24 The mist (7)

"To the left", the voice of Baerys reverberated in the forest.

Reacting promptly, a young man with dark red hair and a body refined beyond the limits of regular humans, moved forward, charging towards the lurking monster. Despite facing a freak of a nature, a giant murloc twice bigger than regular mutant murloc warriors, Ourin did not lose the strength contest, and even repelled the gigantic monster, using his momentum. 

However, he was not fighting alone, as an icicle hit the monster with accuracy, piercing its body, all the way through its chest, missing its heart by a few inches, but still damaging its vital system significantly. 

Still, mutant murlocs possessed terrifying vitality, and Ourin knew better than underestimating them, the numerous scars on his body being an immortal reminder of this species' strength.

[Scan Complete! Gigantic Mutant Murloc Warrior. Strength: 6.9, Agility: 1.6, Vitality: 7.3, Spirit: 3.1, Status: Healthy]

Without hesitation, Ourin's sword thrust forward at incredible speed.

[Beep! You have used the 19th form of the Ironguard swordsmanship, Knight Killing Technique : Iron Thrust]

After a full year spent in the mist, both Ourin and Baerys had grown a lot. Ourin managed to break through the level 2 acolyte realm after practicing the Mercifura Runic Meditation Technique daily, but his progress in martial art were even more impressing, nearing the realm of regular grand knights in terms of pure physique attribute and swordsmanship.

[Scan Complete! Ourin | Strength: 3.9 → 4.9, Agility: 3.1 → 3.4, Vitality: 4.3 → 6.2, Spiritual force: 3.1 → 5.6, Status: Healthy]

A year. Had he gotten his hands on a spell formula and corresponding theories, he might have achieved much more still, but unfortunately, he had joined the academy only a couple of months before falling into this predicament, his resources turned towards regents to increase his strength rather than long-term knowledge which could have helped him attain higher magical attainments.

However, Baerys was a very knowledgeable person, allowing him to digest her comprehension of magic slowly but surely, helping him raise his spiritual force not only to break through the level 2 acolyte realm, although he had yet to learn any spell. He tried to learn the icicle spell, but without ice elemental affinity, learning such a spell turned out to be a failed experiment.

Baerys, too, grew a lot.

[Scan Complete! Baerys | Strength: 0.4 → 0.9, Agility: 0.5 → 1.4, Vitality: 1.8 → 3.2, Spiritual force: 5.1 → 7.9, Status: Healthy]

She had risen from a regular level 2 acolyte to a peak level 2 acolyte, having met the requirement to reach the level 3 acolyte realm. With a good regent, like the Azure potion that allowed Leylin to follow a genius growth rate depite having only grade three talent.

However, Ourin discovered that talent was not everything in the path of magic. The fact that there existed magi with grade 1 talent was proof of that. At first, he thought that sufficient background and enormous amount of resources were necessary to progress. However, he realized that life and death battles also stimulated spiritual force and allowed it to grow. It might not be as efficient as pure meditation with high grade talent, but the good thing was that it was complementary, eventually allowing both Ourin and Baerys to display a growth rate far above what their grade 1 and grade 2 talent should have normally allowed, even in the best conditions.

As usual, Ourin walked up to his prey, took out a bone knife, and expertly extracted the heart of the montrous beast. Squeezing it, he collected the few drop of dark blue murloc essence into his flask. The few droplets that he had originally collected were now filling the flask almost entirely, a testimony of the numerous mutant murloc warriors they had slain over the past year.

They numbered in the hundreds.

If you counted the regular murloc warriors as well as the skeletons, then the number of creatures they had killed exceeded the four thousand marks. Be it Ourin or Baerys, both were confident that only a handful of old acolytes had slain as many creatures as they did. 

As usual, bone roots immediately emerged from the ground, harvesting the gigantic corpse into the ground, probably turning into nourrishment for the monstrous elder bone tree that had trapped them into the mist.

 "I guess we are done for the day", Baerys said, "To think we had never explored this area yet in a year...It is truly surprising"

Ourin had managed to find a way to explore the mist thoroughly, using his steps, and the biochip's computational abilities to trace his steps. After reaching the limits of the mist after a good week of marching in the same direction and using the hypothesis that it was in a circular shape, Ourin led a full exploration of the hunting grounds. 

By doing so, they eventually stumbled upon Willem, or more accurately, what remained of him. Only his skeleton remained, his flesh completely removed and digested by some beasts they probably killed.

"Besides the central area where the elder bone tree remains, we have explored every single area of the mist at least once. Of course, every time we pass an area, there is bound to be movements, especially after we have hunted for so long. However, I would estimate that more than eighty percent of the creatures trapped in the mist died by our hands already", Ourin said in a hoarse voice

Baerys, who usually had a cheerful demeanour and a scholar interest in magical phenomenon, was now completely broken inside too.

If not for one another, they would have both become crazy. The gruesome sight of terrifying bone vines entrapping monstrous corpses had become part of their daily lives, as much as the simple act of cutting through bone and flesh of creatures which crossed their paths.

Baerys was not an idiot, and she had quickly come to the same conclusion as Ourin: "Even if we kill all the creatures in the mist, there is no telling if it will ever release us"

The both of them had naturally agreed on the strong possibility that a magus level entity had trapped them, and they should never, ever try to defeat it. Even if they were level 3 acolytes, they would stand no chance. Even with a hundred seasoned acolytes, this would never be enough to kill a magus level entity, much less a magus level elder bone tree, which possessed size and strength far beyond the realm of regular magus creatures.

She continued: "I will repeat myself, but murloc shamans, mutant murloc warriors, extinct species of plants and birds...We have seen evidence that this mist has been ongoing for at least 58 years, according to your precise photographic memory, and even if all creatures were to die, it would not change a thing"

Ourin nodded, having this hypothesis in the back of his head for a long time, and having it discussed dozens of times already: "Yes, yes...An open mist spell...How fearsome indeed. It makes me wonder about the domains of high rank magi"

Baerys, who was now used to Ourin's crazy mumblings, simply sighed. Looking at his presence, he truly looked like the epitome of heroes from stories she used to read. He was not a knight in shining armour, by all means, and looked more like a demon since he always used to grin when fighting. Plus, he stank and he was always covered in blood.

However...He never gave up.

Baerys felt despair countless times. The day she was poisoned, or the night they had found Willem's corpse, or the week when she had caught a fever from a terrifying dragonfly nest...Many times, she had cried herself to sleep. However, there was one presence that prevented her from giving up, or even consider giving up.

Ourin.

The man who carried her when she became a burden.

The man who had given her an antidote when she needed it most.

The man who had fought by her side for one continuous year.

The man who would train after fighting until his last breath.

The man who saw this terrifying nightmare as an opportunity.

Ourin Ironguard

Unknowingly, the young, inexperienced boy she had taken into her party for his abnormal strength and complete the regular patrolling missions to gain some sort of allowance without risking her life had conquered her heart.

However, just as she was having this ridiculous thoughts of contenting herself with this daily life that looked like hell, a hole started to form. The mist, which had blurred their vision to a range of several meters for her, and ten meters for Ourin, showed a hole. They could see further, for the first time in a long time...

Ourin did not need another sign. He charged towards the hole, taking Baerys on his way, his speed reaching their utmost limits, his secret knight technique fuelling his strength and vitality to their utmost capabilities. The mist was expanding. But Ourin was faster, and after an unknown amount of time. They outran the mist.

They survived.