Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley

by John Nest

  He did his best to keep the monsters within the optimal reach of his white staff. After a couple of seconds of blocking the blows from the monsters on the back portion of the boat, his Cunning of the Dire Fox alerted him that both of the kappas on the front side leapt in to join the fray.

  With his back exposed against two kappas, Smoke felt the monsters zero in on his weak spot. Since his feet were still firmly planted on the rowboat, only his upper body turned the opposite direction to face the kappas.

  PLONG!

  Using all of the absorbed Mana from the monsters' attack, Smoke thrusted his staff into the nearest leaping kappa. His energized white metallic staff pierced the kappa and killed it in a single thrust.

  Suddenly, a minimized quest window update popped up in the upper left corner of his view. Smoke ignored the blinking icon as he already knew the information it contained.

  Despite killing the first kappa in a single strike, the second leaping monster still rushed in with its claws directly aimed at him. The monster managed to reach Smoke's staff and grabbed a hold of its middle portion.

  With his gained experience of the rocking motion of his rowboat, Smoke used the kappa's inertia and threw it over in the direction of the two kappas on the back portion of his boat.

  Both kappas dodged their flying kin as it flew past them and fell back into the murky green lake. The remaining kappas remained unfazed after Smoke's single kill strike.

  'Am I missing something here? Do these guys know something I don't?'

  SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH.

  Six more kappas sprang up from the green lake and tried to climb the row boat's sides. Smoke used his uncharged white metallic staff and attacked them before they could get on the boat.

  He may have only dealt 2,000 damage points, but he struck the monsters in critical places. This forced the monsters on the sides of his boat to release their hold and return into the lake.

  Despite his efforts, two Kappas managed to get on the boat unscathed. Smoke was about to execute another attack when he sensed the two monsters from before leap towards his back.

  Unfortunately, he couldn't defend against them in time and this distraction allowed for four more kappas to climb over the sides of his boat.

  Two pairs of claws scratched Smoke's back and dealt 6,000 damage points on each claw attack. His life bar revealed that he only had (141,850/165,850 HP) left.

  Smoke arched his back in pain. He took a deep breath and held his white metallic staff on the middle portion with both his hands. As fast as he could, he began spinning it in a three-hundred-sixty-degree motion.

  His right and left hands' well-practised synchronicity increased his staff's speed and power. A total of eight kappas prepared themselves to jump him.

  SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD.

  Only a few of the monsters' attacks got past both Manatls on the ends of his spinning white staff. As a result, he still had (93,850/165,850 HP) left.

  Alarmed by the damage inflicted by the webbed monsters, Smoke's staff-spinning speed increased. A purple circular shape began to form as afterimages of his two small purple Manatls blocked and absorbed the kappas' strikes.

  PLONG!

  In a split second, Smoke attacked a kappa with the energized blow of his staff. The kappa received a damage of 200,000 points and died instantly.

  Smoke fluidly resumed his staff-spinning as he kept on blocking the kappas' attacks. Whenever he absorbed more than twenty attacks, he launched a counterattack with his re-energized staff to kill a kappa in a single hit.

  One by one, more kappas would take place of their fallen kin and get on top of his boat or try to go near him from the side. Whenever there were kappas that would try to prop themselves up on the side, he would strike their arms with the non-Manatl portion of his staff.

  This ordinary staff attack only dealt 2,000 damage points, but still made the kappas let go of the sides of his boat. Smoke only allowed the monsters to get on either the stern or the bow.

  He kept on this arduous attack pattern for the next thirty minutes. Suddenly, he saw that there were only two kappas left on his boat. He focused on only attacking one of them with his uncharged staff attacks, but still blocked both of the monsters' attacks with his Manatl.

  When he finally killed the targeted kappa, he used his energized staff and bashed it into the last kappa's head.

  After dealing with the last of the kappas, he decided to check the blinking quest window.

  + Quest: Ways of Manatl

  Ability Quest Updated!

  Level: A

  Grandmaster Indigus asked you to kill 100 kappas in order to pass this trial.

  Rules:

  - Defensive Ability allowed: Manatl

  - Offensive Ability allowed: Manatl-charged attacks

  - Weapon allowed: White metallic staff

  Failure Penalty:

  - Current level will be reduced by 30%

  - All ability levels will be reduced by 30%

  Kappas(33/100)

  Note: Kappas of levels 110-129 have learned to stay away from you.

  'No wonder the kappas stopped coming.'

  Confident that the lower-level kappas feared him, Smoke decided to take a quick break. He took out the bread and boiled eggs that Saru gave him earlier.

  Quickly, he wolfed down the food to recover his lost HP as he only had 60% of his life bar left. He needed to raise his Satiety level as well. He merrily enjoyed the bread and eggs as he gently rowed the boat towards deeper waters.

  As Smoke ate, his mind wandered. Out of all the Simiavulgs, he only managed to raise Saru's Intimacy level to 82%. Even his previously-high Intimacy with the great masters Doctus, Tenvis, Castas and Meras had now been reduced to 55%, after his Beggary ability wore off on his second day in Saruras.

  His Intimacy with them was still high enough for them to request these favorable trial conditions, but not high enough to allow him entry into any of the specialized temples.

  'At least my pseudo-full Manatl barrier worked. This staff is really useful.'

  Despite the fact that his Cunning of the Dire Fox ability didn't detect any monsters nearby, he still quickly shifted his mental state to battle-ready after he finished his meal.

  'This can't be it? There has to be a reason for Indignus' smug smile.'

  After reading the updated quest window, Smoke was forced to row even further into the lake. He thought he heard something from the shoreline, but the sound was too faint to be heard clearly.

  He wondered if they were reprimanding him for something related to this quest, but then he thought that he was safe since he'd been strictly following the rules Indignus had given him.

  These thoughts instantly disappeared once Smoke's Cunning of the Dire Fox ability picked up twelve kappas swimming fast towards his medium-sized rowboat.

  Six of these webbed monsters managed to get aboard his ship while the rest tried to cling on the sides. He immediately noticed that these monsters were also larger and had darker green-colored scales.

  He spun his white metallic staff into a blur. The kappas on the side of his boat were blown away by his basic attacks.

  SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD.

  As he repelled the kappas on the side, he also carefully blocked and absorbed the attacks of the kappas on board his ship.

  PLONG!

  Smoke's white staff momentarily stopped spinning for a second as he executed another one-strike kill. Right after he killed the kappa, his staff resumed its lightning-fast spin.

  Yet, he didn't fail to notice the kappa's life bar before it disappeared. It clearly displayed (0/160,000 HP). 'I guess this will take longer than the last time.'

  Two and a half hours went by as Smoke fought off the higher-level kappas until he was once again left with only two of them. It took him longer because of the monsters' higher defense and bigger life bars.

 
He absorbed these two kappas' attacks and killed them using only the staff's ordinary damage. Afterwards, he sat down and opened the minimized quest window.

  Smoke found that he had already killed 99 kappas. Just one more and his quest was done.

  Serendipitously, the largest kappa that Smoke had seen sprang up from the starboard side of his boat. Smoke sniggered at the monster because he still had a fully-charged staff capable of instantly killing it.

  PLONG!

  Right after he killed his hundredth kappa, Smoke opened the blinking quest window again.

  + Quest: Ways of Manatl

  Ability Quest Updated!

  Level: A

  Kappas(100/100)

  Talk to Grandmaster Indignus to complete the quest.

  As Smoke was reading the updated quest window, he saw Saru floating across the lake inside a white spherical Manatl. He heard the albino Simiavulg shout and point to his back. "Row back to the defensive rocks! Those are the twin bull sharks, Requin and Cornu. They're second only to Calamar."

  "Huh?"

  All of a sudden, his Cunning of the Dire Fox picked up two massive monsters. He estimated their length to be at four meters and their width to be at a meter and a half.

  He sensed that these monsters were swimming rapidly towards him. He turned around and saw that two fins and a pair of horns were about to ram into his medium-sized rowboat.

  Smoke looked back to the defensive rocks and knew that he couldn't outrow these two monsters. He turned to face the lake's Boss-level monsters and held onto his white staff tightly.

  His survival instincts kicked in. The Manatls on both ends of his white staff disappeared. He raised his staff in front of the bull sharks and created a full-body Manatl.

  The purple spherical Manatl barrier formed just in time for one of the bull sharks to leap across and ram both its horns straight into it.

  SCHILD SCHILD.

  Thanks to his mental image training of flowing water, Smoke knew exactly what to do. He calmly redirected the force of the bull shark's attack to his left side, forcing it back into the lake.

  The bull shark's high damage reduced the Manatl's duration and it had already started to fade.

  Unfortunately for him, the second bull shark performed the same attack and had its jaws inches away from his back.

  THWAK!

  As he readed himself for the bull shark's teeth to sink in, Smoke saw an energized white metallic staff held by an albino gorilla Simiavulg come to his rescue. Saru arrived just in time to deliver a pinpoint attack on the bull shark's belly.

  Saru's attack displayed the name and life bar of the bull shark. Smoke saw that this one was Cornu and only had (360,163/450,000 HP) left.

  Smoke could not even rest for a second, as the first bull shark came back with its jaws wide open. He tried to hold his full-body Manatl, but it wasn't strong enough and the bull shark's razor-sharp teeth dispersed it.

  THWAK!

  Saru delivered a hard blow to the bull shark's head and its jaws failed to reach Smoke. Saru's blow reduced the bull shark's life bar to (385,981/450,000 HP) and revealed its name: Requin.

  After Saru's destructive blow, Requin was forced back into the lake.

  "We have to hurry back. Even the brown-staff wielders couldn't handle both these guys at once."

  Smoke immediately sat down and placed both oars into the rowlock. Smoke rowed with all his might as Saru remained standing with his white metallic staff in hand.

  His Cunning of the Dire Fox alerted him that the two bull sharks were on the opposite sides of his rowboat. The two monsters were coming in for another attack.

  Both Requin and Cornu leapt from opposing directions for a synchronized attack. He then saw Saru raise his white staff parallel to the boat and instantly create a white inclined Manatl ramp on both sides.

  SCHILD SCHILD.

  Saru's Manatl ramp forced the two bull sharks to jump across the boat. Smoke rowed even harder towards the defensive rocks. Saru's life-saving techniques gave Smoke hope that they could survive this.

  This time, Requin and Cornu came from the back and the left side of the rowboat. Saru kept calm and swiftly responded with the same inclined ramps.

  SCHILD SCHILD.

  Both bull sharks flew high into the air as the monsters' attacks missed once more. Smoke and Saru were slowly getting closer to the defensive rocks when Smoke heard a gurgling sound coming from the murkly lake.

  Smoke's Cunning of the Dire Fox picked up another monster, even larger than the two bull sharks. Eight tentacles with coral spearheads for tips emerged.

  Slowly, Calamar's gigantic head rose from the green lake. Smoke saw Calamar's eyes look in the direction of the two bull sharks.

  Then he heard a loud noise coming from the colossal squid.

  "GRAK GRAK GRAK GRAK GRAK!"

  Smoke only rowed with his right oar a couple of times as he wanted to evade the colossal squid. Calamar stretched out its long tentacles and blocked their path, but didn't directly attack their boat.

  "Why isn't Calamar attacking us? Is it feeding us to its bull shark underlings? " Smoke wondered out loud as he rowed.

  At the same time, the two bull sharks were swimming fast towards them prompting yet another attack. However, this time both Smoke and Saru were on their feet and had their energized staves ready.

  Smoke still had some of the absorbed energy from Requin's attack earlier, while Saru had plenty of absorbed energy from both of the bull sharks' attacks.

  When Cornu and Requin leapt to attack them, Smoke thrusted his staff into Cornu's belly right after dodging its jaws. Smoke's energized white metallic staff damaged Cornu for 40,000 points. Cornu's life bar displayed (320,163/450,000 HP).

  "GRAK GRAK GRAK GRAAKK GRAAAAK."

  Smoke distinctly heard Calamar make the same loud noise after he attacked Cornu.

  'Is Calamar laughing?' Smoke wondered.

  THWAK!

  Meanwhile, Saru bashed Requin's head in with his white metallic staff and gravely injured the monster. Requin's life bar displayed (267,189/450,000 HP).

  Saru's hard blow forced the monster down towards the rowboat. The massive bull shark received even more damage when its body hit the sturdy boat before sliding down back into the lake.

  Requin's return to the water rocked the boat hard. The intense swaying motion almost capsized their rowboat.

  "GRAK GRAK GRAK GRAAKK GRAAAAK."

  Smoke once again heard Calamar's weird noise, which he thought to be the lake boss' laugh.

  "Saru, any idea why Calamar's behaving like that?"

  "I don't know. Just be happy that he isn't attacking us."

  Right after Requin flopped back into the lake, Smoke sensed Cornu leap in for another attack. Unfortunately, he couldn't move fast enough to completely dodge it.

  His left arm got lightly scratched by one of Cornu's sharp horns and Smoke was damaged for 35,000 points. Smoke's already-damaged life bar now displayed (90,850/165,850 HP.)

  'That was just a scratch?' Smoke shook his head as he imagined how much damage a full-impact attack from the bull shark could do.

  Requin and Cornu swam further away from Smoke and Saru before turning around.

  The DarkElf watched as the monsters dived into the lake. His Cunning of the Dire Fox sensed that they picked up speed from below and leapt in for a low side attack. The bull sharks' assault bypassed Saru's Manatl ramp since it came from right below the ship's side.

  Saru was forced to create a white concave Manatl barrier around the entire starboard side of the rowboat.

  SCHILD SCHILD!

  Smoke eagerly watched as Saru's barrier absorbed the twin bull sharks' first attack.

  SCHILD SCHILD! SCHILD SCHILD!

  Smoke needed to do something to help Saru. Since the quest window confirmed that he completed the test's objective, he was now free from its restrictions. He switched weapons and used his weighted chain and sickle.

  With the aid of his Lunar Boots, Smoke
leapt over Saru's concave barrier. He used his hooded cloak to glide over the rowboat and threw his weighted chain into the water.

  He activated the weighted chain's built-in ability to return to him as he willed it and the sturdy iron chain wrapped itself around the twin bulls sharks. Smoke managed to wrap the chain around them three more times, which heavily restricted Requin and Cornu's movements..

  Saru canceled his Manatl barrier and attacked Cornu.

  THWAK!