Chapter 28: Harmless

Rando considered for a while before finally agreeing.

"Alright then. But I don't where she's staying at the moment."

"No problem, I've got that covered."

I requested the innkeeper for Sigrid and he promptly went up to call her.

Without waiting long, the innkeeper walked down the stairs, followed a hooded figure. She studied us for a while before taking a seat beside Rando. I expected her to ask but she didn't say a word. We sat there in silence for a few seconds before I finally begun explaining our current predicament.

"Sure. I'll do it," she agreed.

We looked at each other in bewilderment.

"That's… easier than I expected," I said.

Sigrid leered at me and I snorted.

"Uhh… Let's go then?"

Sigrid and Lia went back to their room to gather the necessary supplies and we set out to the woods without further delay.

As expected, we encountered some big-ass beasts along our way, though nothing too hard to handle. Before leaving, I summoned my soulblade and sheath it in the scabbard I bought back in the market. Keeping it constantly materialized all the time instead of calling and dismissing it as I usually do. After all there's virtually no limit as to how long I can keep it solid. As we combed the forest, I constantly kept an eye out for any trace of the creature that tried to kill me. It might almost succeeded in murdering me, but I doubt it can do the same thing with everyone around. The reason why I felt reassured is because if it were that strong in the first place, I would've been dead without even having the chance to call upon my power. At least, that's what I believed.

We combed through the forest as much as we possibly could, with Rando as our tracker. He explained to us that before he retired, he was actually a Silver-rank Adventurer that specializes in scouting and hunting. The reason why he retired as an active Adventurer is because the previous Guild Associate that lived in the town died of old-age, thus he was offered to take over his job.

We managed to found some traces of Bastion, which indicated he really did went through the forest and followed it. Unfortunately, halfway through the tracks seemed to disappeared completely. As night was approaching, we had no choice but to set up camp and wait for daylight to arise, with Rando as the first watch. I stared at the moon as I prepared to sleep. Instead of its usual faint white, it seemed to demonstrate a slight tinge of green under the canopy of the trees. I thought it was a kind of illusion at first and tried to get some sleep before my shift.

A few hours later, Rando came to call me to switch. I got up immediately since I couldn't get any sleep at all. I looked to the skies again and noticed that the moon has taken a shade of darker green since the last time I saw it. Huh, quite peculiar. I ignored it and started my watch.

I sat restlessly, keeping an eye out for any surprise. As the night progresses, I suddenly found fatigue slowly catching up to me. The constant alertness I exerted constantly was starting to take a toll. The mist started to descend from higher grounds and flooded the forest floor. At first it didn't bother me. But as time slowly went by, I noticed it getting denser and higher until it eventually started to cover my knees. This doesn't look like a natural phenomenon at all, so I stood up to wake everyone up just in case. And as I did, I notice that the forest had suddenly went quiet. So quiet, not even the mating call of nocturnal insects nor amphibians can be heard. I sensed something at the back of my head and turned around. I saw the creature from before looping its lower elongated torso on the trunk of a tree, silently watching. I scanned around and found the whole area populated by it. They weren't all the same shapes and sizes, varying between being as small as a person up to the size of a bus, each with unique morphologies. The one thing they had in common were their translucent bodies with marbles embedded sparsely inside. I unsheathed my soulblade from the scabbard and readied my battle stance. I slowly walked to where everyone was and nudged them awake with my feet. The creatures didn't react towards my action and kept still, glowing slightly under the moonlight. Soon, everyone was awake. Sigrid took out her bow and started drawing whilst Rando unsheathed his short-sword as well. We all converged in a circle where we can guard each other's back. Seeing Lia unarmed, Sigrid took out a spare dagger and tossed it to her. Lia caught it clumsily and clenched the hilt with two hands.

"Can anyone tell me what the hell are those?" I whispered nervously.

"Miords," Rando whispered back.

"Miords?"

"They are creatures that usually feed on natural magic that are abundant in the forest. But don't worry, they'll go away on their own eventually. This isn't my first time seeing them here."

"Really, Rando? And you didn't bother mentioning it to us that there were…" I tried recalling the words.

"Miords."

"...Miords here before we went in the woods?"

"Relax, Mike. Miords are generally harmless creatures. They don't usually attack people without any compelling reason, so try not to provoke them," he reassured.

"Well, that one did," I spat, pointing at the snaky one at the tree.

The Miords started to stir, hissing as they moved closer towards us.

I chuckled nervously as I turned to see Rando's face covered in horror before he muttered, "Run."