Chapter 10:
Waldina - Journey as a ninja in another world
Vermell’s territory didn’t really differ that much from green goblins’ territory. The trees grew slightly closer to each other which meant less sunlight. But other than that a forest was a forest. As Inizio was the starter town, its nearby areas weren’t that dangerous. In the game Adventurous Online the most dangerous areas were fast changing and nature itself could pose a danger to unsuspecting players. But for now Waldina didn’t have to worry over such details.
Waldina traveled through the forest for a couple of hours before she first met Vermell’s underling wolves. In these areas Vermell was a unique red coated wolf. The other, smaller wolves, in its territory were mainly gray and looked rather like the wolves she knew from her world. These wolves were way stronger than green goblins, yet compared to her fight against the Hiisi, they didn’t pose much of a threat to her.
Waldina’s trusted companion, shortsword, worked best against wolves. In theory she enjoyed using shurikens more rather than sword, but in actual battle the shortsword came so handy she couldn’t think of fighting without it. It could be that she just trusted her swordskills and power more than small shurikens’. Thus she made a mental note to level up those more later on and instead focus on her swordskills for now. Perhaps after she’d defeat Vermell, she’d start really leveling up her shurikens and make them actual lethal weapons. Obviously, only if she actually defeated Vermell.
She wasn’t that confident in her chances. On one hand she couldn’t really think of a reason why she wouldn’t fare against Vermell. She knew all the attack styles of monsters like Vermell by heart, so there shouldn’t be surprises. Yet on the other hand… This didn’t seem to be a mere game. She’d have to actually do all of those attacks with her flesh and blood, her own actual movements and not the ones of a keyboard or gamepad. She couldn’t just decide to use a certain skill combo - she’d actually have to physically do it. Sure it started to come more naturally to her but it still worried her.
After fighting against the Hiisi she became slightly more confident in her skills. Yet she was grateful for Kiandra not tagging with her. After all, fighting alone was easier and less stressful - it would just be her and Vermell, and she wouldn’t have to worry about anything else.
The closer Waldina came to the place marked as Vermell’s location, the more graywolves she faced against. Their levels were closer to Vermell’s and she couldn’t help but notice the intellectuality of their protection for their leader. She couldn’t help but wonder how smart Vermell would be if its underlings were this smart. There weren’t many monsters in these levels who acted with this much intelligence, yet she couldn’t think of it as a mere coincidence either. Something was fundamentally different in this world compared to the game. That was for sure.
Most of the graywolves attacked her alone. Even if there were more of them present, they’d just wait their turn in the sidelines. It seemed like they’d have their own pride which held them back from attacking together with others. That in turn made Waldina’s job easier. Ninjas were after all better suited to defeating singular enemies. Besides in AO Vermell had fighted alone as well which meant this was a good practice for that.
Suddenly Waldina saw a small square ahead of her. In the middle of it was standing a beautiful red wolf. The view made her smile involuntarily. She had continued moving forward all day in hopes of reaching Vermell until night. It seemed that Vermell’s territory didn’t have many safe spots where to spend the night - she’d noticed this as she was looking for a place to enjoy her lunch. The wolves had found her within minutes. That in itself had quickened her steps and she had run some of the way. Luckily both her fitness and stamina had gotten better since fighting against the goblins and the Hiisi. It had been a rather welcome upgrade for both traveling and for the stage-exam that was Vermell. Wolves were fast; it didn’t hurt to be fast herself and manage to keep up that pace.
Waldina’s smile froze as she heard multiple steps charging towards her. She turned around and to her shock she saw a huge pack of graywolves charging towards her. In every possible direction. Her pulse quickened as she gritted her teeth with a dark expression. It wasn’t actually that surprising to see Vermell’s underlings protect it this fiercely yet it wasn’t something she had seen in the game AO. Vermell’s territory held already way more graywolves than it had in the game. And this sort of pack? Unbelievable.
Waldina sighed deeply and grabbed her shortsword tightly. She kicked the blades from her shoes in ready position and finally took a couple of shurikens from her thigh belt. She quickly glanced around and made a quick analysis of the pack and their levels. During the day she’d managed to reach level 15. The strongest enemy seemed to be around level 14. She was content with the discovery. She really didn’t need extra challenges right before Vermell. Not that fighting against a whole pack wasn’t a challenge in itself.
“Aqua chuvarein,” Waldina recited the spell’s incantation quickly and water droplets started raining on her skin. Slightly slippery wet ground would ensure easier movement to her. If she herself didn’t slip on it, of course. Yet a slippery surface, used correctly, could help her distract the enemy, quicken her movement on the ground and help her twirl more easily. Hopefully, it would also hinder the enemies’ movement.
Waldina began her battle by jumping on top of the wolf closest to her and then she jumped up in the air. She glanced at the most powerful and unpredictable wolves from the pack. Without hesitation she aimed her shurikens towards them. As she fell back to the ground she made an impact with the surface gracefully like a figure skater. She landed on one leg, keeping the other straight to her side. The impact made her twirl. During the twirl she managed to cut down the wolves closest to her with her sword and shoe blade. The wolves disappeared into thin air as mana particles. The shoe blades were surprisingly strong it seemed.
As her speed dropped she began fighting fiercely with just her shortsword. Defeating one single wolf didn’t take much of her time. Unlike other wolves earlier that day, this pack worked together flawlessly. Their sharp teeth clanged grotesquely together right next to Waldina’s skin. Even a moment’s hesitation could prove fatal to her and she tried her best to keep her mind together.
Her sword slashed one by one through the wolves. After one disappeared, another appeared right away. It was as if there was a never ending supply of the wolves.
One of the wolves charged towards her and slipped. It made her smile grimly. The water had finally done its magic to the surface.
Quickly, Waldina grabbed a nearby wolf by its fur and got on its back. Then she sped from one back to another. She kept this up, speed increasing, until she reached the end of the pack. There she dropped on the rather slippery ground. Her back was nearly touching the ground when the speed she had launched her into low slide.
Enjoying the slide close to the ground she let her sword slash through each wolf she passed by from beneath. The movement energy gave power to each of the slashes she made, ensuring she’d defeat more and more of the wolves at once. She was sliding so fast underneath the unsuspecting wolves that they didn’t have time to react to her stunt.
After she reached the end of the pack Waldina stopped her fast slide by plunging her sword on the ground. Her speed dropped so fast she was instantly launched needlessly high up in the air. She saw this as an opportunity and threw a couple of shurikens at the remaining wolves. The rest she finished whilst using her ninja run after dropping back to the ground.
Just after each one of the graywolves had disappeared, could she finally rest. She breathed deeply. In the middle of the fight she hadn’t even managed to keep count of the monsters’ numbers, but perhaps her victory was more important than counting her enemies. All that mattered was the fact all the enemies had disappeared and there didn’t seem to be any immediate danger closeby.
Waldina sighed in relief and leaned her body against a nearby tree before allowing herself to sit next to it. She took a snack out of her bracelet’s inventory. Quickly she ate it and got back to work. Sun was already going down and she wasn’t about to fight against Vermell for the whole night. Yet it was true she needed help after all that. She’d need to maintain her weapons, perhaps change into her spare ones - luckily she’d bought enough to last her a while from Inizio.
She changed her shortsword into a similar one than before, but she equipped her thigh belts with a couple of stronger daggers and shurikens. She’d chosen those especially Vermell in mind and had been saving them for this moment. She equipped another thigh belt around her other thigh as well and made sure all the shurikens and daggers were safely placed. Her level had reached the level 17 just now, yet she still wanted to make sure she had the proper weapons with her in the ready. She was perhaps a bit too over-careful yet she assured herself this was for the best. Many things differed from the game she knew so it was more than likely Vermell would be stronger as well.
Just before she headed to Vermell she gathered the shurikens she’d thrown in the last fight from the ground. She put them back in her bracelet’s inventory and promised to maintain them properly later. Muddy ground and metallic weapons weren’t exactly best buddies. Or perhaps they liked each other so much that they worsened the blade’s conditions. Who knows, maybe blades went mad after falling for mud and dirt.
And so she headed towards her very first stage-exam in this version of the game world. Vermell was somewhat difficult for ninja types in the game, but by no means impossible to defeat. Thus, it had to be possible to defeat it even now. Besides, Vermell’s challenger wasn’t any ninja; it was Waldina who loved ninjas to death and would do anything to prove their superiority.
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