Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Going deeper

Jhinkro was restless. Its link to the corrupted birds was gone, almost all at once. Normally, it wouldn't even have noticed, but those birds had been sent to chase a winged critter several levels lower, and it had nothing better to do.

"Have they fled to the living zone, and have they met powerful winged enemies? It would be bad luck..." it thought, while trying to reassure itself.

What it didn't expect was that the white bird would fly over the area again. It could no longer believe that it was a coincidence. It was convinced that someone had sent it to watch the losts.

"Dammit! Will I have to cancel the plan? If they're being watched, I won't be able to take them by surprise. Maybe, I should retreat further in, and come back another time," it cursed.

At the same time, it sent two corrupted birds against the spy bird, with the order to attack her, but not to stray too far. The corrupted spirit didn't want to lose more subordinates.

Its irritation could only grow over the hours, as it could see how that bird easily dodged their attackers at first. After some time, she flied away, until realizing that they weren't chasing farther than a certain distance. As if taunting them, she stayed flying in wide circles, at just the right distance to avoid being chased.

The shadow ordered them to pursue her a little further, but the albino bird simply enlarged the circle, something that happened two more times. She would move just as far away as necessary, and then maintain the distance.

"It's laughing at me!" it exclaimed angrily, not far from the truth.

However, it didn't know what to do to finish her off. Even one of its most powerful winged beings, a corrupted griffon, had been wiped out. The worst thing was that it didn't even know how.

As the corrupted spirit was glaring at the bird, it suddenly felt something that shook it entire incorporeal body.

"A fairy? There can't be one so inside!" it was incredulous.

However, the aura unmistakably belonged to its worst enemy. Without thinking twice, it turned around, terrified. Too many shadows had disappeared not to be afraid.

After regaining their strength, the party began to advance into the corrupted forest. In general, it was a very dangerous action, since they could fall into an ambush at any moment.

However, they knew that there was only one general and where, they had an albino bird that had explored the area from the sky, Goldmi was Detecting if there was something hidden, and some Bats were exploring the path, closer to the ground than the bird. These dark mana beings were totally ignored by corrupted plants or beasts.

They advanced creating a path, destroying the trees. With Purifyng Touch on their weapons, the vampiress and the high human tore apart the corrupted trees. They knew that others would take their place, but it would take time for them to move there. They hoped there would be a clear path if they had to fall back.

It should be said that Gjaki was no longer holding back, nor was the drelf, who was guarding their rear. The situation was too dangerous, and the mission too important. One less general meant dozens of lives saved, perhaps hundreds.

Despite this, the vampiress tried only to immobilize the losts she found, thus leaving her companions to do most of the damage. If she could help them level up as they moved forward, that was a win.

She had blessings, so the experience was shared. However, the more damage they did, the more they took.

"We can't go any further. There're too many, and they're active," Gjaki reported, frowning.

They had come this far, but it was their limit. The vampiress' level was higher than the losts, but not enough to take on hundreds of them and protect her companions at the same time. Besides, it was impossible without alerting the general.

"It's too far away to reach it. Is there no other way?" the elf asked.

"It's all full of those losts. This is as close as we can get, unless your sister finds another path," Gjaki assured.

They had no options. That was the best path that the goshawk had found. Perhaps, they could take a long detour, and attack from the other side, but it was too risky. They would need to spend too much time shrouded in miasma. If it got too dense, she wouldn't be able to create a Gate to escape.

"How far?" the fairy then asked.

"Just over a kilometer," the archer indicated.

"How much is?"

The elf remained thoughtful for a few seconds. She was trying to find a way to explain it to Pikshbxgra.

"Do you remember the tree with the light blue leaves?" Goldmi asked.

"With round purple fruits for food Madoa likes?" the fairy recalled.

"That is. The distance is, more or less, going there from home and coming back," Goldmi explained.

"Oh. Enough," the fairy assured.

Without thinking much about it, she stepped out of her shelter. She instantly sensed the shadow, and flied towards it.

Goldmi wanted to stop her, but it was simply impossible. She was an ethereal being, that could only be touched when she allowed it. Besides, it was her duty.

The elf was worried. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened, but it was still dangerous. The miasma gradually weakened the fairy, so the danger increased over time. However, she could only wait, and watch the fairy with the help of her albino sister.

"We can't go through them, but maybe we can clean up a bit. We could create an impassable zone," Eldi proposed.

The vampiress looked at him for a moment, longingly and excitedly. She smiled. It was something they had done regularly in the game. Perhaps, their class composition was unorthodox, but it also gave them a lot of flexibility, and forced them to be novel. Common strategies didn't work very well with them.

Then, with the help of the elf, who often looked further away with Visual Link, and the drelf, who was wondering how effective it could be, they began to create holes, set traps, stretch threads, and decide where to put the walls of the makeshift maze. They wouldn't create them yet, but would wait until the last moment.

The elf also purified a small area with Consecrated Ground, so they could take a break from the miasma, regain their strength, and have a meal. The goshawk protested a lot, until Goldmi promised that she would save the food for her, and even make her something special.

The drelf was the one who most appreciated it. Her condition made that being away from nature influenced her. To make it worse, the miasma affected her harder.

With full stomachs, mana recovered, and traps set, they got up to set the next phase of the plan in motion.