Fourth Quest (2)

<Author's 10 Thoughts: This is an extra chapter for reaching more than Power Stones this week. Thank you, Jitna, Fool_11, hiatusy, LeonidasCSNeto and yitzic!>

Whooosh!

Vivian swung her knife and decapitated a sunflower monster.

She didn't bother to confirm if it was still alive or dead and immediately rushed over to the next sunflower monster.

Psssh!

Thud.

The other sunflower monster coughed out orange gas and missed as Vivian jumped over and landed behind it.

Whooosh!

Just like its companion, it too was decapitated.

Vivian looked around if there were other monsters.

After confirming there was none, she threw some stabs, jabs and kicks in the air.

Woooh!

Woooh!

Woooh!

Woooh!

Hmm…

Fighting while wearing this cloak feels a bit uncomfortable…

However, given that I'll eventually go on adventures that require me to be away for more than a day, I must train myself to get used to this…

Unless of course I get my hands on some spatial equipment or magic…

She shook her head.

"Even if I get something like that, given that there are chimneys here, there will still be winter."

Woooh!

She threw a roundhouse kick.

Hmm… 

But what I'm really afraid of is someone or something pulling my cloak in the middle of a fight…

Vivian scratched her head.

"Whatever!"

She resumed searching for enemies.

***

Beak!

Beak!

Vivian stopped and quickly turned to where the sound was coming from.

When she located the Bukaroo, she stopped and readied her whip as she waited for it to come to her. And as she waited, she didn't put her guard down and was on the lookout for other enemies to come.

Whaaack!

Beeeaaak!

Thud.

Vivian whacked the bird to the side with her whip the moment it entered her attack range and she immediately went to where it crashed.

Bam!

She delivered a stomp on the bird and then raised her foot before extracting the tail.

"Okay, got my first tail."

She resumed searching for enemies.

***

As Vivian was walking, she saw a Treebark up ahead.

Tch!

She clicked her tongue and then started running.

When she was about 20ft away from the monster, she suddenly stopped.

Two people, a boy and a girl, around 15 years old dressed in adventurer gear were approaching it.

The boy was in front and was holding a short sword and had a knife on his waist. Meanwhile, the girl was holding a dagger, had a small club hanging around her waist and was carrying a backpack. And just like Vivian, they had a Copper Rank I pendant around their necks.

Vivian tilted her head to the side and chuckled.

Are they seriously going to kill that Treebark with a sword and dagger…?

She then remembered the time she used her dagger to chop a Treebark's arms and also the time she used [Dagger Stab] on another Treebark.

She shook her head and smiled.

Well, I guess I'm no different…

Nevertheless, she still decided to just wait and see.

Hmm…

I'm surprised that they didn't notice me…

Although they were in the forest, Vivian was only 20ft away from the Treebark and wasn't exactly hiding. As a matter of fact, she was just standing.

***

When the 2 kids got about 10ft away from the Treebark, the boy turned to the girl.

"Wait here, I'll finish this off right away."

"B-But wouldn't it damage your weapon…?"

"Remember what the receptionist in the guild said? Although the Treebark's shell is hard, its body is actually hollow."

"But this isn't part of our quest. Our quest is to gather 30 Tusha Herbs."

"Yeah, but I saw a quest about gathering 15 hearts of a Treebark back in the guild. We'll just collect some just in case."

"But --"

"Just trust me, okay?" the boy cut the woman off. "And plus, don't you remember that all of the monsters around this forest aren't aggressive? We can just run away in case we can't deal with it."

Hearing that reason, the girl stopped arguing.

The boy went over to the Treebark.

When he was finally standing beside it, the monster still didn't move and just stood there.

The boy raised his sword and got into a position like he was about to swing a baseball bat.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before tightening his grip on the handle.

When he opened his eyes, he swung his short sword with all his strength.

"HAAA!!!"

Chud!

The sword managed to penetrate the Treebark's shell but it didn't go through and instead got stuck halfway.

"Huh?"

The boy looked at his sword with a dumbfounded look on his face. Although this was his first time swinging his sword against a Treebark, his sword was just as sharp as any normal sword.

Whaaack!

"AAAHHH!"

Thud.

The Treebark swung one of its branch-like arms and sent the boy flying a few feet away before crashing to the ground.

"Helbi!" the girl cried out as the monster moved to where the boy landed.

The boy slowly got up and then shook his head to recover from the dizzy spell before turning to the monster.

The short sword still stuck on the Treebark's body and it was making its way to him.

"Helbi!" the girl continued to call out for his name. 

Helbi turned to the girl.

"Let's run!" said the girl.

"No, I can't leave my sword!" he said and returned his gaze to the Treebark who was still charging towards him.

He quickly thought about what to do.

"Give me your club!"

The girl hurriedly unfastened the small club on her waist. 

Normally, she could unfasten it right away, but her hands were trembling right now due to the situation so it took her a little longer than usual.

When she finally unfastened it, she immediately threw it at him.

Woooh!

The Treebark swung its arm and missed as the boy rolled away to catch the club.

Helbi got up and faced the Treebark. His eyes burned with determination.

"I'll help as well!" said the girl.

"No! Your dagger will only get stuck and the Tusha Herbs inside the bag must be kept in good condition!"

"But--!"

"HAAA!!!" the boy shouted as he charged towards the Treebark.

He jumped and swung the club down.

Bam!

Craaack!

The hit landed on the monster's head and it made some cracking sounds.

Whaaack!

"AAAHHH!"

Thud!

The Treebark whacked the Helbi away with its arms, causing him to fly a few feet away once more before crashing to the ground.

The monster made its way to where he landed. But as it was making its way to him, it suddenly sensed another presence, a presence that gave it some sort of aversion or hateful feeling, causing it to quickly turn towards it.

Up ahead where the Treebark was going to was a bored-looking beautiful woman with purple hair and red highlights wearing a brown cloak with a whip and kitchen knife on her hands.

A surprised expression flashed across the 2 young Adventurers' faces when they saw Vivian. They also noticed the Copper I pendant around her neck.

When the Treebark got close to Vivian, she jumped over the monster and landed behind it.

BRAAAK!!!

The monster's body shattered into 2 pieces after receiving a backkick.

Vivian left without saying a word.

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Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

By the way, I posted some Chapter Drafts at P-a-t-r-e-o-n. And to view them, you can read them at…

https://www.patreon.com/Immortal_Shades

There, you will have access to the Chapter Drafts for $5 a month.

Please note that the chapters posted there are only drafts. So when those said Chapter Drafts will be published here, there will be some edits. They also involve a few secret outline notes/details that I won't publish here because they contain spoilers or dispel some of the mysteries. And at the moment, Chapter Drafts 236-241 are posted there.

I would like to give my special thanks for this month's Patrons:

• GrimV

Thank you once again and I will see you in the next chapter.