A Forest of Mutated Monsters

"It's a mutation!" I yelled as I was pushed back a few feet.

I immediately countered with a strong Moonlight Lightning Slash. It was aimed at one of the monster's joints in an attempt to bypass its Earthen Armor. A small amount of blood trickled out from the minimally damaged Earthen Armor. Unfortunately the wound didn't hamper its movements.

A Lightning Arrow ricocheted off its armor and was followed up by an Ice Arrow that wasn't able to break through the earthen armor but did coat it with its leg with ice which did slow its movements.

Spectral chains shot out and were also unable to pierce the bear's protection. They did wrap around its neck and pulled it to the ground.

Next came shadow ravens that crashed one after another into the back of its neck. A hissing sound came as they eroded the Earthen Armor.

I jumped up to the monstrous bear, putting all my mana into my Sturdy spell as it bucked against the chains. A Moonlight Lightning Slash crashed into the area that had been weakened by Thelora's shadow spell. Cracks had appeared but the mutation from the alchemic mixture had increased its defense to absurd levels.

As the monster began to fight back, the spectral chains and the ice started to lose their effect in keeping it down. Knowing that my Slash wasn't going to do the job I pulled my sword back into my Storage Ring and prepped my new attack. In my down time since fighting Gunnar I had been perfecting the spells that I had improvised during that fight.

With my Osgar and Lydos aura glowing on my enchanted gauntlet, I added a targeted Speed spell to my arm as I used my Empowered Moonlight Lightning Punch on the back of its head. It's overall power was less than what I had used during the tournament but I also didn't suffer the same level of backlash.

The Earthen Armor only cracked slightly more from the attack but the kinetic force of the punch transferred through to its brain. Dazed, the jordr bear became lethargic and stopped struggling, allowing me to pull out my enchanted sword again. The blade easily slipped between the cracks in the monster's defense. I then filled my blade with Lighting magic and my Lydos aura.

The monster roared and tried to shake me off but only survived for a few moments before its life ended. The jordr bear was typically a C ranked monster, meaning that an average team of four C ranked adventurers should be able to handle it while only taking a small amount of damage. Its mutation made it a B ranked monster, though this one seemed to be on the lower end of that rank.

Even though Adalgard was the only official B ranked adventurer, all of us were basically at that rank. If an actual C ranked team came across this monster, they would have had a hard time killing it.

As I jumped off the monster's back Lariss rushed towards me and began to inspect my arm.

"We're in the middle of the forest without a healer. Maybe don't use attacks that could hurt you." She said.

"I'm fine. I've been perfecting the attack over the last few days." I replied.

"New attacks like that usually take a few months if not years to get right." Thelora said with a scowl.

"If this was the first time you tested it out, then I have to agree with them, it was reckless." Adalgard said.

"Here, drink this. Your muscles are damaged." Lariss said.

At first I thought she was overreacting but as I sent my aura through my arm I found that the muscle fibers were indeed harmed from the attack. Using it more than once in a day could cause damage like I experienced when I fought Gunnar. It looks like I need to refine the spells a little more.

I downed the healing potion without comment.

"It looks to be altered in the same way as that manticore." Thelora said as she examined the corpse.

"But why a random jordr bear? The chances of people stumbling upon it are slim. What could they be looking to accomplish?" Lariss asked.

"I doubt this is the only monster in the forest that has been mutated." I replied.

"If that's the case we need to find a place to hold up for the night." Adalgard said.

Lariss pulled the jordr bear into her Storage Bracelet and we set out to find a defensible place to wait out the night.

We ended up finding a place between two close hills. It limited the outside view of our camp and provided ways for us to escape from different directions depending on what attacked us. We set up the Warning Bell and dug a pit for a small fire that we added herbs that would keep monsters away. Adalgard also prayed over the area for protection from the Elder Watchers.

Originally we intended to have two sleeping at a time while the other two were on watch. But the monsters could be heard prowling and fighting around our area for the entire night.

In the morning we found a number of monster corpses in the vicinity. All of them had been mutated to one degree or another. We even found a jackalope, which are normally F ranked monsters, that may have qualified as a C ranked monster. After picking through the better corpses we continued on our way.

Now that we were more than half a day from the entrance of the forest, we began to zig zag back and forth to cover more area. Towards noon we found a herd of breldur elk in a large clearing that had been killed and harvested by other adventurers.

Whether they were the Guardians of Ice or another guild, we couldn't tell. Unfortunately, whoever they were, they had covered their tracks really well. Since even Lariss couldn't tell which direction they went in, they were most likely an A ranked guild.

As we started to leave the clearing where the leftover monster corpses were, a chill entered my heart. A moment later a guttural high pitched screech echoed through the area. Looking towards its source we saw the hideous form of a boergrunr on the opposite side of the clearing. It's bird-like head was raised in the air as it let out its call.

It was normally a B ranked monster, which meant we should be able to kill one. It would be tough based on what we saw in the competition against B ranked teams, but we should be able to do it. The problem was that it was most likely mutated like the rest of the monsters we had come across in the forest. Making it an A ranked monster at a minimum.

We still would have a chance of killing it but not without taking serious injuries. Either way we needed to make it out of the clearing as the trees would give us some protection as its size would limit its movements.

It spread its wings and shot towards us at incredible speed flying just above the ground. As we got closer to the tree line the chill in my heart deepened.

"There's another one." I yelled as I looked to our right and saw a second one running through the forest in an attempt to head us off.

We altered our course to keep the second one from getting in front of us and flanking our group with the first one. The two of them let out their cries as they pursued us weaving between the trees with an efficiency I had hoped they wouldn't have.

Once again my warning chill increased as we ran past a ridge. From above I saw a third boergrunr crouched above ready to pounce as we ran by.

"Lariss!" I yelled as I sent out a Firebolt towards the monster. She immediately followed it up with a Lightning Arrow that caused the monster to flinch back long enough for us to avoid its ambush.

However, it was now right behind us. As it lunged towards us I sent out a Moonlight Lightning Slash as Adalgard launched her spectral chains. Our attacks gave us enough time to dodge out of the way but it split our group in two. Adalgard and I were on one side of the beast and Lariss and Thelora were on the other side.

"Run! We'll meet up later." I yelled.

If there was only one I'd have jumped at it without a second thought but there was no way we'd be able to take on this one before the other two caught up. I soon lost sight of the other two as we ran in the opposite direction and they activated their Cloaking spells.

The closest took off after them and the other two chased Adalgard and me since they were too far away to track the others through their Cloaking spells.

In a way it was good that more of them followed us since the two of us had the best defense. But we were also the slowest. There was no way we'd be able to outrun the two following us. I was looking around for a good place to stand our ground when a sensation ran through my bones. In the next instant a swirl of leaves came from our left and another beast appeared before us.

A stag with golden brown fur and silver streaks on its antlers was soon running besides us. As I made eye contact, an understanding entered my mind and I altered our course to follow the mysterious stag.

It took us in a diagonal from the direction we were headed and we soon found ourselves coming up on a ravine. The stag majestically jumped across and continued on, as we came to a halt since there was no way we'd be able to jump the distance. Below us was a raging river.

With no choice we jumped just as the arms of the monsters started to grasp at us.