Moving through Gilcour Thicket is an absolute pain. No wonder people don’t bother coming into this forest unless hunting for monsters and rare herbs. There’s nothing else here besides those things.
With my ssed-up leg, my progress has been slow but steady, nothing I’m not used to. Moving through forests while injured was a common problem in my previous life. So I figure I’ll be on the forest's edge within a few days if I keep my current pace up. But right now, that wasn’t possible.
I sliced my way through two of these damned bugs with my sword and sent a Fireball at the third that was charging , disintegrating the abomination. These monsters were only found deep in the forest, and I rember seeing them in my old monster book, and since I’d run out of repellent, they have been swarming .
They were called Drones and resembled giant black bees if bees were mutant monsters from hell. They charged at you like lancers with their massive stingers that were the size of a man’s arm, and once they impaled you, they pumped you full of venom while trying to bite your head off with their mouths filled with razor blades. Truly nasty beasts, but thankfully, they burned just like any kind of bug.
They have been harassing for the better part of a few hours, sending two or three at at a ti. Instead of constantly being annoyed by these monsters, I’ve decided to hunt down their nest. I figured allowing them to slow down every twenty minutes or so would only hinder in the long run, and it’s not like I can run away from them. The monster book told that drones ford around a hive that they protected. They would kill animals, monsters, or people and bring them back to the hive to be dismantled for food.
If I destroyed the hive and brought back proof, it would probably fetch a decent amount of coin while also giving an introduction to the Adventurers Guild. Starting from the bottom rungs of the guild did not sound like fun. I’ve also taken a few Dire Wolf trophies along with Forest Spiders to add to my collection, so this Drone hive would be an excellent addition.
Mmm, it seems like I’m getting close.
I injured a Drone about an hour back and let it run away from so I could track it back to the hive. I followed the sickly black blood while killing many of its brethren. It seems I have pissed them off enough to send extra troops, or I’ve gotten closer to the hive. It’s probably both. My ears didn’t need to be at 100% for to hear the buzzing of insects closing in on .
Taking them out before they reached was the ideal scenario, so I sent Fireballs blazing through the forest toward the sounds before I could even see the Drones. Most of my spells must have whizzed harmlessly by, but at least one of them impacted a monster and exploded. However, the insistent buzzing did not lessen. Instead, it was coming closer and a whole lot faster than before.
I barely had ti to throw myself out of the way before a black blur flew right past . The sound of wood splintering and branches crashing sounded off behind as I summoned my sword to hoist myself off the ground.
Damn, I just got these clothes, and you know what… maybe I do need my hearing back.
What I thought was a bunch of different insect wings buzzing turned out to be coming from a single, very large black bug. It was about three drones wide and four drones tall and just managed to unlodge itself from a tree it split in half. How the hell sothing so big managed to fly on four sets of insect wings? I’ll never know.
I also rember reading if a hive was left alone for long enough, it could produce different types of Drones. So this must be a Drone Knight. It was bigger, faster, and stronger than an ordinary Drone. And to make matters worse, it had a shield-like carapace that extended in front of it. The shield made for good armor material since it was highly resistant to impacts and even magic.
Things can just never go my way, can they?
The Knight buzzed its wings and charged at once more. Thankfully, no matter how big or fast this thing was, it was still a stupid bug. I rolled out of the way once more but not without leaving a gift behind this ti. I was getting tired of rolling around and dragging myself off the ground slowly, but I was sure this would work. Although this thing looks like a bee from hell, it will be in a world of pain if it has any kind of biological relationship to a bee.
The Knight impaled another unfortunate tree and tried removing itself from the wood. But before it could free itself, a bright light began expanding until it exploded. Of course, I was looking away from the explosion, and when I turned around, the bee monster was freaking out as it thrashed around wildly. It lost all sense of direction and purpose while blinded by the sudden flash.
With its flank to , I launched two sets of Earth Spikes into its back, pinning it to the tree with a sickening crunch. The insectoid wings stopped their buzzing, and the Drone Knight let out a death spasm as it went limp.
Good old fashion flash-bangs never fail.
When I learned about traveling actors using sothing called flash powder from a school event, I knew I had to get my hands on the stuff. Sadly it lacked the explosive power to concuss targets, but the blinding light was on par with the first iterations of flashbangs all the way back when. I made about twenty of the bad boys using earth magic housings. I heated a small mineral in the middle of the case with fire magic, eventually igniting the flash powder. Good stuff.
I hobbled over to the dead bug and sent my sword through the back of its head, I could never be too careful with these things. Killing people is one thing. Killing monsters born from whatever the hell mana is is another.
I’m convinced that mana is the reason these abominations were spawned. And it gives these monsters unnatural abilities beyond what should be possible. For example, when I watched that Dire Wolf make a spine-twisting acrobatic move in mid-air, I knew that shouldn’t be possible for a canine.
But it is what it is. This is the world I live in now, so I just need to accept the facts and learn to deal with these creatures. Of course, if I could live a life avoiding these creatures, that would be ideal.
I was thinking all of these things while chopping up the Knight for parts. The carapace shield, the stinger, and the venom sack would all sell for good coin and serve as proof for my deeds. Thanks to all my ti hunting with Dad, I’m pretty confident in my skinning and dismantling skills.
And this Spatial Storage Ring allowed to carry all of this stuff with ease. My ring was about sixty percent full of monster parts and rations along with everything I would need to survive in the wild, like campaigning gear, courtesy of House Stav of course.
I even have a bow and so arrows, but it’s kind of difficult to use one with only one hand. It was a sha. I was sort of looking forward to using a bow. Maybe the Elven blood coursing through wants to take down so monsters with a well-placed arrow.
I finished my work and let out a deep sigh as I burned the corpse to ash. The hive must be close if they are sending stronger bugs after . Within thirty minutes, I found what I guess was the hive.
It wasn’t any beehive I’d ever seen as it was just a sizable tree-covered orange comb-like structure. Drones were buzzing about as I watched from a distance. The Drones crawling around looked to be much smaller, so they were newly hatched, considering I’ve done a number on their population in the last few hours.
Welp, absolutely no point in walking over there. Twelve fireballs should do the job. The forest is unlikely to burn since it rained recently, and honestly, the world might be a better place if Gilcour Thicket stopped existing.
I took out my cobalt gladius and used it as a conduit for my spell cores. My mana pool has grown considerably over the last few years, just like Grandpa said it would. But, of course, I haven’t skimped out on training my mana control either. I’m sure my available mana will only increase from here on out. It felt good to be able to cast so spells again after such a long ti.
The Fireball cores ate my mana and grew to the size of a Human’s head burning a bright orangish-red. The Drones looked over at , either noticing the light or so disturbance, but it was far too late for them. My spells launched at a blazing speed and impacted the hive along with the handful of Drones that were outside of it. The only sounds were the crackling of my inferno, along with the sll of burnt insects.
The giant tree hive began burning a brilliant orange as I moved towards the hive. The fire would do its job so there was no point in waiting around. I’m sure all this cooking monster flesh would just attract more monsters, and I wasn’t looking to fight more than I had to.
My boots crunched a few burning Drone corpses as I went to slice a piece off of the hive for proof. My sword effortlessly cut into the comb-like structure as sticky black liquid dripped from it like a wound. But the most disgusting part was what ca out of the hive once I gutted it.
I quickly stashed my sword and grabbed the comb as I side-stepped out of the way of the flow of black liquid. Riding the black liquid-like trash down a river were bones and viscera. It was absolutely disgusting, and the stench assaulted my nose.
When I read that Drones dismantled their prey, I saw what they ant now. It was hard to tell what was what, but there were definitely a few bones that belonged to a Humanoid amongst the sea of black death. I sent a Fireball into the hole I made in the hive to ensure this atrocity to nature was dead for good.
Hopefully, these people died quickly.
I wanted to remove myself from this nightmare-filled place as quickly as possible. Whatever this sll was going to attract. I didn’t want to be a hundred miles within its radius.
—
I made camp and slept the night away. And by making camp, I ant I dug a hole in the ground near a rock with enough space to breathe and covered myself with earth magic so I wouldn’t be killed in my sleep.
This was probably one of the only tis where being small was a good thing. I’m worried that I haven’t grown all that much, considering I’ll be turning thirteen in a few months, but I’m holding out for a growth spurt soon. I’m definitely under the average height for an Elf my age, regardless if it’s the Dark or High blood in .
I digress. I’ve made good ti now that I wasn’t being harassed by fighting death bugs every twenty minutes. I’ve moved closer to the edge of the forest and should be near so towns before the end of the day. I haven’t found any other people in the woods, or at least until now.
Sobody has been following for a while now. They have been keeping a reasonable distance away from and haven’t made any moves yet. They are pretty good at hiding themselves as well.
Part of wants to attack them, but they would be able to flee from at this distance. I have the last bit of my Berserker cap and Magic Lily powder combat drug at the ready. But the other part of wants to wait.
I can’t be sure if they are a friend or foe at this point, but I have a feeling whoever it is doesn’t want a fight. If it was bandits, there would be multiple and they would have attacked my crippled self as I trudged through the forest.
If it was a Sandervile scout team there would be at least two, and they would be tailing closer. For so reason, I feel it’s an Elf following . It’s just a gut feeling but I know it’s not a Beastn since I would have never sensed them coming.
No point in worrying about it. Because here they co.
I slowed my pace and waited for them to halt . And sure enough, they did just that. “Stop, don’t move a muscle,” a female voice rang out in all directions in an Elvish accent I didn’t recognize.
I obliged and stopped moving. Even though I knew she was behind to my right in a tree, her voice bounced off the trees as if she was everywhere. If I was relying only on my hearing, I doubt I’d be able to find her. So she must be using so kind of magic.
“What’s another masked High Elf child doing this deep in the woods?” she asked.
“Another?”
She clicked her tongue in annoyance. She must not have ant to tell that bit of information. “I don’t know anything about another High Elf in these woods. I’m just passing by,” I responded.
“Then why are you so deep in the woods alone? Aren’t you a little young to be out here by yourself, kid?” the aggressive tone she had before had lessened sowhat.
“I can handle myself.”
“Are you an adventurer?”
“Not yet.”
“Are you the one that burned that Drone hive?” she asked .
“And what if I am?” I responded with a hint of annoyance.
“Then you must be a pretty strong mage if you handled it by yourself. Even though you are clearly hurt, you managed to take down an entire hive. That’s pretty impressive. Say where are you headed, kid?”
“I believe I’ve answered enough of your questions already. I don’t feel like talking to soone holding up in the woods with an arrow pointed at the back of my head. So either fire that arrow or co down from that tree so we can talk like normal people.”
She didn’t know but I had four Fireball cores prepared and ready to fire at her, I increased the width of them so it would engulf any arrow she launched at . “You… you know where I am?” she asked, unable to hide her surprise.
“Yes.”
I heard the leaves rustle as she dropped down from the tree. I turned to look at the woman, which was just as I thought. She was an Elf with ears pointing straight out from the side of her head, short blonde hair that fell to her shoulders, and cold blue eyes that swam around like ice crystals.
She wore tight-fitting brown leather pants and a green and black vest that hugged her petite fra. I couldn’t tell how old she was, but she was at least an adult. In her hand was a longbow made of silver tal with a quiver of arrows on her back. The Wood Elf stopped changing her voice as she spoke to ,
“Okay… I don’t want a fight or anything, kid. What’s your na?” she said with her hands up, sensing my hostility.
What is my new na?
“You first.”
The Elf shrugged. “Fair enough… Alce Velvetpost.”
“Voker Winterheart. What are you doing following in the forest, Alce?” I asked.
“Well, we took a quest to take out a Drone hive that killed a farr in a nearby village. But when we found the hive, it had been burned to a crisp along with all the bugs. So that wouldn’t happen to be your doing?” she asked in a much friendlier tone.
“Seems I beat you to it. Sorry, they were constantly attacking , so I had little choice. Should I… give you proof of the destruction of the hive?” I asked.
I wasn’t sure what the protocol for this type of stuff was. Did they have dibs on it since they had the quest? Or did it not even matter since I wasn’t an adventurer? I wasn’t going to hand over all the material, just the chunk of the hive I took.
“No, no…. you did all the work. It would be wrong of us to take credit for sothing we didn’t do,” she said, waving her hands defensively.
“We?” I asked.
“Yes, my team and I took on the quest.”
“I see…”
“You never did say why you were in the woods? Are you really just passing through?”
“Yes, I prefer traveling in the forest, regardless of the danger,” I said.
She smiled at my words. “Never thought I would hear a High Elf saying that. And where are you headed, Mr. Voker Winterheart?”
“Luminar.”
“Well, it seems the forest has brought us together in more ways than one. My group and I are also heading to Luminar. Say… would you like to accompany us? You don’t have to, but traveling in a group is much safer than being alone. And we could always use a mage’s firepower in our party, no pun intended…” she said awkwardly.
“You would have join you? I’m a masked stranger that you just t in the woods? Aren’t you at least sowhat apprehensive about ?”
“I never said I trusted you completely or anything… but you said you weren’t an adventurer yet, which ans you want to be one, right? And besides, I can’t imagine soone who took out a Drone hive by themselves without even understanding what they would get in return is a bad person,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. “The way I see it, you can travel with us for a bit, and if things work out, then they work out, and if they don’t, then well, they don’t. Besides, I believe the Mother of the Forest brought us together for a reason. So what do you say, Voker?” she asked while extending her hand.
Mother of the Forest? It must be so kind of Wood Elf deity that I’m unfamiliar with.
Thankfully by chance, she extended a hand I could shake since I had been hiding my missing one just in case. But should I accept her offer? I don’t see why not. I’m in need of a good night’s rest where I don’t have to worry about a monster attacking in my sleep. And she seems like a nice enough person. Alce and her crew might even be able to help beco an adventurer or at least explain how things work.
I shook her hand/ “Sure, why not. Not looking over my shoulder for a change sounds refreshing.”
And with that, Alce led to where her party awaited her return.
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