It was good to be home. A spontaneous person as she was, Venus decided to take an adventure to the northern region of Fiore. Though her stay wasn’t long, she enjoyed her travel there and even went on a little shopping spree to purchase some modifications for herself. The young hunter had planned to spend the day in her cozy room to restore her physical being from a few days worth of travelling albeit, the thought of being cooped up inside the guild all day wasn’t entirely ideal to her – she was a social butterfly after all. But, what was there to do in Dahlia other than hunting creatures, in a town that was most similar to a graveyard, where vampires and werewolves lurked in every nook and cranny of every possible location.

So, after she woke herself up with a warm cup of coffee in the early morning, Venus decided to be productive for the day and planned to redecorate her entire room. She was thankful for not having a roommate, since she was one to enjoy having her own personal space and besides, since the members of Daeva Eye were practically neighbours to one another, she could’ve easily crashed at someone else’s place within a few steps from her door if she wanted.  

All the materials that she needed; buckets of paints, wallpapers, wood, and many more had just arrived the day before and the thought of seeing the outcome of her work couldn’t leave her any more thrilled. She’d have her blueprints of her design close by her side, as she opted not to procrastinate not even a second longer and immediately put herself to work.

Hours plodded by, each separated by an eternity, though the hardworking mage hardly even noticed the passing time until a knock resounded against her door. Only then, she would lift her head up from her work, while in the midst of painting over the woof of her new bookshelf. Venus was hardly a craftsman, although she wasn’t so bad at the job looking at her own work. So, when she opened the door, her favourite thief would be gazing upon her with paint covering all over her clothes and face. ”Nuala?”

Surprised by her sudden visit, she blinked at the young voidling. ”Oh,” the redhead hesitated for a brief moment, turning around to look back at her half-done work but nonetheless, smiled at the female before her. ”Of course! Give me one moment,” she’d leave the door ajar, in case Nuala wanted to invite herself in as she busied herself by her closet, dressing herself up in her work attire and gathered her equipment.

”Let’s go,” she’d tap Nuala’s ass lightly, a devilish grin on her lips as they departed for their hunting schemes.

The redhead chuckled upon hearing the voidling shriek due to her displaying affection towards her, she found it rather cute. Her first impression of Nuala had been different, although after knowing her for a year, she came to discover that it was quite the contrary and it certainly surprised her that a nimble thief like Nuala was capable of having an adorable side.  

The hunter sighed, rolling her eyes in exasperation, ”What else is new?” Venus didn’t expect anything different from a quest in Aldenwald; it was almost, if not, exactly the same every day – defeating lycans and vampires. She’d been seeing so much of those creatures lately that at one point, she might have considered having one of them as her own pet. ”Fifteen? That’s larger in numbers than the usual,” she’d speak as she walked to the entrance of the guild, letting Nuala do the briefing while she’d absorb all the information.

”Is there supposed to be a full moon? Wonder why they’re so hungry recently,” she pondered, conjuring up a strategy to catch these predators. ”Do we know where those wolves are located?” – she assumed not, after all Aldenwald was a large woodland and nearly every werewolf there resembled to each other, it’d have been difficult to prey on them. It’d do her a favour if she could set ablaze the entire forest down and burn the creatures along with it, but things certainly don’t work like that. ”Let’s visit the scene, we might be able to find some clues.”

Their journey to the southern part of the forest was brief, although it did require a lot of trudging over the damp soil that would dirty her trusty boots, much to her dismay. In a short distance would be what they were searching for; the scene of where the massacre was carried out. All they would have to do was to find some blood prints perhaps, either from the victims or the werewolves.  

Venus agreed with Nuala; she could see that being the reason behind the increase of their numbers and the frequency of the attacks, but that would only meant more workload for them, which in turn would result in more income for her. It would be a win-win situation for her, having to get rid of these night creatures and being paid for the work, but only if it wasn’t so mundane and monotonous every time.

The hunter knew very little about the werewolves, although the books she’d read would tell her legends and stories about how werewolves go through their first transformation on a full moon’s day, gaining unparalleled strength from the moonlight. Whether it was a myth or not, she didn’t need to find it out – the answer to her question would be for another day.

The woodland of Aldenwald was so dense even if there was a moon tonight, its silvery rays would not penetrate the thick canopy above. The soil beneath her would pull onto her leg muscles with each and every step as she attempted to lead themselves into the darkness of the woods. So, when she found the scene of the broken merchant’s carriages, even Venus herself was relieved to discover that she’d navigated through the labyrinth of the forest successfully, despite her horrendous sense of direction.  

What Venus found strange was how the werewolves only devoured the organs, leaving the rest of the carcass behind, that could’ve served enough for a few weeks’ worth of food. It seemed that these pack of lycans were quite the picky eaters, she thought. ”Mmm, that’s the first time I’ve heard of that. I figured these creatures wouldn’t care as long as it was meat” – it seemed that she’d been wrong.

Pity left her being: lips slightly parted followed by a rather sympathetic sigh and scarlet hues showcasing the emotion which partly clouded her being at the defeated state of the merchant. The remorse of the victims soon evaporated, as fast as it dawned upon her face and she’d immediately put herself to work, examining the corpses to see if there was anything that she could learn while Nuala used the advantage of her voidling senses, only to inform her that she wasn’t receiving any feedback.

Venus’ vampiric eye had been activated and faint red blurs filled her vision from the bleeding corpses. As she searched around the carcasses, she’d discover a long trail of blood leading deeper into the southern region of the forest. ”I see it; a blood trail, it might lead us somewhere.” It could’ve just been a survivor, but she highly doubted that considering how barbaric the carnage was and began to set off to follow the only clue that they received at hand.

”Hopefully,” she’d say while travelling further into the woods, their path in darkness but led only by a small trail of blood. It was fortunate enough that both of them had keen senses and while Nuala had perfect hearing as a voidling, Venus on the other hand, had the vampiric eye that allowed her to see in the dark as well as to track anything or anyone that was bleeding. Their journey to the location took longer than she’d expected and they’d quickly fill the time through small idle chat.

It wasn’t that very often that the voidling and the hunter worked together; they were mostly occupied with their own separate tasks, but whenever they did, Venus always enjoyed their partnership and she seemed to learn a little more about Nuala every time, to the point that she felt comfortable around her and trusted her enough to watch her back if they were to be in a battle.

When their destination got closer, she’d let Nuala take the lead due to her sharp senses and when her partner suddenly halted, Venus would do the same, almost stumbling over a nearby branch, startled by the sudden call. Though she may be fast and agile, Venus wasn’t as nimble as her partner, whose every step were nearly inaudible.

Her eyebrow shot upwards when Nuala tentatively informed her of what she heard. It was hilarious to her to know that the werewolves could be sleeping amidst the chaos that they’d made. ”Maybe they’re sleeping after having such a big meal,” – she could see this being a reason since even humans tend to get sleepy when they’re full, but she couldn’t help but stifle a laugh to herself at the thought.

Venus withdrew her sword, careful enough to be quiet, although the flames from her weapon screamed the entire opposite of being indistinct. In a short distance was the cave which she assumed was the main camp of where the werewolves hid so, she’d bring herself to a close distance: close enough for her to cast the spell ‘Winter’s Bite’ as shards of ice hovered over the cave and with a clench of her fist, it’d collapse hard onto the structure, immediately breaking the cavern that was the home to the werewolves.  


Spells Casted:

• Winter's Bite
  

Mana: 8,530/8,630

Venus had underestimated the utter blackness of night time in the woods. In her mind, the trees would be black trunks against a bluish charcoal sky, the path would become deepest brown and the faint moonlight would bleach the stones within it. The twilight she had mistaken for night had passed rapidly as she inhaled a large intake of evening air, all the while listening for the wolves and even bears perhaps. The sense of smell was sensitized, the loam in the earth and the decomposing leaves made the atmosphere close and thick.

The narrow path, which was made uneven by the knotted roots that crossed it, branched at intervals. There was no map to follow, but even if there was the perpetual dark would prevent you from using it. Compared to Nuala’s, her senses were far from perfect and despite being her clumsy self, Nuala didn’t seem to mind her bumping into her back a couple of times until she couldn’t hide her laughter over how silly it was, though of course, she tried to keep herself as quiet as possible.

After Venus had casted one of her offensive spell to lure out all the werewolves, she chuckled at Nuala’s reaction, who seemed rather dumbfounded from how fast the scenario had played out. The hunter haven’t had quite the opportunity to witness the voidling’s full abilities, although she was more than sure that the thief was strong and capable enough to impress her.

The collapse of the cavern revealed tens of werewolves as they attempted to escape the rubble, while some of the slower ones got caught in the debris and bled to its death. That’d lead to only seven of them left and even then, they were still outnumbered, which Venus wasn’t too concerned about, for she was confident in her own abilities to easily take her foes down.

”I’ll leave the ones closest to you, and I’ll deal with the remaining ones.”

Since Nuala wielded daggers rather than magic, Venus was aware she would have to get close to them and she’d let her take advantage of the distance. The Siren’s equipment and abilities were not ones that were compatible working with others and while the frost mage may not be the best support, the abilities of her magic allowed her to reach far enough to assist the voidling if she ever needed help.

The werewolves appeared to be ones taken down with slight easiness, Venus made it a note to not underestimate her opponents regardless of their size, for appearances can be highly deceptive. Among her foes, a few of them appeared to be stronger than the rest – the alphas perhaps – as she observed the numbers and calculated the positions of her enemies that’d help with her strategy.

It would have been over for once and for all, in a blink of an eye mayhap, if Venus had casted the ability of her sword, but the location and the situation she was in forced her otherwise. They were in the middle of the forest, which mean that once she’d set her flames ablaze, it would spread far and wide possibly burning the entire woodland down. It wasn’t often for the frost maiden to be on an assignment with someone else and because she was now, if she were to put any of her impulsive behaviour into action, it would also affect her comrade and the consequences would be unspeakable.  

So instead, she’d simply decided to use her weapon for the basic attacks and her spells for support. The woman lunged forward, closing the distance between them as the werewolves came in on her. She’d have her sword ready close to her side, her hands firmly gripped onto the hilt of the weapon, ready to swing it the moment they drew close enough to her. Her cloak would perform a specific motion to cast a spell that summoned spikes of ice around her and with a flick of her finger, it shot towards one of the werewolves that was charging to her at full speed before the spike lodged in its neck, before it halted in its movement and instantly dropped onto the soil.

At least, it was one down, but there were still a few more to go. Upon her command, the remaining ice spikes travelled to the rest of her foes, one to each werewolf albeit, none of them lethal enough to kill them right away so she figured she would finish all of them with her sword in a single swing. She brought her legs to an immediate halt, taking a stance with parted feet and lowering her body slightly to have a firm foundation on her legs. The werewolves leaped into the air, possibly in an attempt to pound onto her but she’d calculated this much. So, she’d wait. And waited. Until the moment when they’d be all in the midst of the leap, in the air and with all of her strength exerted into the muscles of her arms, she swung her sword across above her, slashing through all of them with a single attack.

Venus gazed upon the masterpiece that she’d created, silently admiring her own artwork, a grin forming upon the corner of her lips. She’d realised the growth in her power in the most recent days, after the rigorous training that she’s put herself through to learn to wield her weapon in the most efficient way.

”Done here as well,” she’d confirm before they’d exit the large expanse of the woodland and visited the families of the victims, the ones reported, to display proof of their work before the two girls decided to drop by their own guild’s bar to celebrate a day of hard work.