Shun swung his sword, aiming for the woman's side. She blocked with her much larger blade.

 

Then Leston, Shun's brother, appeared, attacking with his falchion in a stabbing motion. This attack was also blocked.

 

I decided to attack as well. I ran forward, utilizing my ridiculously high speed-stat. A jolt of electricity ran through my veins as my True Soul activated. I shot forward and brought my fist toward the woman's back, aiming to use one of my skills that stunned its target.

 

But the woman was too fast. At the last possible moment, she grabbed a small blade at her waist and swung outward with it, cutting the end of my arm off.

 

I gasped at the sudden pain. I moved back and cast a healing spell on myself. The pain went away as the bleeding stopped. I then used my transformation ability to reform the end of my arm.

 

Tiran threw his shield at the woman. It spun through the air, the sharp edges gleaming. The woman barely dodged the massive shield. It turned around, slowed down, and then came back toward Tiran. He caught it on his arm again.

 

I tried to use [Appraisal] on the woman.

 

"Appraisal blocked," The system told me. Then, after a few seconds, it added something else. "Bypassing appraisal blocker. Please wait."

 

Then, a ding sounded, and the woman's status was revealed.

 

[Sophia Nonakuro]

[Level 45] [Sunwalker] [Age: 15]

[Blessed] [True Vampire]

 

Huh, I thought. She's only fifteen? She looks like a grown woman.

Then the woman, apparently named Sophia, paused. Then she slammed the point of her sword into the ground, creating a large burst of energy that knocked everyone backward.

 

"This is getting boring," She drawled. She looked over at Shun. "You haven't changed a bit." Then she turned to Arya. "Still caring for your students." She turned to Fei. "Not much change." She looked into the trees. "And don't think I can't smell you." A massive dragon emerged from the trees. It looked similar to Ariel, but much bigger and with wings.

 

Then she paused and her head tilted as if she was listening to someone. "Yes, alright," She said to the air. "The target isn't even here. Mind getting me out of here?"

 

The space in front of her crackled and tore open. She stepped through the opening and it closed. I stood up shakily.

 

"You okay?" Shun asked me. I nodded my head. The dragon brought its head to me and sniffed.

 

"You smell different," Ariel said. "What happened?"

 

"Vampire stuff," I said.

 

"What?" Shun asked. I quickly explained what had happened while he was gone.

 

"Well then," He said. "We came here because I'm going to do that world quest about the artifacts."

 

"Really?" Fei said. "Cool."

 

"And I wanted to ask if you guys would join me," Shun added.

 

"Count me in," I said.

 

"Same," Fei said. Arya nodded.

 

"Can I join you guys?" Nexus asked.

 

"Sure," Shun said.

 

"When should we leave?" Arya asked.

 

"We planned on getting out of here immediately," Leston said. "If you guys are up for it."

 

"Yeah," I said. "Where are we heading first?"

 

"We need to go to Arctown," Leston said. "When we get there, I'll have to split off from you guys. You'll need to head to Darthdaut and take a ferry to the Dragon Isles."

 

"The part of the Forest of Shadows that we're going through is the part we can't fly over," Tiran said. "So we'll have to walk."

 

"Fine with me," I said. "Let's go!"

 

 

"This forest is not fun," Ariel said. She had used some magic to shrink herself down to the size of a horse so she could fit through the trees. "There's mud all over the place."

 

"This part of the forest is a bit of a swamp," Tiran said. "Once we get farther in, it's normal forest ground."

 

"But that's also where the Hollow Vessels are," Leston said. "So we need to be careful."

 

For the next hour, we traversed the forest. We made it to solid land recently, and the surroundings have been getting creepier and creepier.

 

Covering many of the plants was black goop. It was all over the place and gave off an aura of evilness.

 

"I don't smell anything at all," Ariel said. "No animals and the plants have no smell."

 

"Weird," Shun said.

 

"Everything except us is ice cold," Fei said. "The only thing in this whole forest that has warmth is me and the rest of us except for Kanata and Ariel."