Risel faced the man with an expression of alarm across her face, she froze, even as the man lunged at her she could do nothing but stare at the wide mouth dripping a black, tar-like substance dripped from the man’s open mouth.

  [Yvlena cast Harvest Skill: Wide Sweep]

  Risel forced herself to duck as the arc flew over her blond head to strike the infected man down and away from her.

  “Are you alright?” Yvlena asked, rushing to Risel who nodded shakily. How could she have let her guard down like that, knowing the state Cedar said the town was in.

  Yvlena looked down at the squirming man several feet away from her and found herself in a dilemma, this was a person infected by the Miasma, but he was just like the corrupted wolves and foxes she had fought.

  She grit her teeth and knew that just like those mobs, slaying him would only mean he wouldn’t be a danger to anyone else in the town. She resolved to help those not too far gone like Bavga but the infected person before her had almost killed Risel.

  Yvlena gripped the handle of her sickle tight and lunged forward just as the man was getting up to attack again.

  [Yvlena Cast Crescent Slash (15MP)]

  She ducked, slashing the infected man’s middle and leaping away before he could grab her. The man bellowed, ripping his clothes to shreds and rushing at her so mindlessly he didn’t notice the other summons around him.

  [Sprite Cast Bind (03MP)]

  Rocky vines sprouted from the ground, wrapping around the man’s ankles and stripping him of upright movement. He fell, so hard he hit the ground with a solid crack that made Yvlena wince at the sound of it.

  She raised her sickle and struck him, attacking for the duration Sprite’s vines would hold him. The man could only open his mouth and watch her with bulging bloodshot eyes, he clawed at her, the himself as he tried to get free to attack them again.

  [Rabbit Knight Cast Rabbit Volley (05)]

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  Rabbit Knight, jabbed furiously at the man’s side trying to help his summoner before the biding broke free. They were too late and as soon as the vines dissolved, the former man headed for the easiest target.

  It lurched forward towards Risel, who in a panic tried to reach for her short staff once more. Yvlena ran grabbing the man by the tattered pieces of his clothes and dragged him towards her. She felt her palm burn at the contact with the Miasmic sap.

  With a mighty heave she pulled and steered him off course, right into Rabbit Knight’s blade.

  The battle ended with the man collapsing in front of them, he gurgled out a few words Yvlena could just barely hear.

  “Thank you, I hurt so many…” he broke into flakes of light before he could make out the rest of the words but Yvlena and Risel knew he meant to say he had hurt many people.

  Yvlena almost didn’t register the force of Risel slamming into her and she hid her face to cry, the battle was over but this felt different somehow.

  Yvlena’s gaze softened, she stroked Risel’s hair and smiled down at her.

  “There, there, you’re safe now.” Yvlena said gently. She continued to stroke Risel’s hair until the other elf had calmed down.

  [Yvlena Acquired

  Exp 2100/3500

  ***

  Miasmic Resin x2

  Shadow Essence x1

  ***

  Moon Points x200]

  Yvlena dismissed the message from the game as she got it, knowing the man was infected didn’t make what she had to do any easier. This was one of the things that separated Moon Valley from the games in her childhood.

  The people within the game were NPCs but Yvlena took them and their problems very seriously. That’s what the little elf in her mother’s stories always did.

  Risel pulled away, wiping her tears with the back of her hand and staring into Yvlena’s eyes.

  “Do you feel better? We can take a break and find somewhere safe to catch our breaths.” Yvlena said, as she did, she scanned the town for an empty house that looked safe enough to inhabit. It was a small cottage that reminded her of Beatrice’s home.

  Yvlena looked up at the weathered building, the stones were mossy with age and she was unsure how long it would continue to stay standing but she needed to log out for a bit to attend to other things.

  “It looks a bit like the place Cedar was resting in when we found him.” Risel said walking up the short stone steps that led to the entrance of the building.

  Yvlena could see the resemblance, except for the two windows that remained intact, it was pretty much the same house.

  Yvlena dismissed her summons, knowing there was nothing inside the house that would give her or Risel any trouble. She looked around, finding a single living room and then a bedroom area. The cottage was quite small, nothing like Beatrice’s back in Bloom Haven.

  “Whoever lived here must have lived alone.” Yvlena said. Risel nodded in agreement, running to search the kitchen for any rations, it had been a while since the elf had eaten and while Yvlena was alright she didn’t know about the elf that accompanied her.

  A neatly made bed sat up against the edge of the window, Yvlena sat on it, wondering if the person living here had left in a hurry and thus left the place so tidy.

  She wondered what Bloom Haven would do in a situation like this, was there anywhere they could evacuate the citizens to? Would they just leave the people of the other districts to their own devices? Yvlena knew she would never find out because of the twin gods and her own actions within the game.

  It was only right she started doing the same for the other areas in the game. The sound of something dripping caught her attention enough to remove her from her deep thoughts. She looked up to see the black droplets of the Miasmic sap fall through the ceiling and unto the wooden floor.

  A soft hiss escaped as the acidic fluid burned through the wood. It would have been a hindrance if Yvlena had walked under it mistakenly. Thank goodness the bed was far away from the site. Looking up, Yvlena found a hole in the ceiling where sap from the great tree was dripping into the house.

  From her assumption, the sap had fallen from the tree and quickly eaten through the roof then found its way inside. No wonder it was abandoned.

  Whatever happened to the previous owner, Yvlena was sure the Miasmic sap had something to do with it.

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