|Sword Art Online, Floor 65, Western Coast|
|Apr. 10th 13:31|
Unlike before, Mito's team went at a steadier pace with the addition of an unlikely ally, one they still held some suspicion over, especially Mito who never let her eyes leave Lloyd's sight for long. He was true to his word, combined with the two tracking skills they had, his were practically nearly mastered and honed for the specialty of monster hunting.
Whilst climbing ruined stairs up an incline, the sound of the sea only a few acres away, Fynch pipped up. "Say, how'd you figure White would head toward the coast?"
Lloyd raised a finger at that, not taking his eyes off the route ahead, hopping up the stone stairs to scan ahead. "Not the coast specifically, but a place nearby, caverns beneath an old keep on a sea cliff, place is only accessible a day, then the tide comes in, cuts off the entry," Turning on a heel atop a fallen pillar, he added, finger still held upright. "Wendigos are solitary creatures, they like places of similar nature, caves, ruins, dark locales. The one we're tracking is an A-Rank, so it comes with some special modifiers, you saw them on the quest, right?"
Now, he eyed Mito who paused, nodding as she came to walk beside him. "That's right. It had an icon that looked like footprints."
Nodding, Lloyd clicked his tongue. "Means this," He gestured to the tracks... overlayed with matching tracks heading in the complete opposite direction. "As it moves around, it creates counterfeit tracks which would've turned Philia and Fynch here around all over the floor, but if your monster tracking skill is nearly mastered, you can gain an attribute called 'Hunter's Sense' which helps me deduce the real from the fake tracks."
"Woah, I never thought of that... sorta like a monster-laid trap," Philia realized, rubbing her chin just as Lloyd hummed a laugh.
"Well, there's a workaround, see. If you know the monster and its habits, you'll know these false tracks lead away from a significant cavern system, the ideal place for a wendigo to hide," Lloyd informed, surprised when Philia quickly jotted that down in her notes tab. "Uh, yeah, its a handy tip, not many realize how significant all the info you gather on monsters is, a codex is like a cheat sheet." He smirked, gesturing to the edge of the forest. "Lesson over, better pick up the pace before Lycan shows up to talk about how amazing and talented he is."
"Does that often?" Mito questioned.
"Too often." Llyod muttered flatly, pinching two fingers close with a whisper. "I think he just gets excited by the sound of his own voice."
The crude joke made the guys laugh, whilst Philia stifled her own behind her hand, Mito just rolled her eyes, trying to appear aloof, despite a small smirk quickly being washed under her frown. Walking along the coastline, she immediately spotted their next destination, feeling tense just spotting it.
Illuminated by the twilight backdrop, a dark, decrepit keep stood atop a lonely cliffside, likely filled with treasure and traps. One side of its wall had collapsed, forming a makeshift wall and elevations closer to the waterfront, erecting a seawall around a crag in the cliffside, marked with tattered cloth and unlit torches still mounted to the remains of the crumbled wall. Those glowing tracks leading inside.
As only the sloshing of waves and the crunch of sand underfoot filled the quiet air, Mito found her attention drawn instead to Daora, who had paused to look at the side of the cliff. "Daora?" She nudged his arm, causing whatever trance he was in to dispel, turning slightly to her, just those red irises of his dragon mask staring back at her. Yet, she could always fell what kind of face he was making, she didn't understand it herself, but she did. "What's up with you? You've been acting weird since we left town."
"You don't see them?" He questioned, the others pausing whilst Daora grabbed Mito atop the head, turning her so she'd look in the very direction he had. Squinting, her eyes soon made out the very obvious clue Daora had sniffed out, if she blinked, she might've missed it.
Three, long abrasions had gouged through the side of the rocky cliff, roughly two meters in length, and dug into the rock several inches. Fynch walked over and placed a hand on them, causing the marks to glow a deep red instead of the usual green pigment, almost like boiling blood under his fingertips.
"I've... never seen a glow like that," Fynch murmured, quickly shooting a worrying look to Lloyd who's expression paled a little. "What about you?"
"...only once." For the first time, Lloyd's upbeat tone was gone, shallow... fearful. But he inhaled slowly through the nose and out the mouth. "Don't worry, the tracks are very faint, so we can focus on Mr White."
"Sure," Mito answered half-heartedly, peeling away from the long gashes, glancing back to Daora who lingered on them. "Sooner we wrap this up, sooner we can head back to town."
"..." He said nothing but gave a nod and followed, keeping Destroyer brandished in both hands. In all honestly, all of them did the same. An eerie, chilling notion now nagging at the backs of their minds.
Only Daora saw the large, hoof-like footprints that led away from the cave, back into the forest they came from...
|Apr. 10th 13:40|
Heading deeper into the cave quickly revealed the name, The Sunken Caves, which was a mangled mesh of winding caves and the crumbling sections of a long-abandoned dungeon, its damp, mossy surfaces lit with goblets housing cursed, emerald flames, casting long, flickering shadows over every crevasse and crack in the walls and caverns, the former being lopsided and slopes, warped by nature, old, rusty gates swung wide.
"Stop," Philia immediately called their attention, Lloyd's right foot hovering off the ground, skipping back on his left for Philia to kneel down, brushing her fingertips across the wet stone, brow furrowed beneath her cowl. "It's a false step, actually, there's a whole bunch in this corridor alone.
"That many off the rip? Man, whoever made this didn't want anyone comin' this way," Fynch whistled nervously.
"How'd that wendigo get through then?" Daora huffed.
"Game mechanics don't need to make sense to be a pain in our ass," Mito sighed a shrug. "Take your time, Philia, this is the only way in anyway." Not that Mito wanted to run into anyone else today.
"Don't worry, they're not complex, just well-hidden," As if sensing Mito's supressed urgency, the redhead smiled, moving forward at a decent pace, each successful disarm met with a small 'done'. She raised hand, motioning forward. "Fynch, to my right is clear, check the neighbouring halls."
"On it, buddy," Shuffling forward, he inspected the T-junction for any other traps, narrowing his glowing eyes. "Uh... less to worry about, think it's just for the entry."
"Hm, Philia, leave the rest," Lloyd suggested, shadowing the same route Fynch took as the treasure hunter looked up at his winning grin. "Don't want to ruin all the fun for the Hunters Guild, do we now? Think of the experience we'll be robbing them of, I couldn't bear the idea of it!"
His voice dripped with remorse, enough for her to close the skill tab for trap disarming. "Of course, wouldn't want that, would we?" She smirked a little. "Just follow us, we'll point out the traps from here. Mito, can you map the place?"
"Already on it," The Reaper declared, glancing at Lloyd. He had a good eye for using the environment in their favour, she still didn't know his whole angle, but he was reliable, at least he didn't flaunt his talents like that Lycan guy, she'll give him that. "Lloyd, can you watch the rear?"
He gave a short bow. "With pleasure, I can add a few little gifts of my own, hehe," Clapping with a mischievous grin, Mito didn't even bother to question him, so long as those 'gifts' didn't come back to bite them later.
"Alright; Daora, vanguard's all yours," Mito declared, seeing him march forward with an unseen grin. "Let's clear this mini-dungeon people, full-speed!" She decided to use some of Nagi's encouragement for good measure.
"RIGHT!" The group hollered, filling her back up with confidence of her own.
Traversing the dungeon-dungeon, they walked through an arching cave back into a long, tall corridor lined with suits of armour on pedestals. Each suit was worn and rusted due to the flooding that Lloyd mentioned, seaweed and barnacles clung to the suits like glue, each clutching a weathered longsword in both hands upright.
"Ooh yeah, this is a trap and a half," Lloyd pointed down the hall.
"I can't detect any traps so far," Philia pointed out.
"Doesn't mean we should take it easy either," Mito added, unsure of how... calm things were so far, did someone else already pass through here not long ago. If so, no mobs had respawned yet. It was a sense of worry their hunt was already in jeopardy, but she refused to endanger them all with her need to rush things.
"I'll go, just gotta take things steady, right?" Fynch offered, drawing his longsword and marching down the hall.
"I'm the vanguard, so I'm going further!" Daora immediately charged past him, both walking by the withering statues whilst the others stood by and waited with baited breaths.
"Things sure are creepy-looking, love the gothic style," Fynch commented whilst watching his step.
"We can't fought anything yet, where the hell are all the mobs?" It was annoying how slow things had gotten, even if what Daora found outside put him on edge, something that didn't happen often, and he hated that far more than some stagnant walk through an old dungeon. His right foot then sunk down into a puddle of salt water, creating a splash that soaked his bare chest. "Grr... I hate it here!"
"Daora!"
A single step and one of the knights drew their sword down on Daora's head, only for it to bounce off his helmet, leaving a glowing, red line down the scales and across the left eye. Stumbling from the blow, Daora roared and swung wide with Lumberjack, the twin cleave splitting the armour in half by the waist, sending its armour clattering loudly to the floor, shattering a moment later.
"Hah, I knew it- oh crap," Lloyd deflated, seeing two more knights drag themselves around the corner behind them, and the ones lining the corridor began to move too, prying themselves free of their podiums to converge on Fynch and Daora. Each marked with the name 'Withering Knight - Lv. 100'.
"The decorations are coming to life!?" Philia almost gaped, quickly drawing her sword breaker, standing back-to-back with Mito.
"Let's clear the way!" Daora hollered, stomping back to drag the head of Destroyer through the stone walls, sweeping with a gust of wind to lacerate the two Knights ahead. "Whirlwind!" The blast dispelling the living armour whilst a gleam of silver shot past his vision, sweeping under the twin Horizontals of a pair of Knights, Fynch twirling on his knees to clip their backs, completely Horizontal Square, dropping the pair before rolling sideways through the water, narrowly avoiding the lunging, rusted swords that followed.
To the raven-greenette's surprise, Daora charged and headbutted one Knight into the other, both sent flying down the corridor, straight into Mito's arching scythe, Rend splitting bisecting them, twirling Soul Fang to rest against her back, parrying a teal Rage Spike for Philia to close in a tearing several holes through the living armour with her own Tri-Pierce, the polygons dispersed by Lloyd who slid back on the slippery stone floor.
Righting himself, he dipped left, evading a thrust skill to land a left cross to the Knight's side with Flash Blow, followed by a quick counter of sapphire light in his right index and middle fingers, Embracer buried through its rusted breastplate, the blast of light flinging it into the amassing horde of living statues.
"Now-now, no need to rush," He gestured placidly. Taking a strange martial arts stance Mito didn't recognize. He stood on just his left leg, the right bent with the knee facing straight, his foot aligned with his left leg. Then, his right fist by his hip, the left extended forward at an angle. A golden glow flowed over his body, with a bold, white Kanji for 'Speed' appearing.
Moving like a blur, Lloyd's fists turned crimson, moving akin to Artorias's speed, weaving between sword skills to strike at multiple Knights with striking blows to their midsections, followed by a single elbow to the center one's chest, the blast reducing a majority to scrap, or heavily damaging them as a result of the five-hit skill, Peekaboo.
Exhaling, he's confidence faltered, seeing nearly twice as many Knights scramble around the corner, accompanied only by the grinding and groan of their rusted armour. "...I'mma take this as a sign to run?"
"Yes!" Mito yelled, dashing down the crooked corridors with Daora and Fynch leading the charge, clearing a path for them to escape being surrounded by the endless army.
|Apr. 10th 13:57|
Narrowly avoiding the living armour that turned a series of caves and corridors into a claustrophobic space, Fynch handed out health pots to patch themselves up, stepping toward the lip of a stone brick elevation with a risen portcullis gate behind them. The cavern opened up with light trickling in from a fissure in the ceiling, but not by much, leaving many dark spots.
A stream ran through the middle with rough terrain but a moderately flat surface, fitting for an arena, broken up by tall pillars of stalactites and mites. And there, crawling around the length of a natural, stone column, was the emaciated wendigo, its eyes glowing in the gloom, its health bars unchanged from when they first attacked it. Philia knelt at the ledge, eyes narrowed and scanning their surroundings critically.
"There it is, finally!" Daora tensed up, the scars on his body fading away as he tugged his helmet back down properly to mask his devilish smile.
"No tin cans following, we're in the clear," Lloyd ran back, thumb raised. "We should still be ahead of any would-be hunters."
"Alright, we know it has a ranged attack, so we'll need to drag it down to our level first, just like before," Mito eyed Soul Fang in her hands, if she used Hook Line, she might be able to force it to ground level.
"Fine by me, I'll drag it down in no time at all!" Daora offered, leaping down to trigger the battle, watching White leap to another pillar.
"No, Daora, don't mov-" But Philia's plea came too short, the man taking a single step, only to violently convulse as webs of yellow lightning ran up his stiff muscles, causing the formidable frontline to a jittering mess on the floor, and at his foot, was a strange apparatus that Mito was certain wasn't there before. Philia winced, curling her finger back. "There's traps everywhere, that's what I was going to say earlier..."
"Feel that should've been warranted a little earlier, don't ya think?" Lloyd gestured to the twitching teen below, himself hopping down with Philia who knelt at Daora's side. "We'll draw its ire, here-" Tossing something back to Mito, she quickly caught a small potion vial filled with deep orange liquid, like magma. "Drink up, it'll help you spot traps, they'll glow the same tint."
"Why didn't you give us these earlier?" Mito questioned, hearing the wendigo let out a shriek, their commotion had drawn its attention.
Lloyd cracked his knuckles, reaching into his pouches for several marbles. "'Cause getting them made puts a heavy dent in my wallet- your welcome, by the way!" He smirked, but quickly leapt to his right, flicking three marbles that then exploded with a blinding flash, disorientating White who fell but quickly righted itself, standing up tall and imposing, stalking toward them.
She bit her tongue and drank the potion, noting the creator's name in the item's description, and she almost choked, 'Artorias'. Of course it was him, she rolled her eyes and tossed the empty vial aside, feeling her eyes suddenly sharpen, pinpointing several glowing disks sprinkled across the arena. It couldn't be a coincidence, a player rigged this whole area.
Tension flooded her body, but she opted to protecting Daora until Philia could disarm the shock trap, leaving the heavy lifting to Fynch and Lloyd. Still, she grabbed a handful of throwing knives, narrowing her gaze to fling a knife at the nearest trap, causing the blade to crackle and hiss, triggering the trap prematurely. She was on defence, but she'll at least help give the guys some breathing room.
White let out a sonic scream, blasting dust and crashing into the nearest boulder, just as a fist shot from its right, Flash Blow digging into its flesh, knocking it backward as its tail swiped at Lloyd, skimming across his forearm, but leaving White wide open to Fynch's greatsword sweeping down like a mallet, carving a jagged lightning symbol through its back and right arm, but White remained steady and undeterred by the flailing polygons, driving its claws through Fynch's left peck and shoulder, dragging and throwing him sideways.
He flinched, kicking his foot down to thrust himself over a shock trap at the last second, exhaling deeply. "Phew, too close- woah!" He rolled, a sonic blast skimming his soles whilst Lloyd's heel struck down with an orange contrail, cracking White on its left shoulder, using the leverage to bound over its head, the claws sweeping with viciously in a spiral, creating a small draft when he landed on his toes to block with his arms crossed, tanking a tail slam that marked both bracers, sending him skidding back a few feet.
Entering a frenzy, White swung and slammed the ground with its claws, the pair diving back to avoid each rampant arc that glowed with a red vapour. "Bleed Debuff too!" Fynch relayed, catching the claws against his greatsword, pressing a hand against the face as the full weight of the beast pushed down on him, nearly toppling the raven-greenette over. "And... v-very heavy!" He wheezed too.
"Boop!" Lloyd's Water Moon arched and swiped across White's deer skull, hearing the neck snap at an inhuman angle, leaving it wide for a counter slash from Fynch.
The head snapped back in place, its bony chest expanding for another, point-blank shriek, only for a chain to wrap around its waist in lilac, dragging it backward toward Mito. Craning its neck, it went to scream only for Mito to kneel, and for Daora's ax to come bearing down on its deer skull, wrapped in silver light.
"Grand..." He missed, its head thrown back but Destroyer met its mark down the length of the wendigo's chest, an eruption of light at their feet. "Destruction!"
Thrown back, Philia's spun into a pirouette, lacerating in a rising slash of lime green, Round Accel finally forcing White to leap high, scurrying behind a stalactite, the first health bar almost depleted. "Alright, we have it on the ropes!" Fynch cheered.
"Not over yet, spread out! Philia, disarm any traps I've missed!" Mito relayed fast, twirling Soul Fang's blade in its chain form, causing it to glow a deep turquoise. "I'll drag it back down to Earth!"
Throwing her arm wide, the chain snaked through the air, guided by the skill system, only for its blade to lose its lustre, ricocheting off the face of an oval shield. Their eyes widened, and so did the diving player that leapt out from hiding, their own sword skill disrupted by her own. She quickly checked, Mito's cursor remained an emerald green, but she watched the staggered player plummet and land hard into the soil, right atop another shock trap.
"Ah, great... the Trappers," Lloyd realized as the darkness shifted all at once, several more players emerging to engage the wendigo that hissed and let out sonic blasts toward them, sending any and all throwing weapons clattering pathetically to the floor.
"Engage, don't let it escape!" One player called out, gesturing with their spear, only to then noticed Mito and her party. "Wait, other players!? Who are you!?"
"Yaviks, Tear's down!" Another player called, their shield nearly blown away by another, powerful sonic scream.
In saying this, White took note of the immobile player, snarling deeply before turning its attention away from its attackers entirely, in favour of the defenceless Tear. Lunging with unbelievable speed, White's claws coated a blood red, the mist trickling across its arms like evaporating blood, skeletal maw wide and howling.
A cascade of light red burned into its retinas, almost blindingly so, followed by the molten-hot edge of Soul Fang twirled into a blur of maroon, Mito having been thrown by Daora to counter its attempted murder, rending its gnarled body with the ultimate skill, Morana, leaving multiple, deep cuts through its body, the impact of her skill leaving her momentarily paralyzed, but sending the beast hurdling through a stalactite, toppling the column over.
Panting a little, Mito turned on her heel to the downed player, Tear. She was sporting the same armour as her fellow Trappers, going for a rogue-like style of leathers, a hint of chainmail underneath, an distinct, dark green capes and/or windswept skirts, a bandana covering her mouth and wrapped around her hair, leaving just a ponytail visible. She made grunts of discomfort but was otherwise okay.
"Philia, over here," The treasure hunter knelt down beside Mito. "Disable hers I'll watch your back. Lloyd, Fynch, Daora, keep White at bay!"
"Shouldn't be an issue, chief," Lloyd then gestured to where the wendigo scrambled up the cavern's surfaces, scrambling for the crag in the ceiling. "Turned tail and fled for the hills again, lost its first HP bar though, so nice counter," He offered two thumbs up, coming to sit beside Philia. "Tch, nasty those shock traps, high level too."
"I got it," Philia spoke firmly, her eyes never once flinching, working the strange, rotating lock mechanic in front of her. "I'll have her out in half a minute."
"Good..." Mito stood up, unable to find a way to smile. They kept anyone from ending up a collection of shards, but now, she had a new problem to contend with, all the Trappers looking to them, many of which appeared tense, almost anxious to come closer. "You set these traps."
"And you disassembled most of them, and got one of our own caught to boot," Their leader most likely, Yaviks, stood roughly the same height as Mito. Only a pair of amber eyes meeting her cold, vermillion. Tugging his bandana down, he gestured for his group to lower their weapons. "But... you also cut your losses to help save her, so... thanks, I mean that."
"The notorious and overly anxious Trappers, and modest too, I already like this group a whole lot more than mine," Lloyd sighed happily, only for Mito's hand to slap over his mouth to shut him up. "Fewr pwnt, cwnthnw." He motioned for her to speak.
"We came here to slay a monster, not innocent people, that's why you set those traps at the entrance, right? To deter anyone?" Thanks to Fynch and Philia, both discovered that many of the laid traps were player-made too, so Mito had her suspicions for a while now. It might've been the Hunter's Guild, but the amount of traps, according to Lloyd, was a dead giveaway of the overly cautious Trappers.
Yaviks gave a slight laugh at that, hands up slightly. "Guilty, didn't think anyone would risk coming the shortest route if it was laced with tons of traps, guess I didn't account for crazy parties, like yours," He complimented, somewhat, making Mito huffed lightly, crossing her arms. "Listen, we're not about to try and fight over this hunt, this... was pretty much our last attempt before nightfall."
"But that's still hours away, what's the problem?" Fynch inquired, offering a health pot to one of the Trappers who got nailed by a sonic scream.
A few looked amongst themselves, almost confused and worried for the lack of concern on Mito's and her team's faces. Yaviks eyed her critically. "You... are aware of the recent deaths out on the field among a few Frontrunners, right?"
She didn't like that sound of this, but answered. "Yes, I've... heard a few rumours going around," Best keep their own identities under wraps. "Two players from the frontlines were killed when they got separated from their party at night, due to how dark the whole surrounding forests get, and the high level monsters that come out around that time."
"Not just monsters... The monster," Yaviks's voice was cold for a moment, rubbing his nape. "It's... there's something else on this floor, like no other. A monster that only hunts at nightfall, said to be a much higher level than the rest, similar to that of the floor boss's, people have seen its tracks all over, but no one has ever tracked it down. But, one of our scouts got enough tracks to gain two bits of info,"
"We... were going to share it with a broker, when we got back..." The girl who was trapped, Tear, nodded in gratitude to Philia who helped her up, the girl looking a little better now. "I... it didn't show me a name, just the title... 'The Dead Calm', and the flavour text said, it... hm, 'A Spirit of the Sea washed ashore, said to be a fragment of a demon'. T-that's all I ever got."
Something about that left an unsettling feeling in Mito's gut, she knew all Frontrunners were warned never to venture outside a safe zone at nightfall on this floor. All floors grow more dangerous at night, some do have monsters that require prerequisites to spawn, but this? This sounded far smarter, almost as if they were being hunted by a real person, or... a real monster.
"We'll keep that in mind," Mito offered at least. "So this monster is why you're heading back now?"
Lightening up a little, Yaviks nodded. "Yeah, we expended most of our equipment, so it'll take us time to craft and restock, by then, it'll be nightfall, but hey, if no one slays the wendigo by tomorrow, we'll try again," He then considered the purplette a moment, looking a little more serious. "And if you're staying out here, watch out for the Hunter's Guild, rather, Lycan's group."
That piqued their curiosity. "Had a fun chat with them too? Did he go on about how efficient his team was?" Lloyd interjected, earning a scoff from another Trapper.
"Guy's a tool-bag, honestly, think he was trying to get some of us to fall for 'em." One female Trapper spat distastefully, earning a laugh from the rest.
"Boys..." Tear rolled her eyes, Philia and Mito silently agreeing.
"Their... criticism aside, I've heard his group in particular are quite shady, so... be safe out there, from one hunter to another," Yaviks offered a hand, one Mito eventually shook on.
"Sure, I... thanks," She knew she was being prickly about this, but Yaviks didn't come off as a deceitful man, if she was honest, Lycan had her on edge too. Just something about him, the way he spoke and handled himself, it was all too unsettling to her. So, she decided on something... unexpected. "Well, if we have to cut our loses, maybe... we can team up to keep the rare item from falling into his hands? Whoever gets the drop keeps it, usual trade."
Surprised by this, even her own party were caught off guard, Yaviks blinked, but shook her hand firmly. "You sure? Really, thank you, that... that honestly takes a load off my shoulders- being leader is challenging to say the least." He whispered honestly to her, earning a small laugh and wink from the stoic Reaper.
"Amen to that," Letting go of his hand, "Any shortcuts out of here?"
"With less living furniture?" Philia raised her hand.
"Huh!? But that was the best part!" Daora complained.
"Is he always this unhinged?" Tear questioned, a little unsettled by his enthusiasm, earning an ax swung near her face.
"I'll take on a whole army, they go down so easily, but that's what makes it fun to fight a one-man army!" The Dragon Lord cackled madly, all of them inching away from him a little.
"To answer your curious question... Yes." Philia sweat dropped.
"How he hasn't committed a crime yet is either disappointing or impressive if I'm honest," Lloyd admired with a strained laugh, leaning back to eye Mito. "You sure know how to pick 'em."
"Shut up," She dismissed, Yaviks laughing lightly himself.
"Well, we'll see ourselves out; take that route there," He pointed to a cave along the wall to the western side. "It'll lead you through to the keep above, there's monsters and Withering Knights but you shouldn't be nearly as overwhelmed. Again, appreciate the save, good luck."
"Appreciate it, and you too." Mito thanked, waving curtly to Tear and the other Trappers who took their leave through an alternate path.
Now though? Mito had failed again to slay the wendigo, but it was weak and likely retreated to its final locale. Yet, the warnings from Yaviks weighed on her mind. The Hunter's Guild were still active and likely on-route to wherever it'll appear next. They had time before nightfall to track the monster, but would it be enough to slay it and return home?
But what kept her heart in a cold vice, was a few, colourful words to enrich the lore of Aincrad. And a single title to a player killer.
The Dead Calm.
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
Another unsuccessful hunt, this monster is quite elusive, and we also meet the Trappers, if only briefly. But Mito's got her hands full now, the unknown threat of Lycan's group, and the unseen threat of a monster that comes after sundown. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Misfits!
096 - The Hunt Is On
Daylight was quickly fading, pressure is building in the race to slay the wendigo, and Mito is forced to make a difficult choice...