Chapter 22

We arrived at the Mirshe Settlement late afternoon, Although we arrived rather safely, We were still a bit vague on each other now. Toru didn't want me to kill anyone, but she doesn't know about Kuradeel, and I plan to keep it that way. The Mirshe Settlement was a settlement like Tolbana, but it was much more lively than Tolbana.

The first change was the amount of buildings present and the amount of players also present. Since Toru and I just arrived, the settlement was flourishing with Frontliners and solo players. "Toru let's-" before I can even finish Toru left on her own, This caught me off guard as I ran up to her.

"Toru-"

"I'm tired...Let's look for an inn..." she said in japanese.

"What?"

I responded back with pure confusion, unable to really understand her as she looked at me. She pointed at the Inn as I then realized what she meant. Oh...The Inn... I looked at the Inn as we walked and entered the Inn. We both paid for separate rooms as our rooms were right beside each other. The Afternoon became midnight as I laid down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, seeing the blue hue of the moon's luminance cover my room.

Tomorrow will be better...

I began to doze off, falling asleep, but the night was rough, waking up in the night in a cold sweat as I was constantly dreaming of the moment with Rina. Hearing Kuradeel laughing as she died in my hands once again. The feeling of dread didn't leave my mind as I rubbed my face a bit, getting out of bed and equipping my gear back on.

I can't sleep...I guess I'm going grinding tonight...

I left out of my room, quietly leaving the inn itself as I headed towards the exit, leaving the settlement and heading back into a separate part of Darkwood Forest. I walked through Darkwood Forest as it was rather peaceful at nighttime. Although in the name, it was pretty damn dark, forcing me to equip a <<Lantern >> for a light source. I strapped it along my hip as I ventured around.

Don't think about it...just...take a breather Haruka...

I closed my eyes for a bit taking a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling as it calmed myself down a bit, but as i opened up my eyes I saw a Forest Mutant nearby. Alongside the Forest mutant I saw a green indicator, seeing someone fighting the forest mutant. I stopped as I squinted my eyes at who it was, walking towards it and going off trail.

"The hell is that indicator-"

As I was finishing up my muttering sentence, I then saw a green cloak as I immediately recognized who it was. "A little help?!" They called out as it was Sato, fighting a Forest mutant as he ducked underneath it's big hands and jumped back exhausted. "R-Right!" I snapped out of my split second daze, rushing towards Sato's aid.

A bellowing roar was let out by the Forest Mutant as Sato blocked a couple more swipes from the forest mutant, taking large amounts of chip damage. His health being low yellow as another swipe and chip damage chipped him down to high red. I ran as fast as I can as Sato dodged out of the way and began running towards me.

"Get ready!"

Sato shouted as I unsheathed my sword, rushing at them as I ran past Sato, jumping and slashing the Forest mutant, stumbling on the landing as I almost rolled over and into the mud. Rain began to pour as the forest mutant cried out in pain, turning its attention to me. Meanwhile Sato and I are slowly gaining a <<Drenched >> effect, making our clothes slightly heavier and making our movements just a tad bit slower.

"C'mon! I'm right here!"

I tried taunting the Forest Mutant, realizing seconds later that it's an NPC, it's not affected by taunts. But either way it charged at me, rather quickly at that. Oh sh*t!! I wasn't expecting their speed to be as quick as it was, barely dodging a claw slash as it grazed my hair and my cloak.

I clenched my sword as I looked at Sato, seeing him adding me to a party as I quickly tapped the blue circle. It made a small Ding!, as I closed my window quickly, blocking a head ram as it sent me flying back a bit and stumbling onto my back.

"son of a-" 

I then saw it jump as I rolled to the side and got up, running as it landed and caused the ground to shake a bit, throwing me off as I faceplanted into the ground. I turned and got up as it turned it's attention to me once again, rushing at me with it's impressively fast speed. "Gotta be quick on my feet!" I muttered.

I parried a slash as I swung at it's midsection, dealing three slashes as none of them were a crit. It cried out but it endured the pain, punching towards my left side which I blocked but sent me sliding back. C'mon Sato...Heal up quickly...! I jumped back as it jumped and landed where I was, using it's landing to get a sneaky slash onto it's arm.

It made the Forest mutant angrier as I was late to realize that this forest mutant was not like the rest he's fought. It had three whole health bars, Sato had taken it to two and a half health bars as I took off the remaining half, now down to a singular health bar.

I stood my ground as I slashed it again, this time using vertical strike to strike the entire body of the forest mutant, hearing them cry out in pain as I shouted "Any time now Sato!!!". "Don't worry! I'm already here!" He shouted back, slashing it's back as they were doing a good amount of damage. It suddenly slammed both it's hands onto the ground, throwing us off balance but not enough to get us to fall down.

"woah!!"

Sato and I said, looking around as it was suddenly gone, the darkness of the forest was helping the Forest Mutant hide its tracks as we looked around for where it went. We both then heard a snarl from one of the trees as we snapped our attention to the tree, seeing it jump down with a large tree branch.

"Ready Sato?"

"You Betcha" He said with a smirk.

The both of us charged at the Forest Mutant, hearing it roar out as it's health was high yellow and ours were high green.