For a moment, everyone was unsure what to do or say as Snow turned around, ready to leave. She had a few things to scout out and figure out. She exited the tent, leaving the rest of the group hypnotized in their spot.
In the next few days, Snow busily scouted around the camp, working with the Players who knew about the area. She quickly got to know the danger zones and the inhibited monsters that roamed around the area. Any other free time she had, she took the time to practice her forms. Going over her basics to get to understand what was missing in her form. She carved out a small space for herself, working with the others, who decided to join into a spar with her at times.
There was a particular workout that she had been practicing a bit more slowly than she liked. Sharpening on her form to get the flow of her balance in the correct position allowed herself to move more fluidly than before. Her stamina was always an issue, making running in the morning a daily ritual, followed by a meditation that would get her ready for the day as it was not easy to wake up and get ready to tackle on the day.
Snow's form was unusually all over the place today, her feet kept stepping out of place, upsetting her a few times. There was this one form that she was trying to get right, but her own sense of balance wasn't listening to her.
Her wooden sword swung around her in a choppy motion, and her balance was thrown off again as she tripped. With an ugly swing, she stabbed her wooden sword onto the ground. Sweat glistened on her skin, giving her a slight golden hue. She breathed in deeply, trying her best to calm her unusual raging emotions of frustration.
The sunlight was peeking through the trees, which came slightly late because of the thick forest.
Light footsteps walked through the forest floor as leaves crunched, sounding off someone's arrival. Snow glanced over her shoulder, wondering who was coming from behind.
It was Dairen in his usual black armor. He nodded when he caught Snow's attention and came over.
"Dairen, I'm guessing you came during the night?"
"Yes. Around four a.m."
"So late?"
Dairen stopped in front of her. "There were a few complications, and people took a bit too long to arrive. Most of the high-level guild members came with us, while those who couldn't handle this were left behind to train with a few of our trainers. Plus, Audrey needed some time to get his guild members ready in the short amount of time."
"I see. I thought it would have taken a bit longer."
With a shake of his head, he replied, "No. Though Heather said, Dragon Express and the others will take about another five days before they are ready. The sudden date being moved up is troublesome for them as they were waiting for some kind of package to arrive that would assist them in the dungeon raid."
Snow didn't know what package the Dragon Express had in mind, but if it took such a long time, she couldn't help but think it was a powerful item or items like the black box that she was given. Such a thing wasn't easily obtained without a thorough consent form.
Both of them walked back to the large tent, where most of the leaders from different groups were present. Quickly, one of them came over and handed her a list of jobs to do as they were all getting ready for something.
"This is?" Snow asked as she was given a list of items.
"We need to get packing to start our next scouting mission," the girl who handed her the list replied.
"That was today?" Snow had forgotten that the scouting mission was today. Usually, she was on top of things, remembering everything that was planned out. She couldn't figure out what was wrong with her today as her mind was scattered meaning it was a bit troubling to hold her thoughts together.
"Yes." The girl looked at her, a bit confused by Snow's sudden question.
"I'll get to it." Snow turned around, heading straight towards the boxes of items that needed to be handed out. Dairen split ways as he too was ferried away by his guildmate in getting ready for the people who were prepared to go out and scout.
The number of people had already passed five thousand Hunters and Players that arrived at the camp, making the morning a lot busier than before. A large group of people were all waiting in front of the gate, wearing armor.
The Heavenly guild and the Gold Phoenix guild had devoured the majority of the smaller and mid-level guilds, bolstering their numbers by leaps and bounds. As both teams' group of twenty people were getting ready to take on a large scouting mission that needed them.
They have already made up a good four-fifth of the people present, waiting for everyone else to arrive.
Snow was tasked to hand out a few essential items that the guild members needed from food to water, first aid, and even a few blessings that she had personally prayed for. It quickly became a hit as many Players came over to get a small blessing from her.
"How is everything?" Dairen had come over to help. He was done with his side with the guild.
Snow gratefully took him in as an assistant, handing him packages of water to store in his storage box. She wasn't as quick as she was normally in her good days. Instead, she was dragging her feet a bit as she slowed down.
"Not too bad." Snow bent down, she grabbed another package of bottles and handed them to the next person in line. "This is about everyone." She motioned at the line, which she meticulously counted.
"That's pretty quick. I assumed it would have taken a bit longer."
Snow felt her back slightly ache from picking up and putting things down. She wanted a massage, but that was out of the question as in the next few hours, they were bound to head inside.
"Is there anything else that needs to be handed out?"
"Nope."
Snow was relieved that she had finished the majority of the work. She pulled out a foldable chair and sat down to rest her body. Reaching over, she grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it down.
Glad that it was over, she headed towards the gate to see both groups off. When she arrived, they huddled around Snow, looking in her direction for a possible blessing. It had become a norm around the camp, every time Players and Hunters went out, almost a secret religion amongst the people to get a blessing before they left.
Everyone swore that they barely got into trouble or weren't injured too harshly from their journey with the blessing in hand. Eventually, it quickly caught on with the trend as the players' swarm increased every day, asking for a small blessing when they left out on a journey.
Snow did a small prayer, boosting their powers by a bit. She never felt that there was some kind of luck involved, as the magical power that came through her didn't seem to have anything to do with it. Even still, she didn't tell the people and let them believe whatever they wanted.
With a quick blessing, she waved them goodbye and good luck. The group left, leaving only Dairen and Snow, standing outside the gate.
Snow watched until she couldn't see them anymore and turned to head back to her usual training.
All of a sudden, her leg wobbled. Throwing her off, making her knees buckle under her. She fell onto the ground in surprise. Sweat started to pour heavily down her face and body, her cheeks turned red and hot.
Dairen snapped around, hearing the clatter of her armors hitting the ground.
"Snow?!" Dairen ran over in alarm. It had been a long time since he had seen her looking ill as most of the time, she hid it very well.
Snow shakily pushed herself up from the ground, but her legs would not listen to her. Instead, she felt her vision become a blur, and her thudding headache appeared.
Dairen caught her before she fell back onto the ground. He hoisted her arm around his neck, helping her waddle in through the gates. Which brought a lot of attention. Many of the players came over concerned, wondering if there was an attack that had depilated Snow as it wasn't often to see her so ill.
He shook his head. "I need a healer!" Shouting in a hurry, he took her to the nearest tenth, where he helped her sit down.
Snow stumbled as everything seemed to spin, even more, her throat was dry, making swallowing more difficult. Her hand tapped around just to find the bed, which Dairen had to direct her.
"Snow, did you get hit by something?" Dairen was searching around her extensively, making sure she wasn't hit by some magical force that he didn't know about.
Snow shook her head, unable to answer. She felt even more tired, just sitting as she was put on her back to lay down.
A healer burst in through the flaps, bringing with her a few more high-level clerics. They surrounded her and started checking on Snow.
"Is she going to be alright?"
No answer was given as they meticulously worked.
"Anything?" Dairen asked again, this time a bit more forcefully as he was getting irritated that nobody was answering.
A couple of spells were chanted, but none of them worked on Snow as their voice continued to grow with concern.
"She has mana exhaustion, and she overworked herself." The leader of the clerics spoke with a frown. "A mana potion should help, but we would need a high-grade level potion to ease her pain. The low-level potion only hinders her recovery and is pointless to make her drink it without making her more ill."
"Then what do you suggest? Do you know anyone who has some mana potion?"
"None as of right now. Something like that, only the high priest has it."
Dairen cursed, gripping his hand with frustration. "Is there no other solution?"
"Rest." The cleric said with a definite answer. "A Lot of it."
"I'll make sure of that."
The cleric nodded, she turned around and left the two of them alone.
Dairen came over, pulling up a chair. He sighed deeply, frowning at Snow as he spoke, "You idiot. Take better care of yourself." With a brush of his fingers, he pushed away her hair. He leaned forward, gently kissing her on the forehead.
Snow was out cold, sleeping deeply from exhaustion. She didn't feel his light kisses on her forehead. Dairen got up and headed towards the exit. He stopped for a moment, his eyes gleamed over with seriousness as he stepped out, leaving Snow alone.
For the next day, Snow was bedridden. Rolling around in bed with a high fever that wouldn't break. Her mind was fuzzy, unable to comprehend what was going on. She hadn't felt this drained or sick for a long time, mainly because she wasn't the type to catch the flu quickly.
Every day, she would see or hear the concerned voices of familiar people that came and went as the days went by.
Her dreams became wild and chaotic, twisting and turning her into a pretzel as it carried her into dark memories of her past. From her childhood days to her teenage years, but just as quickly as it came, it went away, leaving her alone in the darkness of her mind.
A loud tapping sound was heard when Snow opened her eyes. She blinked a few times, trying to figure out where she was. Everything was hazy, making her confused about what was going on. There were times when she thought she was back at her old apartment, but the wooden bed was uncomfortable.
Snow was in simple pajama-like pants and a t-shirt. Her long white hair was spread out messily on the bed.
She moved, trying to lessen her stiff body that didn't seem to want to listen as well as she wanted. There were strange grunting and yelling sounds from outside. Her weak hand searched for anything she could use as a weapon but found nothing.
Willing her magic, she tried to summon up her armor, but for some reason, her magic didn't want to listen, leaving her bare and vulnerable. She had never felt this pathetically weak before it felt as if she was cursed to become a magicless being. Fear gripped her heart, but she quickly stamped it down, knowing that it would do her no good.
Closing her eyes, once again, she searched inside her body. Sensing for any minuscule energy that she had and found her magic still present. She tugged, hoping that she could force it to listen to her, but it still did not budge. With a disgruntled frown, she bite her lower lips. Waking her up even further.
Luckily, she still had her magical power, but the control to will it out wasn't present. The only thing she could do was find a different way to move about without magic. Pulling her leg over, she placed her feet on the ground. It took a moment for her to push off the bed.
Standing up, she breathed in once, letting the fresh air washed through her. It took an effort to move one step. She stumbled. Her hand caught the chair that was next to the bed.
Snow didn't give up; she took another step and another. The energy that she lost was coming back to her, allowing her to take a bit more positive steps than before. Eventually, she came to the flap of her tent. Her hand reached out, pushing it open, the bright light blinded her.
Her hand automatically raised up, blocking out the annoying sun. It took a moment to adjust. Shouts of angry people ran past her in a hurry, magic flurried through the air, causing an unusual tingle on her body.
Snow turned towards the direction. Her eyes focused.
Chaos was apparent before her. People were fighting head-on with the monster that invaded the camp. They were raptors like monsters that reminded Snow of a dinosaur. Their feathered head with multi-colored bands and bodies were eye-catching as they hunted in packs. There were always two together, overpowering a single person whenever they got a chance too.
Some slinked through the tents, screams of pain and anguish could be heard as the raptor tore through the hidden and the weak bodies.
Everywhere she looked, an ugly array of carnage was present. She stiffened, realizing what she had stumbled upon. Her instincts flared to life, her blood pumped with excitement. Scanning through the chaos, she found a short sword on the ground next to a dead body.
Quickly, without a second thought, she moved as fast as her leg would allow, she came upon the body to take the short sword off the ground.
Her fingers fumbled at first, cursing at her weakness. Using both hands, she lifted the sword. The weight was heavy, making her muscles ache.
Not too far away, a raptor saw her pick up a sword. It cackled and pounded its clawed feet, excited at easy prey. With a mouth gaping with rows of sharp teeth, it rushed over towards Snow.
Alarmed at the danger that was coming ahead, her instinct screamed to move. Her body at first, didn't respond as quickly as she wanted. Barely brushing past the monster's jaw, her shoulder was nicked by his teeth as she dodged out of harm's way.
She swung her sword upwards towards where she intended to cut the neck, but instead, it flailed and hit the raptor on the side of its body. It bounced off its skin, causing Snow to lurch backward.
Once again, annoyed that the raptor missed its meal, it swiveled its head. Snapping in quick succession, trying to take a chunk out of her shoulder.
Snow gritted her teeth. She ducked underneath as her leg seemed to cave under her. With a grunt, she pushed herself to punch the raptor under its chin with the butt of the sword. A sickening crack could be heard as the lower jaw of the monster hung loosely, unable to bite anymore.
With another step, she felt the energy that she lost come back slowly but surely.
Snow had already calculated the safest path for her to move her sword. It twisted and turned, making her form a bit strenuous to her body as the movement was irregular. The ground was decorated with corpses, making the ground pool with blue blood. But Snow didn't bat an eye on the terrible scene before her.
Her sword struck true. Stabbing into the right eye, she twisted it in viciously. The raptor bulked, falling forward as it fell onto the ground dead.
Relieved that she was out of harm's way, she reached down and pulled out her short sword. It let out a squelching sound that would make anyone hurl.
Not too far away, she heard a rapid shot of gunfire. Snow snapped her head towards the direction.
Jack and his group of cronies were shooting their guns at the raiding Raptors that cackled and screamed when the bullets entered their bodies. Even still, it wasn't enough to stop the swarm circling around them like prey being hunted.
"Get your asses in gear! These monsters should be easy to kill!" Jack shouted wildly, he was shooting off a rifle at the nearest raptor. Luckily for him, he fell three more, but the other two bulldozed their way through.
The first raptor took the one protecting Jack on the left, while the second took the other one behind him, leaving him exposed. Jack fired his gun at the raptors before him, even with his men entangled in their mouth. Both of them died as well as the monsters, leaving him breathing heavily.
Snow was appalled at the way Jack handled his people and the monster. She didn't want to be entangled in his fight or be anywhere near him. An ugly feeling of disgust was bubbling in her mind as she turned around, leaving Jack in a pool of death around him.
Snow searched through the area, trying to find someone familiar. So far, only the people from Jack's army and a handful of people were present, trying to keep the monsters from overwhelming them. She wondered where all the top-level players and hunters had gone in such a crisis.
A few people, who were hiding behind a barrel saw her walking by. In excitement, they got up and trailed a reasonable distance behind her, hoping that her "blessing" would rub off on them to stay alive.
Snow didn't mind or care at this moment of the growing number of unfamiliar people following behind. She was too busy, trying to stay alive as she battled against another raptor that almost overpowered her. Luckily for her, her skills had kept her alive. Leaving her with heavy breath.
She needed to find someone.
Eventually, her feet took her to the main tent, where she dropped off Jack when she knocked him out. It was ravaged with fire, burnt to crisp, leaving nothing but burnt bodies that stank foully.
What was truly going on?
Snow came over, trying to find any clues. The intensity of the fights became louder, but she could see that they were still a little away from where she stood, so for now, she was safe. She felt useless, unable to do much. Then in the corner of her eye, she saw something glisten underneath the ragtag tent. Her foot pushed it aside, and she found a black metallic ball.
Slowly, she reached down to pick it up.
"Saintess!" One of the people that were following her yelled with a hoarse voice. He knew that he would bring attention, but he needed to stop Snow.
Snow snapped towards the direction where the voice came from and noticed a young man with bluish gold hair, waving his hand above.
"Saintess!"
Snow tilted her head, she turned back towards the ball.
"It's a bomb!"
Snow froze, a few centimeters away.
Sometimes we don't realize that we overwork our minds more than our body. It's very important to take breaks and sometimes just have fun. What do you do to get away from stress? For me, I read manga and draw. XD
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