The Sighing Swamp

For the next hour, Manco and Cordelia traversed the narrow path. Despite having attempted to lure the wild creatures away with piles of fresh meat, they still had to dealt with a sizable number.

"Hey! I'm level 15 now!" Cordelia exclaimed triumphantly. Standing on top of a massive wolfrat's corpse, she retrieved her blades that was lodged in the animal's ears. Sheathing the blades, she back-flipped away from the corpse, gracefully landed on the ground, then bowed with a flourish to an invisible audience.

"Good for you!" Manco said distractedly. The girl was remarkably agile and well-coordinated. He suspected it had something to do with her occupation in real life, but as usual, he kept his assumptions to himself.

As the day went on, they steadily made progress. Manco's level had hit the cap long ago, but his masteries could still improve. His Mana Bolt leveled up to 28, and Crossbow to 25. He still kept his gun in his inventory and stuck to his crossbow, dagger, and spells.

At one point, a random group of bandits showed up demanding road tolls. However, at the sight of the slain creatures lying around the pair, the hardened criminals stammered apologies and beat a hasty retreat.

"These guys are pretty smart!" Cordelia sighed with relief, "I'm glad we don't have to fight them."

"Have you ever killed a human NPC in this game?" Manco asked.

"No," she shook her head, "Have you?"

"Yes."

"What's it like?"

"Pretty messy," Manco answered vaguely. It was quite an understatement. The injuries tend to be nauseatingly realistic, even without the 'Matured Adventurer' package. In addition, most of the time, the dying NPCs didn't act like mindless creatures. Sometimes they would beg the players to spare their lives. Other time, they begged to be put out of their misery. Most of the time, though, they just sobbed and screamed like little kids while soiling themselves.

"Ugh," she shuddered, "I hope I won't have to."

"Sometimes you won't have a choice," he shrugged.

"I mean, I have no problem with players. I know they don't die for real. But these NPCs just seem…" she paused as if searching for words "…more… alive to me. Does that make any sense?"

"It does," he nodded, noting the irony. It was a good thing that most of the enemies in the game are non-human. Also, half a year from now, an update would be introduced to give generic NPCs quick and painless deaths.

Five kilometers away from Broken Hill, as the pair entered the region called the Sighing Swamp, the terrain started to change.

The first noticeable sign was the path beneath their feet. The solid ground began to mix with patches of wet soil. As they progressed, their feet sunk deeper and deeper into the ground, until it became thick mud that made them struggle to wade through.

Then there was the mist. It obscured the vision and made it hard to see beyond a few dozen meters. The air was damp and humid, making their faces wet and their clothes stuck uncomfortably to their bodies.

The only trees in the area were cypresses, with tree moss hanging off of them.

The waning afternoon sun filtered through the canopy of the sparse foliage, casting a hazy orange light around the pair.

Permeating the air was a rotten smell of decaying plant matter.

After a while, the ground began to be dominated by water puddles of all shapes, sizes and depths. Some of them were only ankle deep, while others might be much deeper. Falling into one of these deeper holes could spell a slow and uncomfortable death to any adventurer.

"Stay behind me," Manco said as he retrieved from his inventory a pole for setting tents. He kept walking, using the pole to test the ground in front of him.

"Ugh!" Cordelia shuddered, looking at the scum-covered water, which had a sickly green color.

"Is it like this all the way to Broken Hill?" she asked, swiping condensed moisture off her forehead and wiped on her clothes, only to find them equally damp.

"Yes. This is as good as it gets. The path we're on is through the narrowest part of the swamp. And there's also a man-made road. We should be able to see it in about… hmm, five minutes."

"Okay," she said, and they walked in silence. The only sounds around were the squelching of their boots.

When it was dark, Cordelia took out her torch and tinderbox, preparing to light it.

"Wait, don't light it yet," Manco stopped her, "Stay here," he approached a tree, climbed up, and surveyed the area.

"It's already dark! What're you looking for?" she asked.

"The road," he answered as he jumped down next to her, "I've found it, let's go!"

Two minutes later, they reached 'the road.'

It was a path, around one meter wide, made out of stone slabs and wooden planks. Planted on it were patches of glowing moss, allowing it to be visible during the night.

"Cool!" Cordelia exclaimed as she set foot on a wooden plank, testing the stability. Looking back, she saw the glowing path extending beyond her vision, "Where does this road come from?"

"Beats me. I've never been there," Manco shrugged, "You wanna take point?"

"Sure!" she answered.

With relatively solid ground beneath their feet, they moved at a much faster pace.

"Y'know," Cordelia started, as they walked along the path, "For a place called the Sighing Swamp, it isn't very swamp-like."

"What do you mean?" Manco asked back, slightly bored.

"The cypress trees were pretty spot-on. But the ground of this place has more in common with bogs or moors. Swamps are often covered with water, and you need boats to navigate. It looks like they just mix together the various terrain features for a 'cool' atmosphere."

"Be grateful you don't have to use boats. Combat on boat sucks!" Manco scoffed, "And what are you, a biologist?"

"You mean ecologist? And no, I am not. I just have lots of free time." Cordelia said with a grin.

A short while later, they came across a message carved on a tree trunk next to the path. It said "Beware STRANGLER vines!"

"Sounds kinda ominous, doesn't it!" Cordelia said, looking around warily.

"It's alright. It's only dangerous if you're alone," looking at her, he slightly bowed and extended his hand forward with a smile: "Ladies first."

"Why?"

"Because I'm polite. Why else?"

"I'm gonna be bait, aren't I?"

"Got it in one! You're getting smarter!" He complimented.

"Why don't YOU be bait?"

"Because it's difficult to break from their hold. If you get trapped, though, I can free you easily."

"Hmph!" She scoffed but didn't protest and walked ahead of him.

Hanging back, Manco sorted through his inventory and made preparations. The night hunt several days ago had gifted him with ingredients for a new tool to deal with the vines.

"What are those vines like?" Cordelia asked.

"Their favored M.O is going for the neck and strangling their prey. Don't let them do it. Otherwise, you'll be hit with the unconscious status effect."

"What's it like being unconscious?"

"Everything just turned black, and you stop hearing things. After a while it'll pass," he paused, then added "…if you don't die while you are unconscious, of course."

"That's comforting!" Bracing herself, she kept walking, one hand gripping the blade handle at her hip.

It was pitch black. In the dim light cast by the torches, they could only see a few meters ahead. They could hear the faintly whistling wind, and the shuffling of the leaves. Once in a while, a sharp snapping sound was heard, causing them to stop and stand back to back, wary of ambushers.

"Hey, do you mind turning on your healing spirit?" Manco asked as he extinguished his torch.

"So that I can stand out even more?" she asked, frowning.

"Yup!" He could tell she was scared, but she still held her own quite admirably. He had seen much older players cracking and freaking out under much less tense situations.

"I'm liking you less and less!"

"Does that mean you liked me at the beginning?"

"Ugh. Shut up!" Closing her eyes, she made a brief chant, then a transparent image of a starfish hovered above her head, casting a bright, healthy green light.

"Watch your step! And walk slowly!" He warned, while stepping further away from the combined light of her torch and her healing spirit.

"You watch your step!" Speaking through gritted teeth, Cordelia took tentative steps forward.

Several minutes later,…

Nothing happened.

"This isn't working!" Manco muttered, a dozen meters behind Cordelia.

"What else do you want me to do?" She asked sarcastically "Singing?"

"That isn't a bad idea, actually."

"But I don't wannaaaAAAAAH...!" Her voice turned into a scream as she was dragged straight up in the air. She dropped the torch, which fizzled and was extinguished as it fell head first onto the ground.