The mist (4)

Days passed.

*SPLASH*

Followed closely by Baerys who was desperately clutching a small-sized dagger with precious stones on it, Ourin was calmly assessing the creature in front of him. His last opponent of the battle: a murloc warrior of extraordinary size, surpassing that of regular humans, reaching more than two meters tall. Compared to regular murlocs, this creature was three to four times bigger.

[Mutant Murloc Warrior]

Although rare, mutants would somehow appear in such magical species. If they possessed affinity with magic, murlocs could become shaman. However, if not, the radiations could sometimes cause their cells to mutate and degenerate. Most of specimens who were exposed to magic would die, but there were some rare cases of surviving creatures: mutant murlocs. 

[Beep! You have successfully displayed the 8th form of the Ironguard Swordsmanship: Crescent Slash]

[Beep! Target [Mutant Murloc Warrior] is dead]

However, such a creature only possessed high strength and vitality. Its intellect was average at best, for a murloc, that is. Compared to a human knight who had pushed his swordsmanship to the limits, it was a worthy opponent at best, a prey at worst.

Seeing the massive beast fall on the ground, Baerys finally calmed a little bit. Her dagger was no weapon. It was not sharp, and it was most likely an ornemental tool she had taken up.

Ourin did not say a word, trying to save his energy at best.

He moved forward, and eviscerated the creature, before taking its heart out, revealing a gruesome scene in front of the young woman with golden hair, too shocked to speak out. She was used to such a sight, but she could not help but look down, not capable of handling the scene.

Ourin's gloves were tainted in a blue-ish liquid once again, but he did not care and continued to proceed, crushing the heart to extract a few drops of crystal-clear, translucent solution, which he stored in a small vial. Inside, more than a dozen drops had been stored already. This was the treasure he had been looking for in the outskirts of the island of bones. However, no trace of happiness could be seen in his eyes.

"Six", Ourin finally spoke with a hint of worry.

Baerys immediately understood the meaning of his words. In the last couple of days, it was already the sixth mutant warloc they encountered. However, such mutant warlocks were very rare. It would be an incredible stroke of misfortune to encounter one in a small-sized tribe like the one they targeted and thought to be swallowed by the mist.

However, meeting six such specimen was too much, even for a medium-sized tribe of murlocs.

"This is strange indeed...Coupling this information with the level 2 murloc shaman we encountered when we were just swallowed by the mist...It seems like it is not a regular mist", Baerys analysed, "Mists that are cast by level 2 elder bone tree can be deadly to regular magical creatures and average acolytes, but it is not uncommon and there are many testimonies of acolytes who survived it. However, there are very few records of acolytes surviving the mists of level 3 elder bone trees, most of them escaping by chance or by killing those elder bone trees themselves"

Ourin bit his lips: "Without Willem to guide us through the mist, the best we can do is continue walking forward and try to survive. We can't reach the elder bone trees even if we want to, so our best option is to survive the mist for as long as it needs"

Baerys had a dark face. She knew that the mists could last for months, or even years. If they were lucky, the mist was already in its ending phase, but if it had just begun, then it would be very dangerous. 

Both Baerys and Ourin knew their limits. For one, Ourin was still a level 1 acolyte. He might have surpassed the limits of regular knights through magical elixirs and extraordinary mastery of his family swordsmanship, but he had limits too. After five days of carrying Baerys around, and protecting her from the murloc warriors unceasing ambushes, the fatigue was accumulating. Wounds, too, were accumulating. 

"Careful!", Baerys suddenly shouted, before casting an icicle spell. 

Ourin reacted swiftly, and raised his shield to block the incoming projectile.

*CLANG*

It was none other than a bone spear, a rank 0 spell. From a close distance, Baerys had immediately located the caster who had almost claimed Ourin's life, waiting for the perfide moment when he lowered his guard after a tough battle. It looked like a human, yet it was crackling. Its movements were irregular, awkward.

*CRACK*

The icicle hit the mark, and the humanoid silouhette collapsed.

"What was it?", Baerys asked in a cowering voice

Ourin sighed, upon realizing that surviving would not get any easier...Fortunately, he had scanned the records of the free library floor, so he possessed one advantage: knowledge. He knew what would kill him, most likely.

The Island of Bones name was not chosen randomly. After being conquered by magi, it quickly turned into a large academy: the Mercifura Academy. Countless experiments were conducted on the island, but some were more successful than others. A failed experiment on necromancy and cursomancy caused the island to be cursed. Its vegetation became mostly infected with bone elemental particles, causing regular trees to become 'bone trees'. 

The vegetation naturally became more prone to develop self awareness and magical affinity, causing elder bone trees to become incredibly lethal to those who were caught unprepared. The rank 0 [Bone Mist] spell was especially infamous. Although rare in principle, every few years, a couple of acolytes would come back with more information about their experiences to the Mercifura Academy. There was no need for scholars to understand that dozens more died without the chance to record their experience, dying to this cruel spell.

However, bone trees were not the only threat that was inherited from these old experiments. Once, this island was populated by natives. Barbarians of some sort, they were relatively primitive and peaceful. The failed experiment, however, turned them into bloodthirsty monsters, deprived of rest and consciousness: skeletons.

Among them, there was one kind of skeleton that was more dangerous than others: Skeleton Mages.

Because skeleton warriors were easy to destroy, they became increasingly rarer with time. However, skeleton mages which possessed more intellect could sometimes be encountered. The fact that they could create more of their kinds through undead spells also made them incredibly dangerous. 

There was actually a bounty in the tower, which could earn 10 magic crystals for every skeleton mage that was fallen. After all, unlike magical beast, skeleton mages did not provide any valuable magical ingredient. They were the result of a failed experiments, inferior versions of acolytes.

But neither Ourin nor Baerys were rejoicing at the sight. 

Although Baerys had succeeded in killing one such skeleton mage, Ourin could see dozens of humanoid silouhettes slowly approaching. Without hesitation, Ourin took Ourin like a bag of potatoe, and started to sprint in the opposite direction. 

His goal was not to kill enemies in the mist. His goal was as simple as it could get: survive.