[Beware! You have entered the area of the 'Glimpse' Class Mission].
As soon as Kaizen took a step into the forest, a warning screen appeared before his eyes.
However, there was nothing to fear and no reason for him to be afraid, because he was accompanied by a level 70 NPC, so he just turned his body slightly in Ravastine's direction and said:
"Whatever happens, follow my commands and do everything I tell you to do."
The princess was more nervous than Kaizen and without a second thought nodded agreeing to the player's request.
Ravastine followed right behind Kaizen as he made his way through the dense vegetation, but suddenly they heard a loud noise of footsteps coming from in front of them. Instinctively, Kaizen gripped the handle of the Dagger of Obsession tighter and stopped walking.
After a few moments, a fat, black figure emerged from the bulky bushes. It was a bear.
This bear had a very large body and, from the looks of it, appeared to be extremely strong. Its body was covered with scars. There were arrows stuck in its back and open wounds all over its back. Still, this was a level 30 monster, which didn't mean that it was an enemy that could cause Kaizen problems, but it certainly wouldn't be killed without making a fuss.
Suddenly, the bear opened its mouth and Kaizen thought the beast was going to let out a threatening roar, so it was about to attack him, after all if the staff of The Eye of Hermodr found out they were there earlier than expected, that would be a huge problem.
However, Ravastine held Kaizen's left arm, stopping him.
The Psyker looked at her, trying to understand why he did this, and she said nothing, just pointed with her chin at the bear again.
When she looked at the bear again, Kaizen realized that the big animal was staggering in its own place. The truth was that this bear was barely standing upright. Unlike when the other monsters were about to die, this bear didn't seem to have the strength to fight Kaizen; rather, it seemed to be fighting to stay alive.
Ravastine let go of Kaizen's arm and the Psyker did not hold the girl back as she began to cautiously approach the injured bear.
'How is he still alive with all those serious injuries? And I wonder what made him like this?' Kaizen wondered, looking sternly at the forest around him.
Suddenly, a hiss that came from Kaizen's right captured his and Ravastine's attention.
*Trrriuu*
A small brown feathered bird flew towards them and landed on the Psyker's right shoulder.
Ravastine looked at the bird with a surprised look, as did Kaizen, who didn't know what to say, and while he was thinking of something, the sparrow flew off Kaizen's shoulder and flew towards the bear, where it landed on his head. At that moment, the bear looked at Kaizen and, in some inexplicable way, just by looking into the deep, mysterious eyes of this weak creature, Kaizen understood what the bear and the sparrow wanted.
"Let's follow them." Kaizen said.
"What? What are you talking about?" Ravastine was confused.
"They probably want to show us where their friends or the Skogsrå are. I don't know for sure."
"What? How can you be sure of something like that?"
"I don't know."
Ravastine stared at Kaizen's back for a while as he started to follow the bear, but she didn't say anything else, just sighed and followed right behind him.
The forest had a mournful atmosphere. The silence that filled it was almost disturbing, and the emptiness that enveloped the entire region was unusual.
Normally, you would hear the sounds of birds singing, squirrels scurrying about in the branches of the trees, and rabbits hopping through the bushes, but now everything was silent, as if all the animals had fled the area.
The more this unlikely quartet walked, the more the vegetation seemed to become dense and difficult to get through. It was as if the whole area was a natural maze, where it was easy to get lost. But Kaizen had the map of the area and therefore knew that the bear was guiding them to the center of the Nyland Forest.
If what Ravastine said, about the Skogsrå always hiding in the deepest parts of the forests, was correct, they would soon find their home.
As they walked, the bear struggled to keep its gigantic body upright, and the bird flew forward to guide them more precisely through the dense vegetation. Kaizen and Ravastine were guided by the two animals for more than half an hour until they finally arrived at a clearing that was in the center of the forest. In the clearing there was a huge tree whose bark was black and, unlike all the trees in the forest, this tree was completely without leaves.
Around the big tree inside the clearing, there were dozens of animal bodies scattered on the ground. Some of these bodies were quite large and appeared to be those of bears, but their appearance was totally different from the one that guided them, because the fur of these bears was gray and they had horns on their heads.
Besides the strange bears, there were other corpses of creatures, such as deer, birds, moles and foxes.
All these corpses on the ground were the explanation for the silence of the forest.A few hours before the Psyker arrived, a massacre took place.
In this clearing, there were also several large metal boxes in some spots and half a dozen men, who were laughing among themselves near the big burnt tree.
Shocked by this sight, Ravastine turned his face to ask Kaizen what they should do. Her eyes went wide when she saw that he wasn't even bothering to hide, and that he was already walking towards these men, not bothering to make a plan.
'What does he think he's doing acting like that without any caution!?' The princess thought, aghast.
It would be normal to think that Kaizen was not reasoning properly after seeing such a shocking scene before him. It was understandable that he was in a rage. However, in reality, the player was not acting on impulse. While the princess spent seconds in shock, Kaizen used that same time to analyze the situation and, with the <Analyzer Eye>, checked the statistics of the enemies.
Indeed, all those dead animals was a bit annoying even for Kaizen, after all Rise Online was an ultra realistic game, but there was nothing he could do to reverse the situation, because this scene was probably a natural thing of the mission. All he could do, and all that was in his power at the moment, was to ruthlessly slaughter the henchmen of The Eye of Hermodr.
When these men saw the black-haired, broad-shouldered boy appear in the clearing, some of them smiled and others looked back, not pretending that they were protecting something.
"Hey, look what we have here! Looks like the townspeople finally decided to dare to show their faces!" One of them shouted.
"Are you an army soldier?" Another of them asked.
"No, he's not even wearing armor. He must just be a damn redneck from some village around here."
"Haha, I'm glad someone came along, I got bored after we killed all those animals. I'll want to have some fun el-" The skinny man who was talking couldn't even finish his last sentence, because the Dagger of Obsession stuck right in the center of his forehead.
Seeing their dead companion with a red dagger stuck in his face, the other men drew their swords as fast as they could while Kaizen walked normally toward them.
"How did he do that?!"
"Is he a soldier?!"
"I don't know!"
As the men yelled at each other, Kaizen pulled the Dagger of Obsession back with the <Telekinesis> and continued to approach them, not caring about the arrows his archer was shooting in their direction. He simply blocked most of them with his dagger or dodged them.
However, as soon as Kaizen got close enough to them, two of the five armed men charged toward him as they held out their right hands. Suddenly, four walls of earth were raised from the ground, surrounding Psyker and trapping him.
"We got him!"
"Now, just call the rest of the staff."
"Yes, I'll go--"
Before this man could finish speaking, Kaizen broke through the four walls of earth at once, using <Telekinesis>. Debris flew everywhere and the two men in front were hit by dozens of pieces of earth, which knocked them unconscious.
Two other men, who were just behind, ran to attack Kaizen with their swords, but the Psyker dodged a blow and used <Telekinesis> to pull the weapon from one of them into his hand. Kaizen didn't wait for the man to recover and attacked with his sword right at the height of his abdomen and then right at the neck, crushing the man's throat.
In the next instant, he was on top of the one with the bow, who was the last in the formation. Kaizen crushed him to the ground with the strength of one arm.
The last remaining man screamed and tried to start running, but it was useless. Kaizen was fast enough to catch up to him in a few seconds.
There was nothing these men could do, as they were only at level 15 and were fighting against someone who had the same amount of attributes as someone near level 60. The difference was not only absurd, it was overwhelming.
...
Edited by: DrHitsuji
If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: /NandoFalske
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https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8
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