Year 1, Winter, Second Month, Third Week.

 

“You should stay still when resting... Diana, you broke bones and if you continue to move they’ll never heal. Or worst, they’ll heal in the wrong way and make you limp forever…”

Diana rolled her eyes when she heard the warning that was being repeated countless times for these last three days. Since waking up from the battle, she has been recovering in the community pavilion in the central square.

Not moving for three days made Diana feel a little depressed. Feeling responsible for the mistakes in the last hunt only added to it. As the team leader, she made the call of engaging the wolf's pack, so it was all on her.

Fortunately, nobody died. But besides her, two other team members got hurt in the attack. The defender got a nasty wound on his right leg and the newbie attacker lost two fingers.

Considering the severity of the wounds, she was in the worse state with broken bones on her legs and a big wound on her left arm. However, without the fingers, her teammate wouldn’t be able to fight anymore.

.........

‘Master AI, we talked about the life energies and the hybrid element formed by the combination of life and earth, but how about the other combinations? And death energy,  does it also combine with other elements?’

‘-- First, we can talk about the other combinations with the life element. Light is the hybrid element formed by life and fire. You could say that it is a result of making life energy fiercer or making fire energy purer. The strongest property of the light element is purification, resulting in the most combat-oriented hybrid element formed by life. --’

‘-- Elixir is the hybrid element formed by life and water. The element is formed by giving more flexibility to the life energy effects or giving life properties to water. Its strongest power comes from the versatility of granting positive effects. --’

‘-- Finally, the most uncommon and complex combination, Blessing. Blessing is the hybrid element formed by life and wind. By giving freedom to the life energy effects, the element becomes a wide range and long-distance form of granting positive effects. --’

Karl couldn't help but been amazed by the other life hybrid elements.

‘-- Now, the death energy. Death energy is not uncommon, in fact, every time a living being dies, death energy is created. However, it is but a transitory energy used to guide the energies back to the cycle of life. Therefore, normally it would only appear for a short period, difficulting the formation of death crystals. Even so, sometimes the density of death energy is enough to form a crystal, like in battles and wars. Furthermore, the death energy density becomes so strong that it forms a blockage, preventing the energies to move on into the cycle of life, creating a death energy environment --’

‘-- Poison is the most common death hybrid element, formed by its combination with Water. Similar to the elixir element, it is formed by giving versatility to the death energy effects. --’

‘-- Hades is the combination of death and fire, formed by giving deadly properties to fire. The element is very unstable because it kills everything around it. --’

‘-- Decay is formed by death and earth. The interaction between them gave the element an unusual effect of decomposing and disintegrating. Both decay and hades elements will rarely create beasts’ core crystals because their properties are too incompatible with the body integrity. --’

‘-- Last, the shadow element. Formed by death and wind, the shadow element is strangely the least deadlier death hybrid. The combination resulted in properties like concealment and stealth, making it more compatible with living beings. --’

.........

After fighting against poisonous beasts for two weeks, Lew’s party finally exited the swamp.  Unfortunately, their problems were just starting.

Once they left the swamp the air humidity decreased but the scary mist that encircled the Death Forest continued. They had entered a darker part of the Forest, where the already short-supplied sun rays had completed disappeared.

Thankfully, the sunlight was a fierce fighter that would reflect from the treetops and mist above until the ground, passing enough clarity to mark daytime and allow them to see the close surroundings. Even so, darkness lurked around, behind the trees and stones, forming a haunted scene.

Lew was tired of walking but couldn’t lower his guard. Since they entered this darker part he felt that something was spying on them from the dark.

“Now it's a good time to use your illuminating spell... Saving energy would be pointless if we can’t see an attack coming.” The leading Fighter said looking back at the Enchanter.

He was right, the faint concessions of light seemed to be disappearing. Surprisingly, the Enchanter nodded instead of showing contempt for the insult of being told by a Fighter.

Lew guessed that the Mage was also afraid. He decided the take a risk of stop watching the surroundings to take a peek at the Spellcasting.

This time the Mage didn't even close his eyes. Quickly, the energy around them moved up, as if a vortex was sucking it. With his right arm pointed to the energy gathering point, he chanted:

“Lumus!”

Faster than the eye could see, the Light Key shined in the converging point and left behind a bright oval vortex of light. The surroundings lighted up like an explosion, pushing waves of clarity and revealing a new scene.

The group couldn't help but stare around, it looked like the dark curtains had dropped revealing a new scene. Most of them had to blink to get used to the new clarity, but Lew was skilled enough to transfer magic energy into his eyes, protecting them against the light.

That's why the shadow that ran from the burst of light to hide behind a big stone didn't escape his sight.

“Something moved! Right there... I think it's a shadow beast...”

The group reacted instantly, tightening their circle and preparing their defenses. They all knew how dangerous a shadow beast could be. The Enchanter pushed more energy into the spell making the light even brighter, hoping to push the beast away.

Lew was closer to the stone and ended up being attacked first. The faint shadows formed by the dead trees and stones near him flickered instants before something dark appeared gashing at his throat.

“Argh...”

Lew jumped back while moving both arms to cover his throat. He reinforced his arms’ skin by burning in one go the five LQ energy crystals in his bracelet, just in time to block the beast's claws.

The claws met the magic enhanced resistance and could only scratch his skin, the attack’s impact added to Lew’s jump and pushed him further back.

The Fighters got ready to enter the battle when one of them, positioned at the back, screamed before being dragged to the dark, where even the Illuminate Spell couldn’t reach.

Another attack came from the side aiming at the Mage’s group, but an Earth Wall rashly emerged and blocked the advancing shadows.

Lew realized he couldn't count on others to face the beast that had clearly marked him as its prey. By the roaring sounds and yellow eyes, he guessed that the best was a feline. Which made a dangerous combination with the shadow element.

He only had two more crystals, both MQ. He considered them his lifeline, so he would have to save at least one for his future escape. The reimaging crystal was being saved for when they got deeper into the Death Forest., but surviving the current situation was more important.

Without lowering his sword, he grabbed the MQ crystal in his pouch and started draining its energy, he didn’t have time to care if someone was watching. Since he could only absorb a small quantity, he conducted the spare energy to a layer above his skin.

The technique was a trick taught by his father, to use the leaking spiritual energy in his pores to attract magic energy. The energy wouldn’t be absorbed but it would form a thin layer around the body.

The energy layer was incredibly useful because it could be absorbed at any time, replacing the lost energy, and it would protect him against attacks and impact.

The beast didn’t stay idle. Seeing its prey lose concentration, it attacked. The floating light decreased the shadows, making it difficult for it to move concealed, but a close tree and the prey’s shadow were enough to cover its approach.

Lew already knew the beast’s trick, so when he saw the tree shadow flickering, he prepared for an attack. Unfortunately, he didn’t expect it to come from below.

Even the energy layer and his powered movements weren't enough to save him from harm. The beast’s claw cut through his garments and vest, leaving a bleeding cut. He couldn’t diverge his attention, so he ignored the cut and move to attack the beast.

As his father would say, when you’re losing on defense the only solution is to attack.

The other Fighters weren't having a better fight, the beasts had pulled another Fighter into the dark.

The Enchanter was circled by the other Mages. Since his Iluminate Spell was keeping the beasts at bay, they made a quick call to prioritize his security.

He was focused on maintaining the spell going, but decided to spare some energy to help the dying Fighters. He used his left hand to concentrate and form another energy vortex and soon, the light vortex was divided into two.

Without reducing the first vortex he moved the new one around the Fighters difficulting the beast’s attacks. Before long, the beast was cut by a Fighter and other wounds followed.

“I'm ready, move!”

The wind and earth Mages moved to the side, opening the way for the fire Mage to shoot a Fire Ray at a tree a few meters in front of them. Once the tree was on fire, the Mage controlled the Flame to burn stronger and expand to the nearby trees.

The Flames traveled from tree to tree until their surroundings were filled with a raging fire. The beasts attacking the Mages and Fighters group decided to flee at this point. The team didn't give chase, hunting a shadow beast at night wouldn't be a good idea.

At this time, they heard a wince and the sound of something heavy dropping to the ground. Everyone turned to see bleeding and ragged Lew pull his sword off the black beast lying on the ground.

Even the Mages couldn't hide their surprised expressions. Once the other beasts attacked and Lew was left to fend alone, they just took him for dead. But who would have guessed that he would kill it by himself?

“The crystal is mine, but we can eat it together...”

Everyone looked at the big dark feline in the ground. It should weigh up to 200 kg, it was enough meat to last for two weeks if they could carry it.

Without much difficulty, Lew extracted the crystal and put it away. The others didn't bother hiding their greedy expressions. Once their job was done, anything could happen...