Chapter 259: Wide Awake
"Hmm? Why do I feel like I’ve experienced this before?" Hal muttered as he stretched before shrugging in a carefree manner in the next moment.
’Probably a case of what they call day-job-ooh, or something...’
He continued to relax, and then sleep, and then relax, and then sleep again.
"Ahh, I’ll make sure to rest up well today again..."
Hal froze, frowning.
Again?
Why did he say that?
Weren’t they tired and spent yesterday, which was why they would rest up today?
The same black and purple butterfly then passed him again, and he couldn’t help but admire its beauty for a moment before shifting his focus to more concerning matters.
Perhaps he was simply imagining things?
Today, despite the vow of relaxing, Hal kept his mind sharp, observing his and his comrades’ every move.
Liora woke up a bit later than him as usual, and Loki went ahead to rest for an hour before breakfast...
’Maybe I’m just imagining it...’
He went about his day, chatting with Liora, having a nice and quick physical workout, draining two B-ranked monster cores dry...
And then attempting to sleep.
But this time, he couldn’t. Hal found it difficult to shake the strange thoughts out of his head.
Hence, he decided that he wouldn’t sleep that night, allowing Loki to rest.
Secteeds were only B-ranked monsters, anyway, and weaker than the average monster of that rank in a head-on battle, since it was built for ambushes.
He didn’t know why, but he had a bad feeling that if he slept today, he would never wake up.
Hal decided to trust his instincts.
At worst, he could just declare tomorrow another relaxation day so he could sleep, since they were way ahead of schedule anyway.
He kept watch that night, keeping himself awake by casting buff spells on himself such as [Endure], [Serene], and [Mental Refresh].
While he couldn’t deny that he wouldn’t be in tiptop shape the next day, he would still be in a fairly decent condition.
Soon, morning came.
Hal was relieved, standing as he stretched his body, glancing at Liora’s face, then at Loki...
He was tired from keeping watch yesterday, so he decided that today would be another relaxation day.
"Ahh...I’ll make sure to rest up well today..."
Hal froze again as the same black and purple butterfly passed him by, the ominous feeling in his heart intensifying.
This time, he was certain that he saw the same scene yesterday, the name of the S-ranked overlord of this Marsh flashing in his mind.
"Midnight Pixie..."
"Those who wandered near its territory never returned..."
They...were near its territory, weren’t they?
Hal gulped as a grim realization dawned on him. This time, he desperately wished to be wrong.
Taking a deep breath, Hal decided to test his theory, retrieving the small-pointed marker, which was a part of his toolset when crafting artifacts, and removing its cover.
He then wrote the words "A black and purple butterfly will pass you in the morning, kill it." on his left forearm.
With these preparations, he dozed off.
Come morning, he stretched with a smile on his face, glancing at Liora’s sleeping face, then at Loki, appreciating a small black and purple butterfly that passed him by in the next moment.
"Ahh, I’ll make sure to rest up well today..."
While stretching, Hal noticed that there was something on his left forearm.
He quickly shifted his attention to it.
His brows furrowed as he read the words: "A black and purple butterfly will pass you in the morning, kill it." on his left forearm.
And one did...
He was certain he didn’t write it, so who did?
Nonetheless, it couldn’t be random, so Hal quickly looked in the direction the small butterfly headed.
It was flying farther and farther away.
His instincts protested, screaming at him to chase the little thing and kill it as was written in the mysterious note.
And so he listened to his instincts.
He blinked closer to the butterfly, incinerating it to ashes with a huge [Fireball].
It was certainly overkill.
However, Hal had no time to think of such stuff, as the surroundings suddenly warped.
He found himself in the middle of the Shadow Marsh, in front of a strange underground den seemingly protected by an invisible barrier that prevented water from entering.
Hal’s heart raced, and the hairs on his body stood on end.
What the hell just happened, and why was he deep in the marsh?!
He quickly faded into invisibility, slowly retreated a safe distance away from the damp den entrance, and then summoned the [Spirit Sparrow].
Like him, the summon went invisible.
Hal controlled it to carefully enter the den.
Initially, the entrance barely fit one human adult, but as the [Spirit Sparrow] went deeper, the pathway widened, soon resembling a huge cave more than a weird den.
Black and purple crystals grew on the walls in small clusters, becoming more numerous the more his summon ventured.
There was still much of the eerie yet mystical cave to be explored.
However, Hal had to temporarily stop and perch his tiny summon atop one of the crystal growths near the ceiling, his spine chilling as he felt a pair of eyes lock on his invisible body.
’Sh*t, how?!’ he inwardly cursed, sealing the sparrow’s vision shut and focusing on his own.
Hal unhesitatingly [Licht Step]ped away in a random direction without even looking at the attacker, marsh water splashing everywhere as a pair of sharp scythes reaped his previous location.
This was the first time he had been detected while invisible.
Nonetheless, Hal wasn’t too fazed, simply turning to see what beast or monster attacked him.
In his previous location stood a humanoid mantis with a deep purple shell.
There was a pair of black antennas in its forehead, its red, octagonal eyes with thousands of smaller, black octagons inside locking on him as the monster tilted its head.
"Secteed!"
Hal hadn’t expected that he would encounter the very monster he needed to hunt in such a situation.
Only, this one seemed to have a different eye and carapace color than the expected light-green and beige...