Shadows lengthen as evening gives way to nightfall. In a particular forest, Natalak meticulously devised a plan to trap the enemy and overthrow the druid stalker. It was the start of the night, the most perilous time for hunters, for this time around the hunter risked becoming the hunted.
Natalak's wound may have healed, but even with Sheila's curing magic, the pain still lingers. Not much to give him a cry, but enough to cause discomfort and scratching.
"Whoever this druid person is, we're fighting in his territory." Natalak ponders, kneading his shoulder.
As Natalak was massaging his shoulder, reminiscing about the druid's attack, and how the pain still lingers in his nerves. And suddenly a spark came to his mind—
"Venom, poison? Wait, the minute, yes, I do have some of those." Natalak looks at Sheila, and the sudden look on her face gave the mage a slightly uncomfortable look.
"Do you have some poison, or any kind of venom magic of sorts?" Natalak said.
Sheila shakes her head, "I don't do that kind of spells, but I do have some other offensive spells that might be useful."
"I see," Natalak nods, fishing out the flask he looted from the goblins. "Because I do have some of these. And I don't know what kind of vials this potion contains."
"Ah, what you have there is a wyvern's venom." Comes Riya. "We can use it to coat our blades."
"A what?" Natalak replied.
"I can tell, this flask you have seems to be of great potency. Probably a fourth-class alchemist made this." Sei utters, intently scrutinising the item. "Why didn't you take it to an appraiser? I could be wrong… it might be a third or a second-class grade." Sei continues giving back the flask.
"I ah…" Natalak paused, pondering whether to twist a tongue of lies or tell an uncomfortable truth. "These had been in my bag for so long that I had almost forgotten them." Natalak lied; in truth, he had no little money to appraise the vial.
"I don't know if we can handle that druid, let alone at nighttime," Sei advises.
"What about fire?" Natalak said, fingers playing with the flask.
"Fire?" Sei raised his eyebrows, slightly shocked at Natalak's suggestions.
"Yeah, fire; do druids like nature and stuff. We could set certain parts of the forest on fire; would that draw that nature guy out from his hiding spots?" Natalak ask.
"We could, but we can't." Sheila divulges. "True, we could burn some parts of the forest, as a member of the adventurers' guild, we have rules and regulations to abide by. Moreover, we would be dealing with dryads and other spirits of these forests."
"Oh." Natalak nods, though his eyes would occasionally wander to the ground. "Arsonist… silly me, fuck me."
The group went silent, with baffled choices on everyone's mind. One, an outsider wishes to return the favour from a stick lodge on his shoulder. The other, possibly the group's leader, wants to complete the mission. The others crave a withdrawal, through and all; they are heading to the same place.
"Okay, let's stop giving ourselves more problems. I will send a message to the guild about what we are facing." Sheila spoke, fishing out a scroll.
Natalak looks at Sei, observing— he thought Sei would oppose, but he was wrong. He concluded that Sheila was the party leader all along.
Even without igniting fire, a minor infusion of her mana generates embers that burn the scroll, revealing what was hidden. The ashes neither fall nor drift away; instead, they turn white and then form into a small ball of light roughly the size of a golf ball. Her eyes close as if she is conveying her message to the glowing orb hanging in her palm.
"Go now," Sheila whispers, giving a gentle blow.
The orb accelerates once the mage has given air, and then comes a shocking situation. Ten meters from the air, the orb was shattered into fragments. The party couldn't believe their eyes, but to Natalak, he was more baffled than the others at what had happened.
"W-what's going on?" Natalak stammers, trying to grasp the dreadful expression on their face.
"We are in trouble…" Reith replied, his voice hinting at anxiousness.
"I-I don't understand?" Natalak's expression was stupefied, mouth open, waiting for a clearer explanation.
"We are trapped; a blockade was erected in this forest," Sheila answered. "Riya, how much is left of our teleportation scrolls?" She continues strolling towards Riya.
"We only got two left," Riya said, displaying the scrolls.
Grabbing one, Sheila gathers the party. Scrolls unrolled on the ground, like what Sheila did with the past scroll. Retreating—Natalak was in a bittersweet situation; he wanted to return a favour, but being alive was more important than petty revenge. The parchment was burned, and on the ground, a plate of golden light expands.
The light intensified—irritating to the sight —Natalak closed his eyes, anxious to experience what teleportation felt like. Sadly, the light diminished, and still they remained. He opens his eyes and sees the group's expression turn dreadful.
From their looks, he understood the situation they were in. Isolated from aid, the party now had few choices to make. Eliminate the druid stalker or find a civilisation on foot.
"If I'm not mistaken, druids have sigils placed on every corner preventing any magic or anomaly from escaping and entering." Sheila ponders, fingers placed on her lower face.
"Riya, is it possible for you to sense those sigils?" Sheila proposes.
"Let me try." Riya then placed her hand on the trees. "Gah, I still can't… what if we try moving to another area, if the sigil might be close, I might try to sense it."
Sheila nods, and before they could move to another place, the group prepared their weapons. The adrenaline and the anxiety of survival keep them awake. Natalak, offering his two flasks of wyvern's venom, the party then used it, coating their blades. It sizzles when the liquid is poured onto the steel, and, like a sponge, it soaks up all the venom.
"This is a potent one," Reith spoke.
"We should be careful not to let it scratch our skin," Riya warns, coating all of her arrows.
"I do have some flasks of oil that I bought," Natalak said, pulling out four bottles of oil.
Sheila looked and saw it was nothing of potential; it's nothing more than three coppers for a bottle. It is but a peasant and a commoner's light at night.
Once their arrangement is complete, the group huddles. Sheila, being the centre, used her staff to cast barriers against any projectile that might ambush them. A distance of three hundred meters, Riya then tries her ranger abilities, but she was too novice to figure out the sigil's location.
Three kilometres away from where they started, Riya managed to sense a small scent of the druid's magic. Excited and finally had the chance to escape the forest. Sheila prepares the teleportation scroll—hastily, as they go, their faces change.
"Oh, fuck!" Natalak mutters.
What Riya was detecting wasn't the runes; instead, they stumbled on the druid stalker staring at them. Now, a few meters apart, probably twenty meters, the adventurers realised the druid wasn't himself. For his eyes cried of dark mist, his face didn't resemble that of a mortal with a soul. Instead, Sheila could see that he was like a puppet, unable to talk, unable to mumble even a simple word or a sound of his tongue.
Weapons ready, magic prepared, the group's adrenaline burst when two giant wolves emerged. Standing over three meters tall, it had four gleaming gold eyes. Razor bones grew in front of their elbows. Their backs show spikes of bone, sharp and pointy to look at.
"Monsters from the Veil? Or a summoned from the spirit realm—"
Before Sheila could continue her thoughts, the two giant wolves dashed for a kill. The ground trembles from their weights, their jaws wide open for a bite— their voracious aura was enough to shatter Sheila's senses.
"Eat this, you shit!" Natalak shouts, throwing the bottles of oil, hitting the wolf's face. The flask shatters, coating its fur.
Natalak's strike allows one of the wolves to halt its track, paws rubbing the thick and oily residue—
"FIRE, LIGHT IT WITH FIRE!" Natalak shouts, pulling out the spear from his bag.
"Sheila!" Riya shouts, and quickly, the mage finally regains her senses.
"Got it!" Sheila nods.
"Reith and I will stall the other wolf," Sei exclaimed.
"Do a hit and run, the venom might give enough time to weaken the beast." Natalak advice
"Understood."
Nailing her staff on the ground, Sheila positions her hand like an archer steadying her bow. Drawing her hand, a fire sparks, and a portal-like opening unveils from the air. And as her hand pulls, a line of fire is drawn, an arrow made of fire is born.
"Apuy… I send thee forth." Sheila whispers.
No bows to be seen, not even a spectral one, and the moment she whispers the word, the flaming arrow rockets towards the wolf, hitting its head. Combined with the oil, the flaming arrow set the wolf's head ablaze, sending it into terror.
It's paws, clawing, howling and whimpering in anguish. It tried to extinguish the fire by scrubbing it in the dirt, only for Natalak to throw more oil on the beast, flaring the flames. Quickly, Natalak drives the spear into its throat, but he was struck by the wolf's paw, sending him ten meters. The impact was like being run by a motorcycle going at an average speed. His armour takes another battering, a leather tear, and an iron chip—but better than taking a deadly injury.
The spear still lodged in the beast's throat was broken. Natalak looks at the adventurers and sees they are slowly ending the other beast's life. Riya's arrow litters the wolf's body from every corner. The beast's saliva foams in green, yet it fights savagely, unwavering to the venom. The two fighters separated on both sides, flanking and drawing Riya's attention so she could deliver her arrows.
Using the last flask of oil, Natalak feeds the fire, praying it might slowly burn the wolf to death. It was brutal to see; it was not a fight, but rather it was more of a torture. It tried to claw the spear lodge out of its throat, but it was too deep for its paws to remove. Natalak wanted to end its suffering, but the wolf's actions were chaotic, thrashing its body and paws at every corner.
He set his gaze on the druid and saw that it was starting another spell, a summoning spell.
"I won't let you," Sheila said, casting her magic for a disruption of the druid's spell.
Clapping her palm, she tries to summon her own spell. Slowly separating her hand, a small fireball begins to grow. Fascinating as it may be, Sheila was trying her best to expand the ball of flames, pouring all her mana, and that single spell devoured her entire mana. Her vision blurred, and she felt as if she had no bones left. Eyes roll upwards, anymore of pouring her mana would drain her both mana and life.
"I can't…" Sheila mumbles, cancelling her spell, before collapsing on the ground.
Natalak, sensing an impending threat, quickly dives towards the druid. Seeing Natalak dashing, he tried to conjure an offensive druid magic. Unfortunately, the druid wasn't able to finish his spell, when Natalak's speed quickly gaps their distance. Bashing his shield at the man's face, Natalak saw that the druid was wounded, a deep cut was made at his abdomen and his arms. Sword is ready to saw his throat, but his senses tell him not to.
"Oh, damn it," Natalak mutters, punching the druid until he is left unconscious.
He looks back to check on the others— victory was at hand. The wolves were dead; one was burned to death, and the other was full of wounds, venomous. And like a fly to a dead carcass, the party gathers, staring at the druid.
"Do any of you have a rope?" Natalak said.
"I think I do have some improvised ones," Sheila responds.