Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Wasps

In the face of imminent danger, she did something she had already planned in advance. It was a move that she had had a difficult time mastering in the game, and which she hoped that she would be able to perform right now.

The elf fell, shielding herself from the wasps with the branch that now stood between them. Two of them tried to chase after her, although they were forced to follow a much longer trajectory. It was impossible for them to brake and accelerate at once. The third one slammed into the trunk, as it could no longer control its direction.

Just before landing on the lower branch, Goldmi cast Float to land on it gently, firing at the two wasps while landing.

They were quite close, and their movement had almost stopped to change trajectory, making them a very easy target for her. With their wings torn, they fell to the ground, while the one that had stamped against the trunk had managed to hold onto it, despite being stunned.

The elf didn't linger, and continued to attack those which had taken her for an appetizing prey. She had lost some of them behind the branches and leaves, but three wasps were at her firing line, so she attacked them consecutively, repeating it against the ones she missed, and using a total of six arrows to incapacitate all of them.

Suddenly, two of those she had lost sight of appeared in front of her. She managed to block one with the sword and damage it with the dagger, by means of Blazing Dagger. Serpent's Attack could not be used on top of the branch, as it required more space to move.

She immediately ducked, narrowly dodging the second's attack. But a third had appeared from behind. she turned to try to block it, but she couldn't stop the stinger from sticking into her arm.

"Aaaaaaargh!"

She was feeling as the venom was entering though the wound, at the same time she lost her balance and fell from the branch. In the face of the pain and an unforeseen fall, it took her a long time to react, so she barely activated Float a few inches above the ground, enough to slow the fall, but not to avoid the impact entirely.

She felt dizzy, her shoulder was dislocated, and she had lost sword and dagger, which were now a few meters from her. And, in addition to the blow, the poison was spreading inside her, a neurotoxic poison that threatened to immobilize her. And even worse, the three wasps had launched in pursuit.

The pain helped her maintain consciousness, and she didn't delay casting Basic Healing. At the same time, a level 1 antidote appeared in her hand, but she had no time to take it, she first had to avoid the three wasps.

Luckily, on the ground, she had an additional resource. Suddenly, the roots of the trees rose around her, enveloping her enemies. They weren't the thickest roots, but they were enough to immobilize the flying insects.

In one gulp, she drank the antidote. It wasn't enough to completely counteract the effects, but it was to dampen them. She felt a little awkward and sore, but she could move.

She looked at the weapons lying on the ground with the intention of fetching them, but the little fairy stepped forward to bring them back, as she cast Basic Healing again and got up.

Many of the wasps weren't dead, although some had been seriously injured. They were all headed towards the elf, either out of predatory instinct or revenge. Even one was going down the trunk it had crashed before, and three others were trying to break free of their restraints.

However, unable to fly, they were very slow, hardly a threat to the archer, even though her body and senses were numb from venom. She picked up the bow again and shot arrow after arrow.

Although her aiming had been affected by her condition, it was enough to finish off winged insects which were injured, and could no longer fly, or which were immobilized. When she killed the last one, she cast Life Detection again. She discovered a pair of presences of her level, that is, 4, since she had leveled up.

She decided to Float again to take cover on a branch, while recovering from the poison, and wondering if she could collect the remains as in the game, and also retrieve the arrows. Immediately, two fairies appeared. She had seen one of them before, but the other was new, and she was wearing some kind of apron.

While one collected the arrows, some of them broken, the other skillfully separated the remains of the wasps, extracting the meat, the venom, the legs... It was a spectacle as grotesque as it was incredible to see the little fairy butchering the huge insects, a sight that affected the elf much less than she would have guessed.

It took a while for two animals with very dark red fur to appear. They were two foxes that had two tails instead of one, and in whose chests could be seen something similar to a strange symbol.

Despite the fact that Goldmi remained motionless and half hidden by the branches and leaves, they discovered her when she entered her field of vision. They stared at her with their different colored eyes, one was yellow one and the other red.

"It's as if they were telling me that they don't want to hurt me, and that they knew that I'm not going to hurt them..." the elf murmured, bewildered.

She didn't understand where that feeling was coming from, but, somehow, she felt a connection to them for a moment, like an elementary telepathy in which no words or ideas were transmitted, but feelings.

She stared at them as they approached some remains the little fairy had discarded, and devoured them. And then others. And others. Finally, they disappeared again in the forest, but not before looking one last time at the elf, as if thanking her for the food.

"This world is very mysterious," thought Goldmi, who continued resting on the wide branch until she felt clear of body and mind. And recovered her mana and energy.

She jumped off the tree, and Floated before hitting the ground, in order to land gently, after which she cast Life Detection once more. There were no obstacles in her way towards the direction she had decided to take, the direction in which was located what was in the game a well-known resting place for newbies, and which was shown in a map that had appeared in her mind when she had thought about it. It was the Sacred Spring.