The first thing that met my eyes was a lush forest, tree's with a current of blue liquid flowing through and down their trunks, through my vision that liquid turned into the most condensed mana I've ever seen. no-doubt something with a mana flow that strong is a hundred-times stronger than I am.
each leaf upon those tree's glowed a resplendent and blinding green as if they were gems atop a crown.
turning my sight to the floor even the grass beneath my feet seemed brimming with energy. with shimmers and glows fluttering throughout the stems and stalks.
occasionally roars and screeches would echo out of the forest surrounding us and the scurrying of footsteps lingering in the distance.
between the roars and the earthquakes constantly shaking them the group truly felt their insignificance in comparison to the gigantic fights shaking the landscape.
as the group took the sight of wonder in, our backs virtually pressed against the portal ready to run at the first sign of danger.
but said danger never appeared as a tranquil beauty started to set in. we stood there in shock and awe for at-least 5 minutes before we started to scout the area out.
nothing but ruined mutilated bodies and scrap metal resembling broken guns and hastily put together barricades littered the area, all signs of human activity faded into a dreary death-like scene.
the hours slowly passed and after a bit of scouting the other 11 people of the group came through to join us. alongside some guests, Alice previously had unwillingly left this paradise to let the others know of the situation here.
…
"I guess all the goblins from before were living in this place" Ali said faintly. his gaze laying upon a fortress of wooden planks and dirty huts, from what Ali could see there ere thousands of building's in the area all made from roughly plastered together wooden shavings and clumps of dirt and grime. the laughter of a creature could be heard from within even at this distance from him.
"we should come back here later Ali, for now lets go back and report. let everyone know" Jamie was lying within a bush to the side of Ali each of them holding a pair of heavily damaged binoculars they found by the sides of some dead soldiers in their earlier scouting.
the two kids trying their best to stay hidden during their first time in such a forest-like environment, re-enacting their favourite protagonists in war movies and the likes. Jamie even had a few stains of mud covering his face.
the duo slowly pushed themselves up and turning their back to the presumed goblin kingdom to the south, headed back northbound to their temporary campsite.
at the campsite was around 30 humans, with more having head out since Ali only recognised 3-4 people here. heading over to Jaiden he inquired on the situation.
"while you guys were clearing the way and exploring the portal. we found other survivors in the neighbouring buildings. in total there is around 50 of us here already, with more on their way."
Ali was stunned, not expecting so many people to have survived the chaos. but even still he didn't plan on interacting with them too much. so he just patiently relayed the information on the goblin kingdom to the group and got ready to continue exploring.
when the group came back they previously they had brought along some strapped gear, not much but some knives and and clothing that was easier to move about in. Ali had a belt around his waist with two small knives strapped to it , but apart from that he was still geared in regular clothing.
"oh that's right, Jaiden? do you know if anyone has found some higher-level creatures yet?"
"I believe so. some other scouts reported some large bull-like monsters to the east, not far from us. they seemed to not be aggressive but if you want to try them bring along a full team"
Jaiden had already taken up a more managerial role among the group, alongside some people that wished to stay away from fights they are trying to learn as much from the creatures as possible.
at this point Jaiden was writing in a notebook about the goblins and wolves from earlier. alongside the environment here.
"Oh right if your going over there take along the previous duo George and Alice. they can collect all the information for me."
as they were talking Jamie went out to find George and his wife. once again luring them into more fights.
the classic 4 hadn't even managed to really leave the campsite when they encountered their first monster just on the edge of Ali's vision.
a small pitch-black pair of mandibles peaking through the overgrowth about 200 meters away, if it wasn't daytime he would never have noticed them. gesturing to the others to be quiet they continued walking forward slowly until the group was just around 150 meters away from it, "alright I believe whatever that is, is within the range of my shot now, lets see what you are. [arcane shot]"
the ornate blue bolt of mana quickly shot out of Ali's finger spearing through the forest at roughly 100 meters per second. but the creature managed to react in time. immediately dodging the second his bolt was fired.
*clack clack clack* the opening and closing of tens of pairs of mandibles sounded out from the tree-line
"whatever you angered Ali. it wasn't alone. prepare for combat" George shouted out. alerting the campsite behind them as a volley of dog-sized deep purple ants came scurrying out of the woods.
Ali quickly made his move sliding behind George who now held a large dumpster cover in his hand. acting as a shield.
[arcane shot] [arcane shot]
Ali spam-fired spells at the incoming wave but even with his damage a one-shot wasn't possible and the ants approached. a mere 50 meters away when the true volley began all the mages from the camp also firing. alongside the occasional wooden arrow.
"it seems that girl is here too" ali muttered.
"DUSK ANT WORKER! LEVEL 2" someone yelled out from the back, 'someone stole first blood' Ali thought, and renewed his efforts to get as many kills as possible in this exp wave.
[arcane bolt]
[-36]
[killed dusk ant worker level 5 creature: gained +160 exp]
Ali glanced at the notification, visibly stunned by the level difference. before shouting out in response "they are not level 2. Dusk ant worker level 5 killed, brace yourselves"
the ant wave was quickly upon us after that, and all Ali could see was mandibles, thankfully under the dutiful protection of the dumpster lid he and George were holding in there, barely.
[-4]
[-8]
[-8]
[-4]
damage numbers were piling up on Ali. a few more and he would be dead, but the wave was thinning out and he just needed to survive a little longer.
[-36]
[killed dusk ant worker level 5 creature: gained +160 exp + common item "mandible mask" tier 1]
[common item: mandible mask tier 1]
[effect: +5 constitution + 3 strength]
as Ali killed one of the last dusk-ants surrounding him, a volley of notifications flooded his vision. and a near-form-fitting face-mask appeared in his hand. taking a look at its stats before fitting it over his lower jaw. as a burst of strength filled his body and flowed through him.
taking another glance around he eliminated the remaining stragglers before looking back at his status screen.
[killed 32 dusk ant workers level 2: +640 exp]
[killed 12 dusk ant workers level 3: +480exp]
[killed 4 dusk ant workers level 4: +320exp]
[status]
[name: Ali Juxi
age: 15
race: human
level: 6
exp: 2310/5000
HP: 31/55 (+1hp60 base race)
MP: 71/150 (+2mp5 from abilities and 1mp60 from base race)
stats:
strength: 6 + (3)
constitution: 6 + (5)
agility: 6
intelligence: 30
skills: arcane shot level 3 (exp: 5120/6250)
passive skills: minor MP regeneration, lesser mana sense
equipment: common mandible mask]
"finally somewhat making up for that weakness of mine" he thought to himself while pressing his hand against the soft cotton of the mask.
Ali sat down to rest atop a corpse of the level 5 dusk ant that gave him his mask while taking a look over the survivors. some covered in tears, some covered in blood and sweat. and a lot of corpses of the fallen. "10.. 11... 17 dead people in total. one simple wave of worker ants can almost reduce a third of our forces, its not looking good here" he thought to dimly.
..
"Ali how do you expect us to survive here, when this is the situation, when you bring down a army of ants upon our heads?" Jaiden was yelling, pissed off at me and I didn't understand why.
"they were monsters stalking our campsite so I shot at them, should I have let them lurk around the base?" I yelled. furious. "if you want to vent your anger on someone, don't target me. I'm the reason we survived that I killed more than most of you combined"
"YOU ARE THE REASON WE ARE HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE." practically screaming at me. "if it wasn't for your idea to come here they would have lived". i looked him in the eyes, he looked lost, maybe someone he knew died?
"you agreed to it. we all agreed to it. this was the plan. we would hold up here and wait for reinforcements, so what if we are attacked a few times while holding up here. will we have not been attacked if we stayed out there?" i question him, he seemed so intelligent earlier so why is he being dumb now?
"enough Ali, just go head to sleep. pointless to argue with someone like you, was that mask a drop?" to which I nodded.
he sighed and sat down. "what's its stats then?"
"3 strength and 5 constitution. have there been other drops?" I ask. with all I've killed I've only seen 1 drop, unless I'm unlucky that can't be right?
"it seems the monsters only drop items when they die inside the portal, I'm not sure but we have had 4 drops from the raid".
i got up and turned to leave, finding the tent they set up for me, heading in and turning in for the night.