„so it's finally time to invest. it's about time that we start the dungeon part of this adventure, let's find the best i can get for this"

marth was marching out pointing forwards with rina excitedly following him

„really not much choice i get here"

lüziel was following shortly after. they went to a park nearby in which marth started to brows through his black menu

„i guess we should also prepare"

„i already know what i want. i have saved up money just for this"

„i had noticed that you bought less random stuff but i simply thought that you got bored by that. well i should know that there is no such thing as new things being boring for you"

„it was hard but now i can finally get this"

when looking at what rina was looking at lüziel saw

Companion

Class: basic

Description: You can make a friendly animal your companion. as your companion it will always follow you and when its trust level is high enough not even the cogs of time will be able to separate you. As your trusted companion it will gain experience from your adventures that will strengthen it to new heights.

Misc: Evolution Possible

Cost: 5000 Tallon

„wouldn't tat need an animal to go with it and it's expensive on top of that so it really only is useful if you have something good to go with it"

„but i want to"

and without listening to lüziel did she bought it. meanwhile did marth find something for himself as well

„this is not said to be something extraordinary dangerous so maybe something more defensive in nature and there should be no problems come up and seeing as this is dealing with a hordes it probably has to be the phantom shield it is. next up something to fight back. next up would have to be something to deal with them…"

now that rina and marth went ahead and chose something it was only lüziel left

„so from the sound of it it's like if a zoo had it's animals break out but my instinct is telling me strongly to get this one. why am i drawn so strongly to a dagger it's not like i want to go on a killing spree"

lüziel was fixated on a specific weapon he by pure chance stopped on when looking through the item shop

Ice dagger

Rarity: 1 gold stars

Durability: Low (regeneration)

Weapon: Sword

Description: a dagger shrouded by the cold winds of Skofnung made out a shard of ice left behind from it. it will draw out the power of frost to regain it's shape but will lose shape in the heat.

Cost: 7000 Tallon

„i could barely afford it and all logic says i shouldn't buy it yet why do i feel like this will be of great help"

„trust the force lüziel. the force will gain you great power lüziel"

„what, who, where?"

lüziel was so focused that rina used this opportunity to sneak up from behind whispering into his ear

„what are you doing rina!"

„you always do this. you think way to much and that way you can't have fun"

„but what if…"

„you're doing it again"

„ok, ok i will do it even if reason tells me not to"

in lüziels hand appeared a clear blue dagger with a blade as long as his hand. while it felt cold it was not unpleasantly cold. the bald itself was one one side slightly curved while the other side was more straight with both sides being sharp. while the blade was akin to ice was the handle wrapped out of leather and there also was no guard. rina who was fascinated by the glittering blade tried to touch it before quickly retracting her hand.

„au, it burns"

„frost burn, seems to be pretty cold in that case"

marth who finished joined them looking at what lüziel held

„but why that?"

„just a gut feeling. something is telling me that this is going to be helpful"

„i get the blade part but why ice"

lüziel had no answer to give to marth and now that they all where finished they went to their destination. when they arrived outside of the station of arikema they could at first not see much out of the ordinary and it just looked like you're average big city. when going towards the in the mission updated destination they could see at some point barricades blocking of the streets.

„hold it, this are is closed due to an outbreak that started recently. all citizen are directed to stay outside of this area"

when they came near a policemen stopped them from going through

„that's why where here. we have taken up the mission to clear the outbreak"

„anyone who is part of the clearing team has to go to the northern entrance. there you can be checked by the outbreak containment chief"

after following the instruction of the policemen they arrived at a big tent build in front of this part of the barrier surrounded by all kinds of people.

„4 counting, from what i recognize that's at least 4 different guild symbols"

„that is the one from before. why is he here"

when following where rina was pointing they could see the same person that attacked them at the guild

„this is going to be annoying. let's just go em out of the way"

after signing up they still had the rest of the day before anyone was allowed to start. the next day everyone was assigned a group out of rescue, damage control and gate clear. rescue was only a team of 2 as this gate wasn't dangerous enough to threaten people in building leaving them only for emergency cases. the rest split up so that only 10 dealt with the roaming animals while the other 30 for clearing the breakout. when they approached the center of the breakout what they saw was similar to a gate but more chaotic. instead of a disc with shards of other places floating through it the shards where now freely floating through the air centered around a halve sphere. the sphere had the same colors like a gate swirling through it but without the fragments being inside it looked no longer like something you could just go through. while they stood there inspecting the phenomenon before them did some of the shards gather at the sphere opening a pathway like a gate would and out of it came something turtle like. it was around the size of a table. it's back consisted of a shell that was split on halve in the middle with the back halve being slightly larger allowing it to bend it's body a bit to the left and right to look around as it's head bas barely sticking out of the shell. it moved with thick legs that also had shells on the side leaving near to non open bit of skin.

„a drötseicht, they may be slow to move but can quickly extend their head and they have strong enough jaws to break bone so be careful."

one of the captains quickly called back some of the more enthusiastic people who wanted to start the moment the drötseicht exited the gate

„as you could see that is how they come here and as long as the gate is still in chaos it will keep doing that. as this will most likely your first outbreak let me explain. the 10 who where designated for damage control will rally up all animals running amok and either kill or capture them. the gate only opened a few days ago and there shouldn't have escaped that many as of now so keep an eye on the gate. after a while it will completely open letting through groups. the 2 on rescue are on standby and help where it's needed the rest go with your team leader"

„look lüziel it moves all funny. it waddles around and moves it's legs all funny in circles"

lüziel had to think before he could give a proper response

„so the first thing you notice is that moves weirdly, anything else maybe like that it's the size of a boulder"

„you just don't know fun, i want to ride it ands its the perfect size for that"

rina looked like she won the argument but in reality did lüziel simply not bother to argue about that. while they where standing there or maybe because they where standing there did the drötseicht multiple times try to go somewhere else but stopped right away turning to another direction.

„as you can see singled out they are not that dangerous. all you need to do is stay behind them and they can't do anything about it and cutting their hind legs will completely immobilize them"

the captain went up to the drötseicht while talking showing what he meant. he quickly dashed around it leaving a decent amount of space between it and him while being in front of it and then with a small knife cut open both its hind legs. with that did it fell to the ground letting out a scream of pain trying to move away but with its shell on the ground it struggled to get forward while its hind legs where just break away constantly trying to lift it back up. the captain used that to ram a sword inside the gap between the shells which resulted in one last scream followed by silence

„their heart is right around that gap so you can give them a fast death that way. of cause normally they wouldn't let you simply do that as they have a natural instinct to protect that part so it's easiest when they are immobilized."

„you can't do that it did nothing wrong, why did it deserve to die!"

„rina you do know why we're here. we can't just let them roam around"

„but you can catch them and that way they also don't harm anyone"

„5 years ago i would have agreed to that but now this is simply how it goes. there are so many more you can't care about every single one. priorities are important, people first than the animals"

„well i can care for every single one"

„lüziel, rina come we need to get to our team"

as of marths will they went into 1 of the 4 teams to clear the gate. before moving out they first got instruction about the 4 types of animals they could encounter and the methods to deal with them. the damage control team went afterwards ahead and started to search the city for any escapees followed by the 2 for rescue. 1 of the clearing teams ways designated to stay at the entrance to watch it while the other 3 teams went in. what they where greeted with on the other side was a jungle swamp. large trees, thick flora and muddy ground. at the moment it was night so it was cool but you everyone could imagine how humid and hot it would be at day.

„a swamp? how are we supposed to achieve anything if moving is this hard"

marth who unluckily stepped into a hole of mud tried to pull out his foot and he was not the only one who looked anything but happy with lots of moaning but the team captains simply ignored that.

„as non of you have been part of gate clearing here is the goal. somewhere inside this jungle is a temple. our first objective is to find that. there are only 4 animals listed in the mission but that doesn't mean they are the only ones. the system weighs the threat levels of the different animals and gives them points appropriately. anything not listed is not counted as level 3 outbreak level but that doesn't mean it can't be dangerous."

„i was wondering if there really are only 4 species inside a massive jungle. i guess i was right that that would be weird"

„just means more things to worry about"

„don't worry i can protect you"

„let's see about that. how was your skill supposed to work again rina"

„for this search we will split the jungle in quarters. every group gets 1 quadrant to search for. usual are temples not further than 1000 kilometer away from the outbreak gate and for a level 3 its usually halve that. while an outbreak is happening are the animals inside the gate more aggressive than usual so expect to get attacked on sight."

while he was speaking did the other captains set up 4 barrier that split the jungle in the 4 cardinal points but this one was neither tangible nor stable as it waved around like paper in the wind completely different from even the first step of the barrier they made years ago. that was at least the judgment of lüziel and marth but the others seemed to be amazed at this.

„it looks so flimsy. why is this so bad, this doesn't do anything"

this time did rina speak a bit to loud getting noticed by the ones who made it

„this division is just meant as a reminder for you to know where your area ends and to find back to the gate. no one could make a functioning division that fast over that area."

despite the rude comment did they seem to be quite understanding but still had an annoyed ‚i know' look on their face

„i guess if you just use the first part of the barrier it is still visible and has it's own applications that way. i wonder what would happen if you mess with the other steps?"

„not now marth, do that when we're finished!"

„as long as it's night we should do as much work as we can. the day time will be way harder so all teams move out"

besides them where there the 1 captain every team had but he immediately went towards the end of the barrier to make it more stable to last for the time they take. then there where 2 guild members 1 from the tower guild and one from a smaller one they didn't know the name of. there also was someone who immediately ran away investigating the flora seeming to have more interest in that than the actual goal of the mission and lastly

„so we meet again. it has been a long time but i can see that it was not wrong to hope you where not ordinary grunts as you seem to have been able to escape the guild rush at the beginning"

„i assume we know another but who are you?"

„i remember you you are the one who ruthlessly hunted me down 5 years ago. are you back for more i can now fight back"

„whoa there, that was simply because it was what we had to do. i'm not a maniac who hunts people for fun. but it has been a long time so how about some introductions. i am zenos it's a pleasure to meet you again or rather for the first time for real"

„i remember you. you're friend gave us hell. how could i forget that. i'm marth and you better remember that name as i still have something to clear up with your friend"

„by the way whats up with your friend. i would assume you would go in the same team. i'm lüziel"

„he was otherwise occupied so only i got here to experience an outbreak for the first time"

„you may pretend to be nice but i, rina, will keep an eye on you"

„what fighting spirit splendid. well it seems we should go"

zenos was pointing at the other 3 who where already stomping through the swamp

„it seems unwise to go solo in this jungle so let me join you"

before they could go did rina suddenly looked intensely in one direction

„what are those white things"

„red, where do you see white?"

they where trying to find something white where rina was looking at but couldn't see anything for a bit before they noticed some white shadows scurry around the mud.

„are those rats that glow in the dark?"

what they where seeing was a tail sticking out of the mud moving around all the while it was giving off a dim white shimmer

„what amazing skill seeing something this small in this jungle. even looking straight at it it's not easy to see"

zenos was looking in amazement at rina who didn't knew how to handles this. at the same time tried marth to move slowly closer but when he was about 3 steps away did the rat like being turn around and run away. when it was moving out of the swamp for a short moment they could see a window pop up over it but couldn't read what it said

„i see so that was one of the other targets. i had heard that in some missions they ‚stick out'. quite curious"

after zenos saying that did marth realize that he has way more knowledge about this type of mission

„so say what else did you get told. it looks like you have some good tips to share"

zenos simply shook his head

„nothing special really, i also haven't taken part in an outbreak after all"

„anyways we are the last ones left, we should get going"

lüziel was looking around noticing that besides them no one was left

„we need to follow the rat, i want to see it again. it looked so weird"

rina was marching in direction of where the rat ran too and without a better plan did the rest follow her. for a few hours they could find anything even if they heard different animal cries far and near. what finally ended them strolling around was when something that looked just like a big flower suddenly lashed out for rina who was going at the front. she could evade the ‚vine' it used mostly unharmed with it just scratching her arm a bit. on the point where it hit rina her skin started turning bright red.

„aaahh, bad plant go away"

while lüziel checked after rina did marth notice that every time the plant moved it had the same white glow that rat had but only at the vines that moved and after it going back to still mode did the glow completely disappear

„i heard that there where moving plants but seeing it in action does look unreal. it does seem like it's looked to that place so all we need to do is cut the vines until it cannot defend itself anymore"

zenoes took out a machete slowly approaching the plant testing out the range it had. this bold maneuver did gave him also a scratch when the plant suddenly lashed out having more range than he expected and despite him being able to cut of the vine did it still flew at him and when he hit it away with his hand did the back gain a similar red spot as the one rina had.

„is it poison? it doesn't hurt much but i do feel it tingle"

in a safe distance did he look at his hand spreading and closing his fingers to look if something hurt

„why did you just run at it. it's not like it block our way, we don't have to risk fighting it"

lüziel looked angry at zenos

„i see you are good but also too nice. in this jungle could anything happen and they won't be nice enough to ‚end the game' when you are about to die so gathering fighting experience against these creatures is vital"

„i agree. these things are dangerous when they get you off guard which isn't hard surrounded by jungle"

marth was taking the side of zenos not only because of what he said but also because he wanted to see the plant more up close which would only work if it's dead

„but we where the one who bothered it, that plant did nothing wrong"

„it seems like you still haven't recognized what type of world this is. you can't go through the third act without being able to kill"

„and what if i can!"

„i would love to see but i doubt it's possible"

„as much as i hate to say it but he is right. we have reached the point where we can'T avoid this anymore"

lüziel hesitated before saying that

„it's probably time to test this out"

lüziel then took out his ice dagger

„interesting, let me look at that later in detail. for now you can give me cover from the right, that should make it easier to approach this thing"

zenos glanced at the dagger shortly before returning his focus back to the plant. now that they where looking at it more closely what they saw was a thick thorny stem coming out of the ground. on the stem where a few branches which had of them hanging big dark blue fruits that dragged the branches a bit down. the fruits themselves where like a coconut surrounded by a harry and hard looking shell but had a few holes in them from which probably the sweet smell came that they now realized where surrounding them. on the ground next to the stem where rolled up the vines that attacked them before and below that covering the ground where 6 big meaty leafs that had long thin hairs come out of their edges that you could barely make out.

„wait before you go in without a plan let's observe"

„observe, observe what. it's a plant it won't do anything when we don't do things"

marth took a branch from the ground and threw it on the leaves. what followed was multiple vines shooting out in direction of the branch but they retracted back to their original position shortly after.

„and now it's not like we not already knew it does that"

„i think that was quit informative. firstly it can't see that now for sure but more importantly did you see how the vines curled back. they probably try to wrap around you and even if both of you don't feel anything i doubt those red parts are healthy."

marth pointed on the ground where the cut of vine was lying and the leaves surrounding it looked like they corroded away by acid

„the questin is just how it knows to attack, could be vibration"

he was now rubbing his temple while thinking. despite rina not being happy when the killing was brought up she was more than happy to discover this plant. she took up 3 branches and just like marth thew them one after another. the first one was probably even outside the range of where the vines could reach so it obviously did do anything, the second was closer but still didn't trigger anything. when she threw the third despite it being still about a meter away from the leaves did the plant react. she then took up more branches in excitement throwing them between the third and the second one. only those that where extremely close to the third triggered the plant making it clear that that was the range where it acted.

„sometimes action is the best way figure things out. overthinking things wont get you far."

zenos was looking at marth who closely watched what rina did, but he did bay that comment any mind

„rina could you throw 2 branches at 2 different places at the same time. i want to see what it does if there is more than one thing"

when she did as told did the plant surprisingly only attack one side

„can't multitask in that case one attracts the other attacks and the best in avoiding is rina"

rina had to think about what marth said for a while before answering

„but i wont hurt it myself, i will not do that, never!"

the plan was simple take some branches and throw them in the area where the plant reacted then zenos from the left and lüziel from the right cutting of the vines leaching out and repeat until no are left. a simple plan that had an surprising effect as when lüziel cut with his ice blade his second vine did the plant start to retract with the large leaves folding up hiding the vines behind them and building a curtain with the hairs that came out of the leaves while pressing up the branches with fruit. while it transformed did it not only tart glowing white but also over his head appear a small white window.

Gielfen Lafslenuve

Age: Adult

Weakness: ? Strength: ?

„well thats unexpected. did we cut off too much? i somehow think thats not it"

marth took up a branch and threw it at the curtain which made that leave fall down curling up on the ground before going back to it's upright position

„it's like it switched mode. now it's all powerful instead of fast"

„not a bad idea, nearly as if it is trying to keep itself warm"

marth was narrowing his eyes while looking at lüziels blade. while he was doing that did the plant start to rumble before it began to unfold again flapping with its leaves a few times to spread out the hairs again.

„back to this again, that makes this easier. it barely has defense left time to finish it off"

zenos went straight ahead triggering the last remaining vines that could reach in that direction cutting them off then turn the the ground leaves and cut through them as well. this made the rest shiver before the other leaves and vines started to flail around in the attempt to fend of the attacker unsuccessfully. at this point did lüziel grab him angrily

„are you nuts just moving in flailing round like a maniac"

while he was moving closer did the leaves nearby start to slow down and the cut of one he stood on started to form ice crystals on top of it

„whoa what a reaction. whatever it is it freezes easer than water. no wonder it reacted that strongly to getting cut with the blade. i wonder what happens if you hold it close to it for a while"

marth was looking fascinated at the ice

„good point try attacking it with that"

„i feel like i' in a circus and no one told me. there can we now go back to reasoning"

when lüziel cut the main stem with the dagger did ice quickly spread around that part. rina was the first to notice that the plant stopped moving completely after that but not only that but it also didn't retract its vines anymore just lying flat on the ground

„it doesn't move anymore. is it dead? but i thought plant can survive anything as long as the roots are intact?"

after her saying that did a purple window pop up in front of everybody except for marth plus an additional white one for lüziel

an update was made to your achievements

do you want to see the update

30 tallon have been awarded

an update was made to the monsternomicon

do you want to see the update

„why didn't i get anything!"

„because you only sat on the side and talked all the time. but now you are ready for the next time"

rina was trying to consult marth by patting on his back

„so if you cut the stem they die or was it because it froze to death. where did you get that dagger it's amazing"

„that's no the point. if you want to go with us you can't just do your own things"

„lüziel you are to overprotective again, stop that"

„no rina i think he is absolutely right look at what happened over there"

marth was pointing at he other side of the plant where the other plants all had corroded spots

„that probably was the side effect of it flailing around"

„it seems that this time i was a bit to eager but this little skirmish also showed me that we will not work as team. it was a nice attempt but i guess i will go solo like i planed"

with that did zenos simply leave without awaiting the response

„i don't like him. he is so arrogant and the opposite of lüziel. lüziel is also annoying but in a good way"

„everyone has their own way. what we really should take away from this is that we have to look out for any plant looking extraordinary. it's basically a death sentence getting grabbed by that plant"

for the rest of the night they went a bit slower than before but the day was already close to approaching and with it came the heat and the insects. this first day in the jungle made them realize that they have todo something about this before they should continuo. but they where not the only ones who quickly returned even down to the captains most returned within a few hours of daytime inside the gate. those who where longer inside it looked awful with soaked cloth, bug bites and and bad mood. the captains knew that it was hot but underestimated how hard it would be while moving for hours through a mix of swamp and forest so for the next days they mostly went out at night times while they where preparing appropriate insect repellant for the different types of problematic insect of that planet while the teams where searching during their time of in the city for cloth fitting for this. during that time did they encounter rarely animals as it was always night time. when they finally where ready for the hot daytime doubling the speed they where able to search the jungle and they also found for the first time more than the occasional just gielfen lafslenuve. there where all kinds of birds flying around and now for the first time they saw one of the rats that normally hide in the mud water more clearly. it's body was mostly like a rat would be but with a more round face with ears that looked almost like horse blinders. it also had lot's of short whiskers instead of the normal long ones but the most weird thing was when they realized that it'S tail had a hole inside it being a tube.

„over there it looks like the ground is moving. there are so many more of them"

„and there all heading this way and going from the tag they all are one of the 4 animals ranked as most dangerous so we shouldn't wait to see what happens"

„if i just could use my skill this would be no problem, but it's broken"

„probably just a case of you can't use it here. lüziel what are you doing there?"

marth was looking at the swarm of rats moving towards them and how lüziel showed no intention to move

„i was wondering what would happen if i use this dagger on the water. it was able to freeze that gielfen lafslenuve's leaves from a distance"

when lüziel held the dagger inside the water did as expected the water start to freeze but only in a 2 meter radius not enough to stop the tarte swarm approaching but simply irritate them before they went around with a few unlucky ones getting on the ice now desperately trying to get of. after that did they make a run for it as dealing with that amount was impossible no matter how weak they where individually

„it's now been a while and we have seen our fare share of the plant and rats with occasional turtles but what or rather where is the last one"

„well it's easy to deal with the gielfen lafslenuve thanks to this dagger and neither the drötseicht nor tarte are all tat dangerous when you don't run head first into them so i don't need more"

„but i want to see them. it's boring when they don't appear. i want to see all the animals there are"

while saying that did rina casually dodge a surprise attack of a drötseicht that was hiding itself as a rock in the muddy water

„honestly you are like invincible. how do you even react to something like that in time"

„it's so easy you just have to watch your surroundings and move if something is moving quickly"

„it sounds easy when you say it but i can't even avoid these bugs with repellant. and theres she of again"

„you surely want to be my friend we could have so much fun together"

[Error during transmission

shutting down connection]

„why doesn't it work, this is so lame"

„rina come you know that won't work"

lüziel was long past worrying about this after seeing it enough to know that nothing here was a real threat to rinas inhuman agility

„how did that even happen. i get that i am weaker but even you are getting outclassed by a lot"

„she always was good in this stuff so i'm not really that surprised. now she just does it more now"

for multiple week they searched with lot's of encounters other than the one they hadn't seen as of now a truth that obviously would last forever. when they reached a part of the jungle where there was solid ground it first looked like a dream that they no longer had to drag through the mud but they where not the only ones who like this part. this realization came when one of the blue coconuts flew at them from the trees. the perpetrator had 2 long tails that split up on the ends in something vaguely resembling fingers. his oval body was shimmering in the light how they knew it from manakin making it clear that that where scales. it had short legs with feet that where a mix between claw and hand that had 2 toes on the back and 3 in the front and his harms where just 2 stubs barely long enough to touch another. when it came down they could see that its mouth was slightly elongated out of the rest of the face with showing a row sharp looking teeth in the front and wide ones in the back. all the while was the rest of the face curved inwards with the nose just being 2 holes over the mouth. it swung down using its tails while clawing in between with its feet the branches until it stopped right on top of them angrily swinging with its tails.

„it's a monkey but a weird scaly one. it's a reptile monkey. let's be friend reptile monkey"

„you really don't care for names now do you even if they are written on top of it. so this is a lirulag. those feet probably hurt a lot but outside of that doesn't it seem that bad doesn't it lüziel. now there is nothing to fear anymore"

as marth where saying that came a troop of 5 to support the one screaming at them with this incredibly high pitched voice. now that they where to 6 vs 3 they swung at them with vines and tree branches using their claw feet to attack them. it was not that the individual attacks where all that dangerous but their speed and agility made it hard to predict them or counter attack. even rina was struggling to keep up when 2 or more where attacking at the same time.

„lüziel do something!"

„why am i the one who is supposed to do something, care for yourself!"

„they're tearing on my hair. go away i don't want you anymore"

„i had enough, you want it you get it"

lüziel pulled out his dagger and swung it at an approaching lirulag. the blade lost some of it's sharpness from using it in this hot climate but it was still sharp enough to cut deep into the leg of the lirulag through its scales down to what had to be the bone. this mad not only that one angry but the entire group now all targeting lüziel. he seeing the independent doom approaching him had no choice but to take his legs into his hand. even if he was out of range of the claws that did mean he was out of danger as they threw branches and other things they could get a hold of while chasing him after him. when they reached the end of the solid ground the lirulag stopped chasing them and with angry cries watched them walk away.

„we need to go back i want to befriend one"

„didn't you just say you don't wont them anymore"

„that was because they attacked me but now i get a new chance"

„well for now let's just walk around that area. maybe it's just a small island that they call their home"

this choice made rina unhappy but when they wet their way she quickly forgot it going back to molesting any animal she could get a hold of. in the next few days they searched around the island realizing that it was bigger than expected and after pushing it of for a while they finally returned back.

„the plan is simple let's just keep moving and they can't catch us"

„that's boring. i will not run from the monkeys"

„please just don't make this more complicated as it has to be"

when they went through the strip of solid land this time it took even less time for them to get found and this encounter was equally as unsuccessful in all therms. rina was not able to befriend them and neither where they able to fend them of especially now that they where more careful around lüziel. what also happened was that the troop increased in size from the formerly 6 to at first 10 and then 20.

„so it has come to this, we have to fight back. we won't get anywhere by just trying to ignore them. thanks to rinas ‚interesting' attempts to try to calm them down we do know that they hate that one flowers smell a lot but they like the fruits of gielfen lafslenuve enough to stop bothering us. we don't have the ability to get enough to calm them all down for the entire time where there so let's lay a flower path to get them to avoid where where are and bribe the ones that do come"

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

„why did that sound like what i was doing was stupid"

rina was looking cross armed at marth

„like i get the fruit part especially when we have seen them use the shells of that fruit but flowers?"

„just because you don't understand it doesn't mean they don't. those are the best looking flowers i have ever seen"

„it doesn't loose its meaning a lot when you use the therm ‚the best' to often just so you know"

„carrying the stuff will not be a problem thanks to the system but we do need to get it first and who knows how long the flowers stay fresh so we need to first find enough before plucking them"

they where in fact not the only ons with this unique problem as the group across of them found the same problem of an island filled with lirulag protecting it. as the captains where more busy keeping track of what they searched did they leave it fully up to them for now. rina, lüziel and marth where in fact quite lucky as the flower they where about to use did in fact not grow anywhere but in their quadrant. after a few days there where ready to go in stocked up with flowers and fruits. getting the fruits was not easy but thanks to the ice dagger that was starting to get dangerously close to melting away could they beat gielfen lafslenuve ‚easy' well at least easier than the other groups who straight up avoided them with how hard it is to actually kill them without an ice dagger.

„rina as you are the most perceptive one you keep watch"

„ok"

rina did not look all that exited over this simple task but couldn't think of something else to propose

„marth you're good with memory so you keep track of where we go"

„aight"

it took quite a while for the first lirulag to show up this time

„i see one. up there, he is watching us"

„i see let's hope this works."

lüziel pulled out a coconut holding it before him which made the lirulag stare intensely at him. when lüziel came closer did the lirulag start screaming at him but showed no intention to leave being strongly focused on the coconut lüziel was holding. finally when lüziel was close enough for the lirulag to be in swinging range did he swing down like they had seen many times before but now with the target of the coconut. with one swift move did he grab it out of lüziels hand by piercing his claws into the shell before swinging back up and running away.

„well that was easy"

„they are so strong. did you see how easy he broke that coconut"

rina was pulling out another one to first knock at it and then slam it on the ground 2 times but it didn't show any signs of breaking

„those claws aren't just for show after all"

in the following days there had more experiences like that but what at first was only singled lirulag became quickly pairs and pairs became troops. the major flaw in their plan was that they only thought about that they could appease them but not that they would learn to specifically come to get the coconuts from them. at the bare minimum did they show no hostility for as long as they got their food. o the other hand did lüziel fast realize that this wont hold so he gave at first 1 for every 2 which made them only in fight but when he cut down to 1 per 3 they where less pleased by the bribe.

„i see something over there"

„more of them great we will only last like 2 or 3 more days with what we have. even stopping to put out the flowers to not give them a trail to where they can find us anymore"

„no it's big like really big. it almost looks like a house"

marth and lüziel instantly understood what that meant

„we found it, that has to be the temple we where searching"

as they approached it they got this weird feeling of having been here before and after seeing the temple it was clear to them

„look at the sun it large and these plant now despite being nothing i had ever seen on earth they always looked familiar somehow and now this aztec like temple."

„what are you talking about i don't remember being in a stinky swamp before!"

rina looked extremely confused about what marth was saying

„don't you remember, when we started all of this madness. we have seen our fair share of forest over the past years but it is kind of memorable when for the first time you get teleported to a foreign planet. we never actually did search much we just straight up went in one direction and ended up here"

„that was so long ago and so boring why would i remember"

„anyways i doubt there are much more temple in this jungle so let's go back before the lirulag catch up to us again"

„i think it's to late for that"

lüziel noticed how the lirulag where gathering around them

„they look so angry, but we didn't do anything. ou should thank us for all the food we gave you!"

rina was pointing at them like she was accusing them of something

„anyways like always we should just give them the food and run away before they realize that it's not enough"

when marth threw the last few coconuts they had at them but this time they completely ignored them but also did come out but just continued to scream at them angrily

„i have a bad feeling about this. right now the only reason why they don't do anything is probably because they would need to come down from the trees to get us here in the open"

lüziel then realized how rina was stumbling around

„rina what is it you look pale"

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„my head hurts there is so much, why is everyone screaming at me? Lüziel? what was that lüziel…"

after saying that did rina collapse into lüziel arms who caught her from falling on the ground

„marth it's time to end this charade, let's kill em all"

„who there, that is a bit drastic now isn't it?"

„i don't care i had enough of this and as it is right now they can't do much. i don't think it's a coincident that we have never seen them on the ground. with those claws they probably can't walk all that well"

„meaning they can't get us here no matter what we do. that's still no reason to commit genocide"

lüziel just ignored marth who was trying to hold him back pulling out his dagger and ramming it into a tree. after seeing how the gielfen lafslenuve reacted to the ice dagger he had tested it out on a few other plant while they where searching and figured out that if the dagger stays long enough in a living being it would freeze it in its entirety. exactly that was what was happening now. at first it looked dire when the entire troop of lirulag swung at him but shortly after you could first see ice build on the bark of the tree followed by the same vines the lirulag used to get around freezing through and breaking under their weight. some due to the momentum flew right out of the forest in marths direction while other where close enough to other vines to grab onto and hastily escape back to where they where before while the rest fell close to lüziel on the ground. while marth was quite shocked from these events letting the lirulag that flew his way escape back into the forest did lüziel wast no time sprinting at the ones on the ground who tried to get as quickly as they could back on the trees but suffered from falling down a slight concussion making them stagger around. it took only one strike each for lüziel to finish them of with his dagger that from using it this extremely on the tree looked like it could break any second. this however didn't stop it's deadly effect of freezing the body fluids of it's victims at the wound. hearing how they screamed in pain or coughed for air marth could only imagine how much they suffered before dying. the other lirulag where agitated from this all going after lüziel who escaped back out into the open to where they could no longer follow.

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„do i like have to reconsider if it's save to sleep near you. a serial killer wouldn't be this determined to kill something"

„why would i care for these apes, i simply know my priorities"

when lüziel went back at first did the lirulag storm at him but when didn't bo down to them they stopped at a save range screaming at him not daring to get to close

„it looks like they have learned. marth take rina and let's get out of here"

„priorities eh, i knew he was a bit obsessed about this protect rina thing but now seeing how he overreacts makes this look not healthy at all"

„what?"

„nothing"

while arth was carrying rina did the lirularg come uncomfortably close but outside of throwing with coconuts and screaming they where no threat anymore. every time one got more courageous he was immediately shut down by lüziel facing them head on which lead to them fleeing back to the rest. coming back out of the gate did rina get carried away immediately but after looking over her the result was that she simply suffered from mental overload and only needed a few hours to get back up with a strong headache. now that they had found the temple it was time to start the second halve of this mission for which they gathered for the captains to explain.

„now that we have found the source of the distortion it's time to make attempts to clear this as fast as possible. there are 3 ways of clearing a gate, the first is to go inside the temple find the heart and destroy it. the second is to defeat anything inside and the heart will lose it energy source and collapse on it's own. first we will try to simply find the heart, it's the fastest and easiest way but not all temple have the heart exposed so we may need to resort to the second option"

from one of the groups spoke someone up

„what happened to number 3. you said there are 3 ways of clearing it but only listed 2"

„well we wont do it so it doesn't matter"

„com on tell us"

quite a lot of them where chiming in demanding to know making the captains looks a bit annoyed

„why'd even tell em"

„of cause i would say 3. you think i just lie all the time, i simply gave it no thought. the third option is to destroy the temple. this will trigger a collapse which even in small outbreakes becomes dangerous. in addition it also destroys the gate and as we want to keep that we can't do that option anyways"

„before you get any funny ideas, destroying a temple takes a lot. you can't simply smash the walls. we don't know who made them or out of what they are made but you can forget that option entirely before you're in act 4 as it will just waist time."

„to get back on track, temples are designed to only let in a specific amount of people at the same time so we are forced to take turns. it will be extremely exhausting inside a temple so no one will stay longer as 4 hours inside before resting."

„exhausting, what is that supposed to mean. how hard could it be to walk in a building?"

most looked quite curious about that agreeing to the sentiment that it couldn't be harder than the swamp they had to move through

„hard to explain. temple are for the most of it unique. don't expect to enter and see what you would expect. quite possibly anything could be on the inside. for the group that found the temple you will go first and lead one of us there. after that we can know how to split up groups. that means that everyone else can take a day of tomorrow"

on the next day lüziel, rina and marth where greeted by 2 captain to lead them to the temple but the others would also join and when they went through the gate they started making something at the entrance but they left before seeing what it actually was. they had been walking though this jungle enough to exactly know where to go so it didn't take long before they reached the part where the lirulag where that as usual came shortly after them entering their territory.

„weird they are surprisingly passive but still act aggressive so they don't condone us being here. quite peculiar"

after walking a bit further they reached their destination with one of the captains whistling when seeing the temple

„so this is the temple. it's big. we expected a way smaller one. it now makes sense why it's so far out but it's quite rare to see a one this size not attracting stronger animals"

„so this is not normal? we already saw one that was identical to this so it was easy to assume that this is just how it's always is"

the captains looked weirded out at marth

„when exactly did you see one. this is not something you would find just anywhere"

„it was one of the places we where brought to when becoming part of all of this."

„the mips really have gone mad recently. putting act 2s into an outbreak region. it's as if they where trying to kill of grintß"

„not like it concerns us at the moment. looking from here i would guess around 8 should be able to enter"

they both split up and started looking at the temple up close writing something on i's stairs every now and then. when they circled around they then started doing the same thing the ones at the gate did and when they where finished what they made was a beacon to easily find this place. the next day there where split in 4 groups of 7 and 1 of 6 including the captain. as the ones who found the temple their group was the first to enter it so the next day they went there in the morning making themself ready to enter. this mostly consisted of their captain giving them instruction how they can enter.

„as you may see there are no door on this temple this is the reason why only specific amounts of people can enter at any 1 time. on the stairs there are some markings made by the others at which 1 person each can enter. for that simply use this by placing it in front of the markings and press down which will open a one use gate at the top. once someone has done this there is a time window in which people can enter and after that new once can only enter an hour after the ones inside leave so we need to do this somewhat simultaneously"

what she was showing was like a pocket mirror mixed with a clock. it had a metal ring with numbers surrounding a mirroring surface and was only hand size with no other outstanding features. when they all spread out they pressed the clock which made the mirror part stop reflecting showing behind it an assortment of circuits and other electronic things blink. all the while did the outside ring start rotating slowly. at the top of the temple moved the wall slightly back on all 4 sides and where the walls made space sparks started to fly more and more until they completely filled the space and then turned into a gate.

„what are you all stand around go go go this isn't open for a long time"

the captain was waving them to hurry up so they all entered through the gate. unlike all the others they knew in this one they could only see black and where they at first simply thought that it didn't showing whats on the other side quickly showed that it indeed did when they where greeted by space from how it looked. thanks to the darkness you couldn't tell if it was just a cave with stones reflecting light like stars or night sky or something completely different. the next thing they noticed was that it felt like moving through jelly and the third thing they noticed when breathing in that their lungs got filled by something

„water, i'm breathing water, help i'm drowning"

„what is this, get out"

with the exception of the caption did they all fall into panic not realizing that despite them breathing in something that was definitely not air they also could breath ‚normally' and talk without problem. while some tried to cough out what they breathed in was marth the first to realize that this was not a problem

„wait, when we can talk that means this is not water and i also don't feel like suffocating. it's harder to breath but outside of that. calm down everybody YOU ARE NOT DROWNING!"

„so you're the first to realize. it's not like this is normal but it can happen that there are other things than air to breath. as you may have noticed it is also harder to move in general, you should better get used to this because this is probable throughout the entire temple"

„it may not be that i am suffocating right now but how much can you do when breathing is this hard"

„i have now gained the ability of an fish i am ready for everything that could happen"

after bowing over on all 4 for a while did rina jump up in a weirdly slow way both on the way up and down. not much different from normal but enough to be noticeable

„well at least one person has fun"

now that rina got over the issue of breathing all her focus was on their glittering surroundings realizing that the ‚stars' where something floating inside this weird air trying to catch them but they always drifted away when she moved towards them. it took while before they all accepted this situation and calm down but when they did the first objective was to find out what kind of place they where even in. despite their best efforts they couldn't find any walls and when they saw something vaguely tree like the conclusion was that this is outside. the thing they labeled tree was an assortment of fibers twisted in a shape like a tree trunk and out of it a few where hanging out waving around in the ‚waves?'. they at first didn't notice as the situation was so strange but when they got somewhat used to it they realized that there was a sort of current pushing them around. when they came closer to the tree out of it's top came out some animal. it was halve transparent with its spherical body and had 4 pairs of halve fins of which the lower 2 pairs where almost like legs with extremely wide and flat feet while the upper ones where halve wings. from it's back came out long pink strings which moved with the current and it's face consisted of multiple holes where the eyes should be as its only visible facial feature. thanks to it's halve transparent body you could see a blue luminescent fluid move through it and that it had no organs as far as they knew what an organ should be. instead there where all kinds of vessels centered around something they couldn't make out what it really was through the vessels

„what is that?"

everyone was looking tense at the animal floating slowly closer to them at first using it's top wing fins to glide through the air before landing on the ground jumping towards them

„it's not like i know all life forms there are but this looks like it's a plant so it's way harder to judge what it can do"

while the captain was saying that did the thing approaching them arrive at the closest person and after waiting for a bit it first walked up extremely clothe to that person before within a blink of an eye vines shoot out of it's bottom tightly grabbing the leg. at first everyone was to surprised to act but when he started screaming did the captain immediately take out a knife and put on gloves first stabbing inside the thing multiple times before grabbing it and pulling it away while cutting of the vines.

„MY LEG; IT HURTS IT HURTS SO MUCH. MY LEG, MY LEG IS BURNING"

at first they couldn't see much but when lied on the ground they could see how a large chunk of his flesh was melted away and you could even partially see the shin. the first thing their captain did was to pull out a rope and tightly bind of the entire lower leg before poring a lot of some sort of medicine on the wound. this made him scream even more but the captain did not stop and instead pull out some leaves she laid on the wound. it didn't take long to see how the leaves where sucking out liquid as they slowly got plumper.

„never let something touch you that you don't know. this is what can happen if you do"

now that she bound the leaves tightly to his leg did she turn around and cleanly cut through the thing that attacked him out of it spewing the blue liquid which slowly floated down

„we will now leave, all of us. he needs to get checked up and i wont let you stay here without someone to watch you"

„it looked so harmless. how something this small do something like that"

„well most of the time are smaller things more venomous so it makes sense that something small would have such a strong acid"

when they went back through the gate they got extremely dizzy and felt heavy as if someone would press down on them. thanks to their lungs being filled with the liquid from inside the gate they also struggled to breath and had to cough it out as good as they could. the captain not seeming to be affect as much as they where immediately departed with the wounded team member leaving them behind.

„everything is spinning. lüziel is the ground moving"

„rina"

when lüziel tried to catch the falling rina did both simply fall on the unexpecting marth who didn't have it any better but now was also squashed by the two of them

„ah, get of me i already feel bad enough"

„oh marth thank you for catching us"

when marth tried to get them of did he slip out from the bottom nearly rolling down the stairs barely catching himself but then decided to simply keep lying there instead of standing back up. it took halve an our for everyone to be ready to go back. on their way back they where caught by the next team that was for one coming to look after them but now that they where well enough to go back they just continued to explore the temple. back in arikema they found out that their team mate had poison pump in his bloodstream and despite their team leader having quickly bound of the leg was he still poisoned enough to be decommissioned for a bit. they also all got a lecture about how to act inside the gate something that the others apparently went through right after their captain returning. this lecture boiled down to be cautious, don't touch things recklessly and to not underestimate anything they see inside the gate. when the next group came back they looked even more exhausted as them from being inside the gate for 3 hours. after the first round of every team experiencing the temple for the first time did they not get much out of that and mostly had to adept to the environment. what they did find out was that those trees where all over the place all having some amount of the same creature inside them. what they also found was another creature that was attacking and eating the first one and seemed to have no interest in humans so it was good to have those around. now that all teams had cycled through it was again time for their group to go in to properly explore for the first time

„last time we didn't get far so i didn't even got to tell this but to explore faster we have to split up for that we have special signal flares that should work even in this environment. in an case of emergency send a message through the system and fire the flare so that we can find your location"

despite her calling it a special signal flare did the signal flare she gave out look like a regular one how they know them from movies. now that they where properly ready they split up exploring.

„this really is just a giant meadow with weird trees and moss instead of grass"

„but the moss is so soft. i want to just lay down and roll around in it"

„it would be nice to just relax if not for it being so exhausting to breath and having tentacle monsters that could pop up any time and melt your limbs away also doesn't help"

while walking out they had realized that there being no trees whey they started was just a save zone. a bit further out there where enough to see at least 4 at once making it harder to avoid the leqaul a name that they found out after fighting one especially aggressive one of that updated their monsternomicon. at first they where not keen of interacting with them at all after seeing what can happen but that encounter showed them that at least singled out they are not much of a threat when you respect their close range speed.

„look up there. those are the birds they talked about"

what rina was pointing at was a large disc floating around every now and then flapping with its entire body to get back up.

„you really get the feeling that where in an ocean with waling through this liquid and hoe all the things look"

„isn't it great. normally you can only see fishes through the tv or in aquarian properly"

„i would like it more if ‚the fishes' wouldn't try to eat us. anyways it really is tiresome to just move around. we're only walking for a few hours and i feel it like we walked an entire day"

„you are just to weak. i don't feel tired at all"

while rina was jumping around as usual where marth and even lüziel visible exhausted so they decoded that they would return for now. in fact they where the last group to return as the others where already back and waiting on them. when they left they still felt miserable for a while so they again had to just lay around for a while before returning back. when the next group came back they found a wall far out so next up they searched in all directions and figured out that they where completely surrounded by walls. after realizing that did the captains try out if there was a ceiling and despite how open this place looked it was a cave being lit by only the glowing things floating through the air. searching the boarders did however not yield any results as there where no openings to be found meaning they where trapped inside this place. using the map feature of the system was the only way to not search double in this place as in comparison to the jungle there where no real land marks you could use as guidance. while searching the area they found a few other plants being all as strange as the trees with one being made of transparent tubes that sucked in the particles in the air making them glow strongly to certain times of the day and another that was the exact opposite as it spewed out the glowing particles. they also found a few turtle like creatures that had snake like eyes that had instead of pupils holes and a mouth consisting of tentacles that come out of the shell to grab the non tree plants and pul them inside the shell. at some point they finally found what they where searching, a marble pavilion, the only problem it was surrounded by not only thorny vines growing all over the place but also lot's of the trees filled to the brim with leqaul. normally it would be easy to just clear this with fire but thanks to the liquid filling the entire place fire did not burn.

„for this next trip we will make an elite team to fight through the leqaul. this team will include all 4 of us and we also need 4 more so the ones who think like they are feeling like they are good at fighting of these thing step forth"

„well that an easy call for me. finally some action i have enough from fighting weak ass fights"

the first one to come forth was zenos.

„i can't let me get beaten by someone of a no name group. you may have better results than me but in a real fight let's see how much you will do with your big mouth"

the next one was the one of the tower guild trying to pick a fight with zenos but he just ignored him. after him came someone they only bare had seen as she never was in the same team as them. most where surprised by that as she looked quite weak. she was small and thin and didn't say a word when she walked up

„oh common some weak as girl. go back to where you came from you can die from this you know that. we don't need dead weight"

„interesting, you don't look like much but no one forced you do do this so you must be confident in you abilities"

„you sure you're up for this. this will be way more dangerous than the rest of this outbreak"

one of the captains stepped forth be make sure that the girl was fit for this but she simply answered silently

„i know what i'm doing"

„if you say that i won't question it. everyone should know for themselves whats right to do but we will not be there to watch over you if you have problems. we are no baby-sitters"

while this was happening did lüziel got a weird window popping up before him

[a star of a great hunter wants to talk to you

a great hunter encourages you to step forth

a great hunter tells you that you have the tools to deal with this

a star of a great hunter is looking forward to your next action]

„lüziel? you know this is basically just kill a lot of these things"

„well i have the feeling i will be fine"

„oh so you do in the end fight despite what you said"

„my problem was with how you where doing it. you are just reckless so don't expect me to team up with you"

„of cause sir"

zenos did a satirically tip with his fedora but lüziel really didn't care for that

„it seems that are all anyone else wants to contest them and take their spots"

there was a bit of movement and rumbling before 2 stepped out

„that girl does not fit on something like this. all we have seen her doing is run away"

„so you are better now are you. how much do you have seen her. i suppose you where with her in one team before worked with her together in the last two steps"

zenos immediately countered them challenging them which irritated both a lot

„and what would you care. you where in completely different teams"

„just answer the question. i should know what my team parters are capable of that makes working together easier"

„fine if you shut up then. we where in the same team but where just walked of on her own without saying a word…"

„in other words you just lied. you have no idea and simply don't like that someone who isn't shouting like an idiot with her skills but don't have the balls to step up when it would put you on the spot"

„ehy stop that. infighting is prohibited. it is her choice, do you want to swap with them?"

one of the captains stepped between them looking at the girl

„no"

„and one of you wants to take her spot?"

they both fumbled with their fingers while answering

„we are ont insane enough to fight hordes of these monsters, butt…"

the captain didn't even let them finish talking

„if that is the case shut up and go back. we don't need weak minded people who can only talk down on other but have not backbone to stand their ground. people like you are the ones who get other killed when they have to rely on you"

„but she…"

„go back or i will throw you out of this mission. and you you need to talk up more. you have every right to do this so don't wait until someone else fights for you. and you let people speak for themselves first. it's disrespectful to do something like that"

zenos just shrugged which gave him an angry stare but the captain just continued

„the rest of you can for now wait until we have cleared this out after that we need to clear the thorns which will be done by the rest"

„you better not disappoint, i will have an eye on you"

while walking past the tower guild member did lüziel give him a quick face smack without stopping and walk back to marth and rina

„ehy you stop right there"

„why did you do that lüziel now he is angry at you"

„just revenge fro back when he attacked us at the guild"

„so spiteful, but he does deserve it"

instead of the guild member to lüziels surprise he heard a female voice from behind

„thank you for that. people always treat me like that and i just don't know how to deal with that"

„what happen to the other guy"

marth was looking confused past the girl seeing the guild member having an argument with zenos and then seeing the same captain from before going angrily between them

„don't mention it. it was just a personal thing. i don't care who you are as long as you don't disturb others with what you're doing. no one is special so the others simply need to take the branch out of their asses"

„still you didn't need to do anything but did it anyways so thank you"

„you need to stand your ground against these guys. all they do is barking but they never fight back"

„rina are you really the best to give advice for this"

„but it's true every time you fought back all the bullies had nothing to oppose you"

when lüziel walked away followed by rina and marth did the girl say one last thing after them

„my name is kariga"

the next day they where gathering at the gate. when lüziel came where already 2 captain, zenos and the tower guild member there. it didn't take long for the 3 captain to come and shortly after that came kariga. they had to wait for another full 10 minutes for the last captain to show up

„i knew i should have dragged you with me. what did you even do for all that time"

„sorry sorry! sorry, sorry!"

„just get over here already"

now that they where all gathered they went straight to the temple. as if they knew what there where about to do where the lirulag extraordinary aggressive when they came through their territory but with the 8 of them they posed no threat. but not only they where more aggressive as the leqaul as well where pouring out of their trees attacking them the second they came somewhat close to a tree.

„they really pulled out all stops for this. this will be more interesting that i thought"

„we're not here to hunt so stop that and get going"

when zenos made himself ready to go on the offensive against the leqaul did one of the captains immediately call him back

„fighting needlessly simply waists time and energy and there are way to many to do this in a reasonable amount of time"

zenos did look disappointed but did not fight back and instead caught back up to the rest who was hushing to not get caught by the leqaul

„but why does this happen anyways? it feels like this place knows what we are up to"

„it does. when you discover the core that also means the core discovers you by definition so it do everything it can to prevent you from destroying it"

„does that mean this is a living being?"

kariga looked a bit uneasy at the thought that they where walking through some being

„who knows. no one knows how gates work or why outbreak gates send you to these places. even if you would trie to explore that would simply make the system eject you forcefully"

„so someone is clearly trying to hide something here. well as long as it doesn't interfere with what i want to do i couldn't care less. you surly understand don't you mister knight"

zenos was turning towards the tower member who kept quiet the day up until now. instead of answering he just went a few steps faster to get zenos out of his line of sight

„what a rude fella"

„you shouldn't stretch you luck. he is supposed to help us after all with his questionable attitude"

„don't worry lüziboi, what is he supposed to do run away into hordes of these things on his own or maybe join forces with them. he is not that stupid, probably"

when the density of trees got thicker while approaching the pavilion it got harder to avoid them but as long as they kept walking the leqaul coming out where not fast enough to become problems. they stopped just out of range of the leqauls of the pavilion to trigger to make their last perpetration before going into battle. they split the pavilion into 6 parts 4 for the captains, 1 for lüziel and kariga, who didn't want to be in the same team as either of zenos and the tower member, and 1 for zenos and the tower member. also did they all pull out their weapon of choice being for lüziel his ice dagger, for zenos a naganita, the tower person a european broad sword but most surprisingly did kariga pull out a wooden mace about 2 meters in length with the last 50 centimeters being thickened. at it's other end was a small metal weight and it's handle had a small tsuba like guard and was wrapped in leather.

„wow, and you can use that thing despite your statue. looks a bit hard to handle for me"

„your one to talk when you have a ten times harder to handle weapon yourself"

„at least i wont fall over from the weight of my swings"

when approaching it didn't take long before around 100 leqaul swarmed out of the trees. at these numbers no one of them dared to get close. even zenos went the safe rout of letting them approach to counter attack but lüziel could pay much mind to what he was doing as he himself was occupied fighting back. at first it didn't look that bad when only 2 reached him and kariga. it looked like this would be easy to deal with but not only did they need to fear getting jumped on but instead of slowly floating around like every other time did they now flap their wings way more and dive bomb them making hitting them a problem to begin with.

„we need to get rid of them before we get overwhelmed. kariga do you think you can hit them down"

„i don't know"

„that doesn't help can you or not"

despite her insecurity in her voice did karigas use her maze without a problem. to overcome the problem in power did she use momentum constantly swinging the mace around and when she was ready to strike go in a broad stance before swinging it in one motion behind her, above her head and at the leqaul and then keep twirling it around to keep it in motion before hitting the second one the same way. this was enough to knock them unconscious for a bit but not kill them leaving it up to lüziel to quickly finish them of making sure that they also didn't wake up right when he got to them just so that they could surprise attack him. while they where dealing with those 2 popped 5 more up still followed by 9 closely behind them and more coming out of the trees.

„this will be a long day. you just keep doing that. just swinging in a group 'bout to hit some. i may have it easy killing them but that only goes as long as i catch them"

„ok"

for the next ones this became a game of simultaneously preventing the leqaul from grabbing them while also dealing with them in a timely manner. it started by simply staying on front of the smack. with kariga swinging her mace into them followed by lüziel stabbing them but that plan failed when there where 10 at once around them making it impossible to reach the ones on the ground without being surrounded by others. at this point they changed their approach. now they kariga had to use her mace to divide the leqaul singling out some while also preventing them from grouping back up. this turned into a dance of lüziel and kariga circling around another and the smack spreading out and rebounding back in. despite it working did it also put a lot on strain on especially kariga who had to constantly swing around her mace but lüziel also got more accurate at the same time letting him hit the leqaul first with every second hit and then without missing. after defeating about 30 did the smack start to thin out but kariga also reached her limit having heavy breathing, becoming slower and swinging less energetic. at this point they would have backed away if they could but from behind, probably coming from the trees they walked past, approached reinforcements.

„you got to e kidding me. how much longer can you keep this up"

„hu hu hu… i… hu hu… can't feel… hu hu.. my arms anymore"

„as much as i hate to do it, we need to bail out. there is no point in fighting such a risky fight"

„you honestly did better as expected, wouldn't want that effort go to waist now would you. let me help you out a bit. you did get the worst spot it seems"

while she was approaching them did the captain look at the storm brewing behind them

„just give me a bit of backing and this will go way faster as when i need to do it alone"

she did even give time to answer before going to work but instead of using any weapon she simply used her hands who had a trail of small green snow flakes following them. completely contrasting how they where doing it she went right into the smack using only small movements to evade the incoming attacks thanks to their linearity or even creating small short lived ice shields close to her that just lasted long enough to make the leqaul headed that direction hit against it stopping it in it's track, making it slowly fall down and having to arduously fly back up before it was high enough to start gliding around.

„where does she even need help. looks to me like she can perfectly handle this o her own"

„hu hu… finally some rest"

kariga sacked into her mace using it as a third leg looking quite relieved to get some rest but that was a foolish mistake with the leqaul behind them having reached them right when she did that.

„what are you doing, there are still more!"

lüziel grabbed her by the arm pulling her behind him. this did safe her from the immediate danger but now lüziel was position in a way where he could no longer evade one coming flying at him grabbing his arm. when he was about to attempt to rip it off did a black window appear before him saying 2 words

[stab arm]

a truly insane command he would never follow as there could be no benefit to do so he took his dagger and rammed it into his arm. it was freezing cold but also hurt less than you would expect not only from stabbing your arm but also freezing it at the same time. he then cut of the leqaul shortly after but instead of seeing the expected deep acid wound there was only some surface damage tracing where the tentacles and body where that where frozen over but he had no time to inspect that with the next one flying at him. way to close for comfort flew next to him karigas mace down followed by his reflexes stabbing down on the leqaul on the ground. that was the moment when he realized another blue window above his ice dagger

Ice Dagger

rarity: 1 gold star

durability: broken!

despite it being broken it was still enough to kill the leqaul but it took 10 stabs o it to finally make it stop moving

„are you ok! you where attacked and then more came… your arm what happened to it, does it hurt…"

„i'm fine for now, but we still have more to do don't let your guard down just because we got help"

„what are you two doing over there did i say give me backing"

the captain who was at first looking like she could perfectly handle this now looked like she could barely keep up with the smack around her, trying to find a way out but the smack just followed her movements

„of cause! just make your job easier right?"

with lüziel and kariga helping her out they could clear the last remaining ones including the new ones that came without further problems now with lüziel and kariga lying on the ground exhausted and surrounded by dead leqaul. the other ones soon after gather around them with the tower member having holes in his armor but mostly no wounds on his skin and zenos looking like he could throw up any moment from exhaustion but still had enough energy to do a witty comment.

wow look at this thats way more than we had and all cleanly cut through. i tred my hardest to do that but they where just to squishy and uncuttable"

now that the adrenaline was leaving lüziels body he slowly began to feel how his arm was burning and with every movement he made it got even worse.

„FUCK this hurts so much. why did i do this, what brain worms drove me to that"

the captain who helped them saw how badly lüziels arm looked rushing towards him

„let me see that… did, you get attacked by the leqaul?"

„what else would it be"

„it's just that your arm is frozen over"

„it was that stupid pop up that told me to do it. i cannot fathom what drove me to do something this stupid"

„i'm not saying that this is a bad thing. this was probably the fastest and easiest way to stop the acid from melting your skin or the poison from getting in your blood, it's just amazing that a newbie would do something like that even more fast enough to prevent any major damage"

„and whats with the deep cut in my arm!"

she simple waved that off not looking concerned at all but rather fascinated about lüziel

„that's just a flesh wound healing that is trivial but getting poisons out of someone takes a lot more. you said a pop up so it's a skill that told you this, what skill would do something like that?"

„only hunter skills would do that but those are higher level so he must have gotten the lucky pull from the starter skill"

now where the other captains followed by zenos all gathering around lüziel who got visibly uncomfortable getting put in the spotlight

„i'm not some zoo animal and i'm wounded so could you not do this"

now that they where finished with their work it was time to go back and as they had seen enough leqaul for a lifetime they went as fast as they could as the leqaul from the other trees spread around where still aggressive towards them. when leaving the temple they, excluding the captains, immediately broke down being completely done for now that they where back in normal air and that weird liquid from inside was not the only thing coming out of their mouth. after 1 hour of misery that wasn't made better from the heat they finally where ready to get out of this jungle. back out of the outbreake they tended to lüziels wound.

„this is now the second time we did this for this mission. normally you don't get others to help you like this unless you are literally dying. we are just way to nice to you so don't think in the future others would do this, we're setting a bad precedence here"

„so it's bad helping people"

„it's not like this is free to do. of cause if you pay for it some would do it but most would generally not do it as thy didn't come to nurse someone they don't know"

„i guess that's how the world goes, you before anyone else, aaah"

right when he was finish speaking did she tightly pull the bandage around his arm making a painful sting go trough lüziels body

„but i still have to ask what kind of skill made you do this"

she was pointing at the spot where he stabbed himself with the ice dagger

„fallen star"

„i never seen anyone with it but i heard it's like making your own library so you just got lucky and got the right information before this"

„there i am telling someone my special skill and i don't even get information about it"

„you shouldn't be this rude to someone who is making your bandages"

with one final unnecessary strong pull tighten the bandage she finished and let lüziel go after another small scream of pain. after that he went straight to marth and rina.

„what happened to your arm. it looks like someone started to mummify you"

„does it hurt, is something broken, are you ok?"

both marth and rina had their own unique reactions when seeing his completely wrapped arm. while rina was looking solicitously after him did marth find this more humorous until rina hit him on the head for making fun of this.

„so how about that you will be fine"

„it's not off so i am fine"

as there could only enter 8 at a time there was no need for marth and rina to help removing the thorns right away so they had ample of time talking about what happened. where marth saw this as a fascinating story did rina scold lüziel for his hypocrisy in doing something this dangerous when he always tries his best for no one else to do this. for a while they where now going in removing the vines and getting back out. thanks to them not being able to simply set them on fire and their general robustness it took a good bit of effort to remove them a task that got further complicated with leqaul showing up to impede their work. at least they could sell the dead bodies of the leqaul to some fancy high end restaurant that made something with them they where not interested after facing so many constantly. they originate apparently from some delicate planet that it usually difficult to get permission to enter due to its ecosystem being quite fragile. after repeating their routine countless times they could now enter the pavilion with rina and marth group being the next in line being the ones to get to enter.

„there are 2 possibilities whats inside. 1 it is just an altar surrounding an orb or something alike or 2 a beast that has the core as part of his body. the strength of the beast is directly related to the level of the outbreak"

„in other words all we need to do is go in get the core and go out"

„not get, destroy. simply call me when you found it"

after the captain saying that a wave of annoyance spread through the group

„finding? didn't we search enough already"

„this is the entrance to a small building. it is not a labyrinth but we still need to check the room to find the right one"

what he was speaking of was a staircase that the pavilion was build around leading downwards. when following it they found themselves surrounded by white wooded walls reflecting the light of lamps that consisted of the plant that created the glowing particles in a glass cylinder sticking out of the wall with behind it being visible a sort of terrarium holding all the types of plants and animals they saw on the surface. after going through an entrance door they stood in a large dark room of which they could barely make out the outline through the light of the entrance shining in.

„looks like an abandoned mansion"

marth was going over to a nearby desk inspecting it with a glow stick he got from the shop

„it has barely any withering as if it's still in use"

„don't make the mistake of using your human common knowledge on this place. you all will see countless times things that you will interpret wrongly if you think of it like it would be on earth"

they all split up each taking one room to explore with there being fittingly 8. when marth entered his room what he was greeted with was a library. no matter where he looked where countless shelves filled from bottom to top with books all written in a language unreadable to him. forgetting why he entered he wet through the rows picking up some that stood more out. the first was a black book with golden ornaments on it's back and when flicking through the pages he saw nothing but text, from the form a story maybe. being incapable to read it he put it inside his bag thinking that who else but him could preserve these left behind books. he continued with this exercise taking the books that looked the most special flicking through and then putting it in his bag before stumbling on a bock depicting different kinds of animals and after searching for a bit he found the leqaul making clear that it's about the animals of here. at the same time did rina find herself in a room that had a stone floor which deeper in was covered in something closest resembling straw but made out of the plants from the surface having this weird blue color. in the room she could find all kinds of playthings made for small animals. a simple running wheel and a scratch tree to name some. while walking through the room she at first thought to just imagine it but when it jumped right before her it was clear that something was living here. all she saw where a shadow spotted in dim white glowing dots that were reminiscent of stars in the night sky with how they shimmered.

[cannot find any applicable targets]

no matter how much she tried did her skill fail due to it vanishing in the shadow before she could use her skill on it. this prompted her to activate her feral instincts hiding on the ground behind things slowly and silently approaching whatever directing she saw it jump to before standing so close to it that she could clearly see it. it's body was that of a rabid with a peafowl like tail that it had folded up stretching over halve of its back and extended about 2 times that length behind it and being semi transparent with the star like spot shimmering blurred through it. it had barely any neck to speak of and it's long face had 2 ears folded back that reached from above the dark red eyes to all the way back to where it feather tail started. not waning to scare it she laid on the ground taking some of the food she picked up from it's food bowl placing it before her.

[Skill activation King of Nature

targets fortitude level to high

king has been refused

start conversation]

when the rabid saw her lying on the ground it first hopped a few jumps away keeping a close eye on here before sniffing in her direction and deciding to hop back closer to her.

[targets fortitude level sinking drastically

activation King of Nature

targets fortitude level to high

king has been refused

start conversation]

it stopped right before the food she laid out sniffing it before bitting in. when it was finished it hopped a bit closer to rina and then another being close enough to sniff her hand the she held out. all the wile did rina keep quiet and move as little as possible trying to suppress the urge to twitch her hand when the whiskers of the rabid tickled her hand.

[targets fortitude level sinking

activation King of Nature

King has been recognized]

[Skill activation Companion

compatible target found

do you want to select the companion]

„yes"

[target has refused]

[targets fortitude level rising

activation King of Nature

King has been recognized]

when she did that did the rabid hastily jump back to the dark leaving her to again having to find it. now her plan changed to make a path of food leading it right toward her face when she found it again.

[Skill activation Companion

compatible target found

do you want to select the companion]

„no"

[no companion was selected

canceling skill Companion]

this time she chose to not rely on her skill and instead make the rabid like her enough to not run away. when it slowly came closer to her following the food it became less frightened and hopped to the bit lying right in front of her without hesitation. when she hold out her had to pet it it first flinched a bit but then let her do it.

[Skill activation Companion

compatible target found

do you want to select the companion]

„Yes"

[new Companion has been added

Mihcslihm Kikarnelc has been added as companion

monsternomicon has been updated

Companion is unnamed

name Companion]

„you will be pfause and we will be best friend forever"

[Pfause has been chosen as name for Companion]

while she was playing with pfause did the other find the core and destroyed it leading for them to return. when they left the gate did it already start to rotate fast and become more flat. the shard that where circling it like planets before slowly closed in on it and entered the gate. all that was left for them was to wait for the mission to finish giving rina time to show off with her new companion.

„isn't he fluffy and amazing"

„where did you even find that?"

„he was all alone in that one room but now we will have a lot of fun together and i will show him the entire world"

„you can't just pick up and animal from such a strange place rina. do you even know what to fed him, does he have any other things you need o know, what if he gets sick. at least the ones in the jungle had a somewhat normal environment where they where living in. what if he can't handle the air over long therm, he lived in that weird goo after all"

„you won't make me put him back. he is mine now and i will do everything so that he is happy"

rina was covering pfause with her hand from lüziel. pfause who was already quite agitated from the loud environment they where in then vanished in a puff of smoke

[pfause has retreated

time until pfause can be summoned 1:00:00]

„look what you did, now he is completely scared because of you"

„i think it's more the totality of everything all at once that scared him. i mean he was in that abandoned place. how did he even survive there when no one feed him?"

marth was scratching his chin thinking for a bit before continuing

„well i also found something interesting. maybe we find someone who can read this"

he pulled out one of the books he completely filled his bag with

„they look o fancy like they would cost a house"

rina awed at the red and silver ornaments on the book. they continued like this for a while but even when it became evening did the gate still do whatever it started. the next day lüziel woke up to a well know purple window

Outbreak in Arikema cleared

Achievement: 1/8

Drötseich hunter not cleared

Lirulag hunter cleared

Gielfen Lafslenuve hunter not cleared

Tarte hunter not cleared

speed clear not cleared

complete clear not cleared

core destroyed not cleared

pacifist not cleared

Reward: 6700 tallon

860 cp

0 tallon

500 tallon

0 tallon

0 tallon

0 tallon

0 tallon

0 tallon

0 tallon

Bank: 527 tallon + 7300 tallon

Clear Progression 996 370 cp - 860 cp