Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

I can\'t surface. Dammit!

A tap at his shoulder. Ike squinted his eyes open. Wisp gestured him closer. A bubble of air clung to her face and neck, large enough to fit more than one.

Ike blinked. He pointed at the bubble, then at himself.

She nodded and gestured again.

Raising his brows, Ike leaned upward. He took a sip of the air in the bubble, relieving the burning sensation in his lungs.

Wisp pointed downstream, along the way the water was carrying them, then at the bubble. We\'ll keep going until I run out of air.

Ike gave a thumbs up, agreeing.

The water moved at a brisk pace. It whisked them away from that terrifying presence and the birds alike. One sip at a time, the two of them shared the bubble. It dwindled. Smaller and smaller. Ike rationed his breaths, only taking enough to relieve the pain in his chest, and still it grew smaller, far too fast. He extended his aether upwards, checking on the presence. No more sign of it, but could he trust that? It could be circling. Waiting.

The bubble vanished. They let the currents sweep them a little further, until Ike\'s lungs burned and his chest tightened. He swallowed, trying to forcibly extend his time underwater, but it was no good. Air. I need air!

Wisp kicked for the surface. Ike followed her up. The two of them breached the surface with a gasp. Ike grabbed on to a root at the water\'s edge, then grabbed Wisp. She gripped his arm back so tight his forearm turned white. For a moment, they just floated there, sucking the air.

"Whew! I\'m all wet," Shawn complained on Ike\'s back.

The author\'s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Both of them turned and stared at him. Ike spoke first. "You don\'t need to breathe?"

"No? I\'m a mountain."

"Yeah, Ike. Mountains don\'t breathe," Wisp said, shaking her head at him.

Ike sighed and shook his head at them. "You know what? You are right."

The sound of birds cawing echoed nearby. Wisp and Ike\'s heads both snapped up. Without another word, both of them clambered out of the water and into the forest.

Ike pulled out his wolfskin, and Wisp did the same. "Do you think this will work?"

"It\'s worth a try. They might only be mortal birds, or low Rank. I\'m not sensing much of an aura from them," Wisp reasoned.

Ike nodded. "Me either. There was one powerful aura, but it left. I don\'t think the birds are strong on their own. They\'re basically just here to summon that guy whenever someone enters this area." He looked at Wisp. "Speaking of, did you recognize that powerful aura?"

She shook her head. "Nope. That person wasn\'t here the last time I came through."

Ike grinned. He gave her a look. "So, the death region was just—"

"Yes, yes, yes, it was just the birds, okay? Birds are scary when you\'re a small spider! I was way smaller and weaker the last time I was here. It was a completely different experience," she said, putting her hands on her hips and scowling at him.

"No, I get it. It\'s like my uncle," Ike muttered, half to himself. If he faced his uncle now, his uncle would be the one who should be afraid. And yet, when he thought of the man, he still felt a pang of fear. It was purely a reflex. Something that had been carved into his body for so long that it had become a scar. He had no reason to fear his uncle anymore. But the idea of returning to that ramshackle house still set his heart racing.

Wisp tilted her head, then nodded. "Yeah. Like that."

He nudged her. "Let\'s get moving. If we\'re lucky, we might get out of this place without ever running into that frightening aura."

"Here\'s hoping."

The birds circled overhead. Shadows passed over them relentlessly, but the birds never spotted him or Wisp. They darted through the woods at speed, racing past the trees. The leaves flew up behind them and settled quickly as they ran on, the only trace of their passing. The deeper they went into the forest, the thicker the shadows became. Ike glanced up, brows furrowed. It wasn\'t just that there were thicker leaves or more birds. The density of the items above him remained the same as ever. The shadows themselves were growing darker and spreading wider.

"Wisp…"

"Yeah. I\'m seeing it. This is new."

Ike twisted his lips. "Think it\'s because of that new guy? The Magpie King, or whatever he calls himself?"

"If he\'s doing this, he\'s even stronger than that aura we sensed," Wisp muttered.

The world grew darker and darker. Cold energy swirled around their ankles, followed by a pale mist. Clouds darkened the sky, and a chill slid over Ike\'s skin despite the heavy wolfskin. The trees grew sparser and thinner. Some had lost their leaves altogether. The birds circled so tightly that he could hardly see the clouds beyond them. They hadn\'t found him and Wisp, but he got the feeling that these birds would have swirled here regardless of whether the two of them were present. This had nothing to do with searching. This was worship. And ahead of him was the center of the birds\' spiral track. The object of that worship.

The trees fell away. They stood on the edge of a wide, open field.

"Wisp?"

"Nope, this is new," she confirmed.

They both stared.

"Well," Ike said, at a loss for words.