Finding The Thrill Seeker

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 13, Post Number 309

-Lycan Woods, 11:37 P.M.-

Dressed in his usual outfit of open olive green jacket over white t-shirt and olive green cargo pants with black boots, Leonidas also carried his Silver Falchion. By his side was Sabrina, who was dressed in a pink hoodie over a pink t-shirt and blue jean short shorts with pink tennis shoes. The pair were on a mission to Lycan Woods to locate a young woman who was a serious adrenaline junkie. The young woman in question was named Regina Hampton, who was from Hargeon Town and had traveled to Lycan Woods to find a new challenge after finding that fighting bandits all across Fiore was no longer providing the thrill she was after. According to her sister Isabelle Regina would be hard to miss... Regina was a young woman slightly taller than average with long blonde hair who wore red and white and wielded a saber with a blade made of silver.

Armed with that information, Leonidas and Sabrina went to Lycan Woods to find the young woman before she got in over her head against the local lycanthropes. They stared down the forest path lined with large amounts of dense brush a short distance from the sides, then looked at each other.

"So we're here to rescue a young woman who's traveled here just to fight werewolves." Sabrina said to Leonidas as if she were having a hard time wrapping her mind around the job. Leonidas nodded.

"Yeah." He said laconically. It sounded like she shared the same fondness for a good fight that he possessed. While the lengths Regina went to to try and satisfy her craving for a challenge sounded more than a little stupid and probably were stupid, a small part of him could not blame her for seeking a fight that was actually exciting. Zombies and ghosts bored the scar-faced mage, who had not had a good fight of his own since fighting the Vikings in Bellum during the latest phase of the war between Bellum and Pergrande.

"I'm not sure if she's really brave or really stupid." Sabrina commented on the young woman they had been sent to find.

"I'm not sure, but at least she carried a silver weapon with her. If she's carrying a sword to fight werewolves she must know how to use it." Leonidas remarked and spoke in Regina's favor by stating that the young woman had at least carried a weapon that would be useful against the enemy she was going to fight. Suddenly he heard howling in the distance. Sabrina clutched her staff tightly and looked down the path.

"It sounds like the locals know we're here, Big Guy." The blonde informed him. Leonidas drew his Silver Falchion and held it in his right hand.

"It doesn't matter. We need to find Regina before it's too late." Leonidas calmly informed his companion that it did not matter if the werewolves who called this forest home knew that two more mages had entered the forest.

"I'm with you, Big Guy. Just keep in mind that I won't be able to deal with werewolves as easily as I can deal with zombies and ghosts." The pink-clad blonde warned Leonidas to not expect her Azure Cone ability to be an instant kill against the enemies here.

"That's fine with me, Sabrina. I'll be careful." The scar-faced mage assured her before walking forward. Sabrina hurried to join him, traveling at his left side as they began traveling deeper into the woods. Leonidas had never been here before and was a bit apprehensive against facing off against werewolves because he had never seen one before tonight. However, he was also excited about the possibility of facing an opponent capable of actually challenging him. He kept that to himself, though... he did not want Sabrina to think that he was a reckless thrill seeker like Regina.

The pair walked for twenty-eight meters until they spotted the underbrush a meter ahead and to the right rustling furiously.

"See that?" Sabrina asked as she pointed towards the patch of underbrush with her staff.

"I see it." Leonidas replied calmly, raising his Silver Falchion into a ready position. He took a deep and quiet breath, then slowly exhaled. He felt his grip on his sword tighten as the foliage began to shake harder and harder. Sooner or later a lycanthrope would leap from the underbrush and he would finally get to face an enemy a lot tougher than any zombie or ghost.

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Leonidas waited patiently for the enemy to spring from the underbrush and challenge him, but so far nothing had emerged. He was not going to rush in, though. Sooner or later the scent of two potential meals in the area was bound to lure out a werewolf for him to fight.

Leonidas waited silently with his Silver Falchion held ready for use. His patience was rewarded when the same patch of underbrush shook and out sprang a werewolf about his height but somewhat skinnier and with a look of hunger in its eyes. Perhaps it had not eaten in awhile.. or maybe it reveled in the thrill of the hunt.

It landed roughly eight feet away and Leonidas took a quiet breath to steady himself so that he did not blindly rush in. He made eye contact with the beast, then watched and waited.

It kept its dark brown eyes fixed on him and as he watched Leonidas could see its hind legs twitch. It gave off a low growl before sprinting forward with its arms outstretched and its jaws open ready to sink into the scar-faced mage's neck or shoulder the moments its strong hands could grab the blond man. Leonidas quickly stepped right and the werewolf darted by, but it almost immediately shifted its body weight and used its momentum in order to perform a U-turn and immediately line up another attack on the mage.

The lycanthrope successfully completed the maneuver and wasted no time in springing at Leonidas again. Again he stepped to the right and the beast rushed by, but this time the mage moved in while it was turning around to face him and swung forcefully downward with the Silver Falchion, aiming for its head. The blade found its mark in the beast's skull; the blade buried itself in the skull and the werewolf loosed a howl that lasted for a few seconds before its arms went limp while its body remained upright. The moment Leonidas withdrew his sword the beast collapsed and lay on the ground in a crumpled heap.

"Congratulations, Big Guy. You just killed your first werewolf." Sabrina commented on the results of the fight. Leonidas quietly bent down and wiped the blade off on the body of the werewolf he had just dispatched with a skull-splitting blow. He then faced the path ahead of him and motioned towards it with the Silver Falchion.

"Thanks, Sabrina. I'd better not let it go to my head, though. There's plenty more where he came from and they probably won't be as easy to kill as this one was." Leonidas informed Sabrina that while the victory was welcome he should not expect all fights against the residents of the woods to go that easily. The other blonde suddenly pointed at something with her staff.

"There's another one heading RIGHT FOR US!" Sabrina warned Leonidas. The scar-faced mage faced the incoming enemy, which was roughly ten meters away and closing fast thanks to running on all fours. He raised his left hand and prepared a Compressed Air Bolt, then aimed carefully before firing the spell. To his surprise the enemy evaded it with a sudden jump to the right and kept running without missing a step. Leonidas did not have time to prepare another distance spell before the second enemy was upon him.

The werewolf leaped at Leonidas with the intent to land on the latter and pin him to the ground before ripping his throat out with its teeth, but the blond man anticipated that move and did a quick step to the left that took him out of the landing zone. As he quickly backed away to get some distance he saw the leaping enemy land and heard the heavy THUD that marked the end of its unsuccessful leaping attack. Next came a low growl as the werewolf turned and made eye contact with its intended prey. Leonidas was not daunted and remained calm as he sized up the enemy, which was a werewolf that was burlier than the first.

It suddenly rushed at him on two legs and reached out with its arms to seize its prey by the shoulders. Leonidas ducked forward and under the arms, then quickly spun around and faced the back of the beast while it recovered from its grab attempt. He quickly moved closer and raised his Silver Falchion in both hands, then brought the sword down on the target's head in a forceful chop as it turned to face him. Again the blade struck the target and buried itself deep in the skull.

The stricken werewolf emitted a piercing howl before crumpling to the ground and lying on its right side with Leonidas' weapon still lodged in its head. Leonidas sighed and moved to the front of the dead enemy, then planted his right foot on its shoulder and grabbed the grip of the sword with both hands before pulling sharply upwards. It took a few seconds of sustained pulling because the blade did not want to come out of its home without a fight, but Leonidas soon freed it and wiped it off on the beast's body.

"That's your second werewolf tonight, Big Guy." Sabrina updated his kill count. Leonidas took a quiet breath and faced the path he had intended to resume following before the second fight.

"I'd like to get going before any more of the locals show up." Leonidas told his partner. She hurried to his left side and faced him before speaking.

"Good idea!" She said in agreement. The pair walked by the two dead werewolves and resumed their search for Regina Hampton without further delay.

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-Down the path, 12:07 A.M.-

Leonidas and Sabrina had proceeded deeper into Lycan Woods without encountering any more werewolves, but they were still no closer to finding Regina. They had not found any clues to indicate that she had headed in the direction they were going, but they soon found clues that the locals had been busy. Ahead of them were a few large bloodstains like someone or something had bled profusely on the spot and one of them even had drag marks leading away from the stain and to the left. The drag marks led towards the underbrush, which were also stained with blood, suggesting that a body had been hauled away for later consumption. Sabrina was quick to notice that grim detail and point it out.

"Look, Big Guy. It looks like someone or something met an unpleasant end." Sabrina opined, pointing towards it with her wand. Leonidas followed it and saw the evidence of lycanthrope activity. His facial expression turned grim.

"I hope that we're not too late to save Regina." Leonidas remarked as his gaze lingered on the bloodstained underbrush.

"I wouldn't give up hope just yet, Big Guy. If this Regina chick's come prepared with a silver weapon we might still have some time." Sabrina tried to assure the scar-faced mage that all was not yet lost. Shortly after that loud growling was heard and a werewolf leapt out from the underbrush and landed straight ahead of Leonidas. He noticed that was a tall, muscular specimen and that its muzzle and claws were coated with blood, suggesting that it had been responsible for the bloodstains dotting the path. Its brown eyes made contact with his green eyes and it growled again.

"WATCH OUT!" Sabrina shouted a warning. Leonidas stood his ground and prepared a Storm Hammer technique to hit the werewolf as it charged towards him with its left arm drawn back and its claws extended. When his arm glowed silver and the target was close enough to reach out Leonidas drew his left arm back and threw a forceful straight punch aimed at the enemy's face. His timing was impeccable because he used the Storm Hammer technique just as it stopped and started to swing its left arm at him. Leonidas' punch connected with the beast's face and he heard an ear-piercing yelp of pain before blood began to flow freely from its nose.

The werewolf's swipe hit nothing but air as Leonidas ducked under it and the claws passed over his head. He stood up and cut the beast across the chest with a diagonal left-to-right slash of his Silver Falchion. The werewolf yelped in pain again and bared its teeth. It then reached out for Leonidas' shoulders with two muscular hands, but he saw that move coming and sidestepped it by going right, then quickly moved in and attacked it with a two-handed downward chop with his sword just as it turned to face him.

Leonidas' sword found its mark in its skull and the werewolf's head began to bleed before it crumpled to the ground and lay motionless. He pulled out the Silver Falchion with a sharp tug and looked down the path to see if any other werewolves had heard the commotion and decided to investigate, but so far he was not seeing any. The path was clear, but he did not trust the underbrush on either side of it.

"Way to go, Big Guy! You handled that one like a pro!" Sabrina complimented him. Leonidas bent down and wiped the blood off of his sword on his latest kill before answering her.

"That one was actually a bit of a challenge." Leonidas commented casually, unable to hide his search for a challenging fight any longer. He was finding the local lycanthropes to be a good challenge for him because they did not go down in one hit to a vital area like zombies did. They were also able to go toe-to-toe with him in melee combat, a fact which gave the scar-faced mage even more of an adrenaline rush.

"Don't tell me that you're like that Regina chick!" Sabrina cried out in dismay. Leonidas turned to face her.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Sabrina. I like a good fight and by that I mean a fight that's a good challenge as well as one that's for a good cause." Leonidas laid bare the truth. He was a fighter and had been one ever since he was old enough to wield a sword and magic. Leonidas knew what he was and did not shrink from that truth. His companion's facial expression was one that questioned her job partner's sanity.

"If I'm not careful you and Regina are gonna end up dating and do things like fight werewolves for fun!" She gave another expression of dismay.

"Relax, Sabrina. I'm not going to date Regina and I'm not going to start fighting werewolves for fun. I'm no mindless berserker who throws himself recklessly into a fight with no plan. If I were one I likely would have tried to punch the last werewolf to death instead of using a technique and a silver sword." Leonidas assured Sabrina that despite the adrenaline rush he got from fighting the residents of Lycan Woods he was still in control of himself. The pink-clad blonde did not look entirely convinced, but she soon shrugged her shoulders and chose to move on.

"OK, Big Guy. If you say so." She said to him with a lingering hint of doubt. Leonidas pointed down the path with the index finger of his left hand.

"Let's keep going, Sabrina." The scar-faced mage instructed before walking around the dead werewolf and starting down the middle of the path. Sabrina hurried to his left side and followed him closely, making sure to stay clear of the underbrush in case more enemies were hiding inside of it and waiting for a meal to walk by.

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-Lycan Woods, 1:13 A.M.-

"Man, just how far into the woods did this Regina chick go?" Sabrina asked Leonidas as she walked with her arms folded for warmth. The wind was picking up and the other blonde was suffering because of her choice to wear short shorts instead of blue jeans or other forms of pants. Leonidas was unaffected because he made the effort to wear clothing that enabled him to withstand cooler temperatures.

"Good question." Leonidas answered laconically. He had not encountered any werewolves since slightly over an hour ago, but he was sure that would change soon. Maybe they were waiting for him and Sabrina to move too deep into the woods to easily escape before they made an ambush.

After that brief exchange the pair continued to walk until they spotted a dead werewolf lying on its back in the middle of the road. It was a burly specimen that was as tall as Leonidas and had a few facial scars on the left side of its face; they had presumably come from fights with past victims or fellow werewolves. Leonidas approached it carefully while Sabrina hung back a short distance to keep an eye on the underbrush. The scar-faced mage stopped two arm lengths away from the werewolf corpse and looked down at it to try and learn what had caused its death.

The first thing he saw was that its left arm had been severed at the elbow with a single slash from an edged weapon and the missing limb was lying mere inches to its left. The second thing he saw was a single puncture wound to the heart, which had obviously been the fatal blow because of the amount of blood staining its chest. Judging from the wounds and the fact that the person he was looking for was carrying a sword, he soon reached a conclusion.

Regina had traveled this way.

"Hey Big Guy, what happened to it?" Sabrina asked from a safe distance.

"I'm thinking that Regina fought it and won. It's got a puncture wound to the torso where its heart is." Leonidas reported back to his partner. He then looked around for signs that another werewolf was coming to avenge its fallen friend, but the underbrush around him remained undisturbed and he did not hear howling or any other noises. Leonidas stole another glance at the dead lycanthrope to make sure that it was really dead before turning to look at Sabrina.

"It's really dead, Sabrina. It's safe to walk past it." Leonidas informed the other blonde that the werewolf was not going to get up and attack either of them. Sabrina walked towards him but looked a little nervous. She walked past the dead beast, then stopped and looked at its body.

"That Regina chick's pretty brave. I wouldn't want to face one of these guys in hand-to-hand combat." The pink-clad blonde commented.

"It's definitely not for everyone." Leonidas remarked dryly. As accustomed to close combat as he was the scar-faced mage did not find fighting lycanthropes to be easy. They were fast and tough and were not to be underestimated even though he was carrying a silver weapon. The greatest threat they posed was that there was a good chance that if one was in front of him there were more somewhere in the vicinity, meaning that each fight was on a timer that ticked down to more enemies arriving. While he had won solo fights against the beasts out of folklore, he did not want to fight more than one at a time if he could help it.

"We'd better keep moving, Sabrina." Leonidas suggested.

"OK, Big Guy. Lead the way." She said. The scar-faced mage faced forward and began to walk while Sabrina followed to his left.

-Lycan Woods, 1:55 A.M.-

The two mages had walked deeper into the woods and as they had walked they noticed more and more dead beasts dotting the path they were on. That was a sign that they might be on the right path, so they continued to follow it while keeping an eye out for any living werewolves. They did not have too long to wait because a section of underbrush close to a fork in the path rustled and out of it burst a pair of werewolves that were obviously out for blood because they glared at Leonidas and Sabrina with looks of murderous intent.

The scar-faced mage tightened his grip on his Silver Falchion while Sabrina got behind him.

"Be ready to fight, Sabrina. I'll try and protect you, but these guys are fast and one of them might manage to get past me." Leonidas warned Sabrina that despite his best efforts he might not be able to fend off both lycanthropes at once. He did not have time to say anything else because the beasts charged directly at him before he could give any more advice to his companion.

"Here they come!" Leonidas warned Sabrina.

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Sabrina quickly got behind Leonidas as he aimed the palm of his left hand at one of the werewolves and prepared a Cyclone Tunnel spell. When it was ready he fired a visible cone of air at the two beasts and since they were moving too fast to dodge it both of them were caught in the Cyclone Tunnel and took a hit, but that spell alone was not enough to stop them for good. The werewolves soon recovered and sprinted straight for the scar-faced mage.

Leonidas channeled silver magic into his left arm until it was glowing silver, then waited until the one on the right closed in. He then thrust his left palm at its face and connected with its snout using his Cyclone Palm technique, making its head snap backwards and making it howl in pain. Its fellow tried to attack Leonidas from the left, but the mage stepped to the right just fast enough to avoid having the left side of his face raked with claws. Sabrina immediately moved back down the path to give Leonidas room to fight and he made good use of that space by attacking the werewolf that had not been hit with Cyclone Palm.

He slashed at its head with his Silver Falchion, cutting its nose and making it take a step back as its muscular hands gripped its bleeding snout. The other werewolf attacked Leonidas by trying to seize him by his shoulders and pull him in for a bite, but he jumped back and it grabbed nothing but air. The scar-faced mage landed on his feet and took a big step forward, then slashed at its chest. A large gash from its right shoulder to its left hip was opened and the werewolf gripped its chest with its left hand, then growled at him with eyes that burned with a desire to reduce the mage to a mangled mess on the path.

Leonidas did not give it the chance to make its wish a reality because he slashed at its left hand with his Silver Falchion, severing it at the wrist and making the beast back away clutching a bleeding stump. The other one took advantage of the distraction to make a pouncing attack aimed at the scar-faced mage, but he spun around just in time to dive to the right and avoid being landed on by a few hundred pounds of angry lycanthrope. He quickly climbed back to his feet and saw the werewolf running towards him, but he noticed that it was not running quite as fast as it had when the battle first started due to the effect of his Cyclone Palm technique, which had lowered the enemy's Movement Speed enough for the scar-faced mage to be faster than it. Thanks to that induced slowness Leonidas stood a better chance of winning a two-on-one fight.

He saw it lunge for him with its muscular hands reaching out for his neck and dodged it with a quick sidestep to the right, then spun around to face it as it recovered from the missed lunge. Leonidas closed in and stabbed at its heart as it spun to face him and scored a lethal hit when the silver blade punched through and hit the target. The werewolf collapsed to the ground and lay motionless. Leonidas quickly toed the beast onto its back and retrieved his sword but the blond did not have time to celebrate because the other enemy moved in to attack.

It slashed at Leonidas' right arm with its remaining hand and he dodged it with a timely sidestep, then took a big step forward and chopped at its left shoulder with his sword. He cut it down the shoulder near where the arm met the body and the beast howled in pain. Leonidas quickly brought his sword back around and aimed a horizontal right-to-left slash at its neck, cutting through it and decapitating the werewolf with a single stroke. The headless werewolf crumpled to the ground and began to bleed out.

"You had me on the edge of my seat, Big Guy!" Sabrina told Leonidas. The scar-faced mage wiped the blood off of his Silver Falchion on the back of his latest kill.

"I admit that it was a tough fight, but I can't keep fighting zombies forever. I need to take on tougher enemies if I want to get stronger." Leonidas told his partner. The pink-clad blonde crossed her arms over her chest.

"That's true, but fighting two werewolves at once might be overdoing it just a little." Sabrina snarked at him. He ignored the verbal jab and looked further down the path. Sabrina walked over to his left side and stopped to look at what he was looking at. Both of them saw what looked like a human figure... it was hard to tell if the figure was standing in place or walking towards them, but their attention was drawn to it nonetheless.

"Hey Big Guy, do you think that's Regina?" Sabrina asked him.

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"I think it might be, Sabrina. We're deep in Lycan Woods and she's one of the very few people who'd willingly be this far in the area." Leonidas answered by citing the facts at his disposal. He was not entirely certain that the individual who was approaching them was Regina Hampton, but there was a very good chance that it was. As they approached he detected a magic signature and it was one that was a couple of steps above the level of a novice, suggesting that the individual was not incredibly powerful but had been on a few adventures and was starting to get the hang of their magic.

Leonidas and Sabrina waited until the person drew closer and when they finally got to where they could be seen clearly they were not looking at a werewolf but a female mage who was wearing an unusual outfit that had red and white as prominent colors. They had long blonde hair with a blue ribbon in it and carried a scabbard with a sword in it. The young woman was as tall as Sabrina and had striking red eyes.

"Oh? Who might you two be?" She asked the blond mages while placing a hand on the grip of her sword.

"I'm Leonidas Jarnefeldt. Your sister Isabelle sent us to find you." Leonidas introduced himself and stated his reason for being out here.

"If you must know my name, I'm Sabrina. I'm Big Guy's friend." Sabrina introduced herself with a tone that made it clear that she saw the red-clad young woman as a rival for Leonidas' affection. The third blonde took her hand away from the grip of her sword and smiled.

"I'm Regina Hampton. I'm an adventurer of sorts who came out here for a challenge. In the past I'd go fight zombies, but they just don't challenge me anymore, so I came out here in search of a more thrilling fight." The young woman introduced herself. She made eye contact with Leonidas.

"Jarnefeldt? As in Leona Jarnefeldt, the Wizard Saint of Courage?" Regina asked. A look of mild annoyance flashed across the scar-faced mage's face before he answered the question.

"Yes, that Jarnefeldt. I'm her older brother." Leonidas answered as calmly as he could. He resented being in his younger sister's shadow and was trying to set himself apart from her, but it seemed that he had a long ways to go before he could accomplish that goal. Regina did not seem to take offense to his annoyance and continued to smile.

"Forgive me for bringing up such a sensitive subject, but I can see the resemblance between you and her." Regina added.

"I get that a lot." Leonidas answered dryly but truthfully. The third blonde looked at his face.

"I think you're a handsome man, Leonidas. If I didn't already have a boyfriend you'd be a very good candidate. I have a thing for tall, muscular men and you fit the bill." She said flirtatiously, an action which caused Sabrina to clamp down onto Leonidas' right arm.

"Back off, Lady! He doesn't belong to you!" Sabrina declared in obvious jealousy. Regina made eye contact with her and chuckled.

"Is that so? And who are you to determine something like that, Sabrina? Has Leonidas declared his love for you?" The red-clad blonde asked the pink-clad one a trio of questions, each one more pointed than the last. Sabrina's face reddened and her facial expression changed from annoyed to meek.

"N-n-no. He hasn't." She meekly replied. Regina remained amused as she continued to look at Sabrina. The pink-clad blonde soon recovered from her embarrassment and asked a question of her own.

"What's with the outfit, Lady?" Sabrina asked Regina in a tone that was not confrontational.

"It's a costume from an anime series I'm a big fan of. It's about warships from a great war personified as young women. My family also has an affinity for the color red." Regina explained the reason behind her choice of attire. Sabrina blinked. Leonidas remained silent and let the two young women talk without his input.

"Why wear a costume with a cloak? Aren't you afraid that someone might grab it or it might get caught on something at a bad time?" Sabrina asked.

"I wear it for three reasons, the first of which I've already explained. The second reason is because it makes me stand out and as a daughter from a family of wealthy mages I want to stand apart from the ordinary mage. The third reason is because the cloak makes fights more challenging... it makes me stay on my toes." Regina gave additional reasons for wearing what she did.

"That sounds like a good way to get into trouble." Sabrina remarked dryly. The third blonde's good cheer did not fade in the face of such a remark.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But having that element of risk always present makes fights more interesting for me." Regina defended her choice of clothing. She then looked Leonidas in the eyes.

"I've had my fill of excitement for one night and I'm sure that Isabelle must be worried about me. Would you be so kind as to take me back to Hargeon Town, Leonidas?" Regina asked the scar-faced mage.

"Certainly, Regina." Leonidas calmly replied.

Regina Hampton:

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