Chapter 432: The Girl Calling for Help in The Woods
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Because of the influence of the aura of the Void, the visibility in the forest was extremely poor. Here and there, there were dark purple spots that blocked off the light.
The wind howled as it blew through the gorge. It was the only sound that could be heard. The chirping of birds that used to surround the forest could not be heard any longer.
"Help! Help me!" The call for help persisted. It was a sharp, high voice that was hard to escape notice.
Felina deliberately ignored the voice, burying her hands in her ears and walking onward. She was afraid that Link would be a busybody and warned him, "Don't listen to it. There's no point covering your ears either. You will still hear the sound inside your heart."
Seeing Felina's wariness, Link was in a state of maximum alertness. He followed closely behind Felina, keeping a lookout for the surroundings in case they were ambushed.
After walking for about 30 feet, he felt that something was off. "The voice calling for help changes as the wind changes. Also, you can't hear it when you cover your ears. It doesn't seem like the Bewitching Void Beast...?"
"Hmm?" Felina was stunned. She tried covering her ears. As it turned out, she couldn't hear the voice anymore. After removing her hands, she heard the voice again. This showed that it was not the Bewitching Void Beast but an actual call for help.
"Is there really someone in trouble?" Felina was still hesitant about it.
"I'm not sure, let's just go over and then we'll know," Link said.
Regarding Void Beasts, Link still had some understanding of their characteristics. In the late phase of the game, there were many spatial rends throughout the continent. Because of that, many Void Beasts were sucked into Firuman. At that time, there were at least five percent of players that had reached the Legendary level, and so it was not too hard to deal with the Void Beasts.
Of course, there were countless beasts throughout the void. It was not impossible for high-level beasts to appear on Firuman. These beasts would be considered boss monsters.
Link and his team had killed many such boss monsters. The greatest difficulty they faced was that there were no two boss monsters that were alike. They came in various shapes and sizes, with different abilities to boot. There was no limit to the type of beast that could appear, only a limit to one's imagination.
Previously, Link still thought that the game company had scripted this and was very impressed by their imagination. Now, he realized that they might have had some inspiration from the real Firuman.
Because of this knowledge, Link could not be certain whether the call for help was from a human or some kind of beast.
If there really was someone in trouble and they passed them by, they would naturally try to help the person. This was so that in the future when they themselves were in trouble, other people would extend a helping hand. This was an unwritten rule amongst the adventurers.
Link and Felina turned towards the call for help, preparing to investigate.
In order to avoid danger, Link cast a Traceless spell on Felina and himself. The two of them then became undetectable.
"Help!! Help me!"
As they got closer, the voice became even clearer, and the sound of crying became more obvious. The cry was heart-wrenching and invoked sympathy in anyone who heard it.
Felina slowed down her pace and said, "The voice sounds like it belongs to a young lady. That's odd. What would a lady be doing in a place like this?"
Link also found it odd. He had a vague premonition that if they continued onward, they would meet some kind of creature. This premonition became even stronger.
Link felt his sweat rolling down his back.
"Wait, stop here." Link indicated for Felina to stop. Link was almost certain that the voice was coming from a Void Beast. One who was able to use such methods to attract adventurers would definitely not be easy to deal with.
The foliage was very dense in the area, and the visibility was poor. It was like traveling at night. Fortunately, both he and Felina possessed the constitution of Warriors from the Dragon Clan. Their vision was better than normal, and they could at least see their surroundings.
Link felt his heart pounding rapidly. He took a deep breath and told Felina, "This is probably a very strong Void Beast. We can't take the risk, let's go!"
Ever since reaching the Legendary level, this was the first time that Link had such a strong feeling of fear. Even when facing the divine intent of the God of Destruction in the Yabba city of Lariel, he did not feel this way.
Of course, this was not to say that this Void Beast was stronger than the God of Destruction. Rather, it was because this beast had physically entered Firuman, and could threaten Link directly.
The two of them retreated rapidly.
However, after moving back for 60 feet, the call for help shouted out again. "Quick, somebody, I'm going to die. There are two giant beasts going to eat me! Help!!!"
The voice was even louder now, and it seemed to be only 300 feet away from them. Because it was so sudden, it shocked Felina and made her tremble uncontrollably. Link was also startled, but he immediately adopted a defensive posture.
"She seems to be running towards us," Felina noted, her voice shaky. Her eyes darted left and right, looking extremely worried that a great beast might jump out at them from the darkness.
Link looked around warily and shouted, "Don't panic, slowly retreat, we'll go back to our original road."
The two of them continued retreating. After about 150 feet, the call for help sounded out again. This time, however, it was further away, at about 600 feet.
This made Link and Felina exhale slowly in relief.
"The thing is probably darting about left and right and just happened to pass near us earlier," Link guessed.
"What exactly is it?" Felina asked softly. Her face was pale, and it was evident that she was scared to death.
Link really had no idea. "There are countless creatures in the Void. Who knows what it could be?"
As they talked, the two of them had retreated by 900 feet, and the trees became a lot thinner. It was brighter now, and the two didn't tarry any longer, heading onwards to the Dragon Valley.
However, after traveling for about two miles, there was a loud explosion that came from behind them. BOOM! The explosion resulted in shockwaves that surged towards Link and Felina, deafening them. Felina was preparing to jump over a ditch, but because of the sudden explosion, it startled her and caused her to lose her balance.
Link hurriedly reached out and caught her hand, stabilizing her balance to prevent from falling and looking like a dog that tumbled into its own poop.
After regaining their balance, they looked back.
They saw that in the forest that they had just left, there was a deep blue ball of fire rising into the air. The ball of fire was 120 feet wide, and from afar, it looked like a miniature sun.
However, what happened after that was even more shocking.
After the ball of fire rose to about 180 feet into the air, not only did it not increase in size, it instead got smaller and dimmer. Then, it continued to rapidly decrease in size until it completely disappeared, as though there was a fire-eating giant that swallowed the ball of fire.
"That was in the direction of the call for help," Felina said anxiously.
"It was," Link agreed. "The spell from earlier was the Level-9 flame spell, 'Supernova Explosion.' Its power is enough to level a small fortress to the ground. Based on the way the spell was cast, the Magician who cast it might be a dwarven Magician… The situation doesn't look good for them; the Magician's aura is quickly disappearing."
"Could they be a member of the Emerald Circle, here for the meeting?" Felina asked suddenly.
"It's possible. They might have been misled by the call for help too. Hold it, look at that, there's a dragon!"
Link sucked in a deep breath. The dragon was about to take flight and escape, but it suddenly screamed in pain.
Because of the distance between them, Link couldn't see what it was that was attacking him. All they could see was that the dragon's body rapidly grew thinner and withered. In less than two seconds, the dragon had turned into a bag of bones.
The corpse fell back to the ground, and the forest was submerged once again in silence.
This scene was too shocking. Link and Felina stood rooted to the spot, speechless.
After half a minute, Felina said, "I know that dragon. His name is Flo, a Level-8 peak dragon about to break into Level-9. He was tasked to get the dwarf Magician Gaimin."
"I'm afraid they are both dead. Most likely, they were killed by the creature with the young girl's voice," Link responded.
It was at this time when something flashed in Link's vision. Link took a look. It was a new mission.
New Mission: The Girl in the Forest
Description: There is a girl in the forest calling for help. However, close to her, two experts had just been killed. Investigate the forest and find out what is going on.
Mission Reward: Assassin's Vision of Truth (Epic)
Time Limit: Three days.
(Note: Please complete the mission as fast as possible to prevent worse developments from happening.)
Seeing the mission description, Link cursed. The system was once again using Legendary-level equipment to bait him. Thinking about it for a while, Link decided to accept the mission.
This was just an investigation mission, and he only needed to find out what was happening. It was worth the risk to gain some Legendary equipment.
Thinking up to this point, Link turned to Felina and said, "You return to the Dragon Valley first. I will go and see what is going on."
"I'll come with you… No, alright, I'll go back first."
Under Link's intense gaze, Felina gave in. She knew that she would not be of any help to Link and instead might become a burden.
"Tell the queen that I'll go over once I find out what is going on."
"I understand."
"Be careful too. I'm going."
Saying so, Link cast a Traceless spell onto himself and then headed towards the direction where they had seen the fireball.
After traveling for about a mile, he once again heard the girl crying for help.
The voice sounded extremely pained and pitiful, as though the person calling for help was trapped in an extremely dreadful place. However, when Link heard it, he felt a chill going down to his bones.