Artemia: Journey To The Thirtieth Floor

11. Cloud of Death

"You mean we're supposed to investigate the reason as to why there's a raiku here?" I asked in between gritted teeth, not having any of it.

Ah, I get it now. I knew there was something odd about all of this, but I still went with it. I am upset that they did something a bit underhanded, but we took it anyway, so we're partially at fault. So that was the reason why they barely gave us any information about the quest. We had it coming after accepting the quest without further ado. I guess this whole incident could serve as a warning for us. There's no way we're letting this s**t happen again.

Blake looked away while his ears were twitching, probably because he was embarrassed that we couldn't avoid this scenario. That was cute if you ask me, but I have no time to tease him about it. It seems like he's disappointed in himself for letting himself get fooled or something. Well, it's not his fault that we got in this situation. I'm the one at fault here, and if someone should be embarrassed, it's me...

The woman who gave us the quest remained impassive. "The quest doesn't end with you defeating the creature. In order to prevent such a thing from happening again, you must find the root of the problem."

"Then give us some clues," I demanded.

She raised a brow after hearing me sound demanding but still gave me a piece of paper along with a fur that's inside a box. My brows furrowed as I took it, trying to figure out how I was supposed to find clues with this. Ha, what the hell is this thing? Does it contain some sort of material that can help us figure out how to track where the damned raiku came from? I hoped that we could still find even a tiny bit of elemental power from it, but there was barely any left!

I sighed and took it, feeling extremely annoyed. This woman was probably laughing at me from the inside, but she just stared at me. While I was glaring at her, I could hear sighs from behind me. I guess we're equally disappointed in ourselves. There's absolutely no way I just accepted a quest that involves a ley line disorder. Because if I did, then it could prove to be quite irritating for us. Especially after I almost got killed by that thing!

"Sorry..." I said as I pouted.

Dylan chuckled and sat beside me. "It's okay. I think we would have encountered this kind of quest even if we tried to choose a less suspicious one."

"I'll be sure to protect you in case the quest turns out to be more difficult than expected," Blake said as he smiled at me.

Freya raised a brow at him. "You've never tried this quest out, have you?"

"I haven't. I only took a few quests and commissions but not this one. But I've done a quest before that required me to fight a couple of raikus at once."

"You what?!" we exclaimed in unison.

Blake doesn't seem to realize that what he said was a bit too shocking for us. A couple of raikus at once?! Did I hear that right? Because if not, then I would have to get my ears cleaned. That's crazy! Just one is enough to get us trembling, and he fought a couple of them? I mean, the three of us are still at a low level, but Blake actually took them on all alone. Damn, he must be really that strong. And he's acting like it's something normal when it's obviously not!

"Oh, come on. It's not that difficult," Blake said when he saw our expressions.

I rolled my eyes at him and took the letter out to see the clues they gave us. He shrugged when he saw what I did, smiling a little. I was sure that the letter should be able to help us out. If it doesn't, I'm going to drop this quest out of rage. My parents didn't raise a quitter, but I can't help it if I'm annoyed as heck. We're going to remain stuck here after killing that raiku since we don't have leads anymore. They should have at least told us about it. We wouldn't have killed it if we knew.

"I can use a technique that I learned recently to find this thing's origin," Freya said in an enthusiastic way as she reached for the box that contained the fur.

I held her hand to stop her before she could touch it. She looked at me, confused as to why I stopped her. Based on my observations, even this small amount of fur from the raiku can electrocute a person. I have been trying to use my ice to activate it, and so far, I have detected little to maximum current from it. I'm dumb, but not that dumb. In conclusion, we can't directly hold it, something Freya noticed too late.

"Make it float first," I said.

Freya obliged and examined it on a corner. Honestly, I'm not sure if she's going to be alright with that thing. But she's not that dumb, so I just allowed her to do whatever she has to do. As for the letter, we decided to read it while waiting for her. It looks like some sort of page that was ripped from a journal. Heh, someone who encountered the raiku must have been writing a journal throughout their journeys. Glad to know!

Today, I noticed the abnormal amount of monsters running around Mount Leona. There must have been a ley line disorder around here that's attracting or respawning monsters for as much as it can. I ran across two raikus fighting at the peak of the mountain, which surprised me. Was the ley line disorder that bad to the point that it attracted creatures that are not even supposed to be here? Perhaps I should check it out. It seems to be located around the foot of the mountain.

First of all, I want to know who this person was and what his objectives were when he came to Mount Leona. Maybe he's a wanderer that accidentally ran across the said creatures. Wait, two raikus...? If we killed one of them, then where's the other one? Is it around Stellar Town as well? If it is, then it would be pretty dangerous! We have to find it quickly! Or it could be best if we search for the ley line disorder first.

"Are we going to Mount Leona once again?" Blake asked.

I nodded. "We need to find what's causing the ley line disorder first. We might find the other raiku there as well."

We took the express to Mount Leona once again. Everyone was on edge except Blake, who was just serious about finishing this quest. I was just scared after that experience. I almost died because of that damned raiku, so of course, I'm worried! As soon as we stepped foot to the boundaries, I felt a sudden chill on my spine. Huh, I guess the situation here is quite dire. It's almost as if there's a fog of miasma covering the mountain.

"Are you sure we're getting out of this alive...?" Freya hesitantly asked as she held onto me.

"I think so..." I mumbled because I wasn't sure as well.

To be honest, I already feel nauseous even though we're nowhere near the actual location. Ha, this won't do. We need something to cover our mouths and noses to avoid inhaling a lot of the miasma. It could deal a lot of damage to us, so we have to be as quick as possible. We might go crazy if we do, and that's the last thing I want right now.

"Is there a way to get to the other side of the mountain? You know, without having to walk all the way?" I asked, looking pale and all.

"We fly," Blake said and whistled.

My jaw fell when a giant raven came down. I stared at it, wondering what we were supposed to do with it. And then I saw Blake smirking, looking cocky and all. What the hell? I blinked twice to see whether this whole thing was real or not, and it seemed like it was indeed true! How is this possible?! My brain couldn't comprehend what was happening, but I was riding the raven's back for some reason.

Blake chuckled. "This is Kali, my friend."

The raven cawed as if it was agreeing with Blake. I looked at him in awe, refusing to believe that he was friends with a raven. This dumbass tamed a ferocious animal?! As far as I know, all giant animals from this world are vicious and shouldn't be approached. But if Blake was able to make one submit to him, then it just goes to say that he's not someone you should mess with. He's really...cool.

"Don't get distracted, milady..." he teased.

I snapped out of my reverie after hearing his teasing. I rolled my eyes and decided to just focus on finding the root of all these weird things. But I had to squint my eyes when I saw something glowing at a place that was filled with black smoke. It looked like a nimbus cloud. Oh, damn. There it is! I'm pretty sure that this thing is dangerous as well.

Blake asked Kali to drop us off because Kali couldn't approach the miasma ball. We said our goodbyes to her before carefully coming closer to the swelling ley line. Damn, what should we do about this? Destroying it can cause it to explode, so that's a big no. Besides, we're not sure what it would do if we tried to eliminate it. I don't want to die because we got caught up in some sort of explosion.

Dylan sighed. "It ate a raiku or two. There's fur everywhere, and there's lightning."

Freya gasped. "I...saw the plant's memories. I'll explain it later. Just freeze the disorder now. Blake can set it on fire to destroy it. Hurry before it explodes!"

I immediately launched my technique on the miasma ball because I knew Freya wouldn't lie about this. If she told us to do this without hesitating, then it means we would succeed. Although, I'm itching to know the story! But I felt something weird about the cloud-like thing. Something was telling me to get away from it, but I had to listen to Freya, so I ignored that feeling.

Anyway, as soon as the miasma ball was covered with ice, Blake snapped his fingers, burning it into smithereens. Whoa, that was really cool! I looked at him and raised my hand, asking for a high five. Heh, the two of us would make good combos, that's for sure. I smiled as I looked at Dylan, waiting for him to deal the final blow, but he was just expressionless. Oh...

"Dylan, make the ashes disappear before they reform!" Freya said.

"Okay."

Dylan quickly absorbed them with a water bubble. The ashes gradually disappeared as if they were never there. Whoa, I didn't know he could do that! Perhaps I didn't pay that much attention to all of their techniques, and now I'm in awe of whatever I see. I also asked Dylan for a high five, so he finally smiled. Maybe I should just do things equally to avoid any further conflicts.

But this is not the time to be thinking of that. We need to know what this whole fiasco is about because I don't think I can bear it anymore! A conclusion has been formed within my head, but I don't trust it. I feel like I'm right and wrong at the same time. Maybe my suspicions are wrong at some point. Well, it's not like I'm always right!

"Spill," I told Freya impatiently.

She sighed and tapped each of our foreheads. I blinked twice as I looked at her, wondering what she was trying to do. Oh, I guess she's going to relay the memories that she saw from the plants. That's something Freya learned in spite of being a water element user. She can use different types of elemental powers, which was amazing. Anyway, I closed my eyes and waited for them to keep flooding in to feed my curiosity.

A raiku came to this part of the mountain, running after a cloud-looking thing. The raiku touched it and immediately got absorbed. And then the cloud gulped the raiku like it was nothing! Damn, that's way too brutal. Heck, fur was even escaping from its mouth, and I could see blood dripping from it. So it was the culprit...

The scenario changed. Two raikus are growling at each other at the peak of the mountain. They seem to be arguing whether they're leaving or staying. The other decided to come down the mountain while the other remained at the peak. Huh, they must be the raikus that were described in the letter. I'm not sure if the man that made the journal is here, but I'm not sure if he's actually relevant in the quest.

The one who went down ran into another raiku, who seemed to have completely lost in mind. Or it wasn't a raiku! It was the miasma ball that took the form of the first raiku who got eaten. The other one seems to be completely flabbergasted by what it saw. I mean, who wouldn't be?!

Oh, I think they came looking for that raiku! Maybe it disappeared when it followed the cloud creature, so they went after it. And the one who went down the mountain got eaten by it as well! Maybe that was the reason why it got stronger.

Miasma slowly filled the mountain, which was caused by the cloud. It affected the other raiku, greatly weakening it. Before the cloud could approach it to absorb it, it quickly took a step back. It seemed to have realized what was going on. Raikus are smart, I guess. Because of that, it flew towards Stellar Town to recharge. Oh, I get it...

But what the hell is that cloud?! I looked at Blake, subtly asking if he knew what it was because even Freya doesn't seem to understand what it was. He sighed and nodded at me as if he was answering me. Oh, he actually understood what I was trying to say. I cleared my throat, and just as I was about to tell them that we were leaving, we heard an explosion from the skies.

Dylan pointed at the top of the mountain. We looked at it and saw a few black clouds gathering around the peak of the mountain. I stared at the clouds, wondering what the hell was going on. I was itching to leave this place because of the miasma and because I could feel something off about the clouds. f**k, what now?!

"The thing that we killed just now is the cloud of death..."