my mother's going to pin me to the roof again," Rapl chuckled, trying just to joke around, but the stares from his party members weren't joking.

Leena stared with concern, "I-I'm sorry for mentioning your parents," Leena apologized, leading to Rapl blabbering that she shouldn't feel too bad. As Leena and Rapl talked more, Bok stared at them, smiling but also feeling bittersweet.

"I wondered if I had a good relationship with my family," Bok asked himself, rubbing Rico's sleeping head, "Hopefully they don't feel too worried about me gone for a while." The party talked about the most random subjects in the carriage, and when they finally reached the troubled village, Sevi awoke, as he rubbed his eyes, he saw the sight of Rapl putting a dagger in his mouth.

"WHAT!!?!?" Sevi shouted out, leading to Rapl trying to concentrate not to move out of shock, Alex then pinched Sevi as she looked angry at him.

"You almost made Rapl cut himself." Realizing his faults, Sevi apologized as Rapl brought out a foot-long knife from his throat, "H-how?" 

Rapl looked at Sevi a bit mad but instead of telling him off, he thought it was just a normal reaction for someone to have when they woke up, "I was very bored when I was a kid, that's how." 

While the party wandered around the town, they noticed that no children were playing around the street, and the people were looking alert at everything, finding it weird, they decided to talk to a local merchant, "Because the parents around the town are worried," he remarked, "They feared that the children would wander out of the village and encounter that rogue mossgrum." 

Seeing the impacts of the mossgrum, Rapl became personally invested in this mission, "Well, we're adventurers from Dartine, and we're here to kill that mossgrum, do you have any idea how we can find it?" Rapl confidently announced, and the merchant's face instantly lit up.

"Yes yes! Thank you, sir, thank you Dartine," he praised, grabbing Rapl's hand he exclaimed, "Our town captain can show you, just go to the main hall over there." The man pointed at a large building, but when the group was about to leave for the building, the merchant gave Rapl something, "As a small token of my gratitude, these balls will produce smoke when one throws them hard on the ground, hopefully, you find them useful."

Given five small cloth balls, and an apple for Rico, Rapl thanked the merchant as they made their way to the town hall, "So we can use these to hide ourselves temporarily," Sevi remarked as he looked at the cloth balls.

"Smoke bombs we call them," Leena interjected, a prideful smile on her face, "Entarealm's very own invention, more specifically the Lausena scientist Awai Kiare." 

"Wow," Rapl exclaimed, his world expanding a bit as he saw the product power of the people of Entarealm, "You wanna use them? Since you're an archer it'll be good to keep you safe." But at Rapl's suggestion, Leena waved her head.

"No need Rapl, I'll be safe in my own ways," she confidently chuckled, leading to the group looking weirdly at her. When they reached the town hall, Bok talked to some guards about their situation, and after a few minutes, the town captain made his appearance.

He was a man, fairly young, maybe in his late twenties, "Hello adventurers, I am Jire," he greeted them with a smile, "Thank you for helping our town out, I'll personally go with you to slay this mossgrum," Jire announced, making the party a bit confused.

"Are you sure?" Sevi asked, "You don't look too strong," he stated, leading Alex to pinch him again. Yet after Sevi's comments, the man let out a chuckle.

"Though that is true, I can still fight as good as any everyday man can," Jire assured, but as he did, that smile of his faded a bit, "And plus, I have a score to settle with that damn mossgrum," he grimly uttered, though trying not to show it, there was a dormant rage inside of him as Rapl saw him hold his blade tightly.

Kinda scared to say no, Rapl awkwardly smiled at the man, "Hehe, thanks for helping us Jire, pleasure to work with you." Sensing their discomfort, Jire yet again smiled as he tapped Rapl's shoulder. 

"No problem, now, follow me, I have a suspicion of where our prey is at." Jire and the party then stepped into the dark woods behind the small town. While walking, the whole party was tense.

"Sevi, you have the strongest perception out of everyone, so please alert us when you feel something," Bok remarked, Sevi nodded, but Leena decided to interject.

"Guys, we literally have an all-seeing eyes user here," she stated.

"Oh yeah~ I forgot," Bok replied, but the twins instead looked at Leena with confusion.

"What's a gift?" Sevi and Alex said at the same time, Leena and Rapl gave them a perplexed stare, Alex trying to explain their confusion, "Look, back in the orphanage, they didn't tell us anything about anything." 

Sevi turned to Alex with a shocked expression, "You told them about the orphanage?" He exclaimed.

"Well yeah, they're our party mates so a little bit of information about us isn't bad isn't it?" She replied, leading Sevi to dismissively nod out of agreement.

"So anyway, what's a gift?" Sevi asked Leena and Rapl.

Rapl decided that since he was born with a gift, he would describe them, "Gifts are powers randomly given at birth, it could range from being able to control things around you, to reading someone else's mind, and they all have different rarities as well."

As Sevi was swallowing all the information up, Alex wondered about Rapl's gift, "What's yours? And how rare is it?" 

Rapl smiled confidently, "Mine is the all-seeing eye, it makes me see up to five seconds into the future, it's very helpful," he remarked, "For rarity, my father once told me it was one out of ten billion." With this information, everyone was stunned.

"TEN BILLION!?" They all exclaimed with disbelief, "T-that means only a few in the world right now have it," Leena stated, but then Jire turned to them.

"Could we turn the volume down, please? We're near where it was last seen." Feeling embarrassed, the party now whispered about their disbelief, but then after they went down a small hill to a river, they were immediately silenced.

On the river, there were more than fifteen bodies, some having chunks eaten out from them, and all of them, dead, turning the running water into a stream of crimson.

"I-is this because of the m-mossgrum?" Bok terrifyingly asked, yet with no reaction at all, Jire shook his head.

"No," he remarked with a tired and pained voice, "Because of this, we have that mossgrum," he disclosed as he began to flip the bodies with his sheathed sword, the party saw the sigil of a Kendrian knight, "Nearby wars, cause bodies to flow through rivers, essentially becoming free food to those who come across it, one of them, is that mossgrum." Jire turned to the party, his face serious, "And its appetite for us children of Elios has grown." 

Sevi's hands shook at what Jire had said, "H-how long had t-this been going on?" Sevi stuttered, leading Jire's hands to shake with rage.

"It started a year ago, when an orc mother and her child were taking a stroll near this place," Jire informed, that rage inside of him diminishing, revealing his truest emotions behind his eyes, despair, "My wife… and my child," he expressed, his weighed eyes managed to produce a single tear, running down his face, he chuckled, "Heh, I thought I used up all my tears that day." 

At this moment, Rapl stepped up, he patted Jire on the shoulder, "We'll take him out Jire," Rapl promised, his eyes full of determination.

As he heard what Rapl said, he smiled, "Yeah, yeah we will." For the next few minutes, Jire and the party followed a blood track leaving the river, and as they continued to walk in the thick forest, there was an opening that the sun managed to pierce out of. Jire and the party's eyes widened, there it was, feasting on a hog corpse, the mossgrum.

Its size was immense, larger than a normal mossgrum, with its shoulder reaching the top of the trees in the forest, there was a reddish coloration on its hide, and it had a horrible, bloodstained beak with frenzied bright red eyes, this was no longer a normal mossgrum.

Immediately, without a plan, Jire's body was taken over by an uncontrollable rage, he unsheathed his blade and charged out despite Bok and Rapl trying to stop him, but they couldn't stop his ceaseless rage, "YOU BEAST!!" He yelled, making the mossgrum turn to him, its eyes igniting with a fire of gluttony, its size was so immense, even its breath moved the grass below it, yet Jire never cowered, "YOUR DAMNED LIFE WILL BE ENDED BY MY BLADE!!" 

Sensing that he was going to be in trouble, Rapl and Bok unsheathed their blades, running to the beast, "LEENA!! ALEX!!! RICO!! STAY AT THE BACK!!" Rapl yelled, "YOU TOO SEVI!! USE YOUR SPELLS TO-" But before Rapl could command the boy, an explosion sounded behind him, and he witnessed Sevi, his hands blasting fire behind him to propel him to the beast.

In a split second, Sevi was on the head of the beast, it was so fast the beast didn't even realize it, "Discharge." A blast of fire fired out from Sevi's hands, sending the mossgrum reeling, its echoes moving the very trees. Rapl and Bok were amazed by the firepower of the young boy. 

Jire seeing the beast on the ground, sprinted to it. With a swing, Jire made the mossgrum bleed, seeing into the future, Rapl saw something, "JIRE YOU'RE GOING TO GET HIT!!" Rapl shouted as the beast swung its hands at Jire, he channeled all his mana on his right side, but he knew he was still going to take massive damage, but then.

"Frozen palisade." Ice spikes produced from the ground protected Jire while making the beast stab itself. A roar of pain was produced by it, Rapl turned around to see Alex, a wand in her hand.

On the air, Sevi's hands and legs began to burn brightly, seeing this, Bok's blade began to produce gusts of wind. Together, Bok and Sevi attacked the beast, painting it with lines of gale and flame. Seeing her party fight, Leena turned to Rico, "Hey little guy, could you spit on my arrows?" As Rico did what Leena told him to do, she smiled, "Alright, let's do this." As she pulled out her bow, Leena's mana coated her arrows, and with a release of the string, the arrow pierced the mossgrum's hide, causing it to flinch.

Rapl and Jire were swinging at the beast, but with Leena's shot, the beast's eyes were directed to her, "LEENA!! IT'S AFTER YOU!!" Rapl yelled as he was sent back along with everyone with a swipe by the mossgrum, stunned, they couldn't stop the beast from charging at Leena, Alex, and Rico.

But Leena still pulled her bow back, "Alex, take Rico out of here," Leena commanded, her voice as calm as ever, fearing for her party member, Alex was about to say something, "Just go," but with one more command, she decided to rely on Leena. Alex and Rico ran, Leena licked her lips, "Alright mossface let's play tag." 

"LEENA!!" Bok shouted, Sevi after recovering, lit his hands and feet to propel himself again, but when he did, he realized he couldn't make it in time. As the mossgrum was a foot away from Leena about to hit her, she suddenly jumped, now on top of the beast, with her legs to the heavens and her bow pointed at the ground, she fired, hitting the mossgrum in the eye.

Furious, the mossgrum chased Leena as she landed, swinging wildly with its head. But like a fly, Leena was out moving the mossgrum, firing shots close range as she moved and dodged. As Leena jumped up to shoot the mossgrum, she landed gracefully, standing still like an expert dancer finishing a play, leading the furious arrow-covered beast to charge yet again, but then instead of her bow, Leena pointed at it, "Tag, you're it," she remarked, as a boy bathed in flames appeared at the side of the mossgrum.

"FLASH!!!" With a fist of fire, Sevi hit the mossgrum, redirecting its charge, "A HUNDRED FIREFLIES!!" Sevi chanted as countless sparks of fire came from his hands and it began to follow the beast. The mossgrum tried to run to avoid it. 

"Frozen land." But the ground began to turn into ice, causing it to stumble and get hit by every projectile, but as it was, smoke was produced causing the party to not see the mossgrum anymore, leading to the beast to make a surprise attack, Leena managed to dodge, but Sevi was exposed. 

With a swing of its head, the mossgrum sent Sevi into the air, the young boy was breathing hard due to getting directly hit on the chest, if it wasn't for his split-second channel, he would've had his chest ripped wide open. When Sevi landed hard on the ground, he looked into the eyes of the mossgrum, it opened its bloodstained beak ready to eat the young boy. 

Rapl foreseeing Sevi being eaten, brought out the smoke bombs from the merchant, "BOK!!" He yelled while He, Bok, and Jire were running to Sevi, "USE YOUR WIND TO HIDE SEVI!!!" Rapl threw the bombs on the ground, and immediately Bok used his blade to create a gust of wind to move all the contents of the smoke bomb to where Sevi was. A white powdered cloud filled the mossgrum's vision as Leena picked up Sevi.

Still thinking Sevi was in the smoke, the mossgrum decided to still bite down, but its mouth was suddenly cut as Rapl threw his blade for the mossgrum to bite down, "WHY'D YOU DO THAT!?" Bok yelled out, thinking Rapl just broke his weapon, but then he saw them, behind the cloud Leena and Rico were charging up. Leena fired arrows as Rico spat his venomous spit in the mossgrum's mouth and wounds. 

"I SAW!!" Rapl yelled as he began to run faster than Bok and Jire, "YOU DON'T NEED A BLADE FOR KUTHA!!!" He jumped as he winded up a punch, connecting it to the mossgrum's shell, breaking it, "GUH!" But also broke his fist due to him not channeling it, but he did his job, "GO!! ITS OPEN!!" 

"ARHHH!!!" Bok and Jire sent mana to their blade as they jumped sending their blades into the exposed flesh of the mossgrum, in a pained scream, the mossgrum began trying to shake the two off his shell, but then from their legs, Bok and Jire were held in place by ice, and as they looked up, multiple sharp icicles were being formed above them.

"Winter's rain," Alex chanted, moving her wand down as the icicles began to pierce the exposed skin of the mossgrum, "SEVI!! MELT THOSE ICICLES FOR RICO TO FILL UP WITH POISON!!" Alex shouted from the other side of the field, but Sevi heard it.

"A HUNDRED FIREFLIES!!" Although hurt and tired, Sevi sent out countless fire sparks to melt the icicles, exposing the holes they made, "RICO!! WE NEED RICO UP THERE!!" 

Only Leena and Sevi were near Rico, Leena couldn't lift the salamander and Sevi was smaller than Rico, but then, from the smoke Rapl came out, grabbing his salamander with his fixed hand, he used all his remaining mana as he coated his hands and threw Rico to the air. 

In the air, Rico saw the back of the mossgrum, with precise spits, Rico poisoned the beast more. But with constant shaking, Bok and Jire were knocked off the beast, but they still continued to battle, Bok and Jire slicing the beast while Rico and Leena snipe at its wounds. 

As the beast tried to swing at them, "FLAME PILLAR!!" Its hand was set on fire, and immediately after that, Sevi propelled himself into a powerful kick, sending the beast reeling. Injured and tired due to the poison, the mossgrum was panting, and Jire began to walk towards it.

"Denero, Saren, Gilmal, Jesse," Jire began, "Leeno, Kylin, Enis." Seeing this, the beast tried to swing at him, but a shard of ice impaled its hands, and when it tried to hit it with the other one, Bok blocked it, "My dear Kal'phi and little Cile, DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE YOU HURT!!" With an angered charge, Jire shoved his blade at the beast's stomach, "I know this will not bring them back, but this will make sure no other will be hurt by you anymore." As Jire swung his blade, he cut the mossgrum open, and while poisoned, hurt, and now cut open, the massive mossgrum fell.

Rapl, after a terrifying fight, sat down, one of his hands still broken, "Ah, what a fight." Rapl remarked, his voice shaking a bit, seeing him on the ground, Leena came to Rapl, she began to use healing magic on him.

"Good job out there," complimented Leena.

"It was nothing, the twins and you did better," Rapl exclaimed, trying to sound a bit humble.

"I mean, for someone who just learned magic a few hours ago and started adventuring a few days ago, that punch you did was some high-tier adventurer stuff," she explained as she looked at the mossgrum. "And that mossgrum… normal mossgrums are already scary enough, but that bigger mossgrum would've taken a pretty experienced party to beat.

Rapl was a bit shocked by this information, but then he began to chuckle, "Really? Then we have the potential to be one heck of a party right?" He suggested, Leena let out a small giggle at this.

"Maybe we do." Bok and Sevi began to comfort the emotional Jire, and Alex was trying to teach Rico how to high hive, Rapl and Leena stared at them, a warm smile, their first quest together was a massive success.