14 Welcome to the Forest

Light shone through the crevice of the tree leaves in the forest. Yet, as the branches and leaves of the trees were pilling on top of each other, it made the ground sheltered by it less bright. Many bushes and fallen tree logs covered its surface and acted as a dwelling for some animals.

Ahli and Sharon traversed the pathway that still could be seen. It was as width as two adult men, even though from careful examination, the path was supposed to be wider. The wild vegetation's uncontrolled growth slowly had taken over it.

"So, you do quests, huh?" Ahli carried the short sword in his right hand, walking on the left side of the path.

He followed a man that seemed to be in his 30s. He carried a bow and two quivers filled with arrows to the full. From time to time, his eyes wandered to the sides, checking whether anything uncommon could be found.

"Yeah, of course. How do you think I get my money? I'm not rich you know." Sharon also had her sword in hand. Unlike Ahli, however, she did not pay attention much to her front, and more to checking her sides.

"But you are an heir to a house, right? You said it when we introduced ourselves." Asked Ahli again.

"Well, I kinda renounced it after I got married. However, after my husband passed away, I use it from time to time." Sharon's answer made Ahli quite difficult to ask anything else.

He knew there might be serious business with the whole name thing, and he is interested in it. However, on the other hand, this place and time were not the suitable time for a long story.

[Maybe I'll hear about it when we are back in town.]

The man with the bow suddenly raised his hand, giving out a signal that means for them to stop moving forward. He kneeled and pay attention to the end of the pathway, where it was quite dark. He slowly took three arrows from the quiver on his back, placing one on the bow.

Ahli and Sharon paid close attention to every movement the man made. He gave another signal by his hand, showing a fist, two fingers, which were then followed by all the fingers together, pointing to a direction. All of it, however, was not understood by Ahli.

"What is he saying?" Whispered Ahli to Sharon, asking for clarity.

"He said, there are two suspicious movements in the direction he pointed, therefore we need to be ready for anything that's coming." Explained Sharon while whispering as well.

Ahli tightened his grip on his short sword. He paid attention to the direction that was pointed. The more he stared into it, he felt the weird aura came from it. As he did that, Sharon walked toward the man half standing and hunching her body so it was covered by her surroundings.

Ahli saw how she had a conversation with the man and it seemed that she was devising a plan as well. Unfortunately, he was unable to hear anything and as he did not want to feel left out, he decided to walk toward them as well. He also walked half standing and hunching his body, imitating Sharon's way.

As he reached a point of the distance that was between them, he saw the man and Sharon suddenly tense up. The man quickly pulled the arrow and was ready to release it as it was aimed toward the dark part of the path. Sharon as well quickly held her sword with both hands, placing it at her side, ready with her fighting stance. She looked back at Ahli who was still walking and gave him the gesture to stop his movement.

Ahli quickly stopped and paid attention as well toward the dark area. This time he reminded himself not to use Carta, as he had learned his lesson from what happened in Yakul. He continued slowly moving toward the man and Sharon, this time taking one step at a time.

It was then there was a big rattle at the bushes in the dark area. It surprised Ahli and made him step back a few, however it did not have the same effect on Sharon and the man, as they seemed to be still on guard, to see the invisible enemy show itself.

The rattle in the bushes suddenly separated into two sources of sound, with one moving toward the right and the other in the opposite direction. As the movement came toward the areas on their side, Sharon and the man quickly moved toward Ahli's direction.

"Everyone on each other back! Hurry!" Understanding it immediately, Ahli turned as both Sharon and the man also turned and landed half of the back on Ahli, with the other half on each other.

"Careful, they are going to pincer attack us." Said the man ready with an arrow aimed at the left side of the road.

"Okay, then. Mr. Cial, you take that side, Ahli, you'll be preparing with me against the one on this side." With Sharon's order, Ahli shifted her position while still putting his back on Mr. Cial's. Sharon did the same too and so both she and Ahli were standing side by side, facing the right side of the path.

"They're coming." The movement in the bushes started to move toward them. It moved slowly, making the tension slowly rise as well.

With the distance was at around less than 5 meters, the movement stopped. Ahli waited impatiently as his heartbeat drummed faster with each second passed. He wished at that moment for whatever they are fighting against to show itself. It was sure tenser than fighting multiple enemies at once.

"AAH!" Mr. Cial suddenly slipped and fell sideways to the ground, but not before he was able to release the arrow toward the last known position of the enemy in the bushes.

He was then pulled immediately toward the direction and Ahli luckily enough was able to grab his clothes, holding him from going further. What was unlucky for him was that something was also pulling him by the leg, making him slip in the opposite direction as Mr. Cial. He let go of his short sword so he could grab Mr. Cial tighter.

Sharon seeing that, quickly slashed toward the bushes that now hid Ahli's leg. There she saw a thick vine, as thick as an adult arm, swirling on Ahli's left leg. Sharon quickly swung her sword toward the vine. The blade plunged into the vine, yet it was not able to cut it fully, she pulled it again and was going for a 2nd swing, when suddenly…

ROAR!

From inside the bushes on the left, jumped a wolf with black fur toward Sharon's back. Luckily Sharon was able to turn on time and dodged it by dropping herself to the ground.

It landed on the right side, and at the same time it did, another one jumped from behind the bushes. It did not jump as high as the first one, as it quickly ran toward Sharon, who saw it and quickly pushed herself to the side, rolling her body to avoid the incoming attack.

Ahli himself still struggled to hold Mr. Cial. He felt the pain as if his body were ripped.

"Kid! Let me go!" Ordered Mr. Cial who by that moment was already wrapped by many vines, making his movement restrained.

"No can't do old man." Ahli struggled to hold even though he knew that it won't be for long.

Mr. Cial still try to struggle; however, the vine was already circling on his neck, choking him. Slowly, it made him lose his consciousness.

"Mr. Cial!" Shouted Ahli, trying to at least bring back his consciousness. But, it was to no avail, Mr. Cial did not give any response at all. And by then, he also felt that he was at his limit, as his grip weakened.

"AHLI!" Sharon came on time as she slashed the same spot that she hit before. The Vine was cut and Ahli was freed from it. However, he suddenly felt the pull toward the opposite direction as the vine that was strangling Mr. Cial now have the upper power.

Ahli fasten his grip on his right hand as he did not want to lose Mr. Cial. As for his left hand, it quickly reached for the deck box and he shouted. "CARTA, ACTIVATE SYSTEM!"

Four giant illusion cards came out of the deck box and quickly severed the vines near Mr. Cial's feet, making Ahli able to pull him back even though only for a short distance. The giant illusion cards then hovered around him, acting as some sort of a barrier, protecting him and Mr. Cial.

As the cards landed in his hand, Ahli checked Mr. Cial's condition. He put his finger at the front of his nose hole. He felt the air coming out of it, yet it was quite faint. Ahli quickly started to pull out the remaining vines that were strangling Mr. Cial, starting from the one on his neck.

"AHLI! WATCH OUT!" Sharon's scream luckily saved him on time. When he turned, one of the black wolves was jumping at him. He reflexed by grabbing one of the arrows from Mr. Cial's hand and grazed the black wolf as he rolled to avoid it. It did not do much damage, but it was able to keep his distance from the wolf.

Ahli quickly looked at the first four cards in his hand. He pulled Abrasion from it and set it as a mana source. With Abrasion transformed into a red shard and no other cards he could play, Ahli grabbed his short sword on the ground, aiming it at the black wolf, preventing it to get closer to him and also Mr. Cial.

"AHLI!" With another card coming to his hand, Sharon had reached his back, placing her back onto his. Ahli looked a glance in her direction and saw how the other wolf was facing her, which meant that both of them were ready for another pincer attack.

"Mr. Cial is still alive, but his breathing is weak." Reported Ahli on the situation.

"Okay, we need to finish this two quickly. Oh, shit."

"Why, what's wrong?" Ahli glanced back to see why Sharon was so surprised. His eyes popped open as he saw what made Sharon surprised.

"Did you land your hit on it?" Asked Ahli for confirmation.

"Yup. No wonder they were hard to be killed." Confirmed Sharon.

What he saw was flesh dropping from the body of the wolf, yet it was still able to move. He remembered he did leave a graze as well on the other one and he quickly checked on it. There he saw, not as clear as the other one, but this one also dropping its flesh.

"Is this necromancy, Sharon?" Ahli needed information regarding this type of enemy to know how best to deal with it.

"I don't know. Maybe. If it's necromancy, there should be a necromancer nearby. And the request for the quest should not be regarding beasts attack." Hearing Sharon's reasoning, Ahli reexamined again the wolf in front of him.

He then found a piece of interesting evidence that might be the reason behind the dead wolves' attack.

"The vines. It controlled them. I guess I need to burn them first before we can do anything." Ahli took out another card to be used as a mana source, and this time it was Impetus.

With two mana sources ready, he saw how the wolf had two stats, a 2/2 for itself and a 1/1 for the vines that were tangled to it. He quickly pulled two cards from his hand, one was Flame Blast and the other was Hasten.

"I'm giving you the ability to do a Quick Strike. Can you aim your swing toward the vine's core?" Said Ahli revealing his plan to Sharon.

"Okay, but where to?" Sharon had a point, it was not as easy as burning it, a strike must hit the core for it to work.

Ahli paid attention again to the black wolf in front of him that seemed already prepared to attack him. He looked at every inch of its body and then he found it.

"There! At back, at the base of the neck. Ready?" Sharon responded by preparing her stance.

"LET'S GO!" With his command, Sharon rushed toward the other wolf that had seemed to expect her. The one in front of Ahli also started to rush toward Ahli. Ahli responded by throwing both Flame Blast and Hasten into the air.

"I paid two fire mana, each for Flame Blast and Hasten! Hasten resolved first targeting Sharon, followed by Flame Blast targeting the vine core!" Both set-up shards quickly transformed and engulfed both cards with red light.

Hasten quickly transformed into a red beam which then separated into four, each reaching to Sharon's legs and arms. It engulfed them with red light, giving Sharon the boost.

Flame Blast itself turned into swirling flame tongue like usual, moving through its way toward the vine core. The wolf or in this case, the vine core, sensed the incoming danger and did a back flip as Flame Blast came to a close. Flame Blast missed it, but it quickly maneuvered.

At the same time, Ahli turned and saw how Sharon and the other wolf were closing their distance. Sharon then jumped and spun above the air, with her sword prepared to pierce. She then landed it on the core, stabbing her blade until it pierced the front neck of the wolf.

The moment she did that, the wolf stopped moving and fell to the ground lifeless. On the other side of the road, the maneuvered Flame Blast had reached the core and burned it. Its fire spread throughout the whole vines, which then ended up burning the whole body of the wolf.

Ahli and Sharon looked at each other, giving each other a smile as they finished with their attack. Ahli felt it was quite tense before, but luckily it could be ended faster. He took a breather and relaxed himself, when suddenly he realized something was off. There was no announcement regarding him winning the battle.

"SHARON!" As he shouted, many vines with different lengths and shapes raised from the bushes at the side of the path. Their number was hard to tell in that quick sequence. And then before Ahli's eyes, he saw many stats boxes appear before him.

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