Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

The city loomed over them. Already, the furthest, most far-flung houses from the city stood all around them. Ike peeked into one through a broken window as they passed by, but saw only dust and cobwebs. These houses hadn't been lived in for a long time. The roads, too, were overgrown. Weeds grew thick in what had once been cobbled streets, their gnarled roots heaving the stones out of place. Rotten wagons sagged at the side of the road, little more than grayed scraps of wood and lumps of metal hardware.

"Gloomy," Wisp commented, a little too close to his ear for comfort.

"Yeah. This place has been dead for a while. It isn't like Shopkeep's place, where the puppets are pretending to live normal lives," Ike replied.

"Why bother, I guess, if there's only puppets around?" Wisp said, bouncing on his shoulder in a kind of shrug.

"Makes sense to me."

Palio drew up alongside them. She stared in the opposite direction, out toward the long grasses. Her tail swished, and she harrumphed. "So much good grassland going to waste. The children could graze here. We could eat the fresh grasses, rather than nibbling the roots."

Ike nodded slowly. He tried to imagine Palio bent low to graze like a horse, but no matter how he imagined it, it looked painful. Centaurs really were strange beings that didn't seem like they should exist. Neither human nor beast, but caught between the two in a strange way.

He leaned toward Wisp. "Are mermaids real, too?"

Her tiny sharp feet touched his ear. "I don't know. I've never seen the sea."

Ike twisted his lips. He glanced at Palio. "Do you know?"

"Mermaids? They're mythical, obviously," Palio stated.

So says the mythical creature. Ike sighed. He couldn't trust anyone. I guess I just have to go to the sea myself. "How far is it to the ocean?"

"I dunno. Never seen it," Wisp repeated.

Palio looked at him. "I haven't left this grasslands in my life."

On his other shoulder, Shawn heaved himself upright. "Alright, you whippersnappers, listen to grandpa Shawn. The ocean is a big old body of water, all dark and green. It's like a huge lake, but with enormous waves big enough to swallow you up."

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"You've seen it?" Ike asked.

"Naturally. How long do you think I've been around? It's a long way from here, though. You'd have to go past your capital city, all the way through the next region, and beyond the region after that. Then, though… then you'd reach the sea." He pointed, his stubby finger indicating the far, far distance.

Ike followed his point, trying to imagine this thing. A dark body of water, green as wine-glass, seething under a stormy sky with waves big enough to swallow him whole. He shook his head. All he could imagine was a lake, but bigger. Something as strange as what Shawn had described was beyond him.

"When this is all done, let's go to the sea," Ike decided.

"It's all water, though," Wisp complained.

"What's wrong with that? You used to live by a lake," Ike pointed out.

"And I couldn't put a web over the lake! Imagine even more water. There'll be nothing to anchor a web to at all!"

"I could use a trip to the sea. Let's do it," Shawn agreed.

"Mermaids… are they fish and people?" Mag asked.

Ike nodded, then hesitated and waggled his hand. "They're supposed to be, anyways. But they're mythical. Like Palio here."

"I'm no myth," Palio insisted, stomping one foot and shaking her tail in mild irritation.

"Delicious fish and delicious human, in one bite…" Mag's eyes shone, and he hopped from foot to foot.

"Now you're starting to sound like Wisp," Ike admonished him, a little tired. One glutton was enough. He didn't need two gluttons in his party.

"Hey, what do you know? I kinda like this bird, now," Wisp said, nodding. "He's got a point. Fish and people, in one neat bite. I bet mermaids are delicious. Never mind, I'm back in. Let's go to the ocean!"@@novelbin@@

"Stop turning mythical creatures into a one-stop surf 'n turf," Shawn complained.

Ike turned his head to retort, only for motion to flash in the corner of his eye. He whipped back around. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Shawn asked.

Wisp stood tall on his other shoulder. She went stiff and silent. An intense aura radiated off of her as she entered hunting mode.

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Mag glanced around between Ike and Wisp, then hunkered down and went quiet. At the back of the group, Palio perked up. She drew her spear and looked around, clearly lost, but in herbivore-pack-protective mode anyways.

White flashed between the crumbling buildings ahead. Mag edged forward, now tracking the motion along with Ike and Wisp. Another blur, to the left. Motion to the right. Palio flicked her tail, tightening her grip on her spear and edging toward the rest of the party.

Wisp's negligible weight vanished from Ike's shoulder. Ike said nothing.

More and more motion. The woods seethed with flashes of white, roiling with it. Ike quietly activated his Storm Clad skill and reached for his sword. The Hungry Sword instantly woke up. Its scales shivered, trembling with anticipation.

A high-pitched whistle caught his ear. Ike nodded, understanding. He lifted his head. "Are you going to attack, or are we going to stand here all day?"

White figures lunged out of the woods, bursting out from behind the ruined buildings.