As Willow ran in the direction where he thought he heard the scream, a game notification suddenly popped up:
[You have received a New Mission of Opportunity!]
[Mission of Opportunity: Mystery of Pavagar.
Description: There is a mysterious creature plaguing the forests of Pavagar.
Objective 1: Find the mysterious creature and identify it.
Objective 2: (Complete Objective 1 to find out).
Difficulty: C.
Rewards:
+2000 XP
+1 Skill Point.
+Double Skill Activation].
Willow's eyes widened in surprise, not so much because the rewards were basic, but because of the words 'mysterious creature'. As far as Willow knew, there was no mystery. It was a powerful evil spirit. Everyone said so. Anyway, that didn't really change what Willow believed he needed to do, and so he just threw the window aside until it disappeared while continuing to run.
Running in a forest was something Willow hadn't done for years, many years, especially on his own legs. So he had forgotten how complicated it could be. Normally, the forest floor is littered with various obstacles, including uneven terrain, scattered tree roots, and slippery leaves, and this forest was no different.
Willow dodged tree trunks and ran through bushes to maintain his course. Concentrating on this, he only realized that he had entered the monster's area when he recognized that his surroundings had become strangely silent and more opaque, with the forest floor dominated by a thick, creeping mist. Then Willow stopped running, dragging his feet on the dirt floor to brake and brushing some dirt away.
"I've arrived." He said, slightly out of breath as he looked around.
The environment had indeed changed in a matter of moments. The green of the forest had practically disappeared, and everything had turned gray and darker.
Of course, Willow remembered that Kevneth had said that the misty area was where the monster was. Willow had hoped to see the mist from afar to decide whether to go in, but he didn't get the chance.
Unsure, Willow materialized his spear to be able to defend himself and began to walk slowly, always looking around.
'Now that I'm inside the shark tank with a megalodon on the prowl, I can't be careless and run off... It seems to be quite a large area, so I'm unlikely to be attacked. I just need to take it easy and...'
Suddenly, Willow's foot stepped on something unexpected, and he was taken aback. He was in an area of the forest that seemed to be a bit more open. There shouldn't be any spare roots. Well, it wasn't actually a root.
When Willow looked down, he saw something intensely green, greener than any of the trees that were inside the mist. This green thing looked like a small bush, but with smooth, well-ordered leaves in the shape of a fringed hairstyle, the fringe of which trailed down, lightly touching the pale white forehead of a man with intensely green eyes, but which were practically pale, and an expression taken over by sheer terror that practically disfigured that person's face. It was the corpse of a man.
Willow's heart skipped a beat in shock. However, Willow was old enough not to scream at frights anymore, so he just stood paralyzed as the tip of his right foot stepped on a dark green cloak. At the sight of this cloak, Willow took two steps back because he finally recognized who that corpse was.
"Petgeon..." Willow said in a normal tone.
The cape, the green hair and the eyes... It was definitely the C-Class Adventurer with whom Willow and Aria had hitchhiked to Pavagar. However, Petgeon's face was almost unrecognizable because he was almost skeletal, with his cheeks sucked in and his eyes very deep.
It wasn't the first time Willow had seen a dead person, as he'd been to a few funerals of his father's friends and acquaintances, but it was the first time he'd seen such an ugly corpse.
"Shit, man, what happened to you?" Willow asked as he stared at the corpse.
In fact, Willow already knew the answer. The thing that had done this to Petgeon was surely the evil spirit. Petgeon's face, disfigured by fear and death, was a stark warning of what might be lurking in the distance.
Tightening his grip on the spear, Willow forced himself to take a deep breath and looked away, attempting to regain his composure. However, before he could step away from the corpse and continue his search, he heard a low, almost indistinct sound, as if someone were shouting in the distance.
"... ancient spirits, give me your strength and..." He heard a female voice say, as if only half the words had been carried by the wind.
At the same moment, a sharp crack echoed through the forest, followed by a blue flash that shone in the mist to his right.
"Someone has cast a spell..."
At first, Willow hesitated. He didn't know what he would find following that voice, but he knew that standing there next to Petgeon's corpse was an even worse option. After all, there was a predator in that forest, and he couldn't risk being the next prey.
Willow ran toward the flash, sliding through the trees, dodging branches and trunks, and jumping over gnarled roots that obstructed his path.
The number of sounds grew as he got closer, and soon he could make out more than singing. It was a cacophony of roars and muffled cries.
It wasn't long before Willow reached the edge of a clearing. To one side stood a woman with white hair and pointed ears. Willow quickly recognized Aria, and this time, she was holding a golden bow in her hands. Her face was marked by concentration, her eyes fixed on the creature before her.
The evil spirit was completely different from what Willow had imagined. It wasn't a translucent creature like a ghost, nor did it resemble a Japanese yokai with long horns, an angry expression and pointed teeth. In fact, the only feature of the creature Aria was fighting was its pointed teeth, but these were made of iron, or seemed to be, just like most of the creature's body.
This monster had all four paws on the ground, like a wolf, and was almost completely encased in black steel armor. In addition, it had a mane made of iron blades and eyes of a bright red hue that gave the impression that this was a beast that had just escaped from the underworld.
Unfortunately, Willow knew this creature well enough to be able to tell that it wasn't exactly an evil spirit but a Beast of Carnage, a Berserker-ranked monster.
In Ether Online, there were classifications for all the monsters to define them as having a rank.
Monsters from level 1 to 50 were those classified as Common Monsters, and it was normal for them to live in packs and rarely to be solitary. They were also the majority in most areas of the game.
However, there was one classification above the Common Monster level, and that was the Berserker Monster. Just like the famous Berserker RPG Class, Berserker Monsters were extremely dangerous, and between Level 50 and 100 monsters were the majority. As Berserkers were rare, rarely were more than two seen together, so there was a chance that a group of humans could defeat one, and Aria was Level 108 and could normally deal with any Berserker, however things weren't that simple...
As the Beast of Carnage ran towards Aria, the elf muttered:
"If I can be heard by your ancient spirits, give me your strength and provide me with a sacred arrow."
At the same time as Aria murmured, she held her bow in her left hand and stood with her right hand near the string, as if waiting for something. Then, a few moments after she finished her chant, a bluish arrow materialized in her right hand. Aria quickly placed the arrow in the right place, pulled the bowstring, and fired.
The arrow flew fast, cutting through the space between Aria and the Beast of Carnage in the blink of an eye with a trail of magical particles. Only when it hit the monster's metal head did the arrow turn into just a beautiful magical explosion and didn't even cause a scratch.
"Damn, did that happen again?" Aria said and had to use her elven agility to dodge a clawed dress made by the Beast of Carnage.
Willow knew that, as Aria was an elf, she was in serious pairing trouble against the Beast of Carnage, because in Ether Online this monster was also known as the Beast of Anti-Magic. In other words, it was immune to any magical attack.
[Mission of Opportunity updated!]
[Mission of Opportunity: Mystery of Pavagar.
Description: There is a mysterious creature plaguing the forests of Pavagar.
Objective 1: Find the mysterious creature and identify it. (Done)
Objective 2: Kill or assist in the killing of the Beast of Carnage.
Dificulty: C.
Rewards:
+2000 XP
+1 Skill Point.
+Double Skill Activation.]