Chapter 95: The Fallacious Trek

Nathan: “Haaaaah!”

*Bzzzzzzzz-bzzzzz-bzz*

The buzzing of its wings ceased, as Nathan shoved his sword deep into its head of the giant insect. Nathan yanked out the blade, just in time to dodge an incoming attack from another insect. The Flinging Gnats, with its spiked mace-like lower bodies, they swarmed around Nathan and Ash flinging themselves at the two with reckless abandonment. Though, however hard they were on their bottoms, the top of their bodies was not. It didn’t take long for Nathan to figure out the trick to beating them was simply to side-step as they passed and sever their upper and lower bodies from one another.

*Shwoosh*

Nathan quickly jumped to the side, as another Gnat smashed into the ground right where he was standing. After smashing into the ground, the monster became unable to move, which was convenient for Nathan. With a single slash; Nathan quickly ended another insect.

*Bzzzzzzzzz*

Nathan: “Are you fricking kidding me?”

Nathan ducked, weaved and jumped as countless gnats buzzed around him. No matter how many he killed, it seemed like there was no end to them.

Nathan: “Dammit Ash, I thought you said this was easy?”

Ash: “It is easy, I don’t think it’s fun.”

Ash with his dual blades and cat-like agility, was swinging his dance around the battlefield. Every time he swung his blade, another gnat would fall; sometimes he would miss the enemy on purpose, just to play around. He was like a house-cat, playing with its food before finishing it.

Nathan: “Do I look like I’m having fun?...”

*Bzzzzzzzz*

Nathan: “Whoa!”

Nathan turned his blade to the side and smashed it into the fly coming at him, sending it hurdling into several others. But it barely made a dent, as the gnats just kept coming.

Nathan: “Dammit, screw this.”

Nathan let his seeds fall to the ground, quickly sprouting two ‘Uzy’, much to Ash’s dismay.

*Click-click*

Ash: “No wait, don’t do it, I haven’t finished yet.”

Nathan: “It’s already done.”

The next moment, bullet seeds unleashed hell on the swarm of insects, bodies dropping riddled with holes. After a few minutes of the continuous bullet-storm, the last of the insects had been dealt with.

Nathan whipped his sword around, flicking off the access blood staining its blade, before taking a cloth and wiping it down. Nathan then, with a wave of his hands, sent his plants back into the ground.

Nathan: “And we’re done.”

Ash: “Damn it, always with the plants.”

Nathan ignored Ash and wiped his sword down, before sheathing it.

Nathan: “Leave it to you, to wander right into a swarm of bugs, ‘Don’t worry, there low-level monsters, we should finish them in no time’.”

Nathan mockingly repeated what Ash had said to him earlier.

Ash: “They were easy, we were killing them in one hit.”

Nathan: “Yeah, for ten minutes straight, it doesn’t matter how easy it is if it takes an hour to beat them.”

Ash: “These guys turned out to be real ‘hard-asses’ in the ‘end’.”

Nathan: “It wasn’t funny earlier and it’s not now. Go ahead and do your thing, I’m gonna check on Iris.”

Ash: “Fine, *mumbling* I thought it was pretty funny.”

Nathan turned and walked over to a large tree who branches were as thick as girders and were high as fifteen feet off the ground. No normal creature could reach that high, but for Nathan it was as simple as breathing. With a leap, Nathan launched himself high into the tree, landing on the lowest of branches. Sitting on the branch was a fairy, breathing heavy and a flush of red on her face. She had a pained smile appearing on her face as he arrived.

Nathan: “How are you feeling Iris?”

Iris tried to move toward Nathan, only to flop back down onto the branch.

Nathan: “Whoa, whoa, whoa, no need to get up. So, you still can’t move.”

Iris: “Ah, y-yes, I’m feeling much better, in fact I think I can-”

Iris tried to get up only to slip on her hand.

Nathan: “You’re not better at all, maybe we should-”

Iris: “No we can’t …*Heavy Breathing*… you worked so hard to come here, I won’t allow anything to force you to stop, least of all myself.”

Iris eyes pleaded with Nathan not to leave because of her; though he really wanted to stay he didn’t like seeing her like this.

Nathan: “Fine, but if you don’t start to get better soon, we’re leaving. Just rest here for now.”

Iris: “But-”

Nathan: “No buts, lie down and get better, I’ll be right below.”

Iris tried to speak, but she felt it too difficult and just laid back down and quickly went to sleep. Nathan seeing her resting leapt down from the tree and headed back over to Ash, who had finished disassembling the lizards before their bodies turned into light particles and rose into the sky.

Nathan: “That would be a pain if we were gathering material for real. Having to quickly remove and store the pieces from the monster before it fades into the ether.”

Ash: “No not really, it usually takes longer for them to vanish, but with the handy-dandy inventory, all I need to do is point at the part use for material. Besides, accept for the flora, that’s all too abundant in Viridi Wilds, people just usually try to gather residual mana that sometimes appears and store it in Catalyst Gems.”

Nathan: “Residual mana?”

Ash: “Sometimes, there is a ball of light that quickly dissipates when you kill a monster in a dungeon. If you’re quick enough you could gather it up and it sell for a decent amount or keep for a good power source. If we had some Catalyst gems, we could try to gather some, but alas they are way too expensive.”

Nathan: “I didn’t want to anyway, from how you described it; it takes a lot of time.”

Ash: “Well, yeah you could fight all day long and never see a ball of residual mana.”

Nathan: “Then I won’t even waste any more time.”

Nathan put the idea to rest, he didn’t like faming in games, why would he enjoy it for real.

Ash: “How is she?”

Nathan: “In all honesty, she looks worse. I thought you said it only lasts for a half an hour or so?”

Ash: “Well usually it does, our bodies have to adjust to the denser mana found in the dungeons, so for a while we have a hard time moving, along with a headache and redness in the face, like we have a fever.You don’t feel the effects anymore right?”

Nathan: “No.”

Earlier after they entered, Nathan started to feel his body get heavy. Ash explained that it was a common occurrence for people first entering the dungeon, but it would soon pass. However, even after Nathan started to feel better, Iris’s condition did not change.

Nathan: “It looks like a high fever, but I just don’t get why.”

Ash: “You want us to leave?”

Nathan: “I already asked her, but she refuses to leave, at least until I finish the trial.”

Ash: “And if we take her back out and come back, she’ll probably just follow you back in.”

Nathan: “Probably nothing. She will definitely follow me back in.”

Ash: “Well, let’s give it a little more time, if she doesn’t feel better, then forget what she said; we’re leaving.”

Nathan: “Okay.”

Ash: “I’m done here, go grab her and we’ll head out.”

Nathan leapt back up into the tree, where Iris was sleeping. Gently lifting her up he placed her in his hood, before climbing back down the tree; slowly. Coming back over to Ash, he found him checking his map. Nathan, back outside the dungeon, had obtained a map as well, but it wasn’t what he thought it would be. It was a magic tool that slipped over the ear like a headset. As you move about in the dungeon, the map would fill out the path you traveled. When activated, it projected a holographic-like map that can be freely manipulated by the user.

Compared to Nathan’s map he recently obtained, Ash’s map was a lot more detailed.

Ash had been inside Viridi Wilds several times before, giving him a much more time to explore and therefore, for the moment, they were relying on his map.

Ash: “Hmm, here.”

Nathan: “What’s that?”

Ash pointed on the map to a small landmark. Pressing on the mark, the map zoomed-in on the spot giving Nathan a better view.

Ash: “It’s a lone mountain; last time I was here, I found this cave. It was a goblin nest.”

Nathan: “So, we’re heading there?”

Ash: “Yeah it’s been a year or two, since I went back, so I don’t know if they are still there or not.”

Nathan: “It’s better than nothing, the faster we find it the faster we can leave.”

Ash: “Hearing you say that after wanting to come here so badly.”

Nathan: “Iris is way more important to me then my desire to explore.”

Ash looked in Nathan’s hood, just like he said, she looked as though she had a high fever.

Ash: “She does look bad, then let’s be off; it’ll take about an hour to get there.”

Nathan: “Alright let’s go.”

Ash lead on as Nathan followed, making their way to what he hoped would be his trials’ completion. Hopefully it was.

_

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Nathan and Ash continued on, their trek bringing them to an area like a rain forest. Nathan was surprised at first by the heavy rainfall raining inside of the dungeon, but there were things like daylight without sun; so rain wasn’t as far-fetched as one would believe. Iris was awake now and currently riding at the front of Nathans cloak, when the rain started, he had no choice but to move her to keep her from getting wet.

Nathan: “Are you able to stay dry, Iris?”

Iris: “Y-Yes its nice and dry. It’s warm and smells really nice, very pleasant.”

Nathan: “Oh, I’m glad and its nice to know I don’t stink. So Ash we couldn’t walk around the rainforest, why?”

Ash: “This was the path I took to get there, if I knew of a way around it, I would have gone that way.”

Nathan: “All this damn rain is annoying.”

Ash: “I thought plants liked water.”

Nathan: “I’m not a plant and I didn’t mean me, it could make Iris’s fever worse.”

Iris: “I-I’m fine Master, no need to worry.”

Nathan: “You. Hush.”

Iris: “Ah!?

Iris try to protect her head, as Nathan playfully used his chin like a hammer, to pelt her further down into the cloak.

Ash: “I get your worried…but fever-like symptoms and an actual fever are different. The water won’t make a non-existent fever worse.”

Nathan: “Well whatever, as long as your shortcut gets us there as soon as possible.”

Ash: “Don’t worry, I been through plenty of times. It’s exactly one hour from here to there and we’ve been walking for about twenty minutes, so not much longer until we find the exit…as long as we don’t get distracted.”

Nathan: “I am trying to get this done as soon as possible, nothing could distract me.”

Ash: “………What about a large treasure chest?”

Nathan: “That was a random thing to say.”

Ash: “Not really.”

Ash pointed into a small clearing, there sat a large treasure chest. Similar to what you found in games, a red chest with gold-colored lock stood not ten feet away from the three of them.

Nathan: “Okay got to admit, that’s slowing me down.”

Ash: “How lucky can we get? A treasure chest as soon we start? And that coloration; never seen a red and gold chest.”

Nathan: “What are they normally?”

Ash: “Just basic wooden chest, but this one, its got to be something super-rare, right?”

Ash was overly excited and though he wasn’t letting it show, so was Nathan. The corners of his mouth twitched as he tried to keep from smiling, but his excitement was slowly taking over.

Nathan: “Wait Ash, didn’t you come through here before and you never saw it, its right on the route you took.”

Ash: “No I usually stick to the trees when coming through here, but all that jumping sround would be bad with your passenger right now.”

Nathan: “Oh, how considerate.”

Ash: “I know right, well…we found it, so it’s ours for the taking.”

Ash made a bee-line for the chest, ready to pounce on the riches inside, with Nathan not far behind him. When they were no further then two meters away, their ‘Threat Detection’ kicked-in and the two quickly jumped away.

*Thwick**Thwick**Thwick*

Nathan: “The hell was that?”

Right where they just were, two arrows were stuck in the ground. Turning, Nathan saw a woman running up to them in a panic, a woman Nathan recognized instantly.

Ash: “Who the hell?”

Nathan: “Jasmine!”

Ash: “You know her?”

Nathan: “She’s one of Zane’s girls.”

Ash: “Well, is she looking for a fight, because that’s what she’s gonna get if she’s think she’s getting this chest.”

Nathan: “What, you think she’s after the chest?”

Ash: “Don’t be surprised; like I told you earlier, you have to be wearier of people.”

Ash, pissed at being shot at, drew his weapons. Jasmine stopped running; seeing him running towards her, but started gesturing with her hands.

Ash: “What is she doing?”

Nathan: “She’s saying, be quiet.”

She kept putting a finger to her lip, signaling them not to make a sound. Nathan didn’t feel any immediate threat, beside from the initial arrows, everything seemed fine.

Ash: “Who cares what she wants, she’s not getting our treasure.”

Nathan: “Cool it Ash…Jasmine’s not like the rest of them, she must have had a reason.”

Ash: “Reason, she just tried to kill us and don’t say she wasn’t aiming for us, because then ‘Threat Detection’ wouldn’t have kicked in.”

Nathan couldn’t deny that, they were definitely the target of her last shot, but Jasmine wasn’t someone like that; at least that’s the impression Nathan got from her the night prior. Currently Jasmine was signaling for them to come to her, still stressing for them to be quiet. However, Ash wasn’t going to give up the chest.

Nathan: “Look, she isn’t coming any closer; I’ll go see what she wants.”

Ash: “Fine, then I’m gonna check out the chest.”

Ash and Nathan went their separate ways, but the moment Jasmine saw Ash heading back, she knocked her bow.

Nathan: “Whoa, Jasmine what are you doing!?”

Ash: “I knew, she’s after the chest. HEY, THE CHEST IS OURS, YOU HEAR ME, RUN ALONG TO ZANE AND LET HIM KNOW!”

Nathan: “ASH!”

Jasmine was shocked with Ash’s screaming, after she so urgently warned him to be quiet.

Jasmine: “Dumbass, I said be quiet.”

Ash: “I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SAY, WE FOUND IT, SO ITS OURS.”

Nathan: “CALM DOWN ASH!”

Jasmine: “IDIOTS, I DON’T WHAT THE DAMN CHEST, I’M TELLING YOU TO GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!”

Nathan: “Thing?”

Ash: “See she does want it, she just admitted it.”

Nathan: “…………………ASH GET AWAY FROM IT!”

Nathan dashed towards Ash, still oblivious to the situation. From the time they had turned to Jasmine and from the time they turned back to the chest, somehow the chest ended up no more than a meter behind Ash.

Ash: “Huh, how did the chest-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the chest lid flipped open, revealing rows of jagged teeth and a fleshy green interior, with a single eyeball staring right at him. Ash’s Threat Detection kicked in and his reflexes quickly threw him backwards onto the ground, barely dodging the chest that just lunged at him.

The chest pounced, aiming at Nathan, but quickly closed its lid again to avoid two arrows aimed at its interior.

Jasmine: “Dammit!”

Ash: “What the hell is that thing!?”

Jasmine: “What I was trying to warn you about, it wasn’t a chest, it was a Mimic.”