The sun was shining down from its zenith, lighting up the entire town of Lapis and its surroundings. The bustling activities in the city stood in contrast to the eerie calm of the Cloudy Jungle.
Aria walked Southwest of the city after exiting from the western gate. After 2 hours of walking along a large stretch of grassland, her destination came into view. The vegetation density spiked almost instantly at the entrance of the jungle, as if separating earth and hell with its rows of towering trees. As Aria approached the dense vegetation, she could sense the disturbing atmosphere slowly creeping into her; she was staring into darkness where no light could penetrate the canopy. Aria took a deep breath and trekked into the Cloudy Jungle while expanding her senses.
Several insects were crawling around the undergrowth while others flew, busy with their individuals' activities. Small mammals and reptiles could be spotted hiding underneath the shrubberies and stones while others climbed up the giant trees into the canopy. Deeper into the forest, vines started to drape over the area, webbing across different trees as if strangling them.
Soon, Aria reached an open area where the rare sunlight could reach into the undergrowth layer of the forest, giving rise to diverse collection of plants and animal species. With the sun shining above the jungle, the fog cleared up due to the heat, giving better visibility within the dense vegetation. Flowers and fruits of various colour popped out from the brown and green background. This scenery would only be available for a short period of time everyday.
Aria spotted several foragers harvesting the edible fruits, flowers and herbs, but they were uneasy; looking around with every step they took and placing their free hand on the weapon they brought in case of emergency.
"The recent annihilation of the expedition force must have ignited their fear of the invading monsters." Aria thought as she moved past the luscious area into the first check point location where a few wooden cabins were built. Several adventurers would use them for temporary rest, but it was mainly used to control and identify the people entering. Several knights and rangers can be seen patrolling around the perimeter. Aria approached the front of a cabin and showed her adventurer's tag before being allowed to proceed.
"From this point onwards, the danger level spike with several Green Wyrms patrolling the sky." Aria heightened her senses further as she descended into the valley. The trees were much larger than the outermost area, creating a sense of powerlessness unto the uninvited. They competed with each other for the sun, creating multiple layers of canopies with their branches. Some of the trees had died; unable to compete, they dried up and fossilised decades ago, leaving behind their still standing husks. The air became musky the deeper Aria ventured.
After 30 minutes of careful navigation, Aria reached the second checkpoint where she was now prohibited from entering. It was a wooden cabin located in between 2 rocky cliffs that towered over the gigantic trees. The cliffs served as both physical and metaphorical barriers that imprisoned the most dangerous monsters found in the Cloudy Jungle.
"I guess I should scout around to see where I can bait the Rathian out without causing trouble to the knights and rangers." Aria walked around the perimeter as she was thinking. After walking around, she found a part of the cliff that had a gentler slope with small stream running down into a river. Several rocky protrusion dotted the river with some reaching as tall as the trees. However, cracks were formed as several native vegetations burrowed their roots into the rocks, slowly destroying their structural integrity. "The plants around here sure are aggressive."
Aria continued to survey the area when she found a large creature lurking around the sea of trees. It had brown and grey patterns on its scales, elongated body like a serpent, 4 powerful limbs with giant razor claws, large formidable tail, conical head crusted with armour and rows of teeth armed with dangerous venom. Its indomitable presence shook the earth as it roamed about in search of prey.
Aria hid behind a buttress root while peeking out to observe the creature. "That must be one of the supposed apex predator of the Cloudy Jungle: Earth Wyrm. Unlike the Green Wyrm that flock together and hunt with mobility, this solitary monster hunt with brute force. What is it doing here? Did it managed to escaped out of the jungle's heart?"
The Earth Wyrm seemed to have smelled something in the air and started to run towards the opposite direction of where Aria was hiding. Without missing a beat, Aria followed it and found that the Earth Wyrm was hunting a common ground hog: a species of wild boar found throughout the continent and lived mainly by foraging, but could deal serious injuries when cornered. With a powerful bite, the Earth Wyrm injected its venom into its prey and when it no longer had the strength to resist, the common ground hog was immediately devoured while still alive.
"With its massive 7 meters body and powerful maw, having venom seems a little unnecessary." As Aria was thinking about it, a group of 4 flying creatures swooped down in silent and disrupted the feast. The 6 meters long Green Wyrms were trying to snatch the prey. With their sharp claws on the hind legs, they tried to pierce the tough scaly armour of the Earth Wyrm, but to no avail. Finally, they drew out their stingers from the tail end to pierce their enemy and injected their lethal venom. Slowly, but surely, the Earth Wyrm lost its vigor and was pushed back. It retreated, unable to protect its valuable meal and collapsed at a distance away from the arena.
"The venom from both of these wyrms species can be weaponised, but I am not sure how effective it will be against the Rathian. Nevertheless, I can collect the fangs and venom sac from the deceased Earth Wyrm to make weapons out of them." Aria slowly made her way to the carcass, but as she was harvesting, the Green Wyrms started to get rowdy. Aria put her guard up and found that the Green Wyrms were ambushed by another large creature blitzing from tree to tree. The Green Wyrms tried to fight off the unwanted guest, but were pushed back by the 12 meters long intruder.
Aria stopped harvesting the Earth Wyrm and drew out her dual blades as the Green Wyrms fled towards her general direction. Luckily, they ignored her and flew pass her. The other creature immediately chased after the fleeing wyrms as its shadow melted with the darkness of the trees.
Feeling relieved, Aria returned to her activity when she heard screams piercing through the vegetations. Without hesitation, Aria bolted through the undulating terrains and arrived at an area in the Cloudy Jungle known as the 'Trees' Graveyard' where many trees had dried up, but were still upright due to the vines holding them in place.
Several adventurers were seen fending off their attackers while others were healing up the wounded. The fleeing Green Wyrms were now lying dead on the forest floor with parts of their bodies torn. A pair of rangers could also be found dead with broken neck and back, seemingly had either been thrown against the many trees or had fallen from a great height.
"It seems the fleeing wyrms had struck the patrolling rangers, but were taken down by the nearby adventurers." Aria leapt from the high ground to assist the adventurers by striking at the creature's tail that was about to swing and hit the injured adventurers. "I am here to help!"
"You are miss Aria, right? Thank you, but we should retreat. That thing might be the one that took out the previous expedition force." One of the adventurer who had the least amount of injuries approached and spoke to Aria. "We just got back from a quest, but were ambushed by the Green Wyrms and then that thing joined in."
"All of you retreat. I will hold that thing here."
"What!? Are you crazy!?"
"All of you are in no condition to fight and will only be a burden to me. The best thing you can do is to recuperate at the nearest checkpoint while asking the patrolling knights to send words for reinforcement."
The unknown monster leapt into the canopy and disappeared from view, only to appear behind the group and lunged at the vulnerable adventurers. Aria, however, predicted this and did several spinning slashes after sliding towards the creature, causing the lunge to miss.
"Go! Now!"
The injured knew that they were liabilities and proceeded to exit the battlefield.
"Based on the event described by the expedition force, you are definitely not the creature that ambushed them." Aria squared up against her enemy; keeping close eyes on it as she slowly stepped around the uneven terrain. "Nevertheless, you do not belong in this world."
With a long serpentine shape and powerful claws, it blitzed up to the nearby tree, prowling like a predator. It had greyish blue hue all over its body, blood-red eyes with vertical slit, scaly skin covering its body with fur-like spikes poking out around its limbs and the entirety of its back. Its tail was around half of its length; shaped like a leaf, it fluttered about with grace and dread. Aria likened it to a squirrel with the head of a viper.
"Tobi-Kadachi. The Flying Spark."
***
"Come on guys! Just a bit more and we'll reach the cabin." Led by the party leader, the fleeing adventurers navigated through the rough terrain to reach for safety. Eventually, they spotted a wooden cabin in a distance and waved at the patrolling rangers and knights who noticed their predicament; they immediately rushed to aid the injured adventurers while simultaneously asking for their story.
"After completing our mission to take down the Fanged Boar, we decided to immediately go back to the first checkpoint to rest. On the way, we met up with 2 rangers who were patrolling the area, but they were ambushed by Green Wyrms flying towards them. One of them got knocked down from the branch and fell down the wrong way, he broke his neck. The other one managed to shot down 1 of the wyrm, but another gigantic creature appeared and ambushed him. He was hurled across like a twig with its tail swipe. Afterwards, it was chaos: we tried to help the rangers, but was hindered by the Green Wyrms flying around restlessly and that unknown monster joined in and attacked both us and the wyrms."
"It may have been the same monster that ambushed the expedition force." A knight lifted the party leader onto his shoulder and helped him walked towards safety. "Those 2 rangers may have been the newbies who just joined us 3 months ago. How can they be so careless? Nevertheless, you guys did a great job escaping."
"We were helped by a little girl with silver hair. She is the one who contributed the most in the previous expedition to the Forest of Beginners."
"What! We should send in reinforcements! You, send out words to the guild! Hurry!" He pointed out to a ranger affiliated with the adventurers guild who immediately dashed through the rough terrain towards the first checkpoint where other rangers would set out to deliver the news to various places including the knights' headquarter in Lapis.
The adventurers were escorted into the wooden cabin and treated with the stocked up supplies of potions. In the middle of the treatment, another group of adventurers entered the cabin and witnessed the sorry scene. They questioned about their injuries and after hearing about the supposed new monster with red eyes blitzing around, one of the newly arrived adventurer took up her gears and set out. However, she was stopped by others.
"Wait! Where are you going?!" A knight questioned her. "The fog has started to descend into this valley, you will be showing it your underbelly in this condition."
"That thing killed my sister! I am going to kill it and present its head to my sister's grave!"
"Stop being so reckless! We have lost enough people and I am not about to let another promising young girl like you throw away your own life."
"Another?"
"Yes, a silver haired girl is currently holding that monster back. I just pray that Lord Flare will show mercy and let her come back alive."
"She is fighting for her life and you guys just sit around here! We should go out and help her!"
"Catherine, calm down. Adventurers should always prioritise safety. It may sound selfish, but this is what will determine your survival. If you let your emotion get the better of you, you will not be alive for long. Who is going to take care of your mother, now that your sister is dead? You have the responsibility to stay alive."
Catherine, who was about to set out, remained silent with a bitter look.
"Adventurers should value one's own life above all. We venture into dangers every time we set out on a quest and while saving your team members is an understandable action, saving some random stranger is simply absurd. Only fools will go that far."
A long deafening silent enveloped the room before Catherine broke it. "Indeed, as an adventurer, we should learn how to survive and preserve our own life. After my father died, my mother worked hard to raised both big sister and me until she collapsed from exhaustion, but because of that, both of her children were able to make it to their eleventh birthday. Our lives are not just ours."
Catherine spun around and looked at her team members with a calm and determined expression. "However, I want to honour my late father as well. He was a proud knight who instilled his noblesse oblige values onto us; we have a duty towards humanity and the moment we stop fighting for each other, we have failed as a society. Now that my sister is gone, I hope to carry out her legacy as well, so I will go."
"Sigh. Fine. Do what you will." The party leader, a tall muscular man with full plate armour and a large shield, relented to Catherine's wish. "As a leader, I have a duty to keep as many of my members safe, so my decision still stand. However, I have no rights to dictate their every action. Go and save that girl, but you must promise to come back alive and not let your vengeance blinded you into rage."
"Thank you, leader. I will." Catherine took off into the general direction of the 'Trees' Graveyard'.
***
Aria moved through the various elevations of the forest in tandem with the Tobi-Kadachi. She had to move fast in order to catch up with her foe's agile attacks; it performed several impressive acrobatics with forward leaps that could instantly cover a huge distance, forward lunging bites, tail slams and body slams. With each attack, debris were thrown up in the air, but what caught Aria's attention was the fur of Tobi-Kadachi that were starting to stand. The surroundings were dry, a completely different atmosphere from the naturally expected humidity.
"I managed to get in some cuts onto its claws and tail, but its agility and the rough terrain make it difficult to land solid hit." Aria had casted 'Air Walk' to ease her movement and danced with the monster. "Think. I need to remember the information about this monster."
In the middle of the tussle, Tobi-Kadachi stopped and gave a deafening roar that made Aria instinctively covered her ears. As it roared, the furry spikes on its back and tail stood up with electricity running across its entire body. It then jumped into the canopy before appearing above Aria with its wing membranes opened and glided towards its prey. Once it honed in onto Aria, it flipped midair and using the momentum, slam its tail onto Aria. Luckily, Aria managed to evade its attacked, but its impact caused an electrical outburst in the local area. Aria could feel her hair raised.
"Ah, yes. I remember now. You weaponise the static electricity building up on your fur, causing thunder blight. You are most vulnerable to poison and your elemental weakness is..." Aria regained her stance and chanted. "Water. Coalesce from the air and flow onto my blades. Water Blade."
The air condensed around Aria's Jaggid Shotel and a thin veil of water enveloped the blades.
Aria concentrated and allowed her magic to flow throughout her whole body. Her speed, power and aggression burst out as she slid towards Tobi-Kadachi, unleashing a flurry of cuts onto its enormous tail. As the enemy fled, Aria pursued. However, Tobi-Kadachi retaliated by jumping and climbing up the giant trees into the thick canopy where it hid.
"Tch, slipping away." Aria cursed as she pondered her next move, but it was cut short as Tobi-Kadachi ambushed her from her back with a spinning tail slam. In the nick of time, Aria dodged by jumping sideway while countering with several slashes on its tail. Without pause, Aria continued to attack its weak spot before it dodged and hid within the vegetation again. This dance went on for several minutes until Aria managed to inflict serious injuries on her enemy's tail, causing it to flinch and fell down into the lower recesses of the jungle.
"Water. Coalesce in the air and pressurise into spears to pierce my enemy. Rain bullets!" Several water spheres formed in the air around Aria and transformed themselves into elongated projectiles before launching with high pressure and velocity towards Tobi-Kadachi. The attack wounded the beast with several bruises and cuts, courtesy of its tough pelt that proved to be defensive enough to withstand the impacts. However, now that it was soaked with water, its fur began to lose its rigidity and collapsed. In addition, the water removed any charges built up on its surfaces, effectively nullifying the static electricity.
Aria hopped down to continue the hunt, but was starting to feel exhausted from the tussles. The monster was up on its feet when Aria reached and it was furious as it let out a deafening roar. Its body heated up as white vapour exhumed from its mouth with every breath. Tobi-Kadachi prowled along the undergrowth before lunging viciously at Aria. As Aria dodged, the attacks never stopped for it proceeded with tail spin, body slam, tail slam and bite, chaining those attacks in an endless combo. Aria was not given any opening for attack, but managed to deliver several counter attacks.
The continuous movements from Tobi-Kadachi coupled with its heated body, dried out its soaked body and began rubbing against the dried out trunks of the deceased trees. Its static electricity began to build up.
"This is bad." Aria decided to retreat from the onslaught of attacks and got on higher ground, but her enemy followed with intense resentment; its movement became more erratic and as its fur began to stand up, Tobi-Kadachi let out a roar that simultaneously discharged a large voltage of electricity across its entire body. "Water. Coalesce in the air and bond to form sturdy shield. Water wall!"
A blanket of water formed and surrounded Tobi-Kadachi as Aria intended to soak it to reduced its elemental attacks. However, the beast broke the platform it was standing on and dived down to escape; the intertwining branches and vines of dead trees that formed various layers of platforms were fragile enough to be broken through with its beastly strength. Without a pause, Tobi-Kadachi approached Aria from below and launched itself up to the platform Aria was standing on to perform its signature spinning tail slam. Aria managed to slid out of the impacted area with a tiny margin, but was immediately hit on abdomen with a tail spin. Aria flew and tumbled down before hitting a tree root.
"Hah, hah, cough. That hurts, but I have this armour to thank for. The foliage that feast on these dead trees seem to have soften the impact as well, but..." Aria noticed that her vision became less stable with ringing in her ears and she could feel the electricity running through her nervous system. "Thunder blight, as it was called."
Tobi-Kadachi dropped in front of Aria; prowling like a predator before roaring out as lightning sparks all over its body in a flurry of flashes. Just it was about to attack, an arrow flew into its left eye, surprising it enough for Aria to get back on her feet and got out of the corner.
Above the convoluted terrain, a young girl drew her arrow from the high ground. Perched on one of the branches, she shot again, landing on Tobi-Kadachi's back. Still furious, Tobi-Kadachi leapt and unfolded its membrane on its sides and glided towards its attacker.
"That thing is fast!" Catherine scaled down the tree as she saw the approaching menace. With a powerful swipe, Tobi-Kadachi destroyed the branch with its tail. "Woah! That was close. With that kind of power and speed, no wonder many high ranking adventurers fell from its ambush."
Catherine ran as fast as she could to create distance between her and the beast. However, she could not match its speed and was overtaken by Tobi-Kadachi that jumped from tree to tree. It landed in front of her and lunged forwards before being struck by several water bullets, allowing Catherine to evade by hair's breadth.
"Do not turn your back on it!" Aria rushed and did several spinning slashes on Tobi-Kadachi's head. "Its agility is nothing to look down on. If you got hit by its lightning attack, you are going to be disoriented."
"That is nasty."
Tobi-Kadachi recovered from the attack before facing against both Catherine and Aria. As the sun began to dip from its zenith, the air cooled and the fog descended into the battlefield.