It had been a couple more hours since Lee Seng and James' group stopped for lunch. The sun had slowly made its way to the West side of the sky. Lee Seng followed James and Eli at a quick pace. They had been going at this pace for a couple hours now. James put his hand up and everyone slowed to a stop. Lee Seng took this time to wipe the sweat off his face. His body ached and he felt a bit winded.
'Usually, I wouldn't be sweating like this…' Lee Seng thought. 'I guess I'm still not back to normal.' Cosmic energy silently crackled across his fingers as he looked past James. The entire group naturally listened to James' silent orders. 'He must've caught onto something.'
Lee Seng pushed his energy outwards in every direction. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty feet. Thirty. Forty. Ping! Lee Seng's face grew serious.
"Six." Lee Seng whispered. "Forty-five feet ahead of us. They're watching." Kiara looked surprised as she took a quick glance at Lee Seng. The Fox Biohuman was able to detect that far in a short amount of time? Even someone as seasoned as Kiara couldn't quite detect that far.
"Kiara, Jane." James whispered. The women had pulled their weapons out and were waiting on a fight to happen. "You'll strike first. Eli and I will try to close in as best as we can. Let's try to make sure we don't get into a bloody bath with these guys. This is the start of the affliction." The group quietly made an understanding noise as they all nodded. James turned his head, slightly, giving a look at Lee Seng. "Lee Seng, you said you were a Fighter/Glass?"
"Yeah." Lee Seng nodded.
"Don't try to go in for the final blow up close if you don't have to." James warned him. "If their blood gets on you, you need to clean it off before the affliction takes effect."
'A blood affliction?' Lee Seng thought to himself.
"Mmm." Lee Seng answered.
"I hope you're quick." Eli cracked a smile. "These suckers are fast."
"They're coming." Kiara spoke faster than Lee Seng could. She had somehow detected them quicker than Lee Seng could process it. Kiara raised her bow and pulled an arrow out of the quiver and strung it to the bow. She pulled the bowstring back and waited while Jane pulled the axe out. The axe shimmered as she readied herself.
The sound of barks cut through the creepy silence. Trees and bushes rustled as four orange and black creatures flew out first. They rushed straight for the group, two leaping up into the air to pounce at James and Eli.
"Piercing Shot." Kiara whispered. She released the arrow, watching it sail straight through the left animal, killing it.
"Summon Axe: Butcher's Cleave!" Jane raised the axe as a large spectral axe appeared further ahead of her. She swung the axe downwards and watched as the spectral axe split the animal in half. Eli grunted as he threw his hands up.
"Maybe I should've warned you to not make so much blood!" Eli shouted. "Now I'm bloody!" Eli opened his eyes and watched a thin film of stars twinkle in front of him. Blood splattered across the thin film, sliding down the invisible wall. "W-wha—" Eli began to turn when the thin film shot forwards. Lee Seng didn't move a muscle as he watched the two remaining animals' crushed into tiny pieces. Blood splattered on the film as the two remaining animals shot out at the sides.
James' spearhead lit up as he spun it and whacked the animal mid-air with the blunt end. The animal went flying, slamming into a tree as James spun the spear and went for the kill. The spearhead entered the chest of the animal and killed it in an instant.
Eli's body moved faster than his words. His arms flew up with the twin swords and slammed a fist into the animal.
'Fox.' Lee Seng registered as Eli slashed downwards. The clean strike split the Fox in half, minimizing the amount of blood spilt.
"They're foxes." Lee Seng spoke aloud. He naturally wandered James' fox and looked at it as it bled.
"Don't get to close to the blood." James grabbed Lee Seng and pulled him back a safe distance away.
"There weren't anymore animals for hours. Why are their foxes now?" Lee Seng looked to James for an answer.
"We're not entirely sure. There's wolves and foxes that mainly show up." James shrugged.
"Occasionally, there's monsters, but that's deeper within the forest." Kiara continued. "We should really be careful of the monsters. The animals are fodder. The monsters are the real deal. They have strange affliction marks on them."
"Strange affliction marks?" Lee Seng stood up and summoned the Void Storage. He plunged his hand inside and pulled the Curse book out. Lee Seng flipped through the book until he reached the Curse of the Vixen. He flipped a couple pages and landed on a depiction of marks. They looked like tattoos with chicken pox. Small black dots that randomly spread across the body.
"Like this?" Lee Seng showed them the book. Kiara and the others surrounded him and studied the picture before nodding.
"Y-yeah." Kiara nodded.
"You've dealt with this before?" James asked Lee Seng.
"No." Lee Seng shook his head. He flipped back to the first page of the Vixen's Curse and looked at the others. "My brother has dealt with curses before. What's happening around here?" Lee Seng pointed around them. "It's a curse. My brother and I think it's a Vixen's Curse."
"A what?" Eli asked. Lee Seng handed the book off to James.
"It's when enough curse energy is around an animal – in this case, a fox. The curse infilitrates the fox and turns them into a monster. It feasts on prey and eventually grows enough of an appetite to want to feast on predators. When it feeds enough to grow its curse energy, it can evolve."
"It can become humanoid?" James asked. He looked up and tapped on the picture of a fox in the form a woman.
"Off of what the book says, they can take the appearance of a man or a woman and lure their preys in and feast on their flesh and soul."
"Wait, wouldn't it be like you then?" Eli asked.
"We have similarities, but I'm not like that curse. That curse is like a Gumiho or a Nine Tailed Fox. I may have the appearance of those things, but I work completely different than the curse." Lee Seng explained.
"A Fox killing a fox." Jane commented. She cocked her head as she tried to think about it. "That sounds very confusing."
"That thing's born of a curse, and I was fused with the Spirit of a Fox." Lee Seng pointed.
"In order to get rid of the affliction on the land we need to 'find the Vixen in their lair and fight off their luring song and kill it?'" James looked up at Lee Seng. Lee Seng nodded as Eli grabbed the book and read it.
"'The Vixen is swift and deadly. It's capable of creating illusions. Fighting it with a group is dangerous for it could easily manipulate weak minds and turn the group on each other.' This thing is more dangerous than I thought!" Eli sighed. He flipped back and skimmed the page before handing it off to Jane. Kiara joined Jane and read as Eli looked to James. "If it has illusions, I might not be the best person for this mission, sir. What should we do?"
"You and I will probably be easily afflicted." James sighed. "We sadly found that out fighting an Illusion bandit… Kiara and Jane have strong mental fortitudes, so it won't be a problem for them…" James turned to Lee Seng. "What about you? Do you have a chance with this thing?"
"I can handle whatever it throws at me." Lee Seng answered.
"You?" Eli scoffed. He couldn't believe a teenager like Lee Seng had high mental fortitude. Eli was much older. He knew and experienced way more than this kid could ever. "Bullshit. I think you're lying. You're gonna get us killed."
"I guess it's a blessing my name hasn't reached to small places like yours." Lee Seng crossed his arms together.
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you calling me stupid? You're just a kid. You may have loads of energy and may have protected me from the blood, but that's just luck. You got lucky with the serum." Eli rolled his eyes. Lee Seng nodded and turned as Jane closed the book and handed it to Lee Seng. Lee Seng stuck the book back in its place and shrugged.
"I was practically under 24/7 surveillance by someone who's capable of getting into your head." Lee seng tapped his head. "She might've… Well, you wouldn't have survived it. You're just a brute who attacks first and asks questions later."
"You callin' me stupid?!?" Eli pushed forward. James and Jane stepped in between the two and held Eli as he tried to sneak another look at Lee Seng. "You don't know the first thing about loss! You probably ran away from home with your so-called 'allies' and didn't know what you were doing! Why don't you just run back home to Mommy?"
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