The beast plunged at her lady yet Aefia didn't bother to look around, staring at the massacre from the mirror in front of her. The beast was indeed, so gruesome that it killed its own helpers on the spot if they were coming into slight contact with them. The floor dyed multiple colours in a matter of seconds and the room instantly became a bloody paranormal scene.
"You are not going to do anything?" Puppet asked in sympathy for the others. "Its a boss fight, and you are going to ignore them?"
"I will ignore them for now. A boss fight has stages and it is still in its first stage, the weakest in this stage and I will only join on the second and third stage." Aefia responded while facing away from the mirror and the battle field.
"Notice something odd? The battle boss appeared a little to early, isn't it suspiciously a fact that we need to explore in order to defeat it? If it were summoned, we need to find who or what brought the beast out. But if it were triggered, then we need to find the place or the thing that did so. Both ways or whatever it is, we need that very information to be able to win this stage and move to the last one."
"Well? Break the odd mirror? But how do you expect to find the odd one and you will say, maybe the shape which stands out the most or the most distorted one? Now go on! Overthink this too!" Puppet spoke loudly into Aefia's ears as she was reading the map a little more seriously.
"Just silence out that mouth of yours! Isn't this why you get scolded?" She spoke while flinging her knife from side to side in front of the digital wolf. "And what? You will say 'I am sorry! I will not do it again,' then dissappear and not respond. Then you will pop out at an uncertain timing and do the same thing again. Just what do you want from me?! I have fed you a potion of my magic energy from the poisonous meat, and in return you promised me to stay silent until you notice something unfamiliar and odd." She folded the map into a cylinder shape and tapped it on Puppet's head.
The wolf used its tiny paws to stop the racking from reaching into its skull and rattling its teeth. "Just go break more glass. Do whatever you think is fit for being done. I am out." It flashed a grin and used its paws to form a 'peace' sign.
You are asking for peace but you are the one who will break it first! Aefia started searching in the map once more, looking deeply into what was different, marked, or noted. The mirrors are supposed to be made so that they don't trigger any sort of danger, that must mean there is a shape-shifter among one of these mirrors.
Come to think of it, even an expert shape-shifter can't exactly turn into a mirror and stay like that for a long time. Puppet mentioned about the most distorted and outstanding mirror, and I happened to have come across one of them that I quickly passed by. Actually, there were a couple of the same odd looking mirrors, considering how there might be more of them in a small area...
There were approximately a hundred thirty eight thousand upper class family members in this world, so there is no doubt that there are the corresponding number of beasts. Most of which were either consumed by the other predatory ones, or their magic energy was drained from them and fed to the final boss of mission two.
And some explorers who had been killed, were turned into a monster who couldn't be consumed, nor be fed with magic energy and those are known as shape shifters. Unless there was currently some kind of glitch that overtook that function and altered them to become a loyal follower, they could most definitely be used in cases like this to add some buff to the stage boss.
She finally came across one of the odd looking mirrors, as well as noticed how the others were doing well in granting the level boss great deals of damage. It was nearly at its end point of the first phase and was going to evolve soon. While keeping that in mind, she pointed at the surface of the severely distorted mirrors and took a closer look at it.
The mirror was pretty curved at some edges while straight and sharp ones at the other ends. The edges were indeed so thin and pointy that when Aefia slid her finger across the length with a slow fluid motion, it would cut deep into her finger and stain the edge with deep crimson which reflected in infinite dimensions inside the mirror.
The surface was warm at the centre but ice cold surrounding the epicentre. She couldn't keep contact with the shiny area for even a split second because it would either burn her finger or slow her hand movements, even when she heated them up with her flames of eternity.
The flames of eternity was said to be so strong that it won't extinguish unless the user wills and it could evolve into a much warmer tone if the initial ones couldn't do the task the owner wanted done. Of such as a flame wasn't responding to something that vulnerable, than it is no doubt that the mirror was casted by magic.
No experienced mage could ever magically craft mirrors. Even when they did, it would be so fragile and thin that it had the opportunity to snap with a graze. So obviously it added more vivid prove that this was indeed a shape-shifter.
To prove the final point, was the reflection of Aefia's fingers itself. A shape-shifter can't exactly copy the way a mirror works, especially a distorted one. When a image was put in front of them, they would reflect it like a normal mirror. And in the image she had received from the shiny surface, it was only her finger clearly appearing without a single detail missing, including her bleeding fingers.
She was obviously not visible, and the image wasn't distorted but the mirror was. Any sort of science would say that a distorted mirrors would give a broken image, and a clear mirror will copy and flip the image. Now that she had finally confirmed that this was a monster and not a normal decorative element to make the room seem frightening and filled with paranormal activities...
Flish! Aefia lay down her palm against the surface and a vacuum space was formed in between, which pulled her hand and made it difficult to remove. It was a common thing by now, so she was able to divert her attention from the unbelievable pain and focus more on the magic energy. If she took out all the reason for maintaining its shape, it won't have the ability to feed the beast with its magic. And once that happens, the beast would have to use all of its own magic energy and that would result in its collapsing.
It was always like a math equation how a beast would interact with magic. When a human lost focus, they turn into a beast. When a beast loses control, they either become an evil mage who is too weak to continue, or they would collapse and lose their ability of using magic. That magic than floats around and is either converted to one of those artifacts like the sacred key and Pandora's closet, or if they weren't strong enough, it would disintegrate and explode.
Just in time, the beast evolved into a much more dangerous looking species. It didn't just upgrade, it completely changed. But not too long later, its outer shell disintipated and the magic core turned it into something else, the result of the magic energy not being enough. This confused everyone in the room except Aefia, because she was the mastermind if this level of the game.
Since the level of magic energy determined a monster, it proved that the magic energy for this beast was slightly more stronger than the ones she had seen in the first stage. An absolutely terrifying creature, but Aefia was already used to seeing such horrifying faces, in a world made of only beasts.
This creature was as tall and thin being that looked like it is made of old, dry wood and stretched skin. It has a very long body with ribs that stuck out sharply from its sides, almost enough to pierce the skin protecting it. Its skin was a dark, grayish green color, similar to the bark of a dead tree in a swamp.
There were many sharp, bony points growing out of its back like a row of jagged mountain peaks or broken teeth. These spikes looked hard and dangerous, and they were filled with an elixir that if Aefia had ever gotten the opportunity to sell them back at the mage market, it would be able to buy her four houses in Smod.
The head of this monster was smooth and had no eyes or nose at all, because they were melted and sealed during the tranformation. It was shaped like a rounded stone or a thumb, with a texture that looked like worn leather. Near the bottom of its face, there was a wide, dark mouth filled with small, sharp teeth that looked like they belong to a shark.
A thick, dark red liquid dropped slowly from the corner of its mouth, staining its chin and neck. Without eyes, the creature seemed to look at the world using other senses, making its blank face even more frightening to see.
Its arms were very long and reach down past its knees, ending in large hands with thin, spindly fingers. These fingers were long and curved like hooks, perfect for grabbing or scratching at things. The skin on the arms were also tight and showed the shapes of dried muscles and bones underneath, giving it a very weak and unnatural appearance which deceived anyone into thinking it was going to be fragile.
The creature stood in a hunched position, as if it was ready to spring forward or crawl on the ground. Its long limbs made it look like it could move very quickly despite its heavy and awkward shape. The lower part of the creature was covered by a simple, tattered cloth that hung down like a torn skirt or a loincloth. This fabric was a dull, dusty brown color and made of animal patterns as if it had been worn from a long time ago.
Below the cloth, its legs were thin and looked like twisted branches, ending in feet that were hidden from view. The legs were bent at sharp angles, which helped to support the weight of its long, heavy upper body. Even though it looked thin, the creature seemed very solid and heavy, like a statue came to life.
Every part of its body had a rough and weathered texture, with lines and cracks running through the skin. There was no smooth patches, as everything about it looked harsh and worn down by time. The color of its body changed from dark browns to sickly greens, helping it blend into dark places. The way its skin stretched over its sharp bones suggested that there was no fat or softness on this being at all, which was neither good nor bad. It was a creature made of hard angles and sharp points, looking like it was carved out of something dead and forgotten, maybe it was.
The most striking part of the creature was how it balanced its strange proportions without falling over. It had a heavy, thick neck that held up its eyeless head, while the legs felt like branches from a dead tree. The spikes on its back were not symmetrical, with some being taller and sharper than others, giving it a messy and wild look. It stood perfectly still, showing off its strange shape and the many sharp edges that covered its entire frame.
It faced Aefia with a confused manner, moving and titling its head as it ripped off the skin covering the face. And a pair of eyes emerged from a newly formed crack that was created by smashing its own piece of skull. It ran towards her, but she was faster. She made it seem as if she randomly teleported into a far place and held out her hand while supporting her elbow with the other hand.
Suddenly, every single one of those odd looking mirrors shattered, and the magic energy from inside those glass barriers flew into her palm with intense force. Everyone stayed out of the zone as she tried not to let any of her teammates' energies absorbed by accident.
Slowly but surely, the beast deformed as it melted one last time. There was no more magic energy that could be used from the mirrors and since it had already used all of its own to transform, Aefia had a trick in mind to win this battle without fighting. It pained her, but at least it was worth it.
Once the beast was small enough to kill, but still powerful enough to attack, Aefia dashed at its throat with her dagger. It has gotten damaged due to those mirrors I had broken earlier. Somehow, it was something she didn't seem to care enough about.
The sharp, spiked blade perfectly went through its throat, ending with a thud and a head dropping to the ground. Dark liquid scattered across multiple surfaces and in one reflection, Aefia could see the sides of her face and hands covered with twisted and folded vines which glowed a bright red like her eyes. She looked at her fingertips, they were like someone just recently applied henna on them.
Aefia tried to wipe off those red marks, but it didn't seem to move or go away. I had just recently levelled up and this isn't my sigil, so what is this?! I need to enquire to her lady but she is probably mad at me for not helping them earlier. Should I stay silent...or...should...I...?
Her mind stopped thinking and her hands stopped moving, while she was falling into dark space.