3-42 Perilious

“Anything?” Lyra asked, looking around her with an arrow nocked to her bow.

Erin shook her head. “Not yet,” she said, sharpening her gaze on the trees that surrounded them.

It had been ten minutes since Siv and Erin picked a dreadful response from their instincts but they had yet to discern their enemies’ identity and whereabouts. Erin used Life Sense but the only responses were the plants and bugs. Their feeling of trepidation only worsened as their wagon moved slowly on the uneven and coarse road deeper into their impending plight.

“A storm’s brewing,” Siv said. “The erratic winds are not doing us any favour.”

Erin looked up to the sky, where Olivia was surveying the area in her true form. “Seems like Olivia found nothing too.”

“How do you know?” Lyra asked with furrowed brows.

Erin stared at Lyra in disbelief. “We discuss this just this morning. Weren’t you listening?”

Lyra lowered her head. “I was hungry. I was just eating without… I didn’t think... and… the afterglow was still...” she tried to explain in a stutter.

Erin sighed. “Fine. Just listen closely now. If Olivia sees something, she will give a growl. If it’s confirmed an enemy, she will screech. If it’s a treacherous danger, she will shout.”

“Oh...” Lyra muttered. “I understand.” She nodded.

Just then, Olivia growled. Her voice resonated clearly across the sky and even shook the air mildly. Both Lyra and Erin immediately turned their gazes forward. Siv slowed the wagon down by pulling on the reins. In hindsight, everything looked normal but as Lyra squinted her eyes, she recognized an anomaly with her Eagle Eye.

“There,” she pointed. “That patch of soil in front of us. It’s a trap.”

“What kind?” Erin asked.

“I don’t know. It’s just that the soil looks different in that patch.”

“And it’s in our path. Siv, can we go around it?”

“Our wagon is too big for that,” Siv said. “However, this sort of trap has a delay in their trigger. There will be at least a second before it springs. If the wagon has enough speed, we will be able to outrun the trap before it springs.”

“In that case, fly.”

Siv nodded and whipped the horses into sprinting. They took off rushing at once and it was the fastest the wagon had been. Erin and Lyra braced themselves on the railings at the back. Siv held the reins tighter than ever as the wagon moved at an unprecedented speed. The wagon trembled fiercely due to the trap being triggered. Wooden Spikes erupted from the ground but the wagon safely made it through without being severely damaged. Erin quickly used a rope from the pile of gifts they received from the Valenolk townfolks and fastened the items in place, as much as she could but a few inevitably fell off the wagon. At that moment, Erin heard an array of noises and sounds coming from the trees.

“They’re moving!” Erin apprised. “There’s a lot of them.”

“Who are they!?” Lyra asked.

“They ain’t humans, that I know.”

As Lyra glanced around cursory, her eyes widened. “Duck!” she shouted.

The three lowered their bodies and a huge log flew over them like a javelin.

“There!” Lyra pointed to where the log was thrown from. “It’s an Iron Ape!”

“An Iron Ape?” Siv mused out loud. “We’re not in the south, Lyra. Are you sure about that?”

“Absolutely, damn it!” Lyra yelled back. “What other ape-like monsters have a silvery sheen to their hide?”

“What’s an Iron Ape?” Erin asked.

“They’re just like Rock Apes. Their skin is less tough than a Rock Ape but they are more agile and their lustrous grey skin gives them the name, Iron Ape. However, they’re larger than I expected.”

“Are they...” Erin mused in wonder. “Lyra, do you still have eyes on the Iron Ape?”

Lyra looked around but she shook her head. “It disappeared.”

“It’s toying with us.”

Lyra paled as she looked over Erin’s shoulder. “Erin… behind us.”

Erin turned around and saw Dire Wolves had emerged from the trees and were now chasing them down. The Dire Wolve’s levels were around the average of twenty. While they wouldn’t normally pose a problem but it couldn’t be said if they were the only threat present.

“Bollocks...” Erin cursed.

“Mistress, in front of us!”

Siv’s words turned Lyra and Erin’s gaze to the front, where a gigantic lion with flaming manes stood in their way. It was twice the size of the wagon. Smoke and embers were coming out from its gaping jaws. The lion was lowering its stance, readying itself to pounce.

“Level forty-two...” Erin gasped. “Infernal Lion?”

“Siv, we need to stop!” Lyra yelled. “Didn’t you hear what Erin said? It’s level forty-two! We won’t even make it budged even if we rammed into it!”

“Impossible, you nitwit! We’re going too fast to stop in time,” Siv retorted. “And if we stop now, we will be dead!”

“We don’t need to stop,” Erin said, calmly. “Just keep the horses running.”

“Mistress, are you sure?” Siv asked.

Before Erin could answer, Olivia came swooping down without a sound but the air she displaced was enough to reveal herself. Although, it was still far too late for the Infernal Lion. It tried to dodge Olivia’s grasp but it was too slow. Olivia caught the Infernal Lion with the claws of her hind limbs like an eagle catching prey, and tossed the Infernal Lion far away into the forest.

“The Dire Wolves are Familiars,” Erin said.

“Obviously!” Lyra responded in a shout as the Wagon went over a hump in the road. “If they aren’t, how would they even have the galls to approach you?”

“Maybe they were just extremely hungry?”

“Ah… Interesting point...”

Olivia swung around in the air and launched blades of wind at the Dire Wolves behind the wagon. The Dire Wolves were much too slow in levels to dodge attacks from a level fifty-two True Dragon. The blades slashed through almost every single one of the Dire Wolves. The ones that were left, Lyra shot them down in quick turns. The Dire Wolves were too fast for the arrows but imbued with Seeker, the arrows found their mark eventually no matter how many times and how fast the Dire Wolves dodged.

“More in front!” Siv shouted.

“What the...” Erin muttered as she looked to the front. A wave of near-humanoid monsters was charging at them. “Are those Pale Stalkers? ...No, Blood Stalkers.”

“You know of them?” Siv asked.

“I have encountered a lot of them in The Singularity but they were called Pale Stalkers. Their skins were chalks instead of reddish-black like these ones.”

“What levels are they?” Lyra asked, nocking her arrows and catching her breaths to still her nerves.

“The Pale Stalkers?”

“No! These ones!”

“Ah, they’re around twenty to thirty...”

Twenty to thirty… and there’s at least a dozen of them...”

“Fear not,” Olivia’s voice rang clear and true in their ears as she glided down and swooped in with her jaws widened. Blue glitters began gathering in her open mouth but before she could fire the bided energy, the ground below her exploded. A colossal snake-like monster erupted from the hole, lunging at Olivia with its mouth opened wide.

“By the Spirits!” Erin gasped at the size of the monster. It was as large as Olivia. “A level fifty Storm Mamba?” she blurted out.

Olivia twisted her body out of the way and the Storm Mamba missed its lunge as its mouth slammed shut. Olivia’s urgent manoeuvre resulted in her inability to fire the magic in her mouth. She took off into the sky to avoid the Storm Mamba’s vicious thundering fangs. The Storm Mamba’s whole body glowed blue and lightning crackled across its length. It shot to the sky like a spring chasing after Olivia.

“Mistress, the Blood Stalkers!”

Siv’s voice reeled Erin’s attention back to the imminent threat in front of them. Erin clicked her tongue and summoned lightning into her hands. She then unleashed the lightning in a barrage unto the Blood Stalkers running madly towards them.

[Experience gained +40% - Level Progression: 53%]

Her attack spell struck down four of them but the rest swiftly dodged the barrages of lightning bolts though they received some graze wounds due to their imperfect dodges.

Lyra fired her arrows and all of them hit their marks but it wasn’t enough to bring the Blood Stalkers down. Lyra cursed herself and quickly nocked another round of arrows. She released the string and the arrows flew towards their mark. The Blood Stalkers bent their bodies nimbly and the arrows streaked past them but the arrows turned overhead and flew back to the Blood Stalkers, striking them in their hearts from their backs.

[Experience gained +9% - Level Progression: 62%]

Erin raised an eyebrow at the partial experience she received. She didn’t think it would be counted considering she had only grazed them but the System seemed to deem her minor contribution valid.

Four Blood Stalkers were still charging towards them with crazed expressions. Erin picked up an iron sword from the pile of gifts and charged it with Mana. As one of the Blood Stalkers leapt at them, Lyra sent it back to the ground by shooting an arrow into its chest and Erin tossed the Mana-charge iron sword into its head. The Blood Stalker fell to the ground dead and tumbled into the other Blood Stalkers’ path, tripping all the three over.

[Experience gained +7% - Level Progression: 69%]

The Mana-charged iron sword exploded, then. The Blood Stalkers screeched in agony due to the small fragments pierced into their bodies. As the wagon was rushing past the wailing Blood Stalkers on the ground, Erin drew her sword sliced off their heads in a swift manner.

[Experience gained +30% - Level Progression: 99%]

“There’s that,” Erin sighed in relief. “What else?”

“That,” Siv said and pointed.

“Oh...” Erin muttered. There was a gentle slope in front of them but at their speed, it would not bode well for the wagon. But they couldn’t slow down. Dire Wolves had reappeared behind them. If they slowed down, their horses and wagon would be attacked.

“I’m having a terrible recollection,” Lyra said, staring at the amassing Dire Wolves that seemed to be pouring out of the forest. “How are there so many of them?!”

Erin reappraised the Dire Wolves again. Since the wagon was now travelling a smoother road, she could get a better read of the Appraisal’s results. “They are summoned-Familiars. The summoner must be close— wait.” She narrowed her gaze at one of the Dire Wolves which appeared to be one size bigger than the rest. “Fucking hell… I should have known.”

“You found something?” Lyra asked.

“The big one in the middle of the pack. That’s a Skinwalker, an Apostle of Mordius.”

“Them again? What’s their problem with you?”

“Probably because of the Ancient Guardians’ urging.”

“Hold on tight!” Siv shouted as they approached the gentle slope. They all braced for the inevitable but before their wagon reached the slope, the ground shook and another Mamba burst out from the soil with its mouth spanned to its widest. The horses at the front became its meal as the Mamba shut its jaws. The Mamba burrowed back into the ground, bringing along the horses with the wagon still attached. As a result, the wagon flipped. Erin, Lyra, and Siv were thrown into the air as the wagon was dragged underground along with the horses. Using her tails, Erin pulled Lyra into her arms and leapt at Siv using the flying debris. With the two in her arms, Erin flipped to gather bearings and landed gracefully on both of her feet on the foot of the slope.

“Wow...” Lyra gasped in awe. “That was… exhilarating.”

“Are you two hurt?” Erin asked.

Lyra shook her head, still in a mild daze over what just transpired.

“I’m fine, mistress,” Siv said.

Hearing their answers, Erin gently let them off her arms.

“There goes all the gifts...” Erin mulled.

“We’re alive and unhurt, that’s all that matters, mistress.”

“We lost our food and water too.”

“Just like last time, mistress.”

Erin recalled back the time she and Siv separated from the merchant caravans after being thrown off the cliff. On the same night, she had the honour of taking Siv’s virtue. Remembering that, Erin felt awkward but she put it off with a cough.

“Anyways… we can’t go anywhere right now,” Erin said.

“Why?” Lyra asked.

“That Mamba,” Siv answered.

“Aren’t we sitting ducks if we don’t move?”

“It appears it had us surrounded but it’s not approaching us,” Erin observed with her ears. “Maybe because the soil here is tough and full of rocks. It can’t burrow into the ground here. We’re safe here but… we can’t stay here forever.”

“That’s unfortunate...” Lyra muttered. “What do we do?”

“We wait,” Erin said. “They hunted us with such ferocity. It’s only a matter of time before the Mamba loses its patience and emerged from the ground.”

“Did you see its level?”

Erin shook her head. “I was focused on making sure none of us gets hurt. I didn’t get a good look at it.”

“What about Olivia?”

“Let’s hope she’s as good as she made her ancestors out to be.” Erin stretched her neck and arms. “For now, we’re on our own.”