Search for tags pt. 21-25

Mission Name: Hunt for the Tags
Mission Type: Search/Combat
Mission Rank: B
Mission Goal: Search for the Tags
Description: The Mugen Castle is said to be permanently summoned as long as the tags are in place. Search the castle for tags, but be careful for any illusions that try to stop you!
Payment: 30,000 Ryo, 1 Mugen Credit
Requirements: N/A
Limitations: N/A



The next level was different. There was a warmer temperature. Sand cascaded against sandstone and pillars with designs etched into them. He was concerned with how the outside had taken on an open plan overlooking a desert. So in this world the woman who had appeared reigned supreme. She created mass illusions as if transporting them to another world. Still he would keep his wits about him. His sharp honeyed eyes detecting the jackals as they patrolled the halls. Two of them were a meter taller than most people. Lanky arms and curved blades. However he doubted they would be much of a challenge if he didn't want them to be. They seemed to follow a set path. Still he would quietly activate a mass sleep jutsu. White feathers would begin to fall as he hid himself from them. They reacted to the feathers by swiping at them as if they were a bother a couple of times before dropping where they marched. Unable to break the genjutsu before it put them to sleep. Shortly after Tadara would put them into a more permanent slumber. Collecting another tag which spawned after their death.

Tadara had continued down the hall looking for the next target. However he had been shocked as hands reached up out of the stone for his ankles. Luckily he reacted quickly. Though one of them had brushed his ankle. A red mark of infection where it had touched before. Still he would shift down and use medical ninjutsu to remove the infection. Holding his position a moment and waiting. He wouldn't be able to fully escape them if they tried again...however he could do something else. He could make the trade off costly for them. If they made a part of themselves physical to do this he could hurt them. So he waited until he saw the ground under him ripple. He moved just as a hand shot up for his neck. Instead meeting his palm before a blast wave would erupt from Tadara. Wiping out the creature from the hand down to half its torso that had emerged. With the enemy dead he would move on with another tag added to his collection.

The next target was a an odd one. It lumbered about wrapped in bandages. Tadara would observe it while tending to the infection in his hand from the last room. Still the steps the mummy took were heavy. Cracking the ground under his feet as he stepped. Tadara would send some bee's to attack it and watch. Their venom didn't seem to effect it...and when he tried a genjutsu that hadn't worked either. His options seemed limited. However he noted the bandages were dry and crinkling. Likely hinting at a weakness. Tadara would send a couple of his wax clones to dodge its attacks while he collected a torch off the wall. He waited for his moment to attack as he watched the display of finesse. However the Mummy would land a solid hit on one of the clones enough to finally put it down. However that dedicated attack was its downfall. A torch was pressed into its back and sure enough it went up where it stood. Tadara would gain some distance before it finally crumbled. Providing him with yet another tag.

The last three had been fairly simple. However the next room held something different. In the next room a shifting puzzle of glowing gold repeatedly moved its parts. A treasured tag in the center revealed for only a second at a time as it slowly expanded and made the puzzle ever more building and complicated. At this point the puzzle was already beyond the abilities of the normal mind. Luckily for Tadara it was slower than his mind. Slowly he would pick up the pattern before he began to step forward and solve it. Layer by layer he would discover combinations and hidden keys. Locks removing under his fingers dexterity at a much greater rate than it was expanding. Gradually shrinking and becoming more simple. Until the last puzzle was but a childs toy. A rubiks cube. with a few rapid hand movements he would solve that too. Before a tag took its place in his hand. A puzzle was more suited to his mind.

The last room on the level was a fairly sizeable one. Here sat a sphinx. A massive creature who would huff as Tadara entered. However it made no move to attack. Instead this one would follow the doctor with its eyes. Speaking to him of three riddles before he could pass. Tadara found this final mind game to be an interesting change of pace from combat. Still the sphinx would give one simple riddle after the other. Each one exasperatingly simple for Tadara to answer. However he would answer all three and instead of moving on he would challenge the sphynx to just one in exchange for a tag. Tadara would speak the riddle however in a foreign language. One the Sphinx did not understand and thus could not answer. By technical victory Tadara had outsmarted the beast and it would fade in a flash of light. With a tag being added to Tadara's collection. With that he was onto the next floor. 

exit thread