MOR-01. Warrior Of Mist, page 13
part #1 of Mists Of Redemption Series
My hands tightened on my bowl, and I took a deep breath, trying not to squirm under their gazes. Don’t show weakness, I reminded myself. Don’t let them get to you.
I sat down at one end of the table and focused on eating my oatmeal while keeping my expression as unaffected as possible.
“Hey,” a guy sitting a couple chairs over put his elbow on the table and openly stared at me. “Did you really go crazy and stab Leticia’s door yesterday?”
Ah, that’s what the gawking was about. Well, I guess it was out of the ordinary for the weakest Hunter to attack one of the strongest here. God, I hoped none of them caused trouble for me just to get closer to Leticia. I looked at him like it was no big deal and simply answered, “Yes.”
His brows shot upward, nearly touching the brown fringe of his hairline. The Hunter beside him snickered under his breath while the brown-haired one snorted and shook his head. “You’re insane, provoking that woman. Watch your back, that’s all I can say. She doesn’t work alone.”
Henry cleared his throat loudly from the kitchen. “If you’re done eating, be sure to bring your dishes over.” He stared pointedly at the brown-haired guy.
The younger man’s mouth wrinkled, and he shoved his last few bites in his mouth. He picked up his stuff and brought it to the sink without complaint, then grabbed a lunch bag off the counter and left.
Most of the other Hunters went back to their meals, but others still continued to stare at me as if they wanted to see if I was going to freak out. Determined to let them down, I calmly ate my breakfast and put my bowl away.
“I’ve already talked to her,” Henry muttered under his breath. “Don’t stress over it.”
As if talking to Leticia would fix the problem. No, my little blowup yesterday just blew things out of proportion and, according to the warning I’d been given while walking down the hall upstairs, I was going to suffer some consequences. Would something happen in Gate Vale?
I picked up my lunch and smiled at Henry. “I won’t.”
There were more important things to do than stress—like complete the daily task and work on getting stronger. I just hoped I would be strong enough to handle whatever Leticia might be planning by the time it happened.
With a quick goodbye, I left the kitchen.
As I trudged down the hall to the front door, steps on the stairs caused me to look up. Two older girls stared at me like jungle cats, ready to pounce. At a glance, I recognized them as Leticia’s posse. Just like their leader, their armor was covered in rhinestones and sparkling stitches. It was a look popular with young women, and it looked good when it was done right. But as Es, the two obviously didn’t have the income to pull off the look. They just looked tacky.
Tacky or not, their stares sent a chill—like the one I’d felt in the hall—sweeping through my body. I lengthened my stride and walked out the door, slamming it behind me.
They were going to come after me; I knew it.
I hurried to the tram, catching it as it left the station.
All was fair in the Gate, but that was only if Leticia and her posse could find me. If I could put distance between us, then the odds of them getting to me later would be lower. Luckily, it didn’t look like anyone was following me yet. If Leticia did anything to me the day after we’d had a row, it would be pretty damning, even if there wasn’t a lot of evidence.
For once, I didn’t look for a group to follow but entered the Gate all by myself. I was still weak enough that I could use the protection, but how would I explain myself if someone saw the carcass of a monster disappear? Or how would I handle the reaction of the other Hunters if someone saw me destroy an energy crystal? If I thought my reputation was bad now, I didn’t even want to think of what it would be like if I was labeled a crystal breaker. After all, the entire world was powered by those shiny stones.
My task was simply to destroy three energy crystals. I could choose wherever I wanted to go—I chose to return to Edmond Woods. It was so early in the morning that most of the monsters wouldn’t have been cleared out yet. The timing was good and bad at the same time.
I found a Vale wolf pretty fast. Unfortunately, a much stronger steel tiger came by before I could finish the kill, and in the end, I had to run away. Monsters instinctively attacked the weakest creature around them, so the steel tiger stayed to eat the Vale wolf while I escaped.
The System flashed a message at me. [Your kill was stolen. +0 EXP]
Was it mocking me?
I slowed down and leaned against a tree, puffing for air.
“Gee, thanks,” I muttered and leaned back, tipping my head against the trunk. Now I had to find another Vale wolf. At least I’d only lost a couple HP in that encounter; my new arm bracers made a world of difference.
I took a deep breath and got ready to move.
“Are you sure she went this way?”
I froze. The female voice was undeniably familiar. I’d never learned her name, but I’d seen her face at the hostel for the last year.
“That’s what those guys said,” another girl spoke, also from the hostel.
Carefully, I leaned around the tree and peeked. Sure enough, they were the girls from the stairs this morning—Leticia’s posse. So they weren’t going to let me go, after all. At least they didn’t seem like they knew where I was, just what location I was in.
The girls looked around then huffed and started walking in the opposite direction.
I waited until they were gone before I ran the other way. It was time to change locations. I didn’t want to be seen by other Hunters, but maybe the tall grass in the Golden Meadows would give me enough cover.
Just before exiting the woods, I ran into another Vale wolf. Determined, I put everything I had into a quick kill. Since I knew I was being hunted by more than just monsters, I really needed to get out of there.
I was breathing heavily by the time the wolf dropped to the ground, and as quickly as I could, I collected the wolf pelt into my Items Bag and shattered the crystal. There was a giant bruise on my leg, and I couldn’t keep from limping as I walked away, but I was otherwise okay.
I’d barely gone a couple feet when I felt something to my right. As I turned, acid-green liquid flew at me. I moved out of the way, and it landed on the ground where I was standing. Instantly, the puddle started to smoke and boil as the liquid sank into the dirt.
“What the?” I looked up and froze.
A thick, short snake hung from a tree branch. Its pink mouth still gaped open, showing off long fangs. Above its head read: [Acid Spitter Lv3. Warning: Poisonous.]
Sometimes, the names of these monsters were just a little too literal. I didn’t even have to guess what was going on when a fleshy tube in the back of the snake’s throat contorted and another stream of green liquid gushed out.
I dodged to the side and heard the ground sizzle behind me. I was in a hurry, but that didn’t mean I was going to run away now. I might not be ready to take on the girls hunting me, but I wanted to see how I would fare against a level three snake.
I gripped my kindjal and lunged at it.
Five minutes later, the snake dropped to the ground, and a joyful ding echoed in my ears.
[You have Leveled Up!]
At the same time, three orbs appeared next to the carcass. I gaped at them, shocked. I never thought I’d get so much from one little—albeit pain-in-the-ass—snake. But it also raised a problem. My Items Bag only held ten items. When I added those, it would be more than half full. If the next monster I killed dropped three items, I’d have to carry things in my arms. That just screamed rob me! I needed to get another Items Bag soon.
Quickly, I assigned my status points then collected a snake fang, a snakeskin, and a drop of poison. With a quick slash, the energy crystal exploded, and the carcass faded away. Breathing heavily, I limped away, sporting a burn on my arm and hip. The bruise on my leg was aching more than ever.
There was a patch of grass next to the Gate that I could sit down on and rest for a while to eat an early lunch. With my newfound Regen ability, a lunch break would give me enough time to heal before going after my last monster. And since I was in the open, if those girls did find me, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to me. A smile pulled at my lips as I hobbled along.
I’ve got this.
Jynn Devhro
Rank E Level 3
EXP to Next Level 23
HP 15/12 Stat Points 0
MP 13/32
Strength 13 (+10) Agility 13
Magic 10 Perception 14
Constitution 12 (+10) Intelligence 10
Skills Abilities
[???] Regen (Limited)
[???]
CHAPTER 19
[You have Leveled Up!]
I shifted back. Breathing heavily, I looked at the message. The kindjal vanished from my hand as I focused on the Stats page and distributed the bonus points.
In the week since my row with Leticia, life had become pretty monotonous. I’d get up in the morning, sneak out of the hostel before the other girls could find me, then wander around the Gate looking for monsters. Unfortunately, Leticia’s posse was getting harder and harder to avoid, especially since Leticia got out of detention yesterday. I thought it was odd that she hadn’t come for me yet. Well, now I knew why.
The good thing was that I made it to level five while she was gone. With each level I gained, I got less and less injured, and my moves became faster and stronger. I found that the daily tasks didn’t always give me prizes, but yesterday, it surprised me with a Quick Hit skill.
After I gained Quick Hit, I thought it was the mystery skill in my page, but I was wrong. The original [???] still remained. Even more confusing, another mystery skill had appeared beneath it after I’d picked up the drop of snake venom from a week ago. The odd thing about that was, I knew I’d picked up the venom, but it wasn’t in my Items Bag when I went to sell it. It had vanished, leaving a killer question in its place. Where did it go?
Still thinking about it, I collected the drop items—a wolf fang and pelt—and watched the wolf disappear. If only I could find another acid spitter, maybe I could clear up the mystery, but I’d been all over Edmond Woods and hadn’t found one yet.
My train of thought crashed when a System message popped up in my face.
[Daily Task: Defeat three Preta-Squirrels by the end of the day.]
“Preta-squirrels?” I’d never even heard of them before.
Frowning, I opened up the Monster Manual and scanned the list. Once I found the name, I opened up the page.
I hissed out a curse that would have made my aunt scowl. “Seriously? I have to kill three of these?”
It wasn’t until I saw their nickname that I figured out what they were. Their common name was ghost biters, which was a lot more literal. They were corporeal flying squirrels, hell-bent on making anything that moved suffer their tiny wrath. The monsters themselves weren’t such a problem—I was sure I could handle them at my level. The problem was where they lived.
The Fogmire was famous for the treants that lived there. The living monster trees were nearly impossible to detect, since they blended in with actual trees, and the continual heavy fog made it all the harder to see them. With an attack range of almost twenty feet, even C-ranked Hunters came out of that bog with injuries.
My stomach tightened painfully, but I took a deep breath and forced my body to relax.
It’s fine. The System wasn’t asking me to take on a treant. If I could avoid them, killing the preta-squirrels wouldn’t be a problem. Heh, right. Avoid the creepy monster trees I can’t see.
I slapped my cheeks, not letting my thoughts drop down that black hole. Pulling up the Gate Vale map, I started to jog out of Edmond Woods. I just needed to take the trail through Golden Meadows straight to Fogmire.
Of course, nothing ever happened that easily for me. Halfway through the Golden Meadows, I slowed to a walk so I didn’t use all my energy. The tall yellow grass whispered in the light breeze, each stalk flashing gold in the bright light. Charmed, I couldn’t resist reaching out to touch the soft bristles on the top of a stalk.
“There she is!” The shrill yell was faint behind me, but loud enough that it reached my ears.
I jumped and looked over my shoulder.
Leticia and her two followers were running down the path, their scowls focused on me.
“Shit!” I took off running as fast as I could.
The golden grass was nearly four feet tall. If they dragged me in, no one would see anything. It would be all too easy for them to leave me injured enough to fall under the next monster which came along. Unfortunately, I just didn’t think I was strong enough to take on all three girls at the same time.
Come on, I thought. I just needed another Hunter to pop out of the tall grass. As long as there was a witness, Leticia would have to leave.
Of course, it never happened.
My Agility and Strength stats had gone up, but the other girls were still faster than me. Even running as fast as I could, they still gained ground. But the Fogmire was getting closer.
The golden tall grass opened up and thinned out. On the other side loomed a forest shrouded in mist. The barely visible trees were thick and twisted in odd shapes, some almost looking like humans in the middle of a torture session. Dull leaves hung half-heartedly on the tops of the branches, looking like they’d fall at the slightest touch. Thick tree roots webbed across the ground, obstructing anything which might remotely resemble a path.
I just needed to get there. As long as I could get into the Fogmire, I could hide in the mist and lose Leticia. Then I could return to my task.
“Run all you want!” Leticia yelled behind me. They were close enough that I could hear the sounds of her friends panting. “You’re going to pay for defying me!”
Seriously, I must have had a sign on my forehead reading “Delusional person, please pick on me!”
“As if it’s my fault you broke into my room, you kleptomaniac!” I yelled over my shoulder.
Ten feet! I was almost there. The fog leaked out of the trees and swirled around my feet like a lover, trying to pull me into its depths. I didn’t resist, simply ran faster.
Suddenly, heat warmed my back, growing hotter and hotter. I dodged to the side just as a small fireball shot past me, close enough that it singed my sleeve black.
Stepping unevenly on a raised root, I gasped as I pitched to the side. My hand shot out and grabbed a branch, using my momentum to swing around forty degrees before taking off running at a new angle, zigzagging between mist-covered trees.
Instantly, my field of vision was cut down to about five feet in front of me because of the fog. The musky smell of earth and water was so thick I could almost taste it. After a minute, I realized the only thing I could hear was my own muffled steps over damp soil. Pausing, I looked around, straining to hear or see something, anything. How was I supposed to find a preta-squirrel?
My brittle sleeve pulled tight over my arm, and I glanced at the black spot. It was a good thing that Posse One was only an E. Any stronger and I would have been in big trouble. I bet her magic was limited in range and size, which was why I didn’t have to dodge fireballs the whole way through the field. Even so, if I got too close to her in the forest, I would still be at risk from her ranged spells—even if visibility was low here.
Still thinking about it, I brushed my hand over the charred spot. I paused and touched my sleeve again. It wasn’t wet.
Frowning, I patted my armor, my legs, then held my hands out to the thick fog around me. Dewy particles sifted through my fingers, cool and damp, but my skin felt completely dry. If anything, the mist almost seemed a little lighter around my hand.
“Odd,” I whispered, taking a step closer to the tree next to me to check if its bark was damp like the ground.
“Where did she go?” The words drifted through the air to my right.
I jumped, shocked to hear Leticia so close. They couldn’t be more than fifteen feet away. The bottom of my boot stubbed against a gnarled root, and I pitched to the side with a gasp. As I fell, something flashed in my periphery. Instead of correcting my balance, I dove to the side just as something slammed into the ground hard enough to shake the earth.
Gaping, I stared at the huge tree branch that had missed my feet by inches. It was at least a foot and a half thick, with five long, sharp twigs at the end. It almost looked like—a hand? My eyes widened, and I followed the branch up to the tree it was connected to.
The tree stared back at me. A huge, deformed face took up almost one-third of the twisted trunk. Its eyes were sharp triangles a shade paler than the dark bark covering the rest of the tree. A stubby nose jutted out over a wide, uneven mouth which nearly split the trunk in half. That mouth gaped open, and a low rumble barely more than a whisper rippled through the air. Above its face was a System box which read in red letters: [Treant Lv15].
Goose bumps rose on my arms. I scrambled to my feet.
The treant let out another rumble and jabbed another branch at me. I grabbed the tree next to me and swung around it, completely ignoring the bark burn on my hands. Just before I could finish the move, the treant’s twig hand scraped my back and continued on until it thudded against the ground. I swallowed a moan of pain and crouched down, hugging the bark.
I expected it to attack the tree I was hiding behind, maybe even pull it out of the ground. Seconds ticked by, but nothing happened. Suddenly, the twig hand on the ground just inches from my feet lifted. My eyes widened. What was it doing?
I peeked around the tree trunk and watched as the treant shifted back into a neutral position, its arms rising like they were actual branches. Its eyes closed, and just like that, it looked like a normal—albeit ugly—tree. In the mist, I could barely tell it had a face at all.
Why? It had to know where I was. Why wasn’t it still attacking me?
“Did you hear that?” Leticia said, still so close. “I think it came from this way.”
