126. Fear’s Appearance

On the path down the mountain, a battle is happening around a carriage. There are trees on both sides of the road and the road is also shaded by the branches of the trees. The attackers are in rogue clothes numbering over 40 with the guards being 12. 30 rogues attack and the remaining 10 casts buff spells on the 30.

The guards put up a good fight but they are outnumbered and overpowered, they start to fall one by one. Their numbers dwindle to only 5 remaining, the attackers are about 17 not including those casting spells. Suddenly an arrow fires from the bushes killing 2 of the attackers, they turn to look at the bushes. One attacker yells, "Who goes there?! Show yourself!"

Kael runs out of the bushes brandishing a huge shield and sword, his figure being big stuns the attackers. He arrives before the 2 closest attackers to the carriage and swings his sword slicing them in halves.

One attacker is shocked and orders, "KILL!" they start to fire spells at Kael but he drops his shield and blocks them. He almost yawned there.

Another set of arrows fly from the bushes and kills 3 of the 10 casting buff spells, this shocks the attackers more. Ernydor jumps from the bushes running on the tree branches, he readies his bow and fires 2 arrows midair. 2 of the casters raise runic/magic shields but his arrows easily shatters them and kills them easily. This shocks them more, the one who seems to be the leader is frightened. "RETREAT!" he yells, he turns back to see the bushes behind him shaking.

Lilia stands from the bushes with her hands forward, "FIREBALL!" She fires fireball at them at Kael charges at the attackers. Kaida arrives at the carriage and starts casting healing spells on the guards, she mixes a resurrection spell and makes it look like they were unconscious.

They kill the attackers and 3 manage to escape, they run for their lives not daring to look back. Kael, Eryndor, Kaida and Lilia arrive by the carriage. Kael puts his weapons away, "Are you alright?"

The captain of the guards looks at Kael with relief, "Yes, thank you very much." He bows his head. "May I know your names good sir?"

Kael glances at the others, "We're adventures on a quest. We're from Azuria."

"Azuria?" The captain speaks, "I've never heard of it before."

"It's a kingdom located north of here past the unexplored regions." Kael speaks, "We recently started interacting with this region."

The captain smiles, "The unexplored regions? I didn't know there was a kingdom beyond that place. Anyway, thank you very much. I should check on my lords and let them know it's safe to come out." Hee turns to look at the carriage. He walks to the door and knocks *KNOCK KNOCK* "Your highnesses, it's safe now." He takes a few steps back from the carriage.

Lilia scoots closer to Kaida whispering, "Hey Kai, isn't that the symbol for the royal family?"

Kaida is surprised, "Really? I didn't know."

Eryndor looks in the direction the attackers ran, he sees their corpses before Nytri killed in various ways. "Hmph, such terrible luck." He turns to look at the carriage.

A FEW MOMENTS EARLIER

NOTICE: PERSPECTIVE SWITCH TO ATTACKER'S LEADER

The carriage is moving on the road with the on foot and the leader on horseback. They are surrounded by trees and it even makes a canopy on the road, the yellow leaves makes it a scenic view with the sun shining through the leaves. The window of the carriage is open revealing a young woman gazing outside.

The attacker leader arrives behind a tree, he speaks to a stone which is being held by his people. "Everyone, get ready. We'll set the trap soon. Mages cast strengthening spells on us and the rest will attack the guards." They nod and observe the carriage.

The carriage reaches the area trap, the attacker captain signals. "NOW!" The mages fire spells at the leader of the guards, he responds quickly blocking some of them with his magic shield (Shield with runes). But his horse isn't so lucky, the horse is killed by a spell and the guard captain falls down.

The guard captain stands on his feet, "DEFENSIVE POSITIONS!" this signals his men to get ready to fight, they surround the carriage to protect it. One guard warns the passengers and they close the carriage, runes light up around the carriage with a thin barrier around it.

The attackers attack from all directions around the carriage fighting ferociously. The battle goes on for a while when suddenly, 2 arrows piece 2 of them from the left side of the carriage. More arrows follow.

The attacker captain looks in the direction of the attack and one his men shouts, "Who goes there?! Show yourself!"

Kael charges out of the bushes trampling them with his feet, his imposing figure shocks the captain. He points at Kael, "KILL!" his men start to attack Kael and his thoughts, "How did he get so close, our detection magic missed him!" He sees Kael kill 2 of his men easily. He sees a figure jump through the branches and it fires more arrows at his men.

"DAMMIT!" the attacker captain's thought, "There's no way for us to win against them." He shouts, "RETREAT!" he turns and starts to run. He notices the bushes shaking ahead of him and jumps in another direction, 2 of his men managed to follow him while the rest were picked of from whatever that came from the bush. He only felt heat from behind him and the screams of his men but he didn't dare look back.

They run for a while then they see a little girl ahead of them looking at them, the captain wants to turn but he thinks he's being pursued. "It's just a little girl!" He thought, "JUST IGNORE HER AND RUN!" he orders but things turned out differently.

The little girl touches her chin and tilts her head, then suddenly she transforms into a giant dragon. A dragon so huge it could cover the entire world with 12 eyes looking down at the captain. He stops, falling on his knees. He looks up at the dragon and he's drenched in sweat. He breathes heavily with his back turning cold as ice.

The 2nd person following the captain sees a giant before them with a club as huge as a mountain. The 3rd person sees an eerie tree monster before them, its roots slowly cover him and lifts him off the ground.

They all gaze forward, each at his fear with all hope lost.

NOTICE: PERSPECTIVE SWITCH TO NYTRI

Nytri notices the 3 coming towards her in thought, "Hmmm, it looks like they don't intend to stop. I didn't care about this before but it's kinda annoying how they think they can just ignore me." She touches her chin and tilts her head in thought, "I think they're too weak to detect me. What if I focus my Will of Presence on them, I think they'll be able to sense me then."

[NOTICE: FEAR has been instilled. TERROR can be activated]

"TERROR, huh." Nytri thought, "It's been a while since I used it. Back with mum, monsters rarely feared me to a degree so I couldn't test these skills. I wonder what illusion they see of me?" Nytri grins at them and they tremble before her, one is even floating as if being tied to air.

"TERROR." Nytri whispers. The attacker captain is instantly ripped apart, the 2nd person is turned to mush and the 3rd person is strangled till he's ripped parts on the floor.

Kael speaks to Nytri, "You should come here soon, it appears the carriage belongs to the royal family."

Nytri looks in the direction of the carriage, "Alright." She observes the corpses, "I wonder what illusion they saw of me before dying. Probably being sliced, crushed and the last…..I don't know, some kind of torture device?" she shrugs and quickly appears in the bushes Kael charged out of and waits there.

[AU:INFO

- Passive/Hidden Effects: Skills that take effects around the owner when certain conditions are met.

- FEAR: Passive/Hidden Effect skill of Nytri that reduces the stats of the target by 60% no matter the level difference.

- TERROR: Active subskill of FEAR, it traps those under 'FEAR' effect in an illusion. They die according to the illusion they see. Nytri is unable to see the illusion.

- TERROR branches us into various subskills like CONTROL. This allows Nytri to control those afflicted and even transform them with VITA GENOME skill that can metamorphosize their genes.

- VITA GENOME: A skill under LIFE AND DEATH MANIPULATION of Nytri that can allow her to change the races of people but with limitations. She can't make them have more legs or arms unless she intends on leaving them in pain for the rest of their lives. When Nytri pushes this skill to the limits, she's able to construct an artificial body which can become a natural body for a soul. Unfortunately, bodies she creates have levels higher than normal so souls weaker than the body find it hard to control it. She's working on it so she can let a level 87 soul handle a level 160 body which is the lowest level body she's made so far.

- In Nytri's eyes. Bandits = Test subjects. Because people will be happy with them gone.

- Will of Presence: Just making someone notice you by either increasing their senses to notice you or reducing your presence till they notice you. Mama Zilla used it on Nytri on their first encounter.

END]