“As promised, here we are, once more.”
The water filtration facility lay before us in all its glory – well, the parts of it we could see peeking above the wall, anyway.
Checking my watch, its glassy interior illuminated by the velvet rays of the setting sun, it was exactly 18:01pm. The shift was technically over, although it would last a few minutes longer, until the horses were returned.
“Where to next? The Ministry, or?..”
“The safehouse. Well, technically, it has a na, but I can’t tell it to you – not until you obtain the proper clearance!”
I smirked, although, despite his tone, I wasn’t sure if Alrox was actually joking.
After making our way through the plaza, we turned left, onto the street we first ca from. Around one kiloter was all that separated from 5 hard-earned golden coins.
“So, how was it?”
I turned my head towards my temporary patrol partner.
“Working for the MIS wasn’t that bad?”
He let out a short chuckle.
“Nah, it was alright. Although.. it might be better to be more subtle when trying to recruit soone.”
Alrox’s reply was an awkward laugh, although his subsequent tone was unapologetic.
“Well, everybody knows what those types of low-level missions exist for, anyway.”
His words were hardly surprising – judging by everything I’ve seen, this job wasn’t among the extrely dangerous tasks, nor was it long and daunting.
Sure, having this high of an Awareness was probably extrely rare at this level, even for a Path that specializes in that stat, but I was fairly certain even 15 Awareness (the lowest 2nd realm cutoff) would be enough to qualify, and horse riding was a common skill among adventurers.
Basically, this was a 2-3 gold job with the rest being an MIS recruitnt ad.
“It’s not like I’m complaining. But I’m not selling my soul for 5 gold, either.”
The man atop the horse in front of chuckled with amusent.
“No need for that. If you were that cheap, I probably wouldn’t want you in my squad, anyway.”
We passed by a few people, slowly making their way in the opposite direction.
“Anywa-”
“Shh!”
For the first ti during this mission, I felt sothing was off.
I couldn’t quite tell what it was yet… Listening closely, I noticed the rustling sound of leaves, scraping upon stone, beca quieter. I could also feel..
I closed my eyes for a mont, only to notice the tides around started moving in a slightly more chaotic manner. And then…
“What is it?”
I suddenly opened my eyes, my face frozen in a disoriented expression.
It was as if a massive wave suddenly passed through the Tides, washing over , and everything else in my area of perception, and traveling farther up the street, in the direction we ca from.
“Kyaaa!”
Suddenly, a shrill scream ca from up ahead.
“Sothing!.. Sothing happened!”
Catching Alrox’s gaze, progressively growing more and more concerned, I couldn’t find a better phrase, one which wouldn’t reveal the nature of my shock. However, the urgency in my voice was evident.
“Let’s go! Hya!”
As his horse broke into gallop, mine followed.
VEEEEEE
The sound of sirens, akin to the one I heard back in that workshop office, but much louder, erupted from the direction of the fortified facility behind us. Soon, many fainter sirens joined the cacophony of sounds, most of them coming from up ahead.
“Heeelp! Sobody!”
As we passed the curving segnt of the street, our vision stretched far ahead, all the way to the intersection, near which the safehouse was located.
Well, it would have stretched that far, if not for the massive wall of thorny vines, suddenly blocking the street exit, and expanding in real ti.
Much closer to us, a horrific scene was unfolding.
On the ground was a man, laying in a pool of blood, with multiple large, finger-sized needles sticking out of his body, and ragged lacerations covering his torn clothes. A short dagger lay beside him, clearly unused.
As for the source of the shrill scream, a woman was frantically trying to get away from a horrifying creature – if it could even be called that.
Slithering towards - and towering over - its terrified prey was a grotesque amalgamation of leaves, mostly scattered around its surface, thin green vines, serving as its skeleton, and twisted and fragnted pieces of wood, floating inside the shimring green mist, which kept everything together.
Instead of legs, it used a plethora of vines as thin, disgusting appendages - akin to a hundred bright-green tentacles - to move forward.
It had no head, but its upper part was shaped roughly akin to a human torso, with two elastic ‘arms’, each one adorned by a large wooden spike, with a few smaller thorns - akin to those sticking from the fallen man - hovering beside them.
The screaming woman, roughly a dozen ters ahead, was already down, crawling over the cobblestone. The spikes in her calves, as well as the short trail of blood behind her, told the whole story. It would seem the creature didn’t want to waste more of its spikes, quickly closing the distance between them.
However, it either had spherical vision, or a sense of hearing – as our horses began to rapidly approach, it turned its head, raising one of its arms…
“Jump!”
I didn’t need Alrox’s command for this one – by the ti he uttered the word, I was already in the air. While I didn’t have Thomas’s skill, nor did this horse have the corresponding training for such acrobatics, jumping of a galloping horse was still within my ability, given the three 2nd realm Attributes.
As I rolled on the ground, I retained enough awareness to notice the horse tumbling down and rolling forward, sharp spikes piercing its front legs.
anwhile, the ember diverted his horse to the side, jumping off as well.
A mont later, I managed to use my montum to get up into a crouching position, and…
thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk!
Raising my arms, I managed to use the shields on my forearms to deflect four more thorns – two aiming at my face, two at my neck.
The thing, which I decided to dub ‘vine blight’, had already raised its second arm. However, it wasn’t pointing at – the vine blight’s target was my partner, who had already deflected six spikes on his own, using the broad side of his massive axe.
“Don’t rush! Probe it first!”
“Alright!”
My initial plan would be a little different, but, given my position, I decided to follow Alrox’s lead. Plus, as I learned from certain squad-based multiplayer gas, suboptimal teamwork was often better than making the optimal decisions in spite of your teammates (that is, when my decisions would even be optimal).
We both ran towards the abomination, with Alrox to my left.
The vine blight, realizing its thorns were blocked with ease, changed its posture – the small thorns at the end of its arms retreated, and instead, the large stakes extended even farther, reinforced by dozens of smaller vines, entangling them like sturdy ropes.
Both of us slowed down, weapons in hand – there were about 3 ters between us, and 5 more separating us from the enemy.
“ first.”
Throwing a montary glance at my companion, seeing no objection in his eyes, I braced myself, as the creature began approaching..
[Charge] !
Rather than charging directly at the creature, I angled my movent, in a way that let the tip of my stretched-out sword gently glide through the creature’s arm-like appendage.
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As for the vine blight, its movents were fluid and elastic – it nearly managed to hit in return, lunging with its stake faking forward.
However, I angled my sword to et its strike – not only did the wood break upon my blade, barely affecting its trajectory, but the green misty energy, which seemingly acted as ‘flesh’ for this creature, received a ragged tear.
Judging by the withering movents of the mist, it was attempting to repair itself, yet, it would appear the adamantium alloy turned such an attempt futile.
[Ghhhiuuuooo]
Emitting an ethereal cry, which gave off the feeling of anguish, mixed with rage, the creature fully turned toward , poised to close the 2 ter distance with another lunge.
However, that was a mistake.
Whooom
The level 3 Destroyer, leaping through the air with his greataxe overhead, covered most of the remaining distance, bringing his weapon down upon the monster.
The vine blight tried to slide to the side, raising its uninjured ‘arm’. However, the greataxe effortlessly severed the appendage at its midpoint, barely losing montum.
I lunged forward, but the thing slid even farther back, nearly touching the nearby fence. While Alrox’s weapon did sever the vines, scattering so of the yellow and crimson leaves on the cobblestone, the misty energy was only montarily disrupted, and the injury was already starting to nd.
That being said, it was clear this wasn’t a deadly opponent – even one of us could easily handle it alone, and with us together, it couldn’t even serve as a delay.
Simultaneously, we rushed at the creature. It tried to use its stakes to inflict so damage, but this ti, my sword cut the appendage almost horizontally, while on the other side, its sloppy movents weren’t much of a challenge for the Silver-ranked Path-bearer, either.
With its defeat inevitable, it tried to launch the remaining thorns, over a dozen at each side, yet my wound seed to have disrupted the flow of energy on its left ‘arm’, while the right one was pushed to the ground, since Alrox used the broad side of his axe this ti.
[Hreeeuuu!]
It let out one last screech, as the adamantium blade bisected it diagonally, causing the whole mass to collapse in a ss of vines, branches and leaves, with the green mist rapidly evaporating.
“What was this thing?..”
Finally, we had a mont to regroup.
We both turned our heads to the woman, frozen on the ground, quietly mumbling words of thanks. As Alrox reached for what seed like a potion case, hanging from his waist, his face was still deep in tense contemplation.
“This…”
As if on autopilot, he approached the woman, reaching directly towards the three bloodied thorns still sticking out of her calf.
“There is only one explanation for this.”
Holding out the frozen woman’s leg with his free hand - as the axe already returned to its resting place - he used the other one, still holding the vial with his pinkie and ring finger, to pull out the thorns one by one, promoting pained groans.
Then, he poured so of the bright-red liquid directly onto the wounds, promoting a shrill scream of pain.
“Druids. This can only be the work of Druids.”
phoom, phoom
From the direction of the purification facility, I could hear the muffled sounds of sothing between a blast of compressed air and an explosion.
“I hear so people in that building. Go there, and tell them to barricade the entrance door. Do not go outside if you want to live.”
“A-alright…”
The woman, through tears of pain and loss, managed to slowly get to her feet, as the potion, applied directly to the injury, managed to nd it faster than usual, albeit in a much more painful way.
While I didn’t enjoy watching this rough treatnt, I understood that as long as her life was saved, everything else was secondary right now.
This wasn’t a situation where we could afford to waste ti. And as such, I decided to forgo the questions burning in my mind, focusing on sothing more practical, instead.
“What’s their objective? And what are our next steps?”
My temporary squad leader took out a small tallic sphere from one of the fortified cases on his belt.
phhhssssssphhhsssss
At the press of his finger, it emitted sothing that sounded like a low his, filled with static.
“Damn it.”
The sphere was promptly returned back to the case, as Alrox turned his eyes to .
“This isn’t the first act of terror by those bastards.. but if it’s as bad as I think it is, this is the first one of this scale in the last 50 years.”
Amidst the wailing sirens, the distant scream, and the muffled cannon shots, he began pacing back and forth, trying to make sense of the current ss.
“Under normal circumstances, we would need to wait for orders from the coordinator. However, whatever they did also cut off our communications.”
His gaze turned to the barrier of thorny vines at the southern end of the street, its expansion, while slowed down, still ongoing.
“In an event of communication loss, we typically have to retreat to the nearest rendezvous point.”
With a grim expression, he looked back at – or, more precisely, at my waist.
“I don’t suppose you have any ‘phytotoxin’ concoctions on you?”
I shook my head. In truth, Sebastian didn’t even know that word, but I could deduce it ant ‘plant poison’.
Alrox’s sigh carried the air of acceptance, letting go of the faint glimr of hope.
“In that case, we should secure this street and wait for reinforcents. Even if the headquarters are besieged, those bush fuckers wouldn’t last longer than a minute. They will have a way to clear the vine infestation, too. We just have to w-”
CRASH!
The ground trembled, ever so slightly, as the sound of exploding rock and creaking steel, followed by the sound of a massive tal slab hitting the ground, reached my ears from the direction of the water purification facility.
Then, the sound of cannon fire began to dwindle, starting to beco less and less frequent.
For a few monts, Alrox and I stood in silence, looking at each other – his face slowly hardening in resolve, mine becoming progressively more reluctant.
“That facility supplies water to the whole city!”
I drew a quick, rugged breath.
Sure, I understood the importance of such infrastructure, better than most adventurers in this world, but…
“What can we even do?”
Sothing that managed to breach that facility was surely way out of our league. Moreover, why did I have to risk my life, for a city I didn’t even like that much, over 5 gold coins?!
“Reinforcents will co! Even one minute... It could prevent a disaster!”
I took a deep breath.
I looked back at all the people I knew in this city – many of whom I recalled just yesterday, in that conversation with the clumsy woman.
“Co on! Every second counts!”
At last, my thoughts wandered to the hefty rewards I received for killing that priest, and helping deal with the unexpected goblin incursion.
“Haaa…”
‘In for a copper, in for a gold.’
“I hope there’s a fat bonus at the end of this.”
It was ti to throw myself in harm’s way once again, hoping the reward would make up for the risk.
***
“Oh, Uldrion, protect us…”
“Huff.. huff..”
“The doors! Is there anything else here?! Any chairs left?”
Out of all the buildings surrounding the crescent plaza, only two were open to public access during the attack. In the lobby of the eastern one, closer to the scene of the carnage, over two dozen people found their shelter.
The objectively spacious area now felt incredibly cramped. Cries of pain, hushed prayers, and nervous whispers filled the room with a cacophony of sounds – annoying sounds of weaklings, cowering before so pathetic plant spirits.
“Hey, can you help us carry the-”
A middle-aged, burly man with curly black hair and a matching beard, approached the large, silent figure standing by the window.
One glance at the massive fra, muscles bulging underneath its robes, made it clear this man would be invaluable in helping reinforce the entrance even farther.
However, as the giant robed man turned his head, the other man’s words got stuck in his throat.
The leafy festival mask, which, for so reason, included dark glass visors to hide the figure’s eyes, fully concealed the massive man’s expression, yet the burly man, who wasn’t even a Path-bearer, still felt an inexplicit sense of danger, quickly leaving the masked stranger to his silent observation.
As for the robed man, his thoughts hadn’t even shifted to the annoying insect – after all, why would a wolf concern itself with flies?
No – his attention was still centered on the desolated plaza, where a few lingering forest elentals still andered, even after the giant darkwood blight - and its handlers - managed to break through the gate.
And, parallel to his observations, his mind was analyzing the events that led to this unfortunate situation.
The hunt was promising – having obtained an old bloodied piece of fabric, from one of the rags at the scene of his prey’s last fight, he finally managed to trace the young man’s movents, albeit belatedly.
Still, he had done his research, and, coupled with the syndicate’s information, he could tell the youth went to the Guild, before backtracking to the safehouse, one owned by the Ministry, and often used to manage the few low-level adventurers working with them.
At that point, he considered backing off, yet the prey’s sll was mixed with that of two horses, and a ministry recruit whose scent he just so happened to recognize a few years back.
Following the trail to this plaza, sensing it continuing west along the northern wall, he decided to bet on it being a joint patrol mission, which would fit the occasion, as well as the target’s level.
As such, he chose to wait in one of the nearby buildings, where he could blend with the crowd, while avoiding discerning gazes from the nearby guards.
Of course, this was a big gamble, and he would likely have to wait for hours before he even knew whether it paid off… However, a true hunter was nothing if not patient.
And, indeed, his patience paid off, as the prey, together with another Path-bearer, arrived at the plaza, at long last.
He had already prepared a plan – follow their scent from a large distance, making sure the target would never notice him, even if its perception was as good as he suspected. Then, he would intercept the young man near the safehouse, when his partner would have already departed.
Sure, after dealing with his prey, he would have to avoid the inevitable pursuit, yet three possible escape routes had already ford in his mind.
And yet, just as he was about to resu his hunt in earnest, those damn forest roses finally decided to bare their thorns, sending his plans into disarray.
Of all the annoying happenstances that plagued him those last few weeks, this was by far the worst one.
Not only did it single-handedly derail his plans, but it even put him in real danger.
Not the weak monsters – the alert level, elevated to the max, ant that this place was destined to be sward by various city forces soon enough. Well, perhaps not too soon, given the countless sirens reaching his sharp ears from different parts of the district suggested there were plenty of diversions, but that eventuality was inevitable.
Still, rather than lashing out in rage, or scurrying away in panic, he decided to stay and wait a bit longer – for a true hunter must keep his claws warm, and his head cool.
And, as luck would have it, he just happened to notice a single horse bursting into the plaza, carrying two familiar figures.
It would seem this hunt was not over yet.
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