Chapter 252 - Vol. 4 - 51

Ash

The half-demon spent some time traversing the barren, hot, landscape, mostly focused on her one goal. Her mind was thankfully less clouded than when she'd left on her last few excursions, save for the occasional moment spent remembering Keiko's hopeful smile, which spurred her on to get this done even sooner. 

The sun on her skin made a few beads of sweat roll down her cheeks, but that only served to make Ash's pace quicken. She spotted a few strange monsters on her way to her destination. One had been a snake-like creature with branch-like thin legs, and she'd spotted a camp of Sand Goblins, all of which she dispatched easily, as their levels were low enough to allow for that. These fights resulted in her gaining one level, bringing her to this status, as she put both her attribute points into her Int:

Level 73

MP: 330/330

EXP: 10/730

---

STR: 50

DEX: 30

CON: 34

INT: 24

WIS: 33

L: 100

Nothing posed too much of a threat to her which boosted her confidence a small amount. Eventually, some hours later, as she walked over a small hill of sand and rocks, she spotted a place that looked nothing like any other part of this region that she'd seen so far. 

Grey, dreadful trees with dark green leaves and a sea of violet mist stretching between them. Every now and then, she felt like she could see flashes of electricity freely surging through the air. 

Guess that's it,  she thought. Grab that flower, maybe kill a couple of monsters on the way, and head back.  She thought. 

At the same time, she recalled the tips she'd received. Tyl had mentioned that it was unwise to spend too much time inside the place and that she should take breaks, exiting the Mist Realm momentarily because otherwise, as she put it, "weird shit" could happen. Satsuhiro had mentioned that the area wasn't level-locked, and, of course, it had been made clear that the Mist Realm could alter reality itself, though Ash didn't quite understand what that meant. 

Taking all of this into account, she breathed in the warm evening air and walked forward. 

"Let's get this over with," she muttered to herself as she approached the place. 

The closer she got, the more she felt something strange inside of her. It was like her entire body had started tingling, low enough to where it didn't worry her, but still noticeable. The air itself had picked up a scent that resembled vanilla, one that immediately made Ash think of Kaori. 

Even as she stood just a few meters away from the forest-like area, she couldn't see through the mist. 

If it's always going to be this dense, looking for that flower's going to suck.  Ash thought as she stood just outside the violet fog.

One last thing she remembered was that it had been made clear that any flower would do. There wasn't a specific one she was looking for, according to Tyl. The only requirement was that it needed to be native to this place. So, with that in her mind, Ash figured this would be easy. 

And, finally, she stepped into the mist. 

Something amazing happened then, however. As soon as she walked into the fog, the air cleared up. 

What the hell? 

Ash narrowed her brows as she looked forward and found that she could see almost everything around her, and everything that was ahead. Those dark trees had turned a vibrant green and purple, and she could hear some strange sounds ahead, like running water. The sun felt like it had turned even brighter, as all of the nearby plants were covered in a brilliant orange glow. 

Then, Ash turned around and noticed that now, the edge of the forest, the one she'd just walked through, was covered in that violet mist, and she couldn't see the place she'd just come from. 

"... Whatever," Ash said, and, forcing herself to focus, she pressed on, as she saw no flowers around her. 

It was all fairly stunning, however. Everything around her looked more alive and colorful than even Pearl's wilderness. To the point where the vibrant sights around her were almost blinding. 

One screech pierced through the air, however, and Ash quickly remembered that there could be monsters hiding behind every bush. 

"Sword," she said, and her  Lust  transformed promptly.  Okay, now,  she thought,  flower, flower... Where are these things supposed to be? 

As she looked around, all she found was regular-looking vegetation. Nothing jumped out to her eyes as being something she could take out of the ground and return to Amber with. She kept her head low, mostly just trying to see if she could run into anything she needed. 

Eventually, she found something that looked promising. A plant with some purple petals on it, stretching so far out of the ground that it stood at a similar height to Ash herself. 

Okay, easy.  She thought.  I'm guessing this... 

But, as she went to touch it, her hand passed straight through it. Ash froze, and the plant suddenly disintegrated, right in front of her eyes. It became a collection of violet embers that then flew through the air and scattered, vanishing without a trace. 

...

Ash blinked. 

What the fuck just happened? 

Putting that aside, she continued her search. Several minutes passed and the half-demon made no progress, only managing to walk forward aimlessly with no findings of any kind. She stopped later when she saw a bird fly down in front of her, landing atop a small boulder.

At first, she paid it no mind, but when she got a good look at it, she found it to be a little strange. 

It had a colorful blue body with violet stripes running through it and was small enough to fit in Ash's hands. Most notably, however, was that it had a pair of glowing sapphire eyes looking back at her. 

Ash raised a brow as she stared back at it.

What is this thing supposed to-

Just as she was asking herself that, something struck her from behind. A flash of pain ran through her body as it felt like a hammer had slammed her back, and Ash instantly turned around, facing whatever was there. What she saw was a creature that looked like a person with no eyes, stone-like thin arms, and body so smooth it may as well have been made of metal, as it stood on two legs and looked back at her. 

The first thing Ash did was try to scan for its level, but nothing appeared. 

Then, it ran up to try to hit her again, and Ash ducked under its punch. With her sword, she stabbed through it, and the monster made no noise as it dissipated in almost the same way that plant had earlier, becoming a collection of violet embers that scatted in the air. 

No EXP message appeared over Ash's head. Nothing happened for a short time, until, after a while, those embers returned, and formed the exact same creature, piece by piece, in front of her. 

...  Wait a second. Ash narrowed her brows and turned away from it, looking back at the bird that had flown down onto the boulder before. 

It hadn't moved at all. Instead, its glowing eyes remained fixed on Ash, as the half-demon checked its level. 

Level 34

MP: 400/500

Ash glared at it. Then, without a word, she lifted her right hand up and closed her eyes. She could hear the monster behind her walking up to her, but she ignored it as she focused on her connection to Magia, and a beam of light took shape in her hand. 

Then, she threw it forward, aimed directly at the bird, and it exploded, crumbling the rock it was standing on, leaving nothing behind but a few feathers and a massive red stain to show it had been there before. 

EXP Gained: 30

EXP: 40/730

The monster behind her faded away, permanently this time.

As she looked back at where the bird had been, she sighed, as all hopes that this would be a quick and easy flower extraction disappeared from her heart. 

This is going to be annoying as fuck, won't it?  She hung her head as she paused for just a moment before continuing her search. 

It's just a flower,  she told herself.  There's no way this takes me more than an hour or two. 

With that brief, strange, fight out of the way, the half-demon continued forward. The path she was on, one made naturally out of the spaces between the trees, led her to a small clearing, and up ahead, in the distance, she could see what looked like a person. 

Hm?  Ash tilted her head. 

As she got closer, Ash found that she could make out a few details. It looked like a little girl, one with white hair so long that it touched the ground, dressed only in an oversized, ripped, and a stained, shirt that had, at some point, been as white as her hair. 

Ash approached the girl, figuring that this was, very likely, another weird illusion like the ones she'd just seen, but that it would lead her to a monster she could kill for some easy EXP. 

As she got close enough, however, the girl, who was just standing there, looking bored, turned toward her, with a glare.

And, Ash stopped. 

When she saw the girl's face, Ash felt chills go up her arms and her back. 

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Ash looked back at what she quickly realized was, quite literally, just a younger version of herself. 

"... Nope,"  Ash then said, walking away.  "Fuck that." 

But, the girl followed behind her.