Skarlet sighed as she sat down on her bed, head in her hands. There was a hotness in her cheeks. Damn, I really cried in front of him and got comforted like a little kid. But I guess it's ok if he's going to save them. But I've done it again, I've made another friend. Another person I'm gonna drag into my own misfortune. Just like them, it's no coincidence that they got kidnapped soon after becoming close to me. But more importantly I need to get my sword back, I was unconscious when Aiko pulled me out of the spider den. I left my sword in there. Skarlet finally got up, her mind strayed to how she'd opened the door, she was leaning against it cause she was still struggling to stand. The spider's poison had only recently worn off. Aiko and Amethyst had been visiting her daily, they were probably on their way here when they got kidnapped.
Skarlet did learn something from this, apparently she couldn't use magic without her sword in close proximity which made sense. She didn't have a mana pool, so the sword must have been providing it.
She quickly got dressed before heading out, she said her farewells to the inn receptionist who she was also reluctantly forming a closer relationship with.
Skarlet pushed open the door to Yofen's shop, though upon stepping into the lobby she didn't see him. She browsed quietly for a while looking for a cheap sword to use temporarily.
Ding
Skarlet, looked up to see a familiar looking man step into the shop, she frowned as she tried to put her finger on who he was. When he saw her his eyes widened for a moment then his gaze softened as he approached.
"Skarlet, are you planning to go hunting again today?" He asked, Skarlet frowned and nodded, she felt like she should know this man. She also felt a bit at ease around him. "You're going to go back to the spider nest aren't you. I'm coming." The man declared.
"Huh, I don't need your help. Besides I'm a solo hunter." The overall term was adventurer however they also had types. Most adventurers fit into one of three categories; Hunter, Defender, and Fighter. Hunter's were adventurers specialized in tracking, collecting herbs, and hunting game. They also tend to clear reoccurring quests rather than taking kill quests. Defenders were generally specialized in support and guard roles. They often worked with nobles and merchants to do things like; escort caravans, guide scholars to dangerous locations, and defend cities from monster waves or stampedes. Lastly the fighters, they were specialized in direct offensive engagements. They often took on kill quests for large monsters, they would accept quests to wipe out bandits, basically anything that led to a straightforward fight.
Skarlet was aware she was becoming more like a fighter than a hunter however she still considered herself a hunter at heart, that's what her parents were.
"Well, whether we go as a party or not isn't relevant, I'm heading that way after all. The guild needs information, so I'm going to investigate whether it's a dungeon or not." The man explained, with a smile, "You seem to not remember me, my name is Andy. I was the adventurer who saved you the day your parents died."
Skarlet froze as her mind searched for that memory, it was a blur, but she was reminded that the ending missing from all those nightmares was the warm gentle arms that carried that little eight year old girl away from the catastrophe she made. Covered in blood, crying, she poured her tears and snot into his shirt. She felt a blush rise as she remembered that, looking again at the Adventurer in front of her.
"That little girl I saved, didn't ever grow up did she? Still in that dungeon running from those monsters. . ." He looked lost for a moment as he once again relived that memory.
"I'm sorry, I brought you so much trouble." Skarlet subconsciously grabbed her arm and couldn't meet his eyes.
"Ha trouble? I guess you could call it that. But you, you were the one thing I managed to save that day. Skarlet you are the legacy of those amazing people, my dear friends, I saved their daughter. It pains me to see you so harmed by their loss and watching this world constrict around you."
"Well, I get what I deserve. . ." Skarlet replied, Andy opened his mouth to respond when footsteps stopped him. A short elderly man stepped from the back, his name was Yofen and he was a dwarf.
"Little bit lively here, eh?" He chuckled, "What can I do for ya Skarlet?" Yofen stepped up to his counter and Skarlet turned her attention to him.
"I need a sword, a sturdy one." Skarlet explained, Yofen nodded and pointed to a sword on the wall behind her.
"That there sword is of good quality, please take it, return it unto me once ya get ya sword back and I shalt not charge ya." Yofen explained, then he turned his attention to Andy. Skarlet frowned at this feeling like she was already very indebted to Yofen, she was hesitant to keep receiving his favor.
"What might I do for ya, Guild Master sir." Yofen asked politely, Andy smiled.
"Nothing much, I came to check on that custom order I made, but it seems that I have to head out on a spider hunt now." Andy pondered, "I will come back to see it, I do apologize again for asking you to build something so big I do hope it's not a hassle." Yofen laughed heartily at this, then as those joyful bellows quieted he smiled at the Guild Master. Skarlet was also staring at Andy. Guild Master, that means he's really strong huh, wait he wasn't the Guild Master when he saved me right? Who was back then? Skarlet tried to remember the face of the previous Guild Master. Andy was already the head of the guild when I registered, but I remember meeting the previous Guild Master with my parents once before when we accepted the quest to investigate that dungeon. As she tried her hardest to remember only the memory of an elf entered her mind, nothing more. An elf, and a relatively young one, what happened to her? Skarlet was left without an answer.
"No no, ya be just fine. I've got experience crafting in pieces. Once I've finished prototyping I'll find an open patch to assemble it. I'll call ya then to inspect the piece." Yofen explained and Andy nodded, as they conversed Skarlet pulled the sword from the wall and gave it a light swing before sheathing it on her back.
"Thank you, I will pay you back I promise!" Skarlet exclaimed seriously, Yofen only sighed in response.
"Don't worry about it none child, your parents payed your way plenty." Yofen explained shooing her out the door. Andy followed, Skarlet didn't stop him as she recognized him as someone stronger than her.
~
Skarlet drew her sword as she stepped into the ruin once more. this time with her new companion. Aiko and Amethyst probably would have insisted on coming if they weren't. . . Cody will save them I need to focus on getting my sword back. Skarlet sighed as the guilt settled in for the selfish decision she had made.
Andy raised his hand and a flame of magic filled it and cast light in the darkness. He didn't chant, he seemed to just will the magic into existence.
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Is that what a true wizard is like? Skarlet pondered for a moment before pushing the useless thoughts away. She stepped over the shattered fragments of a large shield and into the den of spiders.
Andy cast a large fire spell almost immediately and the cavern filled with the scrabbling and scraping sound of the spiders escaping. With the newfound light Skarlet got a better look at this place. It has a grandness to it, she was standing on a greyish red carpet that seemed to stretch from the entrance forward, past the large king spider. There were massive, decorated pillars at regular intervals, on both sides of the carpet.
This place was like an old decrepit mausoleum, there were upside down crosses and other spiritual symbols that leaned towards darker religions.
Lying on the carpet, about halfway to the King Spider was Skarlet's sword. She smiled and dashed towards it, reaching out she almost immediately tossed her current sword, but then remembered she needed to return it to Yofen so she tightened her grip instead.
About a foot before she could reach her sword a massive spider leg smashed into the floor where she'd been standing just moments before. She'd reacted in time due to her instinctual sense of danger.
Skarlet frowned as she stood up and raised the sword Yofen lent her. She swung with all her strength, Skarlet was much stronger than when she'd started. Her sword may not have been giving her a mana pool to work with but her strength was still no joke.
Bang
A loud sound reverberated through the underground ruin, Skarlet's sword and the spider's large leg had clashed violently.
"Skarlet!" Andy watched as Skarlet was flung backwards and slammed into a pillar. The sword she wielded went skittering across the floor, out of reach, while she slid down to the ground with blood dripping from her head. She seemed unconscious for the moment, Andy had his hands tied though, there was a ridiculous amount of spiders. He was spending most of his time trying to exterminate them. The light show of fire magic that was meant to be the backdrop to an epic fight between Skarlet and the king spider. However Skarlet failed to obtain her weapon and was instead thrown back, Andy was debating on whether he should switch to rescue mode and get the both of them out of there.
The spider lunged at her, a powerful swipe with one of its legs towards where her body was currently slumped against the pillar. Andy also reacted at that time and leaped forward, preparing a spell to at least blast the spider back.
Without warning Skarlet suddenly rolled out of the way. She landed in reach of her tempory sword, grabbing it just as the Spider's leg cut through the pillar. Skarlet leaped upwards, her claws came out and she scaled the pillar before leaping back and spinning. She swung her sword twice in the time it would take to swing it once. She cut a wedge shaped piece from the top of the back of the pillar. The spider had managed to do the same thing to the front of the pillar, and as Skarlet was falling backwards she gestured for Andy towards the pillar.
Andy who had finished his spell changed targets and launched a fire ball at the back of the pillar. With a loud pop, snap, and deep cracking sounds the pillar fell forward and smashed into the head of the spider causing it to let out a loud screech.
Andy's eyes were now focused on Skarlet who was still falling, he dashed forward and with a slide, he managed to catch her before she hit the ground.
"I work alone normally, but having a capable party member is nice at times. Good teamwork." Skarlet smiled as she leaped out of his arms and dashed towards her sword once more, the king spider was reeling from the damage it had taken and was not paying attention to her anymore.
"Teamwork? That wasn't teamwork that was a damn trust fall." Andy gave a wry smirk as the spiders started closing in again so he started spinning his mana into more flames.
Skarlet snatched her sword from the ground and stumbled, she hit the ground and rolled as her body suddenly felt unbalanced. The sword was filling her with mana and a smile climbed up her face. She restabalized her stance before turning towards the king spider and sheathing the sword Yofen gave her.
Skarlet leaped into the air and activated a wind spell to send her flying towards the spider. She wanted to use fire magic however she knew that due to the affinity between fire magic and wind magic there's a possibility that her magic would attack herself as well as her target. So instead she opted for brute strength, the smile would not leave her lips. Once again being in combat with a much stronger opponent she felt an intense acceleration teetering on the edge of life and death.
Skarlet cast a smaller wind spell that launched her sideways just as the king spider swiped one of its long legs at her. It let out a screech of annoyance as it missed and she disappeared behind one of the pillars. Skarlet dug her claws into the pillar as she prepared another wind spell before launching herself at the spiders back.
She used the pillars to duck in and out, continuously breaking the spiders sight line to allow herself to get closer and closer to it till finally she landed on its back. Skarlet lifted her sword and stabbed it into the spiders carapace, clang, Skarlet winced as a vibration rattled through her entire body starting from her sword arm. She had not managed to pierce through, instead Sparks had flown and her sword had bounced off causing her to lose her balance and start sliding down the side of the carapace.
Skarlet Scrabble her claws and sword against the side of the king spider however she could not pierce it, neither could she manage to grab any friction. Eventually she pushed off after having realized that there wasn't a way to stay on. There was a sense of frustration feeling her as she realized her sword that had never failed to cut anything before was failing to pierce this creature.
Skarlet blasted herself back with a wind spell and grabbed onto one of the pillars, hanging from one hand she inspected her sword for a moment only to discover that it was still in perfect condition. Skarlet frowned as she expected to find some sort of damage on it however the fact that it was still in pristine condition means that it didn't lose out in quality and in reality was likely just due to her lack of strength.
Even with a nail you still need the strength to force it through the wall, the same concept applied here except her sword was the nail and the spider's carapace was the wall and she simply didn't have the strength to hammer it through.
Skarlet, glanced around the room for a moment trying to decide how to take down the spider if she couldn't cut it. Her eyes brushed past Andy who was methodically burning through the large amount of young spiders, he had managed to cut them down to one third of what they had been previously. Her eyes found something at the back of the room, curiosity got the better of her and with a quick blast of wind magic she started launching herself from pillar to pillar.
She moved around and passed the king spider and discovered that beyond his large body, a statue made of bronze stood proud and very rusted. It was covered in Vines, holding a very dominant and pose. The sword this man was holding looked very familiar to her but she couldn't quite put a finger on where she'd seen it before. Because she was more distracted by the horns on his head, as she pondered who this man was her danger sense warned her and she leaped to the side just as splash of acid scattered the ground where she had just been standing.
Skarlet turned to frown at the king spider that was moving towards her once more, it was spitting acid at her. Skarlet frowned as she activated a fire spell and started melting the base of the statue.
A large wad of acidic poison landed right where she was standing previously, Skarlet had moved just in time again. Smiling as the acid began cutting through the statue.
"Hey Ugly, take this!" Skarlet exclaimed as she smashed a massive wind blast into the base of the statue and sent it flying straight at the spider. The sword the statue was holding was pointed directly at the spider. The King spider was a bit too big to move out of the way in time, and almost instinctively it seemed to try and bite the projectile launched at it.
Though it's soon found that chewing through pure solid bronze was not easy. And ended up getting lodged in its mouth, the King spider let out a screech has it tried to spit out the mangled statue. Before it could though it felt something hot burning in the bottom of its mouth. It froze for a moment and confusion as it looked around and tried to find its prey, but Skarlet had vanished.
The reason the spider couldn't see her was because she was standing on the statue's base which hung just barely out of its mouth. She was pouring fire magic into the spider's mouth. The statue was beginning to melt and molten bronze began feeling the spider's mouth and before long it began to scream.
Skarlet thought the fight was over, she believed that pouring molted bronze down its throat would kill it. But seemingly out of nowhere she felt a strong sense of danger and leaped backwards out of its mouth. Moments after she did so poison poured out of its throat filled and its mouth. Soon it was dripping down it's chin and pooling on the floor below. The bronze statue soon disappeared in the mass amount of acidic poison and the spider glared at her before throwing up a waterfall of acid. Her danger sense went off like crazy but there was nowhere she could move to escape from the mass amount of poison pouring down towards her like a wave leaping the shoreline.