Project: TheirWorld - Chapter 024 - Part 1

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Corruption

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TheirWorld

Guin logged back in ready to go. Tik-Tak - who always seemed to be happy to see her - greeted her by prancing around her legs, while Liorax watched them both from his perch on the the statue of the woman. After playing with him a little, then looked down one of the paths near the marble statue, where her quest indicator was pointing.

Checking her map, she traced the path she would need to take to get where Tik-Tak’s mother was. Deep inside the territory of another Border, she would likely have to be prepared for another fight. Is there going to be another boss battle like the Lore Master? She wondered, her eye twitching.

“Nothing for it, I guess,” Guin mumbled to as she closed her map window. Combat was one of the largest parts of an MMO. She would have to get used to it sooner or later - and she might as well do it while she couldn’t die. Plus, there was a high probability that what waited for her there were simple beedants and moarbits. Equipping the light dagger she had gotten from Grimhai and reviewing her skills once again, she stretched and tested her in-game, child-like body.

“Guiiin!” Tik-Tak called to her, bouncing up and down as he waited for her on the path. “Let’s go, let’s go! Momma is waiting!”

“He is an impatient creature… “ Liorax mused, then yawned widely. Guin snorted with laughter as she cast her [Spirit Armor] and [Fox Form]. The way that the cat reacted reminded her a bit of the bat barista.

“Let’s go, silly cat,” Guin told him, and he floated down to her shoulder.

“Silly cat, is it?” he said, sitting on her back. “How brave of you. Now go, silly chariot”

Chuckling, she pranced over to Tik-Tak who tagged her with a nip at her ear before he shot off down the path. As she took off after him, Liorax flew off in front.

It took them about twenty minutes to get across the border, where dozens - if not hundreds - of beedants and moardbits meandered around the forest, bringing a smile to Guin’s face as she took out her dagger. Then, she went to work, turning the bugs and rodents into treasure.

Several dozens of corpses later, though, Guin noticed that the forest had begun to change. “What the hell..?” Guin muttered, looking ahead. V ibrant greens turned grey, then faded to purple, until the grass became a substance that resembled tar. The trees looked like they were rotting - but not a normal rot. It looked as if the black tar-like substance was crawling up the trees, eating at them. A dull fog hung over the area, blocking out the sun. It seemed to make the air moist and thick, like a summer’s eve in the middle of a bog.

Ducking her head as she stepped into the area, Guin asked, “Is it supposed to look like this? Oh shit-!” Guin ducked behind one of the trees quickly - though she yelped and pulled away from it when her hands touched the tree’s gooey trunk. Clasping her mouth with her hand, she looked back around it.

Her prey had changed. Considerably.

The beedants had grown larger - they had also apparently grown hands and learned to walk on their hind legs alone. Their sharp pincers gnashed together with horrible, echoing sounds. They look like Blee, Guin thought, distastefully. As for the moarbits, they were a little less intimidating - but they too had changed. Their size increased, and they now sported large antlers.

“Corruption,” Liorax growled.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Guin muttered.

“Yiiiii… Momma…” Tik-Tak made himself as small as he could and started to circle around Guin’s legs. “Momma… I’ll fix it… I-I’ll take care of Momma…” Guin knelt and pet him, trying to calm him.

But Liorax snorted. “We should count ourselves lucky that it’s only spread this far,” he said. “This kind of corruption… I can smell it. You mother was powerful for a Che Land Fox. Or…?” The roan colored cat shifted to Tik-Tak, his eyes reflecting a new respect for the anxious little fox.

“What should be do?” Guin pressed. “Can I even fight these things by myself? Those bugs are bigger than I am!” There was no way for her to tell what the power gap was between the two. If it was as big as the gap between the gobos and the Lore Master, she was screwed.

I can only offer minor help, I’m afraid,” Liorax said, sounding almost genuine. “All you can do is try, really. I’ll give you one of my auras - but know that my spell is me and I am my spell. I won’t be able to speak with you, but I will hear your commands. Should you require my physical presence, merely speak my name.”

Nodding, Guin clenched her dagger and stared her enemies down. After making sure that her spells were in place, she gave Liorax the go ahead. He spun around, glowed green and disappeared. A light shone over her, and she saw that she had gained the [Battle Ready] buff again.

“Stay here,” she told the cowering little fox.

“Yiii…” seemed to be the only response he could give her.

Entering her fox form, she stepped closer to one of the Corrupted Moarbits - but this creature didn’t just ignore her.

Shit! Guin began to scramble back as the Corrupted Moarbit glared at her and roared. Antlers down, it started after her. Her brain working as fast as it could, she dodged out of the way - and the creature ran head first into the tree in front of it. Guin’s eyes narrowed. Some sort of [Rush] technique? Unfazed, the creature turned around and glared at her, it’s eyes emitting some kind of odd, black smoke. It’s mouth dropped open, revealing all of it’s sharp, pointed teeth - and - Are those… like… snake fangs? Guin froze. She had to admit that the antlers were far less intimidating that the pincers were - but if these things could poison her…

Though her first instinct was to run away, Guin clenched her teeth. Why would you run? She asked herself, fixing her stance. The only thing she could do was to try to not get bitten.

But how would she do that?

Ultimately, she decided, there was no reason why her tactics from before shouldn’t work on these guys. The rush attack wasn’t too different from the one that the Gobo Club Thugs used - and those had been far more intimidating. These guys were just jack-a-lopes.

The moarbit rushed at her again - but this time, she was better prepared. Dodging just enough for the creature’s attack to miss, her human shifted, grabbed it by the antlers and pulled down, slamming it into the ground. Disoriented, it struggled against her grip and pawed at the air. Taking advantage of it’s prone state, Guin executed several stabs and and backstabs until it’s body at last grew limp.

It was quite the hardy creature. Had she been unlucky, the outcome of that fight could have been much different.

But with a strategy in development for the Corrupted Moarbits, she turned her attention to the Corrupted Beedants next.

Feeling far more comfortable after her experience with the moarbit, Guin didn’t hesitate trying out her tactics on the nearest beedant - and they worked to fair effect. The hands and the made things difficult when trying to reach the creature’s underbelly, but it really did seem to be the kind of creature that traded power for defense.

Confident in her ability to handle them, she called to Tik-Tak and they continued on - though at a much slower pace. Unlike before, she couldn’t just leisurely kill the enemies in her path; she needed to kill of them - and look out for back attacks. Luckily, Tik-Tak was able to serve as an able scout. With practice, guin found herself able to take on two or three enemies at most - a fourth add was almost enough to overwhelm her. While Liorax was was keeping her buffed with his powers, though, Tik-Tak nimbly drew the agro of a least one of the pests and parade them around until Guin could safely take it.

As they pressed on, Guin started to see that there were traps in the area. With furrowed brows, she saw so many untriggered ones, she had to assume that the humans must have been in the area quite recently. Surely, they knew about the corruption, then?

Occasionally, she saw that Corrupted Beedants and Corrupted Moarbits had been caught in the traps. More frequently, however, the victims were other kinds of animals. Weasels. Squirrels. A deer. She even saw another red fox. Guin turned her head away.

“Yii… G-Guin,” Tik-Tak stopped with his tail between his legs and asked her. “C-Can we free their bodies at least?” His eyes were full of sorrow.

Guin went over and looked at one of the traps. Trying not to stare directly at the broken corpse of the squirrel that was in it, she fiddled with the trap, she honestly had no experience with such things. “Mmm,” she started, looking as his desperate look but shook her head. “I have to be honest, Tik-tak - I don’t know hot to disarm this thing.” Tik-Tak lowered his head as she spoke, but perked up when she added, “Let’s go talk to your mother’s spirit first. If we can clear the corruption, it won’t be as dangerous for us. Then, I will go into the village and see if I can learn anything about the traps. I promise you that I will come back and get them out of these traps - and I’ll disarm the others, while I’m at it.”

A new determination grew on the little fox’s face as he nodded. Guin stood and looked to the direction of her map marker. Not far now, she told herself, and started off. However, sensing that Tik-Tak was not following, she turned.

“Tik-Tak?”

The little fox put a paw on the broken squirrel’s head. “I-I promise that I will come back,” He said softly. Puffing out his chest a little, he made his declaration: “I promise… I’ll protect this forest. Just like Momma and Papa…”

With that, he turned and shot off toward the cave.

He’s a good boy, Guin thought, a smiling flickering across her face as she went off after him.