Chapter 64: Mission Start

Chapter 64: Mission Start Few rays of moonlight managed to Illuminate part of the creature’s face, revealing a head that stood around several meters tall with ash colored scaly skin and smooth belly.

The creature seemed to be covered in a thin layer of slime as the moonlight was reflected on the parts it landed.

’The hell is that?!’ Kieran wondered.

After running that deep into the swamp, Kieran hoped that all he would have to do was to hunt some snakes who lost their way and other stray creatures like Ruby had said, but things never really went according to plan.

Even then, he struggled to identify the creature in front of him which still had most of its body covered in darkness.

"Stop looking and move!" Kieran muttered, taking a stance and positioning himself directly in front of Ruby with the aim of blocking her from the creature’s view.

"GRRRRAARRRR!!!" The creature gave a loud roar and strangely stepped back into the darkness, it’s presence disappearing completely.

’What just happened?!’ Kieran thought, cold sweat rolling down his brows.

At that last moment when the beast had turned back, the rest of it’s body had been illuminated by the rays of light; the spiky bone like protrusions on its back and the markings on its body. He managed to identify what it was.

That thing wasn’t supposed to be anywhere close to the swamp at all. What made him more weary was the fact that it had retreated without causing a fight.

From what he had learned in survival class and the books he read I’m the library, the only thing that could make a beast like that retreat was the presence of a stronger beast.

Beasts in this planet were extremely territorial, and easily had flights over even the slightest invasion of territory.

But what could make a beast like that retreat without even trying??! Kieran tried to search through his head but before he could think far, he heard several noises and sighed.

"Sigh! This is going to be a long night!"

Kieran muttered, glancing at Ruby who was still fast asleep behind him before looking forward to the sight of some beats coming his way.

These were beasts from the open field, which Ruby had explained were active at night. It seemed that some of them had managed to recklessly travel that deep into the swamp without being killed by some of its inhabitants.

Unlike the beast from earlier, lower leveled beasts like these ones couldn’t identify danger and charged into the territory of others beats regardless of the consequences. They were blinded by their crazed hunger and sought to do nothing other than devour.

Unfortunately for them, they were about to meet their end at the blade of Kieran’s scythe.

’This should serve as good enough puppets!’

.......

"Ughhh!"

’That was a good night’s sleep!’ Ruby thought, groaning as she twisted and stretched her body like a seductress.

’Strange! I didn’t wake up at all, does that mean no beast made it here?’ She thought looking around only to be met with the sight of purplish blood a few steps away, painting the floor of the root she sat on and that of the other roots.

At the side she spotted kieran’s tired looking figure sitting on a high root with his head facing down, his scythe hanging between his hands and legs. His body and black recruit uniform was stained with purple patches all over, same with his blade.

’What happened?!’ Ruby wondered, rushing to her feet, still in confusion.

Why didn’t he wake her if there was an attack??!!

Ignoring the pool of blood that stained her shoes, she rushed to Kieran, who still hadn’t sensed her presence.

"Ah!"

She let out a startled shout, catching in her hands the blade of kieran’s scythe which had shot at her the moment she got too close to him and had tried to touch him.

Before she could gather herself, she felt the scythe in her hand become heavier. He let go of his grip on it, closing the distance between the both of them.

Ruby having gotten an idea of the situation didn’t hesitate anymore and evaded the blow, hitting him heavily at the back of his head, catching his body before he fell into the dark swamp waters.

.....

"Awake now?"

Ruby asked Kieran, who had opened his eyes formally while now, staring at the thick canopy created by the branches of the trees, what was on his mind, a total mystery to her.

"What happened?" Kieran asked, looking at her from the edge of his eyes.

"You attacked me in your sleep. What happened?"

Ruby answered and returned the question, using a stick she had picked up to point at the patches of blood all over the place and on him too.

"Some beasts from the field managed to reach here!" Kieran said, not telling her about the confrontation he had with the large beast.

After running so deep into the swap, all he expected to come across were swamp creatures not some strange serpent like, godzilla creature.

"Strange, I’m sure they wouldn’t have been able to make it this deep into this place though!" Ruby muttered to herself, trying to understand his words.

"Why didn’t you wake me up then?" She asked, with furrowed brows. She was clearly angry at the way he had chosen to handle things.

"They weren’t that many and they were weak creatures." Kieran replied with the same straight face, sitting up.

Still, Ruby wasn’t satisfied. Knowing Kieran, he must have seen them as nice targets to work his skill on. He might have even tried to attract more intentionally.

The blood that had been spilled around didn’t look like something that came from just a few beasts.

"Besides, nothing happened. So, let’s go!"

"Hmm!....!" Ruby stared at him for a while, suspicion evident within her eyes.

"We should get going, we still have a mission to clear," Kieran said, waiting for her agreement.

"Fine!" Ruby finally agreed, pushing whatever she was feeling to the back of her mind.

While she was concerned if he could still go after fighting all night, she knew that there was nothing she could do to convince him against going now.

’Why did I have to sleep so comfortably?" Ruby facepalmed herself internally.

"Hmm?!!"

Hearing Kieran’s exclamation, Ruby, turned her head to see whatever caused him to have a reaction.

"What Is it?" She asked curiously.

"The water" Kieran said, pulling out his scythe which he had dipped in water to rinse off the stains on it.

Now that it was out of the water, the sizzling sound coming from the metal could be heard clearly.

While his weapon showed no sign of damage, it was still a sign to show how dangerous his the place.

He was very confident that nothing like that had happened when he was disposing the bodied of the beast he had killed in the middle of the night.

"Corrosive water? Heh, fits the description!" Ruby joked out loud, referring to the dark and bubbling water of the swap

"....."

"Let’s go!" Ruby said, unable to handle the embarrassment with Kieran’s awkward silence and stare.

Along the way, they came across several beasts that Ruby quickly took care of silently. For someone who said that she wouldn’t be helping, she was doing quite a lot.

She was either still angry at him or embraced, and he had a feeling it wasn’t the second.

Coming to a stop, Ruby turned back to him and said, pointing her hand to a rather large piece of solid ground which was very hard to find in the swamp. He had only counted like five on their journey here.

"That’s the piece of land where the group of creatures reside. Although nobody managed to kill whatever it is that upped the difficulty if the mission, the camp left it and made a sub quest out of it!"

"If you can’t kill the creature in the swamp, the you can at least kill the group of creatures there and get rewarded for it!" Ruby explained, going through the details of the mission once again from her watch.

"Even without the mission of killing the unknown creature, killing a group consisting of different grades of level 5 beasts would be hard for a well off level 5 team, and you’re just a single person"

Ruby stated the facts, studying his reaction.

"What happened to supporting me from the sides?"

Kieran took note of her warnings and pushed her worries to the side, wielding his scythe in his hand once more.

Walking up to Ruby, he asked,

"Anything I should know?!"

"No! Just be careful in case the monster shows up suddenly or you get cornered by the beasts."

"....."

Kieran nodded and stepped forward, taking in deep breaths, his previously tense body and facial features relaxing like he was about take a leisure stroll as he let the length of this scythe slide down until the tip was touching the ground.

"If you can’t handle it, just call for help!" Ruby gave one last shout.

Meanwhile, Kieran was trying his best to fight his body from tensing up and trying to remain as relaxed as possible.

It wasn’t his desired result, but at least he achieved something.

’Fight till you feel your muscles shred and you feel pain in places you never thought possible.’

Kieran thought over the words of the Instructor and let out a small sigh filled with fatigue, before narrowing his eyes.

He was about to start his training!