Being a Summoner on our Evolved Earth

Hunted (31)

Under the morning sun, Xantos stood at the base of the cliff looking at the two decapitated deer heads. 

"Well the trail ends here, I've searched along the ground this past week with no sign of further tracks. So they must have climbed up there. The dungeon fog really should have sent someone better at tracking..." He sighed as he looked up at the cliff. "Guess I'll get climbing." 

Xantos found a spot on the cliff that was mostly covered in shadows and activated his skill, [Shadow Movement] which melded him into the shadow and he proceeded to move upward until he was about half way up. When the skill ended he slowly emerged from the shadow and gripped the side of the cliff to continue climbing by hand. As he reached the top he grabbed onto a sturdy root and used it to help pull himself up onto the cliff. He leaned against the tree to catch his breath while glancing around. He saw a cut in a nearby tree that cut a few inches deep.

'That's probably where the deer were beheaded. At that angle, it was a surprise attack from the cliff. The rain seems to have washed any blood stains and most tracks away a week ago.' While Xantos was contemplating where to start searching, the fog appeared and pointed an arrow into the forest like a compass.

"Well I guess that makes it easier. Why didn't you give directions earlier?" He complained as he climbed to his feat and trudged into the forest. He spotted a few deer and other small animals from time to time who were skittish when they noticed him. After scaring off a dozen critters he finally entered stealth so that he wouldn't disturb the forest any further. 

Around an hour before sunset Xantos found the woman the fog had tasked him to hunt down. She sat on a rock in the middle of the forest while braiding some vines peacefully with an armored ape guarding behind her silently. 

'Armored ape? Wasn't it a living armor before?' Xantos thought while he observed. Suddenly, he noticed movement next to him as a wolf stalked forward towards the woman. 'Should I interfere? No, let's see what happens...'

The woman finished braiding the vines and used them to pull her wavy hair back into a half pony tail. While her arms were up behind her head, the wolves launched their attack. Wolves lunged from four different sides. The armored ape blocked the one coming from the left with ice erupting from the ground  which it promptly dodged. The one coming from behind was blocked by the ape's sword which also had to dodge. The woman activated a strange tattoo from her left hand and pulled out a familiar black metal quarterstaff with silver on the ends. With a wide sweep she managed to halt the charge of the wolf from the front, but the wolf on the right leapt over her staff. Closing the distance it was about to land a bite only to be knocked away by her kick while she drew her quarter staff back in close to a defensive posture. 

"Well done, you got really close that time. I think you shouldn't have much trouble against opponents at their second evolution." The woman said cheerfully and the tense atmosphere dispersed as the wolves relaxed with tails slightly wagging. "You guys should be close to evolving soon. Go hunt with confidence! Remember to run if you meet an evolved opponent that you can't kill with your surprise attack."

The wolves barked or growled in response looking like tame dogs. Xantos was stupefied as what he thought was a woman being hunted by wolves was actually a training exercise...

'Is she training tier 0 wolves to hunt tier 1 and tier 2 creatures? Is that possible?' He thought to himself.

"You guys go hunt your dinner now, I'll meet you back at the den later." The woman sent the wolves off and started casting [Summoning]. 

'This is the best chance to attack.' Xantos thought as he used the shadows of the forest to get closer. The armored ape seemed to flinch as he got within ten feet of them. Xantos froze thinking he was discovered. However, after a moment of glancing around the armored ape looked forward again. Xantos sighed lightly in relief and continued to enter within five feet of the woman. With his swords in hand he prepared to attack only to suddenly see a quarterstaff pass under her armpit and hit him in the face. The force of the blow caused him to exit stealth and stumble back a few steps followed by ice sealing his movement up to his waist. 

"Ow..." Xantos couldn't help but grumble. 

"Xantos is that you?" The ape was ready to slash down at him only to be stopped by the woman.

"Huh...?" Xantos looked at the woman with confusion. "How do you know my name?"

"It's me, Lucia. This is what I really look like now that I'm not trapped in my game avatar like you." She explained.

"Hah? Not in your game avatar...?" Xantos was very confused but before Lucia could keep explaining a new fog door opened behind her stealthily and the raid leader wizard stepped out while chanting a spell silently. Without even thinking Xantos used shadow movement to get in front of the wizard and punch him in the gut. 

Lucia spun around in surprise and when she saw the fog door she realized what was going on.  "So the dungeon sent you guys to hunt me down without knowing who I was."

"Looks like it. Clive, she is one of the raid members don't listen to the fog if it told you to hurt her." Xantos explained to the wizard who was clutching his stomach on the ground. After Xantos said that, the fog started to drag him back to the dungeon as his body started to turn transparent.

"Oh no you don't! [Dispel]" Lucia wanted to free Xantos from the dungeon's control. The dispel caused him to stop disappearing. Then Lucia ran to him and reached over his head where a bit of fog was floating and grabbed it. The fog she grabbed turned into a fog worm which she pulled off of Xantos and tossed it to Aegis who froze it then smashed it. 

"[Remove Curse]" She cast on Xantos next which caused countless black chains wrapped in fog to appear and start shattering until he was freed. Then his body turned ghostly like Lucia's game avatar body had when the dungeon expelled her and his 'soul' flew off into the sky back to his real body.  Lucia smiled as her guess had been right and then she glanced down at Clive who looked terrified at what he had just seen. Lucia wanted to help him next, but the fog worm attached to him activated a spell that fused it into his body. 

Just as Lucia was about to cast [Dispel] again, Clive shot an ice knife at her that caused her to cancel casting and dodge to the side. A thin cut appeared on her cheek as Lucia watched Clive start to freak out.

"I... I didn't do that. My body! I can't control my body!" Clive's face was full of terror. His body quickly stood up and cast [Ice Prison] at Lucia who was waiting to see what attack the fog worm would launch next. She ran out of the spot the prison was cast at and tried to cast [Dispel] again only to have to duck from Clive's quarterstaff being swung at her. 

'Dang it! I can't cast the spell if I lose line of sight even for a second.' Lucia complained in her mind. Aegis at this time had charged up to Clive and swung his sword. Clive's body wanted to dodge, but Aegis used the attack as a feint to trap Clive's feet with ice. Lucia took this chance to cast while Aegis restrained Clive's hands.  Then an explosion of fog centered on Clive blocked line of sight again. Lucia cursed as she had her spell canceled for the third time.