Kirkcour Woods,
13 th Banem, 1092.
The dark forest plunged into darkness at night, a few rays of the half-moon’s light barely making it through the dense tree branches. An eerie silence pervaded the woods, and it was soon apparent to anyone present that this was a place devoid of life.
Creak!
The sound of a twig breaking was like an ear-bursting alarm within the cold silence. However, the man whose feet had crushed the twig took another step and carelessly crushed another twig beneath his feet. He continually walked through the forest, each footstep releasing large crunching sounds that could surely be heard several dozen meters away. Despite this, the man did not seem to care as he continued his walk. He was either incredibly stupid, or he had a plan.
As someone who had maxed out [Silent Feet], it should have been more than easy for Kashi to walk through the forest without making a sound. However, the daeben purposely made as much noise as possible to draw out any creatures that might have been hiding. If it was not for the fact that it was far too corny, he might have started shouting and singing.
As it was, Kashi could only walk while searching for signs of the famous centaur village or the Lv. 150 beasts the forums mentioned. He split up with Shadow and Larsial so they could cover more ground, deciding to rendezvous near the forest’s entrance in four hours. Because Kashi was not confident about leaving Drixlia by himself, he had Drixlia follow while he searched.
Roughly three of the four hours had passed since Kashi split up with Shadow and Larsial. Kashi estimated he would need about thirty minutes to return to the rendezvous point. This was because his advance had been slow and careful as he searched for traces of Blights or centaurs. He could ride Drixlia on the way back, which would massively shorten the time.
Kashi had begun considering his return when he suddenly came to a halt. His eyes shone with controlled excitement as he rushed ahead. He came to a stop in front of a dead tree. Its leafless tree branches and withered, grey trunk were quite eye-catching in the green forest. Kashi peeled off a piece of bark from the tree. He let out a sigh as the bark crumbled to dust. He dusted off his palm and looked beyond the tree.
As expected, Kashi saw another dead tree just behind it. The daeben could not be sure if this was the Blight or not, but he knew the characteristics of Blights. A simple test would confirm. Kashi opened his right hand, and an arrow appeared in his palm. The daeben had long since moved his weapons into the inner world because he could directly summon them out instead of having to scroll through the game’s menu.
The only caveat to this approach was that calling something from his dimension to the real world required a dimension gate opening. Naturally, opening a dimension gate cost mana. Luckily, for small, inanimate items such as arrows and bows, the mana cost was little to the point of negligence. With Kashi’s MP recovery rate, he instantly recovered the lost mana.
Kashi cut his left palm and dripped his blood onto the soil surrounding the dead tree, then waved at Drixlia, who obeyed and retreated a couple of feet backward. Yggdrasil’s life energy healed the wound without leaving so much as a scar. The daeben did not pay the healing any mind as he attentively watched the blood-soaked soil.
Kashi’s brows flinched as a portion of the earth slightly shifted. It was a subtle movement—one which would have usually gone unnoticed, especially in the dead of night. Unfortunately, Kashi had been watching out for precisely this tiny movement, and there was no difference between day and night to the daeben’s eyes.
Kashi did not waste a single moment after catching that movement. He instantly screamed, “Move!” as he dashed toward Drixlia.
Drixlia turned into a blur as it sprinted off, almost seemingly leaving the daeben behind.
Bam!
Kashi raced after Drixlia, looking over his shoulder just in time to see hundreds of blood-red vines as thick as a body builder's arm burst out of the earth and rapidly give chase. Wherever the vines passed, trees would instantly grey and wither, some instantly crumbling to dust. The daeben’s gaze narrowed as some creatures rose from the ashes of the fallen trees. Unfortunately, he was moving too fast to confirm what exactly.
Kashi’s expression turned grave, but there was a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips. This was what he had been searching for. Now that he had found a Blight, it should not prove too difficult to find the centaur village.
Kashi eventually caught up to Drixlia, who was cantering ahead, seemingly without a care for its master. Kashi jumped onto Drixlia’s back and grabbed the reins. With a soft tap against the stallion’s mid-riff, the stallion’s speed instantly tripled, and it soon disappeared into the depths of the forest, leaving the blood-red vines writhing in rage.
Minutes later, Kashi and Drixlia came to a stop at a small campsite. Larsial and Shadow had their hands on their daggers, only relaxing their grips when Kashi and Drixlia fully came into view.
Kashi hopped down and patted Drixlia on his side, a pleased smile on his face. He was more than impressed with the stallion’s performance. Despite this being Drixlia’s first time in this environment, it had easily maneuvered through the thistles and loose branches. Some of it was thanks to Kashi’s guidance, allowing it to avoid the more dangerous paths. Still, Kashi could not make it decide where to plant its feet, especially while running. But to the daeben’s pleasant surprise, Drixlia displayed its intelligence as it carefully placed its feet only in safe spots, avoiding trip hazards like low branches and high roots.
Kashi had suspected Drixlia was studying him while they were searching the forest. Clearly, it had learned well. Drixlia’s intelligence strengthened Kashi’s resolve to upgrade its bloodline quickly. It was not easy to find a mount as intelligent as the stallion. It was even harder to find one with which he could bond as well as he had with Drixlia.
Kashi took out a red fruit and gave it to Drixlia. The stallion ate the fruit and then harrumphed, blowing air on Kashi’s hair before leaving to join the other horses. Kashi chuckled, then patted down his hair as he walked over to Shadow and Larsial. “Find anything?”
“Yes,” Shadow reported. “I found traces of Blights roughly eighteen kilometers South-East. I did not think it was wise to advance on my own, so I returned.”
Kashi looked at Larsial. “You?”
Larsial smiled. “I did find traces of Blights, but mine was much closer. I was almost ambushed by a group of Needle Blights fifteen kilometers south of here.”
Shadow’s brows rose. “Needle Blights? What are those?”
Larsial looked at Kashi. “May I explain?”
“Go ahead,” said Kashi as he took a seat on a large root.
“Thanks,” Larsial said, then turned to Shadow. “How much do you know about Blights?”
“Not much,” Shadow admitted.
“Okay, I’ll treat it like you’ve never heard of Blights.” Larsial proceeded to explain the various characteristics of Blights.
In essence, Blights were a crystallization of an ancient curse, manifested in the form of intelligent, tree-like creatures. Blights, which often looked like humanoid trees, were vastly different from Treants. Blights originated from evil sources and often spread quickly through forested regions. They proliferated by contaminating any kind of plant life, which would either perish or spawn new Blights.
There were three major classes of Blights: Needle, Twig, and Vine Blights.
Needle Blights were the most human-like of the Blight family and stood anywhere between 180 – 270 centimeters (6 – 9 ft). Within the darkness of forests, it was relatively easy for explorers to mistake them for another human. Needle Blights had spikes growing in clumps on their bodies. They could shoot out these needles to skewer any target. Needle Blights were quite annoying as they had the added ability to contact other Blights in the vicinity through pollens carried by the wind. Hence, they were also nicknamed ‘Alarm Blights.’
Twig Blights were much smaller than Needle Blights, standing at just over 120 cm (4 ft). They were formed from numerous dry branches twisted together to assume a humanoid appearance. Twig Blights usually existed in large groups that took root when there was no prey in their immediate vicinity. Twig Blights were especially vicious because it was hard to differentiate them from normal shrubbery when they took root in the earth. Fortunately, because of how dry the branches that made them were, they were quite susceptible to fire.
Finally, Vine Blights were the kind of blight Kashi had encountered. Just as he saw, their normal form was a mass of slithering vines. They often hid underground or just below shrubbery, waiting for unsuspecting prey. Their preferred mode of attack was to entangle and poison their target before launching a full attack. This kind of blights could also switch to a humanoid form by having a cluster of vines wrapped around each other. However, this form was very rarely seen. It only adopted this form to communicate with other intelligent species as this was the only form of blights capable of speech.
“There’s something else,” Kashi remarked after Larsial finished her explanation. “Blights rarely occur naturally in nature. There’s a high chance that there’s a mastermind behind all of this. If we do not find him, the Blight will most likely never truly end.”
Larsial frowned. “Such a person must be unbelievably powerful to have something as dangerous as the Blight under his control.”
Shadow’s gaze narrowed. “It does not matter how powerful he is. We just have to defeat him.”
“You make it sound so simple.” Larsial chuckled and shook her head.
“It is that simple,” Kashi affirmed with a confident grin. “We find the centaurs, find the bad guy, kill the bad guy. Simple as one, two, three.”
“Lunatics,” Larsial playfully admonished the duo. “I’m traveling with a bunch of lunatics.”
“The greatest heroes are often considered lunatics in their time.” Kashi chuckled as he got to his feet and walked over with a stick in his hand. “More importantly, look at this.” He marked an ‘X’ on the ground. “This is where we are.” He drew a straight line southward and then marked an X where he stopped. “That’s where I encountered the Blight.” He then drew two more lines, leading South-East and South-West, and then marked their ends with an X. “This is where you guys encountered the blights.” Kashi drew a line connecting the three Xs. “What do you see?”
“It’s a curve?” Shadow muttered. “No, is that an arc?” A glint flashed in his eyes as he looked at Kashi. “You do not think?”
“Yeah,” Kashi confirmed Shadow’s thoughts. “I think this is just an arc of a larger circle. The blight seems to be expanding equally in all directions. If we go with that assumption,” Kashi drew a straight line that just barely touched the created arc. “…walking at a ninety-degree angle to this tangent ought to bring us to the center of the Blight.”
“That’s smart,” Shadow praised with an approving nod. He let out a sigh and shook his head, “I would not have thought of that.”
“Stuff like this comes with experience.” Kashi shook his head. “Now that you know you can do this, you’ll most likely apply it when the need arises in the future.”
“Uh…” Larsial muttered, unable to bear the humiliating feeling of not knowing what the two were talking about. She had been staring at the diagram, trying to understand what this tangent thing was, but her efforts were completely useless. “What’s a tangent?”
“Huh?” Kashi looked at Larsial in shock but then remembered they were in the game world. The guys probably didn’t have those annoying Greek Mathematicians and their endless theories. There was no way they would know of concepts like tangents and Pythagorean theorems. Kashi figured the only reason they even knew about the idea of degrees (direction) was that it was an ancient concept in the real world, dating as far back as 6000 years ago.
Realizing where the issue lay, Kashi lazily dumped the task onto Shadow. “Want to explain?”
Shadow was initially going to refuse, but then he saw the hidden panic in Larsial’s eyes. He could tell she was scared he would instantly reject. He had to admit it was admirable that such a proud woman would admit she lacked knowledge about something others considered fundamental. He reluctantly agreed with a sigh and thus began an impromptu math lecture on circles, triangles, and squares.
Kashi interrupted the lesson thirty minutes later. Although he had not participated, he was secretly shocked at how quickly Larsial picked up on the concepts Shadow introduced. If she was introduced to the real world, she would be considered a rare genius. However, Kashi realized this was to be expected. This world had the Intelligence stat. Even though assassins did not look too much into improving Intelligence, they still invested a little effort because it helped with their mana-related skills.
Kashi could not imagine what those monster mages who had monstrous amounts of points in their Intelligence would be like when the Academy opened. The daeben was now filled with even more optimism toward the Academy.
Kashi shook those thoughts out of his head. He motioned at Shadow and Larsial. “Come on, let’s get moving.”
Shadow nodded and quickly mounted his horse. He steered his mount out of the campsite and drew abreast Kashi, who was on Drixlia. “What is the plan?”
“No more stealth,” Kashi stated. “We’re making a beeline for the center of this mess.”
“I thought you wanted to meet the centaurs first,” Larsial questioned, confused.
“I refuse to believe we won’t see a single trace of the centaurs on our way,” Kashi stated with confidence. “They must have battled the blight for some time. We’ll surely see some signs of the battle somewhere and trace it back to the village.” Kashi shrugged. “Either that or we first find the source of the blight, investigate it, then continue our search for the centaurs. Either way works and is faster than blindly searching through the forest for days.”
Kashi looked at Larsial, then Shadow. “Any objections?”
“Nope, works for me,” Larsial confirmed.
Shadow shook his head.
“Good.” A devilish grin spread on the daeben’s face as he spurred Drixlia into a hard gallop. “Let’s wreck this place…”
Du-dum du-dum du-dum du-dum!
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The thundering sound of hooves striking the earth interrupted the night’s tranquility as three horses tore through the dense forest at breakneck speed. Drixlia led the pack, effortlessly maneuvering through the trees. Larsial and Shadow urged their mounts to follow the same paths it took, neither of them confident in their horses’ ability to run through the forest on their own at such high speeds.
Kashi’s eyes narrowed as they began to near the area he previously encountered the Vine Blight . Ferulic’s Practice Bow appeared in his left hand while a quiver of arrows formed on his right, which he then slung over his shoulder. The daeben took out an arrow and nocked it, gaze focused on a dead tree just a few meters ahead.
Just before they reached the tree, Kashi pulled Drixlia to a halt. He quickly dismounted and instructed Shadow and Larsial to do the same. “We’ll go on foot from here. It’ll be disastrous if a Vine Blight trips the horses while they’re sprinting.”
“What about the horses?” Shadow asked.
“Shadow’s right. We can’t leave them out here on their own.” Larsial reined her mount over.
“Don’t worry about that.” Kashi placated them. He placed his right hand on Drixlia then watched as a curtain of light spread around it. Moments later, the light vanished along with Drixlia. “I’ll keep them in my dimension for now.” To Kashi’s surprise, the Shadow and Larsial’s mounts approached him of their own volition, uncharacteristically whinnying like little mares. Kashi was not sure, but he had a feeling it had something to do with the aura that leaked out when he placed Drixlia in his dimension.
Kashi made a mental note to experiment on this later. But for the moment, he placed both horses in his dimension. Kashi’s brows wrinkled as the horses disappeared. The mana drain had been a little more than he had expected. It seemed he could not just go around placing living beings indiscriminately into his world. He made another mental note to find a more cost-effective method.
“Alright, let’s do this,” Kashi said, and then charged ahead at full speed with Shadow and Larsial following. The trio blurred through the forest, their pathing zig-zag, seemingly chaotic and through tree branches rather than the ground. The assassins behind Kashi understood the brilliance behind the movement. Their pathing was aimed at highly reducing the chances of a successful ambush by a scouting enemy. If the enemy could not accurately tell where they would be at a certain point in time, it would be difficult to set an ambush.
Usually, this would force enemies to face them in a frontal attack. Even then, it would not be a concentrated force but a split up faction hoping to tie them down long enough for the others to catch up.
Their efforts soon proved to be the right one as less than ten minutes later, Kashi suddenly shouted. “Descend!”
The trio dropped to the ground as dozens of half-a-meter needles zipped past their locations. A grin spread on Kashi’s face as he glared at five Needle Blights. He nocked an arrow, preparing to face them, but Shadow and Larsial suddenly dashed past.
“Leave this to us.”
Kashi thought about it and then relaxed his stance. He had yet to see Shadow in action against non-boss like characters. He was intrigued to see how the assassin fought. He also glanced at Larsial’s back. This would also be a good time to judge her attitude. He decided to keep an eye out for any more reinforcements while spectating the fight.
Shadow did not know what Kashi was thinking. The soft-spoken assassin only had a single thing in his mind at that moment.
Kill Everything!
Whish! Whish!
Shadow’s cold eyes constricted as dozens of needles were launched toward them. Kashi watched, wondering how the pair of assassins would deal with this.
Shadow drew a pair of short, black daggers from his waist and charged head on to meet the needles. To his side, Larsial’s runes lit up as she stomped hard against the earth.
Larsial leaped over the needles in one clean swoop, daggers drawn as she reached the apex of her jump. The Needle Blights raised their arms. They had been hoping she would do just that. She could not evade mid-air and was thus an easy target. Her subsequent demise should have been the foregone conclusion, but Shadow chose that moment to erupt!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Kashi’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as Shadow’s feet erupted in a strange rhythm, his body seemingly fleeting through the needles. The assassin’s arms blurred as they deflected the needles back at the Needle Blights.
The Needle Blights were forced to stop their attack on Larsial as Shadow’s retaliation struck true. The Needle Blights staggered as the needles tore through them and roared in rage at being hit by their own attack. They turned to skewer Shadow, but to their surprise, he seemed to have disappeared.
A sense of danger struck their senses, and the lead Needle Blight looked down to see the white-haired reaper sliding across the earth. By the time the Needle Blight noticed Shadow, the assassin was already in the process of sliding beneath its legs.
Shadow had used the famous knight skill [Charge], one of the few skills that allowed a person to cover a short distance without relying on foot movement. [Charge] sent its user sliding across a short distance. It was quite a handy skill because its cooldown was only two seconds; hence it could almost be spammed non-stop. Usually, Knights used it to get close to enemies and bash them with their shields. In Shadow’s case, he immediately activated the skill and ducked, bringing himself closer to the ground.
The quick movement was a very effective way of dodging enemy sightlines. This was one example of L.N.E's uniqueness, which allowed players to learn any skill regardless of class. Battles would always hold a greater hint of unpredictability as no one would know what skills a player or Resident would use next, irrespective of their primary class.
Needle Blight-1 certainly did not appreciate Shadow’s little stunt. It punched at Shadow, but its fist only hit the earth as Shadow had already slid to its back. The assassin kicked off the ground and unleashed a rapid assault on the Needle Blight’s exposed back. Needle Blight-1 was staggered by the fast attacks and was unable to extricate itself.
Luckily, it was not alone.
The closest Needle Blight, Needle Blight-2, rushed forward and swung at Shadow’s back with its sharp claws. In response, Shadow sheathed the right blade and completed his chain of attacks on the lead Needle Blight-1 with a powerful palm strike that launched the Needle Blight into the sky while the knife in his left hand blocked Needle Blight-2’s strike.
Shadow had learned from Kashi not to focus solely on Dexterity and Agility like most Assassins. He made sure to put invest some points in strength for moments like this.
“Nice!”
The Needle Blights only now recalled there was one more opponent they’d left in the air. Larsial happily accepted the gift Shadow had sent her. A faint spider silhouette appeared formed behind Larsial as she brandished her blades at the incoming Needle Blight-1. With a snarky grunt, the spider’s legs repeatedly struck the suspended Needle Blight. The miserable Needle Blight-1 could not mount any modicum of resistance as the angry spider mauled it. [Falling Spider] had a three-second duration, during which both the attacker and the victim would be suspended mid-air.
While Larsial punished the airborne Blight, Shadow glared at the second Needle Blight through the gaps in its claws. The assassin’s arm dipped under the blow, but he had no intention of engaging in a battle of strength. The micro-second he bought with the initial block was more than enough.
In response to the blow, Shadow made a very un-assassin-like move. He once again unleashed [Charge], ramming his elbow into Needle Blight-2’s chest. Unfortunately, he lacked strength and only managed to push it two steps back. Also, the claws slid off his blade and tore down his back.
Shadow paid no heed to the wound. He drove his free fist into the Needle Blight’s abdomen, forcing it to take another step back. A sinister red aura coated the dagger in Shadow’s left hand as he swung upward, tearing a large gash in the Needle Blight’s abdomen.
[Wild Strike] was an unblockable skill, but Shadow used it for its secondary effect, which had a 100% chance of staggering an opponent if it hit (except if the opponent has stagger immunities). Depending on many factors, that stagger could last for a micro-second to as long as three seconds.
Shadow was not interested in finding out how long this skill would last. He circled to the Needle Blight’s back and unleashed a violent torrent of attacks at the staggered back within a second. In the next, he once again slapped the Needle Blight’s back.
However, this time, he used [Iron Palm], which unleashed a strike with double his normal strength. Unlike [Charge], this skill had a cooldown time of 30 seconds and had a penalty of reducing its user’s strength by 5% after use for 20 seconds.
Shadow had only used it because, like [Wild Strike], it had a 50% chance of staggering an opponent. Also, [Iron Palm] had a hidden effect that had a 90% chance of doubling the stagger time of an already stunned opponent.
Shadow seemed blessed by Lady Luck as Needle Blight-2 could only dumbly stare as the strike forced it roughly six steps back.
“I could kiss you right now!”
Shadow ignored Larsial’s shout as he waited for the remaining three Needle Blights. This time, he had lost the element of surprise as all three charged at him at the same time.
Meanwhile, above, Larsial’s three-second assault had come to an end. Her twin daggers drew a deadly curve in the air as they struck down at Needle Blight-1. [Ox Horn] was a dual-handed skill that knocked down opponents. When airborne, it had a hidden effect of shooting its target to the ground with the force of a bullet, releasing a shockwave that stunned enemies in a five-meter radius for a brief second.
As it so happened, Needle Blight-1 happened to crash into the unsuspecting, staggered Needle-Blight-2. This was no accident, but something Larsial and Shadow had carefully arranged. It was hard to believe this was the first time these two were cooperating.
The crash had the intended effect. Shadow’s cold gaze flashed as a shockwave blew past him and struck the incoming Needle Blights, effectively stunning them. Shadow’s gaze suddenly hardened as he looked past the Blights into the depth of the forest.
Behind him, Larsial dropped to the earth and drove her blades through the heads of the fallen Blights. Her eyes widened in shock as a sigil of a red skull appeared on their chests and exploded, instantly decimating both monsters. She recognized this skill all too well. Shadow had used it on her during the war. [Mark of Doom], but, this time, Shadow had used it in tandem with [Marked Despair].
[Marked Despair] was a branch of [Mark of Doom] that formed a mini-mana bomb on the target. Every successful strike on the opponent afterward would increase the final potency of the bomb. The skill lasted for eight seconds before it would automatically self-detonate if the user chose not to detonate early.
Shadow had successfully trained the skill to Lv.2 Expert, which allowed him to place two marks, each of which had a cooldown of 30 secs. The assassin had sneakily marked both Needle Blights during his assault. The subsequent flurry of attacks on both monsters charged up the marks, which he finally denoted after Larsial’s final strike.
That was two monsters down, but Shadow did not follow up with an attack on the stunned Needle Blights because he sensed a massive threat approaching from within the forest.
Boom!
As if in confirmation of Shadow's fears, a host of arrows shattered the remaining Needle Blights to pieces. A moment later, Kashi showed up at Shadow's right, stern gaze fixed on the darkness ahead. The daeben gripped Ferulic's Practice Bow in his hand, indicating how seriously he took the approaching threat. Larsial walked up to Kashi's right and brandished her daggers.
Any warrior worth their blade could sense the incoming monster. This would not be an easy fight.
Clop, clop, clop!
Despite the tense atmosphere, a smile spread on Kashi's face as the tell-tale sound of hooves against earth drifted into his ears. Only one race would dare race through the forest on hooves.
"Get ready!" Kashi prompted, and the trio got into battle positions.
Rustle.
Whoosh!
Kashi's eyes glowed as a heavily injured centaur wielding a massive spear burst out of the trees into the little clearing. The right side of his head was shaved bald, while long silver hair draped down the left side in a style the real world would have tagged as rebellious emo-lord. However, there was nothing emo about the muscular, tattoed body riddled with injuries from a recently difficult battle.
The centaur's brown fur had darkened to a dirty red from dried blood, but the spirit in his dark eyes had not dimmed in the slightest. However, a wave of crushing disappointment clouded the centaur's gaze as soon as he saw Kashi's team. He'd heard the sound of fighting and hoped it was one of his comrades. Unfortunately, it was a party of Outlanders and only three of them at that.
The centaur's charging speed took him past the trio, but he immediately circled and stood by their side. He had inadvertently brought it along as he ran. If he continued running, this trio would have to face it in his place. He was not a man without honor. He would not have another fight his battle. A deep, authoritative voice boomed out, "You three, get out of here! It's too dangerous!"
Kashi cast a grateful glance at the centaur warrior. Just this action alone had proven this man's integrity more than any words could. The daeben laughed and stepped in front of the centaur, shielding him. "Do not worry, and leave this to us while you treat yourself. We came here in search of danger."
The centaur coldly harrumphed. In the past months, he had met too many overconfident adventurers who did not know how to spell 'Fear' until it was too late. "Do not overestimate yourself," the centaur admonished. "It isn't something you can fight!?"
"It ?" Kashi repeated with a chuckle. "I guess we're playing the pronoun game. Rather than waste time telling us to run, why don't you tell us what it is?"
The centaur's gaze hardened, but he brandished his spear nonetheless. "It is-"
Crash! Boom!
Kashi looked at the creature that burst into the clearing with a wry smile. "Well, now, you really need to work on your persuasion skills , centaur-san..."