Quest: Fight for the Forest

Ally with the creatures below the trees

Yes/No

Rewards will be decided based on your contribution in the end

Looking at the floating words before him, Kai hesitates and looks over at the man. The man, unaware of the quest in front of Kai, continues to gaze at the fire, as if reminiscing about something.

There's quests? Well, that changes things... actually, not really, not like I would choose to fight with the abominations. They were the ones who-

Realisation hits him like a freight train, everything that was just described and that is happening, he already knows.

The murals! Beautiful woman getting watched by a God in the sky, monstrous wolf fighting a four armed abomination, the abominations and the moon creatures clashing below the trees with humans in their midst. The only one unaccounted for is the person wearing the wooden armour.

Not really thinking much about the choice, Kai chooses yes and watches more text pop up.

Quest: Fight for the Forest

Allied: Creatures below the trees

Current effort: 0%

"Well that settles it, at least you picked the right option, it would've been a real shame should you have said no"

Oh... he was aware of it...

A shiver runs down Kai's spine as he watches the man way those words in a carefree attitude. The sad thing about it is that Kai knows the man has the ability to back up his words.

"But what now though?" Kai asks as he watches Failure get up out of his armchair, prompting Kai to follow suit.

"Well, no offence, but a level 11 can't exactly do much in this scenario. So it's time for a training arc, exciting, right?

There's various beasts staying around the dome, each doing different jobs and having different abilities. Since we now know the end is near, we are going to allow humans inside the Dome and allow them to train. The moon beasts will be the main fighting force of our army, humans can't even begin to compare, meaning they will be the support.

Not everyone is equal though, as some humans possess innate abilities that would make up for their lack of stats, yet only some posses innate abilities, some are just... nevermind."

Kai frowns, sure a training arc sounds good, but something he said catches him off guard.

"Not everyone possesses an innate ability? But everyone I've met so far has. Actually, maybe one hasn't but I'm not sure."

The one Kai is referring to is Beefcake, the buff dude who attacked him and Noelle along with Creepy. His innate ability could have been physical strength enhancement or something but Kai doesn't know for sure.

This time, it's the man's turn to frown. "Really? Well it's not unheard of for a majority in a tutorial to posses innate abilities, either that or you were extremely lucky or unlucky."

"A bit of both." Kai nods honestly. Lucky in the sense that be was with Noelle, who had an innate ability.

Though it hasn't been very useful recently...

And later on Sofia, who also has one but Kai isn't sure on what it is, he has a rough idea though.

The unlucky side being Creepy, possibly Beefcake, Sleepy, Camo...

... the unlucky list seems much longer.

"Well, this can either work in our favour... or against it, all we can do is hope the stronger ones join our side."

Just as Failure finishes speaking, Aldred's ears twitch, followed by the man sighing, it seems that only Kai was unaware of whatever just happened.

"Seems two people in the dome aren't getting along, Aldred, I'll leave this to you, and bring Kai along, I'm sure he'll want to see it."

"Alright." The wolf grunts as he gets up off the apparently comfy wooden floor. Trotting over to the front door of the cabin, he turns his head and speaks.

"Come, Catalyst, you could learn much from what's about to happen."

Curious and a bit weirded out by how mysterious they are being, Kai follows Aldred out of the cabin, watching the gray wolf grow back to his original size.

They walk through the vast plains of the dome, and Kai watches in amazement at all the animals doing insanely cool things and illogical things.

Then again, all of this is illogical in the first place.

Boars creating armour around themselves using mud or rocks, presumably out of magic. Stags using healing magic on other beasts who were injured by the abominations. Monkeys setting up traps for future use. All the beast share the same defining feature, a third eye with a crescent moon in it, the odd time you'd spot a quater moon creature with a following around them, indicating their higher standing in the hierarchy.

A few minutes of walking later, the large wolf and small boy arrive at their destination. Kai spots a crowd of beasts in a circle around something. Sqeezing himself through the gaps between them all while the beasts just make way for Aldred, Kai spots what they are crowding around.

In the middle of the circle stands Noelle, and opposite her is Wa'rak. She has her scimitar out, ready to pounce. Wa'rak is battle ready to, in a low stance while baring his sharp fangs.

He spots Umbra and Sofia away to the side and scurries over.

"What the hell is happening?" Kai quickly asks as he meets them, he looks to Sofia for an answer.

"The bastard wolf must've been making fun of Umbra or something, poor thing got scared so Noelle got defensive and made fun of him back, causing him to get agitated. A stag with a quater moon came over, a beast who could also speak. They acted as a translator and now they're having a duel."

Sofia softly caresses Umbra's ears, to which the wolf responds with a soft whine. The strange thing is that Umbra is not a cowardly beast, looking back Kai knows that she does not scare easily. Even while facing the moon bear during the week, she did not falter, meaning she must have some past trauma in dealing with Wa'rak.

Sitting down on the grass, he watches as Umbra walks over, lying down beside him and resting her head on his lap. Sofia follows and sits down on the other side of the wolf.

As he starts to pet his familiars soft fur, he calls out to Noelle;

"Noelle, make sure you don't lose, it would look bad on me if you do!"

After throwing a menacing glare at him, one which Kai instinctively flinched at, she returns her gaze back to her opponent.

Wa'rak's fangs glisten in the light, his mouth curving into... is that a grin?

The wolf is mocking Noelle.

And Kai knows more than anyone not to do that.

Noelle charges forward, indicating the start of the fight. Brandishing her scimitar, she swings downwards on the wolfs head, only for the wolf to hop backwards, easily avoiding the blade.

Pirouetting to the side, Noelle shoots a stab at the moon wolfs side, to which it responds by biting on down on the blade, trapping it. Wa'rak growls as he yanks his head, pulling Noelle towards him. Just as he thinks Noelle is finished, he rips the blade out of her hands and goes to bite her.

Huh? How the hell did he get that damn blade out of her hands? That can't really happen, right? She wouldn't just let go unless... Oh...

A cocky howl escapes Wa'raks snout as he lunges at Noelle's forearm. Just as he is about to bite down on her flesh, he is sent flying backwards through the air.

Noelle, who just landed a roundhouse kick on the wolfs side, doesn't give him any time to let up and rushes right at him.

Sadly, a wolf of the quater moon isn't part of the quater moon for nothing. Wa'rak pushes himself off and shakes himself before rushing right back into the fight.

The vicious fight continues as all the surrounding beasts take a step back instinctively. Watching the human girl fight one of the most powerful beasts in the forest is an incredible sight for them.

Unfortunately, Noelle is slowly losing. More and more cuts get landed on her body as she starts to slow down, losing momentum. The level, skill and technique difference is just too high for her to have stood a chance in a fight. Even though Noelle's technique is much better than anyone else he has seen, the wolf's is much better and more refined.

The good thing is that Noelle didn't need to stand a chance in the fight, she only needed a moment.

"Slip"

The sound of her voice echoes throughout the dome, entering the ears of every beast gathered around. Luckily, they weren't affected as the command wasn't directed at them... The beast who is was directed at though...

A single foot was all that went astray, the level difference was too much to make Wa'kar fully slip, but a foot was enough.

Due to the single foot slipping, it was enough to ruin all of his momentum. His attack was only a few inches off, but that's all Noelle needed to secure her win.

Her fist rocketed forward, landing straight on Wa'rak's snout. The wolf was sent flying into the crowd, hitting against one of the boars with mud armour. Sliding down the boars side, Wa'rak lands on the ground. The boars armour has cracks in it from how hard it was hit with Wa'raks flung body.

A stag with shiny white antlers walks into the centre of the group, her posture exuding elegance and grace. It had a quater moon in its third eye, which was closer to her anters than her other two eyes.

"Wa'rak is unable to continue, the little human wins."

A feminine voice comes out of the stags mouth, one which every animal around them seems enchanted by.

She must be pretty popular around here... Kai thinks to himself as he gets up off the floor. Walking over to Noelle, he smiles and says;

"Good fight, at least you didn't lose. It would seem that all my training with you wasn't for nothing."

She throws a glare at him, but her face softens and Kai thinks he notices a smile peek through the mean facade, but it's gone as soon as it appeared.

Sofia joins them a moment later and stands beside Kai, still keeping a fair distance from Noelle.

They still don't get along...

Inwardly sighing, Kai looks over to Aldred who is, in all his glory, trying to remain inconspicuous among the crowd, not wanting the attention. It doesn't seem to be working though.

Trotting over to them, the humongous wolf congratulates Noelle on her win, but Kai feels something in his mind, a familiar feeling as he has done it a fair few times.

"Use identify"

Aldred's voice echoes in his mind, showing that even a super strong wolf who can fight four armed demons created by a God must've had a bad first skill choice option.

Following the command, Kai uses Lesser identify on Noelle and inwardly scowls at what he sees.

Level: 14

She leveled up from the fight even though she didn't kill Wa'rak. Is it because she used her innate ability and technically won the fight? Or maybe its a bonus in her class...

What matters now though, is that Kai is now three levels behind Noelle.

With some newfound motivation, he sighs and thinks to Aldred;

"So... training time?"