Chapter 15: Chapter 14: Into the Night
Volume 01: Start Again
Chapter 14: Into the Night
Walking back to the staircase the old woman must have caught sight of my movement towards the wooden staircase as I could see her walking over to intercept me. Slowing down on purpose I waited for the old woman to walk over until she was now standing in my way before the staircase.
"The forge is on the far side of the town square next to the tallest building in the town which is the relay station." The old woman came up and told me as she watched my face.
"I understand. Thank you." I said before trying to pass the old woman up the stairs.
"What is your name?" The old woman asked me as she barred my path up the stairs using her small red cane.
Looking at the old woman I was a little hesitant to answer as I was still unsure if I would even be able to escape and complete any quest she would give me, but I refrained from feeling such a way and responded. "My name is Mikael."
Nodding her head, she responded. "Then stay safe Mikael."
[Roots of Nil | Gold Quest]
[The last survivors of Nil are relying on you so they may achieve their freedom. Create a large enough diversion to allow all 47 survivors to escape out of Nil.]
[Reward: +25 Rose Kingdom Reputation, 10 gold pieces, and +5 levels]
[Failure: All stats halved for 1 month]
'Reputation!' Looking at the rewards I could not help but slightly freeze as this was something that hardly ever appeared on quests because with enough reputation you can get a title within a kingdom or even an empire.
'25 whole points would at least get me the minor title of Sir.' Getting this title was a rather large deal as currently at this point in time the highest reputation player was most likely barely stepping into the Baron title which was only two ahead of a Sir.
Waking up from my slight daze I made a slight smile at the old woman and began heading up the stairs as she followed me silently from behind.
Reaching the hatch, I pushed it up and as I did this I watched as the rug that was laying over it slumped off of it landing before me pushing up the dust that was scattered on the floor of the large room. Seeing the dust fly through the air I waved my hand in front of me as I let the other one support the hatch.
As the dust settled away, I stepped up into the room of the building where I had entered looking back once again at the doorway as I looked it over, I heard the old woman step up out of the hatch. Hearing this I turned around just to catch the old woman waving her hand to me as if motioning for me to get going. "Please stay safe Mikael."
Hearing these words of the old woman I felt a bit better about my situation, but this was very short-lived as I turned to step over to the doorway. I opened the front door and slipped out of the building.
*sniff*
*sniff*
My nose was immediately struck by the overwhelming smell of death. As I peeked out of the wooden doorframe of the building, I watched on as silver bodies lined the street in front of me.
'How!?!' Looking out at the street I saw the shredded bodies of several silver wolves.
'I need to be careful.' Now warry of an unknown beast I tried my best to keep my senses churning to their max.
Thinking about the direction I should be heading in to get to the center of the town I moved along the edge of the street nearest to the building's entrances. Until suddenly I heard a loud noise erupt through the sky.
*ROARRRRRRR*
Turning my head immediately to the direction of the sound I began to analyze the large shadow in the distance and the more I looked on the more discouraged I became. 'Ha. Of course, it is coming from the center of town.' Cracking my neck in annoyance I stepped further down the street making my way over and past the many bodies of creatures and NPCs that littered the street's roads.
As I made my way further down the street near the intersection for the next street, I started having the odd feeling that something was watching me. It was not something that seemed to want to hurt me, or I would have been inside a building already as they just seemed to be watching from afar.
*tink* *tink*
*tink*
Freezing in place my headshot sideways towards the sound of a metal can falling over.
"Meow." A small red cat could be seen moving out from a small alley to my right side who seemed to be playing with the can.
Seeing this I could not help but let out a sigh as in that second, I felt as if I had aged countless years thinking about what would come out for me. Watching the cat lazily walk across the street no longer bothering with the can I could not help but shake my head as I continued forward but this time sticking closer to the buildings and only passing them after clearing each of their alleyways.
This continued for another 30 minutes as I made my way down another two streets and as I got to the corner of the second street, I could now see the large, crumbled building off in the distance being illuminated by the burning buildings surrounding it. Staring up at the large building with an antenna on it I could not help but squint to see a large creature latched onto the side of the building.
'Why couldn't it be something else? Fuck flying creatures they are such a pain in the ass to handle.'
The large scaley body was tightly clinging its claws onto the large building and seemed to be chewing on something in its toothy mouth. 'Fuck me. So that thing killed the wolves' Watching on I saw the body of a silver wolf being chewed to pieces in the mouth of the large creature.
*GRAHHH*
Ducking back behind the corner of the building I laid my body up against the stone building as I now began to reevaluate the situation, I was in. 'How do I get past that thing? It's a fucking wyvern? And to think earlier I was so surprised there were not that many beasts roaming around. The wyvern must have taken over this whole town killing off any roaming creatures.' Tapping my head against the stone wall behind me I tried to think of a plan as I now knew moving through the streets at all from now on was a death wish as I had been lucky so far that the wyvern was not patrolling the air.
*TRSHHH*
*THUMP*
Hearing these sounds my body froze before I willed my body to peek out around the corner of the street again. Sticking my head out I saw that the large body of the wyvern was no longer attached to the building. Searching around frantically I ran my eyes everywhere trying to find traces of the wyvern.
*ROAR*
'No please no.' Tapping the wall beside me I already knew what had happened. Looking up I watched as a dark shadow was hovering in the air a hundred meters above me only being illuminated by the ashen color of the moon behind it.
'Well.' Staring at the shadow I knew there was only one thing left to do.
'RUN!' Hopping around the corner of the building I dashed through the new street that headed towards the center of town not thinking about anything besides getting to the other side of it to find some type of cover.
*ROARRRRRR*
'Nope, I am not turning around. Wait a second.' A sudden thought shot into my mind as I ran through the street.
Stopping in the middle of the street I turned around to face the wyvern steeling my nerves as I knew this was my only shot to execute my plan, or I would die a rather excruciating death. Watching the wyvern drop through the clouds at almost a blinding speed I just stood in place waiting. Letting out deep breaths to calm myself I watched as it closed in on me. 'A little closer come on.' I watched the large creature open its mouth as it made its way to the height of the roofs of the surrounding buildings and quickly made its way straight for me.
As it closed in on my position, I lifted my hand to face it. I was not punching out or even thinking of fighting the beast that would obviously leave me dead as the wyvern was most likely ten times my level, so I merely lifted my hand and began flicking off the creature as it closed in on me and said "[Backtrack]."
Feeling the cool mana escaping my body I watched as the large body of the approaching wyvern suddenly slowed right before my outstretched hand stopping a mere 5 meters away. Watching as the eyes of the wyvern switched from ease to confusion, I could not help but feel a bit satisfied on the inside as the wyvern suddenly disappeared from my sight.
'This class is rather nice for annoying enemies I do have to say.'
Immediately making a break for the nearest building I heard a loud and angry roar come from the center of town.
Getting into the cover of a crumbled building I made my way to a dark corner and made sure that the top of me was covered by a ceiling so nothing overhead could see my position as the only way something could see me is if it looked in from the adjacent building. Once I found a spot I just waited in a crouched position as I listened to another roar coming from the air above the building.
Crouching on the floor I patted myself on the back for making it out alive but on the contrary looking at my mana pool hurt me as I knew I would not have another way to escape if I ran into the wyvern again and most likely will have to use the mirrors to escape.
'Frozen Mirror.' Activating the Frozen Mirrors now I watched on as a small handheld mirror appeared in my left hand.
Holding the mirror, I felt more of my mana flow through my arm and enter the mirror causing my reflection to show up within it. Seeing this I looked around to see where I could place the mirror that way it could stay safe for my use.
*FWOOSH*
*THUSHH*
'Sounds like the big buddy outside is rather angry and is just destroying things now. That is rather good for me as long as he does not com…'
*THUSHH*
*CRASH*
'No way.' My entire body froze as I heard the loud collision of what sounded like a large object against a stone wall.
*ROARRRR*
'Ah.' Covering my ears, I looked up and outwards only to notice that I could currently see the back of a dark grey creature that had two large wings attached to it. Seeing this I did nothing but just stare at it hoping it would not turn around.
*ROOOAR*
*SWOOOOSH*
*SWOOSH*
Flapping its large wings, the wyvern hopped off the adjacent building flying out of sight up into the night sky.
Seeing this I could still not even let a breath out as my entire body just felt numb as I had once again almost died and would have had no chance of getting away as my mirror was still in my hand. Blinking my eyes several times to regain my composure I brought my right hand to massage my temple. Feeling the rough scratching of my boney fingers against my skull made me feel rather uncomfortable forcing me to stop my actions.
After a couple of minutes of no longer hearing the wyvern in my current vicinity I worked myself up standing in the half-crumbled room. Stepping forward I peered up and out the hole in the ceiling to check the skies for anything that could tell me the current position of the wyvern but as I stared up at the reddish-black sky, I could not gauge anything.
Shaking out my body I prepared myself once again.
"Hoo. Hoo. Hoo." Letting out a couple of soft breaths I stepped further into the building hoping to find a back door that I could use to head back onto the next street. Finding a door hidden behind a small mountain of rubble I began moving the pieces to reveal the door.
Reaching for the door handle I turned it and slowly opened the door.
*creakkkk*
"…"
'Seriously.' I just stared at the door before I turned to look over my shoulder squinting my eyes as I looked back at where I knew the opening in the ceiling was. Looking through the hole into the darkness I just stared and waited as I held the door halfway open.
*sigh*
'Nothing.' No longer risking any more noise I just slid my body sideways through the door. Fitting through the door I now began looking around what seemed to be the kitchen and what I saw made me stop in place.
On the floor before me was a green woman whose head had a large gash on top of it. The dead woman didn't make me stop as I had seen many of the dead along the way here. The thing that made me stop in place was what the woman was holding in her hand.
A small wooden picture frame that seemed to capture the warmth of a small family of three. The picture held the dead woman and two familiar people in it. Placing my mirror on the table I crouched down to get a closer look at the picture frame and what I saw made even my somewhat cold heart feel a slight pain. The picture showed the scene of a green man carrying a small little girl on his shoulders as the woman stood in front of them taking the picture. Everyone in the picture was smiling, but right now what was previously a full family was now a single child. 'An orphan.' This title floated around in my mind.
Seeing this I could not help but fall deadly cold. My entire demeanor changed after seeing the picture and what was most scary was that I was not sure if the change was because I was angry or because it reminded me of myself.
Walking over to the woman I crouched down over her body and pried the picture frame from her cold hands. Now holding the picture frame in my hands, I turned it over and took out the picture from inside. Folding it into a small, neat square I placed it into my pocket with my crest.
After doing this I placed the empty frame on the table next to my mirror above the woman's body. Bowing once to the woman I walked to the backdoor that seemed to lead to the back alleyway of the home.
Still feeling rather cold I opened the door to the alleyway without any remorse or care for the sounds it could make and just stepped out. Lucky or not this door did not make any sounds as I exited.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone