--- Kat ---


    The next day started off quite well before it went to shit. They weren''t attacked by much, they made good progress. It really should have been an obvious sign that things were about to go downhill.


    The transition was smooth, much smoother then they were used to. The group slipped into this bubble seamlessly. Then Bower started to freak out immediately. "FORM UP!" shouted the old hunter. They reacted quickly but even before they''d all grouped up an attack came at them.


    See the area around them? It looked like they''d been shoved into a stained ss window. ss-like everything surrounded them. Walls, flowers, moss, it all looked somewhat like it was meant to… but made of a collection of ss shards. Nobody had time to take this in properly before a vague felinoid shape dashed towards them.


    Bowerunched his crossbow bolt at the thing and it cut right through the centre, shattering the core of the creature. Kat found herself rxing in that moment… and that was a mistake. Despite missing a third of its body and all of its brain, assuming it even had one, the beast kepting. Bower stepped forward and mmed his crossbow down on the thing breaking it into pieces.


    As soon as it shatteredpletely Bower leapt backwards away from the ss shards as if they were on fire and carefully herded the rest of the group backwards as well. He was careful to stay away from any of the flora, oversized flower look-a-likes for the most part.


    "This, is very bad. We call this bubble the ss Shard and it''s perhaps the most deadly ce you''lle across in this forest. Everything here is made of some kind of charged ss shards empowered by not inconsiderable amounts of magic. You can do some stuff with it but-" Bower was cut off as he aimed upwards.


    A ss crow with four wings was overhead, watching. Bower hesitated just long enough to shout, "BACK!" then let another bolt go for the thing. It shattered much more cleanly then the feline, mostly due to its smaller size. Pieces of ss rained down and Bower looked at them like they were his sworn enemy.


    "Ok… I need to get this done quickly. The flowers? Sharp enough to slice through my arrows and definitely your skin. The beasts? They all get ONE special ability… but you never know what it is. It''s not the same.


    The cats don''t all get the same, the crows don''t all get the same. They just get something and the list is HUGE.


    "The problem? One of the things on that list is poison. Deadliest poison I ever seen and the effects are disturbing in the extreme. Lost a lot of good apprentices to these guys once, and more than a few experienced hunters. Wasn''t even the first time I encountered this ce. Think it was the fourth of fifth run through…"


    Bower''s head snapped around ring at a nearby flower that seemed to be imitating a poppy before continuing his story. "One of the beasts had a nasty poison in its body. You get ss in ya? It turns everything, even your MANA to ss. Horrific way to die. Still get nightmares about it sometimes.


    "Now, you lot might be safer, you don''t have mana cept for Lily… but I ain''t got no guarantees that your demonic energy will save ya. Now, I only saw that once but I''ve seen some other abilities double up so I''m not taking any chances…" Find your next adventure on mvl


    Kat felt shivers run down her spine. "So what''s the n?"


    "I-" Bower started to answer but whipped his head back to that oversized poppy and fired. He was right to do so. The flower shattered and out from behind it came threerge bees. Bower was scrambling to reload so Hunter stepped forward and let out a breath of fire… to horrendous results.


    The bees simply shook in ce a bit after the fire hit them. kes of ss fell to the ground shattering and taking the fire with them. The bee in the lead spat out a glob of water towards them and Kat moved forward to take the attack on her arm. The bee next to it followed up by shooting off a bolt of lightning and the third never got a chance.


    Lily''s shadow stretched forward and into a giant hand smashing the third one into the ground. It then became wed and swiped through the other two, crashing them into each other. The hand then came together, shattering thempletely and ensuring there was no more.


    "Careful with that," said Bower. "Not sure if it can turn your shadow to ss or not. Had to get inside someone to start workingst time, and the process was slow… but I wouldn''t be too gung-ho about smacking them around like that until you know what they can do,"


    [Oh… I did not consider that at all. I mean… I feel fine. I feel like I would notice if I had my mana slowly turning into ss? Right. Ok… yeah I admit I''m panicking. Kat advice?]


    *Don''t panic.*


    [Kat your advice was terrible.]


    "How unique do the abilities get?" asked Kat to distract herself from Lily''s growing panic, and hopefully Lily as well.


    "Eh, most of them are some variant of an elemental st, though quite a few get a reflection ability as well. All of them can keep going even when they''re quite damaged. Gotta sperate the beasts into multiple parts. Once you do that they just fall to pieces. Careful of the ones that fly because they will work together. Something flying around?


    That means it''s on overwatch…" exined Bower.


    "So how do we get through here?" asked Kat.


    "Same way as usual. No chance really," grumbled Bower. "Just… be very careful as you do. When I say that the nts can cut ya? I mean ALL the nts. You see fake grass you go around that shit otherwise you''ll end up with holes in your feet.


    Good boots can''t survive that sort of punishment so don''t use that as an excuse,"


    Kat looked at the ground and noticed it was mostly smooth and green. "So this stuff doesn''t count as grass?"


    "Nah ya''ll know it when you see it," insisted Bower.


    "So we just stay close and ready?" asked Hunter.


    "Sadly yes. It''s gonna be a tense few hours. Hopefully we don''t need to stay here long. I''ve been lucky in the past when ites to this ce. Got out in around two hours each time. Might be a feature, might just be luck but we can certainly pray," said Bower.


    Bower took a long breath and nced around. "Seems alright for now. Just be ready for an attack. We''ve gotta go around broken shards just in case but it won''t take us too long. Just… be careful,"


    Bower took the lead and everyone remained bunched up. Kat was right behind Bower, though she''d returned Lily''s bag to her ring and was carrying Lily on her shoulder. Not technically the safest ce but if gave Lily better movement options should they be attacked. Plus it let Lily pay more attention. Now was NOT the time to sleep.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The ce was beautiful. As tense as the group was they couldn''t deny that. Pictures of this ce would sell well, and plenty of the nts could be on disy in art galleries. The problem was the danger. Bower kept everyone far away from the nts if he could. If they had to dodge because they were attacked?


    Best not to dodge into the deadly sharp nts.


    Monster attacks slowed down a lot as they moved forward. asional ss creatures did still make the attempt but the group as a whole was more prepared. Kat found the reason her ring had a bunch of rocks in them. Ammo. It wasn''t worth getting up close so if Bower or Hunter didn''t take the creature out? Kat lobbed a decent sized rock at them, doing her best to aim for centre of mass.


    It was hard to tell what exactly made them fall apart. Kat blew the head off a charging emu construct once but it kept going. Hunter took out a leg, causing it to fall and shatter. But was it cumtive damage? Or the fall that took it out? Kat didn''t know and that worried her.


    The rocks in her ring were clearly picked as sling ammo. There WAS a boulder but just the one and she wanted to save that for something really scary.


    The elephant thing was by far thergest they''d encountered, and the only reason Kat didn''t need to use the boulder was that it''s special ability? Was to fire cannon balls. Not ss cannon balls though, proper iron ones for some reason. Kat had a great time catching and returning those to their sender. It was only after the thing was taken down that Kat had another thought.


    "Maybe I should''ve left it alive… could''ve stocked up on cannonballs if I''d let it continue…"