AK - The Alchemy Kingdom

Chapter 105: Shadow unit

Year 3, Spring, Second Month, First Week.

The sound of the forest is an interesting thing. Springwater traveling through the stones and dripping all over, the wind whistling amongst the leaves in the trees, the empowered growth of flowers and beast's paws occasionally drumming against the ground form an ancestral symphony. Somehow, people roaming didnt fit well into this tune, that's how beasts could identify them so easily. However, exceptions are often the rule.

Samia drifted through the trees jumping from branches without breaking the harmony of the forest and unnoticed by beasts. In everyone else's defense, she had the help of magic tools to melt her presence into the surroundings. The special scouting unit, or like the hunters informally call it, the shadow unit had by far the strongest individual magic equipment created by the Alchemy Department. The overpowered gear helped the girl move faster and stealthily without sparing energy.

The luxuriously equipped team was actually formed by nine members, but only Samia mastered the tools fast enough to answer Tael's call. Although she was warned against the dangers of this mission, she wouldnt wait nor could they afford to. The first group of villagers traveling through the path marked by Tael's expeditionary team was already less than ten kilometers from the location of the MT beasts. The Council knew that once they advanced deeper into the forest, it would be practically impossible to avoid all MT beasts, but they would try it as much as possible.

The Arrays under Samia's boots shined exactly when they touched the branch, instantly creating a gust of wind and pushing her forward. The Lightness effect, now spread through her whole body, reduced the weight and allowed the girl to reach further onto another branch. A few hunters laughed at her idea, dismissing it as a child's dream, but now she proved, at least to herself, that going through the air was faster than running. She wasnt keeping an exact track but the ten kilometers were covered in approximately 15 minutes, which was roughly more than two times faster than before.

The hunter took notice of a squirrel going out of a tree at her right, but the beast didnt notice her. The concealment property was a novelty to Samia, how could the element shield her from being seen, heard, smelled or felt in any way at broad daylight? In truth, she wasnt perfectly concealed, if someone or something carefully looked at her, they would probably dismantle the effect. However, covering her as much was already fantastic.

Everyone in the Council was surprised when she indicated herself to the special scout leading position. Now that Mary had grown in her position, Samia was the quietest and most silent Councilor, which made her request almost undeniable. In the beginning, her twin sister had clearly expressed interest in the position, especially when she heard about the over-equipping part, but Sania quickly gave up when she learned about the observing quietly attribution of the job. For Samia, the silence and concentration only made the position more enjoyable.

Samia was about to jump through another branch, but this time she slowed down and landed. With a swift move, she deactivated the concealment and lightness effect, took out the magic locator and sent the searching waves after connecting it to the MQ energy and wind crystals. In a few minutes, she confirmed the situation that Tael described, at least two MT beasts in the eastern direction, blocking their path. Unfortunately, she couldnt identify their power with the reader, so she would need to choose one. Because of the river at their right, Samia chose to go with the beast at the left, which was approximately 700 meters from her location.

It only took her five minutes to locate the beast, at that was because she approached it carefully, after all, the effectiveness of the concealment still needed to be tested against MT beasts. The beast had a strange humanoid-like form (monkey) but with longer arms and the size of a child, however, Samia wouldnt dare to underestimate it. Sadly, she remembered the attack of the young salamander too well, at that time, they only survived because the beast was still maturing.

Actually, when talking about MT beasts, the size or physical traits didnt match their threat level. The danger mostly came from their ability to use their element, in other words, their rank. If this beast could use ranged elemental attacks, its size wouldnt matter much. Instead of putting the plan into motion right away, Samia decided to observe the beast for a while. The monkey seemed to be looking for something at the exposed tree roots, it kept knocking and smashing them.

Suddenly, a squirrel, just like the one she passed earlier, jumped out of a roots' hideout and ran from the MT beast faster than Samia was expecting. The monkey tried to follow the squirrel but it was too fast. However, the predator took a twig from the ground and launched it towards its prey. The object oddly became sharper, like a spike, and cut the squirrel before throwing it out of balance. The monkey ran to the suffering beast and beat it against the ground. Holding the lifeless body, the beast started to swing through the branches with ease until it stopped at a thick trunk. The beast pressed against the tree and an opening stretched wider enough for it to enter.

The realization hit Samia, it was a wood beast, and smart enough to kept its lair hidden. This was a problem, how could she attract the beast far enough from its lair? Wouldnt it give up on her and turned back when it got too far? She could try the other beast, but getting close to the river was also a risk. Samia stared at the tree until she finally made a decision. After taking a deep breath, she moved.

***

Ten kilometers west of the abandoned camp

Boss, do you think we need to keep going or we should just accept they're dead?

Stop being stupid Lord Whis Cough, cough. It's impossible to hide something from the Wind Lord. We were hired to track them until the Green Mountains, if we find proof of their deaths it's OK to go back but otherwise

The Fighter understood what his Boss meant, he had forgotten about the presence of a sound Mage amongst them, she was probably hearing all the conversations. A shiver passed through his body, not even mentioning him, the whole Mercenary group would be destroyed if they dare to cross the Wind Lord.