Bonus Story 1: The Girl’s Faraway Journey

Bonus Story:
The Girl’s Faraway Journey

 

Part 1
Myria

 

DEEP IN NOAH’S FOREST, far from the village, an apprentice mage and a swordswoman were hunting. The apprentice mage was a young girl named Myria, and the swordswoman was called Meltia. They weren’t out hunting for food, though. Myria had asked Meltia to train her.

That training was why Myria had made up her mind to leave the village and journey far from home. But Meltia seemed to have a special interest in Noah’s Forest, so they elected to make the village their home base and make frequent trips into the woods. Myria wanted to grow stronger, following the river and traversing deep into the forest. Meltia was only too happy to come along.

In Myria’s village, travel into the depths of the forest had traditionally been forbidden, eroding gradually to a formality: it was simply not done. Meltia had been asked to investigate strange happenings by the mayor herself, allowing her special dispensation.

In this world, only the victorious grew strong and leveled up. Only a handful of creatures were able to use View Status, yet the concept of levels and leveling was general knowledge. And the only way to level up was to fight and kill your enemy.

“Myria! You can still use magic, can’t you? I’ll chase it over to the left—target there. Use your magic!”

“O-okay!”

Currently, the women were engaged in battle with a giant red spider called a taranturouge. Its purplish, poisonous tongue dangled out of its mouth as it faced down Meltia. Myria followed Meltia’s instructions and readied her staff, channeling magic through it. The taranturouge’s eyes locked on Myria, legs bending like it was poised to strike. It seemed to realize instinctually that she was about to use magic, ready to cut her off before she could.

Meltia waited for the right moment and swung her sword toward its head. “Haah!”

But the taranturouge was fast and quickly skittered backward. Meltia predicted the maneuver, charging forward, swinging her sword once, twice, three times. The taranturouge’s body veered aside. It dodged the first two hits, but the third one struck it on the head. “Eeughh!”

Fluids spattered everywhere. It backed up, head turned upward. Meltia knew what it was about to do. This was her fourth battle against a taranturouge. The spider’s mouth was filling up with poison; it kept its head pointed skyward so it wouldn’t overflow. The poison’s range was wide.

Meltia had two choices: circle around the taranturouge’s back, or take the risk and try to kill it from the front before it could use the attack.

It lowered its head and stretched out its tongue, opening its mouth wide.

“Gotcha!” Meltia thrust her sword right into the taranturouge’s open mouth, stabbing the base of its tongue. The strength left its legs and they buckled, engorged stomach hitting the ground.

“E-Eeugh…” Purple, foamy liquid gushed from its mouth. The light faded from its eyes.

“I got a little poison on me, but that shouldn’t be a problem.” Meltia pulled her sword out and shook it off. Blood and venom sprayed through the air. “It’s done.” She turned to find Myria standing there, still holding her staff. A ball of magical light bloomed from the tip.

“U-um…”

“Sorry, I forgot.”

The whole point of being out here was Myria’s training. It was pointless if Meltia killed the enemy all by herself. And now Myria had wasted her magic for nothing.

“Water Magic! Aqua Ball!” Myria shook her staff. A ball of water formed in the air, then dropped to the ground, bursting and splashing onto the earth. She didn’t want to waste her magic, but she needed to practice her spells.

Meltia knew that. She felt awful. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t—”

“I-It’s okay! I’m grateful you even agreed to help me in the first place!”

“All I did was force you to waste your magic.”

“N-no, you didn’t! Um, um…!”

Meltia looked down silently for a while. Myria waited for her to gather herself and decide what they would do next. “Should we go a little deeper into the forest today?”

“No,” Meltia said after a moment. “We’re already beyond the chasm. Not even people in Ruija go this deep. There are rumors of dark dreams and even carbuncles. Some people even say this forest stretches all the way to the Harunae Desert, where a very cruel tribe of people live.” Meltia squinted into the forest.

“D-dark dreams? Carbuncles? The Harunae Desert?” Myria repeated all these words she’d never even heard before.

“Dark dreams are sort of…black monkey monsters. They’re rank C. They’re very intelligent and move in groups of eight. When they fight together, they have the strength of a B-rank monster, or even higher. There’s no way we could take them on.”

“R-rank B?! That’s strong…” Myria’s shoulders slumped.

“Myria…you seem so anxious to follow the river. Are you searching for something in particular?”

“U-um, it’s kind of hard to explain…”

Myria was searching for a black dragon. A Plague Dragon. This dragon carried Myria to safety after she was attacked by a Little Rock Dragon, then saved her from a pack of wolves, and had even helped her look for Doz when he went missing.

She had taught the dragon human language and even given him a name. Not one person in the village paid attention to her, but the dragon listened to every word she said almost as if he were human.

The last time she’d seen the dragon, he defeated the Little Rock Dragon terrorizing the village, raised his claws to Myria, and left. But she just knew that there had to be some misunderstanding.

She hadn’t seen the dragon since. But her mentor, Marielle, told her that she saw him fall into the chasm. Myria was sure that if she followed the river, she would find him. She doubted Meltia would believe her if she told her this story. Everyone was afraid of Plague Dragons because they were known to be evil creatures who ate humans. People in the village would call her crazy.

“I won’t force you to tell me if you don’t want to. But if you want to keep going deeper into the forest, you need to gain more experience. Few people from your village have ever ventured into the eastern part of Noah’s Forest, and very little information is known about what lies there. And I haven’t been there much either, but I’ve heard the Lithovar Tribe lives to the north. No one willingly travels in that direction. There could be totally unknown species of monsters.”

“The Lithovar Tribe? Is that the one you mentioned before?”

“Yes, they’re a tribe of barbarians. They worship monsters as gods and kidnap travelers to use as sacrifices. The people of the tribe are so strong, every one of them can fight against rank-C monsters.”

“E-every one of them?!”

Only a handful of adventurers were strong enough to take on rank-C monsters. Even Meltia would need to do a ton of research and preparation beforehand and embark with a party of four. And honestly, she would still only have about a 50 percent chance of victory.

“It’s that dangerous?” Myria whispered sadly as she looked toward the river. Perhaps she’d never be able to see that dragon again without some help. She wasn’t even positive he was still alive. She could search for him her whole life, only to find he’d been dead the whole time. More likely she would just never find any sign of him at all.

If he was alive, he could have just decided to leave the forest. He might attack her the moment he saw her and kill her horribly. It wasn’t out of the question. After all, he did swipe at her before he left.

“Do you have a specific place you’d like to get to?”

Myria shook her head.

“All right.” That was all Meltia said.

Myria hung her head; she must’ve thought Meltia was upset with her. The swordswoman reached over and placed her hand on Myria’s shoulder. “Let’s go a little deeper.”

“What? But you said I needed more experience before we went any further!”

“To get stronger, sometimes you must walk a dangerous path. All the strongest people I know were thrown into a place of certain death and fought for their lives, and they emerged victorious. I’m not saying to always choose the path of danger, but if you’re afraid to take risks, you’ll never grow as an adventurer.”

She dropped her hand and headed off into the forest, calling back over her shoulder, “You want to go deeper, don’t you? So do I.”

“Y-yes, I do!” Myria answered, and quickly followed.

Part 2
Myria

 

MYRIA AND MELTIA headed deeper into the forest. Myria was so tired from walking that she staggered. Meltia reached out and caught her.

“Thank you…”

“I thought you were walking strangely. Your leg got injured during our fight with the mahawolves, didn’t it? You need to tell me when something like that happens.”

“I-I’m sorry.” Myria hung her head.

“Use Rest to heal your leg.”

“I don’t have much MP left. I’d like to save it for battle.”

Meltia made an exasperated noise. “Let’s turn back for today. I know I said sometimes it’s good to choose a more dangerous path, but we shouldn’t push our luck.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We’re in uncharted territory. Who knows what might show up?”

“I get it.”

“I’m glad you understand,” Meltia said, looking around. “It’s been awfully quiet since we fought those mahawolves.” She put a hand on her chin. After they killed one mahawolf, the rest of them ran away. She thought they’d given up awfully quickly, but maybe they were running from something else entirely? Many monsters were able to sense the presence of others. And mahawolves especially were able to communicate with members of their pack and alert them of danger up ahead.

“Myria, let’s get going—” Before she could finish, she heard footsteps. Falling silent, she turned in the direction of the sound.

Tmp, tmp, tmp. Tmp, tmp, tmp. Whatever it was, it wasn’t stopping.

“M-Meltia, is that…” Meltia hastily covered Myria’s mouth with a hand and pulled her down to the ground, making them both a smaller target. The sound of the footsteps drew closer fast. Whatever it was wasn’t giving chase. Sometimes it stopped, as if in hesitation, but then the sound started up again. It didn’t seem to have sensed them.

At first, Meltia had thought it sounded like human footsteps, but as it drew closer, she changed her mind. There was just something about the way it stopped and started that made her think of an animal.

Tmp, tmp tmp. Tmp, tmp tmp.

It was taking the long way around, but it was definitely getting closer.

I was careless. It’s basic practice to make sure a fleeing monster isn’t responding to an outside threat, especially in uncharted territory like this. Up until now, Meltia had always explored well-traveled regions of the forest, with the cave as the only exception. This was a rookie mistake.

The mystery monster continued to make its meandering way toward them. Occasionally it would stop, then sprint forward a bit, like a carefree child. It was unreasonably creepy.

“I think it knows we’re here.” Meltia grabbed the hilt of her sword, ready to draw it.

Myria covered her mouth with both hands, frantically trying to hold back a scream of fear. At last, the footsteps stopped, very close by. At least a minute passed, but the monster didn’t move. Meltia almost began to wonder if it had left, but she didn’t hear any departing footsteps. It was so quiet.

Myria couldn’t take the suspense any longer and slowly lifted her head. She brushed against the greenery, making it rustle.

“Vooooooooh!” A loud, raspy cry echoed around them, and the tree right in front of Myria toppled over, revealing a giant body two meters long. Its eyes were pure white with no pupils, and a large horn erupted from its forehead. Its hands and feet were taloned like an eagle’s. Its spindly legs struggled to support its huge body, and it slumped forward with a crouched posture. A big snake stretched out from behind, like a tail. In fact, it was its tail.

“Eeeeeeeeeek!” Myria let out a scream of horror.

“It’s a fidieetus! A lower rank-C monster!” Myria knew rank-C monsters. The Little Rock Dragon that attacked her village had been one. They couldn’t take on a monster like that—no way.

“Tch!” Meltia leapt up and drew her sword. The fidieetus swiped its talons through the air with a lunge. Meltia leapt to the side, the monster’s talons carving out a chunk of earth right where she was a moment before. It moved into the same attack, once again aiming for Meltia. She evaded it again, but this time it followed up with its opposite arm.

“Voooraaaah!”

She couldn’t dodge that one, but the fidieetus’s posture was so unsteady that its swipe had no force. Meltia stood her ground and parried with her sword. She tried to jump backward, but the snake-tail whipped around behind her, where she couldn’t track its movements. A pincer attack by a single creature.

“Damn it!”

“Sssshhhhh!” The snake-tail lunged at Meltia.

“Fire Magic! Fireball!” The attack shot from Myria’s staff, headed for the snake.

“Aaah?!” Both the snake and the main body of the monster went still. Meltia batted away the talons with her sword and jumped backward, kicking the snake in its head. She hit it again, this time with the back of her blade. A loud wham of impact rang out as the snake’s head hit the ground. She would never be able to pierce its scales, so a blunt force attack would have to do. Maybe she could knock it unconscious.

“Ssssshhh!” It wasn’t enough to knock out the tail. The snake head reared up, enraged. The main body also appeared agitated, slamming its talons into the ground on either side of it. Chunks of earth flew.

“Even if it’s on the lower end, it’s still a rank-C monster,” Meltia said. “And I’m not sure we can outrun it, judging by how fast its footsteps sounded.”

“I-Isn’t there any way to defeat it? You know about this monster, right? What about its weaknesses?”

“It’ll be nearly impossible with just two of us—I need a whole team!”

Most fidieetuses lived deep in the forest, and their speed meant hardly anyone survived an encounter. All known information was annoyingly nonspecific.

Meltia had known it was a fidieetus by the sound of its footsteps. The snake section had sensed their body heat and alerted the rest of the monster to their presence. Meltia had considered the possibility that all its starts and stops were due to inefficient communication between separate parts of the body, but watching them fight together defeated that theory soundly. At least the main body’s senses didn’t appear very keen.

“Voooahh…” The fidieetus sucked in air and moved backward. The snake followed its lead and retreated as well.

This reminded Meltia of the taranturouge. She recalled hearing that the fidieetus had Scorching Breath.

Should they run or charge? She didn’t know Scorching Breath’s attack range, and she had Myria to think about. Meltia raised her sword and lunged forward. The fidieetus must have thought she would keep her distance, because its reaction was slow. She used the top of its hand as a step to jump higher into the air, stabbing at the inside of its mouth. “How’s this taste?!”

“Vooooahh!” Bright red blood gushed, mixed with steamy hot air. She’d succeeded in interrupting its Scorching Breath attack.

“Yeah? It doesn’t matter how tough your skin is. The inside of everything’s mouth is tender.”

“Vooooaahh!” The fidieetus howled, swinging its talons. One broke Meltia’s sword, and another caught her body, flinging her backward.

“Argh!” She landed hard.

Myria ran over. “Rest!” Light enveloped Meltia’s body, healing her wounds. Meltia brushed a hand over her armor. It was busted and wet with her blood.

“Vooooahh, vooaah!!” The fidieetus leaned forward and coughed. Reddish black blood spattered onto the ground.

Myria swallowed hard. She was certain the creature was injured.

“Run, Myria. I made a mistake. I’ll distract it, but you don’t have much time.” Meltia dragged herself up with a nearby branch. The tip of her sword was broken. She bit her lip.

Myria said, “I-I can keep going!”

“You don’t have any MP left.”

Myria reached into her bag and drew forth a small bottle. She swallowed its contents. It was a mana potion, medicine that would restore MP—and take a toll on the body in the process.

“Haah, haah… Fire Magic! Fire Sphere!”

Fire Sphere was a higher level than Fireball and more difficult to control. Myria usually avoided using it since it consumed so much MP, but lower-level spells just wouldn’t cut it right now.

A huge ball of flame flew at the fidieetus’s head. And at the same time, Meltia swung her broken sword at the snake as hard as she could.

“Ssshh, vooaah!” The snake-tail sensed the fireball and alerted the main body, but it was too late—Meltia’s sword interrupted it before it could finish.

The main body sensed the sword and lifted its face. Fire Sphere hit it in the back of its head.

“Voooah!” It pitched forward, consumed by flames.

“Th-that’s the first time I’ve ever used that successfully! I’m so glad…” Myria collapsed with relief.

“I-I think we might be able to take it. I had a feeling the senses of the main body are dulled…” Meltia trailed off. “Are you okay? I know mana potions have side effects.”

“Vooooooooooahh!” The fidieetus let out a terrifying roar, hunched over, breathing noisily. It lifted its snake-tail and stretched its tongue from its mouth, eyes furious.

“It’s still alive? After all that?”

She didn’t have the MP for another Fire Sphere, and another mana potion so soon might kill her. She’d needed to defeat it with one hit, and she failed.

“Vooooah!” Claws raked through the earth. The monster charged.

“Earth Magic! Clay!” Myria called the earth beneath the monster’s feet. If a direct attack wasn’t possible, then she’d come at it sideways. The fidieetus’s anger made its behavior easy to predict. She caught its feet and held them fast.

At least until it used brute strength to free itself. It didn’t even slow down, continuing its pursuit.

It swiped its talons at Myria.

“Dammit… C-Clay! Clay!” Her first Clay spell missed, hardening a random spot on the ground. Her second shot grabbed the snake-tail.

“Ssshhhh!” The snake-tail let out a scream as the main body was pinned to the ground. But that only stopped it for a few moments.

“Vooooah!”

“N-noooo!” Myria crouched down on instinct, covering her head.

Meltia lunged forward and caught the fidieetus’s leg. Its bird legs had terrible balance, especially after taking that Fire Sphere. If the tail were distracted, she could knock it off balance.

But not off balance enough, it seemed. It righted itself and kicked her off. Her damaged armor cracked completely. Meltia rolled, in so much pain she couldn’t even scream.

She did manage to knock the fidieetus off its trajectory; it missed Myria completely.

“Voooaaah!” It paused, then realized what had happened and stood back up. The tail reared its head and looked around. “Sssssh?!”

That was when the fidieetus saw it. Even the snake-tail, whose Psychic Sense abilities were so incredible, only just that moment noticed the black orb hurtling at the main body. The rest of the monster—and Myria and Meltia—didn’t notice it at all until it was there, spinning around the fidieetus, encircling the main body like it was drawing a parabola.

Myria looked up, finally catching sight of the orb. It landed behind her and slowly stopped spinning. She looked at it for a fleeting moment, before quickly returning her attention back to the fidieetus. It was raising its claws again, ready to rip off her head.

Then she noticed the blood dripping from its face—its left eye was just a gory hole. That black orb must’ve done something to it! But this monster was too strong to let the loss of an eye get it down for long—after all, the snake did most of its navigating. And yet it still wasn’t moving. Its knees hit the ground, and Myria saw its attention was fixed not on her but on the black orb.

“Ksssh.” The orb was no longer an orb. It was a large black lizard. She knew that monster: it was a venomous reptile that lived in Noah’s Forest, Venom Princess Lacerta. It was dangerous, but it very rarely attacked groups.

“Voo-vooaah…” The fidieetus grabbed at its eye and fell forward onto the ground. The black lizard’s venom worked quickly, circulating through the monster’s body. Since its eye was so close to its brain, there was no saving it.

“Ssshhh! Sshhhhh! Sssh!” The monster’s tail flailed, urgently trying to rouse the main body.

Myria stared at the scene in shock, then heard little footsteps behind her. She turned and saw the black lizard approaching. “Y-you saved us?” She crouched down.

The lizard froze at the sound of her voice. After a moment, it carefully continued toward her, staring at her face.

“Kssh.” Then it turned away, heading to the riverbank. Not looking back, it began to walk downstream.

Myria had no idea what just happened. If it was hunting, why would it just abandon its prey? And if it had saved her, well, it didn’t seem to care for her very much.

Myria stood up and rushed over to Meltia’s side. The swordswoman was covered in blood and lying motionless on the forest floor. “White Magic! Rest!”

Light enveloped Meltia’s body. Her eyelids moved weakly. Myria let out a sigh and fell to her knees. “Will we ever make it home safely?” Meltia’s sword was broken, and Myria had already used her last-resort mana potion. She wanted to stay here until Meltia got up, but the fidieetus’s tail was still moving.

“Sshhh! Sssh!” It was whacking itself against the earth, almost like it was trying to free itself from the main body. But then it stopped, changed color, and began spurting foam from its mouth. It collapsed.

Myria looked off in the direction of the black lizard, but it was already out of sight.