Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Revenge

It had been a forest or an ancient jungle, whose trees had taken a blackish color when they had been corrupted. The unpleasant sensation of being surrounded by miasma, which they had almost forgotten, had taken hold of them the moment they had been transported to that place, many meters above the small room where the inscription was.

Immediately, the elf used Life Detection. They didn't know exactly where they were, and they needed to know if there were any enemies nearby. They knew that there were many waiting for them at the exit of the dungeon. What they didn't know was where it was.

"An enemy there, level 10. About fifty meters. Another there, level 9, about a hundred meters away," revealed the elf.

There were traces everywhere, much fainter, which represented the surrounding trees. Slowly, their roots and branches were trying in vain to catch them. They weren't only too slow, but too weak.

They both advanced silently towards the direction in which, on the virtual map, the entrance to the dungeon was indicated. There, there was a cliff. Below, there was a long, narrow plain. Just beyond, there was a corrupted forest.

Hundreds of corrupted beings crowded inert on that plain, while waiting for a signal to act, for the prey that had escaped them to come out from the dungeon's entrance.

They were half-hidden and watching their enemies, while occasionally cutting the branches and roots that intended to reach them, either with claws, sword or dagger. Their enemies were of levels between 8 and 21, more of the first than the last, so they didn't represent a challenge other than their numbers.

But they feared that they could call reinforcements, and maybe higher levels ones. And those which could do it were the corrupted spirits, or that was what the Oracle had told them. For this reason, Goldmi was using Hawkeye to try to locate them.

Jrevlo was wildly bored. The living who had hidden in that dungeon had showed no signs of life for many weeks. It didn't even know if they had died. And its other goal was advancing too slow.

It knew it only needed patience, that sooner or later it would achieve the second one, and perhaps the first as well. It frowned. Another one of the beings it controlled had disappeared, and a few more were at their limit. It sent a group of ten to replace them, since they need to continue the work. Thus, of different shape and size, ten corrupted beings got up and headed into the forest, to carry out their mission.

It cursed its luck. Even if once it got it the prize would be excellent, it wished it could have fun ambushing the living who wanted to fight them. But it took comfort in thinking that maybe they were increasing their confidence now, so when it got back, it might get some easy preys.

Without it, there was one less general at the front, so the trouble the corrupted beasts gave was minor, as they lacked organization and initiative on their own.

It sighed again, while willing that the living who were locked out were desperate for lack of food, and, in one last futile attempt to survive, they would come out. What it couldn't imagine was that its wish had come true, and they had already come out, a wish that was going to turn into a curse. As the saying goes: "Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true."

It barely caught a glimpse of three flashes rushing toward it, and it didn't have time to dodge them. They went through it, to achieve not only the impossible to locate it, but to damage it, to the point of ending its life.

The elf fired a normal arrow with Purifying Touch, an Ethereal Arrow, and a Wind Arrow at the same time at her target. They were immediately followed by a Light Arrow, a Rough Arrow, and another arrow with Void.

She had spent the last two hours perusing every inch within reach, and had discovered a single corrupted spirit. She wasn't sure there weren't more, maybe hidden behind the trees, but at least this one shouldn't escape. And it didn't do it. By the time the second wave of arrows arrived, it had already disappeared, so they only damaged the tree on whose branch it had been lying.

They watched for a while longer, but didn't detect any movement, so they assumed there were no other spirits. With no orders or any living to attack, the corrupted beings remained motionless. So they went on to the next part of their plan.

Armed with its claws and Purifying Touch, the lynx began to overkill the surrounding trees. Her goal was to clear the area, as well as the nearby corrupted beings that her sister had detected. They weren't a challenge for her, but it was better to kill those unnatural beings than to wait bored and do nothing.

Furthermore, she felt good by freeing those trapped spirits of plants and animals, as well as simply using her claws to tear everything around them apart. Sharpening her claws was relaxing for her.

Meanwhile, the elf used mana arrows to kill, one by one, the enemies that were awaiting them in that plain. It might be slower to use just mana, but it would have been a waste to use hundreds of real arrows.

It was an easy but laborious job, since the companions of those which were massacred didn't even flinch. Only those which were hit stood up, but the elf was out of reach, and they weren't smart enough to seek refuge.

The first to fall were those capable of flight, which were on the branches of corrupted trees without leaves. They were the most dangerous, the ones which could reach her, although their levels were no longer threatening. When she was done with them, she went on with the rest.

Most of them disappeared with a single shot, as the difference in levels was too high. In their previous encounter, they had been fearsome. Now, they no longer posed a challenge. Only the highest level ones survived the first arrow, but they were shot down soon after.

However, although they were no longer a threat to them, their numbers were still huge, so she spent long hours killing them, hours in which the corrupted forest that surrounded her, on the cliff, was disappearing because of a feline with problems of hyperactivity.

Perhaps under other circumstances she would have slept peacefully for hours, or demanded food, but the miasma was extremely irritating to her, and she felt she must destroy all that corruption. So she settled for a quick snack before continuing with the annihilation of everything that bothered her.