New World Day 23

  After I saw the hobgoblin and his horde stop their pursuit, I stopped for a moment to reload the shotgun with a slug and think about if I really wanted to continue in this direction. The fact that the hobgoblin hadn’t pursued me made me worried that he knew what was in this direction and believed that I wouldn’t survive my encounter with it. I drank some water and nibbled on a bit of jerky while I thought about whether there was another path I could take or not. The only other path I could take would be to go towards Williamstown and then either cut through the woods to the state route that I knew or try and find a map that would guide me back to Cincinnati via Williamstown. I felt the either option was just asking for trouble because I already didn’t know the way to Williamstown, and I suspected that the goblin’s base was in that direction. I knew they couldn’t take on the earth swimmer that made its territory to the west, and if there was something in this northern direction that scared the crap out of them, then that meant their base was either to the south which was just more countryside or to the east towards Williamstown.

  Once I finished my quick lunch break, I decided to at least scout out what the Haunted Highway looked like now. I trudged up the hill without any problems up until I reached the place where the Haunted Highway used to begin. The trail disappeared at that point and a forest unlike any I had ever seen appeared before me. The new forest was composed of a handful of trees that resembled Old World pine trees. The trunks were as thick as a large Old World pine tree except they grew much taller and their branches spread out far wider. Very little sunlight reached the forest floor as a result, and the entire area was cast in shadow. Adding to the gloom, the trunks, branches, and needles of the pine trees were shades of grey and black, and they had a metallic tint to them that reminded me of iron or steel. I thought that the different colors represented different species, but I could be wrong about that.

  Standing from outside the ominous forest, I could see only one tree that wasn’t a pine tree. This tree was a deep dark purple. It looked for all the world like a jester’s hat if the jester’s hat was the size of a large tree and composed of thick vines twisted around and around one another. It might not even be a tree for that matter. It could just be a type of large vine that grew in clumps. I didn’t intend to go near them either way. They added a bit of color to the dreary forest, but I found that suspicious in and of itself.

  I saw other issues beyond the thick shadows. There was more mana in this forest than any other place I had been to so far. It rose up like steam from the ground and plants to form streams of mana that flowed through the trees like streams of water. You would think that the sheer amount of mana would light up the forest like strings of lights on a Christmas tree, but the darkness of the forest affected even the mana. It caused the mana to take on a grayish tint. It reminded me of the black mana I saw during the struggle with the blood mosquitoes when my mana vision was running wild. On top of all of this, the forest was completely silent. There wasn’t a single bird chirping or bug buzzing. I took a deep breath to see if there were any smells that might give me a hint at what made its lair within this forest, but all I could smell was the pleasant enticing smell of pine needles.

  This area of the forest was covered in shadow even now with the sun nearing its highest point. The longer I stood outside the area the more likely I would still be trapped in the forest when night fell, and this was not a place that I wanted to be caught dead in at night. I let a long breath back out, mustered all of my courage, and stepped into the forest. The crunch of the pine needles underfoot made me cringe with each step, and as I proceeded deeper into this area, I found myself craning my neck to keep an eye on the tree limbs overhead. There was zero undergrowth so I would be able to see anything charging at me along the ground. It was the tree branches that posed a threat. The long wide branches resembled giant fans and were perfect spots to use to ambush prey on the ground. I walked in a mostly straight line up the hill towards where I hoped the trail would reappear. The only detours I made were to avoid the strange jester trees. I gave them a wide berth.

  It wasn’t until ten minutes into my hike through the gloom that I saw the first signs of life. The dark colors were broken up by a series of white silk strands hanging from a number of branches in front of me. The strands weren’t woven into a web. Instead they resembled the long strands of silk that silkworms made in caves. I couldn’t see what had made them with either my normal vision or my mana vision, but the fact that they didn’t look like spider webs left me feeling relieved. That relief turned to heart pounding fear just a few minutes later when I came upon a pair of trees that sat eight feet apart. There lay something unmistakable between the two trees. The ruined remains of an enormous spider web. The web was broken and hanging in pieces, but it still glowed with a powerful mana. It was clear that it had once covered the entire area between the two trees. The most terrifying thing was that the largest strands of the web were thicker than my wrist. What kind of monstrous spider needed a web so large?

  I felt a panic attack coming on as I stared at the wrecked web. I started to hyperventilate and had to squat for a time with my head between my legs. This sight freaked me out even after all I had seen of the New World. I thought Old World spiders looked cool, but I had what I felt was a well-deserved fear of them. If I was afraid of a spiders that were at best as big as my palm, what was I going to do when confronted by a spider that could be just as big if not bigger than me? Would my guns even be able to scratch the carapace of such a creature? The thought of being wrapped up in a web by a spider and having my insides liquified by its venom caused bile to rise up my throat. I had to swallow again and again to force the bile back down and keep from throwing up my lunch all over the forest floor. I was tempted to turn around and head back the way I came right then and there, but I consoled myself with the fact that something had broken this spider’s web. I should have been worried that there was something big and strong enough to break such a massive web, but I found the fact that the spiders might not be the top predator comforting. Besides, every direction I had gone in to try to get to Falmouth had some nasty creature guarding it. I had to break through in some place, and at least in this direction I could see what was coming for me.

  I made up my mind and overcame my fear for the moment at least. I straightened back up and continued into the depths of the forest. After encountering that first broken web, I began to see more and more such sights until there was one every few steps. The only good thing was that I didn’t see a single spider along the way. I couldn’t help but wonder where all of them were hiding. Each step I took I became more and more restless. I started to feel like something was watching me. I kept stopping to search the area with both my normal vision and my mana vision, but I never was able to pinpoint what was causing me to feel so uneasy.

  A few minutes later something silver flashed by in the corner of my left eye. I stuck the butt of the shotgun in my shoulder and whipped my head around to see if I could locate what I had caught a glimpse of, but there was nothing there. I checked the forest floor and searched the branches above me and couldn’t find any sign that there had been anything there. Was I just seeing things now? I shook my head to try and clear my mind before I marched deeper still into the forest. A second silver flash appeared in the corner of my right eye this time. I reacted just as before, but once again there was nothing there. Even the pine needles on the ground weren’t disturbed in the slightest. I thought that the vibe of the forest was just starting to get to me when it happened a third time. Another flash of silver just in the corner of my eye. Everyone sees odd things out of the corner of their eye from time to time. You see only a piece of what was going on and your mind fills in the blanks resulting in you thinking that you saw a monster, a demon, or a ghost. However, three times in just under ten minutes? No, something was going on here. Something that had me worried. This last time I could have sworn I saw a silver hand touch a tree to my right. There was no physical or mana based evidence that anything had been there except it did seem a bit colder in the area. In fact now that I thought about it, the forest had been growing chillier the deeper I progressed. I had just attributed it to the trees blocking out the sunlight, but was there something more to it?

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  I shook my head once again and continued on. A silver hand? Impossible. My mind must be playing tricks on me. The broken spider webs grew more and more numerous as I worked my way deeper into the forest, and I saw multiple more flashes. I could never get a clear view of what I kept seeing. The flashes were always out of the corner of my eye. What disturbed me more than anything was I seemed to see a body part with each flash now. A hand here, a foot there, and a bent elbow over there. The spider webs and the flashes freaked me out enough that I decided to turn back and see if I might be able to find a way past the earth swimmer. Maybe I could find something poisonous that I could trick it into eating? Yea, going back was the right thing to do.

  When I made up my mind and turned around to escape from the forest, I saw them. Floating behind me were six silver figures. They were humanoid in shape, but there was a haze about them that kept me from seeing their features clearly. And they seemed to flicker in and out of existence. The one common feature that I could see was terrible wounds. The wounds were of different sizes and placements, but each of them looked like they had met a terrible end. Ghosts. That was the only way I could describe them. This area had become a true Haunted Highway in the New World. The six of them formed a semi-circle around me and glided towards me. I stumbled backwards gaping at them in horror and backed into one of the grey metallic pine trees. The tree shook and let out a high pitched metallic sound as my backpack smacked into it. The worst thing wasn’t the sound though. This tree had a broken spider web attached to it, and the shaking of the tree caused the spider web to shake. My eyes widened in ever growing fear as I saw the web shake, and a new sound entered my ears. Click, Click, Click. The ghosts paused their advance when they heard the noise. I followed the clicking sound and looked up towards the top of the tree. That was when I saw a sight that would live on forever in my nightmares. Hiding in the shadowy depths of the pine tree branches, there were eight red eyes in the shape of a V, and those red eyes were advancing down the tree towards me at a terrifying pace.

Fear Control (B) *** leveled up!

Fear Control (B) *** leveled up!

Basic Mana Vision (Active) (B) * leveled up!

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: N/A

LVL: 8 50%

Job LVL: N/A 0%

Job Points:

N/A

N/A

N/A

Titles:

Survivor (B) LVL 9 88%

Fool © LVL 1 61%

Swarm Killer (B) LVL 9 31%

Beast Killer (B) LVL 9 49%

Risk Taker (B) LVL 8 95%

Repeated Risk Taker © LVL 7 97%

Compassionate Fool © LVL 5 26%

Curious Fool © LVL 5 84%

Stupid Fool © LVL 7 70%

Extremely Stubborn Fool © LVL 5 22%

Greater Mana Wielder ® LVL N/A

Title Points:

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7

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Mana Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Agility:

Spirit:

Bonus Points:

160/160

66/66

14.5 per min (-2.75)

19

15

17

9

10

28

Status Effects:

Regen, Spirit Regen, Disease Resist, Parasite Resist, Poison Resist

Skills:

Basic Axe Mastery (B) LVL 9 94%

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 5 61%

Lesser Regen (Passive) (UC) LVL 1 17%

Minor Spirit Regen (Passive) © LVL 5 79%

Basic Disease Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 9 89%

Basic Parasite Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 9 95%

Basic Poison Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 9 11%

Minor Mana Control © LVL 9 62%

Greater Mana Vein (Passive) ( R ) LVL 1 0%

Flexible Mana Lake (Passive) (B) LVL 1 0%

Pain Control (B) LVL 4 24%

Fear Control (B) LVL 3 43%

Basic Close Combat Footwork (Active) (B) LVL 8 91%

Basic Ranged Combat Footwork (Active) (B) LVL 8 88%

Minor Barrier Runes (Active) © LVL 1 7%

Basic Mana Enhancement (Active) (B) LVL 6 73%

Basic Mana Vision (Active) (B) LVL 5 80%

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