Chapter 16: Chapter. 16: Everwood; Everdead

Approaching the campsite was easier than I had thought, their sense of hearing wasn’t particularly sharp, at least not enough to hear me step over a small branch anyway, thankfully I didn’t need to get too close to be able to listen in the things they were saying⁠, their language thankfully seemed to be the same as mine.

[Or perhaps, it’s just Universal Understanding doing the work.] Glim commented and I had to stop myself from scoffing. They can’t hear it, they cannot hear Glim nor see it.

I sighed, it was odd to have a shining light near me, though Glim had to stay relatively far away due to light pollution. Being able to see Glim seemed to be a disadvantage as well, but it was something I had to deal with. One of them returned to the fire based on the footsteps, and I pressed my back against the tree.

“Matt, are you sure this is alright?”

“Well, what else are we supposed to do?” Matt asked back.

“I⁠— I don’t know? It’s just so surreal to deal with an unfeeling technological god, I suppose. Are you sure we should be trying to level up as much as possible? Do you really trust him?”

There was a brief silence followed by a heavy voice. “We have no choice but to trust him,” he sighed. “It’s better to try than to die to a stupid flying deer. It seems as if we were enhanced, things that we couldn’t do before are now real. At the same time I’ve seen signs of fire to the south, it’s clear we aren’t the only ones here.”

“Do you really think that… there are other intelligent beings amongst the planets mentioned? Life outside of Earth? The ones integrated by The System?”

The fire crackled.

“It’d be dumb to think otherwise… You should rest up, you already heard him, tomorrow we shall hunt those fox-things. And hopefully be strong enough by the end of the seven days”

There was a pause before the footsteps wandered off, the fallen foliage rustled ever so slightly. So there was only one person on night-duty? I heard a sigh come from him.

“Living life like a video game, huh?” He muttered with a hollow chuckle. “What a cruel fate.”

Video game? I had no idea what that was, but it seemed that he was quite sad about The System, calling it something cruel. The System was just, even if said justice could be defined as cruelty, it gave everyone the same opportunities, needless to say I didn’t agree to the things he was saying. I shook my head and with a quick breath, I prowled. Slowly walking forward through the grass, making sure to avoid any branches and leaves⁠— the small rustling hidden away by the fire.

I slowly advanced, until I could finally see the back of the man, he was sitting on top of a dried log. A smile crept up my face as I saw what laid there⁠— a pristine quiver, I counted about a dozen or more arrows before throwing the thought away ⁠— he had arrows, something I truly needed at this point in time. I inquired as I walked forth.

[Human. Lvl. 3]

Some tension left me as I realized the guard that I was approaching was weaker than me, though I didn’t let it get to my head too much. Worst I could do was underestimate my opponents just like I had done with the snake. My leather boots moved through the grass with soft and careful steps, as I got closer and closer I felt slightly nervous but did my best to calm myself down. The man was just looking down and around, though he seemed to forget the fact that he had to check his back too.

As I got closer I could vividly see the campfire and the Humans surrounding it. I counted five⁠— six, one that was hidden under leaves and shrubbery. All five were between level 3 and 2, the one hidden was level 4. Was it their leader? I took mental note of his position. When in doubt go for the head.

Seconds ticked, and I stood just a few meters away from the man and his arrows. I looked around on the camp and spotted one more quiver past the fire. I doubted I could reach it without taking out the guard, given its position I decided to ignore it and go for the safe option. My hand reached forth with one final step, and then⁠— the grass rustled and the leaves crackled. Far beyond at the stretches of the clearing they used for camping, something walked forward. The guard seemed to tense up before hurriedly standing up.

“Guys, guys! Something is here!” he called with a shiver. My hand froze before quickly retracting, inwardly scoffing in the process.

The people walked up, and I was forced to crouch behind the log to avoid being spotted. All of them scrambled with confusion, and seemed to be gathering their things ⁠— two of them grabbed bows that were similar to mine, one of them a sword, the other a spear, and the last two had what seemed like staffs. All of them turning towards the sounds in unison, it felt as if a scene replayed right before my very eyes.

About 5 meters in height, Its legs were ghastly like sticks, brown covered in fur. It moved forth; a trunk of a torso with dangling fat that reminded me of the biggest predators. Two horns that were reminiscent of a crown of the forest perched atop its head, its snout rounded with a pair of beady soulless eyes. It was still far away but I already knew what it was.

[Everwood Moose. Lvl 6.]

It took a lot of effort to not sigh, all I could do was wonder why that thing was here. Though, I wasn’t the one fighting it. With that realization my ears twitched in interest as I saw the person with the sword ⁠— a warrior ⁠— rush in front of it, far away from the camp, the spearman right behind him. At the center stood both archers, one who I noted to be the leader, he was dirty and wore some type of camouflage. The last two people had staffs, two women who seemed to shake in fear staring at the moose.

“Do not let it get close to the camp!” the leader barked. “Distract it by hacking it with the sword and poking it with the spear, remember guys, it only charges forward. Do not hesitate to jump out of the way!” His orders seemed to carry reassurance for the people; the women regained some form of composure, and the two melee combatants raised their weapons with resolution.

The Everwood Moose charged, towards the warrior, who jumped out of the way before the spearman poked the moose on its neck. It bluntly drew blood but did not do anything else, an arrow hit its torso and did nothing, another arrow flew and hit its snout drawing a yelp of pain. The two people with staffs seemed to be muttering something under their breath, though one of them stuttered and cursed under her breath before resuming.

The moose turned, and once more charged, this time the spearman had to jump out of the way and the warrior hacked at its leg. An arrow missed and the other narrowly missed its eye. One of the women finished muttering and the staff began to glow on a bright light⁠— a skill? I frowned, perhaps this was going to be harder than I initially projected. The staff shone in white before it detached and shot a blast of pure white energy, it was slightly smaller than Glim.

The energy hit the Everwood Moose in its head⁠— had it died? The light dissipated and it did nothing but slightly char its fur and make it angrier. The other woman finished muttering and shot the same thing, this time however it hit its eye, causing the moose to bellow and turn to her. Its rage more than evident, blue veins bulged throughout its body and blue mist left its snout. I drew a sharp breath from painful memories. Its horns shone on a blue light and it immediately charged towards the woman.

She seemed to freeze before trying to run from it, evading out of the way. But the distance was not enough, I lost sight of the moose as her back blocked my sight. The archer ran and with a mighty push the woman was thrown onto the ground with a yelp. That’s when I saw its horns hit the archer square in the chest, and with a flick of its head an explosion of blue he was sent flying back. A painful cry resounded from the man as he crashed against the log right in front of me. The human did not look dead, but he had fainted. My eyes widened, the arrows spilled right in front of my face, dangling as if it was my reward.

“Thanks,” I muttered before quickly picking up half a dozen arrows from the ground and the other half from his now crushed quiver.

I stood up, realizing I was now done here. I turned towards the humans whose eyes widened seeing me, I also paused, not from the humans staring at me, but at the Everwood Moose whose rage was now onto me. What had I done? It exhaled more blue mist once more, it hopped with its hind legs, and its forelegs began to glow in the pale light.

I scoffed remembering my injury from that time, how it had crashed against my rib and nearly killed me. It thought I was easy prey? It was dead wrong. I nocked an arrow, as it hopped onto the air. My mana gathered at my fingers, into the string and I prepared Explosive Shot.

The moose ran through the air in a straight line towards me. I finished preparing my skill, as the string and arrow lit up with a green light, the string of the bow creaked, and the beast charged towards me. With a look of disdain I let go of the arrow and hopped, using the momentum to separate myself from the humans. The arrow streaked with a vibrant green, and the Everwood Moose rammed straight into it.

Green filled my vision.

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A verdant explosion resounded along with a bellow from the beast, one of its horns broke off with blood mid air, and its limbs stopped moving. As if all motor functions stopped, it deviated, crashing against the ground with a cloud of dust. Blood below its head pooled, red goo dripped onto the ground from its open cranium, but even though it seemed dead I got no notification. I frowned remembering the battle with the snake, the moose wasn’t going to get up and go up in levels, but the unpleasant memory made me nock another arrow. Channeling my mana into the string, I fired it right into its skull, the animal didn’t move or twitch in the process; unable to summon the energy to even shriek as it drew its final breath.

[You have killed: (E) Everwood Moose. Lvl 6.]

[Ecology Dissection II (Common F) ⁠— Progress (1/10)]

It had died just like that? In two arrows? A small surprise passed through me as I realized how quickly I killed it. A happy sneer left me. It simply should’ve known better than to attack me. I approached the man to take its broken quiver⁠— perhaps I could fix it.

“Stop!” The leader called.

“What?” I asked, raising my brow.

“Y-You, stay away from him!” The warrior pointed his sword at me.

“That’s right!” The spearman said, and the women behind began to mutter.

I frowned, and nocked an arrow, transferring mana into it. “You people want to meet the same fate as that stupid moose?”

“STOP!” The leader bellowed. All of his companions froze in their tracks, but I remained aiming forward. He turned to all of his companions, gnashing his teeth. “She saved our lives!”

“But she was going to kill Matt!”

He roared. “Idiot! If she was going to kill Matt she would’ve done it already!” And then finally he turned towards me. “Miss… elf,” he hesitated. “We would like to thank you for saving our lives, anything we can do to repay you?”

I stared at his arrows, and at the other human’s quiver, before gesturing towards him, specifically his quiver.

“I would like all of your arrows as well as the quiver.”

“That…” He hesitated.

“She wants us dead,” one of the women said.

The leader took a deep breath. “Enough, everyone. I can offer half of my arrows, and all of Matt’s arrows as well as his quiver.”

I frowned. That wasn’t ideal, but… I noticed their stares that were filled with nothing but horror for me⁠— that’s right⁠— I had the upper-hand.

“I want one potion from each of you then,” I said with baited breath. “That is my compromise.”

“I will agree, five potions it is.” The leader said, taking a deep breath.

“But⁠—

“Shut up!” He bellowed at the warrior. “She can snap us out of existence just like she did with the Moose. If you want to attack her, be my guest.”

I grinned hearing them praise me. They feared me. It was respect that I had never gotten. A sense of pride. My chest felt warm and my smile deepened.

The leader walked around collecting vials from everyone stuffing them into a yellow bag, before finally arriving at Matt ⁠— the fainted human ⁠— and taking one from him too as well as the banged quiver. He arrived in front of me standing a meter or two in front before gesturing at me with pleading eyes. What? My mind processed for a second before realizing that I was still aiming a charged arrow at them. I withdrew my mana with care and put the bow away.

“Thank you for saving us,” he bowed before gesturing with the bag. “Can I?”

I nodded an extended my hand, he placed its strap on my hand⁠— it was coarse and weird feeling unlike leather.

“I am sorry to request this, miss… Elf, but could you… leave us?”

“Sure,” I smiled. “I only came for arrows anyway.”

He smiled amiably as I turned away from him. Glim rushed to me as I delved back into the forest.

[Did you see them? They were totally scared of you!]

I shook my head and chuckled. “No way."

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