“The corrupted beasts only are up to level 7, and soon it won’t be enough. If we go deeper, will we find higher level ones?” Goldmi asked.
She had been explaining their yesterday’s experience to the Oracle, although the Oracle had neither asked nor said anything about it. But he hadn’t complained either. It was unclear whether he had heard or ignored it, whether he was interested in that information, was indifferent to it, or already knew it.
“Doubtless, their level is higher as you go deeper into the former forest, but also the danger is greater. Beasts lack intelligence, but their masters do not. If you go too far, they will not let you go back. The danger even exists without doing it.”
The Oracle’s response was direct and frightening. It was clearly not a good idea to enter the heart of that dead forest. The question was where to go next. There were several possibilities, from the jungle itself to the borders where battles against corrupted beings were being fought.
However, in the jungle, although it wasn’t very difficult for Goldmi to find victims, she didn’t like the idea of hunting innocent animals. It was one thing to defend themselves, and quite another to end the lives of those which weren’t their enemies just to level up.
And the borders had been silent for a time, without great battles. It seemed that both sides were waiting, and only minor skirmishes occurred from time to time. Obviously, that made the leveling up speed slower.
Thus, none was as efficient as the old leveling area, or chasing corrupted beings into the already dead forest. Unfortunately, it was too dangerous a choice, almost certain death.
However, the decision could wait. She believed they could easily raise to level 7, maybe 8, and clean up the area a bit, free as many trapped souls as they could. Then, they would decide.
They said goodbye to the Oracle and returned to the teleportation circle, ready to continue with the plan of the day, consisting of a massacre of corrupted beings.
When they reached the exit of the cave, it gave them the impression that these creatures were more active than usual, nor as static as they had been the previous day while they weren’t attacking them. But they didn’t give it much importance. The two left the cave, and soon wiped out the few corrupted level 5 and 6 beings nearby.
Finding no more, they decided to enter to recover the energy and mana spent. They still had a long way to go, but there were no more corrupted beings nearby, so they hoped they might appear while they did.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
So it was. After a while, there were two other level 6 ones, and it wasn’t long before one more appeared. Again, they were few, and the archer’s arrows were enough. Luckily, more were continually popping up, but only one or two at a time, making it easy for them. They were few, and she could annihilate them from a distance, without giving them a chance to get close, and retrieving many of the arrows. In fact, the lynx was somewhat bored.
They stopped to eat, not finding more than four of them when they came back, again in the distance, and it continued like this until mid-afternoon. They had risen to 7, so Goldmi had worn the armor of that level, in addition to wielding weapons very similar to the previous ones, but one level more.
She now had the Wind Push spell, with which she can push an enemy, thus being able to free herself from a dangerous situation. At affinity 10, it can push the target up to ten meters, although at 4, which is the one that it was, it only reaches seven.
And the skill had been Naughty Branches, which allows the connection with nature to be used to make the branches of trees and bushes move, helping to hide themselves, or hinder the enemy. It can’t be used directly as an attack skill, as they don’t move fast enough, but it can clear or obstruct the escape or pursuit path. It was at 3, because, although it was a flashy skill, it wasn’t very useful in the game.
Additionally, she had raised Purifying Touch to 4, after using it very effectively against corrupted beasts and trees.
It had been very easy and relatively relaxed to go from level 6 to 7. Too easy. However, neither of them found it strange, so they decided to continue ending the suffering of those beings for a few more hours.
Jrevlo had come to that place upon receiving the notice, feeling somewhat disappointed when he had found only two living beings, in the distance. But two was better than nothing. So, he had been watching them, ordering the creatures to attack them.
He wanted to know if there were more, or what secrets they were keeping, and how it was more efficient to attack them. He only sent two or three sacrifices at a time, because he didn’t want them to be scared and run away. It was still too soon.
It was when they disappeared into the rock that he was dumbfounded. There was something there that they hadn’t discovered until now, despite the time they had dominated that area, an entrance to some unknown place that served as a hiding place. That explained why they hadn’t been able to find them before, though not how they’d arrived there.
“Maybe there is a tunnel? It doesn’t matter, I’ll get the answers little by little. When I’m done with them, they’ll beg me to tell me everything,” he muttered to himself.
He decided to wait. If they didn’t come out, he would go to investigate that rock, but it was better that they weren’t seen, so their preys would feel confident and be exposed. It would be more difficult if they were sheltering wherever they were, or if there was a tunnel through which they could escape. Meanwhile, he was setting his troops, some to be sacrificed, and others to prepare an ambush.
After less than an hour, he watched them leave their hiding, so he kept letting his disposable minions be killed as he continued with the preparations. He only saw something strange when the elf changed her outfit, but since they were very similar, and she had done it from the inventory, he thought it had been some kind of reflection.
Finally, and as the two living beings continued to decimate the corrupted creatures, the preparations were ready. A wicked grimace appeared on his face before giving orders.