RD 3 Ch 31

Chapter 31

"I'm so sleepy," Linda, one of Antonio's guild members, yawned and fanned her face. She was a petite woman with long black hair and a penchant to complain about the quality of my olive oil when I cooked.

I was gathered with his group, Merlin, Simone, and Gloria, leaning on pine trees near a fruit outside the main castle as we waited to see what would happen next.

As it turned out, our predictions of the eclipse had been about a day off. So, for the last 48 hours, we had been watching the fruits for any sign of ripening while the last rays of the sun were swallowed up by the eclipse. It was likely to finish any minute. 

Right now, there was the barest sliver of light coming from the sun in this trial, and there were no stars or moon in the sky. Once the sun was fully eclipsed, this entire forest would be plunged into darkness.

Thankfully, Merlin and Antonio both had abilities to light up an area. There were six glowing orbs currently circling our group. 

I was curious what would happen when the light finally went out.

"So, Bran, how do people join the Mul Branova? Can people who have already been initiated that can?" Linda asked, brushing up against me.

Shen snapped her head towards her. "You would betray Antonio and our guild?" 

Linda waved a hand dismissively. "Bran is already in charge of Antonio. It's really like moving into a higher organization. Like when one company acquires another, and then you move up from the lower company to the upper? That's all it is," Linda reasoned and then turned back to me expectantly. “What’s a girl gotta do to get a promotion here?” 

"He's going to let all of us out of this deal once the trial's over," Shen shot back, glaring at me as if it were my fault. The lithe half-asiatic woman did not like me. “Bran’s good on his word. That means we aren’t stuck with him.”

If nothing else, Antonio’s group was lively. However, I figured it was best to avoid the conflicts.

"Yeah, well maybe I want to move to the larger company before he sells us off," Linda laughed, covering her mouth as Shen had a very clear blood vessel pulsing in her forehead. It hadn't been the first time she'd been riled up during this long stretch of not getting any sleep.

"Both of you, stop it," I held my hands up and pat the air. "Besides, I don't run the Mul Branova. Simone does." I quickly divested myself of any responsibility and hooked a thumb at Simone. Sorry, darling. I need to dodge this bullet. Certainly she could handle this.

Simone perked up. "You want to join, Linda? For real? There's a couple very specific qualifications," Simone emphasized. 

My face fell, this wasn’t what I had in mind.

Linda bounced her eyebrows. "Oh, I'm single if that matters." Linda winked before stepping over next to Simone and the two of them started whispering.

When they started giggling, Merlin shot me a look that could shrivel any man's manhood and kill non-initiated.

I held my hands up in surrender. This was all Simone. I had nothing to do with her antics. 

"Why don't we pay more attention to what's happening in the trial? A big change is likely about to come," Merlin said through gritted teeth. 

As if her words were prophetic, the last sliver of sunlight disappeared, and the entire forest was plunged into total darkness. I waited, looking up at the sky, wondering if there was going to be any sign of what to do next.

Sure enough, a pillar of light went from the sky to the ground in the distance. Based on where I'd been looking when the lights went out, I knew the direction of that beam. It was to the East, which meant the hardest end of the forest.

A rush of wind went through the forest, snuffing all of the lights around us. While I was considering the beam, I noted the lightest noise on the wind that set off alarm bells in my mind. 

"Merlin! Bring the lights back! Protect your throats" I shouted, flashes of forests near demon cities went through my mind at that noise.

Multiple people around me began to scream.

"Gloria, fire! Everywhere.” I readied myself.

Gloria didn't hesitate. A purple explosion expanded next to me as I reached up and protected my neck with my hands, just as I felt a cord of razor-thin thread slam into my fingers.

The piece of wire tried to wrap around my neck. But I twisted, a Blood Blade in my hand and swinging at my attacker. The feeling of my blade piercing something thin before a louder flap of softly feathered wings carried it away.

Merlin's ball of light expanded, showing me the full force of what we were facing. 

"Garrotes," I said, without even inspecting them.

They were a strange creature that demons loved to breed and let loose in places where they didn't want trespassers.

After all, these creatures could even kill high-level cultivators if they caught them by surprise.

Linda was struggling, currently lifted about two feet in the air by one of the Garrotes as two more tried to help it carry her away. 

Garrotes looked like a pitch black spider, with a pair of its middle legs transformed into wide, feathery wings that were nearly silent. If they evolved from spiders, they lost the venom, and instead gained a powerful razor-thin thread they used to swiftly destroy the throats of their targets.

Gloria’s explosion of purple fire caught a number of threads hanging at throat level in the air. The fire quickly raced down the threads, incinerating them so quickly, I’d have thought they were dipped in oil.

"Help Linda." I ordered.

The woman was only saved because of her quick reaction. Her palms were bleeding severely, but had managed to stop the Garrotes' thread from severing her neck. Two of Antonio's other companions were not so lucky, bleeding out terribly on the ground. 

Antonio himself had his rapier drawn, waiting for one of the Garrotes to come close once again. 

"Don't bother, Antonio. Focus on healing your team. Gloria, use your fire should any more come down. That thread is going to be at least B-ranked, and probably harder than most B-ranked weapons." 

While I was explaining what was happening, Merlin's eyebrows were slowly lifting in suspicion. But she would just have to deal with it for now. I needed to help this group survive.

"Fire is the best weapon against this type of monster, not only because it's the best way to deal with their threads, but also because Garrotes are cowards. If you're paying attention and you have light, they won't attack. However, the second they think you are unsuspecting or in the dark, they will pounce and even work together to string you up. They shouldn't be underestimated." 

Everyone in our group was now standing with their weapons out, walking, turning in a slow circle. A small swarm of Garrotes flapped just out of the light. Every now and then, their chitinous bodies glimmered, but they were too distant for any of us to get a good enough line of sight to attack.

But that did not seem to stop an archer in Antonio's group who was firing off arrows at random. A small glint would catch his attention, but he had no way to aim or even tell what direction it was flying in to lead his shot.

In a situation like this, where all the sunlight had disappeared, the Garrotes were in prime hunting territory.

The one that had attacked me, however, was not so lucky. Merlin raised her staff, and a shadow that had been clinging to a nearby tree was frozen and fell down, shattering on the ground.

It hadn’t gone far with the injured wing.

Merlin squinted at it. "It wasn't that strong." 

"No, they aren't, but they certainly make up for their lack of strength with numbers and surprise." I answered.

I used a soul gaze to get rid of the limitations of the darkness and allow me to understand our surroundings. Though, using it like this only gave me the outline of everything.

Outlines of nearly two dozen garrotes flocked in the air. I lifted my hand and began firing off Blood Bolts, one after the other.

Every one that was hit, I immediately hexed with a gravity hex that dropped them out of the sky.

As soon as a Garrote fell, Antonio's people, who were now on their feet after a potion or Simone’s help, quickly took their vengeance out on the fallen Garrotes. 

"This changes the plan considerably," Antonio said. "I didn't think there would be such dangerous monsters after we'd cleared everything out." 

"It doesn't change a thing at all," I said. "It's just a new monster that we have to be ready to handle. Please don't tell me these have scared you, Antonio." I antagonized him.

These weren't enough for us to change our plan, and I wasn't going to let the sudden fear of the unknown stop us. 

Merlin waved her staff, and a small-scale blizzard appeared around us. All of the remaining garrotes that had been flying in the air were battered down and frozen. Merlin nodded as she dismissed the blizzard. 

"They're certainly dangerous to the unprepared, but now that we know they are here, we can take precautions. Bran seems familiar with them and gave us good advice.” Merlin said confidently, glancing back towards the rest of the group. "Gloria, you can put a cloak of flames around yourself, right? That'll provide light, and it will protect you from these things, especially if they hate fire as much as Bran indicated." 

Gloria hesitated for a second before nodding. "That makes sense. What about everyone else?"

"Most of us have some sort of protective ability," Antonio rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "but keeping it up all the time might exhaust us." He paused, then added, "Bran, given this new development, I would like to stay close to Simone and Gloria. I am honor bound to protect the two of them."

Simone and Gloria could handle these beasts, but that was an easy concession. "Fine. Stay with them. The rest of your guild can break into two groups, and they can cover the far western side of our territory. Merlin and I will take the northeast and southeast quadrants, while you, Simone and Gloria, work through the central region."

There was a slight pout on Gloria's face. She realized I was giving her some of the safer tasks.

Simone, however, pulled up one of the melons that had been next to our fort and held it up, breaking it off the vine. 

"Bran, it's ripe." She beamed and I smiled back at her, inspecting the fruit.

[Bulbous Melon - Consume to gain 55 Intelligence]

It would give fifty-five to intelligence, and there were three of them on that vine for a total of 115, an impressive boost for just one patch of fruit.

"I'm guessing there'll be stronger ones in your direction, Merlin." I couldn't help but grin. Given the number of fruits that were within our territory, quick math told me that we would have a substantial increase in power, even if we split them amongst the group. 

"On that note, I will see you later." Merlin straightened up her cloak and activated League Step, disappearing from the spot we were at.

I turned in my direction, waving over my shoulder. "Everyone knows what to do. Let me know if you run into issues." I set off at a dead sprint, keeping Soul Gaze active, already spotting more Garrotes in the air thinking I was unaware.

The ambush predators that demons love to breed had zeroed in on me. They came swooping down with webs stretched out between their legs, but this was not the first time I had run through a forest full of Garrotes.

Jumping midair, I spun with the Blood Blade in hand, cleaving three of them in half, before landing with a roll as several more swished over my head and swung my sword into another one, flying straight at me.

It managed to catch my sword with its threads, tearing it from my hands, even as the dog-sized winged spider went sprawling.

I was back on my feet in an instant, running through the forest, both hands firing blood bolts as fast as I could, knocking the Garrotes out of the air, though I found the presence of these monsters strange. 

They weren't the type to capture; they just killed. If the demons were here to possess us, why would they use such deadly predators?

The ground underneath my feet surged as vine-like appendages jumped out of the bed of pine needles trying to wrap around my legs.

I jumped in the air, activating a Crimson Barrier to stop any Garrotes from swooping down at me. 

As I stared at the forest floor, another Blood Blade entered my hand as I slashed away the plants.

Purple liquid seeped out, telling me what I needed to know. They were Thorned Lashers.

I spotted small, prickly thorns on the vines, further confirming my suspicion.

They were a subterranean monster, and those thorns all possessed a low-grade poison that would paralyze creatures. They worked at night, coming out of the ground to entangle the prey and subdue it before dragging them underground to nourish their roots. 

I cut several more vines that jumped out of the ground before I sucked the cut vines into my spatial ring before they could disappear.

These things were actually fairly good reagents. I would use them later. The problem was luring out the flowers that were the Lashers' main body.

I did my best to sever the vines while being careful of Garrotes and rushing through the forest. Time was of the essence and I couldn’t dig up the Lashers. These monsters were tricky to deal with, but I had enough practice with them that they weren't slowing me down too much as I rushed through for more of the fruits.

These monsters didn't matter toward my end goal. What mattered was that I could collect as many fruits as my greedy hands could find.