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A day's travel from Lunia, they made a sparse camp in a rocky hollow overlooking the mist-shrouded entrance to the Death Catacombs. A small fire crackled, pushing back against the creeping chill.
Iriana stared into the flames, her violet eyes distant, "I was here a couple of weeks ago" she said, her melodic voice softer than before, stripped of its earlier pride, "With another team. Our leader was Kayle"
Greem looked up from checking his crossbow. The name echoed the image of a tough man. Willem nodded slowly, feeding a twig to the fire. "The Transmuter. He had... fused with a ghoul's arm. Well, his words spoke louder than his actions though. He was part of the bottom-rank acolytes"
Iriana let out a short, bitter laugh. She knew, inwardly, that Greem and Willem's recent fame was not based on luck. When she first met Greem a year ago, he was nothing like the current young man she was facing. His arms, though kept under a robe, looked more muscular than before, and his aura spoke volumes of his magical prowess.
When he stared at her eyes, she could feel that he was not far from the intermediate realm.
She explained: "It made him reckless. We ventured too deep, attracted a war party of those barbarians that sometimes wander up from the lower depths. Kayle charged them. His ghoul-arm tore through two, but a third buried an axe in his skull"
She hugged her knees, a vulnerable gesture that seemed alien to her.
"The rest of us scattered. I only survived because I'd just learned the [Blood Shield] spell. It held long enough for me to run"
There was a heavy silence. Greem's opinion of her improved. He could not care less about her backstory. She was not meant to replace Vanessa, only act as a shield as their warrior recovered. But Iriana had grown stronger, even if subtly. Learning a defensive spell was no small feat. Most took months or years to learn, the magical knowledge an immense obstacle to that.
Willem gave a slow, deliberate nod. "Then we'll be careful. The moss isn't worth dying for"
His words were pragmatic, not comforting, but they seemed to settle her.
"You introduced us, Willem, but you never told me how you came to find an acolyte willing to join our party so fast", Greem noted, "Especially not a skilled summoner like Iriana"
Flattery was never a bad choice. Preferring subtle coercion rather than oppression had been Greem's game since his joining of the Association. Willem chuckled at this remark, but did not highlight it. He was more than used to the boy's antics.
"Actually, I was the one who recommended her to the Association. When I found her tribe, she was just a kid. Twenty years later, she became a fine woman, and a fearsome...summoner, as you noted", Willem explained
Greem nodded.
To join the association, you needed referrals. Greem had been lucky enough to stumble upon Elizabeth herself in the library. He merely wanted to strengthen his knowledge at first, but little did he know, for he would learn magic, obscure arcane arts which were, for most people, only legends.
"We have company", Willem spoke, only to realise that both Iriana and Greem were already on their guards.
Iriana showed composure, her curved daggers flickering in the air.
Greem was still, his hand ready to draw his cross sword at any moment.
However, the 'visitors' showed themselves.
The firelight seemed to shrink back, the air growing thick with a damp, fishy stench.
From the mist curling at the mouth of the catacombs, figures emerged.
They were hunched and bipedal, with slimy, mottled green skin and wide, unblinking eyes that reflected the firelight.
Their hands and feet were webbed, and they clutched crude spears tipped with sharpened bone. Crude weapons, but their strong stature made them just as dangerous as trained soldiers.
Murlocs.
A low, chattering croak echoed from the lead one as it pointed a webbed finger toward their camp. There were six of them, moving with an unsettling, synchronized gait.
[Murloc Scout - Lv. 2 Warrior]
[Murloc Scout - Lv. 2 Warrior]
[Murloc Brute - Lv. 3 Warrior]
...
Iriana was the first to move. She didn't wait for an order. With shaprness, she swept her hand through the air. A crimson mist coalesced in front of her, solidifying into the form of a wolf made of congealed blood. It was smaller than Willem's bat, but it snarled with palpable ferocity, landing silently on the ground between them and the advancing creatures.
Willem didn't stand by either. A silent command sent Moe, his contracted beast, dropping from the branch above like a stone. The Level 5 bat slammed into the lead Murloc Scout, its powerful claws shredding through slimy skin. The creature died with a wet gurgle before it could cry out.
Greem remained still, his hand on his sword hilt.
His eyes, however, were racing, analyzing the scene. Murlocs were cave-dwellers, water-breathers. For a group this size to be on the surface, especially at night… it meant their underground territory had been disturbed.
Something had flushed them out.
'Another party?', Greem thought, 'It would not be strange for similar missions to be handed to the Association's members. Let's just hope there will be no trouble'
The Blood Wolf lunged, tearing into a second scout. Iriana held her position, daggers ready, her focus absolute. Willem's bat crippled a third with a precise bite to its leg. The fight was brutally one-sided, over in less than ten seconds.
The remaining murlocs, seeing their companions dispatched so easily, let out a series of panicked croaks. Greem, however, had already positioned himself to take care of them.
[Ombre Curse]
With the powerful stamina-draining enchant on his cross blade, Greem was a knight of the dark forces. His swordsmanship, polished by tutoring of Emma and recent life and death battles, shined against weak enemies. He did not need any other spell to support him. Moving forward, his body enhanced by the effects of the breathing technique, his blade easily cut through those terrified beings.
*SPLASH*
Silence returned, broken only by the crackle of the fire and the wet sounds of Iriana's summon dissolving back into a puddle of blood. A drop of cold sweat could be seen on her face, obviously one of the side effects of the spell, which wasted a significant amount of her blood as the catalyst.
"[Blood Wolf] is a useful spell", Greem commented, his voice cutting through the quiet.
He wasn't looking at the corpses, but at the dark opening of the catacombs.
Iriana, however, did not comment. Murlocs were strong beasts, enough to give regular acolytes their fair share of difficulty. Yet neither Willem nor Greem seemed phased by this encounter. If anything, they demanded more.
Willem nodded, his bat returning to his shoulder.
Greem's mind was already working. However, he was not worried. Rather, he was quite excited.
[You have killed a [Lv. 3 Murloc Warrior]. You have earned 5 EXP]
[You have killed a [Lv. 3 Murloc Warrior]. You have earned 5 EXP]
[You have killed a [Lv. 3 Murloc Warrior]. You have earned 5 EXP]
The notification was minor. The implication was not. 15 EXP was roughly the equivalent of three days of training, or one if he was tutored by Emma. Yet, only a couple of seconds allowed him to gain as much as 15 EXP. At this rate, he was only a couple missions away from breaking through Lv. 8, which was the last obstacle before becoming an [Intermediate Rank Acolyte], part of the elites of the Association.
"Get some rest," Greem said, finally turning away from the darkness. "We enter at first light. And we watch more than just the walls"