Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/Shua shua…/

In the dead of night, the forest Raid team made their way amidst the thick canopy of the woods, diving deeper into the unknown, leaving behind the safety of the bustling city.

Despite the extreme darkness, they moved at an incredible pace, avoiding major environmental hazards like pits, rivers, and small swamps while also maximizing their energy efficiency.

Moving in the woods wasn't easy, especially at night when everything was extremely dark.

The moonlight was strong today, but the forest was still complete darkness, and the faint lights from time to time weren't exactly welcoming either.

Or they were beasts that hunted like that, waiting for prey to bite into the lure they set.

Big monsters weren't their sole problem as everywhere, poisonous and venomous creatures waited for them to make one wrong step.

Normally spiders and vipers would remain in their own spot, as most creatures were actually pretty defensive whenever humans approached.

But some would immediately go for the bite if they got close enough or if they felt threatened.

And in this darkness, if they were to step wrongly and make one of these beasts feel threatened, then they could end up with a nasty injury.

It was very easy to step wrongly when all of these creatures were so perfectly camouflaged in the forest's ground.

/Kwy kwy!/

/Buzz…/

/Hiip!/

The forest was brimming with the weird noises of insects and birds alike, and one might even say it was louder in the night than during the day.

In this kind of environment when it was difficult to tell what lurked in the bushes, most adventurers would prefer to wait for sunlight to come…

Yet, they moved fast and with purpose.

It would've indeed been a danger to be here at this hour, but with their Karkavan Guide, the path was a simple one to follow.

Still, one thing was to have a guide, the other was to see the path…

But that wasn't a problem for them.

Tina could easily see in the dark, it was one of the reasons she had always felt comfortable going to the shallow portions of the forest.

She had the means to move around, and she knew how to do so, her many decades of experience were showing themselves now.

And her body was at its pinnacle!... Or close enough, way better than before no doubt.

Dale also had no problem seeing in this darkness.

His Stats were already higher than those of everyone around him, but most importantly, he had an item to help him with that.

One of the Accessories 'repaired' by Barme, something he had been wearing ever since he got it:

[Sky Wing Feather Bracelet (Relic)

Rating: 6-Stars

Dexterity Ratio = 1.35

Unique Effect -> King Fisher

Sight is enhanced by 10 times.

When using a projectile weapon, it is possible to alter its course to a certain degree.

Requirements: Dexterity: 200

Description:

A bracelet made with the prized head feathers of the extinct Kakri bird, the prideful Kingfisher.

Despite its age, it still contains the faint aura of the mighty bird, its cry seems to faintly echo from time to time for those with acute hearing.

]

/KAAA!/

Like the item description, Dale felt as if he could hear the bird's cry... Or was it one from the forest?

It was hard to tell.

Regardless, with the bracelet, Dale could see everything clearly, so he had no problem avoiding anything on his path, be it roots or other vegetation but also other dangers like a strange plant with sharp thorns he almost stepped on.

In fact, he collected that plant and shoved it in his inventory.

This was part of Yumi's Quest, Herb Chain Part 2.

Before the special two-week event, he got this Quest from here and to complete it, he had to help her produce one Master Level potion.

Ever since then, Dale had been trying to assist her in any way he could.

He thought that the previous potion she made that gave him his new Skill would do, but it did not.

So with that in mind, he jumped to his next plan, which was to collect materials for her so she can try another recipe on her own.

He wanted to progress on this Quest, hence his desire to stop every once in a while to grab a Herb/Plant, slowing them down slightly.

He would also collect insects and even small animals he saw since plants weren't the only things utilized in potion-making.

With his good vision, it was hard for him to miss anything of value, it was also why he stood right behind Muddan despite his unwillingness to do so…

Because Muddan… Didn't exactly smell good…

Of course, the Karkavan knew a lot about diseases and the importance of hygiene as seen how Muddan had taken a bath before departing to clean his injuries and his fatigue…

But that only works for a while, once his armpits start smelling… Considering there are a few times his head size…

And with his Stats, Dale could smell it from afar, that was the reason why Tina chose to remain as far away as possible from him with the excuse she would be protecting their back.

Tina may be rather brutal and uncaring about gore, but that doesn't mean she'll allow herself to go through torture.

And so did Dale, as despite not minding the smell, it didn't make him comfortable.

"Urg… Dale, give me another one of those potions." Testros asked in a low tone as he tapped Dale's shoulder

"Uhum." He replied as he opened his inventory, giving a small bottle about the size of an index finger to him

"Thanks…"

/GULP!/

It didn't have any noticeable effects, but after a few more minutes of walking, Testros could see again in the Dark.

If not already obvious, Testros was the only one unable to see in the dark so he had to rely on potions to be able to do so.

Each potion vial could make him see in the dark for about an hour, but they had a small side effect of causing hyperactivity, which wasn't bad given the situation, but if Testros were to tale too many at once he may end up not being able to sleep tomorrow's night, which isn't ideal since being able to rest whenever necessary was a must for any explorer like them.

Of course, the effects were also not immediate, taking a few minutes to appear in full and they would also slowly dissipate.

Because of this, their effective time was closer to 40 minutes than an hour.

That was how potions worked for any Non-Player entity, including Dale.

Regardless, as they walked forward, Dale went into deep thought:

'With this one, it has been about two and half hours since we started walking.'

'I can't exactly tell where we are since I don't have access to the In-game map, but I would say we have covered about a twentieth of the way to the Wall?...'

'Kind of?...'

'Testros and I arrived at the wall within the same day, in fact, we only took a few hours.'

'But that was an underground path that was mostly a straight line where we could also run to reduce time.'

'Right now, we're barely even at walking speed, though that in itself is already fast considering what I expected.'

'At this pace if we were to go without stopping… About 3 or 4 days.'

'This is actually pretty insane since some old documents said it takes over two weeks to reach the shores of the South… I wonder how far they actually are.'

'Of course, that was in the past when proper roads still existed, though even with those, they had to leave at Dawn to arrive at Dusk.'

'On that note, Muddan is pretty insane, he always seems to know where he is and throughout our entire journey he never deviated from going South.'

'I have a compass so I can check it, we were always on track.'

'There were moments where we stopped to go elsewhere but those moments were to evade other major environmental hazards like hills amd cliffs.'

'After all, Resko is on higher grounds when compared to the Wall, and from what I read it's always downhill all the way to the shores, there are even some parts where the shore is just a stiff cliff.'

'Is there a name for such Geography on Earth?... I miss Geography Class, I quite liked it…'

'But if I were to give it a try... This looks like the environment a glacier would leave over Millions of years.'

'Muddan was also very proficient in avoiding other creatures' territories.'

'Not that there are any animals that could pose a threat to us, but a minute spent fighting one if a minute less we could be walking.'

'Though I imagine Muddan will choose to confront one if it means getting there faster.'

'In any case, Muddan has never missed his path, he's quite reliable.'

'I wonder if I can learn how to move like that too? Since despite being a giant, he has barely had any trouble moving around.'

'And if he can pass through something, so can we.'

/Stop…/

Suddenly, Muddan stopped, causing them all to stop as well.

"..."

They didn't say anything, waiting for his actions…

/Shua shua… Hustle…/

And then, they heard noises coming from a bush nearby, it was clear what the problem was.

/Grab…/

So Dale and the others grabbed their weapons, ready for a fight…

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Notes

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