MAZE - The Endless Quest

Hera had left the hotel a bit after sundown. She told her friends that she needed to do a role quest around the city. To avoid making them worry or Blue telling her, she wanted to come along, Hera had to hide the fact that she wanted to hunt. For the first day, she only wanted to get the feeling for it.

Before crossing the city gates, Hera checked the thread about Helena once more. The last update was that the rescue team had left the doorway city in the Qeeroni Wilds in the afternoon. They mentioned that it was a day's walk until the camp where the assault took place, but it still made Hera anxious.

Trying to focus on the task at hand, Hera left the city. The guards warned her about being dangerous at night, but that wasn't much of a surprise. A forest being more perilous during the dark was expected.

Hera walked for a few minutes, just to be far enough from the wall for the frogs to be around. Activating her [Hide], she started to move through the forest. Her biggest worry was overusing her [Pulse] and having no mana left for the other spells. It would be tricky to do this type of resource management, but it was part of getting stronger.

Moving around in the woods, Hera was careful not to go where the forest grew thicker. It was very dark outside the city. Only some of the moonlight was able to reach the area. It took her a few minutes, but she managed to find a frog who seemed to be in a deep slumber.

Approaching the creature with her handaxe at the ready, Hera saw another dozen of frogs around it. She stopped for a moment. If she failed to kill it without a sound and in a single blow, the situation would go south rather quickly. She moved away from the group and back to her search.

Another half an hour passed while she looked for a frog on its own. Sadly, they were all sleeping in groups. The smaller army of frogs she found had just three members, all of the Blue variation. They were quicker, and their tongue was stronger, but still, if she managed to kill one of them quickly, dealing with two at once could be possible.

Like a tiger stalking its prey, Hera crouched down, moving towards the frogs. Being careful not to make any noise, she stepped gingerly through the grass. Getting closer to the larger frog among the three, Hera aimed at the creature's neck and swung with all her strength.

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[All In] effects deactivated, the cooldown will now start

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'Crap,' she thought to herself. The skill was supposed to be a hail mary, not an opening move. The strike was enough to decapitate the frog, but its head fell to the ground with a thud. Hera froze, looking at the remaining frogs. One of them shuffled a bit and went back to sleep. The other was still unmoving.

Keeping her eyes on the creatures, Hera circled the dead body. As she got close to her next prey, she failed to notice a loose branch in the way. Hera stepped on it, and it rolled away, making the explorer lose her balance. Hera leaned forward and tried to fall without making too much noise, but her handaxe hit the frog's feet. Before she was even able to understand what happened, the creature let out a loud croak. It's companion waking up with the noise and already moving towards the intruder.

Hera quickly got up, slashing at the side of the frog she already hit, trying to cripple it even more. The other frog lashed out with its tongue, aiming at the explorer. Moving at the last moment, Hera dodged the attack steeping behind the frog she already injured.

Holding her chakram tightly, she attacked the frog once more, making an X shaped cut on its back. The frog jumped forward, removing Hera's cover while the second frog lashed out once more. The explorer spun around, trying to evade the attack while she raised her handaxe, aiming at its tongue. She had fought enough of those creatures to know that their combat power would decrease drastically by injuring its tongue.

Without missing a beat, she lunged forward, reaching the already injured frog. Hera jumped on its back and aimed another slash at the base of the beast's neck. Her attack made a large gash on the frog, blood spilling towards the ground.

The frog jumped once more. Hera attempted to grab on to the creature, reaching for its fresh wound, but its flesh gave in with her weight. Dropping to the floor, she recovered her footing and looked at the mostly unharmed frog. Circling the creature, she raised her hand and aimed at it. A mana construct was created, and Hera focused on increasing the strength of her attack. In less than five seconds, she sent her Poison spray spell aiming at the frog's eyes. She had used almost double of required mana, but seeing the beast shiver and trash its head around confirmed that it was effective.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Hera rushed towards the one that was already in bad shape. Jumping on its back once again, she struck the same spot on the creature's neck. This time, the frog fell to the ground and stopped moving. Hera hit the neck once more to be sure it wasn't just a trick and jumped off the beast already facing the remaining frog.

The frog was turning around, still shaking its head. The eye where Hera had hit was dripping pus and fluid. It was also cloudy and red in some places. Hera felt a bit bad for the creature. Even though she wanted to kill them for the experience, she didn't want them to suffer. However, she wasn't even sure that those creatures were alive. Their bodies would disappear if left in the forest. Yet Leo had rescued one of them who acted just like a pet.

A croak snapped Hera out of her philosophical meandering. The frog was about to jump towards her. She dodged to the side and attacked its stomach. Hitting the chakram in the undamaged eye, Hera spun around the creature and slashed at his limbs. She was having trouble seeing an opening to attack the neck since the frog kept thrashing around.

The beast was getting slower by the second. Hera could plainly see that each movement was taxing for it. She kept dodging and slashing until the creature seemed lost strength in one of its legs, falling to the ground as it tried to move.

The explorer quickly jumped on top of it and started slashing at the frog's neck. She needed a few strikes but ultimately killed the third frog.

"Ok, this wasn't as bad as I thought," Hera said, trying to catch her breath. The explorer was very tired from the combat. She managed not to get hit, but only because she didn't stop moving for a second. She would need some time to rest before going for another group.

Hera was looking for a place to rest. She had never seen any dangerous birds or bugs in this room. Because of that, a tree seemed like the best spot for a rest. Climbing a larger tree, she felt safe enough to take a few minutes to rest and recover her mana. Hera looked at her stats to confirm how long it would take to recover completely.

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Hera Kingsley -- Role: Explorer Level: 3

Stats:

Strength: 15 Endurance: 15

Agility: 15 Charisma: 15

Intelligence: 15 Luck: 15

Mana: 109/153

Remaining attribute points: 1

Skills:

Passive:

Exponential Growth

Observe

Treasure Map

Handaxe Combat, Chakram Combat

Dodge, Run ,Improved Stamina

Active:

All in

Inspect

Hide

Local Guide

Weapon Maintenance

Etching

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She only needed about 40 minutes to recover all of her mana, 20 if she used the cycling technique. But right now, she only needed about six minutes to be at full mana. Yet, Hera wanted to rest for about 15 minutes before continuing the hunt.

It didn't matter how much she wished to get stronger and find a way to help Helena. If she wasn't careful, she would die before being able to do a thing.

Hera kept cycling her mana not only to recover faster but possibly increase her maximum mana. It didn't take long for her to feel her magic replenished. However, she was restless. Maybe 15 minutes was too much wasted time.

Ten minutes after sitting down, she came down from the branch and started to look for another group of frogs. This time, it didn't take long for her to find a good target. Only two of the creatures were around, but they were facing each other.

Hera ducked down and started to move towards the frog. Moving slowly, she got close to its back and jumped on top of it, striking with her handaxe at the same time. The cut went straight to the monster's neck, and its body fell limp under her. As Hera looked towards the second frog, she got hit on the shoulder by the creature's tongue. She flew backward, landing back first into the ground. The impact made her lose her breath for a few moments.

Hera was still trying to gather herself when a large shadow appeared on top of her. Rolling to the side, the explorer got most of her body away from the spot she was just in. With a sickening crunch, the monster landed on Hera's leg.

The explorer screamed with the pain and started to slash away at the frog, trying to get the creature off of her. The beast moved its head towards her and sent out its tongue once again.

When the creature faced Hera, she activated her bark skin, bracing herself for the impact. She managed to avoid being hit on the face, but the creature's tongue grabbed her armor and pulled her to its mouth.

Hera let out another scream as she the pressure on her leg raised. She felt like the pull would rip her apart. The frog shifted its position, freeing Hera's foot. At the same time, she was pulled even faster towards the monster's maw.

Trying to attack with her free hands, Hera couldn't cut the tongue that stuck to her in time, and the frog bit down on the explorer. She screamed once again as she felt the monster's teeth sink a few centimeters into her back.

Hera was trying to open the monster's mouth by slashing at it repeatedly. That only made the frog to apply more pressure on its prey. Seeing that her attacks weren't working, she let go of her handaxe and pushed one hand inside the mouth, trying to use it to create some leverage.

The inside of the creature's mouth was too slippery to grab, and the smell was making Hera dizzy. She raised her hand, aiming deeper into the beast, and pushed most of her mana to a spell. The poison spray slammed on the frog's throat, and the sickly orange glow dripped down to its stomach.

Hera didn't stop pushing away and hitting it with her chakram that was outside the creature's mouth. After a few moments, the pressure was alleviated. The teeth she felt on her back were moving away. With all the trashing and slashing, the frog was already having trouble to devour its prey. Now it was even feeling a burning sensation in its stomach.

The beast opened its mouth and retched, making Hera fall onto the ground covered in whatever the monster had eaten for dinner. The creature coughed and shook its head, the eyes aiming at the small human that had caused it to vomit.

Hera picked Iris from the ground and attempted to run, but her foot hurt so much that she couldn't stand properly. She looked back to the monster, who stared her down with fury in its eyes.

The creature got ready to jump, while Hera prepared to roll away. Just as the frog left the ground, its back legs were caught by something else. Something bigger that easily reached the branches of the trees.

Hera saw the look in the frog's eyes, and for a moment she could have sworn it was afraid. The second monster opened its maw and quickly closed it back, putting even more of the frog inside it.

For the first time, she was able to see what the monster was. A three-meter tall warty toad with red eyes and black skin was standing in front of her, eating the creature that was close to killing her.

Hera stayed still, hoping that the monster wouldn't be interested in a dessert. She placed one hand on her foot and used the mend spell, spending the rest of her mana. The spell helped somewhat. It wasn't enough to completely take away the pain, but now she could move it a bit. Luckily, the crunching noise from before wasn't the sound of her foot breaking.

She raised her head once again and saw the toad staring back at her. The frog was already completely inside its mouth.

The toad took a step towards Hera, its mouth twisted in what could be described as a grin with saliva dripping from the side.

Hera glanced at the side and saw that the forest grew thicker, maybe even too thick for the creature to follow. Mustering all her courage, and hoping the toad wasn't able to use its tongue, Hera dashed towards the woods.

The toad followed, moving much faster than the frogs she was facing. It tried to lash out with its tongue, but its current meal was in the way. Hera kept running, looking back only to be sure to avoid any incoming attacks. She dashed through the trees, heading deeper and deeper into the forest.

When she had a chance, she started to gulp down the health and mana potions she had brought. The potions would act in her entire body, so it would take a long time to trigger the effect on her leg.

She kept running, activating her Pulse after her mana was back to see if the toad was still following her. She found no trace of the creature this deep into the forest, but there was a hollow tree nearby.

She hoped the toad didn't have a good sense of smell and climbed into the tree. She needed some time to recover and rest.

Breathing heavily, Hera almost failed to notice the noise of something big landing near her. She tried to go deeper into the hollow tree and stayed utterly still, as the toad kept jumping around her.