As Hydra continued to sneak around the cluttered clay houses he noticed that the Liza clan had a serious architectural issue. Their houses were made so poorly even some of them ad holes which Hydra could easily fit his head into and no it wasn’t for fresh air as the entrances to the houses themselves were giant holes for the Liza to enter and exit from. He didn’t care about the fact that they houses were poorly made but the fact that they were so poorly laid out he had troubles navigating the area. Walking one direction would lead to a pair of houses so close together he would have to be completely be flattened to fit through. Walking the other direction the path would lead directly to the bonfire he was trying to avoid.
“At this rate the father will become soup before I can even find him.’
Hydra was slightly starting to get worried about the completion of the quest. Now only did he have to run around stealthed and not be found he had to find the location of the kidnapped father, and somehow get him to freedom without being caught once again! He knew it would be hopeless if he got caught before he found the NPC which was why he took it slow and tried his best to not be found. But at this rate he would lose the remaining few hours he had. While the quest time gave him 24 hours that in truth wasn’t the case. The quest might fail after 24 hours however the quest would also 100% fail when it became light out. Once his stealth no longer worked it was the same as death. Thus with every pa.s.sing minute Hydra increased his pacing if even by a tiny minuscule amount.
So after 30 minutes of running around Hydra hadn’t even entered a third into the village not to mention where the kidnapped father was. There was a good point by checking the status of a Liza. He found out they were extremely arrogant. That meant no matter the case they wouldn’t let a human be imprisoned in one their own houses. And if that was the case, that meant they had to have some even more c.r.a.ppy building designated for their prisoners or food in this case.
Finally, Hydra had approached the ugliest clay house he could think of. As opposed to a house it was a mound with a hole on the top. He carefully approached it. It didn’t matter how close he was towards completing the quest any wrong move can lead to his absolute demise. Naturally as Hydra’s first quest he was not about to quit half way. Thus if the difficulty was matching the risk, he would not take any chances that would lead to failure. After checking twice for oncoming Liza, he crossed the gap between the houses and mound. Hydra didn’t have to worry about being seen his stealth was covering his body completely and as long as he didn’t cancel it or suddenly flashed with a bright light he was fine. That was another reason chose not to go to the bonfire, although even if that wasn’t the case he still wouldn’t risk disturbing a party of over a 1000 Liza clan warriors. As he arrived climbing the mound he poke his head in the mound and called softly.
“Anyone in here?”
“…..”
There was no response. But Hydra the moment he called out heard from fidgeting. It was pitch black so he could not see anything even with poking his head inside. The other party probably was on guard because they could not see Hydra and only heard someone calling out. For all they knew it could be a Liza trying to bring their hopes up only to destroy them again. Also, it was the same for Hydra, as he was on guard against the possibility of it being something completely else from what he was looking for. But as a stalemate and Hydra running more and more out of time he reluctantly called out once more.
“I swear I’m human. I’m here looking for a kidnapped father. A little boy came and asked me for help.”
“Is that true?!”
“Shh!!!”
The man who responded was quickly slapped silly. In his excitement he nearly forgot where he was and screamed out loud. Hydra was so surprised he nearly rolled down the hill. But now a bigger problem had arisen. Hydra although not fulling recovered from his heart attack turned to see if any Liza had over heard the man’s loud shout. As if to only make his life more difficult, a Liza guard came walking over with a spear. The spear itself was shabby, but even if the Liza was bare handed he would without a doubt be enough to kill Hydra 10 times over. It wasn’t like when he was in the cave, he didn’t know of the Liza’s weakness and he even if he did, Hydra would more than likely have no way of implementing it. Quickly recovering and stepping away from the Liza warrior, he crouched on the edge of the mound. Where at this moment the Liza was over top of the hill hissing in disdain towards the food.
“Humans. As food learn your place and shut your mouths. We are holding the pa.s.sage of the Ancestors. And when it’s finished the new clan Chief himself will be eating you. So just patiently wait for your deaths or would you like to experience pain first?”
“We apologize mighty warrior. We will keep it down for now.”
Without responding the Liza left back towards the location of the bonfire. While Hydra was secretly holding it head and crying.
‘Isn’t this incredibly more dangerous than I thought. This isn’t the first time either! It just keeps getting worse..’
“Hey.. savior are you still there.”
As the party had no idea what Hydra looked like. The young girl could only call out softly to the person trying to help them escape. Hydra who was in despair almost forgot his mission and quickly walked back towards the hole.
“Okay. First of all how many of you are here?”
“It’s just me and the man you were looking for. But please don’t leave me behind…..”
“No that wasn’t something i had even thought of. Even if there were a dozen more I would still try to save you all
For the extra rewards is what he wanted to say, but as an intelligent AI, grudges would definitely be held if he clearly told them he was saving them for the rewards in the end.
“Girl, stick out your hand I’ll pull you out first to relieve your worries.”
As the girl unhesitatingly stretched her arm she was slightly alarmed when she was grabbed and suddenly pulled up and out of the mound. Even a soft shriek came out of her mouth as it was weird feeling to feel your body lifted up by an invisible object even if she knew he was there to help her. After she was free, Hydra stared at her. She was covered in an elegant dress, although completely covered in dirt it could not hide the beauty of the dress, she had dirty blonde hair that flowed down her back. Even with her messy appearance Hydra could not call her anything but beautiful. But as she was freed of the prison she looked back and forth. Hydra nodded in approval, as the girl was already checking the situation in case there were to be caught. Not only was she beautiful but incredibly intelligent. After finding no problems she quickly crouched and waited on the back side of the mound to avoid being caught. Next Hydra started to pull out the father of the child. Cursing in his mind
‘d.a.m.n this old man is heavy.’
As he pulled out the father he was shocked beyond belief. The man he pulled out was HUGE. He was at least 2 meters and he didn’t notice because the man didn’t fully extend his hand. But grabbing his hand it was full of callous’ and rough as leather. But he only thought he was a small farmer. He realized his mistake after the man was free.
‘This guy could take down an ox bare handed. How did he even get caught?! I doubt even 20 of those Liza clan could take care of him.’
Although Hydra was secretly contemplating, he soon realized the answer when the man knelt and bowed on the ground.
“Thank you so much savior. I, Grate, will forever be in your debt.”
The man was weeping a river, thus Hydra figured out the reasoning behind his capture immediately.
‘He’s a chicken….’
“We don’t have time for your sob story old man let’s go.”
The girl quickly solved the awkwardness of the man bowing towards an invisible object. Hydra agreed and quickly led them out.
“Okay, I’ll go and check for any Liza guarding the surroundings. Because you can’t see me, and talking from here on out would be dangerous. I will tap your shoulders.”
They both nodded in response. Even as a chicken the man knew what kind of situation this was. As they safely pa.s.sed the pathway to the houses without any problems, probably because the Liza
warrior had just checked that there was no problems and even threaten their food. The problem started from here on however. The layout was like a maze, but a maze at every few corners a sleeping monster would be waiting. The monster being the pathways that led to the bonfire. If they were caught now it was the failure of the quest, and if he was unlucky his immediate death. Bracing himself he spoke one last time.
“Let’s go.”