Lore/Story For The Wynn (16)

Spoiler: Fateful Fight

‘You promise?’ Her softened voice almost felt like begging. Her eyes widened as much as they could, despite the dark circles under the eyes.


The ninja felt a jolt. Not because of the rocks that threaten to break one of the wooden wheels, nor was it because they flattened one of the many spiders on the long bridge that connects Nivla Woods and Detlas Far Suburbs. It was due to the warrior having requested something that he felt… even the word ‘impossible’ seemed like an understatement. She was grumpy throughout the whole ride prior, and this sudden contrast in tone didn't make him feel any better.


‘But… umm…’ The ninja mentally debated whether it was a good idea to accept her request or not. ‘If I don’t, Krisstal will never talk to me again. If I do, I’ll probably fail to keep it unscathed for less than a day, and then she will also not talk to me ever again.’


‘How about I treat you to dinner?’ He suggested, attempting to reject the idea without saying it directly. A black creature caught his glance, it was another terrifying Forest Spider. No matter how many times he had seen them, he hated to be near them. ‘Why spiders of all things...’


‘Yes!’ She replied. The ninja gazed at her with a toothy grin and felt something coiled around his wrist. He looked down to see Krisstal securing her lucky charm around his left wrist. ‘There, now you can treat me for a meal!’


‘Darn it… Shouldn’t have looked at her.’ Skywalker mentally kicked himself.


‘Nice leash.’ The archer tittered; the wind blew his ink blue hair with green ends lightly. ‘Maybe now you won’t be running off on your own.’ The ninja sent a punch at the persecutor, but the archer caught it with ease. He had his other hand pinched one of the feathers on the charm. ‘I pull one of these feathers out and you know what that means.’


‘But… Krisstal!’ The black-haired boy looked at the girl sitting opposite to him with a frown on his face. ‘He’s threatening me!’


‘You promised to not allow even a single scratch on that lucky charm,’ Krisstal smiled at him. ‘So if anything happens to it, you suffer the consequences.’ She gave the archer a thumbs up, and he winked back at her in response.


‘Reygina...’ The ninja frowned, his hand still within the Hearolie’s grasp. ‘They’re bullying me!’


‘Umm…’ Reygina took a look outside. ‘Oh look, we arrived at the edge!’ She raised her voice so that the caravan driver could hear her. ‘Sorry, we wish to get off here!’


The driver raised his hand to signal the mage he heard her loud and clear, despite the spiders’ constant screeching and hissing. Reygina swore there weren’t that many when she, Skywalker and Hearolie walked the same path last time. ‘Then again… The caravan is quite an obvious target...’ She said it out loud unknowingly, which startled the arachnophobia shaman next to her. He let out a squeal that almost sounded like a pig.


The caravan slowly came to a stop and some of the passengers took out their weapons and defended the cart from the attackers. Different colours of light and particles surround the cart, as the passengers fired off any range spells, they could perform to beat away the spiders and zombies. It reminded Skywalker and Krisstal of the siege of Detlas they had participated in. ‘We got off! Thanks mister.’ Reygina raised her voice and waved at them. The drivers raised their hands again and the caravan raced across the road, kicking up dirt and dust.


‘So… where do we go from here?’ Krisstal asked. The sun was starting to rise over the horizon, the starry night began to disappear as the sun returned to take its place in the sky. She didn’t sleep as much as she wanted to in the caravan, and that made her grumpy. She only felt a bit better when she teased the ninja with her lucky charm. She wasn’t very serious about the ‘not talking to him again if charm gets a scratch’ part, although the ninja thought she meant every word, knowing how upset and angry he had made her.


‘I’d say we go...’ Skywalker looked around and pointed to the path the caravan had taken. ‘Here, my instincts say so.’


‘No, we aren’t. Last time I listened to your instincts, you got hurt.’ Hearolie interrupted him. ‘I’m not carrying you for hours again.’


‘You never trust or listen to me.’ The ninja rolled his eyes.


‘I did, and you fell off a tower.’ The archer reminded him.


‘That was an accident, I didn’t know the wood was that weak.’ Skywalker argued back.


‘Well don’t worry.’ Hearolie mocked and pointed at the ninja’s wrist. ‘With that lucky charm, you won’t be any trouble to yourself or us anymore.’


The two boys argued back to back, whereas Krisstal began to doze off. She sat on a fallen tree trunk after being sure no spiders were around and sat down to rest. ‘I just need to rest my eyes...’ Unbeknownst to her, a new kind of spider was on the very same tree as hers. Its red eyes rotated and focused on its prey; its large poisonous fangs clicked. It remained invisible under its own sheet of web as it slowly descended on its prey.


‘Stop!’ Reygina screamed. When she saw everyone’s eyes on her, she covered her mouth and blushed. ‘I see some smoke on the horizon, which means people.’


‘Or maybe Ragon himself.’ Hearolie added.


‘Yeah, that’s… crap!’ Skywalker yelled as he saw a spider about to sink its fang into the snoring warrior’s skin. In an instant, he threw his new Shadow Blade at the spider, the blade sliced off its fangs as the sword's guard knocked the eight-legged freak off of her. Despite the ninja’s efforts, the spider managed to inject some poison into her. The strange spider wasn’t done however, it let out a shrill noise to signal more Forest Spiders to appear. The warrior was quickly surrounded, as she swatted them with her new pike as best as she could. She noticed her energy drained far too quickly as the poison spread throughout her system. She tried to get up from where she was, using her new pike as support: The Skin Tearer.


‘No way were there this many spiders the last time we three were here.’ Reygina cried. ‘It’s like their population went out of control and increased tenfold.’ They surround their injured friend, forming a barrier between her and the monsters.


Krisstal covered where the spider bit her, searing pain shot through her. She tried to stand up but fell. She could feel her limbs getting limp as strength slowly began to leave her body, unsure if it was her own fatigue or the poison.


‘Hearolie! Nesting spiders with me. Reygina, check on her.’ Hearolie didn’t argue back this time and fired multiple Arrow Storms to clear the surrounding area. The ninja leapt across the clear patches, slicing and slashing the spiders as he moved. A Whirlwind here, a Shadow Clone there. He was surprised at how coordinated his movements were, one step smoothly flowed into the next. He sensed a spider dropping down from above, and with a quick twist of the blade, he sliced the enemy in half, all while still hopping around. He could sense more spiders falling from above and instinctively moved out of the way without processing. ‘For once, I’m thanking Herobrine.’


Reygina used all of her energy to heal the poisoned comrade through the use of the healing spell, her staff connected with Krisstal through a green line made of light. The warrior did regain some energy, but only enough for her to speak meekly.


‘I’m sorry, I got careless… I’m sorry I was a...’ She said as a tear fell down her face.


‘No, no...’ The mage said softly as if talking to a baby. ‘We all make mistakes, and friends will help each other to get back up. Save your strength.’ The mage cut her off and moved her paralysed body, allowing her to rest on her thighs. She took out some healing potions. ‘I always carried some around, just in case. Drink all of them.’


‘Y-You’re always thinking ahead…’ The warrior smiled weakly. She drank one of the potions with Reygina’s help.


Hearolie was glad he trained hard at the Detlas Barracks, he was quite pleased with his aim and precision despite moving around so much. He launched himself off the ground with Escape and jumped among the tree branches, firing arrows at the targets from above. Despite jumping around, he still managed to land every single shot. ‘I am the best.’ He smirked as he landed on the ground, having to kill off all the Nesting Spiders. Without the Nesting Spiders calling for help, the Forest Spiders stopped coming to help them. The rest began to retreat back into the trees, hissing in anger and disgust of the humans’ victory.


‘How many spiders are there actually...’ Skywalker killed off some of the spiders near them. ‘They’ll be back though.’


‘Maybe we were near a nest?’ Hearolie suggested as he sat on the ground to catch his breath. He was about to ask Skywalker how he wasn’t breaking a sweat but decided against it. It wasn’t something crucial compared to the poisoned Krisstal anyways. He kneeled next to the girls to see what he could do to help.


‘Could they move in so quickly though?’ Skywalker asked no one in particular. The spiders scurried away; their black bodies merged with the shadows of the trees. He could see a few Resurrected Ragni Soldiers and Dead Lumberjacks in the distance and focused on them, ready to strike if they came any closer.


‘I’ve done all I could… We need to get help fast though.’ Reygina wiped the sweat off her forehead. ‘We don’t know how much poison is circulating in her body, or how long can the potions slow down the poisoning.’


‘Krisstal…’ Skywalker looked at the flushed warrior. She was sweating heavily and having difficulty breathing.


‘My h-head hurts…’ She mumbled, she felt like ripping out all of her honey blonde hair. The sunlight was unusually harsh for her eyes, she tried to move her hands to cover her eyes but lacked any strength to do so.


Hearolie and Reygina helped her up as she patted her head, it was hot to the touch. 'Everything's going to be okay.'


‘I’ll carry her,’ the archer took the bow from his back, ‘Reygina, how long do you think we will need to get to that smoke signal you saw?’


‘About an hour hopefully.’ She cast a glance and Krisstal, who was hanging onto hers and Hearolie’s shoulders. She looked pale and about to faint at any moment.


‘Hold on…’ Skywalker stopped the archer. ‘I’ll carry her.’


‘You?’ The archer acted shocked. ‘Can you do it?’


‘I can,’ Skywalker replied seriously. ‘Plus, your Escape spell can help us get help quicker, you can go ahead of us, find someone, and come back to us with first aid. We’ll be following this path anyways, so you’ll definitely be able to see us.’


‘Alright, don’t drop her.’ Hearolie warned. ‘And use your head, don’t do anything stupid.’

He turned to Reygina next. ‘Guess you’re on guard duty. Skywalker and Krisstal.’


‘Take care and be careful!’ Reygina patted his back. Hearolie helped Skywalker as the warrior got a piggyback ride from the ninja. Once everything was settled, he used his spell to launch himself high into the air, covering meters within a second as his figure was slowly hidden by the trees.


‘Reygina,’ said Skywalker. ‘I know you aren’t much of a fighter, but I can’t exactly protect both of us like this. All of our lives depend on you.’


‘I’ll try, but... all by myself?’ Reygina felt a sudden rush of nervousness all over her, from the top of her head to the ends of her toes. ‘But my first spell can only heal people, and my second one is just teleporting around.’


‘It’s true for the first spell, we can’t do much about it. But the second one…’ She saw a cunning smile from the ninja, that could only mean he’s up to something. ‘Let’s try something out. I would like to test a few things...’

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‘Nice work everyone, we got it.’ An elderly villager clapped as they secured the monster they had recently captured in a cage. They threw a rope over the branch and hoisted the cage up, the creature battered against the steel bars.



‘Nothing like a good meal after hard work, eh? Suri? Stiba?’ Professor Ragon looked at his two colleagues, slurping some stew in his wooden bowl.


‘Indeed!’ said a villager, who was writing some notes regarding their latest research and findings. ‘It has been a while since we were out on the field researching.’


A second villager named Stiba finished securing the ropes to the tree. ‘The three of us around a campfire. How long has it been?’


‘I think it has been a few months, hasn’t it?’ Suri double checked his notes to ensure he didn’t make any mistakes. The campfire flickered and cackled, cooking the pots of food and water.


‘It has.’ Ragon chuckled while cleaning the bits of food left on his grey goatee. ‘Oh, the good old days.’


‘It wasn't that long ago, Ragon.’ Stabi laughed. His expression changed when the nearby trees began to rustle. ‘Something’s coming.’


Suri got off the log he’s sitting on and held his relick: Lower. All three professors took out their weapons. They quickly cast each other a glance and nodded, mentally communicating their battle plan through eyesight alone. Stiba held his bow Misconduct tightly whereas Ragon held his spear Ignition, ready to slash at whatever was coming at them, ‘it’s here!’


‘Finally!’ A voice called out from above the trees. Hearolie landed with a thud and was greeted by three villagers, all with weapons pointed at him. ‘No time to waste! My friend got bitten by a spider and is badly poisoned. Can you help us? My friends are carrying her here as we speak.’


‘Poisoned?’ Ragon asked. ‘That’s bad news for your friend. The poison usually kills within a few days. Not the best way to die, most just resorted to killing themselves rather than the slow and painful route.’


‘How do we know you aren’t just trying to steal our supplies.’ The hunter class villager was ready to pounce at the archer if the opportunity arises.


‘You have my word.’ Hearolie dropped his bow to the ground and raised his arms up in the air. ‘I mean you no harm.’ He told them about the unique spider that could turn itself invisible, hoping the information would be enough to make the right antivenom.


Ragon thought for a moment and scanned through the newcomer. ‘Get the medical kit.’


‘But,’ Stiba protested, his sight not leaving the newcomer. ‘What if he’s from one of those guilds?’


‘It’s fine, Stiba.’ Suri replied as he got some potions and a medical kit out from their tent. ‘By the looks of his gear and weapon, they’ll be dead before they even know what happened if they try something.’


‘Stiba, you mind if you guard our stuff while we’re gone?’ Ragon asked his companion nicely.


‘Fine!’ Stiba replied. ‘You better get back here...’


‘We will get back here, safely.’ Ragon said with much more force this time. ‘Take these health potions and give them to your friend first. We’ll be right behind you after we mixed the correct combination and dosage of antivenom.’ Hearolie nodded and began running down the road.

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‘You ready?’ Skywalker looked at the mage.


‘Maybe?’ The mage looked nervously at the pair of zombies in front of them.


‘More confidence!’ Skywalker nudged her. ‘You performed admirably with the trees. This is no different.’


‘Yes!’ Reygina tried to look as fiercely as she could.


‘Go!’ The ninja shouted, as he ran ahead with the warrior on his back. The two zombies noticed their presence and charged at the ninja, who didn’t even take out his Shadow Blade to defend himself. The zombies roared and stormed ahead; they were about to grab the ninja when a kick suddenly knocked both of them to the ground. By the time they got up, the ninja was far ahead of them, with a mage following behind them.


‘Wow, zombies do have blind spots…’ Reygina thought to herself. ‘If humans have them, I suppose zombies do as well.’


‘That was awesome, Reygina.’ The mage blushed at the compliment and was glad both were fine. She healed all of them for good measure and stopped to catch her breath.


‘How did you know that would work?’ Reygina asked, impressed with what he had taught her.


‘Well, I have fought a lot more zombies and other creatures than you, it’s just something I noticed and picked up as time passes.’ said Skywalker. ‘Of course, this only works for a small group of zombies. It’s suicide if you do that to a whole horde.’


‘Yeah.’ Reygina looked around to see they had reached a clearing along the path. ‘I’m worried though about Hearolie and...’


‘Krisstal?’ The ninja asked as he carefully laid the warrior on a collapsed tree trunk. Could she be getting better? Maybe worse? Is she stable? As funny as it is, he wasn’t used to her being so vulnerable and quiet. She was always the headstrong one, especially if she puts her mind to something. He once again gazed into the lucky charm she gave him. He wondered maybe, just maybe, if he put his thoughts into the charm, it might work as its name implies and she might open her eyes now.


‘Ok…’ Skywalker took off the charm and clasped tightly between his hands. ‘Krisstal! You’re going to open your eyes! You’re going to open your eyes! You’re going to open your eyes!’ He raised his arms as if a miracle is about to happen.


‘Skywalker… You’re crazy.’ Reygina giggled, watching the whole scene from behind. He was like a little kid excited over a craftmas present. ‘It’s not going to work like that.’


‘Well… It’s not like we have anything else better to do.’ Skywalker looked around the new part of the forest they never went before. ‘Except Hearolie. Hopefully, he’s coming back by now.’


‘Thought you don’t like that.’ Reygina noticed Skywalker instinctively put the charm back on his hand.


‘What?’


‘You put it back on as if it were yours. I mean it is yours, but you know.’


‘... Safekeeping!’ Skywalker almost shouted. Fact is, he didn’t even realise he had put it on his wrist. ‘Plus, she would kill me if I even let a scratch onto it. Hearolie will never let me hear the end of it, and make fun of me forever.’


‘Has he been doing that for a long time?’ Reygina asked. It was something she couldn't remember no matter how hard she tried to think about it. ‘Such an odd sensation...’


‘I think so, at least even if he doesn't back then,’ Skywalker answered. ‘He’s certainly teasing me constantly now.’ This exchange was somewhat subtle yet frightening at the same time for both of them. They’re friends, but how or why? That part is unclear and foggy, but yet at the same time, their friendship didn’t feel out of place.


Their thoughts were distracted by the rustling of leaves far above them, the branches vibrate and snap. Skywalker lifted and hid the unconscious warrior inside a tree with a hollow opening inside it. He promptly double checked to see if there would be any potential danger for her, but luckily it was relatively safe. He was confident that even the spiders will have a hard time finding her, as long as they handle this threat as quickly as possible. He joined Reygina and both held their weapons out intensely.


Reygina could feel her heart hammering against her ribcage, as if ready to explode. ‘What now?’


‘Zombies? Spiders?’ Skywalker asked without breaking his line of sight on the trees.


‘Not noisy enough…’ The mage scrutinized the area, struggling to find anything that might give them a clue on what to expect.


Suddenly a few hooded people dropped down from the trees, they surrounded the two recruits and blocked the road.


Skywalker lowered his voice as much as possible. ‘Any idea who they are?’


‘No.’ Reygina whispered, her eyes not leaving the intruders.


‘Give us your valuables or suffer his wrath!’ One of them said while pointing a unique red sword at them, all the while having a bow strapped to his back.



When Skywalker had a good look at their faces underneath the robes, he saw they were all wearing masks. He felt a chill run down his spine when he saw how the masks were designed. White circles around the eyes, the unmistakable skin tone… ‘Are they followers of Herobrine?’ He couldn’t help but wonder what their connection to him was. He tensed up when he saw one of them dashed ahead, instinctively grabbing his sword and swung it forward. The ninja’s sword strained against the attacker’s staffs, who wielded a plain mage staff that he sees on the streets and the other that has a small flame in the middle of a circular head. The entire staff was brick red in colour, quite similar to the red and dark colours of netherrack from Bob’s deceased mother’s grave.



The archer had set his eyes on Reygina and suddenly moved faster than an instant after taking one step forward. He kicked her in the stomach before trying to slash her with the broadsword. The sudden speed shocked both Reygina and Skywalker, to which both couldn’t react properly. Skywalker almost lost his grip on his sword and barely deflected an incoming attack in the nick of time, saving his cheek from being shot as the mage swung his wand at him. Reygina had teleported on top of the tree branches so that the archer would have a harder time hitting her, to which he promptly responded by chanting the spell Spider Jump and leapt onto the branches as well, giving both Skywalker and Reygina confirmation he’s a hunter instead of an archer.


‘Why are you doing this for Herobrine? He’s not exactly the best role model.’ Skywalker asked the remaining two adversaries while trying to calm himself down. ‘Panicking won’t work now, control your breathing and think.’


‘Join us and you’ll know.’ The hooded figure was surprisingly genuine about the offer. The mage broke off and sent a kick at the ninja’s side before he could comprehend what had happened. Skywalker groaned as he brushed the dirt off his face.


‘Spirit Summon!’ The final figure cried out while raising her relik to the air. The relik glowed with a blinding silvery light, and a summoning circle of the same colour appeared, slowly forming from her feet and spreading outwards.


‘She’s a shaman but has a shoto sword on her other hand... What is with them?’ He cast a quick glance at the mage while preparing for the shaman’s attack. ‘This is troubling. That hunter somehow sped up all of a sudden, could it be due to that red sword? Are they one of those peculiar weapons I kept finding?’



Once he got some distance between them, he made a mad dash towards the seemingly vulnerable shaman, he knew what that spell is capable of from seeing the shaman and skyseers in the Detlas siege. He was about to swing his sword at the shaman when a few spirits appeared from the ground where the summoning circle appeared, he was too slow, too late. They took the attack for their summoner, blocking his Shadow Blade from the deadly swing with their small iron swords. The shaman swiftly used the opportunity to escape and got far enough to use the spell again.


‘This is really going to be annoying…’ Skywalker growled, swinging his sword again but was deflected by the combined strength of the spirits. In the meantime, he was also trying to dodge the attacks from the mage, who was blasting him from his blind spots. Skywalker couldn’t believe he was even thinking it, but he was actually glad the heightened reflexes and spatial awareness from Herobrine. They saved him from what would be fatal blows, sometimes even helped him to deflect a few of the mage’s basic attacks back at the spirits. The spirits aren’t hard to kill, it only took a few hits to make one disappear; or when enough time passed. It’s rather due to their small sizes and capable of flight that makes them so hard to hit. He ran towards the nearby trees for cover, hearing Reygina’s and the hunter’s spells flashing and cried out above him. He managed to catch his breath when he saw the spirits’ ghostly, grey-fleshed bodies phasing through the trees as if they weren’t there.


‘Salted.’ He cursed under his breath. There are now triple the number of spirits than what it had been originally, meaning the shaman had used the spell more than a few times. ‘She’s got to be drained after casting so many spells now. Now’s my chance.’


Summoning a clone to distract the spirits, he used this opportunity to sneak past the spirits and appeared behind the shaman as the invisibility wore off. The male mage caught sight of him and rushed ahead, he knew he wouldn’t make it in time; despite this, he wasn’t the least worried. Just as the shaman’s head was about to be lop off from her neck, she cast a spell that completely made Skywalker regret his decision to rush in like that. From her shoto sword, a fireball formed in front of it and fired at the ninja. With reflexes he never thought he could conjure; he used the blade to deflect the fireball. Nonetheless, the explosion knocked him back and sent him flying, he summoned a clone behind him and used it as a platform, jumping out of the mage’s attacks.


The shaman then cast another spell with the same fire element with her unique orange core sword. From her shoto sword, two streaks of flames materialised that were aimed deadly at Skywalker, spiralling against each other. Being in mid-air, Skywalker couldn’t dodge the attack, so he did the only thing he could think of at that moment as he hoped for the best.

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‘What are you?’ Reygina asked frightfully, dodging another barrage of arrows by teleporting out of harm’s way. She had never seen anything like this before, being stalled endlessly. Her only attack did absolutely nothing, and every time she tried to head back down to aid her ally, he would appear right before her at sudden burst of speeds using a spell; at least she think it is, she didn’t hear any incantation or see him performing any hand signs like when he used the hunter spells.


As if he read her mind, he performed another hunter spell with his bow. ‘Creeper Dart.’ She felt a sense of dread looming upon her. She couldn’t keep dodging forever, yet he easily blocked her advances with these sudden bursts of speed; on top of that, none of her attacks did anything. He would just take them head on and heal himself with some other non-vocal spell. She just couldn’t think of anything to get away, let alone defeat this adversary. Feeling desperate, she hit him with her staff directly, only for him to catch it effortlessly.


‘The power gap was just too much…’ She fell to her knees and contemplated on giving up, too drained to fight on. The hunter simply stood there motionless like a brick wall but never looked elsewhere but her. Even with his mask hiding his facial expression, she was intimated and frustrated to no end. Her mind is blank, she had come up with everything she could think of, but nothing was an option.


A spiral of flames suddenly erupted from beneath the trees, leaving a burnt hole near them that allowed Reygina just enough space to see what happened below. Skywalker managed to use his sword to deflect another spell she hadn’t known before. The heat from the flames were intense, and she could see his Shadow Blade being heated up, the metal blade will soon reach its melting point. Skywalker’s natural ability for quick thinking really saved his skin, or perhaps luck was always on his side, although she wasn’t so sure this time. There aren’t any teleportation scrolls for them to use to reach a city, and even if they can, they can’t just leave Krisstal behind.


She mentally slapped herself for being so stupid and inadaptable to the situation, she could use that hole and teleport away from the hunter, now that she has a clear view of the path below. The hunter caught on though and altered her wand’s direction just as she disappeared. Instead of a straight path down through the hole, she rolled across the treetops as she reappeared, coughing hard from the rough landing. Reygina could feel her life flashed before her eyes when the hunter stepped on her neck and on her wand. ‘Someone help…’ She choked weakly, unable to breathe properly. Her chance to escape is gone, and soon her consciousness as well.

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Skywalker gripped his heated sword tightly, the heat from the attack caused his eyes to dry out instantly so he was really pushing in luck. The mage has already begun healing the shaman. His eyes never leave the spirits who were now circling around the ninja, occasionally glancing at the recovering shaman and mage before him. Sweat dripped down from his forehead and he was running out of breath. He just isn’t strong enough to defeat both of them, not to mention Reygina is also having trouble so he couldn’t have any leeway to heal himself, and he didn’t have health potions on him.


‘Hearolie, now would be a good time to…’ Skywalker thought was cut short and used Whirlwind to slice another fireball in half, simultaneously blocking another attack from the mage. The spirits would make small jabs at his armour and skin when they had the chance. ‘They’re just toying with me… Why…’ He couldn’t help but wonder what worse fate awaits them if both blacked out from exhaustion. He can feel none of them were serious about this engagement, in fact, none of the injuries aimed at him directly were serious or fatal, even though they could have been. On the other hand, the prolonged battle really began to take a toll on him.


As all eyes focused on an archer who’s armour was pierced everywhere with arrows, falling to the ground from the treetops with a thud. A smile appeared on the ninja’s face, whereas a contemptuous frown from their enemies. ‘You’re in trouble now!’ The ninja grinned mockingly. As if on cue, Hearolie floated down gently with Reygina in his arms. She was gently let go and the three recruits faced the remaining two hooded enemies. Reygina quickly healed all of them, and Skywalker felt like the sun shone brighter for a moment there.


‘You couldn’t have better timing.’ Skywalker gratefully smiled. It was nice seeing him despite knowing he would be mocked for being ‘weak’. Reygina’s healing made quick work of his minor injuries.


‘Any last words? Apart from screaming for your lives.’ Hearolie aimed at them, eager to shoot one of them down. The spirits have begun to disappear one by one, to the dismay of the shaman.


‘Yours skills are commendable.’ The mage called out, pointing to the hunter who had gotten back up from the fall. ‘since you have taken him by surprise.’ He stretched his hand out, ‘join us. He will surely accept and welcome you.’


‘Hmm let me think about it. Err, no.’ He acted like he was really considering the offer before firing an arrow right at the mage’s head.


‘Maybe next time then.’ The mage moved his head out of harm’s way. The shaman, mage and hunter stood together side by side. ‘The archer’s mine. You two can deal with the others.’


‘Game on!’ Hearolie felt excitement and cracked his knuckles when he was being called out. He started the battle by firing his spell at all three enemies. The shaman used her shoto sword and used the same spiralling fire move that almost melted the ninja’s sword to incinerate every arrow aimed at them. The flames were obviously much hotter than the one used against the ninja.


‘I love a challenge.’ Hearolie smiled, almost like a maniac. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his whole body. He rushed in and sent a kick to the hunter’s face, who used his enormous broadsword to block it.


Skywalker and Reygina charged tried to charge ahead but that’s when the mage raised his special wand and a boulder formed from the top of it, similar to the Meteor spell. He threw the boulder at them which the ninja could barely slice through it in time. Reygina teleported and tackled the shaman who managed to successfully summon several spirits before toppling over. Skywalker who had the most experience on how to deal with those pesky ghosts knew exactly what to do. Instead of wasting his energy to jump around and attempt to attack them, he let them come close to him this time, before unleashing a fury of strikes with his sword. The archer suddenly appeared from his blind spot and sent a punch right at the face. Skywalker somersaulted and landed perfectly on his feet before seeing the hunter doing the hand signs for Bolt Blizzard. Without time to lose, he had an idea.


‘Reygina!’ He cried out. The mage looked at the ninja before nodding, he taught her a few tricks during their alone time and now is the perfect time to implement them. As the hunter fired his spell at him, he leapt up and spun forward in the air while holding his sword in front of him, using the Whirlwind spell at the same time. The spell moved according to his motion and made a vertical circular slash that blocked most of the barrage of arrows directly in front of him. The hunter didn’t let him catch a breath and did the hand signs to unleash Creeper Dart, which he knew he wouldn’t be able to do the same trick twice. This time though, Reygina appeared right next to Skywalker and as the spell was fired upon them, she teleported both of them out of harm’s way by placing her hand on his shoulder. The teleportation distance was halved, but it was still enough to get them out of danger.


‘Thanks.’ Skywalker whispered to his ally before running towards the hunter, his sword aimed straight for his heart.


On the other side of the battlefield, Hearolie was getting more and more annoyed with the mage’s defences. He wasn’t muttering any incantations so he couldn’t get any hints what the mage will unleash. Thankfully, he can only use one spell at a time, otherwise even he had to admit it would overwhelm him. The archer saw the ninja needed an assist in landing the finishing blow and used Escape to quickly close the distance, but the mage acted fast and with another new spell, small pillars of rock appeared from where the brick red staff touched the ground and swiftly followed Hearolie in the form of a trail. The archer jumped out of the way, but the rocks continued its path, making a sharp turn and continued headed straight for the archer. It was like a mole burrowing underneath the earth following its prey.


‘So this spell could lock on to its targets.’ Hearolie thought to himself. ‘Guess I’ll have to dodge at the very last second to avoid this.’ He skidded to a stop and watched closely as the ground was being dug up. Right before the ridge touched his boots, he cast Escape to clear away. A rock spike appeared forcefully out of the ground from where he stood mere moments ago. ‘This looks painful, no doubt it’ll launch me to the air and damage me if I got hit.’


Reygina did her best to use more of the skills Skywalker taught her, concurrently trying to apply the techniques from the Detlas army’s mages and dark wizards from Krisstal’s descriptions. It wasn’t doing much in terms of damage, but it was certainly enough to help her avoid being hit by the fireballs and the relick’s basic close range shotgun-like attack. Since the shaman doesn’t have any speed increase spells, she was managing her energy much better than when facing the hunter. She reappeared at the shaman’s flank, sliding under the deadly rays of fire and between the shaman’s legs. The angered shaman sent multiple fireballs at where the mage was, but the mage had already disappeared, leaving the dirt unturned and charred.


Skywalker tried to stab the opponent’s heart, but the hunter had placed his sword in front of him, turning it on its side which acted as a shield due to the broadsword’s size. Skywalker altered his angle at the last second and thrust through the holes of the massive sword. The hunter smiled slyly and with a burst of agility, he hooked the sword out of Skywalker’s grip by twirling the greatsword. The Shadow Blade was flung to the air and left pinned to a nearby tree. The ninja gasped in horror and rolled to the side to avoid the next attack, without the sword, he couldn’t perform any spells to defend himself from the oncoming Bolt Blizzard. Reygina and Hearolie were both too occupied to even notice the danger he’s in.


‘Charge!’ A warrior grabbed onto the ninja and they both rolled onto the ground, stopping right in front of a tree.


‘Why can’t you always be careful.’ The familiar figure helped Skywalker onto his feet by pulling his elbow up.


‘Krisstal, you’re awake!’ He smiled, pulling her out of the way from an incoming arrow.


‘Barely…’ She coughed some blood out and quickly wiped her mouth clean. They hid behind a tree to avoid another Bolt Blizzard. ‘Get your sword, I’ll hold him off for a few seconds.’


Skywalker ran for his Shadow Blade, having complete faith with Krisstal protecting him. True to her word, she charged and crashed into the hunter with her mobility spell. She felt her whole body burning from fighting the poison within, her vision blurred a bit again, it took everything in her to stand up and move.


‘We can’t keep up much longer.’ Skywalker cried out to the others as he got his sword back. Hearolie and Reygina mentally agreed. The attacks were getting more and more ferocious, and if they couldn’t do anything while they were playing around, they wouldn’t surely last for even a few seconds if they were serious. Skywalker helped Krisstal to have her healed by Reygina as Hearolie covered them. The four recruits regrouped at the center, their backs facing each other as their eyes locked onto their enemies’.


‘We better make a break for it.’ Krisstal spoke as quietly as possible. If they could hear them, they would be in hot water.


‘Can’t. They will surely catch up to us within moments…’ Skywalker responded. He looked nervously at the hunter, the one who made Reygina’s hair stand on end.


‘Where’s help?’ Reygina whispered while healing everyone.


‘About… now.’ Hearolie said, seeing a familiar person in the distance.


A large totem slammed onto the ground next them, making everyone but the archer jump. A shaman in his mid-fifties was hauled by it and landed majestically on the path. ‘Oh… it’s you guys again...’ Suri glanced at the three attackers and readied himself for battle.


The thieves looked at each other and immediately took off towards the woods. Krisstal sat down on the earth, trying to breathe in air as much as she could. She felt terrible, no words could describe what she’s feeling. The fighting has caused the poison to spread faster due to her accelerated heartbeat.


‘You have earned our trust for now, young archer.’ Ragon came to a halt. Suri exchanged a few words with him and walked next to Krisstal with the medical kit. He motioned Reygina to come forward whom nervously pointed at herself to make sure she wasn’t misunderstanding anything.


Suri took out some supplies from the kit and instructed Reygina to cast her healing spell in a way that Reygina never thought possible. She nodded and began to do as instructed and practised a bit as Suri treated Krisstal. The familiar green light emitted from her wand connected to Krisstal like a line, signalled her application of the healing spell. But instead of the static emerald green, the green line of light had kept on shifting between the different hues of green, from light green like sugar canes to the shade of dark green found from a cactus.


‘Very well done, young mage. I have never seen one with such talent and potential for years.’ Suri was very impressed with her progression. ‘It seems you have quite the affinity for the art of magicks.’


‘I’ve read a lot about the bases of this spell, but I never thought the spell could be utilised this way.’


‘Ah, because not many can do it. Information about it wasn’t too well documented, so it isn’t available everywhere.’ Suri replied. ‘However, being able to perform it and reading it from a book are two different things.’ He pointed to where Krisstal was bitten. What was just two red puncture wounds were now two giant, swollen lumps; it was an uncomfortable sight to behold. ‘The reason I taught you that variant of the heal spell is because it allows you to heal others for longer periods and not waste too much of your mana for minor wounds.


‘Mana?’ It’s the first time she had ever heard of this term, although she had an idea what he meant by that.


‘It’s the equivalent of the word “stamina” you humans talk about. Same thing really.’ Suri replied, careful with applying pressure on the warrior’s wounds. ‘Honestly, what a bother to have so many names just for the same thing…’


‘A question, Sir.’ Suri didn’t look back at her, still concentrating on the wound. Reygina continued on nonetheless, ‘how long do you think it will take for her to wake up?’


Suri injected a light straw coloured, slightly viscous, transparent solution into her wound. The warrior winced a bit but didn’t make any large movements. ‘I’ve injected the antivenom, and since you said not much time has passed, she most definitely will make a fine recovery. Her being in battle does cause the remedy’s effects to take a little longer to kick in.’


Meanwhile Ragon asked the ninja to confirm what Suri had told him. ‘So, you said they were from the guild H.I.M?’ Eyebrows furrowed; he asked the ninja in a disgusted tone.


‘Yeah… Who are they?’ Skywalker asked. He knew they must be followers of Herobrine. ‘But is there more to that? Wonder what their name is… Herobrine something something?’ He had no idea.


‘They call themselves… Him. But we refer to them as the Horror Instigating Maniacs.’ Ragon said without facing the ninja and archer. The wind seemed to stop blowing when he said that. ‘They say they worship Herobrine, but he’s just rubbish fantasies and crazy folk tales. Just be careful, they’ve been known to attack travellers and wage conflicts on guilds.’


‘Honestly, Herobrine…’ He scoffed at the mentioning of the name. ‘He’s just a legend to scare kids into behaving well by parents. Even if he’s real, he’s no match for the might of the humans and villagers.’

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Krisstal opened her eyes but quickly shut them as the sunlight was too bright for her. She felt someone embraced and cried her name in joy.


‘...Hi.’ She turned her head and saw a villager with a medkit next to the mage. ‘What did I miss?’


‘You’re bitten by a spider and we gave you some antivenom. You’re welcome!’ Suri said. He called out to Ragon to inform him he was done.


‘Your friends were also assaulted by H.I.M, some rouge guild.’ Ragon signalled Suri for their departure. ‘So… we’ll be on our way now. Take care and stay safe young travellers.’


The villagers were starting to walk away on the dirt path but were halted by Skywalker. “Wait! Actually… we heard you were conducting a study about elements and wanted help.’


‘We were trying to find you and since we are interested in helping you, if that’s alright!’ Reygina added.


‘Hmm, the more the merrier.’ Ragon smiled. ‘Welcome aboard! Follow us to the camp!’

------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Are you familiar with these?’ Ragon handed them small pouches. ‘These are elemental powders, which you can apply to your weapons and armour. Once you do so, there will be a faint outline around the equipment. But do you know? The items glow when the respective powders’ effects are active.’


‘Elemental powders have effects?’ Skywalker’s jaw dropped. ‘Is this affected by our class?’


‘Anyone can use these spells,’ He held his spear and fired a lightning bolt at some of the zombies nearby, the lightning bolt, however, jumped from zombie to zombie, killing the small group of mobs with just one attack. ‘But it requires a long time of training to use them properly. For example, my spear has thunder powders on it, and I was able to master Chain Lightning through rigorous training. The ability to use these spells were considered gifted individuals, those who have mastery and affinity for the arts of elements.’


Ragon stood up and walked around them as he gave them a brief history. ‘Each powder has its unique ability, different in its own way. On armour it provides one effect, on a weapon it gives another.’ Ragon said as the four soldiers passed the powders around. ‘During my time here, I heard stories from the townsfolk and from the books I’ve read, that it was believed the elemental powders were created using magic infused with some specially made dust by humans who possessed natural magical gifts during the early years of the war of corruption. At that time, those who don’t have an affinity with magic could only learn how to be proficient with their weapons to fight the monsters and using armour to protect themselves instead of magic. The powders were therefore created to be applied onto the weapons and armour for them in mind. The non-magic humans trained with these powders applied on their weapons and armours, developing spells inspired by the respective elemental gifted ones with these powders as generations passed.’


‘That’s… astounding…’ The recruits were at a loss of words hearing the origins of these powders, which are still very much relevant even after one thousand years.


‘Indeed, I admire such selflessness and unison of your race. We villagers are usually blinded by greed. I doubt we wouldn’t be teaching people magic without charging a fee.’ Ragon chuckled at his comment. ‘Humans assemble to defend against the corruption and teach the other non-gifted humans how to defend themselves. Fascinating.’


‘Can people make their own powders?’ Skywalker asked, his eyes widened with curiosity.


‘Can we make any combination we like?’ The mage added, sharing the same hunger for knowledge.


‘No. Only the Powder Masters know how to create these elemental powders, and what is the special dust used for the base ingredient or where to obtain it. They all made a magical unbreakable vow when they were accepted to be a Powder Apprentice, to never reveal the secrets of making the elemental powders. Breaking the promise will result in the imminent death of whoever spilt the beans, alongside anyone who heard the secret and isn’t a Powder Master.’


‘That’s… scary. Imagine being forced to reveal the truth.’ Krisstal noted. ‘You’ll die either way.’


‘It’s for the best… despite the cruel consequences.’


‘Why?’ The archer raised an eyebrow.


‘Some people made fake powders and cheated people; some careless people made massive chaos. The worst cases are that people even began to abuse these powders and spells to attack each other. Sure, laws were established for the usage of these elemental powders to ensure humans use these powders the way they were attended to… but…’


‘But?’


‘It will be easier to explain that part after some exercise.’ Stiba handed them each a weapon, all apart from the dagger had different coloured outlines.


‘Woah, this is…’


‘Powdered weapons. Yes. Except for your dagger.’ Suri answered swiftly, taking out some written sheets of paper whereas Stiba helped Ragon with lowering the cage. It landed with a thud and the monster inside roared with rage.


‘This here…’ Ragon pointed to the strange creature in the cage. Its face was nothing but an animated log, while the rest of its body is a jumbled mess of green plants and vines. ‘Is a Root Golem.’


‘You will now each strike your weapon at the golem, one at a time. We will record the monster’s reaction to several elements.’ Suri added. ‘The weapons you held are just training weapons, like the one you use in training grounds, so it shouldn’t kill it.’


‘If it’s not dead, then it could hurt you. So be careful.’ Ragon warned, ‘Okay… One at a time.’


The four of them each made a strike on the monster. The monster growled in pain when Krisstal struck it with the fiery spear, but only made a slight grunt when struck by an air powdered bow and the ordinary dagger.


‘I guess that wasn’t as effective as the fire spear…’ Reygina thought to herself as she blasted it with the green aura wand. It didn’t flinch at all and Krisstal quickly pulled Reygina back before Ragon could even warn her.


‘Hmm… For now, that species seems normal.’ Suri concluded. ‘I suggest we investigate some of the spiders around here as well, as the headmaster ordered.’ He lowered the cage and flipped a switch which caused the metal door to swing open. The Root Golem immediately scurried away without a second of hesitation.


‘The headmaster?’ The villagers paid no attention to the golem who had already hidden amongst the trees of the thick forest behind them.


‘Come now, young ones. We have a lot to do.’ Ragon said and ignored their puzzled faces. ‘Stiba, we need your fighting spirit in this one.’


‘With pleasure! I would also like to teach a lesson to those Horror Instigating Maniacs if we see them...’ Stiba cracked his knuckles.


‘Umm, where we going?’


‘A spider-infested root cave. We are not only tasked with checking the elemental weakness, defence and immunity of the monsters; but also investigate reports of increasing spider populations.’ Stiba replied. ‘Bring the elemental weapons as well as your own gear, we’re going to do some experiments.’


‘Come now, follow us closely.’ Ragon and Stiba quickly raced along the path. The four recruits got ready and quickly followed suit.

------------------------------------------------------------------

‘This is where we captured the golem.’ He pointed to an enormous depression that led to darkness, only the occasional outline of wines and dirt can be seen, the opening is at least twenty meters in diameter.



The unmistakable hissing and screeching send made their hair stand on ends, warning them to not go any further. ‘That doesn’t sound like a golem…’ Reygina peeped from behind Hearolie.


‘It doesn’t.’ Ragon nodded. ‘You see, we believe only the golems inhabited there originally, but the spiders invaded the whole cave, no doubt finding places to expand their nests.’


‘It’s gone out of control…’ Krisstal added. She wondered whether coming here was a good idea but decided despite her not at optimal health, their numbers will nonetheless be crucial to the investigation.


‘Indubitably.’ Stiba replied. ‘We are going to investigate the spiders’ nests inside first, having an idea of how fast they are reproducing figuratively.’


‘All true, however…’ Ragon took out a more detailed map of the Nivla Forest and pointed at two black spikes on the paper. ‘The two corruption roots might also be the cause of this enormous pest problem as well. And the faster we found out what’s wrong, the better.’


Stiba thought for a bit before suggesting something. ‘I’ll take the boys to investigate the roots. You’ll handle things here with the girls?’


‘You can count on us!’ Krisstal smiled. Her mind, body and spirit were one at this very moment, eager to massacre the spiders for poisoning her. She was embarrassed she had to be a burden to the team yet again, the hate swell inside her for being so vulnerable.


‘Well, well. Let’s see what you two are made up of!’ Stiba jumped up and dashed through the trees at fast speeds, leaving the boys behind.


‘What…’ Hearolie blinked again to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. The bow wielder was gone in an instant.


‘Ha… Hey, wait up!’ The ninja dragged Hearolie and the two ran after the road.


‘We’ll do our part as well.’ Ragon said to the girls as the three of them entered the cave.

------------------------------------------------------------------

‘The first spike…’ Stiba observed quietly from the treetops. The two boys landed beside the hunter as they reported their findings to him.



‘The Saw-tooth Spiders were so annoying.’ Hearolie groaned. As if the heavens were trying to prove his point, they saw the same type of spider fire its fangs multiple times at a mercenary soldier from afar, no doubt having fun scaring people for a living. ‘Their fast regenerating fangs and shooting distance makes it a good counter to Arrow Storm.’


‘You just suck at aiming, that’s all.’ Stiba scoffed. ‘Why would you aim directly at them?’


Hearolie face went red, not embarrassment but in anger. Skywalker held his shoulder and shook his head.


‘It’s not worth it, what’s the point of being angry at him?’ He raised his eyebrow and whispered.


As if they’re minds were linked, Hearolie glared at Stiba. The villager was too focused on the spiders below to give them any notice. ‘He mocked me, how was I supposed to know that when I never encountered them before?’


‘We’ll just get better and show him he’s wrong about you.’ Skywalker shrugged and cast a glance at Stiba.


‘Whatever…’ Hearolie rolled his eyes and turned his head away, wanting to end the mental conversation.


‘Alright, see those groups of Spinwarp Spiders and Stalker Spiders? You two pick a group and I’ll deal with the other one. We’ll test a few for the elemental reactions. For your information, Spinwarp Spider shoots venom to blind people from their fangs; the other type, Stalker Spiders, shoot a special type of web over themselves which reflects light off of them, causing them to be invisible. That's what bit your friend.’


‘The Spinwarp Spiders then,’ Hearolie said. ‘As long as they don’t hit our eyes with their irritating spitting poison, we’ll be fine.’


‘After you then.’ Hearolie thanked him and pushed the ninja off the tree. The ninja sighed as he fell, having expected he would do such a thing. He quickly used a clone to give himself a boost and used his sword to cut a few spiders down at a nearby tree, the clone immediately disappeared when one of the spiders shot its fangs at it. Hearolie jumped with his mobility spell and fired a barrage of arrows down at the spiders. The Stalker Spiders suddenly appeared behind him, ready to sink their fangs into their enemies. Hearolie reacted swiftly, however, and batted them away with the bow. He landed hard on one of the spiders, completely squashed it flat. The ninja made a quick circle around him, slicing off the legs of the arachnids.


‘Exact and accurate. Nice blade work.’ Stiba yelled as he ran across the area, he was a blur to the recruits. Hearolie and Skywalker stopped a bit, unable to comprehend at the speed the archer moves at. It wasn’t something they never thought was possible, even with speed potions. The spiders turned their focus at the speedy archer who was running around them in circles and fired their fangs, poison and webs at him. But it was all in vain, none of the attacks were quick enough to hit their mark. Then out of nowhere, several Stalker Spiders were flipped upside down and knocked towards each other at a central point. The mass of spiders, before they knew what happened, were killed by a combination of Creeper Dart and Bolt Blizzard. Their screeches and cries lost in the explosion of the attack. The heat generated from the impact burned away any nearby Stalker Spiders’ web sheets, exposing their positions on those who barely got away from the previous attack. Hearolie darted away from the trees and joined in with Skywalker’s advance on the spiders.


‘Whirlwind.’


‘I’ll prove to everyone I’m a strong soldier!’ The archer chimed in. ‘Arrow Storm!’


Skywalker spun his blade around like a circle, covering Hearolie’s flank. Hearolie stood at the centre and unleashed his arrows into the air. The arrows landed all around them, finishing off all the remaining hairy freaks that haven’t retreated to the shadows.


‘That’s it for now.’ Stiba fastened his bow onto his back. ‘We best not stay any longer near these corruption spikes. Especially since you two haven’t built any resistance to its effects yet.’


Hearolie rolled his eyes, feeling he was calling him weak, but Skywalker nudged him to be respectful.


‘Take a break, we’ll head to the other one soon. I’ll do the testing this time, you two…’ Stiba tried to think of something meaningful for the boys to do. ‘Just watch my back.’

------------------------------------------------------------------

‘This doesn’t look promising.’ Reygina thought to herself. She never thought of these monsters having some sort of prey and predator relationship, or any concept that remotely resembles that.

Bodies of the golems and spiders laid across the cave, who had both fought to the death, it kinda makes one think the root golems were actually the good guys, defending their home form these horrid invaders.



‘From what I scouted, the spiders made their nest at the end of the cave, so we best not disturb the Root Golems. They only attack you when you hit them first. Unless…’ Ragon whispered to the girls, trying to stay out of their way.


‘Umm…’ Krisstal looked around worriedly, she could feel something wasn't right in the air. ‘Are they always this curious around new people coming in?’


Ragon looked puzzled. ‘No?’ He looked around to realise how a horrible gut feeling he is having now. They were all surrounded by Root Golems, some moaning in their language, some pointing at them occasionally. The three soldiers prepared themselves for a fight. ‘What was it like last time being here.’


‘Last time?’ Ragon questioned. ‘Last time we… Oh. They might have recognised my scent from our last trip here… My bad.’


‘How? They don’t have noses.’ Reygina questioned, shivering a bit. Skywalker would tell her to yell back at them to back off, but they would clearly aggravate them.


‘They might have other senses. Oh... salted…’ Ragon finally figured out what might have possibly happened. ‘When we were here last time, a sharp punctured my skin when we were trying to lure one of the root golems out. They might have sensed my wound and noticed me intruding their home again, also seeing how the spiders were such unfriendly neighbours...’


The golems grunted in unison and began to cry when a golem, much much larger than the rest suddenly approached them. It seemed to be the tribe leader, being the biggest and strongest out of all of them. The smaller ones pointed at Ragon in particular, the giant golem groaned curiously before letting out a furious roar.



‘Time to go, just head deeper into the caves.’ Ragon pointed out, using a new spell the girls never heard of before. ‘Barrier Screen.’ Light blue hexagonal shapes appear in front of the group after the hand signs were made by the senior knight. The root golem struck the barrier with all its might, but the barrier held on strong. Frustrated, it let out an explosive roar before mercilessly smashing the barrier with its giant rock-like fists nonstop.


‘You two get out of here first, I’ll be right behind.’ Ragon said, he darted to the side before doing the hand signs of another spell. ‘Reflect Shield!’ This time the shield was much smaller, only giving Ragon perfect three-sixty protection instead of a single wall that protects all three of them together. The shield was just like the barrier he had used mere moments ago, only this time it is made of purple diamond-shaped panels instead of the light blue hexagons.


Reygina and Krisstal used their mobility spells and rushed through the horde of golems and hotfooted through the cave’s interior. They could feel an immense heat from behind them and looked back to see an awestruck scene. The old professor had launched himself with a powerful Leap spell. His whole body was engulfed in a red ball of fire, as the fireball charged through the Root Golems with ease, launching them towards the sides. The spell had enough power to carve a deep impression on the stone ground where he had moved, leaving flames and lightning bolts behind him that dispersed and dissipated just as quickly as his movements.


‘Woah, that was…’ Krisstal’s eyes widened as big as they could. ‘This is the same spell as Charge…’ she thought to herself, her potential was shown right in front of her. At that moment, she felt motivated to train as hard as she could. If she could be this powerful during that Detlas raid, perhaps she would have been an even bigger help, and maybe defeat Herobrine.


‘Awe-inspiring!’ The attack was so forceful that the wind generated blew her hairband and hair ties far away, undoing her red hair completely.


The ball of fire came to a halt and vanished, with Ragon’s silhouette ‘cooling down’, changing from red to normal.


‘Come on then. Let’s hurry.’ Despite his old age, Reygina and Krisstal find it unbelievable that he could catch up to them with relative ease. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t long before it was they who needed to catch up to the old knight. They skipped past stone platforms that were created by the Root Golems, presumingly made to stop intruders from moving forward.


‘Well those walls aren’t very effective… We hopped past them with relative ease, didn’t we?’ Krisstal spoke her thoughts out loud. Thankfully the root golems weren’t that fast, the angry roars have begun to fade into silence.


‘It may work against the zombies.’ Reygina used her teleport spell. ‘The spiders and us? Not so much.’


No sooner had she finished they had reached near the end of the hideout. A ginormous tree stump was at the centre. The screeching of spiders was everywhere, but they were all camouflaged by the shadows. Dead Root Golems were stuck to webs, spiderlings that have hatched from their eggs have made themselves home within their corpses. It was a gruesome sight to behold.



The girls quivered in fear. ‘I’ll handle the spiders and protect you two, you two take a look around how many spiders there are in a two by two meter square area, and try to record their elemental reactions. Do it just like with the Root Golem.’ The elder professor said with a tint of excitement, there was a small spark of youth and fire inside him, one that is as red as the flames he created when using the mobility spell. The girls nodded and quickly went around to survey the area.


‘It has been a long time since I felt this excited.’ The knight chuckled and struck his battle stance at the arachnids. Stalker Spiders suddenly emerged from behind him, and he quickly used his Reflect Shield spell to prevent them from sinking his fangs into his wrinkled skin, the shield simultaneously protected him from the fangs shot off by the Saw-tooth Spiders. Immediately, he unleashed a Holy Blast at the ground, a variant of the Bash spell Krisstal learned and used another spell to slice off spiders that were dangling dangerously above the Reygina. ‘Z-Strike.’ He dashed quickly, bouncing around the surrounding environment twice. A green Z-shape was left from where he moved, with the familiar faint lightning bolts and flames behind him. The old knight decapitated the spiders in mere seconds.


‘You done with that area?’ Krisstal cried over the cries of the spiders. Seh nervously poked a nearby Saw-tooth Spiders with one of the elemental powdered weapons the professors gave them. She noted the reaction and moved on to another area.


‘Yes! I’ve made the calculations! Double checked!’ Reygina ducked to prevent a dead spider that was batted away by the knight hit her. She let out a yelp when Ragon was suddenly above her. The heat generated from his spell made her feel her hair was as if on fire.


Ragon heard clearly despite concentrating on the fiends. ‘Good job you two, let’s kill off the remaining spiders and leave.’ Ragon made another Barrier Screen to protect all of them from the poison spitting Spinwarp Spiders and fired a Chain Lightning at the spider eggs. The eggs exploded with a single strike, causing its indistinguishable and revolting content to leak out.


‘Ms Reygina, fire at the remaining spiders, leave none escape. If a few manage to get away, they’ll rebuild a new nest in a matter of a week. Ms Krisstal, assist me with your Bash spell. We’re eliminating these pests and their young once and for all.’ All three soldiers performed their spells and eliminated every single trace of a spider, cleansing the cave of pests.


They turned to leave when they saw several root golems ahead of them, including the leader. Finally having pursued their intruders, the leader let out an intense roar that even the nearby root golems were caught off guard. Vines and roots with shards of rocks in between wrapped around its whole body, as if it’s wearing a suit of battle armour now.


‘Woah...’ Ragon was surprised to see their ability to do this first hand, the literature does state that the Root Golems in the Nivla Forest compete with one another to see who can make the best armour, for whoever ‘forge’ the strongest battle armour becomes leader. But due to their relatively passive and reclusive nature, such ability is rarely seen by people. But those who see it usually don’t come back alive to document it.


The chief was about to smash their heads together with its massive wooden arms when one of the smaller root golems let out a cry, one of the nearby golems raised its hand and pointed and the dead spiders at the back and pointed at the recruits.


The leader let out a confused growl before sounding shocked, then overjoyed. It ‘took off’ its armour by reabsorbing the materials back into itself, as the three soldiers relaxed a bit. Some of the golems were upset and silent to see their fallen brothers and sisters, they quickly carried their corpses away from the webs and carried them away. The leader squashed a dead spider flat that was near it, venting some of its anger and frustration at the deceased foe. The leader stretched out his hand to Ragon who shook it and let out a triumphant roar as they all left the cave and were led back to the surface.


‘That was close.’ Ragon laughed lightly to ease the frightened girls. ‘Everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now.’


‘Yeah...’ Reygina grabbed onto Krisstal, trying her best to stop herself from falling due to her shivering legs. Although the idea of monsters having feelings and emotions, intrigued her greatly after seeing how they seem to be mourning for their dead kind.

------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Here’s the Vibrant Augment.’ Suri handed each one a cube, which Krisstal and Reygina had already seen the familiar item from the lucky charm stall before. ‘Quite useful for adding it to your own makeshift weapon, it gives the weapon the ability to deal all elemental damage.’


‘And here…’ Ragon handed each of them a bracelet with a signature on it. ‘I give these to those who I find have quite the potential to be great magic users. It might even aid in your application to Grookwarts if you so desire to apply to the school. The enchantments hidden within the bracelet might not be much, but it will surely help you in the journey ahead, whatever path you chose.’ The four soldiers put the new items into their bags.


‘Hope we were able to help with your research!’ Skywalker replied as he handed back the element testing weapons.


‘Your effort and help are much appreciated.’ Suri smiled. ‘Ms Reygina, I wish you all the best! You three too. Ms Reygina, will you mind showing me the heal spell variant I taught you? Try it on your warrior friend.’


Reygina smiled and thanked the mentor. ‘Heal.’ A line of green light connected from her wand to the warrior’s wound, the emerald green slowly shifted to a multitude of green colours. Suri stopped her and once again praised her for her potential.


Hearolie looked at her jealousy, if only Stiba would also acknowledge him like Suri. An idea formed in his mind.


‘Can you teach me one of your new spells?’ Hearolie asked Stiba.

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School took a lot more time than I thought, so I apologize for the slow and long awaited update. Happy New Year everyone. 2020 isn’t best, so let’s hope 2021 is better. So we are already halfway in the Detlas arc, and it is quite the journey. There are more strange weapons out there, and there are people like Skywalker who use them? What is going on? Find out soon...


Thank you to every officer, admin, builder and others who created and developed Wynncraft. Do share important information about Wynncraft, such as easter eggs and timelines or even 'wynn'consistencies. As the information will help me improve my story greatly. Thank you once again for reading until the end. I do not own anything except this story. If you are interested, I could add your player characters as characters in my story, just send me your name and a screenshot of your character (with or without gear) in wynncraft, preferably your front, side and back. It would be a bonus if you can list out the names of your gear and mount. Feel free to talk to me about things not related to Wynncraft as well, I would never mind changing topic anyways. Thank you all and may the force be with you. This is an unofficial story made only by myself and everything here is based on either what's currently in the game or my interpretation of what's currently in the game. Hypixel weapons belong to Hypixel. I only own the main characters and this story only.


Other sources:


Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/699806539-for-the-wynn-king's-recruit-part-1


Fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12951945/1/For-The-Wynn


Archives of our own: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14778395/chapters/42299039

 

Yayyy another one
Also, is that a hypixel warlords reference?

 

yes it is!