Scale of Reality

Prism Swamp: Part 8

Vas POV

"Mari, wake up. It's time to start moving again."

My younger sister slowly opened her eyes before sitting up with a yawn.

"Vas...I wanna go back to sleep."

"Mari get up. We're in the swamp, you can't afford any more sleep. Especially since you're the party leader."

Mari let out a gasp.

"You're right I am!!"

"You're such an airhead sometimes."

Mari stood up and stretched whilst looking at the other members of our group.

"Hey Vas, do you think we'll be able to make it as hunters? I mean, our competition is a lot of nobles and high class people. Even the other commoners are strong..."

I sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Mari, even though we're commoners, we're pretty decent you know? Our combat isn't the best, and neither is our ratio, but we seemed to be slightly above average here."

Mari rubbed her shoulder.

"I guess...I just want to make Dad proud."

"We will make Dad proud. We'll survive Boken and become real hunters, then make lots of money."

Mari smiled before hugging me a bit and running off. I sighed and looked up to the sky.

"Not that I don't understand where she's coming from."

"Alright everyone! Today starts the fifth day since we've been here at Prism Swamp. We only have two more days left, but let's not start slouching. I'm sure we all remember what happened at Blood Moon after we hit the five day mark."

Everyone nodded, myself especially. Mari was injured so I was trying to protect her as the battle went on. Then that Red Werewolf showed up and ruined us, I thought we would die.

"From now on we're going to be on high alert. If you notice anything suspicious, even if you're not sure, let me know."

"Yes mam!"

We all began to walk together, everyone following Mari and I. As we walked, Mari and I spoke about things such as how our father was doing back home.

Behind us, it seemed Muji was speaking with Chris, which was very surprising considering they hated each other. Adjest was talking to Iris, those two were always together.

Everything was going just fine until Muji suddenly began to freak out.

"Guys, I sense something! There's a group of Lizard men headed our way!"

Everyone pulled out their weapons and got into position.

"Muji how many of them are there?"

"Six...no seven...wait now there's ten!!"

"Ten?! This isn't good!! Everyone we need to run away-

Before Mari could continue a spear came flying at her. I blocked it with my shield before turning to Mari.

"You alright? You need to give out orders."

Mari nodded.

"Muji can you take them out with poison?"

"Of course but to get them all I'd have to use gas and-

A lizard man shot up from the water next to Chris, causing everyone to begin to panic. Muji dashed over and kicked the Lizard man back as Chris followed up with a bash of his weapon.

"Behind you!!"

Three more lizard men jumped at Mari and I as we put up our shields to block. Adjest came to come help but was blocked off by a few more Lizard men, Iris seemed to be caught up too.

"This is bad!! Really bad!!"

"Vas, duck!!"

As I did as Muji said, I could see him zoom by with a kick. He knocked one of the Lizard men off of me, but was quickly attacked by one of the other ones.

Chris went to rush in when another Lizard man jumped out of the water and grabbed him and bit into his neck.

"Chris!!"

"Oh shit...looks like...I'm dead."

Chris's body went limp as the Lizard man dragged him into the water. We all froze and watched in shock, in pure disbelief of what had just happened.

Muji was the first to regain himself.

"Hey!!! This isn't the time to be-

Muji was then punched by one of the Lizard men, before another came up and grabbed him, also biting him in the shoulder as well.

"Muji no!!"

Adjest went to rush in when she was stabbed by another Lizard man. Mari and I went to help but we were bit by the Lizard men, causing my vision to become blurry and I'm sure hers as well.

Next thing I knew, everything went black.

Timeskip

"Vas...Vas..."

I felt something hit me, causing me to slowly open my eyes. I seen a figure with black hair, and seemingly purple eyes.

"Are you finally awake?"

"Muji...where the hell are we?"

"I don't know."

Muji walked over to Chris, placing a hand on his head.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not sure if you remember, but the Lizard men bit us before dragging us into the water."

I nodded.

"I do."

"When they did that, they released a toxic spore into our bodies to knock us out. However with my poison affinity, I was naturally immune to such toxins, and even found a way to reverse it."

I gasped a bit.

"That makes sense...but why did you not fight back?"

"It was a losing battle. I would've been killed. So I figured it was best to let myself be captured and save everyone from there. I didn't expect them to separate us from the girls though."

I looked around, noticing my sister was indeed not here. However I did notice some people from the adult groups in here.

"I also didn't expect to run into some adults in here, but all that does is increase our chances of escape."

Chris woke up with a gasp, feeling his face.

"I'm alive!"

"Be thankful he saved your sorry ass."

"Enough. I'm going to wake these guys up and we're heading out to find the girls. Understood?"

"Right."