Authors Comments: An update! After a two month break. Updates will be irregular/slow, though at this point, I don't think you need me to tell you that. Thanks for the support.
E-Eh? You have already forgotten who I am in our short time apart? How about now? W-Wait, what is with the torches. Why are you tying me to a wooden stake? N-No. W-Wait a moment! Ahhhh!
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When Sylph woke up, it took her a moment to remember that she was stuck in a tree surrounded by wolves. If she had turned over in her sleep and fallen off, that would have been the end of her.
Full of hope, she glanced downwards. Although less in numbers, the wolf pack still rested at the base of the tree. Only about 20 of the original 100 odd wolves remained remained. One wolf continued to watch her while the others were asleep.
Although she her attempt to deceive the whole pack failed, when there was only one wolf…
Sylph thought of herself as part of the tree and the wolf’s stare lost focus. Just as Sylph was about to cry out in triumph, the wolf howled. Twenty pairs of eyes snapped open. The wolves spread out and began searching around the tree. As if it was inevitable, one wolf closed in on her position. Its nose twitched in confusion A sinking feeling rested heavily in her stomach. With bright eyes, the wolf looked up and spotted her. The subsequent howl alerted its fellow wolves to Sylph's presence and ended her hopes of an easy escape.
Sylph sighed. 「Deception」 would take some time. Removing it, she reequipped 「Running」 and waited. The wolves spent a few chaotic running around the tree before they sat down and went back to sleep. Soon, only one wolf was on guard.
“Now!”
Sylph jumped off the branch of the large tree onto another nearby tree. Without looking back, she fled through the forest. Only the startled howls of the guard wolf followed her.
“Aroooo!”
The guard wolf was delayed a beat before he howled. Hadn’t he ever heard the phrase ‘Let sleeping dogs lie?’ Sylph complained in her heart. Either way, Sylph managed to put some distance between her and the pack before they recovered.
Jumping from branch to branch, Sylph carefully plotted her course. A misjump would cause her to fall to her death. An awkward landing would cause the wolves to catch up and she would lose all hope of escaping. Having to zig-zag from branch to branch lost her precious speed.
With the wolves outnumbering her, trying to lose them by suddenly changing directions was hopeless. She would have to lose them with only speed.
Unfortunately, Raine was not fast enough. When she turned to gauge the wolf’s progress, a few of the lead wolves had already caught up. It wasn’t long before the rest of the pack showed up. Today’s escape ended in failure. Heedless of that fact, she continued to flee through the forest. Her only alternative was sitting in the tree for the rest of the day until nightfall.
The wolves obviously knew the surrounding forest while Sylph had to waste time planning a course. Not only would continuing the game of tag raise 「Running」, 「Jumping」, and her stats, she could gain familiarity with the forest.
She had to be careful though. Not only did she not want other players to spot her, running into a group of players with a pack of 100 wolves did not sit well with her. If they came to their deaths while she was sitting in a tree was one thing, directly leading monsters into them was an entirely different matter.
In both sneaking out and running away, she had a ways to go. With a weary sigh, Sylph momentarily rested in a tree. The hundred wolves did not even look the slightest bit tired.
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Sylph was impatient. Although she made progress on every attempt, each day ended in failure.
Of her arts, 「Running」, 「Jumping」, 「Fear Resistance」, and 「Deception」 could help her escape. 「Altered Time」 was permanently equipped and could not be removed. She had kept 「Natural Beauty」 because she did not know what it could do and thought it might help the situation. Still, Sylph could not get away.
Since 「Deception」 was guaranteed to be helpful, Sylph decided to swap out 「Natural Beauty」 for 「Deception」. Getting her arts set, she waited for the perfect moment.
The wolf pack below her was getting faster at waking up and responding to her sudden maneuvers. Each day, the head start she received from suddenly jumping into action decreased. That is why, Sylph waited. Even the most watchful guard dog would have a moment of distraction.
Sylph crouched on the tree, prepared to take flight at the drop of a hat. In a tense silence, she waited and watched. The guard dog eyed her warily as it noticed her behavior. Only because she had not yet made a move did it not call out to wake its fellows.
Between the intense staring contest, a small butterfly approached the wolf and landed on its snout. Distracted, the wolf sneezed. By the time it regained itself, the girl had disappeared from the tree. It took a few moments of puzzled silence before the wolf realized what had happened and woke its comrades.
The huge lead she had gained surprised Sylph. All she had to do was activate 「Deception」 at a tree a little further in the distance and she would vanish from the wolf’s sight. From experience, she knew it took the wolves careful attention for them to sniff out her location when she is hiding with 「Deception」.
Sylph found the perfect tree, only three leaps away. Not only was it high up, there also was a hole in its opening for her to hide in. Smiling, Sylph headed for it. Her first jump.
“Eh?”
Something was wrong. The back of Sylph’s brain screamed at her, yet she was so close to getting away. As soon as she hid in the tree and activated 「Deception」, she would escape from the wolves. Sylph continued on, regardless of her bad feeling. The second jump.
“Wait a second.”
Her feeling of unease skyrocketed. Sylph began to realize what was wrong and yet, her forward momentum carried her into her third and final jump. The jump was further and narrower than the previous two. The previous day she had made this kind of jump several times while fleeing from the wolves, but this time…
“Ahhhh!”
Sylph barely landed at the edge of the branch before her unsteady footing caused her to lose her balance. A weightless sensation filled her and she wildly flailed her arms. Eyes closed in fear, her hand gripped something hard and her sudden descent was halted. Hesitantly, Sylph opened her eyes.
“... Safe.”
Dangling by one arm from a tree branch a few feet from the ground, Sylph avoided the worst case scenario of falling out of the tree.
“Arooo!”
The howl of wolves came from nearby. Sylph’s face turned white. The only reason she had lived so far surrounded by wolves was that she was far above them in the trees. Yet, now she was dangling from a much lower branch at a height the wolves were likely capable of reaching.
Growing frantic, Sylph quickly secured her grip on the branch with both hands. Putting strength into her arms, she slowly lifted herself up.
“This pitiful strength!”
She was too weak, her strength stat too low. The sound of bushes rustling reached her ears. Sylph looked around her fearfully.
“...Now, now. I know we may have had our differences in the past but can’t we set that aside? Hahaha...”
Sylph smiled and spoke to the wolves around her. Ignoring her, they formed a circle around her. One wolf stepped out of the pack and with a bark, jumped at Sylph. Seeing her impending death, Sylph tried to pull herself up. The jaws of the wolf snapped down on empty air just inches away from the bottom of her feet.
“Phew…”
Sylph let out a sigh of relief after escaping from the most immediate danger. She had narrowly avoided the bite but still fell short of pulling herself up. She was much closer this time around. After all, death is a strong motivator. Giving her no time to relish in her small victory, another wolf stepped up, barked, and jumped at Sylph.
Sylph frantically pulled herself up. As the wolf passed her, the tree branch she clung to let out the sound of an ominous snap. Sylph felt her position get lower the ground as the tree branch bent under her weight. When the next wolf snapped at her heels, she barely avoided losing her feet. The tree branch shook and the splitting sound of the branch signaled that it would not hold for long.
Sylph was rapidly losing feeling in her arms. Her breathing grew increasingly ragged. She was too weak to fully pull herself up the branch. Yet her only alternative was to drop down in front of the entire pack of wolves. Thus, she could only continue her impromptu and forced strength training.
Next, a white wolf stepped out of the pack. Both its size and color marked it as the alpha of the pack. A much higher level, it would be able to leap to a height the rest of the wolves were unable to reach. Seeing him, Sylph felt her death draw near. Her arms were already at their limit. The tree branch could break at any moment. There was no way she would be able to pull herself up enough to avoid the attack. If she had that much strength, she would have already been on top of the branch and out of this mess already.
“No, I can’t give up here.”
If strength would not work, she would have to use something else. Quickly, Sylph swapped 「Deception」 for 「Natural Beauty」. Preparations made, she eyed the alpha wolf carefully. She would only have one chance. Her low strength gave her neither the ability to pull herself up or the ability to damage the alpha wolf.
Her situation was never ending. If she couldn’t pull herself up, she could only avoid. If she only avoided, she would eventually tire and become wolf chow. Sylph forcibly calmed her breathing and honed her focus. If she could not pull herself up with her own strength, then there was really only one option for her to get atop the branch.
The white wolf flashed a toothy grin. When it barked, the rest of the wolves surrounding it also howled. With powerful steps, the alpha launched itself at its prey.
Unlike the past, Sylph did not put strength into her arms to try to avoid the leap. In fact, she welcomed it. Reaching out with her feet, she stepped on the wolf’s snout and propelled herself up with her legs.
Gracefully, she flipped herself onto the tree branch using the borrowed momentum. With a quick kick, she jumped off the branch to a higher one. The white wolf disappointingly fell to the ground, its hunt ending in failure. A huge snap sound shook the tree as the tree branch broke from the sudden force and fell to the ground.
“That was too close.”
Sylph firmly rested once she was safely high enough up the tree. As if to mock her efforts, a window appeared in front of her.
For performing an incredible feat of agility, your agility stat has increased by 1.
+1 Agility
After all her effort, her reward was a stat point in agility instead of strength. Sylph couldn’t help but think a certain trickster god had some hand in this and was laughing at her efforts. It must have been quite the show, watching her do pull ups while wolves leaped at her from below.
She took a moment to rest in the tree. Sylph thought back to the reason for her escapes failure. Her unsteady balance as she jumped from one tree branch to another had caused her to slow down. It only got worse the faster she pushed herself and she even slipped at the end. In a situation where a single fall meant instant death, she couldn’t afford to slip again.
“I did everything as I normally did, so what was different?”
Only one thing stood out to her that was different from the past. She had unequipped 「Natural Beauty」. The art’s effects were ambiguous and she had replaced it with deception. If the lack of 「Natural Beauty」 was truly the cause of her fall, Sylph would have to give up the easy run-and-hide method to escape. It was this suspicion that caused her to reequip 「Natural Beauty」 at that critical moment.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Jumping from branch to branch with 「Natural Beauty」 equipped, Sylph confirmed that there was no problem with her balance or posture. She then unequipped it and tried again.
Each jump carried with it a loud noise of its passage. Upon landing, the shaking of the branch would throw her off balance. With 「Natural Beauty」 equipped, she hadn’t even noticed the shaking, but now it was enough to almost cause her to fall. She was unable to rapidly jump from branch to branch without risking the chance of losing her balance.
“So I was right. 「Natural Beauty」 is a useful art after all.”
「Natural Beauty」 likely carried with it a movement correction, albeit a much smaller and more subtle one than your normal art. With 「Swordsmanship」 equipped, a person's motion as he swung his blade carried a large and noticeable movement correction. 「Natural Beauty」 was different though. Most of the corrections were minute and seemed to be related to balance and posture.
“Now then, what should I do now?”
It was the fourth day Sylph was trapped in the forest and escaping from the wolf pack still seemed to be a far off venture. She had mapped quite a bit of the forest the previous day but still was no closer to finding a way out of it. Night had come and she returned to her tall tree for shelter in avoiding the area boss.
Returning to where she left off at the previous day, Sylph continued her search of the forest. Of course, her patient wardens went with her, scaring off any would be monsters they crossed.
Sylph traveled for about 30 minutes before coming to an abrupt stop. A familiar sound reached her ears, one she had not heard before in the forest. The gurgling sound of a river brushing up against some rocks. Sylph’s face lit up.
“A river! This could be my ticket out of here!”
With a newfound purpose, Sylph followed the river downstream. Time ticked away. The wolf pack followed her unceasingly. A couple of hours later, the river opened up into a lake. Reaching the lake, a peaceful feeling swept through Sylph.
Sitting on the branch of a tree nearest to the lake, she took a moment to rest. The scene was so beautiful and tranquil that she couldn’t help herself. The peaceful feeling slowly lulled Sylph to sleep. Even the wolves below her seemed to calm down and close their eyes.
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An unsettling feeling woke Sylph. She glanced around in confusion. The sun was setting over the horizon. The peaceful aura of the lake had disappeared so thoroughly that it was like it never existed.
“How could I let this happen?”
It would soon be night, the most dangerous time of day in the forest. The area boss would be on the prowl and here she was in a fairly open location.
The once pristine and clear blue lake water had turned inky black. The warm atmosphere from earlier disappeared and a slow, creeping chill pervaded the air.
It was too late to run. Night had fallen. Helpless, Sylph put on the dark coat from her inventory and equipped 「Deception」. At some point, her honor guard of wolves below her had completely vanished. Normally, Sylph would rejoice. Now though, she wished they had taken her along with them.
She did not want to stay by the inky lake a moment longer. Even with 「Fear Resistance」, the place was causing her to break out in chills. Yet, something told her that moving would not be a good idea. When night falls, those golden eyes came out and ruled the forest.
Sylph’s uneasiness sprang from the lake. Its black surface gave it the illusion of being a bottomless pit. The boundary of where the lake ended and forest began disappeared as fog rolled off the edges of the lake.
The lake was completely quiet. A blue orb of flame winked into existence followed by several others. The orbs floated over the dark surface of the lake, creating a ghastly scene. Soon, the howling began.
Originally quiet and still, the orbs of flames began to move erratically. Each orb produced their own sounds. From one, the sound of broken wailing as if everything in the world was lost. Another howled like a banshee in anger. From one orb, incomprehensible shouts of confusion.
Together, the many orbs formed a symphony of anger, torment, and sorrow. Their cry summoned hundreds of more orbs over the lake. Combined, their din erupted into a howl.
As their howls reached a new crescendo, the lake began to boil. With one ultimate final cry, the flaming orbs above the lake quieted and it stepped out.
Its entire body was covered in darkness. The lines of its figure were blurred and wherever it traveled, a bone piercing cold followed. It blended completely into the night and only its two luminous eyes were visible.
Sylph froze. In her surprise, she even forgot to maintain her deception to hide herself. The lake was the summoning point for the area boss that killed off everyone that entered in the night.
Seeing the pair of golden eyes look directly at her, Sylph regained herself in shock.
“Run? No, it will certainly kill me before I can escape. I can only hope 「Deception」 holds out.”
Sylph desperately thought. Turning away from the area boss, she leaned against the tree and thought of herself as part of the forest. From the its actions, the monster only targeted intruders of the forest and not actual inhabitants. So, if Sylph could trick it into thinking she belonged here, she would be safe.
Twigs snapped. Leaves rustled from soft footfalls. The sounds of movement were gradually getting closer. The cold air from the lake left her trembling. The fog hindered Sylph’s sight.
A foul odor of rot and decay reached Sylph’s nose. The monster was close. Sylph’s heart beated too loudly in her chest. The tree shook. Startled, Sylph fearfully clung to the branch she was resting on. She carefully looked around, afraid that her sudden movement might have attracted attention.
Her eyes could not find it. No matter how desperately she searched the forest ground, she could not find the monster. Yet, the foul stench was stronger than ever. The tree shook a second time. Better braced, the shake did little more than cause Sylph’s heartbeat to quicken. An idea slammed into Sylph. The tree shook a third time. The bone piercing cold hung over her neck like a blade.
“If it is not on the forest ground, then it could only be…”
Like a well oiled doll, Sylph’s head rotated besides her.
It sat on a branch adjacent to her own. If she reached out a hand, she would be able to touch it. Even at this close of a range, she still could not make out what it was. Its two luminous eyes gazed off into the distance. Slowly, that gaze shifted and started scanning the area.
She couldn’t move. If she moved, she would be noticed. Yet, how could it possibly miss her at this close of a distance? Sylph tried to quiet her breathing but it sounded terribly loud in her ears. Not even her hands that firmly gripped the tree branch could avoid trembling. As the gaze slid on her, Sylph prayed.
“Don’t notice me! Whatever god that is listening, please stop this monster from noticing me. I will do anything you want! Anything!”
Her fear made her prayers desperate. The golden eyes seemed to linger on her location before moving on. Finished scanning the area, the monster jumped down and walked off into the distance. Sylph released a breath she did not even know she was holding.
It took her a full five minutes to calm down enough to remember her prayer. Then, a familiar laughing voice spoke into her ear.
“Anything?”
“Ahhhh!!”
Sylph jumped in fright. The movement upset her position on the branch and she plummeted to the ground.
“Owowow…”
“You said anything, right?”
The teasing voice followed her down to the ground. Looking up, Sylph saw Loki standing with a smirk on his face. Meaningfully, Loki cast his gaze up and down. It took Sylph a moment to realize what he was looking at. Blushing furiously, she tried to recover.
“W-When a girl says anything, she doesn’t mean Anything!”
Although Sylph missed her slip up, Loki certainly did not. His smirk got even bigger. Seeing his gaze turn into one of a wolf eyeing a lamb, Sylph took a step backwards as if to run away. Yet, she was too naive.
“You said…”
Loki disappeared from Sylph’s view. Suddenly, a hand firmly gripped her shoulder from behind.
“...you would do anything, right?”
His voice was full of laughter but the contents caused Sylph to break out in a cold sweat. Seeing her hesitation, Loki spoke up.
“Here, let me help you out.”
He snapped his fingers. Suddenly two figures appeared, one on each of my shoulders. The figure on her right spoke up.
“Who cares? It is just a game. You might as well take advantage of it. Anything? Why not have some fun and do anything?”
In a much more reverent tone, the figure on the left spoke up.
“You made an oath to the gods. Such an oath must be upheld, even if it comes at great personal cost. You will forever be remembered as a martyr who sacrificed herself to uphold her principles.”
Seeing the two figures, both seeming polar opposites yet somehow in agreement, Sylph erupted in fury.
“I-IT WAS YOU!!”
Loki didn’t let Sylph sidetrack him. With just a few words, he threw a bucket of cold water on her anger.
“You said anything… right?”
Sylph was trapped. She couldn’t take back the words she had already said. She couldn’t see a way out. In the worst case scenario, she could run away by logging out.
Full of false bravado, Sylph looked Loki in the eye and dared him to suggest anything outrageous.
“That is right. I said anything. So what?”
“Heehee. I will have to think carefully on what to ask you to do. For now, as thanks for all the help I have given you thus far, I think I will have you do me a favor. Of course, you can’t refuse.”
“A favor?”
“All of this is bothersome. Not a good place for tricks or deception at all. Fix it.”
With a careless wave, Loki gestured to the black lake. The blue orbs floated around quietly and fog rolled off its surface.
“If you don’t take this task seriously, well… let’s see. Ah, I know. I will leak your location to all the players in the world so that you have enough help to get the job done.”
“To everyone?”
Sylph did not want to the chaos that would occur. Spending the entire day in the forest, she had forgotten what might happen if she met somebody.
“You wouldn’t…”
“Haha, wouldn’t that be a lot of fun? Seeing my cute Sylph run around trying to avoid all her fans.”
Sylph shivered at the thought. Grudgingly, she acquiesced.
“Fine, I will do it.”
“Very good. Remember what should happen if you fail or give up…”
With those final ominous words, Loki departed. A quest window popped up soon after.
New Quest: Purify the Forest of Lost Souls
The Forest of Lost Souls is known to swallow any brave soul that enters its boundaries within the night. This is actually because of the corrupted lake deep within the forest. Loki has asked you as a favor to purify the lake.
Quest Difficulty: B
Quest Completion: Purify the lake and its guardian.
Quest Failure Penalties:
-Gain the titles: Holder of Broken Promises, Loki’s Plaything.
-All the players in game will be alerted of your location.
Sylph felt her cheek cramp.