“Blah, blah, blah, Thorns,” Harrison said rudely. “Let us go hunt lions already. You can deal with your . . . feelings later.”
Rose snorted and straightened up, seemingly revitalized. “Right, we owe them a little payback. Let’s go.”
“Say, where did Marie go?” Olaf asked as we were leaving camp.
“She went to the Hunter’s Union camp with Sooty and Loral. Loral wanted to tan some of the hides Sooty brought her today and Marie wanted to use the forge,” I answered. “They promised to be back by sundown.”
“Good, they should be safe there,” Olaf said with a nod. “How was your day, Mic?”
“It was awesome as always. Rose and I sparred, which leveled my ‘Duel-Wielding’ skill to Rank II and got me a bunch of Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina. Ooh, most importantly, I got my Spirit stat up to my level cap,” Micaela answered.
“Sounds like you had a good day,” Olaf said.
“I did. How about you? How was your day?” Micaela asked.
“I gained a lot of Strength points and I almost capped Stamina for my current level. ‘Blacksmithing’ leveled up a bit but not as much as I would have hoped,” Olaf answered. “What about the rest of you?”
“Stat points and skill levels,” Rose answered.
“Same for me,” I said.
“Same,” Baby added then paused as if realizing something was missing. “Wait, what happened to Titan?”
“I sent him on a mission of his own,” I said. “He’ll be fine. It’s not like anything in the province can really hurt him.”
“What mission?” Baby asked.
“Charisma building,” I said. “I gave him a little chore inside the city that will require him to talk to people to complete it. He’ll be fine.”
“Thank you, Bye-bye, that was really nice of you,” Baby said.
“Yeah, I needed to do something. Anyway, that should keep him busy for a while and if I’ve done my job right, it should keep him busy for a few days at least while he gets the hang of it,” I said.
“Then what?” Baby asked.
“Then I’ll figure something else out,” I said, having no idea what I would set him on after that. I kind of wish he knew ‘Meditation’. If I’m able, I’ll make a scroll for him, but I get the feeling it can’t be shared like that due to how hard it was to learn in the first place.
“Okay, thanks,” Baby said.
“No problem,” I said.
“Okay, the lakeshore is just ahead,” Olaf said, ending any further conversation. “Vision, can you safely scout ahead for us?”
“I can try, but I did not see them yesterday. They seem to have a way to hide from me,” Vision said, vanishing anyway.
“In that case, Baby, mind running aerial recon for us?” Olaf requested.
“You got it,” Baby said, zipping up about ten feet. She didn’t want to go too high or she risked getting attacked by something that flew. It was still a risk actually, but this way she was close enough to us that we would be able to help if she was attacked.
The lakeshore looked the same as the day before, same paw prints scattered around though much fresher.
Baby suddenly zipped down to us. “They saw me,” she said, looking unnerved. “The two lions with the big red manes looked right at me.”
“So, this is their normal hunting grounds,” I said, glad for the information.
“Well get back up there and tell us when they move,” Rose said, prodding her sister with one of her shields, a sharp thorn poking at the Fairy’s posterior, causing her to shoot into the air, holding her hindquarters.
“That was so mean, Rosie,” Baby shouted down at us.
“Sorry,” Rose said, though her grin didn’t reflect it.
Baby narrowed her eyes and huffed before looking for the lions again. “They’re gone,” she called back down to us.
“Rose, Harrison, form a wall in front of us,” Olaf started. “Bye-bye, buffs. Baby, shields. Mic, you and Vision watch our rear for those sneaky fellas. Baby, how many lionesses?”
“I don’t see any,” Baby replied, flying ahead toward where she saw the lions. “I see them, they are leaving.”
“Leaving?” I asked. Why would they leave? And then I realized we outnumbered them today. They lost two of the seven lionesses yesterday. That meant they were down to seven, same as us.
“It seems these kitties do not like a fair fight,” Harrison grumbled. “What’s the order boss? Do we pursue?”
“Yes,” Olaf stated. “Baby, don’t lose sight of them. We’re following you.”
“Right!” Baby shouted, zipping ahead as fast as her little Fairy wings would carry her.
We chased the lions and quickly caught up to them, surprising them. It seemed their retreat was a relaxed one. I guess when you are the one always doing the hunting, you never expect to be hunted.
“Rose, Harrison, gather them all up. Bye-bye, see if you can pin one of the lions with your spell,” Olaf called, one hand-cannon and a maul both ready and waiting.
I targeted one of the Mfalme lions, hitting it with my ‘Lesser Heavenly Blades’ and pinning it easily to the ground and earning a yelp of pain from it. Then the other lion did something unexpected. It swiped at the pinned lion, breaking my Crowd Control (CC) in exchange for a few points of damage.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked, still not believing what I just saw.
“Okay, they have some intelligence,” Olaf said, also looking as if he couldn’t quite believe what he just saw.
“Jack, look at the lionesses, they are all gathered up, creating a barrier between us and the lions,” Rose called.
I looked and Rose was exactly right. The five lionesses stood shoulder to shoulder, growling threateningly at us but not moving forward to attack. Behind them, I could see the two lions walking away again.
“You’re going to regret underestimating us,” I called after the pair. “Let’s see how they like this, ‘Boar Charge’ incoming,” I warned my friends, targeting the center lioness with my spell.
Boar Charge
Level: 30
Experience: 0.47%
Spell Damage: 750-950 per second
Spell Cast Speed: 5.00 seconds channeled Cooldown: 29 minutes Range: 35 yards
Spell Mana Cost: 800
Spell Effect (Active): Summon a stampede of spectral boars that will charge a targeted area dealing damage and knocking down anyone in the area of effect.
Charm Earned Bonus (Passive): Blessing of the Boar Spirit - +10-Endurance, +10-Stamina.
Expensive to cast as it was, there was something special about seeing a drove of spectral swine plow through animals that typically would have eaten the boars.
Olaf made things for the lionesses worse when he started chucking bombs at the trampled beasts, finishing anything the spectral boars didn’t.
The lions, smarter still, looked back and saw what was happening to their females and started running faster.
I couldn’t let them get away. “Olaf, cover me,” I shouted before activating my ‘Final Judgment’ skill and leaping forward.
Final Judgment
Level: 3
Experience: 0.00%
Skill Effect: Deliver the Final Judgment of Issara upon an enemy of the World Tree dealing -2-HP damage per point of MP and SP used plus weapon damage. Ignores armor, cannot be blocked or dodged.
Skill Stamina Cost: All Spell Mana Cost: All
I landed, stabbing through the side of the lion and dealing -8,742-HP damage in one hit. And then it batted me aside. Somehow it survived that hit, though its HP bar showed it was nearly dead. A boom came a second later that sent the lion skidding roughly across the terrain. When it stopped, it didn’t move again.
The other lion approached his brother and pawed him a few times before roaring loudly. It glared at Olaf for a moment then ran, this time at a much faster pace.
“Well, we got one, that was all we needed, right?” Olaf asked.
“Yeah,” I sai
d, relieved it was over.
“We’re letting it go?” Rose asked.
“We only need the one, and that attack has left me completely drained,” I said.
“It’s your own fault for using that skill,” Rose reminded me.
“I know, but if I hadn’t used it, they both would have gotten away,” I said.
“Maybe, but I bet Harrison could have gotten to it,” Rose said.
I looked to the former guard who answered me with a shrug. “I could have, but then I would be as wiped out as Bye-bye there. Skills like that have a cost to use them, usually all your SP or MP.”
“Oh,” Rose said, blinking in surprise. “I didn’t know that.”
Harrison just shrugged again.
“Is it wrong that I’m feeling a little let down by that fight?” Micaela asked. “After they killed us so easily yesterday, I would have thought they would have been more of a challenge.”
“Situation changed, they changed to match the situation,” Nahid said, appearing out of nowhere.
“We’re getting her a bell,” I said, feeling my heart thundering in my chest from the Catgirl’s sudden appearance.
“Why? I have already learned the ‘Soundless Movement’ subskill,” Nahid stated.
“Never mind,” I said.
“Right then, let’s gather up the bodies and head back to camp,” Olaf said. “Mission accomplished.”
“Bye-bye, why didn’t you move after you used that skill?” Harrison asked sharply as we began to work on picking up the corpses.
“I didn’t have any SP left,” I replied.
“That does not stop you from stepping away, does it?” Harrison pointed out. “That is your lesson from this fight. The rest of you, learn ‘Body Control’ so that your teammate is not left exposed like that again, that is your lesson.”
“I’m really starting to dislike that guy,” I grumbled. It didn’t help that he was right.
A couple hours later, we returned to camp and promptly turned the lion carcasses over to Sooty and Loral for processing, making sure they knew we need the lion intact for the Hunter’s Union.
After that, I excused myself to my tent. I had more work to do on the ‘Body Control’ scrolls, or rather creating scrolls for a couple of the subskills.
“You okay in here?” Rose asked as she entered the tent.
“Yeah,” I said with a yawn. A glance at my game clock showed it was almost midnight. “Just needed to get some work done,” I explained, holding up three scrolls for Rose. “These have ‘Body Control’ and two subskills. I can get you more later, but I figured this would be a good starting point.”
“Oh . . . um, thank you,” Rose said, taking the scrolls and absorbing their contents within seconds. “I thought you might be avoiding me.”
“Not entirely,” I said. It was true that I needed to work on those scrolls. It was also true that I was kind of avoiding her. Or rather just giving her time to come to me, she must have known we had things to talk about.
“Oh, so you were avoiding me?” Rose asked, tilting her head to side in confusion.
“I was giving you space,” I answered. “And I was giving me a little space.”
“Oh,” Rose said, sagging a little, then with a timid voice, she asked, “Are you . . . are you breaking up with me?”
“What?” I said, jerking around to look at her. “No,” I said quickly. “I’m not breaking up with you. That is the last thing I want. But . . . we do need to talk.”
“About my past, right?” Rose asked.
“I think it might help, but I’m not going to force it. If you tell me you’re not ready to talk about it, then . . . you’re just not ready,” I finished lamely. I wanted her to tell me about her past. By now, I knew something happened in her youth that ended with her living with her aunt and cousin. Whatever it was clearly impacted her life. I couldn’t . . . wouldn’t force her to tell me. But isn’t a relationship supposed to be about accepting the good and the bad?
“No, I need to . . . no, I want to. I’m just . . . afraid,” Rose said, a slight quaver in her voice.
“Let’s go to bed,” I said, holding out a hand for her to take.
Lying in bed, I held Rose close to me. “Okay, you talk, and I’ll listen,” I said, once we were both comfortable.
“I watched my father beat my mother to death,” Rose stated bluntly. From there, everything just spilled out. How she tried and failed to protect her mother from her father. How her father got addicted to pain pills. How she ended up living with an aunt she had only met once before and couldn’t even remember. How growing up, she was always terrified of someone else leaving her and how she pushed everyone away, until one day, Barbara managed to worm her way in to Rose’s heart. She told me about her fear that Barbara would leave her one day, just like her mother. Just like her father did, despite the awful thing he did, he was still her father. He passed in prison. How afraid she was of driving off anyone that she ever let get close to her. How afraid she was of losing me if I ever found out any of this.
“Say something,” Rose said softly, worry evident in the quaver of her voice.
I hugged her close and said, “Thank you for telling me.”
“You’re not . . . you don’t think . . . I’m damaged?” Rose asked.
“I think you were once a little girl put in a horrible situation. I think you have grown into a beautiful, strong, independent woman whom I love. Now go to sleep. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow,” I said.
“I . . . I love you too,” Rose whispered back, snuggling in closer to me.
I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
Chapter 13
Morning came with a blood curdling scream. At least, that was what greeted me when I stepped out of my tent. It was so unexpected. I felt my heart freeze up. But it didn’t stop me from running toward the source, Olaf and Micaela’s tent.
The two Minotaurs had a simple triangle tent that probably could have slept three, but with their size was probably just right for two.
When Micaela emerged from the tent covered in blood, I can admit I was highly disturbed. She was shaking like a leaf.
“Micaela, what happened?” I asked.
“I woke up . . . I was covered in blood . . . and Ollie . . . Ollie was gone,” Micaela answered. “Where . . . where’s Ollie? Oh God . . . is he . . . is he dead? There . . . there was so much blood.”
“Ollie’s fine,” I said first before reminding her, “We’re in a game, he’ll be back. He’s probably on his way back from the graveyard now.” I tried to get her to look me in the eyes, “He’s okay,” I reassured my friend, making sure she heard me.
It seemed to work as her breathing calmed, but the shaking remained.
I could only imagine how disturbing waking up like that would be.
“Jack, what happened?” Rose asked in a rush, as she ran over to us.
“I don’t know yet. Can you head toward the graveyard and meet Olaf?” I requested.
Rose only nodded once, her figure vanishing a moment later.
“Why did this happen, Bye-bye?” Micaela asked me with tears in her eyes. I had never seen the bubbly woman so distraught, not even when Marie faked her death.
“I don’t know . . . at least, not yet,” I said. I wanted very badly to go investigate, but there was no way I was leaving Micaela by herself.
“Bye-bye, what’s going on?” Baby asked, stifling a yawn while flying down from the platform mounted to Perses’ back.
“Olaf was killed. And before you ask, we don’t know how,” I said. “Can you stay with Micaela so I can take a look, see if I can’t figure it out?” I requested.
“Sure,” Baby said, looking much more awake as she flew the rest of the short distance and took over for me.
I pealed back the green camouflaged tent flap to have a look inside. It was like Micaela said, everything was covered in blood. No guts or body parts so that was a relief, but there was still a lot of blood. Stepping in the blo
od was unavoidable, but I needed to get closer to investigate. Stepping into the tent, I hoped my ‘Perception’ skill would pick up on some details, like the slashes in the back wall of the tent that glowed brightly. There were four slashes, like you would expect from an animal. Unfortunately, nothing else inside the tent lit up.
Outside the tent, I wiped my feet on the grass. “Baby, why don’t you take Micaela to our tent and let her get a shower,” I suggested.
Baby nodded and gently led Micaela away.
“Vision,” I said, realizing the Spirit Wolf wasn’t around and hoping that he hadn’t been hurt. “Where are you, buddy?”
The smoky blue wolf appeared at my side with his head lowered and his ears drooping.
“You okay?” I asked, kneeling down to look the wolf in the eye.
“I . . . I failed Boss,” Vision said meekly. “I . . . never saw it coming.”
“Did you see what attacked Olaf?” I asked.
Vision shook his head. “I was in the spirit realm, standing guard. And . . . and Olaf’s neck . . . something bit him, but it did not have a spirit, or even a shadow of a spirit. Everything has at least a shadow of a spirit, even the adventurers like you and boss’s mate. But whatever bit Olaf, I could not see it.”
That was disturbing to say the least. Vision saw everything. For something to be able to hide from his sight was truly disconcerting.
“It’s okay, buddy,” I said, scratching him behind the ears though he didn’t react to it, still looking ashamed.
“Boss is going to send me away,” Vision said, sounding sadder than I had ever heard him.
“She’s not going to send you away. I won’t let her. I promise,” I said, finally getting the wolf to perk up a little. “Just, wait until she and Olaf have a chance to talk. For now, just stay by my side.”
“Okay,” Vision said.
With Micaela and Baby occupied and Vision’s safety verified, I walked around to the back of the tent, hoping to find more clues. I wasn’t even around the side yet when I found tracks leading to and from the back of the tent. My tracking skill identified the large pawprints as belonging to a large cat of some kind. There was no blood on the pawprints, but there were droplets of blood and more pawprints that continued leading away. I was able to follow them right out of the camp, cleanly navigating the safe path Olaf left us. The blood vanished a few yards past the outer perimeter, but the pawprints continued, leading toward the lake.
World Tree Online- the Endless Savanna- 3rd Dive Page 22