Sword and Claw

Book Two: Chapter 16

Sora doesn't know how far she has been walking from the thieves' village. Maybe ten miles, which was far to reach the dragon's location.

Dragons were rare creatures who were intelligent but savage. In the game lore, the dragons were once rulers of the world before the ice age formed. The ones who survived became barbaric monsters who stole food and treasure from the animal kingdoms to survive. Fighting a dragon was just as hard as completing a hidden dungeon. If a player was lucky enough to defeat one dragon, he or she could earn millions of gold and find rare equipment inside the dragon's lair. Whatever the dragon might have, it could help Sora defeat the Lich King.

As Sora walked, the trees turned bony and black as if something sucked the life out of them. Slimy vines hung from their stick long branches, reaching the gray sky. And the ground became muddy with green trails of water.

Sora covered her nose. The mucky stench of raw plant life was clouding through her nostrils. As a fox girl, her enhanced smelling senses could smell about a hundred yards. Instead of being a skill that can be learned, it was only part of the character's natural instinct, based on their race.

Walking through a swamp could be trouble for Sora. Not only the powerful stench was blocking her nose, but she could also barely see one mile through the mist, which was flowing behind the skeleton trees. The mist was like a wall of gas although anyone could walk through it.

If Sora walked through the mist, she might get ambushed by monsters, bandits, or other players. Bandits wouldn't be a big deal to Sora since she took care of the rhino bandits back at the wall. But players could be worse, depending on their levels.

Before the Lich King took over, Players weren't allowed to steal from other players. If they want to attack a player, they would need to send a battle to invite to the targeted player. And they cannot fight in towns because towns were designed to be safe havens for players. No stealing, or else the gameplay in SCO wouldn't be fair for anyone. But fighting other players showed how strong the players were against real people. Mobs could only fight based on their programming, and they were only strong based on their levels. Players may have levels too, but skills were their main strength. Sometimes they fight other players to see who has the best skills ever. And logging out after defeat for five hours in a PVP match still applies. It also makes the PVP matches thrilling. Without the rules now, nobody was safe.

Sora stopped when large footsteps tapped behind the trees. She looked to the left where a large shadow creeped pass a tree in the mist. It looked big, but its true form was unclear.

To make sure nothing would dare try to ambush her, Sora pulled out her board sword and dashed toward the tree. She stood with her back against the tree, waiting for the target to move from the other side.

When the footsteps got close, Sora jumped from her cover and landed on the other side with her sword up. She yelled, but she saw nothing. "What?"

The mist drifted around him while everything turned quiet. Was the swamp making her see stuff?

She shrugged and continued to walk. She stopped for a moment when she heard a snap below her foot.

She looked down and removed his foot. It was only a stick she stepped on, which almost gave her a heart attack.

Sora sighed until she felt warm breath touched the back of her neck. A black shade drifted over her, and she could hear soft breathing behind her.

"Hello, girly," a deep voice whispered.

Sora's body shivered, and she gulped. She doesn't want to turn around, but whatever was behind her, would not let her leave the swamp.