Chapter 19: Story III / Part XVII: Before The Red Dawn (V) / Exploration (II)
We returned to the small pond that we used as resting place before and we walked to south from the pond until we reached a big tree near there. Zack suggested that we should use a skill that allows the user to run faster called [Acceleration] combined with a skill that allows the user to walk or run in vertical places called [Anti-Gravity Walk], a skill that raises user's [DEX] STAT and flexibility or their body called [Tumble] to reach [CST] Party's basecamp. Luna opposes Zack's suggestion since it will take a long time and uses more mana or stamina to begin with, but Zack reminded her that we will go hunting along the way and she finally agreed with that.
I activated those skills and jumped to nearby tree first. Then, I asked Julio and Zack to lead the way, also to protect the rearguards from incoming attacks since they are a Vanguard. Julio jumped from below and landed on a big branch in front of me. I saw he has removed his heavy armor and changed it to light metal armor instead. He also stored his Kite Tower Shield and replaced it with a Targe, a small shield with round, square or pentagon shape that normally used for practice. After that, we kept jumping between the trees, passed through ruined fishing village and grassland until we found two monstrous boars near a small river.
"How nostalgic Haru-san." Yes, it's very nostalgic. They are same beast from same species like the boar that had defeated us long time ago.
Zack unsheathed his greatsword, "Ishizaki-dono, do you want to hunt it?"
"Of course! Julio jumps down and strikes them from their back. If you can, cut their back legs with single strike. After that, you can [Taunt] them."
Julio nodded and then he climbed down. He removed his boots and activated [Conceal]. After that, he equipped his armor and weapon (of course automatically by magic) and then he slashed the boars' back legs with simultaneous strike. After that, Zack and I finished them with our blunt and trust attack from above of them, and the boars died instantly.
"Then, which way are we going?"
"We are close. Look at there." Zack pointed the tallest tree from there, perhaps the tallest in entire forest.
"Hey what about my EXP?" asked Luna.
"Too bad Miss, we stole it—OOF!"
Luna smacked Zack's stomach with strong [Staff Martial Art Style]. I brought Luna to a place where monstrous deer exist and she instantly defeated it with single [Staff Martial Art Style] strike. Hope it could quell her anger, since normally she wouldn't want to calm down if she doesn't get what that she wants. After that small hunt, we jumped between the trees again to the west until we reached the tallest tree. The tree trunk size roughly around 5 Me with 20 Me height. It's very big for normal tree size and it's reminded me about [Yggdrasil Tree] that locates on the western side of Vermillione Francois Empire although isn't as big as [Yggdrasil Tree].
When I was staring the tree with amazement, an arrow shot down from above and I deflected it with my sword. Zack and the others immediately stay on guard and they are looking around their surroundings. Then, Zack grabs my shoulder and points his hand above, to the tree. On there I glimpse a young Sylph Elf standing on the tree branch and pointing his bow to us.
"Who are you?! Don't more! Are you a group of Demon?!"
"Indeed, we are."
"Hey Zack-dono, we aren't—"
"Shhh, I want to tease this new guy."
"Prepare yourself! I'll eliminate all of you and make Leader—OOF!" a woman smacked that young Sylph Elf's head until he fell from the tree. We watched he fell from tree beautifully without doing anything to save him.
The young Sylph Elf rubs his head while mumbling with angry voice then he looked behind him and saw Kenzia has stood behind him and staring at him in anger. Kenzia scolded him with irritated voice and smacked his head twice. The young Sylph Elf told her that we are demons in disguise but after hearing that, she smacked his head again and shouted at him that we are party leaders of [White Falcon] and [North Wind of Liberation]. Then, Kenzia sighed and called her Vice Leader, a cold woman from Kitsune Race named Okimura to punish him in her stead. The young Sylph Elf suddenly scared and tried to run. But Okimura grabbed his collar and dragged him up to the tree. Truly, we are left speechless after seeing all of that.
"I apologize for the unpleasant experience you had before, please follow me. I'll treat you properly."
We walked to the tree and suddenly we got teleported inside. After that, we are invited to sit in the lounge, and the woman walked to kitchen. Not long after that, she is back with fruit, waters and snacks. Then, Kenzia told us that she and her party received quite serious damages from the Great Demon and Demonic Dragon's AoE attacks, from seriously injured party members until badly damaged carriages, even her horse was also badly injured. I suddenly remembered when she turned left with her party; the Dragon shot a huge fireball. Then, from afar, I also saw the Dragon shot a beam to her direction. Because of that, Kenzia said that she needed to hunt large number of boar and deer to replenish her damaged stocks.
After we are spent 20 minerval talking and exchanging information, Zack invited her to find the Guild Master with us and she nodded. She called her Vice Leader, Akimoto Suzuka before leaving with us. I looked behind to find Tim and Luna, but what I found was two gluttonous people with mouth full with chips. Because they were taking too long to finish their snacks, I left them behind. Then, Tim and Luna quickly drank their fruit juice, thanked Okimura and run outside. Meanwhile, Okimura looked at them with dumbfounded expression.
We left [CST]'s Basecamp to northwest, where [Easghervel] Party's Basecamp located. We encountered a few beasts like monstrous bears or deers as well but it is not a problem for us who have passed Lv. 300. We kept going northwest until we found a hidden grotto that concealed by thick brushes. Kenzia walked the hidden door and opened it, then she called Naval's name a few times but we didn't get any respond from below. Luna asked Zikiya whether this grotto is Goblin's nest or not, then Zikiya said that she didn't feel any kind of Goblin's mana inside but she felt Naval and his party's members from below instead. I jumped down first after Zikiya guaranteed our safety. When I landed, I quickly checked my surroundings, but what I found is a beautifully decorated corridor.
"It's alright! You can go down."
After I gave them a clear signal that the place is safe, all of the people above jumped down together and fell onto my body. My back is in pain again but thanks to Zikiya who quickly applied [Pain Killer] and [Restore] Spell to my back, the pain is stopped. Then, we walked inside until we reached a room where Naval and party members were working on something.
"Oh, Alexandria-dono, Tavaniris-dono and Frantoire-dono…! I see…you have survived the attack as well…"
Zack glances around, "Yeah…by the way, what are you doing?"
"Making another room…" said Naval while making a hole on the wall.
"Oh, I expect it'd be another high-class dungeon…"
"Hahaha, you may be right, Tavaniris-dono. By the way, what bring you here?"
"We are on our way to find where Guild Master is. Do you want to tag along?"
"Hmmm…I'm sorry I must refuse because we still have this work. But I think I will choose someone to—"
Naval looked behind and he found many of his party members looked at him with sparkling eyes. One of his party members shouted at Naval to choose him. But his other party members shouted one after another at Naval to choose them until they are making ruckus around him. Naval stopped the ruckus by choosing Hope, the boy from Imp Fairy Race to accompany us. His decision replied by angry snorts from other party members.
We left Naval and walked outside. From the hidden grotto, we walked to north until we found a big lake. But Erick suddenly stopped us when we are walking to the lake and shouted at us to hide. We quickly get down and hide inside the brushes. From inside the brushes, I took a peek and I saw three [Soul Eaters] are drinking near the lake. Fortunately, they haven't detected our presence yet.
[Soul Eater] is a Demonic Beast that appears from Abyssia. [Soul Eater] has two form, [The Beast Form] and [Ethereal Ghost Form]. What we encountered is [The Beast Form]. These Beast Soul Eaters are blind, but they have extremely sharp sense to detect sound, smell and vibration. The Beast Soul Eaters shaped like a lizard with wolf fangs, claws, dragon's tail and "stone-like" mane. Few of them do not have pair of eyes and few of them possess it. Beast Soul Eaters have five colors type Red, White, Black, Grey and Brown. They used those colors as a camouflage in the place where they live, either volcano, snowfield, cave, mountains or desert. From the size, they have big body but their movement is fast even faster than a wild cheetah.
The Beast Soul Eaters normally live independently and they will live in pairs after mating season. They love to hunt alone and they normally go hunting at night or after a natural disaster occurred (blizzard, flood, volcano eruption, sandstorm, etc.) The Beast Soul Eaters normally manipulate the nature around them and the mist released from their body before attacking their preys. Other than that, they also can change their body color to the environment around them (mimicry). The Beast Soul Eaters can't make a sound, it means unlike normal beasts who can emit sound like "raawwrr", "grrrrhhh" or "roooarr", they are totally "silent". It makes them become a deadly assassin and apex predator on the nature.
All Soul Eaters' attacks are almost completely "concealed". It means they are "concealing" their attacks perfectly in purpose to make their preys "unaware" and "confused". These creatures have become an A or S-ranked beast that becomes a nightmare for adventurers, even the full-pledged (most professional) adventurers, warriors or knights said, "They are extremely deadly and hard to deal with rather than Wyvern or Lesser Demons."
"…now what should we do?" asked Zack.
"…conceal anything with skills or spells quietly, I recommend the Mages cast multiple layers of protection and conceal spells right now…" Then, we silently cast the skills that give and enhance [Presence Concealment] effects like [Silent], [Stealth], [Shadow Walk] and many others. After that, The Mages casted protection spells, enhancement spells and other conceal spells.
"…must we wait or fight?" Erick unsheathed his dagger from its sheath.
"…I want EXP…" said Luna.
"…we have two options, let Erick throws a diversion and then we jump into the lake and run or let Erick throws a diversion then ambush them." I tell them my options.
"…no! it's better if Erick throws a diversion and then I ambushed them with [Explosion]." said Tim.
"…yeah, yeah, fireboy and after that we'll be getting ambushed by them or even more of them will appear. I'm sure I'll tell Rania to punish you after this." Tim shuddered a lot after Luna said that and grabbed his shoulder.
"…can't we divert them to different place with different diversion? It will make the fight easier…"
"…we can't Rahealis-dono, if we are fighting separately. It will make them easier to "ambush" us with their "unseen" and "silent" attacks." Zack replied.
"…then, fighting three of them in same time? Are you insane?" asked Luck.
"…Luna, how deep is the lake?"
"…Wait a sec, activate [Earth Elemental Magic: Contour Analyze]! Hmm…It's around 30 Me Kaichou, quite deep. By the way, why did you ask?"
"…let's put Mages and Archers on the lake and we would safe from them. They can't swim."
"Oh! Brilliant Ishizaki-dono! I'm sure—" Suddenly, Zack stand up after hearing my opinion. Moreover, he talked with loud voice.
"…Ah…" He suddenly realized that we are still "hiding" from The Soul Eaters.
"…" The Soul Eaters and we looked at each other.
"RUUUUUUNNNNNNN!" he is running first before us and those three Soul Eaters are chasing him.
"Uh…he becomes a nice bait for diversion, isn't he? I don't need to throw my explosives then…." said Erick.
"That Leader of mine…oh my, please forgives him Ishizaki-dono and Rahealis-dono…." said Daendles.
"…Rather than being apologetic, let's get into formation, shall we?" I walked from the bushes.
"Julio, activate your [Taunt] and [Aggro Exchange], Luna, Tim, Daendles-dono, Zikiya and Riona-san, go to the lake. Distance yourself from the edge of the lake. Those Beasts can jump up to 5 Me length and height without fail. The rest of you follow me."
"Come here to me you faceless beast! [Challenge], [Aggro Exchange]!"
"Divide the [Aggro] to Suzuka, Julio!" Julio nodded and divided his [Aggro Exchange].
"Suzuka, you and Kenzia go to southeast and stall it near Zikiya's AoE Spell!" They nodded and left.
"Ayumi, Erick, go with Julio. Erick, you must assist each team with your debuff. Be sure to retreat to the lake periodically!"
After I finished giving my commands, I run to Zack's position on north side of the lake. Meanwhile, Julio is stalling one of the Soul Eaters on East and Suzuka is battling one on southeast. Their position is near the support Mages' AoE Spell Range.
"Damn, you are so strong buddy." Then, Zack dodged Soul Eater's attack [Unseen Chaos Claw] and then he rolled forward to dodge [Shadow Claw]. He unleashed [Sword Art Third Form: Skull Clash] and it successfully hit Soul Eater's head, making it inflicted by [Bleeding], [Dizzy] and [Stun] debuff status.
"Whoops! [Inflammation Flask], get back you two!" Zack and I jumped back as Erick threw a flask to Soul Eater. The [Inflammation Flask] is a flask that causes a painful burn sensation to the target and makes the target unable to breathe. That is one of [Prankster] ——— Class specialty. Erick sent it with [Gate].
"Let's finish this Zack-dono!" We activated [Guillotine Drop] and beheaded it, although it wasn't easy.
On the western side of the lake, Julio is taunting a Soul Eater with [Challenge] Skill. Then, the taunted Soul Eater charged at Julio with incredible speed. But right before the Soul Eater fully concealed its body, Julio activated his [Paladin] Class Skill, [Paladin Sword Skill: Light Fury of God] but his blade is slower than the concealing speed of the Soul Eater, the Soul Eater will vanish before his sword can reach it.
Ayumi who looked at that quickly activated her [Divine Attribute Spear Skill: Impalement of The Just] to assist him and shortly after that, a few white spears emerged from the ground and stabbed the Soul Eater's legs and body, canceling its [Conceal] Skill. Thanks to that, Julio's attack landed right on the Soul Eater head causing a [Critical Hit].
However, the battle isn't over yet. The Soul Eater stands and runs to attack Julio. Ayumi runs to the Soul Eater and then leap to it to cover the remaining distance. The Soul Eater unexpectedly turned back to Ayumi and opened its mouth. It intends to launch its special skill: [Soul Eater]. Ayumi panicked tried to activate [Defensive Shield] to protect her body from the incoming attack, but it's too late since her skill activation time is slower than the Soul Eater's attack.
When it almost ready to launch its attack, multiple arrows and explosive flasks hit the Soul Eater's head directly and exploded, killing that beast instantly but it also blew away Ayumi. A man quickly jumped and caught Ayumi's body. Then, the man landed on the ground safely while carrying the woman that he caught in "Princess Carry" position. After a few moments they looked at each other, the man put her down and ran to another side of the lake.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
White_Falcon21
White_Falcon21 Oh right, maybe few of you have understood with these unknown terms in the novel, but let me tell you...
Seckina / Se(i)ckina(est): Second / Seconds
Minerval / Miner(e)val(est): Minute / Minutes
Heverra / Hever(a)r(o)(est): Hour / Hours
Daesh / Daes(i)h(est): Day / Days
Wikliviash / Wiklivi(e)ash(est): Week / Weeks
Movanth / Movan(o)th(est): Month / Months
Eelvariash / Eelvari(o)ash(est): Year / Years
They are spelled different for singular and plural terms, this is International Elven Language that normally Haru uses.
This event started on Jetavien (January)
And the year started to count down.
For example, 2.487 A.E.V II ---> 2.481 A.E.V II
Lastly, Haru's father age is over 300.000 e.l
e.l = Eelvariash Lienge / y.o = years old
Hope you can enjoy your reading...
Cheers,
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