When Loki swooped down to warn Anika that someone was following them, she looked back from where they had come, but couldn't see anything. Loki was alarmed, so Anika checked her map to see what the best plan would be. They were close to Wildhold, perhaps another half an hour, they should be able to see it as soon as they left the safety of the bushes and trees they were walking through. If somebody was out to get them, finding a place to hide might not be the best solution. Anika thought it was best to continue as fast as possible and asked Loki to stay on the lookout.

A few minutes later, Loki came close and was even more alarmed than before. Whoever was following them had gained on them, but when Anika looked back, she still couldn't see anyone. It was clear that they were being followed by just one person, so Anika prepared for a confrontation, all the while walking at a faster pace hoping she could avoid a fight.

The first thing she could think of was to tell Hissy to run ahead and find a good spot for a trap. She needed somewhere that was easy for her to run past, with some cover and a high chance of their follower getting caught in the net. Hissy didn't need to be told twice, she skittled ahead and got to work. With Loki circling above them, Anika and Fenris prepared themselves for a fight. Fenris was looking back and was getting ready to attack as soon as she saw anything moving, but she kept up a good pace until they arrived where Hissy had made her web.

It was another beautiful masterpiece. Practically see-through, it covered the distance between a large tree and a bunch of smaller ones. The only way to clear this path in the forest was to run straight through it. Hissy was excited and ran to the back of the trap showing where they should stand to attract the attention of whoever was following them. The spider had a perfect sense of tactics. With no more time to prepare, this seemed like the perfect defence against whoever they would confront.

Anika was tempted to continue as fast as possible towards Wildhold, hoping whoever was on their trail would get caught in the web and they could get to their destination safely. It was panic in her mind that was urging her not to stand her ground and fight. In the end, she decided to take the confrontation head-on. She wanted to see what would happen and could always have running away as a Plan B.

Loki signalled to them that their follower was getting close. So as not to seem too conspicuous, Anika and Fenris knelt on the ground with their backs to the trap while hissy took up her position in the top of the large tree. Anika could feel it now, the skin on her neck was prickling, that feeling you get when you know somebody is looking straight at you from behind.

The next thing that happened was impossible for Anika to make sense of at first. Against her will, she got off the ground and walked towards their opponent. The player who had been following them was tall and wore a luxurious robe with a hood made of dark fabrics. This was some kind of magician. As she got closer and was almost caught in her own trap, she could see that the player was casting a spell. The character looked female and had light green skin on her face and hands. She was looking straight at Anika, smiling through sharp teeth while waving the fingers of one of our hands in the air, as if she was caressing an invisible object. Whatever this magician was doing to her, there was no way for Anika to resist, all she could do was watch and return the stare she was receiving.

Anika ended up getting caught in hissy's web. There was nothing she could do, she couldn't control her body to get her knife out let alone access her bow. Fenris had seen what was happening and had circled the trees making her way to their attacker. Before the wolf got there, Anika heard a loud screech as Loki dove at the magician, pulled off its hood and pecked at its eyes. This must have been enough for the magician to get distracted and stop channelling the spell that was taking hold of Anika. She suddenly had full control of her limbs again and cut herself free of the web. When she got her senses back and was free, she saw that Fenris and Loki were doing their best at tearing the attacker to pieces. She got her bow ready and fired at the magician, but so far the damage from her arrows was only a fraction of the damage her companions were causing.

The magician was casting another spell while trying to swat Loki off like a fly and holding up an arm to deflect Fenris's bites. With the hood down, Anika could see that their opponent was a female. Her eyes were still locked on Anika, but the smile was gone. She looked a little bewildered, then she became deadly focused as she was casting what seemed to be a spell of dark purple magic. Before Anika could do anything about it, a bolt of magic whizzed through the air straight at her. It hit her in the chest and knocked her back two steps, and it was so powerful it had taken almost half of her health away. One more bolt like that and she would be close to dying.

As she was recovering from the bolt of dark magic, she thought back to how useful Beth would be in this situation. Her ability to silence magic spells like this would be handy, but she felt that Fenris and Loki were doing a good job. The magician they were facing was getting ready to cast a second spell, her eyes still locked on Anika. Anika darted behind the tree they had used for their trap to avoid the next spell. Hissy was sitting at the top, and to Anika's frustration wasn't doing anything to improve the situation. She commanded her to attack the target. There was no point in waiting for the magician to walk into their trap. That plan had gone south a long time ago.

Anika moved around the trees so she could see what was going on. She assumed that running out of the line of sight had prevented her from taking another bolt of magic to the chest. She could now see Hissy making her way to the magician, who was doing her best to get Loki off her face at that point. When their enemy was no longer focused on Anika, she shot from a safe distance and saw with delight that Hissy had made her way up underneath the robes of their attacker. In a look of shock and pain, the magician grabbed her dress and rubbed and scratched it frantically, Hissy must have got her venomous fangs stuck into the lower regions of the player.

Their efforts had resulted in the health of the magician getting just below 50%. Fenris and Loki had both taken more damage, but they were fighting furiously. As Anika was back in view of the magician, she saw she was preparing another one of the dark spells. Leaving it too late to get behind cover, Anika took another hit to the chest and was left with only a fraction of her health remaining. Seeing this, the magician must have decided to finish her off and ran towards her while casting another spell in her hand. Anika panicked, hid behind a tree for a couple of moments but knew it would only take the slightest bit of damage before she was gone for good. Although running away was an option, she was pretty sure that she would make some kind of damage from behind. The only option she could think of was to climb the tree she was hiding behind. Once she got up into a couple of branches she peeked around the side to see how much time she had before the magician had closed in on her. At that moment she saw that Hissy had tripped the attacker up by shooting strands of webbing between her legs. She was now lying face down on the ground with Fenris and Loki attacking wildly.

That last stroke of genius from Hissy saved them. The goblin magician could get to her feet and made an attempt at running away. With Fenris on her back, she didn't get far and almost without the help from Anika, her three rare companions had taken their opponent down.

In the instant that the magician died, Anika felt the familiar rush of gaining another level. Her surroundings flashed in bright light, but this time the sensation was even stronger than before, and it seemed to last a few seconds longer. She checked her combat log as soon as everything had returned to normal.

You have reached level 9

You have reached level 10

You have reached level 11

She couldn't believe her eyes. Somehow, she had just gained three levels from taking down one player. That must have been because of the difference in their levels. She remembered reading about players who specialised in killing creatures that were a couple of levels higher than them; they did this for the additional experience points and for the challenge of it. With that in mind, all of this made sense. The player they had been fighting didn't even show a level where the tag would have shown it. All she had seen during the fighting was a small red and black skull where the level indication would have been.

Anika spent time rewarding her companions for a job well done. They shared food, and before long they were ready to complete the last part of the journey. She was playing the fight back through her mind and thought how lucky she had been and how close they had come to what would have been a complete disaster. If she had died, she would have been sent back to Belhaven which would leave her at least a full day behind schedule.

Thinking of schedules, the quest timer was still ticking away, and there was no time to lose with less than an hour left on the clock. She had to get to Wildhold and be done with the quest as soon as possible, and from there she could make her way to the tournament hub.

Not wanting to run into any other players, and counting herself lucky that she had escaped from the previous encounter intact, Anika and her companions stayed off the main road. Before long, the walls of Wildhold could be seen up ahead. Anika relaxed, with Wildhold in sight, she looked around, but there were no other players to be seen. They would have to cross an area of open ground, but if she mounted Fenris, they could make it, even if they were spotted going across it.

She dismissed Hissy but told Loki to do one last sweep of their surroundings, then she got onto Fenris and prepared to make a dash across the open ground. Loki returned with bad news. She had spotted a group of three players who had been moving at a fast pace directly behind them from where the last encounter had taken place.

There was no chance that Anika could take on three players at once, and it was safe to assume they would be maxed level players. The only way forward was to ride like all hell and hope she could get to the gates of Wildhold in time.