Chapter 07 Journey Continue

While Jacob was occupied with Suzuka, Kane went to check on the condition of Dixson and the navigator. Upon seeing their bodies, Kane was certain they had died. The navigator's body was broken in half and entangled in a tree from the collision. Taking a few steps to the right, Kane saw Dixson's body hanging from a tree, impaled on a broken branch through his gut, and blood dripping to the ground. Kane retrieved the navigator's body from the tree it was wrapped around and carried it to the road. He was unable to reach Dixson's body alone, so he asked Alex for assistance.

"Hey! Alex, come with me! I need a hand over there, can't reach the body."

Alex just nods his head and followed Kane to help him out. When they get to the tree Kane told him what he wants to do.

"Okay, here's the plan. Alex, I boost you up, grab his legs and pull him down from that branch, Are you ready?"

Alex nods his head and moves into position to grab Dixson's legs. Kane boosts him up, grabs the dead body's legs, and hangs on tight. The body doesn't come off easily, so Alex begins to swing and after a few tries, he finally detaches it from the broken branch it was impaled on. Alex then assists Kane in carrying the body to the road where the other one was and informs Jacob that they have found both of them already dead. Upon hearing this news, Jacob turns to Suzuka and says, "Stay here with Derrick, I need to go check on them."

Jacob walks to Dixson's body crouch down and takes his Hunter Guild name tag, then asks Alex, "Did you loot everything from a crashed wheeler?"

Alex looks at broken-to-pieces MPFW and answers, "Yeah! Took everything that was still of some use but we didn't put that much stuff on the first one, to begin with. So yeah! All set and I think Kane just finished packing stuff by now. Oh yeah, almost forgot, here are the maps Derrick was crying about. All nice and clean, almost as good as new."

Jacob stands up, takes maps from Alex, and looks at them for a sec, then starts talking, "Okay! At least the map is still looking good. I better give them to Derrick, he can be the new navigator for us."

Alex looks at Derrick sitting on a four-wheeler covered in fear and asked Jacob, "Say! Is it a good idea to let him do navigation? He's shaking in his pants!"

Jacob turns around to look at Derrick after checking him out turns back to Alex and points maps at him while saying, "Yeah! You got a point... do you want to navigate then? I know you can read maps, as well as dual-wield your swords."

Alex takes maps from Jacob and has a good look at them, only after good five minutes answers, "Ahhh shit, okay! Well, not much of a choice we got anyway but if I'm reading it right and I am... we still got to cover some distance. And if I had to say, we can get there from here in about 4 hours."

While Jacob was listening to Alex talk, he looked at dead bodies and when Alex has done talking he said, "That's great! Four hours you say? Okay, I just need a little time to show respect to my fallen men and bury them."

After finishing his statement, Jacob went to a four-wheeler, took his last bottle of Melwyngold apple wine, and returned to Dixson. He dug two holes in the ground, about the size of an average human, and placed both bodies in them. 

He then used his powers to bury them six feet underground and created a memorial for them using rocks. Using his earth magic, he engraved their initials on the rocks. After completing this, Jacob poured two full cups of wine and spilled them on the graves of the brave adventurers, offering a speech in their honor.

"Today, I lost a good friend! I knew Dixson for over 20 years now! Dam! He was a better man than all of us combined, hahaha... his family gonna miss him... but I promise this! May the soul of Melwyn Farvind himself be my witness, I promise you thee, my friend, here and now... I will take care of your family in your place. Farewell, my friend, you will be missed!... oh! And for our navigator... hmmm... dam! I don't know the guy... we just hire him for today's job! Heck! I don't even know his name! Um... so anyway, everyone, get in your position and move out!"

After Jacob's speech, Suzuka climbed back into the wheeler's trunk and covered herself in a corner with a blanket that Jacob gave her before he went to see Dixson's body. Jacob removed a tree that was blocking the road on their path by using his magic. Everyone mounted their wheelers and started to ride again. 

Only three MPFW left, Alex and Kane took the lead going first then second go Jacob, Derrick, Suzuka and third go Renold and Steve, two adventurers that Jacob hired for this job. Jacob took over driving from Derrick and told him, "Derrick! Ma man! Still scared? Jeez... girl got more balls than you. Get in the back with the girl and sleep it off... we still got some distance to cover, some were around four hours of time to kill till we start building camp for the night."

Without saying anything, Derrick goes to the back where Suzuka is and lies down. Suzuka huddles with a blanket, leaving a small gap for light to come in, and opens the "Monsterpedia" that Jacob gave her. 

On the first page of the "Monsterpedia" are written the basic rules for Adventurers and Magic box-granted power users, all the way to page four. After page four, there are profiles of monsters, magic beasts, and mutants, also known as wild animals affected by corrupted magic. 

The first monster profile in the book is that of the Goblin, a green creature that resembles a small, skinny man. Its height varies from 50cm to 85cm, and it uses weapons such as sticks, rocks, and anything sharp it can lift. 

The Goblin's threat level is one star, which means that alone, it is the weakest monster, but strong in numbers. 

The second monster profile is that of the Gobliman, which looks almost the same as a Goblin, just much bigger. Its height varies from 95cm to 155cm, and its weapons are self-made small knives, short swords, and bows, and some even have light armor made from wood or bones.

 The Gobliman threat level is also one star, individually weak but strong in numbers. They travel in groups with Goblins. 

As Suzuka was reading, a four-wheeler hit a rock on the road, causing the wheeler to shake hard. Suzuka dropped her book on the floor. She took off the blanket and looked around to see what was happening.

"Hey! Jacob, is everything all right?"

Without paying much attention to her Jacob focuses on his surroundings and answers, "All good... just a rock... stay hidden... be a good girl."

The girl looks at Derrick, he seems to be calm now. He was Looking at the forest while they moving on the road. Suzuka covers herself with the blanket again and continues reading.

 She decided to check on some wild animals who were affected by corrupted magic and turned through pages. After finding the category she was looking for started to read and the first Corrupted Animal a.k.a mutant was Razor Rabbit. 

At its prime, two times the size of a normal rabbit mostly cowered in wounds and scratches from internal fights in its pack. 

His weapons are sharp claws and teeth, weak individually but strong in numbers. Razor Rabbit threat level one star and they travel in packs from ten to twenty. 

Encountering full pack threat level rises to two stars and is not recommended to engage alone, at least three seasoned adventurers are recommended in the party to face a full pack of Razor rabbits. After reading about rabbits Suzuka thought to herself, "Oh wow, I better run if I see any rabbits around. They sound like problems, wonder what's gonna be next."

She turned to the next page and continued reading. Corrupted animal Bloody wolf varies in size from two to four times the size of the normal wolf in its prime. 

Big, and muscular, with almost no hide to cover him, and his weapons are sharp claws and big fangs. Threat level two stars, usually wander alone but on rare occasions, they hunt in packs from two to five, rising threat levels to three stars. Very aggressive, attacking even their own if they can't retaliate.

 While she was reading, she could hear talking guys following them from behind. They were talking about some guy who recently become a magic box power user.

"Hey! Renold, did you meet that new kid who got power from the magic box? Dam! What was his name again?"

"Yeah, Steve! I met the guy... and if my memory serves me right, his name was Isaac. What about it?"

Renold told him back with an annoying voice but Steve still talks, "Yes, Isaac! But hey, Renold! Why a grumpy face, huh? Just trying to make a conversation here man, forget I asked, jeez... what's wrong?!"

"Look, Steve! Two guys are already dead, don't lose your guard down, even for a second."

Steve starts to whisper something to Renold, "This gig is a walk in the park, two guys dead? Pshh! More gold to us."

After hearing that Renold explains to Steve what situation they are in, "Listen! We haven't even reached the first point of our mission and we already have casualties. On top of that, we have only one box power mage, four adventurers, and two non-combatants, so no matter how I look at this, it's an advanced or higher rank mission. And you want to speak about some five-star rookie mage. Look, we are deep in shit as it is, don't make it harder for me."

Steve closes his eyes, lifts his chin up, and makes a big smile. "Ha Ha! All you need for this mission to be a success is me, who they call "Steve the Goblin Slayer."

With a look on his face like he lost all faith in humanity Renold told Steve, "Who they call an 'idiot' that's what you are. Do you really believe in your own hype so much? Speak with me again and I throw you off and leave you for the beast to feast on."

Steve turned around and continued to keep watch. While listening, Suzuka forgot where she was in the book and decided to check the section on magic beasts. She flipped through the pages until she found the category and began reading. 

The first magic beast on the list was the Acid Wolf, which had a physique similar to that of a normal wolf, but with a hide that varied in color. The three main color variations were gray with a purple shade, gray with a red shade, and black with a bright green shade. The purple and red variations had a threat level of one star, but the green variation was rated as three stars.

The Acid Wolf wanders alone, and if it meets another of its kind, they engage in a deadly battle. Their weapons are their fangs and claws, and as magical beasts, they possess mana which allows them to use magic. 

They can spit acid, whose strength varies depending on the color of the Acid Wolf. The Green Shade can easily melt trees, rocks, and metal, while other shades can do so as well, but not as effectively. To avoid the acid, it is recommended to use ranged-type attacks. 

Suzuka tries to find a behemoth profile but there are too many of them to find, so she decides to ask Jacob for its location. It has been over an hour since the encounter with the behemoth, so perhaps he's in a better mood now.

"Jacob! Can I ask?"

"What is it, little girl? Need a pee again?"

Looks like Jacob is back to his usual self. While talking he constantly checks his surroundings and keeps his cool.

"No! I'm fine... just... can't find a Behemoth profile."

"Oh, that bastard! From now on, I gonna shishkebab every last one of them, even if had to go out of my way, just to kill it! He's in the monsters category, some were around the beginning of threat level three stars."

"Thanks for the info, Jacob."

"Your welcome kid and have a blast reading about that shit stick."