Chapter 70: Return to Todos

All was silent in a boundless mist, and a serene calm had settled into every pond and puddle nearby, resulting in a stillness that would make one doubt whether they had accidentally stepped into a painting.

In this watery world, a young, dark-skinned man stood staring at the path ahead of him. A mixture of sweat and dew dripped down his clean shaven face, which merged into larger beads and rolled down his chiseled jaw to splash onto his armor. He seemed at ease and relaxed to the point that anyone watching would think that he was perfectly accustomed to being thoroughly drenched.

The young man was none other than Thadius, who stood in contemplation as his final day in the Mists of Croaka neared its end. Behind him stood a group of six that waited silently for his word. There was Bannon, the seasoned adventurer that was even taller than Thadius himself, who had provided a wealth of knowledge throughout the entire journey. Although he was usually quiet, Bannon wouldn’t hesitate to give his two cents on a matter concerning the well-being of the squad.

Beside Bannon stood Thomas, who could no longer be called a rookie as he scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes and the jagged scars on his arm on full display. After the encounter with the hydra, Thomas was like a sponge, absorbing any and all things that could help him become stronger. If they happened upon another crisis like before, he wanted to be a crucial part of the fight. He wanted to be strong enough so that he wouldn’t have to feel so helpless ever again.

Next to Thomas stood Elroy and Leon. Elroy had frequently shown signs that he was the son of some wealthy family. He carried the regal air about him with the pride to match, and no matter how he tried to it, one could tell that such mannerisms had already become habit. In the last few days, his attitude towards Thadius wasn’t as hostile as it first was, but a seed of suspicion had already sprouted in his heart, whispering to him that Thadius was a Traveler. Leon, the excommunicated Paladin, did his best to smother Elroy's suspicions, but he had little success.

The last two were Mavas and Desha. Whether intentionally or by coincidence, the two were never far from each other. Mavas, with his jet black hair and narrow features, looked like a stereotypical thief. No matter how you looked at him, he seemed to be a shady and dishonest person. Yet, over the past week, Thadius was reminded of the saying ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. After the clash with the hydra, Mavas was always light-hearted and cheerful, as if a weight had been taken off his shoulders. Desha seemed to share in his easy-going ways. That being said, an easy-going Desha really meant that ‘he’ was silent more often and hissed less.

As the thoughts of his squad over the past week flashed through his mind, Thadius’ thoughts naturally turned to himself. This excursion did much more for him than simply raise his level, it also served as a period of gathering information and solidifying his plans for the future. The fact that he had leveled a bit and had increased in skill proficiency was simply a bonus. On the information side of things, Bannon revealed a startling fact concerning their injuries. Once someone was injured, they only had three days in which the injury could be completely healed. After those three days, the injury could still be healed, but not entirely. A scar would definitely be left behind. In the case for lost limbs, they would no longer be eligible for regeneration.

Thadius had logged out shortly after that same day to confirm it with Curtis, who shared a bit more information as it applied to Travelers. In Chaos Online, any scars or lost limbs had an opportunity to be recovered after the three day period, but only after the player dies would they get the option of complete restoration.

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Another startling piece of information involved the loot drops from the hydra. Although Thadius and his squad had completely ravaged its corpse for raw materials, that was all they received. Thadius couldn’t help but be disappointed, yet he was enlightened by Bannon once again when he came to ask if they were going to raid the hydra’s nest for loot. It was only then that Thadius gained a better understanding of the reward system in Chaos Online. He was told that enemies that wielded weapons could drop those weapons, but he was completely clueless when it came to monstrosities like the Mists Hydra. Bannon explained that the Mists of Croaka shared some similarities to a dungeon, so it wouldn’t be strange for the equipment of other adventurers to end up being collected by the boss monster or scattered around the vicinity of its nest.

It was these bits and pieces of information that Thadius slowly gathered during the past week, and on some level, he felt that he was slowly catching up to the other Travelers in game knowledge. Fortunately, he had a startling advantage in regards to the time he spent in-game. So even though he had spent the majority of it on the mountain of Yune with Corban and Yuna, it wouldn't take long for his knowledge of the game to catch up to the rest of the players.

“Sir?” A voice returned Thadius from his contemplation, and he turned to find Mavas giving him a curious look.

“What is it?” he replied flatly.

“We’ve been standing here for a while, you know?” Mavas said helplessly, sending a quick glance to the rest of the squad.

Thadius followed his line of sight, meeting the eyes of every member in turn before turning back to the scene in front of him, where a naturally worn path stretched out into a forest of towering lily pads. The huge circular leaves treated the surrounding mists like water, gently swaying overhead as if they were floating in a pond. The calm silence only added another layer of mystery to the path that slowly disappeared into the distance.

Had they stumbled on this road the first day, Thadius wouldn’t have hesitated to go deeper. What gave him pause now was that they hadn’t seen a single croaka in almost three hours, and no matter how much he strained his hearing, he didn’t hear a sound. So the scene that could easily be taken as calm and peaceful, gave him a deep sense of dread that he couldn’t shake.

“Are we goin’ in?” Thomas asked while standing on the tip of his toes, as if doing so could help him see a little bit further.

Thadius tore his eyes away from the ominous route and smiled. “I have no intention of dying today.”

Thomas and the rest of the squad frowned at his words. Only Bannon, who was nodding his head with a grim look, seemed to understand.

“Think about it. We’ve killed hundreds of croaka for days on end, and the deeper we go, the stronger they get. But all of sudden, we don’t see any for hours and we come to a calm, deserted path that goes even deeper?” Thadius gave the seemingly safe path an incredulous look, then continued. “I, for one, refuse to believe that there is some safe haven in the heart of the Mists of Croaka. If anything, this road leads to a hidden village or city where the leader of the croaka is waiting to bathe in our blood for killing hordes of his kin. Knowing that, would you leisurely stroll down this road? Would you Mavas?”

“It does seem a bit suspicious now that I think about...” Mavas said as the hidden danger of the road filled him with wariness, causing him to step back.

“As soon as we go in there, we’re likely to be surrounded by swarms of croaka.” Bannon agreed solemnly.

“Then we can just come back with more people, right? No reason to let the enemy sit comfortably.” Thomas protested.

Thadius just shook his head. “Thomas, didn’t you tell me about how First Todos was forced to build their capital higher because of the croaka? The amount of forces it would take to topple the croaka pales in comparison to the long term benefits of strengthening our military with these excursions.”

“The same goes for the croaka. We’ve killed hundreds, I'm sure. But remember the big one from yesterday? There could be thousands of them in there.” Elroy added. It reminded the entire group of the croaka that had been five times larger than normal. It charged with its hulking physique and nearly collapsed the formation. Bannon could barely fight it head on, which clearly spoke to its strength. If they were truly surrounded by those hulking croaka on all sides, then even if Thadius were to go all out, he would be the last one standing. The fate of the rest of the squad need not be mentioned.

As the scenario Elroy painted sank into their minds, a subtle tension could be felt between them. Thomas’ face paled as he thought about how he narrowly escaped his last disaster. He truly didn’t think he could survive a second one so soon.

“Now that we’ve all agreed that this is obviously a setup, let’s move on to the hydra’s nest. It should be somewhere around here right?” Thadius said while giving Bannon a knowing look. The seasoned adventurer then took the lead as they tracked down the resting place of their fallen foe.

Before following behind, Thadius took one more look at the path. ‘I won’t jeopardize my squad by going in there, but if it’s just me…’ Thadius marked this place in his heart. One of his many future plans involved coming back to this place to see exactly what lay at the end.

In little more than an hour, without running into any enemies, the squad entered a clearing with huge puddles spread out. There were a few corpses lying about, and bits and pieces of crumpled armor led up to a nest made of various weapons and lily pad trees. It could only be the nest of the hydra.

“Well, let’s see what we can find.” Thadius said, disappointed. He didn’t have any expectations after seeing the quality and condition of the equipment, not to mention the fact that most of the hydra’s prey seemed to be croaka or rookie guards from Todos. Basically, any spoils that could be found would most likely be poor quality.

Everyone looked around for something they could use, or anything that would at least make the trip worthwhile. Thadius walked up to the nest himself and took a look inside. Most of it was as he expected, but there was a deep blue armor set and a necklace that was hidden underneath it.

[

Hydra’s Bane

Type: Armor Durability: 234/1222

Quality: Mid Defense: 1200

Iron armor infused with the water element after sitting in a hydra's nest for years.

+90% Water resistance

Requisites:

Level 50

Strength 400

]

[

Whispers of the Aqua Spirit

Type: Necklace Durability: 500/500

Quality: Rare Defense: 500

A necklace said to contain an elemental spirit of water. It grants the wearer a greater affinity that would only be found in a being born from the essence of water itself.

+30% Water resistance

+Grants the wearer with the ability to cast Aqua Shield

+10% Water damage

-20% Cost of Water spells

]

Although the armor had an extremely high resistance, the defense was worse than the steel armor he had purchased, and he didn't feel the need to exchange it with the leather armor he had on now since he was about to head back to the city anyway. Thadius still stealthily put Hydra's Bane in his inventory. It may not be useful now, but he hoped the infused iron could be used to 'feed' his shield.

Thadius then picked up Whispers of the Aqua Spirit. The iron chain was a little rusty, but the sapphire stone was unblemished in any way. There was even a cooling sensation as it pressed against his skin under the armor.

The accessory was an obvious treasure for any water focused class, but Thadius still decided to keep it for himself without hesitation. The added water damage and water spell efficiency may be useless to him, but he appreciated the water resistance. He also had very high hopes for the Aqua Shield ability.

Serenity allowed him to use Wind Cutter at the expense of a greater drain on his fighting aura, so he was expecting Whispers of the Aqua Spirit to allow him to use Aqua Shield in the same manner. Seeing that Aqua Shield had neither an activation movement like Wind Cutter had on Serenity or a spell incantation, Thadius just called out the skill name as is.

His hopes were dashed in moments as nothing appeared. He had a feeling that was because he was a Sword Scholar, anything that dealt with mana or magic would be unusable. He knew that he at least had a chance at having elemental sword skills after converting Serene's Wind Cutter into Extended Slash, but he had yet to tap into what was required to learn them. Regardless, Thadius wanted to confirm his suspicions before he completely gave up on magic.

"Hey, Thomas. Come have a look at this." he called out.

The scrawny squadmate hustled over. "Found somethin'?" he asked excitedly.

Thadius handed the necklace over and said, "Put this on and say 'Aqua Shield'."

As soon as Thomas put the necklace on and called out the skill name, a transparent wall of water appeared. "Wow!" Thomas gaped at the necklace dangling from his neck. The magical display drew the rest of the squad as well.

"You find something good, Thomas?" Mavas smiled, as he walked over. His harmless question made him look like some sort of thiefextortionist.

"A-actually, Thadius found it." Thomas quickly handed the trinket back.

With a sigh, Thadius equipped the trinket. The fact that he was incapable of using magic was made perfectly clear. As if the fact that he couldn't use mana wasn't enough, it seemed like he couldn't even use spells from equipment.

'I'll run some more tests. I refuse to believe I can never use magic.' he thought, then he turned to his squad. "Did anybody else find anything useful?"

"Some poor soul died with a nice pair of boots." Mavas said as he held up a pair of leather boots with turquoise metal plating.

"There was a helmet as well, though it's against regulations..." Elroy held up a silver helm. After him, no one else had anything to show for profit, so Thadius declared that it was finally time to go.

"Let's head back quickly. I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired of having soggy feet." Thadius said as he walked ahead to lead the way back. The others all voiced their agreement as they followed closely behind.

By the time the squad made it back to their camp on the plains, it was still early. Getting up before dawn gave them plenty of time to get back, especially when they could travel faster than when they first came.

Thadius looked once more at the mist before he call out to his squad. "You guys know the drill. Keep a good pace and we won't need to stop." he said, then they all started to jog. Before Thadius followed behind, he searched the campsite for anything they could have forgotten. As he caught up to the rest, he was holding two thick ropes, and at the end of the ropes were two massive skulls.