Chapter 315 Whispering Shroud

Handy was unharmed, but all over its body it had fresh pieces of moss and hanging slimy leaves clinging to it.

A green-brown sludge covered its legs up to the knee, showing it had been standing in a murky, muddy water or had found a deep puddle. Tiny jade green leaves clung to its bones as they stuck to the coating of muddy water.

Yet what made Jay curious was Handy's two-handed sword. Across its surface were black smoky marks. Looking a little more closely, Jay touched it with his finger.

It was like a sticky black power, which he guessed was soot or charcoal.

Another marking of black smoke was on the side of Handy's head.

"Hmm…" Jay checked its HP and found it was full.

A glance at Handy's teeth showed some tendons twisted through them, along with some blood.

"Seems like Handy got attacked by something and healed itself back up after eating. But did it eat its enemy or some other snack?"

(Handy, did you kill whatever attacked you or flee from it? Or maybe chase it away?) Jay asked, pointing to the scorch marks.

Handy shook its head, glanced at its sword, and then pointing it into the mist, it thrust the sword forwards.

(Good.) Jay nodded, taking this as a sign that it had won, or at least scared its enemy off. Jay let Handy do as it pleased, and it stood by his side, guarding him while it waited for its next assignment.

(Handy, maybe you can guide me through the fog. Don't let me step in mud or water.)

Handy nodded back, accepting its new orders. Jay didn't want to enter marshlands as there was no Snake-raven inn around to bathe in afterwards, and before stepping into the fog, Jay checked the [Guidance] one more time. A part of him also wondered if this fog was where Asra lived.

<[Guidance]>

[Location locked - Luna]

[Sated]

[May this serve you well, my Aris]

Its red line pointed directly into the fog.

"Hmm… I'm sure her school isn't in this fog. We probably would've seen some… oh, but it's daytime. Well, none of the skeletons have died and if there were vampires in that darkness, they probably would have killed a skeleton by now?" he wondered.

"I suppose I'll find out once Asra is out of the blanket, but I'll get her out near the edge of the fog so I can escape if I need to… I should be able to make it back to the savage lands dungeon if I sprint. I won't get there before nightfall, but I would have a head-start in case any vampires chased me." He thought, making plans just in case.

Jay finally moved his party into the fog. The skeletons disappeared completely as soon as they stepped into the giant gray wall.

As Jay stepped closer, he watched Red. It was so thick that it disappeared after traveling a few steps more. The border of the fog was odd, as there was no gradual shift into thicker fog. It was like it was being held in by a bubble.

"I guess you guys are guiding me." He thought, putting his hand on Handy's shoulder, and slowly went in.

Somehow, it was quieter inside the fog, and felt warm. There was a faint sickly sweet smell of rotting fruit. Before going any further, he turned around to the wrapped blanket.

"You can come out now." Jay whispered as the skeletons lowered the blanket cocoon.

"Ah, finally." Asra stretched her arms as she pushed apart the blanket.

Standing up, she glanced around, squinting. She could only see the skeletons surrounding them and nothing else.

"Hmm, I don't recognize this fog." She frowned.

"You can recognize different fog?"

"Yep. This one is… filled with something different. It smells…"

"Like rotting fruit?"

"No, more like… burning tar."

"Ah, burning? I can't smell anything smoky."

"Vampires have an excellent sense of smell…" she glanced around, stepping closer to Jay. She held him close and whispered in his ear.

"Is anyone else here? Can any of your undead speak?"

Jay pulled his head back, but felt Asra's hand at the back of it, stopping him from pulling away. He glanced around, trying to see where she was looking.

Instead of answering, he slowly shook his head, not even whispering.

"What is she talking about? She's way too close. Does she have no sense of personal space?" he wondered. "Wait… she hears something?"

Asra pulled his head a little closer, so close that she could have licked his ear, and she whispered, "I hear whispers. Voices of children."

Jay raised a brow, and held his finger up, asking for a moment while he gently pushed her away, and went to sit down on the noon-leather blanket.

"Maybe the skeletons can see something?" He wondered, sitting cross-legged as he used the [Host] skill.

He chose Handy's eyes to see through, who was still standing by his side.

Jay saw darkness for a moment, but then the world came back as black and white. Looking down at his own body sitting on the blanket, he made sure not to drop Handy's two-handed sword on himself.

"Ah, so they can see through the fog… sort of." He thought, looking around.

They were still in a field of stones and moss as the fog had shifted, but further down the hill he saw some gray leafless trees, which were dried out and dead, almost looking like they were made of bones.

Beyond them was a wall of white. The fog. He could only see about one hundred yards (90m) through the fog, even with the skeletons shade vision skill. Oddly, without the shadows, the fog looked pure white.

Jay looked around the rest of the field and saw no children or anything else unusual. Before using too much mana, he ended the host skill and returned to his own body.

"I see nothing out there. But there is what seems like a dead forest further ahead, so I'll have another look when we get there." Jay whispered as quietly as he could, knowing Asra would hear, even though he could barely hear his own voice.

Asra nodded back, so Jay slowly stood up and stashed his blanket away, giving himself a moment to think.

"Well, she doesn't recognize the fog, so this isn't a vampire magic of some kind… perhaps I was being paranoid, but it's better to be paranoid than dead." He thought, "So there must be something else in here, capable of speech. Perhaps it's an illusion designed to make Asra feel fear and there are no whispering voices at all? Or maybe it's just her hearing."

Jay recalled how he could have become a spirit variant of a necromancer and wondered if there could be invisible enemies lurking around. He was sure that his mana could deal with such threats, as he could even grasp souls, but sensing them was another matter entirely.

"I really need to work on my mana sense skill. If only I had more time to practice."

The mana sense skill was something Viladore had taught him back at the adventurer association. It was the art of dispersing mana and feeling changes in it to sense your surroundings, but it required a great deal of concentration to practice.

Jay already had a passive skill, called mana sense, but that was a utility skill to detect mana, rather than to use mana to detect other things.

Jay stopped for a moment as he spread an invisible bubble around him. He needed a moment to get used to the feeling again before he could walk forwards. Unfortunately, his mana dwindled, and he felt lightheaded before he could even get used to the feeling again.

"Dammit. Low mana again." He frowned, still walking forwards slowly.

"Come on. Don't be scared of children." Asra whispered, urging him forwards into the fog. Of course, she would not leave the safety of the skeletons.

"Mm." Jay mumbled, walking at a normal pace.

"I suppose I can use the goblin wand and send wide arcs of necrotic magic once I get my mana back. Plus, I can't even hear the voices yet, so I have some time. Maybe when we get closer to the dead trees, we'll hear something." He thought, chewing on some bondtussle root and getting bonus mana regeneration. "I can probably take a few hits of whatever is out there before I need to launch a spell back."