[User: Manfred Belfast]
Manfred's footfalls crush fallen branches and dead leaves as he makes his way into the deep woods of Silverush Forest. The sun shone overhead just past its zenith marking it was past midday, the light created beautiful god rays as it broke past the thick canopy overhead of the deep woods.
This was a breeding ground for many wild monster species. Even without the dungeons that populated these woods years ago the monsters have still found a way to thrive and have kept their numbers high despite many Breakers delving into the woods in attempt to exterminate them fully.
At some point many people considered it a fools errand since the monsters kept popping up no matter how many [Expeditions] were sent out. The fortunate part of everything however, is that the monsters stuck around the deeper parts of the forest and their population sizes were kept from overpopulation due to the other monster species hunting on each other as food sources, eventually creating a new ecosystem once they settled in.
None of the outbroken monsters ever got close to Tithe except on rare occasions. It was a result that Manfred felt grateful for, he didn't know if he could face any loss of life if monsters had chosen to overrun the town after he had already failed to prevent the destruction of the dungeons.
That was why this gamble of his had to pay off, if there was a dungeon here then he could take the treasures it would provide and fence them to help improve the guild. Once the dungeon was big enough then he could reveal it to the public and drum up business again. If the Research Bureau or one of the other major guilds became interested in it then even better.
'I just have to find the damn thing first though.'
His search, however...proved fruitless so far.
'I've been out here for hours now, I swear this was the area where the geyser came from. Don't tell me I really am going senile at this point in my life.'
'Though I want to find the dungeon before it starts developing on its own, I can't make a profit off of it if I'm dead and being caught out here after sundown is a good way to get dead fast no matter how strong of a Breaker you are.'
Manfred's boots were caked with mud, his coat had small splatters of blood from the monsters he has already had to dispatch on his way over here. They would only get more ferocious the deeper he went, and once it gets darker their groups will become more numerous in size.
'I might have to make my way back to town and try again tomorrow.'
Though, he noticed something strange about his surroundings. There were no sounds other than the wind rustling through the leaves. No crickets, no birds, and no nests in this area. There were one of two reasons for this. That he was either close to a dungeon, or-
He heard the crunch of leaves somewhere to his left, he drew his sword in an instant and began making his way towards the sound. It had to have been the presence of a monster, and a strong one at that if there were no other signs of life in this part of the forest.
Taking up a fencer's stance, he walked as if he was on a tightrope as he glided his way towards the source of the sound with his sword extended out in front of him. He grabbed a stone that had been attached to his belt, via metal hook, and detached it with a pronounced clink.
He held the stone in his free hand above his shoulder, aiming towards the direction he was facing. Slight shivers made his way through his body, a sense of dread. It felt strange to him, unnatural. He couldn't pinpoint the reason why he was feeling it, so he figured it must have been the effect of one of the creature's skills.
'C'mon ya bugger! Come out and show yourself. There's no way you would hide this long if you knew you could defeat me.'
He was on this creature's territory, it had to be pissed by now, it must have been hoping its skill alone would be sufficient and cause him to run away. To his knowledge, few monsters behaved this way, it was either because they were weak, or cautious. He mentally crossed out the conclusion that it was weak since there was no way it would clear an entire are of the forest for itself if it was just attacked the mental alone, so there had to be more to it.
It was still continuing to hide. In Manfred's mind he assuming it was feeling cornered, so at any moment he expected it to jump out and attack, but what the creature did next though, surprised him.
A black blur went past him. causing him to stare dumbfounded as he turned his head and watched the beast stumbling as it broke into a run. It was a black wolf, fur as pitch as shadow. He hadn't seen a monster like this one before.
He thought if he was going to leave the forest. then he wasn't going to leave empty handed. He had to give a good excuse to the people who would inevitably ask what he was doing out in the woods for so long, so this could make for a good alibi.
'Alright ya bastard, I'll bite. Let's see if you can outrun a veteran scout.'
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[User: Unnamed Monster]
'Holy crap this guy was fast, he was actually keeping up with me on two legs. Weren't quadrupedal creatures supposed to be much faster in theory or was this the result of my halved stats?'
Despite that, I was still moving at a breakneck speed, trees and bushes passed by me in a blur as I kept my focus on what was in front of me.
(-5MP)
I quickly discovered that this would be a bad idea since I had to keep an eye on my pursuer as well, literally. I formed an eye on my back to keep track of the man's ranged attacks. He slashed waves of energy from his sword that sliced clean cuts through the leaves I ran past.
The bark on the trees I weaved behind exploded as his attacks left deep gashes in the wood. I had suddenly felt like I was in a dog show performing tricks for the audience. How humorous of me to think about while I was fighting for my life.
{Stats: [HP: 226/250][MP:57/75]}
It's a miracle I haven't been struck directly yet, but the debris from the exploding bark was actually dealing damage to me.
'My DEF stat is struggling against woodchips of all things, I know it's halved, but c'mon. Perhaps this is what you would call chip damage, heh.'
In the next moment I see the man vanish for a second and reappear on my left slightly ahead of where I am running. It was as if he had teleported in front of me, but the eye on the back of my head saw the truth. He didn't teleport-
'He speed up?'
I was forced to stop in my tracks to avoid his attack though he had expected this and had already begun to change his grip to follow me with his swing.
(-5MP)
I used a dark bullet to aim at his sword as it was about to come down upon my head. The two objects clashed with the same amount of force causing him to be knocked back. He slid across the dirt and leaves leaving a trail as he dug his boots into the ground.
From the man's point of view it must have seem like I blocked it, but I believe he figured it out as soon as I saw him smirk.
"Well, you're a tough pup aren't ya," he scoffed as he playfully inspected his sword for damage but, never once took his eyes away from my direction.
"Never seen one of your species before., I would remember eyes as freaky as yours. Alright, lets see what else you can do."
Sensing his attack, I tense up and prepare to dodge before I see him practically vanish once more and reappear in front of me. He swings upwards this time aiming for my neck where I couldn't see the path of his sword for a moment.
I had jumped backwards preemptively, a gamble which paid off since I was just out of reach of his strike before it took my head, but he wasn't about to let that momentum go to waste. He twisted his grip again this time going for a downward swing crossing diagonally from his right side to his left before lunging forward make a final horizontal slash, forcing me to duck since I couldn't create the momentum to dodge again.
It missed me by several hairs, and two ears.
(-5MP)
He recovered from his vulnerable position by in turn taking advantage of my own by attempting to stomp on my head. I formed another dark bullet during his flurry of attacks and had aimed it towards his gut. He had already noticed it of course so he pivoted to dodge it because if he blocked it now he would've lost his balanced for sure. and possibly be sent flying.
The projectile barely grazed by his coat, tearing it slightly. Yet, there was no blood and if there was any damage at all, it would've been in the single digits for sure.
{Stats: [HP: 191/250][MP:48/75]}
'This is going swell.'
One good hit from this guy could be a death sentence for me. I had find a way to escape entirely because trying to outrun him wasn't going to cut it. So plan B it is; hit and run tactics.
(-5MP)
(-5MP)
(-5MP)
I form multiple dark bullet projectiles behind me, the were floating in the air and revolving in a halo above me. The sight of it feigned the appearance that I was going to stick around and fight in a final stand.
The man's reaction was exactly what I was hoping for.
"Ah, finally going to scrap are ya? Lets go then," the man snorted before readying into a stance.
One that looked like he was expecting me to strike first.
'Well, too bad for him, because I wasn't going to fall for it.'
I ran.
"Oh, what! You cheeky bastard!"
I somehow managed to get another head start and am able to make good distance until he uses that crazy ability a couple more times to catch up. I could tell he was about to use it a third time, to get in front of me I assume.
I make sharp turn around a boulder and prepared to fire off one of my dark bullets as soon as he turned. Though the ambush attack wasn't going to be what put him down, I knew that. If his apparent age wasn't an indicator already, this man was a veteran, he knew what he was doing.
So it was safe to say he was already expecting the unexpected, or he really did just have supernatural reflexes, because he had barely been able to dodge the attack once more using his ability.
It was here I noticed something. He traveled in a straight line far up in the air to avoided my attack, his ability didn't make him invulnerable, he needed a straight line of sight and an end point. That was why he didn't just phase through my attack because it was as I guessed. It wasn't teleportation. It was a brief increase of uncanny speed.
Another tear was was made in the man's coat as it grazed past him. Looking down he clicked his tongue and glared daggers into me just before I ran off again.
"Alright doggie, this isn't funny anymore."
If I was going to catch him off guard again I had to do something different. I had two more shots left. Lets make them count.
The man seemed to be annoyed. He had returned to his slash attacks which I have now recognized as compressed wind being hurled at me like sawblades. I continued to use trees for cover, bobbing and weaving behind them as needed. My quick reactions were saving me because my speed certainly wasn't.
He didn't seem to be using that move that helped close the distance like before. Perhaps he was low on MP? Maybe it made him tired, or perhaps there was another restriction on his ability I was missing?
'Dammit, think!'
Another slash attack had almost hit me as it practically exploded the entire tree's trunk I hid behind. I had lost focus, I couldn't afford to think while I was dodging. The eye on the back of my head could barely keep track of the man as he used the large branches near the canopy to use for cover, jumping across them like an ape as he rained down his hurricane of wind slashes.
I nearly noticed too late that I was about to run off an edge further ahead. When I saw it I had to skid to a stop before bolting to my right.
I was out of the forest and past the tree line, to my left I glanced at the landscape. It gray, burnt and dilapidated. The dirt itself looked diseased since not a single blade of grass grew here, scorched black trees littered the landscape. The land looked like a scar on the lush forest landscape that surrounded the valley that had sunken below the usual elevation.
Though, I didn't get to sightsee for long since I had to keep paying attention to my pursuer. A mistake on my part because I had also realized that my dodging ability had been severely limited because I was now past the tree line and running along the edge of what was a near 90 degree drop nearly 15 meters down.
The man took advantage of this and dropped to the floor to begin running along side me.
He was cleverly using the trees to break line of sight before he vanished behind one and appeared in front of me once again, aiming his sword in front of him to let me impale myself.
I attempted to jump over him, but he managed to grab my leg in mid air and throw me off the ledge.
As I was falling, the man once again looked like he is preparing that damn move to finish me. I prepare another dark bullet, preemptively aiming it where I expected him to appear. In a matter of moments I tracked his eyes, his stance and made my best guess before letting it fly.
When he reappeared he was already winding up to make his attack when he came face to face with another bullet, he hadn't expected me to guess his trajectory and dodging in mid air was a lot more difficult then it seemed given how much he tried to readjust himself. Logically, all he could do was block.
He was sent flying back towards the cliff face while my fall was left undisturbed, only to have a dilapidated tree that was still standing break my fall midair. I got caught on some branches and started to fall with the tree as the force of my body had uprooted its body.
The tree crashed to the floor, I jumped off to avoid the debris as the tree splintered against the ground. The sound of it echoed through the barren patch of wasteland.
The man on the other hand hit his back square against jagged cliff face. He recovered just enough to prevent himself from falling in an uncontrollable tumble, instead sliding down fashionably.
If he was suffering from any fatigue or injuries, he definitely didn't show it.
Though there was one thing I knew for sure.
"Alright!, that's it. You're really pissin' me off mutt!"
'Yeah, figured.'
I glanced at my status.
{Stats: [HP: 88/250][MP:34/75]}
Then glanced at my surroundings.
The space was a barren bowl like arena that was vast and deep, which meant no more cover. The terrain was uneven, and the only escape I had would force me to use my [Distortion] ability at least twice in order to get out, due to its distance restriction.
That plan isn't even considering the angry man in front if me killing me before I could even get close to the walls once he understood what I would be attempting to do.
I had no other choice, I had to fight.
'One shot left, I better make it count.'
We were both a stone's toss away from each other as we shook off the damage from our falls. I waited for him to make the next move while I charged my last shot.
"You have a lot of energy beast, but you can't run far down here," the man says with a wry smile.
The man huffed before he prepared to charge at me, however; we both turned our heads to see a large tree trunk falling from the sky heading right for us.
We were forced to break our standoff as we both jumped out of the way to avoid getting crushed. The tree bounced a couple times behind us before splitting apart against another tree.
Before I knew it, a large tree with legs was running towards us with a club. It swung in a horizontal motion aiming to kill us both before we could gather our wits.
'Looks like we're getting third-wheeled.'