Novaris. Sax. 905. AGC.

  Nodel. Last Quarter ??. Day 24.

  The sun was peaking over the horizon, bathing the forest in warm light. Joining the sun so early in the morning and watching the forest stir, the party found themselves in the living room. They were all eating a delicious breakfast provided by Alyx from his food creation box. Most of them were in the garments they had been in during last night's discussion and were watching the TV as its screen changed, showing different shots of the waking forest.

  Finishing their breakfast one by one, everyone made their way back to their rooms. They had to armor up and get ready for the day’s events. Tesilim, thankful he had some foresight, had resummoned Drex the night before, and it wasn’t long before everyone was standing on the platform, ready to move out.

  On the way down the tree, Tesilim took a moment to roll his die. He knew the day would be full of action and wanted to get a permanent weapon from early on. The plan was to search various points of interest that the brother had marked on the map. Apparently, he cycled through a number of different areas in the wilderness to keep any possible hunters guessing while also roaming familiar spots he could feel at home in.

  His die landed on one, giving him his daggers. He liked the daggers, but felt like that was all he was getting nowadays. Thankfully, they popped out of existence a minute later while the party was making its way to the first point of interest.

  There were four decent spots of interest marked on the camp. Two were caves that the brother used as temporary shelters. One, at least by looking at the map, was near the coastal area and probably on the wall of a few cliffs. The other cave was in the opposite direction, hidden between hills and forest. Currently, the party was heading to their designated third spot, which was an old, ruined guard tower that had not been on any map they had seen so far. The tower was closest to the border, which is why it was near where they had planted Tesilim’s tree. As for the final spot, it was stuck between the two caves. Apparently, it was home to a wild nature spirit whom the brother befriended.

  The party planned to hit the ruined tower, dip south to the cave in the hills, then double back north to the nature spirits spot, and finally visit the seaside cave.

  Minutes before arriving at the supposed area where the tower was, Tesilim rolled his die again. Smiling while holding the katana, Tesilim got even happier when it didn’t disappear after a minute. That meant he had it for at least an hour.

  Arriving at the tower, they all realized why it wasn’t on any map. The tower was anything but, and all that was left were traces of its first floor and only the barest amount of wall or floor. The only reason it could maybe be called a guard tower was that the walls were arranged in a circular formation.

  “Well, the werewolf is clearly not here,” Rose commented, already inside what could have been an old guard tower.

  “I am not seeing any tracks, either, or any sign of him having passed through or lived here,” Their resident tracking expert, Lili, said while crouched, looking closer at a seemingly random spot on the ground.

  “It's been 22 days since the full moon. Does a transformation last that long? Because if it doesn’t and he reverts to a normal person, there is a good chance he is already dead.” Jasmine added, frowning, looking around the destroyed building.

  “That’s a good point, Jasmine. Hey, Lili, did Juniper explain any of the workings that trigger the curse?” Alyx asked.

  “Well, she said the full moon was one, but also mortal danger and anger. It was why he could stay out here for longer periods. Apparently, the longer he let the curse run wild, the easier it was to control and push it down. The only exception was the moon, which triggered it regardless,” Lili explained, getting up from her crouch but keeping her eyes on the ground as she walked.

  “Sounds like he is probably alive then,” Tesilim commented from the spot on the wall he was sitting on, watching everyone else move around. He and Drex had defaulted to guard duty, making sure nothing snuck up on them too easily.

  “Yeah, I am with Tesilim on this one. It sounds like his curse is set on keeping him alive, so if he is dead, we should hopefully find the remains. If not, then that means he has, as unlikely as it is, stuck to a very specific area, or something else has happened to him,” The gnome said, having lost interest in the search and instead switching his gaze to the woods.

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  Rose, who hadn’t been doing much else but kicking stones around, finally said what everyone else was thinking, “Okay, so, let's get moving then. We still have more spots to check.”

  Moving through the forest, the party followed Lili, who was the best at reading traditional maps. Apparently, with 300 years of life, the elf had done enough exploring, and she was rather good at figuring out where they were compared to their objective. She was able to translate time and distance traveled much more easily between the map and their actual movement.

  During this travel period, Tesilim had told Drex to ensure he was as topped off in mana as he could. This meant avoiding any possible fights unless it was completely necessary for him to intervene. The drake didn’t like it, but Tesilim knew that if he had to resummon the drake before the mission was over, it would delay the party. Not only were they on a timer to find the brother, but they were also on a timer for Jasmine. The twins had assured them that it was all fine, but no one wanted her or her brother to get hurt during a fight. Their apparent dizzy spells only lasted seconds, but that was more than enough during a fight. So, one way or the other, they had to finish the mission today. Something that would be more difficult if they were caught out and about when night fell.

  As always, they were approached by beasts and monsters during their run. The encounters were few, and they were scared off by the group blasting their Presences in their direction. It helped that none of the monsters wanted to tumble with so many D Rankers and a Low C Ranker, even if they themselves were Low C Rank. Of course, it also helped that the C Rank monsters were single individuals, and the D Rank monsters that tried to move on the party only came in small groups. These small groups would often flee upon feeling Lili’s C Rank strength.

  In the inner areas of the forest nearest the city, most of the monsters they encountered were usually magical variants of beasts. There were special areas where other creatures could be found, such as the Golem Fields or the Mushroom Grove. Of course, at night, even so close to the city, an adventurer could run into other things like whisps, shades, and shadows. However, now much further from the city, there were new creatures. Tesilim hadn’t run into many of them during their previous week of patrol, probably due to proper scouting by adventurers and guards, and also sheer luck. That scouting or luck had changed this time around.

  In their run through the forest, Tesilim saw many stick-like creatures made of wood, small green imps, lonely wood wolves, stone elementals, whirling piles of leaves, and other odd things. There were also stronger variants of magical beasts, many of which were the ones that often approached the party but were quickly scared off.

  Something that Tesilim also saw properly for the first time during their run was the undead. Near the city, any such entities were quickly killed, but so far out where they were, there was enough time before they were found that they could roam about.

  Tesilim saw walking, rotting corpses of both normal and magical beasts. There were also humanoid zombies that attempted to shamble after them, but their bodies could not keep up. Upon seeing the undead, Rose wanted to derail and eliminate them, her anger towards them easily visible. In the end, they hadn’t derailed, and the party had convinced the redhead that they had more pressing matters that could actually save a life. Rose had been forced to admit they were right, and they had continued on, at least until monsters finally decided to engage regardless of any aura blasts.

  Their bodies were easily visible through the forest, their crimson exoskeletons popping out of the greenery. The red mantis-like creatures appeared intimidating, with their bright red, rounded eyes that looked alien and their dark, front-bladed limbs that seemed fierce. They were the size of large wolves but had slimmer bodies, which made it easy for them to jump from one large branch to another.

  Lili had spotted them first and called for a halt, hoping that the creatures would pass by. Sadly, they hadn’t, and a few had spotted the party among the trees even though they had been a good distance away. And, of course, spotting them—the group of around ten, some of whom looked wounded—quickly changed direction and began hopping towards them.

  “Can’t we just scare them away?” Tesilim asked curiously, knowing they probably couldn’t.

  “No, those are creatures from the hells. They live to fight, probably why some are wounded,” Lili explained.

  “It seems there has been a small hell incursion, and they came through. Glad we caught them before they made it deeper in,” Alyx added as he began positioning himself for the fight.

  “What rank are they? I am assuming D Rank if they are running away from the higher area, but it's good to make sure,” Rose asked while moving slightly forward between Alyx, Jasmine, and the incoming mantis.

  “Yeah, D Rank, probably in the middle area, shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” Lili replied, moving opposite Tesilim and to the group's left, but not by much.

  “Should we be on the lookout for any particular powers?” Jasmine questioned, something Tesilim had been wondering about.

  “Not really. They are physical creatures, though they can set those dark blades on fire. They also have some intelligence, but not more than any other beast, which is why they probably ran away from whatever monster roughed them up,” Lili answered as she tensed to receive the incoming monsters. They still had a few seconds; Alyx already chanting a spell.

  “What are they called?” Tesilim asked, using the last few seconds to initiate his body enhancement.

  “They are called Hell Mantises,” His girlfriend answered.

  “That’s lame. I was thinking more like Hell Blades or Hell Jumpers,” He replied right before releasing a blade of lightning at the incoming mantises.