The Crimson Grove was a mystical garden hidden outside edge of a dense forest with towering cliffs as a backdrop. It stood out quite well due to its beauty compared to the ominous aura of the rest of the forest.
This garden was surrounded by tall trees and was accessible only by a narrow path. The garden was filled with a variety of flowers, plants, and trees, each one more beautiful than the next.
The flowers were of different colors and fragrances, making the garden a feast for the senses. The garden was also home to a small pond, where the water was crystal clear and reflected the beauty of the surrounding nature.
There was a small gazebo located in the center of the garden that seemed like a good place to sit and relax or perhaps talk with someone.
This place was usually calm and silent, but now the arrival of six Hunters had disturbed the peace in this place.
All of them were wearing armor and equipped with all kinds of weapons. Three were men, while the rest were women, all looking in their early to late twenties.
This group of six seemed to have some kind of order and discipline among them, especially since they had a leader leading them. If one took a closer look, they could see the emblem of Hunter Academy on their garments or armor suits.
The leader was a tall and muscular man with a scar running down the left side of his face. He was wearing a suit of heavy plate armor and carried a large two-handed battleaxe.
Name : Jack Quaid
Level : 9
HP : 1690 / 1690
MP : 1575 / 1575
STR : 215
DEF : 338
INT : 315
DEX : 209
The woman standing behind this leader was a slim and agile woman with long brown hair. She was wearing a suit of leather armor and carried two automatic pistols in her holster that seemed to glow with a mystical light. It was quite apparent these guns weren’t no ordinary guns. She looked at her leader and asked, “Jack, this quest has to be a joke. There are no demons to kill here. Don’t tell me I carried myself here for this. I am feeling bored already,” She said with a lazy yawn.
Name : Kara John
Level : 7
HP : 625 / 625
MP : 1700 / 1700
STR : 83
DEF : 125
INT : 340
DEX : 161
“Don’t assume this is an easy quest, Kara. Not every quest has to be about killing some lowly demons the moment we arrive. My father always says to prepare for the worst and that no quest is easy since we can lose our lives at any time. So keep your eyes open since this is said to be a place frequented by the Demon Queen. Who knows what can happen,” A tall and statuesque woman with long blue hair and gorgeous looks said with a stern tone.
She wore a suit of shining blue plate armor and carried a long silver spear. Looking around, she didn’t expect a place in the Shattered Dimension to look so beautiful. She was the youngest in the group, though none of the others would foolishly judge her strength based on that. Even the others weren’t being casual with her despite her not being the leader, including Kara, who shrunk her head after hearing Rachel’s words.
Name : Rachel Sterling
Level : 10
HP : 1850 / 1850
MP : 2100 / 2100
STR : 330
DEF : 370
INT : 420
DEX : 271
“Don’t worry, Kara. We can have fun destroying this place,” A slim man with glasses and a goatee said as he put his arm around Kara with a flirty smile. He was wearing classy robes and was carrying a staff with a flaming crystal embedded on top of it.
Name : David Col
Level : 6
HP : 300 / 300
MP : 1353 / 1353
STR : 159
DEF : 60
INT : 271
DEX : 59
“Ugh, fuck off, pervert,” Kara wrinkled her nose as she pushed him off, making David chuckle and say, “No use in denying your feelings for me, baby.”
“Both of you focus,” Jack’s gruff voice made the two look at him as he added, “Rachel is right. Keep in mind that our quest’s main objective is to first find the hidden artifact in this place and then destroy this place. So Sarah…do whatever you have to do to find it,” He said while looking at a short woman with short blonde hair. She wore a suit of studded fiber armor and had a pair of twin daggers holstered on her belt.
Name : Sarah Rose
Level : 7
HP : 597 / 597
MP : 1690 / 1690
STR : 162
DEF : 119
INT : 338
DEX : 85
“I got this, Jack. All I need is a safe place to work my magic,” Sarah said with a confident nod.
Jack hummed and said, “We have your back,” He then looked at a broad-shouldered man with a shaved head and serious-looking face who was wearing a suit of full plate armor and carried a large tower shield and a mace, “Bolo, you are our strongest defense, so you keep a sharp eye on any demons that might try to disrupt our quest.”
Name : Bolo Gonu
Level : 8
HP : 2073 / 2073
MP : 1059 / 1059𝑜𝗏𝗅xt.𝐜𝗈𝑚
STR : 161
DEF : 415
INT : 212
DEX : 116
Bolo didn’t say anything but silently nodded as he walked away to camp at a certain spot.
“Rachel, you are the strongest among us, so if any demon comes, you support Bolo as usual,” Jack said as he looked at her, making her nod firmly with a sharp eye.
He then looked at the troublesome duo, Kara and David, “You two stop fucking about and guard the perimeter. The demons might come from any direction. We can’t risk Sarah getting disturbed,” Jack said as he looked at Sarah, already sitting on the ground, concentrating with her eyes closed.
“Jack, you should seriously chill out. Our quest difficulty is literally only ‘Amateur’ and not even a ‘Challenging’ level quest. The six of us are overkill for this quest, especially since we have Rachel,” Kara said with a subtle scoff.
“If I knew this quest would suck this much, I would have begged our professor to let some other team take this quest,” David said with a roll of his eyes.
“Don’t forget we will fail this quest if Sarah takes too long and our Heavenly Immunity runs out. We can’t risk staying a second longer once our immunity runs out,” Jack said with a serious look, to which Kara pursed her lips and nodded with a sigh, “Fine, fine. I ain’t gonna be lazy.”
A few minutes passed as Sarah slowly crouched and walked towards the gazebo in the middle while deeply concentrating on the compass in her hand. Apparently, she was focusing on using a tracking spell with the help of her special glowing compass.
“Sarah, any luck? We don’t have much time to stay,” Jack said as he continued to keep a close look at the time.
Sarah narrowed her eyes as she saw the glowing blue needle on her compass vibrate more the closer she reached the gazebo, “I think I have pinpointed its location, but I might need some more time taking it out. Thank god my professor gave me this. Otherwise, I don’t think I would have been able to track something hidden so well.”
Everyone’s eyes lit up upon hearing her through their comms, though Kara impatiently said, “Let’s help her dig whatever is hidden there. My legs are becoming numb waiting over here.”
“No,” Sarah firmly said as she stood in the gazebo and added, “Whatever is beneath this floor isn’t simply hidden. There is a pattern of runes I have to figure out to take it out. If we try to forcibly take it, then we would only be destroying whatever’s inside.”
David clicked his tongue, hearing her, and said, “Great! Let’s hope we won’t lose too many points over failing this shitty quest. God knows how hard it is to level up these days.”
“Wait, where is Bolo? It’s been a while since he last reported to any of us, and I am unable to get in touch with him,” Rachel said all of a sudden, her tone filled with a sense of uneasiness.
Jack furrowed his brows upon hearing her and said, “Shit. Everyone come towards us right now. Something doesn’t feel right,” Jack said in a serious tone as he stood in front of the gazebo where Sarah was busy working her magic.
All three of them quickly rushed towards Jack upon getting his order.
“Seriously, that moody guy must be taking a shit. Let’s give him some privacy, yea?” David said with a lazy laugh.
“Still, it’s a bit weird he went off the radar just like that,” Kara said with pursed lips.
Rachel slowly shook her head as she said with wrinkled brows, “No…he never goes off the radar without informing us. Something is seriously–“
*THUD!*
All four of them took a quick step back as they saw a large body shooting out from behind the trees and falling in front of them.
“AAH!!”
“Oh my god!”
“Bolo!” Rachel shouted with widened, quivering eyes as she immediately recognized this bald man’s face.
Not only her but the rest of them were also shocked since Bolo’s eyes were lifeless, and his body was bloodied all over.
They saw how his neck and all his vital spots seemed to have been slashed open, making him bleed to death probably. There were also some bloodied claw marks on his back as if some wild, ferocious beast had attacked him out of nowhere.
But what they were sure of was that Bolo died within a matter of seconds before he could even put up a fight or inform them.
Their eyes didn’t even linger on his corpse for a moment longer as they all vigilantly looked ahead to see two demons revealing themselves from within the bushes.
“Well, well, what do we have here? Ended up in the wrong place, did we?” A tall, young demon with gray skin and dark yellow eyes said with a charming yet menacing subtle smile. And accompanying him was a red-skinned woman with ferocious blue eyes whose gaze felt no different than that of a beast and was wearing leather maid armor.