SLAP!
“Lae!!!”
SLAP!!
“Lae, snap out of it!”
SLAP!!!
“LAE!!!”
Lae opened her eyes. In front of her was a concerned Triggs, holding her arms.
Returning to her senses, Lae realized she was slapping herself the whole time. She was very embarrassed.
“They’re messing with our heads,” Triggs said. She moved away from Lae to continue what he was doing.
To completely purify herself, Lae gently put her hand on her forehead. She chanted, “TERSUS!”
By then, the mist had lifted and Lae could see and think clearly again.
As the mist cleared, the mastermind was unveiled - the masked man they had been trailing earlier. Judging by his stance and heavy breathing, he seemed to be engaged in a battle with Triggs.
Lae looked around and saw Zaine blindly attacking Monty like a madman.
“DIE! DIE! DIE! DIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!”
“The fuck, boi!? What the hell is going on with you!?” Monty yelled while desperately dodging Zaine’s attack.
“Go help them, Lae. I’ll handle this one,” Triggs urged Lae. He planted his feet as he prepared to clash with the masked man.
After a short dash,
CLANK!!
Triggs’ blade collided with the masked man’s metal bracer.
Meanwhile, Lae threw dozens of seeds to Zaine’s location.
“ACCELERATIO VITAE!”
The seed grew into thick vines, gripping Zaine’s foot, rooting him on a single spot.
“Quick, Monty! Hold him!” Lae yelled.
With a swift move, Monty kicked away the blades in Zaine’s hand. Quickly, he went behind Zaine and locked him with his arms.
Planning to purify Zaine with her Words, Lae sprinted towards them.
However,
BLAAAAAM!!!
She was tackled by someone again. But this time, she saw the attacker - it was the masked lady.
After recovering to her feet, Lae leered at the masked lady with fiery eyes and frowned eyebrows. “That’s the second time!” she muttered.
Realizing what she’d done, the masked lady hopped away from Lae.
But it didn’t stop Lae from retaliating. She grabbed a seed from her pocket and made a vine whip using her Words.
“ACCELERATIO VITAE!”
She walked slowly towards the masked lady, swirling her weapon like a lasso, threatening to whoop the lady with her vine whip.
Seeing his ally in danger, the masked man forced his way out of Triggs. He then dashed to protect the masked lady from Lae’s attack.
FFFWHOOP - CLANK!!
The masked man blocked the strike using his metal bracer. He wrapped the vine whip around his arm and forcefully pulled it from Lae’s grip.
The force was so strong that it made Lae stumble to the ground.
Triggs rushed to help Lae.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Lae answered, recovering back to her knee.
Meanwhile, the masked people were preparing to do something. After nodding to his ally, the masked man breathed deeply. After a short pause, he started chanting the Words,
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“SANGUIS LUNA!”
Surprised, Triggs and Lae had to huddle quickly to Monty and Zaine’s location.
The light from the moon changed from silver to red. The sky turned crimson, and the shadows in the forest turned rosy.
The masked people vanished and blended with the imagery.
The team cramped together, witnessing the surrounding trees mutate in front of their eyes.
Barks quivered and broke, forming into devilish faces in the tree trunks. Twigs and branches, stretched and curled, turning into appendages for the trees.
“GOHOHOHO! GWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
The devilish faces started laughing, much fiendish than those in the mists.
The team was cornered and had nowhere to go. Everywhere they looked, the trees were transformed into devilish beings.
SWOOOP!!!
“GAH!!” Triggs groaned in pain, as a tree branch suddenly stretched and slapped his arm.
Suddenly,
SWOOOP!!! SWOOOP!!! SWOOOP!!! SWOOOP!!! SWOOOP!!! SWOOOP!!! SWOOOP!!! SWOOOP!!! SWOOOP!!! SWOOOP!!!
“Shet!!!!” Triggs yelled as they received what seemed to be a barrage of tree branches whooping. “Lae… Can you do something about this?” he uttered while enduring the attacks.
“On… it…” Lae was about to chant something when all of a sudden,
SWIIISSSHH!!
A thin branch stretched and wrapped around Lae’s neck, preventing her from spitting her Words. “He…elp…”
Triggs saw what was happening to Lae. Quickly, he swung his sword to cut down the branch that was strangling his friend.
SLAAASH….
However, although he was sure he didn’t miss his target, he felt like he didn’t hit anything at all. Triggs tried again.
SLAAASH….
Still nothing; the blade just went past through the branch.
“What the heck is this!?” he uttered in confusion.
Meanwhile, Monty was getting irritated with their situation.
“Fuck it! I had enough of this!!”
Monty brought something out of his belt bag: a shepherd sling almost the length of his body. He grabbed a palm-sized stone from the ground, placed it in the middle of the sling, and started whirling it in the air.
“TAKE THIS YOU SHITS!!”
With enough force and momentum, Monty hurled the stone in the direction where they last saw the masked people.
SWOOOM!! BRACK - BRACK - BRACK!!!
The stone flew like a bullet, piercing through 2 trees before lodging on the third final tree.
Monty’s raw strength shocked everyone, even his allies.
The hallucinatory event subsided; the moonlight changed to its original color and the trees returned to normal.
The masked people reappeared. The man was lying on the floor, weakened, while the lady was attending him. It seemed like the impact from Monty’s slingshot did injure him.
The masked lady left an expression of angst, as she realized they were defeated.
“Who are you, people!?” Monty yelled.
Prideful, the masked lady refused to speak.
Monty picked up another stone, placed it in his sling, and threatened the lady. “Speak up, lady! Or you’ll end up like those trees!” He then started whirling his weapon.
Triggs’ empathy acted up again, “Come on. Monty. They already lost. I believe we can sort this out properly.”
Monty whispered to Triggs, “Are you an idiot or something? Can’t you see that I’m just bluffing?”
SWEESH - SISH! SWEESH - SISH! SWEESH - SISH! SWEESH - SISH! SWEESH - SISH!
Noises of rustling leaves suddenly rattled everywhere. Alerted, the team readied themselves and assumed their battle stances.
Suddenly, a pack of Sigbins appeared from the shadows.
The masked lady used the opportunity to escape. She began chanting her Words,
“IMPERIUM MENTIS!”
The Sigbins’ eyes turned red in rage, as they leered on Triggs and his team. Like a pack of hyenas mobbing their unfortunate prey, growling and wild, the Sigbins began swarming them.
Quickly, Lae planted her hands on the ground and chanted,
“EXCRECENTIA!”
Vines sprouted everywhere - from the soil, from the tree trunks, from the canopies - and tangled every Sigbin like helpless flies caught up on a spider web.
SWOOOOM!!!
Monty hurled the stone and killed 3 Sigbins in a single shot!
SPLAAANK!!!..... SPLAAANK!!!!
Triggs stuck to his classic way of killing the creatures; striking each Sigbin straight to their hearts.
It took them 10 whole minutes to eliminate the pack. As the dust of the battle settled, what was left were the corpses of the Sigbins and the settling rapid breaths of Triggs’ team.
Triggs dropped his ass to the ground out of exhaustion. “That was… tiring…” he uttered with a breathy voice.
After wiping off her sweat, Lae approached the still-rooted Zaine to administer her purification Words.
“TERSUS!”
Zaine snapped back to reality. His eyes widened as he witnessed the bloodbath around him.
“You contributed what?” Monty teased Zaine.
“They’re gone,” Triggs uttered, referring to the masked people.
“Fuck them. They gave us a hard time,” Monty blabbered.
“So… What’s the plan now?”
“We definitely need to report this to Lola Vega,” Lae answered.
…
…
…
“OPERBA!”
The team arrived at the Base’s Garden, under the Hanziel Tree. As they set foot on the grass, they were greeted by something - or someone - interesting.
“KRAAAAAA~”
It was Isha, casually strolling in the garden.
“Isha? Why are you here?” Triggs said.
“Uhm… Hello there...” a young lady appeared as she timidly greeted the team.
The lady was wearing a duster dress, covering her petite frame. Like her body, her face was also small, with thin lips and a button nose. Her headband fixed her braided hair that ran along to her chest.
She was barefooted, and hanging on her thin arm was a basket of Hanziel Fruits.
“Claire!? Outside her room? UMAYGAHD! WOW!!,” Monty expressed sarcastically. “Since when I last saw you leave your room? A century ago?”
Claire just laughed it off with her bashful giggle. “Oh, Kuya Monty… You’re exaggerating again.”
Unlike her brother, Claire’s voice was very soothing to the ears. It was like a breeze in a garden, although timid, it was relaxing. She was like a delicate little flower.
“Hello!” Triggs greeted the lady.
Claire glanced at Triggs with her glassy eyes. “He… hello po,” she mumbled as she shook Triggs’ hand.
“I don’t know if you already know me, but my name is Triggs.”
“Yes. I already know you. Kuya Zaine told me a lot of great things about you.”
Triggs was surprised. “Is that true, Zaine!?”
In denial and embarrassed, Zaine answered straightly, “No.”
Triggs teased Zaine. “Come on, Man. You don’t need to deny it.”
“Tch!” Zaine grunted. He then asked his sister. “Claire. Why are you outside?”
“Isha told me she wanted to get Hanziel Fruits for Ate Calla. So I helped her,” Claire answered.
“Wait! You can understand Isha too?” Triggs uttered with amusement.
“Yes po,” Claire replied with a gentle smile. She then handed over the basket to the turtle. “Here, Isha…”
“KRAAAAAA~”
Using her beak, Isha grabbed the handle of the basket. After that, she started moving towards the 2nd Floor, delivering the Fruits to Calla’s room.
“Damn, she really is a cool turtle,” Triggs commented.
“OPERBA!”
A portal opened in the middle of the garden and out came Vega. It looked like she came from a night party, judging by her clothes and the accessories dangling in her body.
Vega was surprised that the team was back in the Base. “Oh! You’re here already! What happened to your mission?” She also saw Claire and was amazed, “Oh! Claire-Sweetie! You’re also here!”
“We’re back early because we wanted to report what we encountered, Lola Vega,” Lae replied.
“What is it, Dear?”
The team reported everything to Vega.