A Wanderer's Lies

Chapter 51: Ravenwood [2]

"Ravenwood, huh." 

Isaac stood before an expansive and wide gate with multiple signs, warning people of the consequences and dangers of passing without permission.

These weren't the first one's Isaac had seen, either. Countless signs littered the forest Isaac had walked through.

It had taken him about an hour and a half to get here on foot, and although there were specialized vehicles owned by the Guild to transport Guildsmen to Ravenwood, Isaac wanted to work more on his silent technique he'd been cultivating.

'I think I've figured out the most efficient way to walk silently. But it still isn't enough.'

Experimenting with his footing and deducing which was the most efficient, this was only the first step in the technique Isaac was trying to master.

For this technique, he needed to have every fiber in his body in control. Even the slight twitch of the muscle might be enough to give away his position.

The faint creaking between his joints, his breathing and mindset.

He had to be absolutely calm and controlled.

'But I'm still far from that. Let's focus on my mission first.'

Standing before the gate, and walking toward a small shed with an old man inside, Isaac caught the man's attention with a slight knock.

"Oh my, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." The old and bald man, dressed as if he were a janitor with a one piece white suit, jumped from his chair as he greeted Isaac.

"Hello, I'd like to enter Ravenwood." Isaac spoke, giving his mission and card to the man.

Taking a look at Isaac's card, he couldn't help but dart his eyes between it and Isaac.

"Is there a problem?"

"No no, of course not. It's just been a while since I've last seen a D+ Rank around here, that's all." The old man handed the card back with a chuckle.

"But a D+ Ranker by himself coming to Ravenwood? Well if i've not yet gone senile, that's never happened before." The old man paused, staring at Isaac.

He'd expected someone by themselves coming to Ravenwood would be at least an A-Ranker.

"Maybe I'll survive and it'll make everyone grow some balls." Upon hearing this, the old man gave a hearty chuckle.

"I hope you do, but like they say, ignorance is bliss. Nothing good will come out of people becoming too cocky." Pulling out a map from under his desk, the old man traced his finger upon it.

"This is a map of Ravenwood. As you can see, it is separated into three Zones. Green, Yellow and Red. As you can imagine, Green is the safest, while Red is not so safe."

"Guildsmen, and even the S.A., rarely traverse into the Red Zone. The Terrors there are far too powerful, and the resources that would be wasted, as well as the lives that would be lost wouldn't be worth it."

Isaac nodded in understanding. He wasn't surprised by the poor choices of the S.A., seeing as how Ravenwood existed for years without them doing anything about it.

"Your mission is to capture a Terror Carcass whilst in the Green Zone. Anything above that will be accepted, but it isn't worth it."

The old man was right. Isaac had no interest in passing the Green Zone. He was bold, not suicidal.

"That's all. I wish you luck in your mission." The old man gave Isaac a look which he'd seen before. It was the same look Ms Joyce had given him.

But he didn't mind.

"Thank you." Isaac gave a slight bow, walking toward the surprisingly small door which supposedly led to the inside of Ravenwood

He was expecting a large gate, or something along those lines.

'No matter.'

Pulling the handle of the door, Isaac opened the door as he was met with the same forest he'd been walking in for the last hour and a half.

'Well, technically it's the same forest. I guess I have to go deeper to truly enter Ravenwood.'

As he thought this, Isaac wasted no time as he dashed toward the deep forest.

Meanwhile, the old man stared at the departing masked figure with an emphatic look, the same you'd give upon seeing a grave.

Shaking his head, he shut the door as the forest once again returned to its usual silence.

***

'This should be far enough.'

Isaac, who'd been sprinting for a few minutes, hid in a tree amongst leaves with his Zetsu activated.

Although this was dangerous, as he was leaving himself defenseless since his Nen was suppressed, he had confidence in his healing.

Putting his thumb and index finger together and forming a zero shape, Isaac held it over his eye as he allowed a wisp of Nen to pass through.

This was the telescope technique Netero had taught him, and it had been a while since he'd used it.

As he did, it didn't take long to notice something. However, upon seeing it, he couldn't help but stare for a second.

In the distance was a tall humanoid figure, with muscles that looked as though they were sculpted to perfection, however, rather than a head, the figure possessed a large head of a dog.

'It's not the first time I've seen a half human half monster hybrid.' Isaac thought, remembering the Brion.

Most surprisingly, was the long sword the figure held. The sword, with a golden guard and curved blade, looked like nothing special in itself, but made Isaac wonder.

'Where did it find the sword and what can the sword do?'

Isaac's mind was open to every and all possibilities. There was nothing that was 'impossible' here. 

And thinking this, he leapt from the tree he sat and disappeared into the forest below.

***

The humanoid figure with the dog head and sword, stood beside a tree as it aimlessly wandered.

[Terror: Anubis]

[Inherited Character: Anubis (Stand)]

[Verse: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]

It wasn't long until a rustle could be heard in the bushes nearby. Anubis snapped his head back, only to notice a figure in a mask.

"Hello!" Isaac enthusiastically waved.

However, the greeting was not returned as the Anubis kicked off the ground, shooting toward Isaac.

'He isn't very fast.'

"Ren!"

The Anubis raised its sword, slashing diagonally, to which Isaac swiftly dodged.

However, Isaac was suprised to notice the blade of the sword curve as the Anubis turned the handle.

With the blade now facing Isaac, the anubis changed his trajectory as the blade travelled toward Isaac.

'It's skilled.'

-CLANG

However, the sword was promptly blocked as a loud clash between two metal rang out.

Holding a dagger in his hand, Isaac blocked the attack as small sparks flew from the two metals colliding.

Remembering Silver's fight, using his fingers to stab someone like a Ghoul, who could wrap himself in an exoskeleton, was not ideal. 

Therefore, he opted for a dagger.

Although the dagger was not an Artifact, it still did a better job than Isaac's fingers.

Pulling the sword back, the Anubis continued to swing as Isaac blocked and dodged, moving back further as he did.

'It's not strong either. I can do this.'

The clashes continued as the Anubis performed intricate and skilled swordmanship techniques, swinging his sword with power, but keeping it accurate and controlled like a raging river.

His attacks went on like an endless current.

Meanwhile, Isaac moved further and further back, blocking the attacks without much difficulty.

Since he was faster, and their strength was fairly relative, it wasn't hard.

-CLICK

As the Anubis swung once more, Isaac grinned under his mask as a click resounded amongst the clashes.

Leaping back countless feet, Isaac hid behind a tree in a matter of seconds as the Anubis prepared to follow.

However, the Anubis failed to notice the device below his feet loosen as he removed his weight off of it.

-BOOM

An ear piercing explosion could be heard as Isaac safely listened to it all from behind the tree.

The Anubid was sent zooming through the air, crashing into a tree yet refused to release its sword. 

However, this didn't matter as Isaac appeared before the Anubis in a matter of seconds.

"You're body is human, right? Good enough for me." 

Isaac extended his index finger as he stabbed at a few precise locations on the Anubis' body.

It wasn't long until Isaac stepped back, letting the Anubis drop to the ground.

As the Anubis' arm and hand was disabled, it failed to keep hold of its weapon as the sword dropped a few feet away from him.

'Who knew bombs were so useful. It didn't hurt him, but gave me enough time to use Vital Strike…'

Isaac's thoughts were cut short as he furrowed his eyebrows upon noticing the Anubis' head change, as well as its muscular body.

The body as a whole shifted, shrinking and soon, it had turned into what seemed to be a regular person.

Cautiously turning the body over, Isaac noticed the normal human face with black hair and a regular physique.

'The sword? It can't be.'

As Isaac widened his eyes, the human laying on the ground flickered his eyes open as he looked around.

"W-Who are you? Wh-Where am I?" The human panicked, his worry intensifying when he found he'd lost control of his body.

"Calm down, I'm with the Hearts Guild." Isaac brandished his ID as the man stared, his demeanour quickly changing from that of fear to relief.

He didn't care that the ID presented a large D+ Rank upon it, or maybe he didn't notice. Isaac couldn't tell, but he couldn't blame the man. It looked as if he'd been through a lot.

"Thank you…T-Thank you so much." The man sobbed as Isaac rose to his feet.

Walking toward the sword, Isaac gave the man sometime to calm down as he squatted before the weapon.

'The man proves it. He wasn't the Terror, this sword is. Can it be counted as an Artifact? If it can, it'd be an original, straight from a Scenario, becoming incredibly valuable, even if it is cursed.'

The fact that a sword could be both an Artifact and a Terror fascinated Isaac.

'Hm, I'll keep it. It'd be stupid to hand it over. I'll look for another Carcass to complete my mission.'

Putting his cloak between him and the sword so that there was no direct contact, Isaac went to touch the sword and send it to his Dimensional Space.

"No, don't! It won't work, it's cursed!" The man yelled upon seeing Isaac reaching for the sword, but it was too late.

As Isaac gripped the blade, it felt as though something had invaded his insides as it rushed in through his arm.

'S-Shit!'

He'd lost all control of his body as it felt like his sanity and consciousness was slipping, as if it were being sucked away from him.

He could feel the entity from the sword passing though his arm, shooting toward his weakened brain.

Isaac could feel it, he was seconds away from being taken over.

However, he remembered something. He already had an entity inside him.

Releasing his Nen, Isaac could feel his hunger worsening. The Thing in his stomach was unleashed as it travelled through his body.

As it did, it came across the only other foreign entity in Isaac's body at the time.

'Quickly!' Isaac couldn't last much longer.

However, it wasn't long until the Thing focused onto the foreign entity coming into contact as the two clashed.

In the next second, the Thing completely swallowed the foreign entity, following the trail it left behind to Isaac's arm.

Meanwhile, Isaac felt as though an explosion occurred inside him, but his sanity had somewhat returned.

Immediately, he sent the sword into his dimensional space, commanding all his Nen to quell the Thing inside him as he knelt on the ground.

This all had happened in the span of a few seconds, but to Isaac, it was akin to a few hours.

'Zobae beats Man-Dog.' 

Isaac grinned. Additionally, he felt as though his hunger had sufficiently lessened from before.

"Woah, that was close…" Turning back with a chuckle, speaking to the paralysed man, Isaac could only stare as what stood before him made him widen his eyes.

Before him stood a figure with an imposing physique, surprisingly not that much taller than Isaac, and massive muscles that had grown to grotesque proportions, making it so his muscle fibers were visible.

Additionally, sharp, bone-like protrusions emerged from his joints and limbs, giving him a truly monstrous appearance.

And his head…

A deformed, pulsating mass with multiple eyes and a gaping maw filled with rows of razor sharp teeth.

'What…'

Isaac thought, taking a step back. Being face to face with a creature that exuded a suffocating aura, he couldn't help but gulp.

However, it was then he noticed the black haired man he'd saved in the monster's hand, crushed as blood seeped from every orifice.

Isaac was given no time to think as the being before him raised the man, tossing it at breathtaking speeds toward Isaac.

'Damnit!'

-CLAP

Planting his feets and preparing to catch the man, a loud clap could be heard, as if two hands forcefully made contact.

Simultaneously, in the blink of an eye, the dead man shooting toward Isaac had disappeared, replaced with the towering monster as it peered at Isaac with all its eyes.

'What the hell…' The last thing Isaac could see was the monster's hand shrouded in a sort of blue energy. But not chakra.

No he'd seen that before. This was something else. The black outlines and thicker color proved it.

Raising its arm, the monster turned its body skillfully, pummeling its bare fist into Isaac's gut as a loud BANG was heard.

Isaac's feet were lifted off the ground as his body coiled around the fist, spitting a river of blood as his eyes felt like they'd pop out of his skull.

[Terror: The Juggernaut]

[Inherited Character: Todo Aoi]

[Verse: Jujutsu Kaisen]

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Next chapter title: A Thread has been Woven [1]

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