Civilization

Jumping out of the pool of blood, Sylvia leaps toward the incoming group of Crimson Ghosts and with a yell, she punches toward the closest monster. However, contrary to her thoughts, her fists phase right through them. Different from the specters that could be hit with physical attacks. Surprised at her attack failing, she could only land in the pool, creating a large splash.

The upside of this battle was the monsters were emitting a red glow, making it easier for the both of us to target them and with the monsters now charging at me, I have to retaliate. Pointing the wand at the group of ghosts, I jump back slightly, into the cave where we once came from, and activated my skill.

"Holy Flame!" - Nina

Bursting out of my wand, a fireball the size of a watermelon, flies toward the incoming ghosts. Its yellow, white and orange glow, illuminates the cavern briefly before it explodes like a firework in the night sky, sending smaller fireballs in all directions. The ghastly screams of the ghosts penetrate my ears, as they wail in harmony. Covering my ears from the noise, I wince at the pain, as I quickly cast Sacred Light as well.

With a flash of bright white light, I damage the ghost in the front, stopping it in its tracks before canceling the spell not much longer, giving Sylvia enough time to attack alongside me. Awakening and activating Mystic Palms, Sylvia was finally able to hit the ghosts as well, slamming her fist into the back of one of their heads, sending them straight into a wall. Landing as gracefully as a butterfly, she proceeds to dash toward the immobile monster.

However, a giant spike made out of blood stops her movement as it forms from the pool of blood, piercing into the air in front of her. Turning back, another ghost accelerates at her, its hands forming deep crimson claws as it slashes at Sylvia's face. Instantly, I cast Fire Bolt, sending a small ball of fire to interrupt its movement. Landing square on the side of its face, it momentarily stops, and taking advantage of the situation, Sylvia uppercuts the ghost.

Glancing to my right, noticing the strange movements of a ghost, I instinctively, dive forward, splashing into the pool of blood and covering myself in the blood of monsters as a Blood Spike pierces where I was once standing. Pointing my wand at the same monster, I cast Ignite, setting it aflame as I roll to the side, getting out of the way as another monster slashes its Crimson Claws at me. A wave of blood washes over me, as I quickly stand on my feet, casting Fire Bolt at point-blank range, exploding against the chest of the ghost.

"NINA! ARE YOU OKAY?!" - Sylvia

"I'm fine. Focus on the two ghosts near you before coming over here. I'll yell if I need help." - Nina

"ALRIGHT! I DON'T THINK IT WILL TAKE TOO-" - Sylvia

With a loud explosion, the ceiling shatters, and the night sky is revealed. Standing on top of the Scarlet Hare, the person looks down on us. His emerald green eyes sparkle in glee as a smirk appears on his pale face. Tapping the monster's back with his feet, he quickly turns around, dropping to a sitting position as the monster gallops along the air, out into the night sky, with a trail of scarlet stars following closely behind.

Breathing out slowly, I shake the blood off my arm and wand as I observe the two ghosts that were targeting me. Despite being the same race and type of monster, they act slightly differently, with one of the monsters constantly wailing and trembling. Suddenly the same ghost, screams loudly, flying upward in a spiral before two magic circles appear in front of its hands.

Knowing that it wouldn't be good to stay still, I start dashing away, however, my speed is severely reduced due to the thick blood. Quickly small solidified spikes of blood appear behind me, chasing me as I retreat. Gritting my teeth, I dive to the side as the trail of spikes reaches me, falling into the pool of blood face first. Taking note of the other ghost quickly drawing near, I activate a newly unlocked skill from my Beginner Fire Mage Book.

"Cage of Flames!" - Nina

Cage of Flames (Active) 10MP - Encase a 1x1x1m area with powerful flames. Anything within the cage will burn taking 50 fire-element damage (+150% Intelligence) every 10 seconds, it is trapped. Duration 1 minute. Cooldown 30 minutes.

Just in the nick of time, I trap the ghost within the confines of the Cage of Flames. It screams and shrieks as the initial burn from the cage takes effect. Turning my attention to the other ghost, that was still floating in the air, I quickly cast a Fire Bolt in its direction as I another set of magic circles appear. Interrupting its cast, the monster wails once more, trembling in the air as it starts to move around spastically.

Preparing for the worse, I move away from the Cage of Flames, keeping my attention on the spastic monster. Circling around the stone pillar, to the other side of the cavern, I cast Ignite again, burning the monster, chipping away at its HP. Following up with another Fire Bolt, I damage it slowly, as it tumbles and turns in the air before I see a slight change in its body. Glowing brighter than the other ghosts, the monster screeches to the sky, bursting in a bright crimson light as it immediately dashes toward me with lightning quick speeds. With such quick speed, I couldn't run away in time, instead I attempt to intercept it, casting Fire Bolt. However, to my dismay, the attack didn't stop the monster's charge as it continues to zoom toward me.

"Awakening!" - Nina

With no choice, I activate my most powerful skill, as I sense the danger coming from the monster. Leaping out of the pool toward the side, I dodge the ghost's charge by the skin of my teeth, and in the process, let loose another Fire Bolt at its back. As the Fire Bolt lands on the monster's back, it explodes, but the explosion was larger than any explosion a Fire Bolt could have produced. fre𝙚𝓌𝒆𝚋noѵel.c𝚘m

The shockwave from the explosion pushes against me, as I cover my face with my arms, landing safely near the pillar. As the explosion clears, I don't see any trace of the Crimson Ghost as the area darkens with the lack of light emitted from the monster. Letting out a long kept sigh, I quickly move toward the Cage of Flames as the skill finally lets out the monster, but with a single Fire Bolt, the monster shatters as it dies.

"Finally done?" - Sylvia

Glowing a pure white aura, Sylvia approaches me, as she momentarily looks upward at the hole in the sky. Following her eyes, I see that the Scarlet Hare and its Tamer had already disappeared from sight, leaving just the sight of stars against the dark night sky.

"That wasn't as hard as I thought, although, it did get a little dangerous as the monster was charging at me." - Nina

"That happened to me as well. It just exploded as it glowed really bright." - Sylvia

"Hmm… Then it was a good decision that I jumped out of the way, even at the expense of my Awakening skill. Who knows how much damage it could have done to me." - Nina

"So, what now? Follow the Scarlet Hare? Follow that guy? I'm sure he is connected to the Reaper's attacks in some shape or form." - Sylvia

"How can we chase after him? He has a flying creature. Only with Sel's spider army can we chase after him, but I doubt she will lend us a hand there. Instead, we should hurry out of here and head toward the front gate to help Celine and the others. Although I find it unlikely the person will attack them, there is still the chance he will take interest in all the tamed monsters." - Nina

"Agreed. Let's quickly head on out, Nina." - Sylvia

Rushing backward up the cave, placing our hand on the left side in order to make sure we didn't accidentally run into any walls, we make our way out of the cave. As we reach the entrance, to our visible surprise, the whole village was up in flames. Incidentally, I had noticed a light coming from the front of the cave as we approached it, however, I didn't think too much about it, assuming it wouldn't be anything too drastic.

"What happened here…" - Sylvia

"There is no way a couple fire spells can cause such a large fire, but with the amount of wooden structures and the forest nearby, it will soon spread to an uncontrollable forest fire if we don't do anything soon." - Nina

"Even if you say that, what do we do?" - Sylvia

Looking around, I notice that the path we had initially taken hasn't caught in flames just yet. However, the fire was quickly spreading. Pointing in that direction, I grab Sylvia arm, tugging it softly.

"We head outside the same way we came. You just need to carry me when you jump down. After that, we head to the front of the village to see what happened and to help them if we need it. It looks like the fire is most intense in the front, so either they set the village alight or something attacked them with flames. Either way, we need to make sure anyone near that area is okay.

Afterward, we need to find a way to stop the fire from spreading too far towards the Krepost. The forest should be connecting the area between the Krepost and HavenFall and if it burns down, our natural defenses also burns down, along with all the wood we could be using as resources." - Nina

Sweeping me off my feet, Sylvia holds me in a princess carry as she quickly dashes toward the stairway.

"Alright, just hold on tight." - Sylvia