Chapter 32: Chapter. 32: She Who Knells

Pillars of light filled the night sky with glittering light, azure, crimson, green, purple, all the colors from the rainbow loomed over the horizon. The starfallen sky had somewhat lessened, now instead of a rain it was closer to a drizzle or small bursts. It was hard to tell where exactly they were going but every now and then a new pillar appeared, but sometimes, something different would happen. They would, too, disappear. Claimed, taken.

The sight gave me slight uneasiness, though the reminder of the Prophecy acquisition conditions kept me at bay. Glim had said it, not every single one of them was a sort of contract, at the same time I had already acquired one, though it did not sit well with me that I had to obtain one or else I would be at a disadvantage. A sigh left me, and Glim took notice of my mood.

[Blair, you can always just develop your own Prophecy! Though it is an arduous task and generally takes decades.] Glim bobbed.

I shook my head, I didn’t really have much of a choice. At the same time being followed by a group of Humans was beginning to annoy me, I couldn’t really rush. I had to simply jog or maybe walk since they were quick to tire. At the same time the Prophecies were surprisingly far away. According to Glim the brighter the pillar in the sky the closer they were. Unfortunately Glim refused to tell me the contents of the Prophecy, which I found annoying but I understood that it was basically cheating. Well, having Glim was already a bit of a cheat, hah. In spite of how annoying it was.

An hour of walking passed when I finally remembered something, halting my steps I turned to Matt and the other two.

“Is something the matter?” Matt asked with bewilderment.

I shook my head and reached for my quiver. “I have a request for all of you.” The others, too, looked puzzled. “All three, use half of your mana to make arrows for me.”

Matt pondered before nodding, the other two also agreed afterwards. I took the chance to sit down, my back relaxed as my muscles let out a feeling of comforting bliss. I was tired. But we couldn’t really stop, even though I was in a group now I felt no connection to the Humans, well maybe Matt, but even then; I couldn’t wait to be alone.

Oh, demons, horned people, where are you?

A sigh left me.

The quiver was passed around as the arrows piled with crisp sounds. It wasn’t long until I got it back. I counted about twenty-four arrows on the quiver, or about eight arrows per person. That plus the five arrows I had, gave me nearly thirty. I nodded to myself, feeling much more comfortable with the whole thing. Though that reminded me, wasn’t Matt an archer? I turned to him.

“Matt, do you need arrows?”

He shook his head. “I made use of the quiver before bringing it to you, I still have all my reserve.”

I nodded, that saved me some trouble. I didn’t want to feel responsible should Matt die after all. With that out of the way we began to move once more, it was a long road ahead.

◇ ◇ ◇

[You have killed: (E] Loa Vulpe. Lvl 6.]

[You have assisted to kill: (E] Loa Vulpe. Lvl 7.]

[You have assisted to kill: (E] Everwood Moose. Lvl 9.]

[You have assisted to kill: (E] Loa Vulpe. Lvl 5.]

I stared at the notification log. Every assist kill was followed with a notification about reduced experience points. Matt wanted to level up and the two girls, well⁠— they kind of went along? We found a couple of monsters on the way, one of which was accidentally killed by me, and the others were simply finished off by me. The laidback process reminded me to practice piercing shots, which I was still unsatisfied with. In the end I couldn’t help but fiddle with an arrow trying to stab trees while going along, the walking path more often than not deviating to accommodate for it.

“Blair,” Matt called after thirty minutes of silence. “I can’t help but notice that you keep stabbing the arrow onto trees.”

“Yeah,” I mused. “I want to learn the skill Piercing Shot, so I am trying to get the arrow to pierce the trees with a small amount of force, but it seems… weak…”

Matt stared at the shining green tip of the arrow. “Oh, that’s not a skill?” He frowned. “Well, have you tried rifling⁠— I mean, giving it spin mid air? That should help with penetration.”

“Would it?”

“Absolutely,” Matt nodded. “That’s how the guns I told you about have such piercing power. Perhaps try that.” I wasn’t really buying how that would actually work or improve things, it sounded odd to say the least, besides didn’t arrows sort of spin mid air already?

I shook my head. “Shouldn’t it be able to pierce even with little strength?” I stopped next to a tree and tried to stab the arrow onto it, the thing barely penetrating. “Shouldn’t it continue even after this? Wouldn’t that be a Piercing Arrow?”

Matt hesitated. “I suppose so, but without much power behind it won’t pierce anything. Alternatively think of a shovel⁠— a tool to dig the ground. You stick it in and flick. It digs holes. Does that count as piercing?” he shook his head. “Regardless, we should probably get going faster.”

“Right,” I agreed after noticing that the whole stabbing trees thing was lagging us behind, at the same time something stayed in my mind. A shovel? I noted it for later, perhaps if I thought about it differently, then I might be onto something.

The closest Prophecy still seemed to be ways away, though the pillar of light was now considerably closer. Just how big is the Skirmish space? I couldn’t really fathom it being honest, but I hadn’t really found that many beings yet, just two groups of Humans and the horned people.

At the same time the sky was still brimming with pillars of light, some were nothing but needles and others seemed as thick as the world-tree. Now that i thought about it, in the New World ⁠— where would the world tree lie? Well not like it mattered, it was closer to a guardian of nature than something else. Still. So many colors. So many Prophecies. So many paths…

We moved forward, I occasionally looked at the stars, at the ones who had fallen, at the ones in the distant sky, at the pillars that glittered like gems, and at the forest that was considerably duller. A new world. I had grown used to it faster than I would have anticipated, at the same time, save the different plant species, I still felt the same kind of natural familiarity. Granted I had yet to run into anything remotely close to the poisonous plants of the Deep Dark.

More time passed. Eventually my thoughts drifted back to learning Piercing Arrow, it simply seemed useful. I could shoot people behind the trees. But for that it needed to be able to pierce whatever that meant at this point. Through spinning, through being sharp, or simply through other methods. It didn’t matter so long as it was useful.

I had so many ideas but no time to try them at all. Well it just wasn’t the time to try things now. Times were chaotic and unfortunately I had things on higher priority. In the end, all I could do was sigh about it and move forward, this whole Skirmish was quite the insane thing. So much had happened in the past 3 days, even if compared to my life no 3 days had been as eventful, not even close.

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In the end, all I could do was move forward to the closest Prophecy. The beam of light got closer and closer, the forest and its sounds became quieter as we encroached. The only thing that stayed was the rustling of the branches; the howling of the wind ⁠— the situation seemed rather familiar. As we almost came to see what was going on, the earth trembled along with a splitting sound.

There were two distinct sounds I recognized, hurried breathing and snorting. Both were kind of familiar. Matt and the two girls froze in their spot and gave me a doubting glance, I simply nodded as they took the cue to step back. Once they were hiding, I inched forward with light steps, making sure to have my bow and arrow in hand. The thick forest was in the way of the action, but I could see dirt rising and fallen trees, raining leaves, and overall destruction. Peering past the tree I had a moment of pause.

There was a man, totally covered in grime and various things, he was made of what seemed to be bush. He sprinted for his life and dodged away as a hulking beast charged with dimly lit horns. Is that? I looked at the human first.

[Human. Lvl. 10]

He was surprisingly high level. Then I stared at the stubby animal, one whose hulking body reminded me of things, though its hide was brown and full of arrows.

[Knell Boar. Lvl. 7]

I paused. Level 7 against level 10? Level 7 was winning? No⁠— Knell Boar was D ranked right? Still. I couldn’t help but admire the Human’s valor in pissing off a beast like that. Well I had done the same, but it was… I didn’t wish to go back to that kind of impulsiveness. Though arguably, I wasn’t doing an amazing job at it. I gazed past them and saw a small tree-stump, atop of it was a small flower glittering with golden colors, it was as if it was made out of amber. Was that the Prophecy?

I had a moment of pause as I wondered whether to retreat or not. The human dodged and another tree was felled. He looked around in a panic before meeting my eyes, soon after, a grin appeared as wide as his mud filled face allowed him to go. In an unexpected turn he ran straight towards me, I hurriedly drew a non-lethal arrow in the hopes to stop him and have the boar go after him. I flicked the bow, and hit his knee drawing blood, he grunted and tripped, the Knell Boar looked in our direction as it happened. However, it wasn’t enough⁠— Penumbral Instinct manifested at that moment red came towards me, The Knell Boar locked straight at me. In that moment I saw the shadow of the Everwood Moose once more, the same turn; the same eyes, the same fixation. I felt a small amount of annoyance building up inside of me. The human tried to use me as bait? And it worked? I focused on the Knell Boar for now.

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed another arrow, but then immediately paused. The boar was quick. It sprinted at unexpectedly fast speeds, all of this simply to ram me. I overcharged the arrow and tossed it at its feet with a throw. It spun mid air, the boar faced it head on as it collided with the ground, exploding at its feet. A squeal of pain resounded as the animal’s hulking body barely rose from the ground, its momentum sending it tumbling like a rock towards me.

I quickly grabbed another arrow, before I realized I had about one-fourth of my mana left. Cursing my fate I grabbed the spear from my back and dashed to the side, the boar skated a breath away from my leg, its beady eyes stared at me with sheer rage as its back dully hit a tree, unable to stop itself from drifting through the ground as it did so. After the boar I was going to go chase after the human and probably kill him.

Unfortunately, I had to save up mana for that. I held the spear on my hands feeling a sense of awkwardness ⁠— I had never used a spear before ⁠— the boar slowly got up and shook away the sticks and dirt on its fur before turning to me and charging once more with bright horns. The red wind manifested, I could visibly see the safe areas, but I saw no end to dodging if I did so. I had to face it head on⁠— somehow.

A spear wasn’t going to work.

My mind jumped for answers before I remembered Glim’s nagging. Sword. My mana poured onto the spear, the upper-half of it began to glow. I could do it⁠, Glim had said so. And he hadn’t stopped me just yet.

Sharp like a sword.

Intent filled my mind. As the boar crossed half of the distance.

A single refined edge.

I applied the little I knew about mana at that moment, everything with the thought to cut, with the thought to destroy those tusks. All of it went to a single side of the spear.

Thinner. Sharper.

I side-stepped as the Knell Boar reached me with shining horns. As Glim had said.

I just had to swing it.

My muscles bulged from the swing, the upper half of the spear collided with the Knell Boar’s tusks. Shock traveled through my arms. Green versus Orange, blooming light, trembling pain, and a flash of mana. I was launched back with quaking pain, my hands felt as if they had been snapped. I slowly got up unsteadily holding the spear that had a lingering green light, the rest of the mana having gone back in my body.

I looked ahead only to pause. The Knell Boar stood there, its tusks had been cleanly cut off and its look was vacant. The cut was clean, but the yellowed surface of the tusks was fizzling. It shook its head with a snort of orange, and turned to me. Its eyes seething in rage, he charged once more. The little that remained of its tusks lighting up once more. Did it not have more attacks? I snorted seeing it was just employing the same tactic. The wind blew once more, but this time I paid no mind to it. Feeling as if it was just second nature.

Sharper like a sword. Thin like a hair. A single striking side like an arrow. The spear began to emit a green hue on its side, lining up with my thumb. A thin razor-like line protruded out of it like a small blade. A sword. The boar came to me, but this time I felt no fear, and afterwards I would kill the human for using me as bait.

I knew no swordsmanship, but I knew what to do next. Putting weight on my legs, I sprinted towards it. Thinking I was going to meet it head on, it angled its head, ready to impale me. At that moment, like always, I slid. The ground gave way to my feet, as my body skated forward. I felt mild discomfort as I angled the sword, the boar came as I cut. It passed. A squeal resounded in my ears, its legs had been maimed, its balance lost. It fell on the ground, passing through the mud.

I shook my head, feeling disappointed in the boar as I stood up. Perhaps it was D grade, but the Guardians that I had fought were stronger, including the snake. I walked up to it as it waddled, trying to stand up, but its legs did not respond properly after being cut. I reached it and it finally stood on its knees, but it was too late. My spear overcharged. Like an executioner bringing down judgment, I cleaved the sword down on its throat. And⁠—

It cut deeply into it but it was still alive. Its hide was truly tough, but still it was defenseless. I moved the mana to the tip of my spear and began to pierce onto its neck. It shook with pain, as the acid corroded, but it could do nothing, slowly but surely its life was drained away.

Eventually, it died.

[You have killed: (D) Knell Boar. Lvl 7.]

[For killing a being of a higher order bonus experience has been rewarded. Bonus added to Quest targets.]

[Level up: You have achieved level 12.]

I leveled up from that? I smiled before quickly remembering that there were other things to do. I turned to look around to see where the Human had gone, but he had disappeared, the blood did too. I wanted to get payback for using me as bait.

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