The walk to the Wild Zone for Mikel and Victoria was somewhat awkward, and there was radio silence between them two, as they both kept thinking about the time Mike played the guitar for both.
Indeed, one could point out that there was nothing much to be embarrassed about, as they both had a good time, but for some reason, the tension is there, one in a different tone to the first encounter at the bar.
It was quite a weird experience for Victoria. One could point out that there was a concept of being drunk in the atmosphere, with the smell of tea, the warm beams of sunlight that hit the room adding to her mood, and even though it was a simple performance the sound that rang gave her a heart that she never thought she had, and it was exactly that that she couldn't quite articulate.
The occasional encounters that happened for the Nether Creatures were dealt with also in silence.
"So, are you going to say anything?"
Surprisingly, the one who broke the silence was Mikel, as he couldn't quite stand just how weird the situation was.
"T-there is nothing much to say."
He thought his ears somehow deceived him. After all, it was the first time in his life he heard Victoria stutter a word. Even the tone of her voice shifted from the usual authoritarian voice to a more high-pitched, cutesy one.
"Did you just stutter?"
"Wha- No I did not."
"But you just-"
"We have places to go. Enough with irrelevant things."
For some unknown reason Victoria seemed colder than ever. It got Mikel getting quite sentimental, before-
"SCREEEEEEE!"
-A screech was heard from a distance.
It was far away, a clawing at the blackboard noise. A figure could be seen far away hidden amongst the mysterious mist that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
It was a strange phenomenon. After all, a creature that looks that big will have to be seen from further away, but it was almost like it appeared out of nowhere, spawning just to wait for its prey.
"But this is a B-grade zone. I don't get it."
Mikel was confused. Something that big couldn't have been lurking in such a low-level zone. The body almost seemed like it belonged in A-grade.
"How about we pick on creatures our own size I think-"
"HERE WE AREEEEE!"
Louder than a screech, more confident than the monster, Victoria shouted scratching at her vocal chords and her tone having the biggest oomf to it.
"What are you doing?!" Mikel shouted.
"You're going to play the coward?" Victoria smugly remarked. "Not on my watch."
Suddenly a tentacle pierced through the mist.
It attacked where they both were, and Victoria kicked Mikle to the side and swiftly - like a ballerina - spinned gracefully to avoid.
"Ready your weapon then. Do you want to die here?"
One tentacle. Two, three. Four.
Each with a hit, each with a thump. Leaving crates one after another, the hubris is just as deadly. All Mikel could do was to focus his manaflow in order to dodge.
"Where's your Nether essence that you've been bragging about!" Victoria exclaimed as she simply parried the tentacles. She made it look so easy.
Mikel bit his lower lip, and brought out the black spear.
"Axe!"
The Nether essence started forming an axe to his intended image.
But it failed.
[Not enough Nether Essence to cover the intended dimensions. Please gather more.]
'Well of course.' Mikel thought, 'there had to be a catch, I guess.'
The blob - as he nicknamed his essence - wasn't big enough to create a huge axe. He needed a big weapon to defeat the monster, but he couldn't summon it.
"Can't you just kill this guy for this one time?"
"Nah."
Just like that, a call for help was completely ignored and disregarded.
"Figures." Mikel whispers to himself. "Witch."
He breathes in and out, before the next tentacle comes to hit him, after a sudden realisation.
"Two crescent daggers."
Two black short daggers were summoned, both with thick blades that were curved to a shape of a crescent moon. Victoria looked at the weapon and shrugged.
"You sure you can defeat that huge monster with a weapon that small?"
The mist creature, still in his little fog to cover himself, lifted his tentacle again, and shot straight at Mikel.
Eyes fully violet. Sparks coming out. He focuses solely on the dodge, taking a leap back. The tentacle dug at the ground. Mikel jumps through the hubris, and does a battle roar.
He starts running along the tracks of the tentacle.
The curve wasn't easy to maneuver around and it was almost like running on top of a tire, but he didn't stop. The tentacle didn't either, and after realising that the tiny human was running towards it, the running track was shaken to get the bug off, but it didn't matter to Mikel even if he lost balance.
He had his 'climbing gear'.
He dug one of the crescent blades straight into the tentacle to keep himself from falling, and kicked the air to rotate his body with the stabbed blade at his axis. Just like that, he was on the top of his 'running track' again, and he kept running towards the monster.
Sheer grit, sheer will. Mikel didn't hesitate to sacrifice all of his stamina to get to the misty thing.
Shake. Fall, stab, back on top to run. The process kept repeating, faster the monster shook off its tentacles in an attempt to get rid of Mikel, faster he would just get back with his blades. He will not fall. He will not get away.
After all, he was at a point where he couldn't give up even if he wanted to, because then he'll fall to death.
Exhaustion was coming through. He hesitated a little. A lot of mana was being used just to get to this creature's head, and Mikel started doubting if it was worth it.
"Ah screw it." He muttered. "I have no choice."