“How the fuck is she that fast?!” Foster asked with a loud groan, trying to run after that swordswoman. She had left the cabin after she finished searching it. Foster was following her around, since he had nothing better to do for now. However, all of a sudden without a warning, the woman started running off deeper into this ‘corrupted’ forest with a determined expression, as if she knew exactly where she needed to go.

Foster was usually confident in his own speed, but this woman was running at literally inhuman speeds, “Does that have anything to do with those attributes?” Foster thought to himself. If there were attributes like in a game, then it was fairly reasonable to assume that those attributes could somehow increase, right? Then that meant that this woman increased one of those attributes to make it she could run this fast.

And the worst part was that right now, Foster wasn’t even able to come after her. The ground was littered with sharp rocks and weird bugs, and his shoes were… well, unusable. They had been filled completely with blood when he last took them off, and Foster was pretty sure Thiodrus chose to throw them away along with his other clothes.

“But maybe I can…” Foster muttered quietly, as he quickly returned back into the cabin. He rushed over toward one of the back-rooms, which was filled with clutter. But amongst that clutter were Thiodrus’ clothes, as well as shoes.. He had found this room while searching for Thiodrus earlier. Foster quickly grabbed a pair of shoes that seemed to be in a rather good condition and slipped his feet into them. Surprisingly, they fit pretty nicely. Since Thiodrus was lacking skin and flesh on his feet, he most likely had to wear shoes that were somewhat tighter than he would usually need. So maybe that made up for the difference in shoe-size between those two.

The moment that Foster was wearing these shoes, he rushed out of the cabin and started to run in the same direction as that woman. Foster didn’t know why exactly he was doing it, it simply felt… right.

Thiodrus warned him not to return after leaving this place, and especially not to head deeper into the forest than they already were, but in this kind of situation, it felt like Foster had to do something to help Thiodrus out. After all, it didn’t just seem like that swordswoman wanted to have a ‘duel’ with that skeleton, but rather that she wanted to kill him.

And while Thiodrus certainly seemed stronger to Foster, after seeing how fast she was running, he wasn’t all that sure anymore. He had to help him out in any way that he could, he owed Thiodrus one, after all.

However, after running for a few minutes, the difference between the part of the forest that he was in earlier, and the part of the forest he was in now was astronomical. The trees weren’t just dead, but they seemed so dry they were petrified. The bugs that were crawling around became more common and far larger, and Foster even spotted some other animals that seemed extremely creepy.

“Is this what that ‘corruption’ did to this place..?” Foster muttered quietly to himself as he continued running. And soon, something else finally came into sight. Foster wasn’t sure what exactly it was, but he he was soon able to see something blood-red stretch out and cover the sky not too far away from here. It seemed like a tree’s autumn-leaves, but they gave off a much more sinister vibe. After running for a few more minutes, Foster reached a large clearing, and was able to see that tree from much closer.

It was huge, four or five times the size of all the other trees. So much so that Foster had no idea how he wasn’t able to see it more easily from a distance earlier. Its bark was the same yellowish white, bone-like substance as what was covering those bugs. Like a much dirtier version of actual bones. Thiodrus’ seemed much cleaner, but that was probably because he was taking quite good care of his body. Or rather, that which was left of it.

Those red leaves that Foster saw earlier didn’t just seem to be regular leaves though. They were blood-red, and from a distance, it seemed like they were pulsating. Blue and purple lines were running over their surface like veins, as if the leaves of the tree were just flesh.

There were even some fruit hanging off of it, but Foster had no interest in taking a closer look at those. They were nothing but large red orbs the size of someone’s head. Inbetween himself and that tree, a thin river flowed by. The water inside of it was nothing but a black sludge giving off a rancid smell. Foster understood why Thiodrus didn’t want him to use this water to clean himself… Or else he would have joined the skeleton-club, just most likely without the ‘animated’ aspect.

This tree seemed simply so unreal. It seemed like something that wasn’t natural, a monstrosity that simply took the form of a tree. And Foster could hear some voices on the other side of this… thing. One of them belonged to Thiodrus, yelling out loudly. Another belonged to that swordswoman. But beside those, there were two more that Foster didn’t know.

With determination, Foster ran around the tree and this black water that was surrounding it. Bit by bit, that group of four came into sight. Two people were standing on Foster’s side of the ‘river’, the swordswoman as well as a man with short silver hair holding a bow in his hand. The arrow nocked on it was aimed at one of the two on the other side of the river.

One of them was a tall, somewhat bulky man with black hair. And the other one was Thiodrus, the target of the arrow. The animated skeleton was standing in front of that black-haired man, who was kneeling on the ground, blood pouring out of his mouth. Foster didn’t know what exactly was going on, but it didn’t take long until he was noticed.

“)%%&/§7?!” The silver-haired archer asked with a loud yell while staring at Foster, while the swordswoman replied in his stead, explaining the situation as far as she seemed to have understood it. Although there seemed to be something else going on, as the Archer pointed at Foster and then Thiodrus.

Thiodrus’ head turned toward Foster, and his hand, formed into a fist just before, loosened up. Thiodrus raised his hand and pointed his palm toward Foster. The three other people all looked at him nervously.

“Ah, why’re they worrying? That’s just for that telepathy thing.” Foster said with a light sigh, before his thoughts were partially confirmed just a moment later.

“I apologize for this, young Foster.” Thiodrus said, but Foster was simply confused about what was going on. He looked at Thiodrus’ boney palm, and saw a mass of black gather there. It was as if ink had appeared out of nowhere and was now floating in front of his palm. The ink-like substance turned compressed into a spike, and the next moment, it simply disappeared.

Foster was confused because the swordswoman was running toward him all of a sudden. Her sword hung loosely by her side, while the Archer suddenly shot an arrow at Thiodrus. Unsure what exactly was going on, Foster looked around. That was when the pain started hitting him.

That black spike that was floating in front of Thiodrus’ hand earlier was stuck inside of Foster’s shoulder. It happened so fast that even his body didn’t realize what happened, until he saw it. Pushing his teeth together to handle the pain better, Foster placed his hand onto the spike to make sure that it wouldn’t fall out of the wound. He didn’t suddenly want to bleed out, after all.

“Shit!” He yelled out angrily, glaring at Thiodrus angrily, while a message box appeared in front of Foster.

—

[You have taken 1 Damage]

[Bleeding Effect was suppressed by external forces]

—

“Eh?” Foster let out. The ‘bleeding effect’ was suppressed? And ‘1’ damage seemed quite little for this kind of thing. A bit confused, Foster looked back at the spike, starting to see a light glow within it. He could swear it was shrinking as well…

—

[Your body is absorbing a mass of pure magic. A corresponding magical effect will be applied to you]

[The {Translate} Spell will be permanently applied to you]

[Understanding of the Argian Language is being established]

[Progress… 2%]

—

Foster was even more confused by these messages. What the hell was going on right now.

“See? I- &(&)=((&)945!” The swordswoman exclaimed while looking at the archer. For a moment, it seemed as if Foster actually understood what she was saying.

—

[Progress… 5%]

—

The black spike kept shrinking further and further, until it fully disappeared, but even so, his wound didn’t blead. The clothes that he was wearing were getting weirdly tense around his shoulder, and the loose threads were starting to wiggle. The percentage on the message box floating in front of Foster only kept growing while all this was happening.

Foster knew it, Thiodrus didn’t attack him, this was just something to help him out. And while Thiodrus was looking at Foster, the tall, black-haired man behind him pushed his fist through the skeleton’s body, pushing out the large crystal orb that Foster saw floating within him.

“It has been an honor to get to know you before passing on.” Thiodrus muttered through telepathy, as him and Foster stared at each other. Thiodrus fell to his knees, practically unable to move his body anymore. The orb was slowly rolling toward the river with cracks covering its surface.

Was this it? Was Thiodrus going to die? That black bolt must have been his parting gift…

“Don’t…” Foster muttered, and the swordswoman, who had finally reached him, stopped moving a bit starteld, “Don’t fuck with me! You think I’m going to let you help me and then watch you die before I can even thank you, you absolute piece of shit?! What, you think I’m some little bitch that can’t take care of himself?!” He yelled out as loud as he could, his finger pointed directly at Thiodrus, who was looking back at Foster completely stunned.

But he wasn’t the only one, those three other people beside those two were also unsure what to do. That was, before the swordswoman looked at Foster with a wry smile, “I-I thought you didn’t speak Argian?”

—

[Progress…. 34%]